The American University in Cairo (AUC) School of Sciences and Engineering - Department of Architecture ARCH 473/3522 - Digital Design Studio and Workshop (Spring 2019) 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: Ahmed Aly Student ID: 900151442
Š The American University in Cairo (AUC), May 2019
Ahmed Aly Architecture Student
My name is Ahmed M. Aly. I have been an architecture student for five years. I love music and drawing. I really didnt know I was going to be an architect until I tried it even though I changed my major three times. After taking this course, I was introduced to new approaches to parametric design. I was really fascinated by the tools like rhino and grasshopper and the possibilities that come with them. I hope that I will use them more in my design projects and learn more about them and how to integrate them into my architecture life.
Deep Sea Glass Sponge
01 Mobile Shelter for the Homeless
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Deep Sea Glass Sponge A quick summary about the chosen creature is that it is one of the most famous types of glass sponges and referred to as The Venus flower basket Its scientific name is the Euplectella aspergillum. They are not categorized as plants nor animals. They are commonly found in deep oceans and is found in the mediterranean sea. Their tissues are made of glass like biocomposite. We took an exploration journey through this very interesting creature mechanisms and abstracted it into notions of architectural design including functional aesthetic and structural design notions Fun fact One very unique feature about the Euplectella aspergillum is that very often you can find some abyssal shrimp within the cavity produced by the lattice structure that makes up the sponge. Sometimes young male and female shrimp enter this cavity while they are still larva and over time they begin to feed and grow. The small shrimp grow and become too large to leave the silicon cavity of the sponge. It is customary in Japanese culture to give this elegant glass sponge away as a wedding gift symbolizing the wedding vow, “Till death do us part�.
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4 Glass Biocomposite We were very intrigued by the glass structure of the venus flower basket. How can an organism produce glass ? The earliest known form of glass discovered by humans was 3500BC. Now think about a sea creature that has been doing it for millions of years presumed by scientists to have existed 800 million years ago. When quartz (Silicon Di Oxide) comes in contact with sea water, a slow reaction takes place. The reaction produces Silisic acid (H4 sio4) . The sponge, can extract that Silisic acid from the sea water. It can produce silica inside its body from the acid. Now you might think so what .. a sponge can create glass. It is only brittle however it is actually strong more flexible and better manufactured than modern techniques. Modern techniques require immense heat and energy to manufacture. While the sponge does it in normal temperatures And better yet this is actual fiber glass Glass cannot be used in structural applications while fiber glass has been used in cladding structural shells. What if we used its glass biocomposite in Shells screens Tensile structures or even cladding.
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6 Scaffolding You might be a little bit confused how this sponge retain its structural integrity and how is it constructed really and looking it at a micro level shows this construction method referred to as scaffolding which have these small links between the stalks and create the structural integrity of the whole organism. These little links can persevere between the raging tides underwater. This method can help us in our design approach of creating the shelter as a technique of construction as a mobile yet strong structure. A famous example is the Euplectella Aspergillum Scaffolding Structure by Patrick Carty
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8 Hexactine Looking at the micro level: The building blocks of their skeletal systems is called Hexactines. The glass sea sponge possess internal skeletons composed of aggregations of 6-pointed silica spicules. these spicules ‌have a triaxonic and cubic symmetry, (i.e. they are composed of three axes that are arranged at right angles to each other.) Several formations of these spicules creates a rigid mesh. And its design is presumably one of the reasons these sponges are able to survive at such crushing depths. Our vision is to include this building block ,this module in our design of the mobile shelter and experiment with it.
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10 Geometry After talking about the building block and how we can use it to create the formations maybe we can talk about the original design of the glass sea sponge which consists of organic interlayers of alternating concentric domains which create this embedded mineralized skeletal structure system which gives rise to this majestic hollow vase like structure and this can help us in a biomimicry way of building our mobile shelter for example also how to make it mobile like the installation and deconstructing To the left we can see organic forms inspired by nature and that is what we aim at doing by abstracting the notions of the venus flower basket and creating a new design
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12 And finally A really interesting fact about the venus flower basket is the mechanism it eats with. The sponge is anchored to the seabed with currents swirling round it. It sucks water into its body at the base and circulates it upwards, extracting nutrients as it goes, until it is expelled from a vent at the top. This mechanism is believed to have been applied in the gherkin where it has been described as the air inisde is circulating from the bottom and goes up through the spiral atrium getting warmer as it rises thus decreasing the air conditioning and we would like to explore this ventilation method in our mobile shelter.
