Alireza Alikaei Portfolio 2017-2022

01 Baloch children's house

Final Design

June 2021

Instructor: Ali Javedani

Type: Academic-Individual

Duration: 2 Semester

“Baloch Children’s House” is a warm and welcoming place where activities aimed at children›s education and healthcare can be carried out in a rural environment. Allowing children to develop properly is essential in order to build a better future.

Today, 40,000 Baloch children in Iran suffer from a lack of education and growth retardation resulting from nutritional difficulties caused by poverty. Education and adequate diet, mean facilitating the psychological and physical development necessary to develop all of the fundamental abilities to participate in social life

Current Situation

The rural Baloch community has always lived in the most difficult conditions and the government has not taken any appropriate measures to increase their welfare, despite the fact that most of the mineral resources such as gold and copper are extracted from these areas. Most of the problems there are directed at children, they suffer from a lack of education and growth retardation resulting from nutritional difficulties caused by poverty. Education and adequate diet, mean facilitating the psychological and physical development necessary to develop all of the fundamental abilities to participate in social life. In this situation, NGOs usually take action to build schools and welfare centers like this, but there are limitations in this case that have made these organizations stop doing this.

Limitations in the case of Construction & Current Solutions

The roads are not suitable for heavy vehicles

Transfer pre-fabricated building by skycrane

Main aims

There is no electricity supply

Kapar (Traditional Accommodation)

The main aims of the project are resolving Education, Recreation and Healthcare needs. Education and Recreation are the most important requirements for children. Moreover, in cases where they are at risk, it should be possible to offer healthcare to facilitate monitoring and care. Therefore children’s medical examinations will be carried out in this center as well.

Be Constructible in every focused area

Be Integrated

Modular Design

Project

Particular Requirements

Considering the transportation limits

Multi- Functional Plans

According to the different needs that the project must respond to, the plan and the details of the walls should be designed in such a way that it gives multi-functionality to the building, and on the other hand, corridors between the spaces have been considered to provide natural ventilation for every spaces. These corridors can add space to the building if needed.

Natural Ventilation

being easily built with sustainable technologies

Maitainable

Make use of natural and/ or recycled materials

Components and Materials

Horizontal rows(prevent heating of the yard using Baluch patterns)

The inner layer of the roof

The wooden roof frame (keeping palm tree mats and natural ventilation)

Wooden ceiling beams

Interior movable walls

External and internal fixed walls

Wooden column and connection details

Wooden floor beams

Wooden floor beams

Wooden floors Foundation

Straw Mat Wood Baloch Fabric Concrete Rammed Earth

Transportation

One of the main problems and limitations of the plan is the method of transporting the parts. Due to the quality of the roads in the region, the only way to transport the parts is to use a pickup truck, and for this purpose, all the parts are designed in such a way that it is possible to move them by a pickup truck.

Modular Packaging

Natural Ventilation and Light

One of the main problems and limitations of the plan is the method of transporting the parts. Due to the quality of the roads in the region, the only way to transport the parts is to use a pickup truck, and for this purpose, all the parts are designed in such a way that it is possible to move them by a pickup truck.

Walls Construction Method

The construction method of the side walls that are exposed to sandstorms in this area and have small openings is rammed earth. We can see the construction method and steps and implementation details in the diagrams below.

Plywood form faced with tempered Rammed earth wall

Concrete foundation with ledge for forms

Portability Structure

In this project, the ability to move and open and close the details of the structure is one of the main features, since it is not possible to use LSF structures due to heating the building, the solution is to use wood, but since this structure, It has to be opened and closed, the need for a detailed design was felt to cause minimal damage to the texture of the wood so that it can be used repeatedly.

