Subject: Building Techniques and Materials

Building Technology Site Visit Report

Lingnan College, Tuen Mun

By Joseph Chong Hok Ching h9511247

I. Notes

1. The entrance ¾ the ceiling of the entrance is covered with 600m*600m of aluminium coated boards. This kind of board is specially designed for external use. This kind of boards can withstand weathering while still having a reasonable smooth and pleasant appearance. Moreover, the light gray color of the board also match with the overall dark gray color of the entrance.

 

2. The covered walkway ¾ it is mainly supported by I beams and columns, and is built with fair face concrete. Plaster is not applied to the ceiling because think layer may fall off. Expansion joints are constructed every 10m to allow expansion and contraction of the cover.

 

3. The garden ¾ the finishings of paving are triangular or hexagonal artificial stone plates/tiles which are arranged in different patterns. Grasses can grow between the gaps between adjacent tiles. Planters in the garden are built with real stones. The roof of the pavilion is covered with traditional Chinese tiles. The overall arrangement of the garden gives a pleasant feeling and bring out an atmosphere of Chinese culture.

 

4. External walls ¾ external walls are mostly finished with tiles. For every area of 20m² there is a finish expansion joint to allow the tiles to expand and contract. This prevents the tiles from cracking and falling off.

 

5. Central square ¾ ground is mainly covered with pre-cast artificial stone tiles. There are mainly three types of color of them, i.e. light brown, gray and cream.

b. Internal

1. The gymnasium ¾ There is skylight on the top of the path leading to the gymnasium. The glass panels on the western side are etched in order to block out the sunlight. Transparent glass panels are installed on the other side. The flooring of the gymnasium is called "rensinbond". It is made of artificial, cheap and inert material when compared with timber. Although the bouncing property of that material is not as good as maple, only a certain degree of expansion and contraction is expected. Risk of cracking is lowered even when the air conditioning is turned off. Moreover, this kind of material has high resistance to pests such as termites. Maintenance cost is therefore reduced.

 

1. The library ¾ wooden louvers are used in the library in order to block out the western sunlight since large glass claddings are used for natural light to come in. Marble and glass blocks are used as flooring materials.

2.1 Choice of building elements to make up building components like flooring, roofing, window, door, external wall etc.

• The main building of Lingnan College has a flat roof. However, the other buildings used for teaching have pitched eaves in four directions. The eaves overhang above the external wall and are covered with brown tiles.

• There is an external staircase in each academic building. Glass panels are used as shading device and protect people against rain.

• There are different types of windows. Most of them have thick brown aluminum lattice.

• Skylights are built in some buildings, e.g. in the library and in the sports center. In the library, the north side of the skylight is covered with translucent glass.

• There is an external covered walkway. It is made up of reinforced concrete with wood strips along its two sides as sun shading device.

• Different types of doors are used. The entrance to the library is a glass curtain wall with glass doors in the middle. Some other rooms have doors made of plywood.

• The external wall is mainly covered with cream coloured tiles. Moreover, there are brown strips of square rubbled artificial granite stone wraping around the wall, one at the base and the other at 3/4 mid height.

2.2 Performance for building components to meet actual usage.

• The top of the main building is used for sports activities such as tennis courts. The overhang pitches eaves of other buildings can prevent rain water from flowing down the external wall. Moreover, it can give better sun shading to the floor below.

• The glass panels in the external staircases can give some sun shading and protect users against rain. However, when the rain is heavy, people inside still get wet.

• Aluminium windows have neat appearance and free from maintenance. The lattice give rhyme to all the buildings.

• Skylights give pleasing illumination to interior space. The skylight in the library having translucent glass facing north side can reduce glare in the library in summer.

• The external covered walkway give much benefit to people both in rainy and sunny days. However due to poor workmanship, cracks are developed. Moreover, the wood strips can not give any sun shading and its appearance does not look good as wood deteriorates.

• Tiles of different colours give pleasing pattern to the central square. However, it gave burden to the workers and some of the details are not worked so well.

• Elastic flooring in the sports centre is comfortable to user’s feet during sports activities. Marble and glass block flooring in library give magnificent feeling and allow sunlight to pass into lower floors.

• Different doors have different function. For example the glass entrance of the library is welcoming.

• Tiles on the surface of the external wall protects the wall from rain. Moreover, grey strips of granite stones give pleasing elevation to the buildings.

Building Joints

3.1 Joints between floor & wall, roof & external wall, window & external wall, ceiling and wall etc.

• Overhang eaves are supported by eaves soffits which penetrate out the external wall.

3.2 Joints within building components.

• Glass is fixed with silicone based sealant in windows.

• For external ground flooring, tiles are laid onto a base of cement and sand screeding .

• In the covered walkway, wood strips are jointed to a larger piece of wood by steel angles. Then the wood is jointed to the I beam along the cover of the walkway.

3.3 Joints between different finishing materials

1. Silicone sealant and backing rod are used between finishing materials.

Design for Disabled

The architect admitted that not many considerations for the disabled are put into the design. Special equipment, such as Braille tiles or double hand-rails are not provided for the blind people. Most of the ramps are provided only in open spaces and they are concentrated around the covered walkway. Number of lifts is limited due to the design concept that young people should have more exercises (to climb stairs instead of using lift). This creates difficulties for the physically disabled. The overall accessibility for the disabled is poor, especially for the access within the buildings.

Techniques in construction

• The flooring of the open space ¾ the flooring of the open space is made with concrete. In order to simulate the texture of natural stone, moulds of different sizes are used to create the various sizes and textures of the flooring.
• The flooring of the covered walkway ¾ this flooring is composed of cement and pebbles. The pebbles are mixed between the cement and allowed to settle.
• The flooring of the gymnasium ¾ a buffer space is present below the actual flooring material. This buffer space enhances the bouncing property of the flooring material so as to give more protection to the feet of the users.