Edge of the Grid: Defining Wellington’s Edge through Intensification

<p><b>The concept of growth limits is reoccurring within city theory. If city growth is constrained, then denser development patterns must be used. Contemporary theory on city form is centred on arguments for more sustainable cities, so methods of densification must be sustainable. Very little work in the field of architecture or urban design has been done to investigate the potential of defining the edge to the city through built form. None has been found that translates the edge of a green-belted city into a built form.</b></p> <p>Therefore, this thesis suggests that in some cases, defining the edge of a green-belted city through built form is a logical step to take in the evolution of these cities. The greenbelt is a widely used tool in cities around the world and has been implemented in various ways. In order to produce a site-specific response to the edge condition created by greenbelt and city, the design is located in Wellington. Wellington is highlighted as an unusual case for the relationship between city and greenbelt for two reasons.</p> <p>The first is that the Wellington Outer Green Belt, formally established in 2004, has grown from a public desire to have a continuous network of recreational tracks running the length of the western edge of the city and protecting the highly valued visual amenity of ridgelines and hilltops. This is opposed to cities which have implemented greenbelts primarily to constrict growth. The second, closely connected to the first, is that the greenbelt boundary has largely been influenced by topographical constraints on settlement patterns and is not an arbitrary planning gesture.</p> <p>Wellington is also unusual because of the inclusion of a town belt in the original colonial layout of the city in 1841. The belt has survived largely intact, and can provide insight into the nature of city growth up against a green edge. This thesis aims to draw together two aspects of city form; the relationship between greenbelt and city and the understanding that denser, intensified settlement patterns provide a more ecological form and therefore poses the hypothesis that defining the edge of the city through intensification can contribute to an ecological city form.</p>

Edge of the Grid: Defining Wellington’s Edge through Intensification

<p><b>The concept of growth limits is reoccurring within city theory. If city growth is constrained, then denser development patterns must be used. Contemporary theory on city form is centred on arguments for more sustainable cities, so methods of densification must be sustainable. Very little work in the field of architecture or urban design has been done to investigate the potential of defining the edge to the city through built form. None has been found that translates the edge of a green-belted city into a built form.</b></p> <p>Therefore, this thesis suggests that in some cases, defining the edge of a green-belted city through built form is a logical step to take in the evolution of these cities. The greenbelt is a widely used tool in cities around the world and has been implemented in various ways. In order to produce a site-specific response to the edge condition created by greenbelt and city, the design is located in Wellington. Wellington is highlighted as an unusual case for the relationship between city and greenbelt for two reasons.</p> <p>The first is that the Wellington Outer Green Belt, formally established in 2004, has grown from a public desire to have a continuous network of recreational tracks running the length of the western edge of the city and protecting the highly valued visual amenity of ridgelines and hilltops. This is opposed to cities which have implemented greenbelts primarily to constrict growth. The second, closely connected to the first, is that the greenbelt boundary has largely been influenced by topographical constraints on settlement patterns and is not an arbitrary planning gesture.</p> <p>Wellington is also unusual because of the inclusion of a town belt in the original colonial layout of the city in 1841. The belt has survived largely intact, and can provide insight into the nature of city growth up against a green edge. This thesis aims to draw together two aspects of city form; the relationship between greenbelt and city and the understanding that denser, intensified settlement patterns provide a more ecological form and therefore poses the hypothesis that defining the edge of the city through intensification can contribute to an ecological city form.</p>

Architecture's Tightrope - Investigating an Alternative Trajectory for Critical Architecture: Critical Spatial Practices and a Polycontextual Engagement with an Urban Thick Edge Condition