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Vertical rod as reinforcement

Turnbuckle

02 Boushehr Stadium

Design Studio V

June 2020

Instructor: Shirin Azhdehfar

Type: Academic-Group Work

Teammate: Negar Yaghoubpour

Position: Responsible for all tasks

Duration: 1 Semester

Due to the spread of the coronavirus, the semester continued until the middle of the summer and we decided to design a voluntary project in this studio with the consultation of our professor. Later, the concept of this project was developed. In this project, the goal was to design a stadium with the approach of creating a favorable urban space along the Persian Gulf coast. The main focus of the project was on the football stadium and the rest of the functions were developed on the site. In this stadium, the form follows its function as much as possible to be a userfriendly space. Also, its scale was an essential factor in the urban space, which was tried to be placed in the best part of the coastal city of Bushehr, which has hot and humid weather.

Main Ideas

The diagram below was designed to form the main scheme of the stadium and its master plan. Thus, the best connection between different locations of the complex could be made.

After establishing the physical program, different locations were placed on the site considering their essential connections. Then, the stadium and the site were developed.

Design Process

Form and Facade Description

In addition to static and resistance, it was tried to design a harmonious and suitable complex for Bushehr. In the stadium, the roof structure is separated from the platform structure. The exterior structure consists of 100 metal columns and the roof structure ware supported by the outer shell columns. The final roof covering is formed by ETFE panels in the form of a ship and the elements form are inspired by the cultural motif of Bushehr Shenashir(Mashrabiya).

Continuity of sight and flow in the forms to unify the site and the stadium

Simple stadium seats

Shrinking the base for entrance

Oval split of seating area

Roof fabric shade

Exterior extrusion

Final touches

The Stadium form was inspired by the form waves and boats of Bousher›s sea and the softness of the site stadium exterior combinations unified the complex.

Shenashir

Special Section for the Disabled and Companions

Third-Floor Entrance

Exterior Shell

Trusses Connection

Roof Panels Connection

According to the FIFA world standard for football fields, it is better for the stadium and football field to rotate 15 degrees north to the west so that the sunlight on the field is optimal for players and spectators.

03 Residential Tower Design Studio V

August 2020

Instructor: Shirin Azhdehfar

Type: Academic-Individual

Duration: 1 Semester

In this studio, the issue was the design of a residential skyscraper in the center of Tehran. In this project, it has been tried to design a twin tower based on the climatic conditions of Tehran. Besides, the concept of sustainable buildings that have the least impact on heating the city of Tehran and at the same time benefit from a beautiful shape has been considered. Responsive architectural solutions and the use of thermal sensors have been utilized in the design process, and it has also been tried to design a high-rise considering the architectural context of Tehran.

These twin towers are designed on a base that contains services for residents and citizens, such as shops, clubs, swimming pools, restaurants, and public urban space.

Site Development

Site Dimensions

Main Locations on Site

Construction Zone and Main Uses

Design Process

Building Base Extrusion

Building Base Extrusion

Bridges and Shared Spaces Final

Residential Area

In these towers, different residential units are designed in different sizes, most of which have access to common terraces that strengthen the sense of neighborhood in this high-rise building. The terraces are designed in such a way that the air circulation happens at a higher quality, also smart curtains are designed in front of the terraces that control the light and air and prevent the reflection of sunlight and the heating of the city.

Top view

The concept of the base form is to have a visual beauty from the view of the upper floors of the tower, which evokes the famous arch of Iranian architecture.

05 Metal Batwing

Minimal Surface Practice

December 2019

Type: Voluntary Personal-Group Work

Teammates: Negar Yaghoubpour, Mahshid Amani, Sina Rezaeifar, Samar Yazdanfar

Position: Responsible for all tasks

Duration: Two Months

In mathematics, a minimal surface is a surface that locally minimizes its area. This is equivalent to having a mean curvature of zero. Minimal surfaces can be defined in several equivalent ways in R3.

The design of this project is basically a Batwing Minimal surface. The Batwing is a type of triply periodic minimal surface that was discovered by Alan Schoen.

Evolution of a Schoen Batwing Minimal surface ,which can be trigonometrically approximated by a short equation:

cos(x) sin(y) + cos(y) sin(z) + cos(z) sin(x) = 0

Form-Finding by Grasshopper & Kangaroo

First, a mesh plate with the logic of batwing minimal surface was modeled in the form of a sharp corner. Then, supportive lines and effective points were extracted from the initial mesh, and after that by the kangaroo plug-in and the extracted data, the tensile shell was created. In the end, the surface was manipulated to conform to the fabrication.

