Fab Lab House Model
Contents
Fab Lab House Model 1:9
A project created for the 2010 Solar Decathlon by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and the Fab Lab Barcelona.
Assembly Instructions
Start by watching the following video to get an idea of the order of assembly.
Structure:
1. Start by fabricating the structure out of 5mm plywood.
2. All the ribs are numbered so once they are fabricated, lay them out or stack them in order to keep the assembly organized.
3. The assembly of the ribs is a bit tricky. So, we would suggest doing a dry run before you start gluing together the ribs. You will discover that some ribs need to installed before others because of the direction of the notching changes direction.
4. The whole structure is divided into two sections, so that a portion of the roof can removed once the model is complete
5. While you are assembling the ribs, you will need to start adding the short cross members in between each rib. These pieces are also numbered and have corresponding numbers on the ribs so make sure you follow that order because each piece is specific to one location.
6. For the short cross members, we started to use super glue because white glue and hot glue did not hold together after some time. In general we used a lot of super glue to assemble the model, because it was fast drying which allowed for fast assembly.
Skin:
1. Start by fabricating the skin out of (2) layers 1mm wood veneer adhered together. We used veneer which came in long skinny sheets (27cm x 250cm). The fabrication files are optimized for this sheet size, so you will have to change the files if you change the material dimensions.
2. Gluing the two layers of 1mm together is also fairly tricky because the wood warps which makes it hard to stick together at times. After several tests, we discovered that super glue once again was the fastest option to keep the pieces together.
3. VERY IMPORTANT - Make sure you study the grain of the wood to make sure it is running perpendicular to the curve on the house.
4. Regarding the assembly order, there is a order you should try to follow. Start by picking either edge of the house and do one complete row followed by another complete row, etc...The best way to start is by gluing (super glue again) at the bottom of the structure and working towards the top.
5. The skin is designed to overlap each other like shingles so make sure account for that.
6. On the top of the roof there is a ridge where the roof begins to slope either direction. As this point you should change the direction of the overlap so that if it were to rain on the house, the overlaps would allow for the rain to flow down the roof.
7. We recommend using super glue for the skin, especially at locations where there the structure is bending considerably.
8. For the legs, we used the 1mm veneer (for aesthetic purposes), but you could also use 2mm or 3mm plywood if necessary.
9. Make sure you cut the skin at the connection points between the two sections so that you can disassemble to roof later.
10. For the windows, we used 2mm clear plastic sheets. Make sure you follow the plan which outlays the location of windows so that you don't install wood panels where there should be windows. For each window, we cut the pieces out by hand and super glued them to the structure.
11. Finally, the solar panels were cut using the vinyl cutter and applied based on the plan found in the fabrication file.
Interior:
1. Start by fabricating all the pieces out of 3mm plywood.
2. For the interior cabinets which are curved at the top, we once again used (2) layers of 1mm wood veneer glued together. There are not fabrication files for those, because we cut those pieces by hand.
3. The stairs were modified once on the model, so the fabrication files may not match the house exactly.
3. For the people, we used 12mm acrylic for something different.
4. Furniture fabrication files are included and can modified based on your needs.
Images of the Model
File:P1000157.JPG
File:P1000156.JPG
Fabrication Files
Use the following username and password to download the fabrication files:
Username: [email protected]
Password: Blank (Meaning just hit enter)
2D Laser cutting files (.dwg)
3D Model of Exterior (.3dm)
