In construction, some things change, some stay the same

In The Ten Books on Architecture (also know as De architectura), Vitruvius (1st Century BC) complains about construction cost over-runs:

In the famous and important Greek city of Ephesus there is said to be an ancient ancestral law, the terms of which are severe, but its justice is not inequitable. When an architect accepts the charge of a public work, he has to promise what the cost of it will be. His estimate is handed to the magistrate, and his property is pledged as security until the work is done. When it is finished, if the outlay agrees with his statement, he is complimented by decrees and marks of honour. If no more than a fourth has to be added to his estimate, it is furnished by the treasury and no penalty is inflicted. But when more than one fourth has to be spent in addition on the work, the money required to finish it is taken from his property.  

Would to God that this were also a law of the Roman people, not merely for public, but also for private buildings. For the ignorant would no longer run riot with impunity, but men who are well qualified by an exact scientific training would unquestionably adopt the profession of architecture. Gentlemen would not be misled into limitless and prodigal expenditure, even to ejectments from their estates, and the architects themselves could be forced, by fear of the penalty, to be more careful in calculating and stating the limit of expense, so that gentlemen would procure their buildings for that which they had expected, or by adding only a little more. It is true that men who can afford to devote four hundred thousand to a work may hold on, if they have to add another hundred thousand, from the pleasure which the hope of finishing it gives them; but if they are loaded with a fifty per cent increase, or with an even greater expense, they lose hope, sacrifice what they have already spent, and are compelled to leave off, broken in fortune and in spirit.

From the translation by Professor Morris H Morgan (1855-1910).

New Vitruvian

For most of the twentieth century, architectural styles consisted of Modernism and Post Modernism.  Of course there were hangovers and hybrids from previous styles such as Arts & Crafts and Art Deco, and there were many variants such as Brutalism and Deconstructivism, but generally you can draw a line after WW1 and say 'This building is modern' (small m) or 'That building is old.'  Nobody is going to mistake a Baroque or Georgian or Victorian or Edwardian building for one built with the clean lines, curves and planes of the twentieth century.

St Pancras Railway Station (1868)
(Photo by Przsac)

Villa Savoye by Le Corbuiser (1931)
(Photo by Mary Anne Sullivan)

We could summarise Modernist and Post Modernist architecture as follows:

1. Modernism - 'Form follows function.'
2. Post Modernism - 'Function?  Who cares?' or perhaps 'The above, but with some decoration stuck on top.'

M2 Building by Kengo Kuma (1999)
(Photo by wiiii on Wikipedia)

This may sound harsh, because many architects still design in the post modern style (whether they admit it or not).  Post Modernism gives licence to designers to do pretty much whatever they want, which can be both good and bad.  Often it can leave the general public either in awe, or just deeply confused.  Here is a hotel I stayed at while in Abu Dhabi:

Hyatt Capital Gate (2010)
(Photo by FritzDaCat on Wikipedia)

Personally, I am generally 'in awe' of these sorts of buildings, but they can easily become a mess of awkward shapes and textures, aesthetically disjointed or with layouts that are impractical and inefficient.



Turning the clock a long way back, we come to Vitruvius (approx 80-70BC to 15AD).  He was an architect and engineer (civil and military) in the Roman Empire during the reign of Augustus.  We know about him primarily because of his book De Architectura, which was a 'how-to' guide written for Caesar on the nuts and bolts of building design but also town planning, music, civil engineering machines etc.

He is sometimes called the 'father of architecture', but this is mainly because his book survived.  Today he would probably be called a civil engineer rather than an architect, and definitely regarded as a polymath.  

He talks of the ancients (the Greeks) as the creators of the three orders of classical architecture (Doric, Ionic and Corinthian - yes, I know, there were five, but the other two came much later), so there must have been many people thinking about and designing buildings before him.

From Wikipedia

Classical architecture has been revived and revived again over the centuries.  Its elements only really disappeared with Modernism, and then made fleeting token appearances in Post Modern architecture (e.g. the M2 Building above, or those hollow round columns adorning McMansions and malls everywhere - more set scenery than architecture).  

The book itself is quite prescriptive; on materials, layouts, proportions, spacing of columns etc.  In some ways it is like a Roman building code.

But underlying De Architectura is a design philosophy summarised in three words: firmitas, utilitas and venustas or stability, utility and beauty.  They have at their root reflection of the natural environment (people, animals, the seasons etc).  The columns in a temple were based on the proportions of a standing person, and some buildings even had statues for columns.  This was a common theme in the religious beliefs of the time, when there was a strong link between the gods and the terrestrial, rather than the more ethereal concepts in monotheism that followed.

There is was also no prioritisation of these three values, as in Modernism - If you make it strong and useful it will be beautiful (hopefully).  Or as in Post Modernism - Make it beautiful (or weird, your choice), leave the strength and utility to the engineers to handle.

Maybe it is time for a new architectural style, post- post-modern.  One that values strength, usefulness and aesthetics equally, and fully.  One that is also integrally linked to the environment.  A New Vitruvian style! 

   

Today's fungi finds

The ducks are back, and follow me wherever I go...

...even while hunting for mushrooms (to look at, not to eat - I think most are poisonous.)

Things to do while convalescing Part 2

The danger of surfing Trade Me and other auction sites is that you might be temped to buy stuff.  Like this busted up old oak table - $20 - bargain!

It appears to be English, maybe 80-100 years old, so not really an 'antique' as such, but with a lot of potential.  It's currently more of a kitset than a table though.

