Student Portfolio
A R C H 4 7 3 / 3 5 2 2 - D I G I TA L D E S I G N S T U D I O A N D W O R K S H O P Miriam Elias Fall 2020
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: Miriam Elias Student ID: 900170301
Š The American University in Cairo (AUC), December 2020
Miriam Nader Elias Architecture Student
Course Expectations Reflection. I believe, this course won’t only teach me about the paradigm shifts occuring in the field of architecture due to the latest technological advancements, but will actually represent a paradigm shift in my course of study of architecture, exposing me to various tools and methods that broaden my design thinking horizon as an architect, practicing in 2020.
Introduction. I am Miriam Nader Elias, a 22-years old architectural engineering student. I graduated from the German School of Saint Charles Borromae in Cairo in 2017 and then joined the Architectural Engineering Program at The American University in Cairo later during the same year. Being a person, who is highly interested in both, sciences and arts, I wanted to study a field that is multi- and interdisciplinary, combining and intergrating both fields. Hence, I started my journey in exploring the complex, infinite world of architecture ...
Table of Contents
01 Project 1: Mobile Shelter for the Homeless 02 Project 2A: The Blank Facade Canvas 03 Project 2B: The Parametric Facelift 04 Conclusive Reflection 05 Bibliography
self-organizing systems such as cellular automata used as an inspiration in the mobile shelter project
01 Mobile Shelter for the Homeless
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3 Project Location: Suez Governorate Suez is located in the north-eastern side of Egypt with a total population of 738 000 individuals. It is divided into five districts and has five ports. Hence, it is known for various economic activities, including oil distillation, processing & packing of cement fertilizers & chemicals, shipping & unloading of goods, marine services and fishing. Thus, it is known for having an abundance of resources, including limestone, dolomite, coal and oil.
Suez Governorate: Climatic Data
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5 Concept Inspiration: The Snail The Snail was chosen for the concept inspiration. Hereby, the duality & dichotomy of the snail’s external anatomy served as the main conceptual inspiration driver of the design. The Shell. The Shell is the element that represents the process of growth in nature. It is hard, coiled, spiral, layered and chambered. The spiral form of the shell starts with the 360-degree rotation of one whorl from a center point around the central axis. As the snail grows, the shell develops more whorls. Hence, the three layers of the shell are called ostracum, hipostracum & periostracum. The Ventral Foot. The Ventral Foot is muscular & soft. Its muscular contractions & expansions create a waveshaped movement allowing the snail to crawl, dig, do retraction, torsion & detorsion movements.
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Abstraction & Translation: Snail’s Duality & Dichotomy hardness vs. softness rigidity vs. flexibility solidity vs. fluidity static vs. dynamic heavy vs. light
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7 THE SHELL = RESIDENTIAL COMPLEX
THE VENTRAL FOOT = SOCIAL & COMMERCIAL COMPLEX
Abstraction of the shell’s spiral form into a cellular automata cluster
Abstraction of the ventral foot’s muscular tissue into a series of sequential curves
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8 Modeling Process & Architectural Iterations
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9 Schematic Massing Development of Final Translation in Plans & Sections Social & commercial space in open plan, , Residential cells area with central vertical circulation
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Digital Fabrication Strategies & Attempts Lasercutting of the Residential Complex
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3D Printing of the Social & Commercial Complex
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fabric forming & casting as guiding material exploration & experimentation principles in this stage
2A Blank Facade Canvas
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EXPERIMENTATION ATTEMPT 1 DESCRIPTION Container Size: 30 cm x 30 cm x 15 cm Box Materials, Ingredients & Quantities: Gypsum & White Cement (separate paste layers) Experiment Duration: 12 hours PROCESS & OBSERVATIONS Intent of the experiment was to create a wave-like shape gypsum unit. First, I faced difficulties in mixing the gypsum with water, as I didn’t know the optimum gypsum-water-ratio in prior to the experiment. Hence, I didn’t correctly estimate the amount of gypsum paste needed to fill the whole box, so I had to mix more gypsum again and add it after already pouring some paste amount, which allowed for creating air gaps allowing later for cracks. RESULTS The gypsum took the texture and the form of the contacting fabric material. However, the intended shape was not created as the resulting hardened gypsum paste mostly cracked. Though the white cement wasn’t mixed within the paste, but added as a top coat layer, it helped overcoming minor cracks within the gypsum. DEDUCED PARAMETERS - control points of fabric membrane surface - thickness of poured gypsum layer - thickness of poured cement layer
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Digital Design Studio
EXPERIMENTATION ATTEMPT 2
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DESCRIPTION Container Size: 20 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm Box Materials, Ingredients & Quantities: Gypsum & White Cement (mixed in paste) Experiment Duration: 3 hours PROCESS & OBSERVATIONS Intent of the experiment was to create a gypsum unit with voids/openings/perforations. Difficulties were faced when it came to taking out the bottles creating the openings out of the dried paste. RESULTS The gypsum took the texture and the form of the contacting fabric material. However, the intended shape cracked while I tried taking out the bottles creating the openings.