Step 1 First Simple Mesh Step 2 Extract Points from Mesh

Step 3 Create Isosurface from Points

Step 4 Manipulate Surface to Conform to Fabrication

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Subdivision by Grasshopper & Ivy

At this stage, the shell was subdivided by the utilization of the Ivy plug-in and the developed algorithm. These created pieces could be fabricated by the use of the folding method with bendable and shatterproof material.

Subdivision Step 1

Subdivision Step 2

Final Surface (ready for subdivision)

Fabrication

After extraction of the two-dimensional pieces from the shell, it was decided to utilize iron material for making the segments.Firstly, 2D plans were presented for using iron laser cut. Secondly, a method called Bridge-Building was utilized in the joint points. In the final step with the use of argon welding, the point was assembled.

Final Result

After the assemblage, it was observed that the work was done with surprisingly high accuracy, the word surprise is used because this project was our first practice (experiment) of working with iron metal and laser-cut, which were strikingly precise.

CNC segments

Joint details for Folding

06 Lobby Counter

University Lobby Design and Fabrication

October 2019

Type: Voluntary Personal-Group Work

Teammates: Negar Yaghoubpour, Sina Rezaeifar, Samar Yazdanfar

Position: Responsible for all tasks

Duration: Three Weeks

Counter design project for a lobby of the University of Science and Culture was assigned to this group by the director of the department of the faculty (Dr. Habibi). The entrance lobby of the amphitheater and the university exhibition had to be designed and constructed at the lowest cost within three weeks at the request of the president of the university. This opportunity was utilized as the first experience of professional digital design and manufacturing. This project was also the first experience of working with a wood CNC machine to make the outcome of the contoured object accurate in shape and size.

CAD Process

Since this was a practice in digital fabrication, the focus in this experience was more on algorithm writing and plan extraction and the base surface was inspired by an existing project. In this part, after modeling the shells, the contouring approach was chosen for construction. Next, the shell was cut in equal distances vertically for creating segments, and then the surfaces were extruded 16 mm, which is the usual dimension of the MDF plate.

CAM Process

In this part, plates were separated and numbered by grasshopper. In order to optimize the outcome and reduce material waste, surfaces were placed in 2500x1200 mm plates. Then we performed the G-code process by Autodesk PowerMill. Finally, 683 pieces were produced in the workshop for construction.

2500*1250 MDF sheet

Contouring the forms

Construction

The whole construction process took a week, to assemble the pieces, according to the code engraved on them, they were put in place like a puzzle. The tongue-and-groove joint technique was used to join the parts also wood glue was consumeds to make them stronger.

Placement of objects in the Lobby

07 Reciprocal Structure

Economical Fabrication Practice

October 2019

Type: Voluntary Personal-Group Work

Teammates: Negar Yaghoubpour, Sina Rezaeifar, Samar Yazdanfar

Position: Responsible for all tasks

Duration: Two Weeks

Reciprocal frames (RF) are three-dimensional structural systems made of a network of short beams to cover long spans. These structures have been utilized throughout human history to build shelters (like Hogan dwelling, Tepee frame, and Yurt). They do not require any interior columns, and can cover regular/irregular geometric surfaces. RFs belong to the family of “space structures,” a group comprising structural forms that attempt to enclose a maximum uninterrupted interior volume within the limitations of a given material set and context (J.C Chilton). This project was an independent practice toward studying RF structures.

From different RF-units

Before designing the main form, first, different patterns of reciprocal structures were studied and various types of connections were examined so that the best pattern could be selected for the final shell.

Form

After testing various shells, finally, a combination of two shells with the form of a horse saddle was used, which at the same time can be an attractive form and challenging fabrication. The square module was then utilized to connect the beams because of the complexity of the form, which required a simpler pattern for the calculations.

Rubber hair ties and wooden skewers were used to build the structure economically. The fabrication of the structure started from the middle of the shell with the construction of a square module and other squares were connected to it, and finally, a structure with a diameter of fifty centimeters was obtained that followed the initially designed shell.

