Igloos - an Inspiration

The igloo could be earliest form of the monolithic dome. It is an efficient structure - with the spherical section you get to enclose the home with the minimum amount of material. The natural strength of the arc carries the roof.

And it makes use of a material that is easily found.


wikimedia.org

The Mellon Arena is an indoor arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is also informally known as ‘The Igloo’. This arena has a special dome where 6 stainless steel arc panels retract to form an outdoor venue.


www.alongdrive.com

Another example is Our Lady of Victory Roman Catholic Church also known as the ‘Igloo Church’ in Inuvik, Canada. The church is built on permafrost and in order to avoid the layer of ice from melting, a double layer shell is placed on top of a gravel-filled saucer-like structure that is set into the ground.

Contributed by Kim Casey

Inside the Igloo

As a snow storm rages outside, the Inuits stay warm and cozy in an igloo. This remarkable phenomenon is due to the way the igloo was built. An igloo can be divided into 3 levels which are the floor level, the subterranean level and an iqliq which is a raised platform of same width with the dome of the igloo.



A tunnel is made accessible to the inside of an igloo and must be lower than the floor level. This is because the cold air that enters the tunnel will stay in the tunnel and will not be able to enter the igloo as cold air sinks and hot air rises. Sometimes, the tunnel entrance may be accessed by a subterranean channel or by an angled tunnel. The opening however is ensured to be small to reduce the possibility of cold air from entering once the snow block or bear-skin door is opened.

To keep warm, some Inuit groups line the inside of the igloo with caribou hides for better heat insulation. With the addition of blubber lamps, bodyheat and a stove for making tea, the internal temperature of an igloo can hit 15.5°C or more even though the outside temperature may be -40°C.


Paul Oliver

In order to avoid the cold, the Inuit family will sit on the iqliq with their backs to the wall and legs extended but not overhanging. This platform will also be covered with moss and sealskins or hides to ensure warmth.

Contributed by Kim Casey
Reference: Paul Oliver, "Dwellings", Phaidon Press, 2003

The Inuit Igloo

www.alaska-in-pictures.com

The igloo is an intriguing structure made from thick slabs of tightly packed, dry snow. It forms the shape of a dome that, amazingly, is able to stand without additional support or the probability of caving in. It is a normal dwelling place of the Inuits during the winter season. The building of an igloo requires skill, a lot of energy and a large knife or a snow saw, known as an orsulung. It can be built from the outside but is said to be preferred form the inside, especially during a blizzard. A snow slab varies in measurements, depending on the size of the igloo.


wikipedia.org

First, a few snow blocks similar in size are arranged in a circle with enough space for habitation and a gap for the entrance. The first layer is then cut in a slight upward and inward curve to enable a continuous build of a dome shape. The last block, also known as the key block, which would be placed on top of the igloo, must initially be larger than the hole for it to be placed topside down. The completed igloo is powdered with snow to seal any gaps and a few ventilation holes are made. Inside the igloo, a lower level and a tunnel is cut out to prevent the cold air from entering.


Paul Oliver, "Dwellings", Phaidon Press, 2003

The thawing and freezing of the snow on the igloo will form a smooth layer of ice, making the structure stronger.

Contributed by Kim Casey

The Interior Design of a Quadruplex House

This is an early proposal by my colleague Zaman. It is the quadruplex at the hillside Honeycomb project in Johor Baru.


SLIDESHOW

What do you think?

An Escher Tessellation

This is a detail copied from a print by Dutch artist M.C.Escher. It's an interlocking pattern of the weird shapes of a fish and a bird. Looks like a complicated creation, doesn't it?



Yet you can also see it a regular pattern of diamond shaped polygons (or trapeziums). And there are two basic patterns: one dominated by the black fish pattern, and the other dominated by the image of the white bird (or is it a fish with wings?).



Each of these patterns can be thought of as a tile; the complete images of the bird or fish are formed only when the tiles are placed next to each other.



The effect of arranging these tiles together is shown here. This process is called tiling, or tessellation.



Thanks to my son, Nazri, who produced the GIF images

Lamp Posts in Malaysia

libromanic.com

The most beautiful lamp posts in Malaysia can be said to be found in the new administrative capital of Putrajaya. It appears as if every road there must have lamp posts with its own distinctive design.


polytikus.com

But the signature lamp posts along with the signature bridges and buildings, do not make this new city a place that I would like to live in (even if I could afford to buy a decent house there)!


www.daylife.com

For me, the most interesting lamposts are along the Middle Ring Road, alongside Taman Melawati.

On my way home from monthly trips to Kuantan, usually just before dusk, I always look out for big birds that like to perch on the lamp posts along a 2 to 3 kilometer stretch of this road. And I've wondered about them for a long time...


Ani Mardiastuti

Yesterday was Labour Day holiday. On a family outing to the zoo, I've discovered that they are Milky Storks or 'Burung Upeh Botak' (bald upeh bird). There was a large flock of them on an island in the zoo's lake. They are not fenced in, so sometimes they fly out.

"The globally threatened Milky Stork 'Mycteria cinerea' faces extinction in the wild in Malaysia, according to Yeap Chin Aik of the Malaysian Nature Society.
The species is a predominantly a coastal resident in Indonesia and Malaysia, inhabiting mangroves and adjacent swamps.....(but) these tidal forests are threatened by agricultural conversion and development schemes, particularly large-scale fish farms, tidal rice cultivation, logging and related disturbance".

www.birdlife.org

This bit of information makes me more eager to look out for these birds anytime I'm in the neighbourhood!

Detached Honeycomb Houses

Detached houses (Single Family Homes in the US, bungalows in Malaysia) can be arranged in hexagonal grids too. The basic module is a triangle comprising a private garden in the backyard, the house itself with agarage at the side, the driveway and frontyard, the pedestrian footpath, the road and a small public green area.



These houses have narrow fronts, but have wide backyards. All houses face a courtyard with a small green area in the middle - small but big enough for a large tree.







Four houses are arranged around each courtyard; the courtyards are then layed out on a triangular grid to create a neighbourhoods.



The houses here are quite small. The building setbacks are below Malaysian standards for individual land titles, but they're ok for group or 'strata' titles.