The top is a collection of warped and mouldy planks - it appears that all of the animal hide glue joints have failed, possibly as a result of a trip in a very hot shipping container from Africa.  Hide glue does not like extreme heat and is the main reason why antiques can be repaired again and again (unlike modern furniture).

Some pieces have come off the turned legs, but fortunately they all seem to have been carefully collected and stored by the previous owner.

 The table once had a winding mechanism for extending it but that has disappeared.  Apart from that though, it looks like an excellent project for the future, when I eventually regain the use of my left hand.

Things to do while convalescing Part 1

I now have a fancy new semi-rigid cast on my writing hand:

In between answering work emails and watching the local wildlife go past...

... I've been teaching myself to write with my other hand.

The results are a bit patchy, but both speed and technique are improving slowly.

Really?

Adding insult to injury (literally), as I sat bandaged up on the sofa recovering from surgery, the cat got a fright from an imaginary threat and decided the best place to be was on top of my head.

 Not impressed at all.  She is currently felina non grata.

A box of silky and beech

Before going under the knife I made a small box for my lovely wife using some leftover Australian silky oak and New Zealand red beech.

 Hand cutting the dovetails and sanding the finished box put paid to any ideas of further woodworking projects until I can sort out the whole pain-in-the-ass hand issue.  An ass hand you say?  Why, that's a cross between a sawhorse and a hand plane of course.  Good for not much.

A short break in transmission

The lack of posts this year has only been partly due to an old (1986) injury, which has progressively got more and more painful until I decided I had to get something done with it, and voila!  Eight screws in the wrist:

The other reason has been a lack of time or inclination when there are other more pressing things to attend to.  But now I will be somewhat limited as far as work or recreation I have no excuses...

A thin veneer of success

Another Trade Me purchase a while ago was a small (600mm diameter) side table, advertised as 'solid mahogany', but with a damaged leather top.

When I picked it up it was immediately apparent that, although the legs looked mahogany-ish, the top was most definitely plywood.  A quick look at the underside revealed its provenance - made in England in the 1970's.  Oh well, after some negotiation I purchased it anyway for $30, with the aim to do 'something' with it.  Real leather for a replacement top seemed to be difficult to find in the sort of thickness I was after, so the table sat on top of a cupboard in the workshop for several months.

Then, on a visit to a specialty plywood merchant recently I noticed some leftover loose veneers of Sapele Pomelle or figured African Mahogany (Entandrophragma cylindricum) for sale for $3 each.  I bought three sheets, each one not quite big enough to cover the table top. 

These are modern machine peeled veneers, only 0.5mm thick and they were already starting to split, but maybe I could come up with an appealing pattern.

By the time I discarded the damaged and split pieces there was just enough for eight triangular sections.  Having never done any veneering before and not having access to a vacuum press or hide glue I though it would be a good learning exercise at the least.  I made up a board using 20mm MDF wrapped in kitchen paper to stop the glue adhering to it.

Then I glued the veneers using standard wood glue and placed the board on top, weighted it with a very flat paving stone and then clamped everything in place.

Unfortunately, as I suspected, the veneer wrinkled quite a bit due to the water content in the PVA glue.

To add to the problem, I managed to sand right through the wafer thin veneer in a couple of places in attempt to flatten out the wrinkles.

Next, the copper plated aluminium claw feet were pretty scruffy - bare patches of aluminium were showing through.  Based on my previous success re-plating the steel wardrobe handles I thought this would be an easy fix.

What I didn't count on was just how reactive aluminium is in a hydrochloric acid solution.  Adding insult to injury, two of the feet dropped off the wire hangers into the etching bath and by the time I fished them out the feet looked like this.

Never mind.  The table is still perfectly serviceable, even with its wrinkly top and missing feet.  Here it is with about six thin coats of shellac applied.

Not a complete success, but a great learning opportunity.

Bargain Wardrobe

As mentioned previously here, another oak wardrobe was purchased off Trade Me for $29 back in mid 2014.

It was a bargain, but not without issues.  The main one being either past or current borer activity.  There was no way to tell whether the little critters were still alive so it had a liberal application of permethrin and then spent the next year undercover (along with another piece with similar Swiss cheesiness).

With no sign of fresh activity, I began addressing some of the other issues.

Some new American oak trim was installed to match the existing (left hand side door jamb and bottom moulding in photo above).

A new plywood drawer bottom was cut to replace the ugly and broken modern pine one.

And while I was at it the drawer completely fell apart so it was re-glued.

Before

The copper plated steel hardware had completely lost its copper plate, so I thought I would have a go at re-plating it with a hydrochloric acid solution, some old copper wire and a 6V battery.

The 6V battery proved to be too vigorous and the copper did not deposit well, so I had another go with an AA battery (1.5V) and this worked just fine.

The result, while not completely uniform, was a great improvement.

After copper plating.

Next, the loose mirror was re-secured using small triangular section blocks as per the original.  I used a piece of polycarbonate to protect the mirror surface while tapping pins in.

A new plywood back for the mirror was fixed in place and stained to match the carcase.  Then all that was left to do was apply a few coats of shellac (orange shellac flakes mixed with methylated spirits and applied using a brush or 'rubber' (cotton wad wrapped in cloth).

The new wood came up ok, but I still haven't got the stain colour right (new jamb strip on the left, original one on the right, below).

Then there was the small logistical issue of how to get the wardrobe across the gravel driveway.  The cabriole legs prevented me from using the hand truck, but my shop dollies and a few offcuts of plywood smoothed the path so to speak.

The bargain $29 wardrobe now resides happily in our bedroom - allowing for labour, materials, electricity etc it only cost $6029!