<p>This thesis investigation engages two contemporary interrelated problems – one theoretical and one practical – both of which are interrogated, interwoven and tested through a critical lens. The theoretical context framing the design-research reconsiders the vitality of ‘critical architecture’ in relation to contemporary discourse, in particular, the so-called ‘crisis of criticality’ and the implications of this ideological landscape within the built environment. Foregrounding a position to test this theoretical framing, the practical context of the design-research is distinctly urban – engaging one of the contemporary negative outcomes of rapid urbanisation. The practical problem investigates the ‘thick edges’ (places of singular and/or impermeable identities) that manifest around and below new urban motorway infrastructural developments, a condition that creates barriers to cultural, social and spatial flows between communities in urban settings. This thesis argues that by engaging with the complex and multiple cultural conditions of urban sites, the rigidity and singular nature of these impermeable thick edge spaces can be opened to diverse flows relating to multiple contexts. Through processes of design intervention, the thesis proposes a ‘polycontextual’ approach to introduce flows of wider contextual dimensions within an urban site – promoting architectural solutions that blur, fray and punctuate thick edges by developing them as threshold conditions between adjacencies. The theoretical problem analyses the limitations of both the autonomous and post-critical positions; this thesis argues that an alternative trajectory for a contemporary critical architecture has emerged, one that may be used as a theoretical framework for resolving urban thick edge conditions. Jane Rendell, Kim Dovey and Murray Fraser reveal a trajectory to shift architectural practices towards positive and flexible modes of production whilst simultaneously opposing the insufficient positions of the post-critical. They posit that architecture remains an inherently cultural proposition – created through constructive ‘relays’ that can mediate between theory and design – elucidating strategies of resistance through an engagement with practices that are both critical and spatial. Jane Rendell further argues that strategies for such ‘critical spatial practices’ can be elucidated through an examination of processes that are: site-specific, socio-spatial, and temporal. Adopting these three categories as the theoretical framework of this thesis focuses the design-research, implicating critical spatial practices as a contemporary and alternative position for critical architectural production - providing a framework for positive and critical positions in current discourse. In response to this two-fold investigation, the thesis tests a synthesis of critical spatial practices and a polycontextual approach through strategic designresearch propositions. Architecture’s Tightrope proposes a multifunctional events facility that permanently supports the New Zealand International Arts Festival, and the structuration of a dynamic, relational and non-deterministic public space. The primary aims of this thesis are: to test a contemporary critically engendered framework for architectural design-research that is both culturally and formally negotiated; and to investigate the potential for this framework to invert the negative conditions of urban thick edges through an engagement with multiple contexts.</p>

Architecture's Tightrope - Investigating an Alternative Trajectory for Critical Architecture: Critical Spatial Practices and a Polycontextual Engagement with an Urban Thick Edge Condition

<p>This thesis investigation engages two contemporary interrelated problems – one theoretical and one practical – both of which are interrogated, interwoven and tested through a critical lens. The theoretical context framing the design-research reconsiders the vitality of ‘critical architecture’ in relation to contemporary discourse, in particular, the so-called ‘crisis of criticality’ and the implications of this ideological landscape within the built environment. Foregrounding a position to test this theoretical framing, the practical context of the design-research is distinctly urban – engaging one of the contemporary negative outcomes of rapid urbanisation. The practical problem investigates the ‘thick edges’ (places of singular and/or impermeable identities) that manifest around and below new urban motorway infrastructural developments, a condition that creates barriers to cultural, social and spatial flows between communities in urban settings. This thesis argues that by engaging with the complex and multiple cultural conditions of urban sites, the rigidity and singular nature of these impermeable thick edge spaces can be opened to diverse flows relating to multiple contexts. Through processes of design intervention, the thesis proposes a ‘polycontextual’ approach to introduce flows of wider contextual dimensions within an urban site – promoting architectural solutions that blur, fray and punctuate thick edges by developing them as threshold conditions between adjacencies. The theoretical problem analyses the limitations of both the autonomous and post-critical positions; this thesis argues that an alternative trajectory for a contemporary critical architecture has emerged, one that may be used as a theoretical framework for resolving urban thick edge conditions. Jane Rendell, Kim Dovey and Murray Fraser reveal a trajectory to shift architectural practices towards positive and flexible modes of production whilst simultaneously opposing the insufficient positions of the post-critical. They posit that architecture remains an inherently cultural proposition – created through constructive ‘relays’ that can mediate between theory and design – elucidating strategies of resistance through an engagement with practices that are both critical and spatial. Jane Rendell further argues that strategies for such ‘critical spatial practices’ can be elucidated through an examination of processes that are: site-specific, socio-spatial, and temporal. Adopting these three categories as the theoretical framework of this thesis focuses the design-research, implicating critical spatial practices as a contemporary and alternative position for critical architectural production - providing a framework for positive and critical positions in current discourse. In response to this two-fold investigation, the thesis tests a synthesis of critical spatial practices and a polycontextual approach through strategic designresearch propositions. Architecture’s Tightrope proposes a multifunctional events facility that permanently supports the New Zealand International Arts Festival, and the structuration of a dynamic, relational and non-deterministic public space. The primary aims of this thesis are: to test a contemporary critically engendered framework for architectural design-research that is both culturally and formally negotiated; and to investigate the potential for this framework to invert the negative conditions of urban thick edges through an engagement with multiple contexts.</p>

