Video From the Inside!

Video of the roof structure from inside the British Museum

Click the link below to see the video.

http://youtu.be/QiPwK4ioeFY

Geometry at the Olympic Stadium and British Museum

British Museum - Roof Structure

3,312 unique triangular double-glazed panels

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

Great and masterful thought went into the design of this park with the end product being a large scale community development.  Great attention went into the environmental clean up process prior to construction due to the current conditions of the area.  In addition to the unique structures on site, the landscaping alone was a phenomenal feat.  Sustainability and longevity drove the layout of this urban development.

                    Velodrome - Indoor Cycling Center

Roof contains water collection system and solar panels.

Designed to be the fastest track in the world by tailoring the geometry, setting the internal temperature high, and creating still conditions inside to help break records.  The floor was constructed of Siberian pine and the stadium designed to give cyclists a constant sound all the way around the track.

 The Orbit

The mayor wanted a structure that was BIG and people could see from a distance.

Aquatic Swim Center

Architect:  Zaha Hadid

A concept inspired by the fluid geometry of water in motion. 

Cafe

Cafe made out of shipping crates near the Olympic Park. 

A picture is worth a thousand words

As the Irish say....And So We Did.

Our time in Dublin is quickly coming to an end. We have seen so many great examples of Euclidean geometry within architecture and have a discussed in detail numerous ways we can use what we have learned in our classrooms this coming year! We are off to London tomorrow, and our schedule is jam-packed. We don't think we'll be able to post daily, but we will try our best. :)

By the way - we happened upon this game in the middle of the city today.  Who can guess what it is?!?!? :)

All in a day

Today on our walking tours throughout Dublin, we witnessed the convergence of traditional with contemporary architecture.  This was most evident with the Dublin castle still standing amidst numerous contemporary buildings.  Many times we encourage students to observe their surroundings and design with harmony in mind, Dublin provides a stark contrast to this idea. 

 

 
We were also super excited when the guard at the Dublin Convention Center granted us special access to document the architectural elements within the building!  The building was truly inspiring and difficult to capture the details with our cameras.  However, we documented what we could in photos and took the rest in by experiencing the magnificent space inside and noted the features that made that space distinct.

 

 
A clear example of hyperbolic geometry was discovered within the structure of a modern-looking bridge, and an elliptical conic section was evident in the shape of a roof on a modern apartment building. We noted multiple uses of reflection, rotational, and translational symmetry in various features along with an example of random pattern in the rooftop of a large bank.

 

 

We spent a good amount of time looking at the Samuel Beckett and Sean O'Casey Bridges.  We were in awe of the magnitude of the Samuel Beckett bridge with its contemporary design.  More thought went into the design and its relationship to the structural loads being distributed as the Beckett bridge is a modern take on the traditional suspension bridge.  We also found a couple old draw bridges which didn't seem to be in use any more.  We discovered one was built in 1912, and we found it very interesting to examine its features and imagine how it was once used.

  

All About Castles

Today we were able to see behind the walls of two famous castles: Cashel and Blarney. It was very impressive to see these massive structures and study the features and details of each. We observed first-hand the crenellations on the castle walls and the murder hole hidden within. As we have both completed castle projects with our students, it was exciting to see these features in existing remnants of castles. It brought so much more meaning behind the architectural elements required in our students' castle designs and the purpose behind the castle walls. We realize we will be able to elaborate so much more in exploring these concepts with our students next year.

 

Throughout our journey today, we also noticed the doors of Dublin and the multiple uses of bridges through the city. As discussed in detail in the architecture class, the use of significant entrances was clearly observed with the doors of Dublin.

 

In addition, much discussion was noted about the various types of bridges and their uses. We are now noticing bridges throughout the city and countryside which has inspired thoughts of a project in the geometry class tying together the selected geometry and the function of each bridge.