Week 2

This week we used the majority of our time in lab to research the CCTV Tower and to update this blog page.  We added the "Project Overview", "Biographies", and "FAQ's" pages to our blog.   We also gained valuable information regarding our structure.  We discovered that the area in Beijing where the tower is located does have to account for the effects of seismic waves in the form of earthquakes.  The CCTV Tower uses a diagrid structure where rods are connected to each other at nodes (1).  The junction points or the corners carry the majority of the load.  This makes for a strong structure that is not as interdependent as other structures ( that is to say if one portion fails the whole structure does not necessarily fail).  The design is also very practical as it allows for most of the construction to be on the outside of the building, leaving the middle sections for plenty of floor space.  The tower actually contains two towers that make sharp 90 degree turns in mid-air to connect as a bridge (2).

Figure 2: Example of Diagrid structure 

Sources:

1. http://www.slideshare.net/peterbach/cctv-building-a-structural-design-overview

2. http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/portfolio/2012/11/china-central-television-oma.asp