Modal Characterization of Sandwich Skew Plates

The current work focuses on the experimental and finite element free vibration studies of laminated composite sandwich skew plates. The comparison was made between the experimental values obtained by the Fast Fourier transform (FFT) analyzer and a finite element solution obtained from CQUAD8 finite element of The MacNeal-Schwendler Corporation (MSC) / NASA STRucture Analysis (NASTRAN) software. The influence of parameters such as aspect ratio (AR) (a/b), skew angle (α), edge condition, laminate stacking sequence, and fiber orientation angle (θ°) on the natural frequencies of sandwich skew plates was studied. The values obtained by both the finite element and experiment approaches are in good agreement. The natural frequencies increase with an increase in the skew angle for all given ARs.

Femtosecond Laser Trimming with Simultaneous Nanostructuring to Fine Piercing Punch to Electrical Amorphous Steel Sheets

A CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) diamond coated tungsten carbide (WC) and cobalt (Co) sintered alloy punch was trimmed by the femtosecond laser machining to sharpen its edge with about 2 μm and to simultaneously make nanostructuring to its side surface. In addition to the sharpened edge, its edge profile was formed to be homogeneous enough to reduce the damage layer width by piercing the electrical amorphous steel sheet stack. Each brittle sheet in the stacked work was damaged to have three kinds of defects by piercing; e.g., the droop-like cracking in the thickness and at the vicinity of hole, the wrinkling in peak-to-valley with partial cracking on the peaks, and the circumferential cracking. When using the WC (Co) punch with the inhomogeneous edge profile in the sharpened edge width, these three damages were induced into each sheet and the maximum damage width exceeded 80 μm. When using the punch with the sharpened edge and homogeneous edge profile, the wrinkling mode was saved and the total affected layer width was significantly reduced to less than 20 μm. Through the precise embossing experiments, this effect of punch edge profile condition to the induced damages was discussed with a statement on the nanostructuring effect on the reduction of damaged width in electrical amorphous steel sheets. The developed tool with the sharpened edge and homogenous edge condition contributes to the realization of a low iron loss motor with a reduced affected layer width.

Experimental tests of PVD AlCrN-coated planer knives on planing Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) under industrial conditions

Raw pine wood processing and especially its mechanical processing constitute a significant share among technological operations leading to obtaining a finished product. Stable implementation of machining operations, ensuring long-term repeatable processing results depends on many factors, such as quality and invariability of raw material, technical condition of technological equipment, adopted parameters of work, qualifications and experience of operators, as well as preparation and properties of the machining tools used. It seems that the greatest potential in the search for opportunities to increase the efficiency of machining operations has the modification of machining tools used in it. This paper presents the results of research work aimed at determining how the life of cutting tools used in planing operations of wet pine wood is affected by the application of chromium aluminum nitride (AlCrN) coating to planar industrial planing knives in the process of physical vapour deposition. For this purpose operational tests were carried out under production conditions in a medium-sized wood processing company. The study compares the effective working time, rounding radius, the profile along the knife (size of worn edge displacement, wear area of the cutting edge), selected texture parameters of the planar industrial planing knife rake face and visual analyses of cutting edge condition of AlCrN-coated planar knives and unmodified ones. The obtained experimental results showed the possibility of increasing the life of AlCrN-coated knives up to 154% compared to the results obtained with uncoated ones. The proposed modification of the operational features of the knives does not involve any changes in the technological process of planing, does not require any interference with the machining station nor its parameters, therefore enabling rapid and easy implementation into industrial practice.