Arch 150 Problem Set 1: SF MoMA

Arch 150 | Fall 2024

Problem Set 1: SF MoMA

Due: Monday, September 9th | Maximum Points: 100 | This homework assignment is to be solved individually.

Introductory Task 1a: Geometry: Find the resultant of two forces and complete the force diagram (5pt)

Introductory Task 1b: Find the resultant of multiple forces and complete the force diagram (5pt)

Task 2: Geometry and Stability (40pt)

In 2015 Richard Serra debuted his new sculpture at MoMA in New York titled “Equal”. The museum and the visitors love it so much that Serra has been given the chance to create a new sculpture for SF MoMA. His new work, titled “Shifted”, will consist of stacked boxes in different dimensions and materials and open up to the public next year. After seeing Serra’s first sketch of the project, the curator at SF MoMA contacts you to take a look and sign off on the construction. Please make sure the sculpture is stable and does not put any visitors or art handlers at risk.

The specification of the boxes are the following: Steel: Thickness 2 inches, Concrete fully cast, Timber thickness 4 inches.

2.1 How heavy are each of the boxes (in lb) ? (7.5pt)

2.2 Is the structure stable? Please provide a graphical proof (10pt)

Hint: use the provided drawing below to construct a resultant vector

The museum director is outraged and threatens to cancel the show. After talking to the artist, he gives in to slightly changing the sculpture. At your next meeting with the museum director, you present three options. Create a drawing and a graphical proof of the resultants for each:

2.3 Option 1: Move the boxes around slightly to make the structure stable. (7.5pt)

2.4 Option 2: Changing and swapping the materials of the boxes. Use welding to connect adjacent steel boxes or steel brackets to connect boxes of different materials (If so please indicate in your drawing). (7.5pt)

2.5 Option 3: change the dimensions of the top box. (7.5pt)

Task 3: Sizing in tension (50pt)

In 2024 Damián Ortega had a retrospective at the Museo Del Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. Your friend, the SF MoMA curator, wants to bring the show to San Francisco and asks Damián Ortega to exhibit his sculpture Controller of the Universe. Unfortunately, the night before the opening, the sledgehammer, hanging in the middle of the installation is missing the wire that it needs to hang off the ceiling. As an art lover you are sneaking around the exhibition installation that night. Your friend, the curator, spots you and asks you to quickly help and fix the sculpture. You get sent to the back room to find something to hang the sledgehammer with.

3.1 how heavy is the sledgehammer? (2.5pt)

3.2 Transform. the expected mass of the sledgehammer into a force. What is the unit of this force? (2.5 pt)

3.3 Where should you attach the rope to the sledgehammer, so it hangs horizontal? (20pt)

3.4 Choose a safety factor for the load. Explain what you think this is a good safety factor. (2.5 points)

Design the size of the rope carrying the sledgehammer in one of the available materials above.

3.5 Calculate the design load including the safety factor you picked. (2.5 points)

3.6 Define the required minimal section based on your factored load and the material you selected. If the rope has a circular section, what is the diameter of the rope? (10 points)

3.7 In a last-minute decision, the artist swaps out the sledgehammer with a large chain saw with a mass of 90 kg (200 lbs). What is the new required section to safely carry the load? (10 points)

3.8 Damián Ortega is fond of hemp rope and decides to hang the chain saw next to the sculpture using two hemp ropes (radius: r = 5 mm or 0.2 in.). Sketch the ropes and where they are attached to the ceiling. Draw a force polygon. What is the force in each rope? What is the stress in each rope? (give numerical values) (7.5 points)