BRICKS-n-MORTAR's chief editor, Shelly's reply to recent comment received from Ms. Selvie on our earlier published post "[Q&A]: Brick Masonry work | "Why bricks be soaked ...":

Selvie wrote:

What if bricks are soaked more than required time? How to determine the optimum time of soaking? Please reply

Shelly replies:

Dear Selvie,

Like we said in the post itself, normally, about 2 to 6 hours of soaking of bricks in a tank full of potable water is suggested.
Otherwise, in case of paucity of time, a minimum period of one hour prior to bricks being laid must be adhered to.

In case the bricks have been lying in water for substantial part of time, say like one or two days or even more, ensure taking out the bricks and making them skin dry under sun or in the open air so that extra water retained in the pores of the bricks be let off.

One more thing to ensure after prolonged soaking of bricks is to take a visual note whether any white, yellowish or other patches have come up on the surface? Such patches, if they do come up on the surface, indicate presence of un-reacted lime in bricks, which is not desirable in any case (called efflorescence of bricks).

Hope this answers your query.

Shelly
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Related original post: [Q&A]: Brick Masonry work | "Why bricks be soaked in water before placing them?"

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Yesterday night, while editing the final version of the post scheduled to be published today here at BRICKS-n-MORTAR, we happen to take a tea break and took some more time off to check & prune our mailboxes as well as the network links that we follow.

One of such many updates was from ArchDaily, a daily architectural content website, the recent entry of which derailed us from what we were doing that very point of time.  The entry, in subject, inadvertently got us into sort of an informal debate among ourselves, which we now think, could well be posted today instead of the earlier planned post and be shared with our readers to have their insight also.

ABOUT THE DEBATE WITHIN OURSELVES...

The debate started after looking at one of the architectural entries out of a total of eight there in this very update at ArchDaily, which was titled 'SHIP' and was a submission by some Japanese Architect agency, called Katsuhiro Miyamoto & Associates with their reported postal address indicating them to be located at Takarazuka, Hyogo, Japan.

The subject entry 'SHIP' made us follow its 'Read more' hyperlink in the received update mailer for two reasons--

• ONE,  the picture accompanying the entry was looking somewhat weird as compared to other content in the mailer;  and
• TWO,  the seemingly weirdness of the entry made us more so very inquisitive to find out as what in the first place was the idea behind such a design?!!

This is how the house looks like... (reproducing and sharing the pictures of this weird looking entry from ArchDaily as ready reference)

Now, having visited their respective hyperlinks, this is what the website mentions about the Japanese architect agency's design:

A residence built on a two-tiered site with a level difference of 3 meters. Because of the concern remained about the credibility of embankment and retaining wall built along the housing development, the foundation was laid on natural ground beneath the lower tier which was more reliable as the supporting stratum. The steel-made volume for public rooms floats over the retaining wall and above the upper tier for better view. Private rooms are arranged along the lower tier where the atmosphere is calm, at a distance from the front road, within a reinforced concrete structure which functions as a counterbalance to the overhanging volume.

...The result is in fact much reminiscent of a ferryboat, in terms of both structure and layout, in which passenger decks and floating section are separated up and down with the vehicle decks in between.

Cor-ten steel used for the structure of this house’s first floor and up is entirely untreated on the surface and bare, expected to be covered with stable rust in the future. Contrastingly, the interior surfaces –floor, wall, ceiling- are finished uniformly white with elaborate thermal insulation. Combined with their curved forms, it is intended that a neutral space with a feeling of loss of depth is created.

THIS IS OUR OPINION ON THE DESIGN...  but, WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Despite reading the details and looking at various pictures of this weird-looking building, we couldn't be convinced as why foundations (deep foundations and/or pile foundations, etc.) couldn't be possible in the front half of the building, which could have let the building have some meaningful and natural shape? Moreover, we don't think this design could have been economic considering the fact that enormous quantity of steel structure would have been put in use to support such gigantic unsupported cantilevered upper storey part. The RCC overhang would also have been of larger volumes so as to provide a balancing counterweight.

All in all, we debated and debated for hours to find any reasonable meaning in designing such weird-looking buildings (apologies though to the conceiving Japanese architect agency in case we have not been able to understand their concept!!)

