The Detailing of Industrial Architecture

Over the years we have had an involvement in many different fields of architecture, one of these is the industrial sector. It may not have the appeal of working with historical buildings or the higher specification of materials and costs of leisure or retail, but it still requires care and precision. Many of the challenges are the detailing of fire walls, the coordination of process equipment and services together with the requirements of the structural engineer.

The tried and tested method of sketching still works, forming the link between the disciplines and giving an indication of the implications of requirements. Below are a small selection of sketches for recent projects we have been working on with a client.

Composite fire wall detailing at column splice positions 

Detailing of a removable concrete push wall (cladding above must remain in place

Steel corbel penetrations through a fire wall (fire wall is also an insulated thermal wall for an adjoining office)

Sketch detail of insulated cladding on steel frame sitting on insitu concrete wall

Strengthening the Handrails

sketch 1 existing

Back in the spring of this year I received an e-mail from a client (also a good friend for many years) asking for help. I had been out of contract with my client for a while, but he felt I might be well placed to try and help solve a problem or two on a project which had come off track. The following evening I arrived at his home to find a tired and stressed soul in need of a little help & support. After a chat and a catch up to lighten the atmosphere we began the work of following the paper trail to find out what had gone wrong & what could be done to put it right. I don't intend to go into the contractual issues here or begin pointing the finger of blame, instead I will focus on the issues of detailing and sketching which helped resolve the problem.

A balustrade surrounding a timber deck was simply not strong enough to suit its purpose, I was asked if I would take a trip up to site to have a look at what exactly had been built and put together some sketches to suggest a way of correcting things before producing a set of full working details. The project engineer had offered to make himself available to contribute to problem solving, between us we felt confident we could find a way forward. I was also asked to be discrete whilst onsite and avoid any heated debates with the contractor or destructive testing as things were somewhat tense!

The first sketch highlights what had been built & point out some elements to be removed and checked to investigate further. The balustrade appeared not to have been engineered and aspects such as the blocking timbers between the joists were missing, fixings were inadequate or into the end grain of the timber, the steel stems had also been drilled and tapped into the timbers without appropriate fixings. The end result was the handrail had significant movement when pushed and could actually be lifted off the balustrade by the lightest of taps.

sketch 2 possible solution

The second sketch shows an initial suggestion of replacing the timber balustrades with steel units, adding in the blocking timbers and an improved fixing plate to get a better fixing. The intention was to recycle as much as possible, but bring in additional strength. After another meeting with my client he decided to play safe and provide an even more robust detail by taking the steel shs uprights down to localised pad footings and replace almost all of the rail saving only the infill bars to avoid any chance of movement in the rail and ensure the end user/project client could let out his building with full confidence. We agreed the fixing details, sizes and centres with the engineer and produced an A1 sheet of full working details by the end of the following weekend to pass onto a specialist balustrade contractor to begin ordering and working to.

The end result was the balustrade was erected in time and the first visitors to rent out the lodge were unaware of the proceeding flurry of work and could enjoy their holiday in blissful ignorance.

Before

After

Sketching the Records Office.

When it comes to setting up perspectives for potential buildings and projects, there are a couple of methods for achieving this. The old fashioned approach is to set it up onto a drawing board, arrange the plan and elevations with a view point and vanishing points and begin to start projecting lines to form a framework to develop and work from. The other is to model the building in 3D and use this as a basis to work from, adding character and detail to the accuracy of the precision of the computer generated perspective.

I have used both techniques on a number of occasions, however once in a while time is against the preferred flow of work and a faster technique is needed. One such project in Matlock needed a quickly produced perspective to allow it to be taken to a planning committee meting. With no time for a set up and the client asking me to ensure the dates were met, I was instructed to sketch it up as best I could. Fortunately the elevation was not too complex and armed with a photo, plans, sections and elevations I set about the task.

This Sunday on the way back from looking at a new project with Colin of Green Igloo, I was able to detour and take a look at the recently finished building. I was keen to know how accurate the sketch was, attached are the image and the sketch. I was quite relived. Many of the internal details and sketches I was also involved in were far more complex. Allowing for Passivhaus type insulation, air sealing and ventilation, together with a heavily fire protected concrete structure capable of taking large loads. All in all the simple external appearance hides the complexity within, but it was a rewarding project to be involved in.

The building is for the safe storage of historical & local documents by the staff of Derbyshire Records Office

Architect: Derbyshire Corporate Property (Richard Lomas heading up the team, Andy Elliot of DCC & Al Whittle from Element Detailing assisting)

Engineers: Derbyshire Corporate Property (John Lawrence, Robert Moss & Keith, mastering the calculations)
M&E: Derbyshire Corporate Property (Dave Cox, John Hampson & Marc Routledge)

Contractor: Wates (Bill & Lorraine keeping things on track)

Above are a couple of the technical sketches I developed for detailing the service area and waterproofing.

(Blog post by Al)