Rowaida El-Gebeily - AUC - ARCH 473/3522 by ARCH 473/3522 - Digital Design Studio and Workshop

Student Portfolio

ARCH 473/3522 - DIGITAL DESIGN STUDIO AND WORKSHOP Rowida AL-Gebeily Fall 2018

The American University in Cairo (AUC) School of Sciences and Engineering - Department of Architecture ARCH 473/3522 - Digital Design Studio and Workshop (Fall 2018) Student portfolio documenting samples of work submitted along the course, including research, experimentation, 3D modeling, digital fabrication, parametric design and modeling, physical model realisation and analysis. Student name: Rowida AL-Gebeily Student ID: 900141116

ÂŠ The American University in Cairo (AUC), December 2018

Rowida Al-Gebeily Architecture Student

I am Rowida Al-Gebeily, an Architecture student minoring in graphic design and passionate about every aspect concerned with Art and manual crafts work. The digital world was always the intimidating sector that I never enjoyed stepping into. Hence, the fear I developed in the 473 course was not a surprise to me and it was nothing that I haven’t experienced before. In my previous design courses I was the only student that always insisted to render the work manually instead of using revit and lumion because the manual rendering was evidently more appealing and more statisfying in terms of the final product. The unique texture of the rough, color pencils added to the originality and liveliness of the design work. Every single painting, drawing and sketch I worked on engulfed a rather long

dialogue and a tedious back and forth process that aimed at producing work of meaning. As much as it may sound illusional, it is through colors that i can express, and through pencil that I can speak. Computers tend to set me barriers and restrict my thinking especially at the conceptual level. Nevertheless, I am aware of its significance and I managed to capture quite a lot through 473; from Rhino work to logarithmic thinking and parameter setting on grasshopper to 3D visualizations on Rhino. During the first phase of the project, we experimented, as a group, with various materials and produced several trials showing the mobility of the material, its properties, speed of responses and so on. We then moved on to the individual work where everyone wisely chose the site on which he/she will continue working till the rest of the semester. I personally chose the octagon space at the end of the Architecture corridor with the aim of introducing a “mini-plaza” for the Architecture students who never get to experience the life outside the departement and never get to watch the activities or listen to the DJ music during assembly hour since Archi-students ‘have no time to waste’, they only have time to work, work and just work. So, the users of concern are predominantly the Architectre students. This will be their place of rest, eating, chatting with friends or simply the space of break from the group. The main parameters in my project are; the size of the seating unit, size of the table unit, faces of the unit, extrusion of the unit, height of the unit, and levels

Previous Design Work

EXPLORED MATERIALS

WOOD VENEER

NEWSPAPER

PU FOAM

BLUE FOAM

(Chosen Material)

Studying different material mobility and the types of stimuli that may affect the speed of material re-

01 Material Experimentaion

VENEER WOOD WOOD VENEER (OAK) + WATER Materials: 1) Wood Sheet 2) Water Quantities/Dimensions: Wood Sheet- 15cm*10cm Thickness- 2mm Process: 1) Submerge wood sheet in water for 30 seconds or so and start forming a shape under water. 2) Use a hair-dryer to dry the form (should take around 2 minutes) and leave over-night.

Portfolio

Material Experimentation

ARCH 473/3522 - Fall 2018

Rowida AL-Gebeily

VENEER WOOD OAK VS. BEECH PINE + WATER Materials: 1) Wood Sheet 2) Water Bottle Quantities/Dimensions: Wood Sheet- 5cm*15cm Thickness- 2mm Process: 1) Pour some water on one face of the wood sheet. 2) leave for 5 seconds and measure the twirl.

OAK VS. BEECH PINE + WATER ( 30 DEGREES ) Materials: 1) Wood Sheet 2) Water Bottle Dimensions: Thickness- 2mm Process: 1) Submerge wood sheet in water for 30 seconds or so and start forming a shape under water. 2) Use a hairdryer to dry the form (should take around 2 minutes 30 seconds) and leave overnight.

Portfolio

Material Experimentation

VENEER WOOD WOOD VENEER (BEECH PINE) + WATER Materials: 1) Wood sheet 2) Water Bottle Quantities/Dimensions: Wood Sheet- 15cm*10cm Thickness- 1mm Process: 1) Pour some water on one face of the wood sheet 2) Leave for 5 seconds and measure the twirl.