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EXPERIMENTATION ATTEMPT 3 DESCRIPTION Container Size: 20 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm Box Materials, Ingredients & Quantities: Gypsum Experiment Duration: 1 hour PROCESS & OBSERVATIONS Intent of the experiment was again to create a gypsum unit with voids/openings/perforations. Trying to tackle the issue of the void placeholding bottles of attempt 2, the rigid plastic bottles were replaced with flexible plastic bags filled with small stones. The plastic bags were removed easily. RESULTS The desired voids were created and the shape didn’t crack.
DEDUCED PARAMETERS - shape, directionality, size of placeholders - location of placeholders with respect to borders - distance between several placeholders - thickness of the poured gypsum paste
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ATTEMPT 3 ZOOMED IN
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to create a hierarchy of voids
ADDITIONAL ITERATION
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* numbers represent attempted voids Portfolio
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TAKE-AWAYS WITH REGARDS TO THE EXPERIMENTED GEOMETRIC CONFIGURATION - creating a logic of voids - creating a hierarchy of perforations of totally opened & semi-opened voids - adopting the concept & idea of intended cracks & fractals
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2B Parametric Facelift
22 Introduction to the Site The given building is a bank located in New Cairo, Egypt. Objectives of the Double Skin Facade to be designed include sun shading in summer, natural ventilation and internal heat gain in winter.
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23 Slab & Facade Surface Modifications In order to provide self shading through the facade surface, the slabs of the top 2 floors are protruding by 2m and the slabs of the middle 2 floors are protruding by 1 m and the slabs of the first 2 floors are aligned with the buildings columns. Hence, the surface forming the facade is formed and not completely perfectly cylindrical, but rather curved
plan 1
plan III
plan V ARCH 473/3522 - Fall 2020
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CONCEPT GENERATION & DEVELOPMENT
Digital Design Studio
Attempt 1: 3D Voronoi Facade
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Miriam N. Elias
26 Attempt 2: Extruded 2D Voronoi Panels
SCHEMATIC PLAN
PERSPECTIVE SHOT
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INTERIOR EXPERIENCE
OUTER APPEARANCE
DIFFERENT WIDTHS, OPENING SIZES OF PANELS ARCH 473/3522 - Fall 2020
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DISSECTING & UNDERSTANDING THE
Digital Design Studio
E LOGIC: ITERATIONS & OPTIMIZATIONS
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Optimization Attempt of Iteration 1
SUN LOCATION: EAST
OPENINGS GETTING SMALLER DEPENDING ON SUN LOCATION
SUN LOCATION: WEST
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SUN LOCATION: EAST SUN LOCATION: WEST
SUN LOCATION: SOUTH
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ZOOMED IN CLOSE-UP
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Conclusive Course Reflection. Now, that I have completed the journey of the digital design workshop, I can reaffirm that it has been quite an interesting, enriching and encouraging journey that taught me a lot. Not only did I get exposed to the various digital tools that I can use within my design process, but I also learned so much with regards to algorithmic thinking as a significant design thinking approach that can serve as a general design driver & stimulator. Hence, I also dealt with different representation, exploration and experiementation media (sketching, material exploration & physical modeling, digital modeling & visualization), integrating them together and learning hereby a lot about the strengths and limitations of each one and about my own potential capabilities and preferences of certain tools and media depending on the project type. Doing so, I believe the course actually gave me a large space to experiment and explore, encouraging me to learn more about myself and about the architectural design thing process as a whole.
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Digital Design Studio
Bibliography. https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-18453304white-geometric-cubes-loopable-abstract-motionbackground https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastropod_shell https://www.wolframscience.com/nks/notes-5-2--other-geometries-for-cellular-automata/ http://ronniearaya.com/Floral-panels https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Homeosta ic-Facade-by-Decker-Yeadon-CDecker-Yeadon fig1_322716059 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Delaunay-Triangulation-and-Voronoi-Diagram-divisions-also-represent-a-dual-graph_fig1_311521487
ŠAll rights reserved, American University in Cairo (AUC), December 2020