Upward and Downward modules

If the polygon is level above the support level, this is called upward, and if it is below the level, it is called downward. The combination of these two in the right place forms the object.

08 Encoded Stereotomy

Freeform Funicular Shell

April 2020

Supervisor: Dr. Ali Andaji Garmaroodi

Tutors: Farzaneh Eskandari, Pouria Baniadam

Assistants: Reza Fattahi, Sepehr Farzaneh

Position: Participent/Designer (Modeling,G-Code Developing)

Type: Workshop-Group Work (40 participants)

Duration: Two Weeks

Encoded Stereotomy was a four weeks workshop focused on designing freeform funicular shell structures based on Thrust Network Analysis (TNA) and digitally generating the tessellated vault with digital fabrication methods by using 5 axis CNC hot wire cutting machine.

01. Group Alternatives

The workshop was attended by 38 students and graduates from various universities, participants were divided into groups of 6 to 8 and were asked to first draw their ideas for a compression only vault individually, and then in consultation with team members, an idea was selected and developed in each group. After two working days, all the designs were reviewed by the directors, and finally, after examining the strengths and weaknesses of each, one of the designs was selected for construction on a one-to-one scale.

02. Concept Development

One of the ideas put forward by the participants consisted of arches that had crossed each other at different heights.

This idea was chosen as the final design for construction due the innovative form of the each compared to other ideas put forward by the participants and also to similar projects made in the field of compression-only structures.

Another advantage of this form over other ideas was the low surface area of the material intended to cover a wide span. The complexity of the form was also visually appealing to the participants.

The main challenge in developing the selective idea was to maintain the horizontal and vertical proportion of the vault spans. For this reason, many Alternatives were modeled to obtain the desired form in Rhino Vault software.

03. CAD Process

After adjusting the proportions of the selected form, the relevant analyzes for generating a vertical vault were performed with high accuracy in rhino vault, Next, the mesh curvature was evaluated to make the hot wire CNC foam cutter capable of cutting the voussoirs. The obtained mesh by Rhino Vault was not completely planar, Therefore, in the first step, the deviation of the mesh panels from the planar state was reduced to the minimum without causing any tangible deformation in the vault form; and after that the ruled surfaces which are perpendicular to the original rhino vault mesh were split by two parallel planes, and the six obtained faces were prepared for cutting.

Generation of The Voussoirs

Curvature Analysis

In order to prevent sliding failure and guarantee structural stability, the main load bearing faces of neighboring voussoirs need to be perpendicular to the force flow. Therefore, the interface surfaces should be normal to the thrust sur face at any point.

Outline structure

Form diagram

Mesh Isometric View

Force diagram

Planarized Mesh

04. CAM Process

At this point, all the modeled voussoirs were ready to be cut, so for the cutting the parts by hot wire CNC foam cutter, the G-codes for the arranged voussoirs were generated by «Solid Works» and all the pieces were cut in about five days.

In order to avoid loss of materials and to increase the cutting speed, it was attempted to arrange the designed vault voussoirs in 10 * 100 * 100 cm3 polystyrene sheets by use of Rhino-Nest. The cutting tool of the machine is moved according to the g-code instructions through a toolpath, cutting away material to leave only the finished work piece. G-code is a language in which people tell computerized machine tools how to make something. The «how» is defined by g-code instructions provided to a machine controller (industrial computer) that tells the motors where to move, how fast to move, and what path to follow. The G-codes of this project were generated with 3D modeling software called «Solid Works» and the machine process was simulated in «Solid Cam».

05. Construction

After finishing the cutting process, the students began to assemble the pieces using polyurethane foam, the process of assembling the vault was completed within a week, after which the cement coating was applied on the final vault.

Assembling Arrangement

Introduction to design II

Installation and performance

Spring 2017

Supervisor : Dr. Ali Javdani

Assistants : Mohammad Ahsani, Adib Khaeez, Soroush

Modirzadeh

Position: Installation Designer/ Fabrication/ Set

Designer/ Actor/ Scenario Developer

Type: Academic-Group Work

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