Project Update 2

I've been in the midst of identifying a suitable material for the project and have come up with Accoya, an artificially modified wood that is durable, sustainable and highly resistant to exterior conditions including UV damage and insect attack. I contacted a representative and they were highly interested in the design and are willing to grant a sponsorship deal, however the materials that they are able to supply are only suitable for the roof pieces only. The seat pieces are far too large for the use of Accoya. 

As a result, we will most likely be using Accoya for the roof pieces only depending on a number of factors including the cost and the shipping time (Accoya is located in England). 

Another material that I have found; densified wood, appears to be much more suitable for the seat segments. These materials are available in 1000mm x 2000mm x 120mm thick sheets which is more than enough for what the project demands. The material is also available in Sydney unlike Accoya. We may end up using densified wood for the roof section as well depending on the outcome. 

I have also completed the calculation of the number of pieces and the rough dimensions. There are a total of 129 pieces in the design of which, 87 comprise the seats and 42 make up the roof canopy. 

The connection design for the seats is well under-way however we have little idea on how the roof comes together. The roof pieces themselves are significantly larger than the seats and are very thin. Fabricating them out of one solid piece is most likely out of the option as we would need a CNC bed capable of machining a 1880mm x 1400mm piece and there would also be a lot of materials wastage. 

Instead, I've created a design that allows a roof segment to be constructed out of 5 pieces. 

The pieces consist of:
1 vertical piece
1 large overhang piece
1 small overhang piece
and two 6mm thick metal plates fixing them all together.

I have since emailed John Carrick, a certified Engineer and Architecture lecturer at UNSW to critique this idea and give feedback on it's feasibility.

Major Design Alteration

A major component of the entire design has been found to actually be more complex than initially thought. The midsection of the original design had 4 completely unique different parts which means a massive increase in fabrication time. Initial thoughts on the design were that the entire midsection was the same.

After a few alterations, they have now been changed to just two unique middle sections, which cuts the model down from a total of 6 different modules to now just 4. This change affects the overall aesthetic form only slightly while drastically reducing fabrication  times and model complexity. 

Full Design File

I managed to finally locate the original Solidworks file used during the BEIL 2014 summer elective which contained the entire initial design. I have since however converted the file to a sketchup format since it's a program I'm much more familiar with.

I've since grouped and colour coded the appropriate modules and will commence a rough count of the amount of materials we shall need. As of today I've managed to secure the interests of a potential materials supplier (Accoya) and will be supplying them with more information including the full dimensions and materials of the materials we will need.

New Wiki and Group Blog

The wiki and group blogs are now up and running:

Bus Stop of the Future Wiki

Group Blog

Project Update

The group project is making solid progress. A preliminary connection design has been made and will be fine tuned over the coming days. A material has also been identified and I will be contacting suppliers and the company itself in the next few days. A sponsorship deal would be the most ideal situation (if the material fits our dimensions). 

The next couple of steps we absolutely have to finalise before anything else are as follows:

1. Redesign/reshape the bus stop to fit the AS 1428.2 standard. (There shouldn't be much to alter here.)

2. Redesign the now legal bus stop so that it stands up without toppling over, while still maintaining the standards.

Once we can get these out of the way, we can see what kind of material we're limited to, and also get a proper cost quote from material suppliers.

Bus Stop Guidelines and Standards

I managed to track down the standards/legal guidelines dictating bus stop design. These measurements and dimensions will play a major role in the formation of the final product.

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NSW State Transit Bus Infrastructure Guide (Section 3.1 Bus Stop Design Elements):

-Bus stops should be located on a straight section of roadway and therefore be built straight

-Bus stop furniture including seats and roof shelters cannot interfere with passenger movements on and off buses. They should be strategically placed in accordance to the specific locations of doors on buses.

-Standard Length buses are 12.5m long, with door positioning located at 0-2m and 6-8m of the 12.5 m length. Pictures below as shown (taken from NSW State Transit Bus Infrastructure Guide)

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AUSTRALIAN STANDARDS:


 AS1428.1-2009  Design for Access and Mobility (Part 1: General requirements for Access - New Building Work)
-6.2 Heights of a continuous accessible path of travel
The minimum unobstructed height of a continuous accessible path of travel shall be
2000 mm or 1980 mm at doorways.


 AS1428.2-1992  Design for Access and Mobility (Part 2: Enhanced and additional requirements - Buildings and facilities)
27.2 Seating in pedestrian areas

Notes 1. Seats should generally be 450mm high but where a proportion of elderly users are anticipated, heights up to 520mm are preferred. Children and small people may prefer seats as low as 350mm. Where possible, a range of seat heights should be provided.

-(a) The front of the seat shall have a clear space between any legs at ground level to within 150mm of the front edge of the seat, and to within 100mm of the seat height to allow for rearward adjustment of feet when rising

-(c) The front edge of the seat shall have a minimum radius of 30mm

-(d) No edge or projection shall have a radius of less than 5mm unless protected from contact with the user

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It has also been noted that there appears to be no dictating standard that limits the ultimate length of the bus stop, so long as it's size does not interfere with the egress and access of bus doors.

Sources:

State Transit Bus Infrastructure Guidlines

Sai Global - Standards On-Line

AS1428.1-2009 (Section 6 (Continuous Accessible Paths of Travel)
AS1428.2-1992 (Section 27 Street Furniture)

Gantt Chart, Time line and (rough) Project Plan

Created the Gantt chart, timeline and project plan for the group. Changes will most likely happen as things progress

Link to download:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/7rmm8j4d7l1w4aq/Gantt%20Chart%2C%20Time%20Line%20and%20Project%20Plan.zip

Week 1 Targeted CV

Page 1 of the CV. References are incomplete, I'll need to track down some more.

Link to download entire PDF: CV Arch 1392 download