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Experimentation & Testing ARCH 473/3522 - Fall 2019
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Using the venus flower basket most smallest building module the hexactine, I tried to abstract it into a new building module for my project which through cutting the spicules and creating a new module which is not aggregated as the hexactine is very aggressive in looks and that is nt likeable in a homeless shelter.
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Using the venus flower basket, I decided to abstract its spiral form and define a new shape based on its spral form and deformation of it to create a new defintion that has create a new spatial defintion through abstraction. ARCH 473/3522 - Fall 2019
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Final Design Project 01
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Using the all above mentioned elements I came to this final design of a curvilinear form that creates motion while also displaying breathing facade through opening and closing the above mentioned bubbles.
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Self deploying structure
02 Blank Facade
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Nature has evolved a great variety of dynamic systems interacting with climatic influences. For architecture, one particularly interesting way is the moisture-driven movement that can be observed in spruce cones. Unlike other plant movements that are produced by active cell pressure changes, this movement takes place through a passive response to humidity changes.
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Based upon tessellation concept of digital assembly , It can be noted also that it is open to disassembly and ease of transportation and assembling again at another site. The project explores the tension between an archetypical architectural volume, the box, and a deep, undulating skin imbedding clusters of intricate, climate responsive apertures. The pavilion’s envelope, which is at the same time load-bearing structure and metereosensitive skin, is computationally derived from the elastic bending behaviour of thin plywood sheets. The material’s inherent capacity to form conical surfaces is employed in combination with 7-axis robotic manufacturing processes to construct 28 geometrically unique components housing 1100 humidity responsive apertures
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Climate-responsiveness in architecture is typically conceived as a technical function enabled by myriad mechanical and electronic sensing, actuating and regulating devices. In contrast to this superimposition of high-tech equipment on otherwise inert material, nature suggests a fundamentally different, no-tech strategy: In various biological systems the responsive capacity is quite literally ingrained in the material itself. This project employs similar design strategies of physically programming a responsive material system. Portfolio
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‘architecture of transition’ – a series of transformations between forces, material phases, people, spaces, and functions. form does not always follow the functions that we cannot predict, but rather the phases that our new built environments can go through in their relationship with humans, nature, and existing buildings.
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during the design process, the collective worked with shape memory polymers (SMP) in order to apply it to a responsive prototype. as the concept was based around the motif of evolution, it was necessary to use a material that could change phase from an external and controlled stimuli. therefore, the SMP is able to reach a soft and flexible state upon exposure to heat, at which point it can undergo vast geometrical deformations. upon reheating, the polymers then revert to their original ‘memory’ state of flatness. Portfolio
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Experimentation & Testing Portfolio
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Experimenting with wood, we performed experiements with 4 types of wood, beech, mahogany, turkish walnut and synthetic wood. We discovered as a group the hygrosopic properties of wood like the different grain to cut properties like cut at different angles create different deformations and the amount of water to different deformations also makes a difference.
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Using the deformation at 45 degree angle we decided to create a facade panel that acts that way by intertwining two cut wood at 45 degree angle that will exhibit light controlling effect and breathing facade effect when exposed to humidity.
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Using another concept of the 45 degree angle we decided to create a facadae that opens and closes which controls the apertures through humidity. Portfolio
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47 Final design for the parametric facelift
03 Parametric facelift ARCH 473/3522 - Fall 2019
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The design focuses on how to use the curling motion of wood by using it to create a curling facade motion whil using this curling motion to to create an extendable slab motion to create a different spatial experience for users.
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The curling triangles have a different use also, They are made up of LED. This is because they will be used to turn the bank area into a public space for users of different backgrounds to enjoy.
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The project is comprised of 4 different layers the curling traingles on its axis, the triangles that rotate on its axis, the extendable slabs and the structural frame.
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