WOOD VENEER (OAK) + WATER Materials: 1) Wood sheet 2) Water Bottle Quantities/Dimensions: Wood Sheet- 15cm*10cm Thickness- 2mm Process: 1) Pour some water on one face of the wood sheet 2) Leave for 5 seconds and measure the twirl.

ARCH 473/3522 - Fall 2018

Rowida AL-Gebeily

NEWSPAPER NEWSPAPER + WHITE GLUE + WATER Materials: 1) Newspaper 2) Water 3) White Glue Quantities/Dimensions: 1) 2 Sheets of newspaper 2) 2 cups of water 3) Half a cup of white glue Process: 1) Cut Newspaper into pieces and soak in water while heating 2) Add white glue and mix 3) Mold into desired form and leave to dry. Results: 1) Adding too much water increased the time of the experiment. 2) it took around 25 minutes for water to completely evaporate. 3) Adding pressure to the mold would have made it maintain its shape more. 4) Mold dried after four days

Portfolio

Material Experimentation

NEWSPAPER NEWSPAPER + WHITE GLUE + WATER Materials: 1) Newspaper 2) Water 3) White Glue Quantities/Dimensions: 1) 3 sheets of newspaper 2) A cup of water 3) 0.2Kg of white glue Process: 1) Cut Newspaper into pieces and soak in water then blend in belnder for 2 minutes. 2) Add glue and blend again 3) Put in oven for 30 minutes 4) Mold into shape again Results: 1) Newspaper got soaked quicker when blended. 2) When glue was added, it became a but like clay. 3) After the oven, the water had dried out so it was better at molding the mixture. 4) Second time in oven maintains shape.

ARCH 473/3522 - Fall 2018

Rowida AL-Gebeily

PU FOAM PU FOAM ALONE Quantities: 1) Quarter of a cup of PU Foam Results: 1) PU Foam expaneded naturally on its own using the form of the cup as a direct expansion space. 2) It took 25-30 mins to expand to its form, however the contents inside the cup are slower at solidifying but are not expanding further.

PU FOAM + GYPSUM Quantities: 1) 1/4 of PU Foam placed three times gradually(3/4cup) 2) 1 Tablespoon of gypsum Results: 1) The gypsum delayed the expansion of the PU foam since it took longer time (30-40 mins); however, it expanded like the regular properities of the PU foam on its own. 2) It feels more rigid than the regular PU foam on its own.

Portfolio

Material Experimentation

BLUE FOAM BLUE FOAM + LIQUID GAS Materials: 1) Blue foam 2) Liquid Gas Quantities/Dimensions: 1) 5 Pieces of foam cubes 5x5x5 cm 2) 1/4 cup of liquid gas Process: 1) Place foam in box with liquid gas 2) Test pressure on foam while being submerged Results: 1) Foam pieces appeared to dissolve and turn into a slimy material. 2) It took around 10 minutes for one foam piece to completely dissolve. 3) When pressure is applied, foam dissolved quicker. (25% percent less time) 4) Resulting slime started to gain a plastic feeling when left to dry for 2 hours.

ARCH 473/3522 - Fall 2018

Rowida AL-Gebeily

Portfolio

Choosing A Site

11 Forces from the waterfall form currents in various directions that meet at a nodal point where we must begin to encounter a discourse.

02 Choosing A Site ARCH 473/3522 - Fall 2018

Rowida AL-Gebeily

Portfolio

Choosing A Site

13 Chosen site is the nodal, octagon space that has openings to multiple corridors, mainly and most importantly, to the Architecture Corridor/ depar-

CHALLENGES OF THE CHOSEN SITE: *Itisaspaceofrelativelyhighactivityandactionthroughout most of the day. * Open from 6 sides out of 8. *It is a Node for multiple entrances and corridors and hence forms an intersection or encounter point (so in this case the flow of people needs to be carefully addressed and studied) *The space confronts natural illuminationandventilationhenceinstallationworkmustassure the consistency of flow of these factors. *Green couch ressembles an assembly point for the Architecture students late in the afternoon. * Heaviest traffic takes place along the path from the Architecture corridor to Ms.Rehab and the meeting room. *ThespaceisaccompaniedwithVistasthroughthecorridor openings.

