How Architecture Can Bring a Community Together - Part 1

National Flag tied to Tree Branch

In keeping with our philosophy of using architecture and building as a means of improving the quality of communities and people's lives, we recently had the opportunity of traveling to Honduras to participate in a twelve day volunteer mission construction project in the north coastal city of La Ceiba, approximately two hours east of San Pedro Sula.  Between February 23rd and March 6th, Hernan, Carlos, and I traveled over four thousand miles [6,400 kms.] to initiate a church building project in a small but highly populated barrio called La Julia.  


Although La Ceiba has a population of approximately 300,000 people, the La Julia district is characterized by small, narrow, and mostly unpaved streets that wind around and through the tightly packed buildings in absolutely no observable pattern.  Little children play soccer barefoot on the dry, dusty streets in front of their homes till 9:00 o'clock at night, and the pulsating African beat of traditional Garifono music known as el "Punto" can be heard till well after midnight.  It is into this environment that we ventured to build a church on one of the open lots in that part of town.  

Children of La Ceiba

La Ceiba's social and cultural fabric is a fascinating mix of Spanish, native Indian, and afro-Antillean descendants with no apparent separation due to race, religion, politics or even social class.  Although La Julia would be considered a mostly poor region of town, it is not unusual to observe large, well built houses fit onto lots between houses of considerably more modest means.  The church building site is located in an important area, adjacent to two open lots, which the church hopes to acquire in the near future and convert into a recreation area with a half basketball court, mini soccer field and children's playground.  This would represent an extremely important addition to the area.  A centrally located area of town which would serve the religious and social needs of the community.

Existing Church

The actual building that will eventually be replaced by the new church is currently in irretrievably deplorable condition, and without intervention would undoubtedly and ultimately result in total collapse.  The structural deficiencies are only the most visibly obvious.  The existing acoustic, lighting, and environmental properties of the building are terrible at best, however the church members have adapted as well as they can, and should be commended for their flexibility.


Upon arriving on Wednesday at the international airport in San Pedro Sula, we drove our rental car two hours east toward the north Atlantic coast through some of the most pristinely beautiful countryside with unending views of the mountain range to the south as we wound our way toward our destination.  After a short stop in the sleepy beach town of Tela, we arrived in La Ceiba shortly before sundown at about 6:00 in the evening.  We immediately met with our contact, Pastor Julio who indicated that some of the legal documentation required for the project had not yet been completed.  Undaunted, we set out early the next morning toward the ubiquitous "Municipalidad" [Municipal Building found in most every town in Latin America].

Municipalidad de La Ceiba

Upon our arrival at their beautiful and brightly painted building, we were greeted with the reasons why a building permit could apparently not be granted.  Recent government sponsored studies had revealed that precisely the area in which we intended to build was in what they referred to as a "zona de alto riesgo" [high risk zone].  That meant that because of La Julia's proximity to the ocean, coupled with the fact that its elevation is located almost exactly at sea level, in combination with the country's location within a hurricane region, it was determined that the risk to occupants of any new constructions would be too great.  


Undeterred, Hernan, Honduran and originally from La Ceiba, immediately went into action. He explained why the studies could not apply only to that particular region of the city.  His extensive knowledge of the city's geography and historic development was impressive and, combined with our prepared drawings indicating our consideration of those factors, were obviously vital in convincing the local authorities to grant the permit, although they finally relented on condition that a full set of construction drawings be prepared and signed by a registered Honduran architect or engineer.


No problem.  Brother Delio, builder by trade, and our other main contact, introduced us to Civil Engineer Torres, who kindly accepted, and understanding the philanthropic nature of the project, agreed to provide all services, including signing, stamping, permitting, and the required construction observation at a considerable discount.  This whole process took all of Thursday and Friday to complete, meaning that, although we had lost those two construction days to paperwork and documentation, we could now at least begin work early on Sunday with most of the church members present to help.  This is the point at which a community began to come together.


In our next post [Part 2] we'll analyze some of the social contacts and factors that go into the making of architecture a reality.

When 730 Tons is Beautiful

In our very first blog post, we mentioned that one of the goals of this blog was to highlight the art and craft of design in the built environment, with special emphasis on the arts and disciplines of architecture and structure. Often the art of architecture and the structure of building are perceived as being separate things.  It's easy to observe a superbly gifted athlete perform at the highest level of his or her chosen sport and admire the grace, fluidity, and elegance with which they execute their craft, without ever considering the structure [bone, muscle, tendon, ligament] that require being perfectly attuned in such a way as to allow the athlete to excel.  Something akin to this beauty/structure disconnect can occur when we look at, or personally experience works of architecture.  We risk forgetting the underlying substructure that allows the beauty to exist in the first place.  But there is something about the beauty of structure itself that is intrinsically thrilling and impressive, and when it occurs in unexpected places, in unexpected ways, and we are allowed to peak in, it can be downright fascinating.  Such was my reaction upon first seeing the picture of the tuned mass damper in an article titled Equation: Formula for Calculating a Skyscraper’s Sway in the December 2010 online issue of Wired Magazine.  The author explains it well.