Let us ask now BRICKS-n-MORTAR readers to help take the debate further to some concluding decision as what such designs be termed as---  

INNOVATIVE & UNIQUE... 

or...   

WEIRD & UNWARRANTED DESIGN ??

BTW, here's showing the picture of another entry of the same mailer, which is differently conceptualized, but is still looking amazing. Have a look! What do you say for this?

Source: ArchDaily

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One of BnM's active subscribers, Chan Gul, asks via email...

What is Shell and Core Construction?

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Team BnM answers...

With the building heights increasing and further increasing than what they used to be a century ago, and with newer methodologies being adopted for faster and safer construction practices the world over-- the integral civil engineering aspects like conceptualization, design, construction, interiors, etc. have also changed to suit pace.

We all have been knowing since we look back into modern history, how buildings and houses were constructed as load bearing structures with foundations and walls predominantly constructed in stone and/or brick masonry.

With further advancement of time and technology, reinforced cement concrete (RCC)/ structural steel/ structural steel+reinforced cement concrete composite elements formed framed structures became common, which were more stable and well engineered units. These framed structures adopted a typical construction pattern of casting the foundations, followed by casting the columns and beam networks, and eventually followed by casting of the intermediate and/or roof slabs. This engineering concept allowed the number of stories to increase over a particular plan area, which we normally call as multistoried buildings.

However, now that the buildings the world over registering record-breaking heights while construction agencies finding ways to optimize costs and time curves involved, systems were designed in a fashion that allowed minimizing the construction time involved in raising the buildings without breaking the construction flow in respect of attaining the full building height (i.e., notwithstanding how many stories are there in the design, and how many slabs are to be cast in between for which, by conventional methods, the formwork has to be stopped at slab soffit (bottom) level, and then re-started post concreting and setting of the floor/roof slabs).

WHAT IS SHELL & CORE CONCEPT OF BUILDING DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION?

SHELL & CORE design and construction concept, on the other hand, designs the buildings and structures in such a way that allows the complete formwork (also called shuttering work in some parts of the world) for a particular level in plan to be made as a single unit that is slipped upwards with the help of 'jack & lift system' while concreting of the structural elements takes place continuously and gradually without stopping at intermediate floor levels.


WHY THIS CONCEPT IS CALLED 'SHELL & CORE' METHOD?

Under this concept of 'shell and core' design and construction, the buildings structures are defined under broad heads as

• CORE -- (the internal column-beam-wall systems that outline the various inside units on one particular floor level of the building in plan/layout, and which demarcate the internal boundaries of the rooms, halls, sanitary areas, ventilation areas (like passages, walkways, staircases, etc.)
  
• SHELL -- (the outermost peripheral wall system that ultimately provides outermost walled covering to the entire building in totality)
• INFILLS or INTERIOR ELEMENTS or MINOR ELEMENTS -- (these are the non-structural elements of the building that serve the essential purpose of architectural detailing units, finishing items, false partitions, and the likes)
  

To sum it up, the 'Shell and Core' building concept is to plan, design and build the core (inside) building which is covered or surrounded by shell (perimeter). Once the core and shell building elements are constructed, the internal architectural elements can be taken up gradually and continually.

MAJOR ADVANTAGES OF 'SHELL & CORE' DESIGN and BUILD CONCEPT

Some of the major advantages of using the 'shell and core' concept are:

• speeds up the whole design & build process
  
• facilitates economic and fast track design and construction method that saves a lot of time, efforts, and thereby, cost
• helps in planning, designing and constructing building layouts that optimally utilizes the overall available space
  
• most importantly, results in development of Green Buildings that are not only environment friendly, but also use minimal energy on a sustained basis
• such designs are suited for commercial buildings the most, besides residential & multi-storied builds of course, since it allows the internal smaller unit hirer/ purchaser to plan, design and build their own dwellings capitalizing upon the green strategies and methodologies adopted and implemented by the main property developers. This is important, since the smaller players can use the technology and 'greener' advantages of the building without worrying about exorbitant costs that otherwise could have not let them to adopt methods underlying the important of 'going-green'
  

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Image sources: Image-1 (stephenson-ssc.co.uk) & Image-2 (jfe-steel.co.jp)