Portfolio
ARCH 473/3522 - DIGITAL DESIGN STUDIO AND WORKSHOP Farida Amr Shamseldien Fall 2020
The American University in Cairo (AUC) School of Sciences and Engineering - Department of Architecture ARCH 473/3522 - Digital Design Studio and Workshop Fall 2020) 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: Farida Amr Shamseldien Student ID: 900161269
Š The American University in Cairo (AUC), May 2019
Farida Amr Shamseldin Architecture Student
Architecture for me is a way to self explore the beauty of the wold and discovering how to make people’s lives better and the world a better place, being ecofriendly yet integrating the aesthetics. In this course I learned, how to integrate the
My Name is Farida Amr Shamseldien, I am an Architecture student at The American University in Cairo. I used to be a ballerina at some point in my life and I hope I can go back, I’m so passionate about arts in all its forms. I am also obsessed with Disney (and cartoons in general), my pets, and memes. due to my Artistic Skills and side and my Academic Qualities, I decided to combine both and be an architect.
digital tools with the manual tools in producing, developing and creating a design. moreover, taking and adding the environmental side into consideration which helps a design an ecofriendly building or reinnovate an existing building.
01 Chelter for the Homeless in Suez
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FLUIDITY
ADAPTABILITY FLEXIBILITY C A M O U FLAGE
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Concept Development
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AFFECTING DESIGN FEATURES The octopus can uniquely ADAPT to many conditions 1. Unlike any other animal it changes its RNA to respond to CLIMATIC CONDITIONS by which it can fit with any existing CONTEXT and ENVIRONMENT. 2. Due to the lack of bones in its body (90% Muscles), making it very FLEXIBLE where it can easily fit into any kind of container, and its movement is very FLUID 3. When in danger, it uses the ability to change its skin colour (CAMOUFLAGE) to be invisible to its predators
ARCH 473/3522 - Spring 2019
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My aim wasto create a space that serves the homeless peopple in suez creatively. To achieve this I had to go through several processes and by creating the healthy atmosphere they would live in.
First Attempt
This was attempted for by, creating different spaces of different functions: 1- Residential (a shelter for a family) 2- Social (A social hub for different social activities; socializing, walking, engaging with the environment...etc) 3- Commercial ( a commercial space where the homeless can give and take back frrom the comunity)
Trials
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From Concept to Form
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The shape of the building transitioned from being bulky and condenced, to a more fluid, more complex, and more inviting building, accomodating different zones and activities, throughout it’s transformation Pre-Final Form Process starting to get too know the program (RHINO) and acheiving the desired building form was hard at the beginning . As we moved forward with the process I could develop my form and reshape it until its final refining and reach the desired form and function.
ARCH 473/3522 - Spring 2019
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Final Form
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The Heirarchy of the three main zones, taking the smooth transition through the fluidity of activities from the very private (residential area) to the semi open (social green area) and finally to the very open (commercial area). Also as inspired from the octopus, each zone “ADAPTS” to it’s function not only through it’s openess or closeness, but also, responding to the climate using vegitation and different types of skin treatment depending on the function, coontext and environment. ARCH 473/3522 - Spring 2019
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Final Form Top View: Site layout
Enclosed Social Space Partially commercial, Parcially Social space
Inviting Entrance
Commercial Space Residential Space
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Exterior 3D Shots
-Emphasis on Entrance -Social gathering steps Green Roof on top of Residential Area for evaporative cooling, and narrow slits for diffused natural light
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Final Plan Scale 1:50
Exposed commercial Area for economic exchange
Social Area for different indoor and outdoor social activities and social exchange
Transitional Zone
Residential Area (shelter) Overlooking the enclosed area and has natural light and ventilation
Entrance
Overlapping social and Commercial Activities that give more opportunities, to connect and make use out of the space
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Exterior 3D Shots
Social/ Commercial integration Zone
Residential area’s Entrance is more enclosed and private, compared to the Main Entrance that is more inviting and open.
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Sections Scale 1:50
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Fabrication
The Type that would fit the model best is laser cutting fabrication, due to the curvilinear form. It would be the motts efficient, fast, and economic way to fabricate the model as I would use cardboard and lasercutting techniques instead of 3D Printing that would take more time, material and is more expensive. the building will be assembeled from bottom to top and put together as one as the building comes together.
ŠAll rights reserved, American University in Cairo (AUC) May 2019
02 Folded Molds Material Exploration
03 Facade Lift
SITE ANALYSIS
1. Prevailing wind from the North West direction 2. The average temperature range falls either above or below the comfort zone 3. Direct sunlight all year round due to low sky coverage 4. Humidity falls above comfort zone most of the year
1. The Glass Facade is facing the south, thus there’s solar heat gain and unwanted direct solar radiation. 2. There are no openings, thus natural ventilation is not allowed 3. The all sun facade causes a greenhouse effect where the sun and heat gets trapped inside. 4. The Smooth facade neither has perforations nor breaks in the facade so the sun rays are directed to the inside of the building (no indirect light), thus this causes glare.
Building and adaptive and responsive system, that adapts to the climatic conditions throughout the seasons and days. Therefore, it would regulate the interior’s essence in terms of climatic conditions and user’s experience.
The Kiefer Showroom located in Austria, has electronic controls inside the building that control the facade through 54 motors. The facade itself is functioning as a shading device but given the users to control the angle of the panel, and amount of light transmitted into the interior space.
THE BAHAR TOWER The faรงades of the towers has mechanized structures which adapt to the movement of the sun providing protection from direct solar rays and optimizing penetration of natural diffused light. Each sun shading device is driven by a linear actuator to dramatically protect the building from excessive exposure to solar rays. This system was developed through the emerging science of bio-inspiration, in which natural forms are studied and emulated to produce new forms intimately inspired by nature.
Inspired by the material exeplorationa and the folded fabric moldes. I started to Design a Folded Mold where the folds are free forming and the openings are controlled respodning to the site, solar radiations and spacial experience in terms of Sun penetration and natural ventilation.
In this attempt, I was still exploring the grasshopper tool, I was still trying to produce the aimed for parametric design inspired from the material exploration. the design was still not efficient as it was monotonus and not responsive to the climate nor the experience.
In this attempt I was still figuring the design out, however I started focusing on the climatic conditions that would affect my design ( like the wind that will move the fabric and the solar radiation that will affect the perforation sizes and position. I got to control that by adding attractor points. however the facade still needed play and the panels of the fabric was too big.
The use of folded fabric in the parametric design that gets affected by the wind and the solar radiations, creating a dynamic surface that responds to Climatic and User needs.
Floor Plans Design Translation
GROUND FLOOR PLAN
FIRST FLOOR PLAN
SECOND FLOOR PLAN
THIRD FLOOR PLAN
FOURTH FLOOR PLAN
FIFTH FLOOR PLAN
Designing a new interactive facade that has different curvatures and play that interacts with the slabs creating different spaces and experiences. Also it responds to the sight conditions
Western Facade Southern Facade The Facade’s design is constant to respond to the users needs and spacial qualities, however the parametric design itself is responsive to climatic conditions
REFLECTION This Course added to my knowledge and benefited me, where taking the environmental conditiopns while designing a creative design, through digital tools, developed my skills as an architect and my understanding to architecture. The Process of understanding a digital tool that does not restrict the qualities of an architect, but instead adds to it requires a lot of development and practice to geth the hang of it. Physically experimenting and having a “play with hand� material exploration was an important exercise to get us to knwop the materials we are going to get exposed to after we graduate and get to the real life. Going back and forth through physically, manually and digitally designing and exploring is a process all architects go through, however it is a quality an architect must not lose.