ARCH 473/3522 - Fall 2018

Rowida AL-Gebeily

DENSITY From 8:30 am to 1:00pm, it is mainly the staff that are present hence the least traffic during the day is in the morning time. The highest traffic of engineering students is during assembly hour where most of the movement from rehab to the departement to the professors and TAs takes place. Hence the density of people in the octagon space increases so much during the time period from 1:00-5:00pm. Finally during the time period from 5:00pm to 8:30am of the next day, the octagon space becomes occupied by Architecture students only who occupy the green couch spending time chatting and sometimes sleeping.

The flow of circulation in the octagon space is compared to the forces from the waterfall that form currents in various directions which meet at a nodal

Portfolio

Choosing A Site

CIRCULATION PATHS IN OCTAGON SPACE

ARCH 473/3522 - Fall 2018

Rowida AL-Gebeily

16 Considering and improving the balance between negative space and positive space in a composition is considered to enhance the design of a space making it more appealing and convenient. SO, its not about the elimination of the negative space but more about the introduction of a positive dicourse that would formulate a complementary dialogue and eventually balance.. When used creatively and intellingently, +ve and -ve space together can tell a story using visual composition alone. HENCE THE AIM IS TO; RESPECT AND UTILIZE THE NATURAL, CONTEXTUAL FORCES IN THE CREATION OF A ‘+VE’ SPACE WITHIN A ‘-VE’ VOLUME.

Portfolio

Choosing A Site

ARCH 473/3522 - Fall 2018

Rowida AL-Gebeily

Portfolio

3DModelingandDigitalFabrication

19 An Installation welcoming the Architecture students functioning as seating areas and high round tables for students and staff.

03 3D Modeling and Digital Fabrication ARCH 473/3522 - Fall 2018

Rowida AL-Gebeily

Portfolio

3DModelingandDigitalFabrication

21 Initial sketches of form and function with respect to material mobility in response to the 2 main stimuli in the space; light and tension movement from the Architecture corridor.

The aim is to repond mainly to the dominant force or currentthrivingfromtheArchitecturecorridorandtoreflecton the 24-hour based tension and hassle of the departement through utilizing the previous part of the project where we studied the mobility and behaviour of the material used (Wood in my case) at tensioned times. Also, another force to respectandconsiderinthedesignofformistheforceoflight invited through the window and Finally the green couch too could be integrated in the design thought.

ARCH 473/3522 - Fall 2018

Rowida AL-Gebeily

22 The natural phenomena that the form is inspired by is the peeling off banana form that will, in the case of my model unfold its layers in respect to the forces encountered and considered. The purpose of the peeled off skin that approaches the window opening (second dominant force-light) is to create some sort of play with light where the slit openings will allow some soft lighting in for the users sitting on the benches. The original intension was to Form multiple fractels to produce a dynamic form that emphasizes the octagon space as a nodal zone absorbing and connecting currents from various directions. On the bottom left you can see a sketch of the form that enforces a circulation around the installation instead of a central circulation through the octagon space. The subdivided column project by Micheal Hensmeyerproject involves the conception and design of a new column order based on subdivision processes. It explores how subdivision can define and embellish this column order with

Portfolio

3DModelingandDigitalFabrication

ARCH 473/3522 - Fall 2018

Rowida AL-Gebeily

24 These are the fabrication trials once with the slicing method on the slicer program and once with the contouring method on rhino. Indeed the physical model product was not very successfull and radial contouring could have been a better idea in the case of my form. Also the long vertical pole/column that spans through the center of the octagon could have been a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;virtual poleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; emphasizing the centrality of the octagon space and defining it as a node intead of physically being present and spanning the whole height of the space for no functional reasoning. Also, the layer approaching the window opening does not seem to add much to the form and finally the overall design looks static, more or less like a sculpure placed in space. It does not take from the language around it neither does it consider the geometry of the space engulfung it.

Portfolio

3DModelingandDigitalFabrication

ARCH 473/3522 - Fall 2018

Rowida AL-Gebeily

Portfolio