Equation: Formula for Calculating a Skycraper’s Sway

• By Julie Rehmeyer
• November 29, 2010  | 
• 12:00 pm  | 
• Wired December 2010

Photo courtesy: Taipei 101

A skyscraper is a giant tuning fork. Give one a good knock — like with an earthquake or a heavy gust of wind — and it’ll start vibrating at its own natural resonance frequency (about seven octaves below the lowest notes on a piano). If you’re on the top floor of, say, the 1,667-foot-tall Taipei 101, you could find yourself swaying back and forth abruptly, a total of up to 2 feet within five seconds. Highly barfogenic. So Taipei 101’s designers hung a pendulum inside the building — in this case, they used an equation like the one below to determine that the megastructure needed a 730-ton weight with giant shock absorbers bolted to its bottom. It’s called a tuned mass damper, and when the tower starts to bend in the wind, the pendulum swings at the same frequency in the opposite direction, pulling the building upright and damping vibrations. It still sways, but subtly and smoothly. Here are the factors that come into play.

Damping (kg/s). This is the key variable. The goal is to halve acceleration, and more mass — building plus pendulum — means more damping.

Velocity of a swaying building at the top, in meters per second.

Acceleration (m/s²) at the top of a building — the main cause of nausea. It’s the derivative of velocity (), which is the derivative of distance (u).

The force applied to a structure by wind or an earthquake, measured in newtons (kg ⋅ m/s²).

Stiffness of a building, measured in newtons per meter (kg/s²) — the amount of force necessary to bend it a meter.

Displacement of a building at the top — that is, the distance it sways, in meters.

The dynamic mass of a building, in kilograms. The top of the structure will move more than the bottom, so the upper mass counts more.

END of ARTICLE.

What happens when structure and beauty merge into a supremely elegant solution?  A visceral satisfaction at witnessing architects, designers, and engineers performing at the very height of their craft in achieving a solution that simultaneously satisfies the highest aesthetic and functional requirements for their building. Having said that, there is one more vitally important element that cannot be overlooked.  It is the equation used to calculate the size of that pendulum.  Even without understanding all or any of the variables in play, one almost can't escape the fact that its almost impossible to determine which is more beautiful, the pendulum or the equation.  The reality is that without this particular equation and a whole host of many others, neither the aesthetic nor the functional and structural requirements of this building would have ever been realized.  Hence, such are the elements that allow beauty and structure to peacefully co-exist together in our built environment, and ultimately, keep us safe and bring us joy. 

Pendulum location at 87th floor in Taipei 101 Tower 

showing upper observation decks that permit direct 

views of pendulum.

...Will Work for Food

There are certain experiences in life that have the power to compel one to engage in philosophical introspection.  I sometimes travel between Niles, Michigan and South Bend, Indiana.  There is a certain intersection slightly south of the Michigan/Indiana state line at which you can sometimes see a man with a cardboard sign advertising his availability to work in exchange for food. Most of us have witnessed some iteration of this scene in one form or another, but I can never quite seem to escape the thought that there may not be quite that much to differentiate between that anonymous card-carrying member of society and me.

We all undergo experiences in life that lead us, either directly or indirectly, to the present.  The cumulative effect of our life experiences have brought all of us to this particular point in time, and because of upbringing, politics, social pressure, education, personal beliefs, etc., we are performing our "roles" in this life.  Precisely, because of the aforementioned elements, and specifically because of our education, we are prepared to work in our chosen fields to, as they say, earn a living, bring home the bacon...put food on the table.  Consequently, we will all repeatedly "work for food" at least until we retire.

There are many of you that will relate to this educational trajectory.  Five years of undergraduate education, two years of graduate education, four years of internship, and twenty-two years in the labor market honing our hard earned skills have brought us to our own personal intersections.  Ones in which, no matter how sophisticatedly we state it, can only be summed up in one short sentence...will work for food.

Monteso Design + Construction Studio, in its ongoing effort to employ its skills, and consequently put food on the table, is accepting both design and construction projects.  Please feel free to contact us at 269-683-6126,  or at modstudio@aol.com.  Some of our work can be seen at Isidro Monteso's Face Book page.

One small step...one giant leap...

In July of 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped off of the Lunar Module named Eagle onto the surface of the moon, and pronounced those most famous words, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Perhaps not quite as momentous insofar as historical significance, but nonetheless significantly important as another small step in our professional development, is the production of this new blog.  As the blog title suggests, our emphasis will be on the art and craft of design in the built environment, with special emphasis on the arts and disciplines of architecture and structure.  For those familiar with Monteso Design Studio's tenuous relationship with cyberspace technology, it may come as some surprise to find these posts.  Consequently, it should be no surprise that this constitutes one giant leap, if not for mankind, at least for us.  So, not unlike the "Eagle", after which the Lunar Module was named, today we spread our wings...and fly.