10-04-2010, 03:41 AM
Dear George,
Regarding question on the similarity between space grid and shells, I guess the analogy lies in the calculation of space frame members using the membrane solution for shells. Imagine that if your unit grid becomes infinitesimal, you are approching a continuum. At the end of the day, it's only a member with either in tension or compression and how you re-orient your selected materials in the most economical way to obtain the lightest and perhaps most economical way.
Also with all due respect, you should slightly change a bit of the way you look at the thesis. I am pretty sure that there are quite an interesting aspect of architecture that you may overlook. I am also a structural engineer not an architecture but I think aesthete is as equally important as engineering. The client seems to put more focus on architecture and sometimes make us a non-entity but that's OK as long as they pay me the bill.
The most important when you start doing a Ph.D research, you need to beleive in what you are doing. Otherwise, you might end up struggling on the way. If you try to change the topic, you might also end up with an argument with your supervisor(s) or some of the committee members and end up in troubles. Politics is alway there. If this happened, you could end up losing your valuable time and effort without getting your degree that you are aiming for.
Anyway, good luck with that. I'm pretty sure that you can make it.
Regarding question on the similarity between space grid and shells, I guess the analogy lies in the calculation of space frame members using the membrane solution for shells. Imagine that if your unit grid becomes infinitesimal, you are approching a continuum. At the end of the day, it's only a member with either in tension or compression and how you re-orient your selected materials in the most economical way to obtain the lightest and perhaps most economical way.
Also with all due respect, you should slightly change a bit of the way you look at the thesis. I am pretty sure that there are quite an interesting aspect of architecture that you may overlook. I am also a structural engineer not an architecture but I think aesthete is as equally important as engineering. The client seems to put more focus on architecture and sometimes make us a non-entity but that's OK as long as they pay me the bill.
The most important when you start doing a Ph.D research, you need to beleive in what you are doing. Otherwise, you might end up struggling on the way. If you try to change the topic, you might also end up with an argument with your supervisor(s) or some of the committee members and end up in troubles. Politics is alway there. If this happened, you could end up losing your valuable time and effort without getting your degree that you are aiming for.
Anyway, good luck with that. I'm pretty sure that you can make it.