Student Portfolio
A R C H 4 7 3 / 3 5 2 2 - D IG I TA L D E SIG N ST U D IO A N D WO R K SHO P Lujain Arafa Spring 2019
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: Lujain Arafa Student ID: 900150181
Š The American University in Cairo (AUC), May 2019
Lujain Arafa Architecture Student
enjoy sketching fashion ideas, writing short stories and poetry, practiced graphic design on photoshop, experimented with renderings on Lumion, and fell in love with filmmaking during my travels every year. What’s amazing about my major is the huge exposure it provides us with the many paths one could take after they graduate. With our constantly changing and modern world, we must learn how to challenge ourselves to adapt and thrive in it. A course like Digtal Design is truly the turning point in our degrees in Architecture. It has successfully served its purpose of illustrating how technology can expand our design potentials. “As an architect, you design for the present with an awareness for the past, for a future which is essentially unknown” ~ Norman Foster Ever since I was young, all I ever aspired towards was to become an architect. My mind has always been split exactly into a left side; the one that is practical, accurate, analytical and enjoys solving math problems, and the right side; the creative part full of passion and exploration and loves art. Architecture seemed like the best option to satisfy both sides. But i never felt like my major alone was enough. I believe that every year of age is an opportunity for me to discover a new hobby or skill. I’ve learned to
As the theme of this semester’s project was inspired by natural phenomenon, this has truly broadened our minds towards both the simplicity and complexity of nature. Digital Design has shown us the possibility of fusing nature into any parametric design. The limit of our design does not stop at the new software we learn. Instead the outcome is only limited by what our imagination with technology can reach.
Lujain Arafa
“The beauty in nature lies in its unnoticed complexity and level of detail, acting as the driving force for everyday life inspiration�
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Learning From Nature
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Diving Bell Spider The only spider species known that can live almost entirely underwater. The spider is native to freshwater habitats in Europe and Asia. Its abdomen and legs have a silvery appearance due to the presence of a layer of hydrophobic (cannot be dissolved in water) hairs, useful in trapping air bubbles underwater. That is why its genus name Argyroneta comes from the Greek words “argyros” meaning silver and “neta” meaning spin, combines to identify the spider as “the spinner of silk”
Diving Bell Construction The water spider spends most of its life under water, for which it constructs a reinforced air bubble to survive. First, the spider builds a horizontal sheet web, under which the air bubble is placed. In a further step the air bubble is sequentially reinforced by laying a hierarchical arrangement of fibers from within. The result is a stable construct that can withstand mechanical stresses, such as changing water currents, to provide a safe and stable habitat for the spider.
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Learning From Nature
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Argyroneta Aquatica
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An Inorganic Form of Fish Gills
Occasionally, the spider might briefly surface from the water to replenish its oxygen supply. The silk is waterproof but allows gas exchange with the surrounding water. There’s typically more oxygen in the surrounding water than in the air within the bell, so the gas naturally diffuses into the bubble. For similar reasons, carbon dioxide diffuses out and the air inside stays fresh and habitable. The bubble acts as a detachable gill that the spider can breathe with and leave behind. It’s like one of the spider’s own organs The spiders could live inside a bubble for more than a day without needing to nip to the surface to replenish the air. They would be able to stay longer, but nitrogen steadily diffuses from the bubble, causing it to gradually shrink, forcing the spider to surface and refill
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Learning From Nature
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Experimentations Different experimental trials were made to mimic the spider’s diving bell using an inflated balloon (diameter = 10 cm) as the mold and a variety of different materials. The results were recorded and analysed Experiment 1:Yarn Thread + Glue Materials: Water & Glue Mixture ratio = 50:50 Yarn Length= 350 cm Solidification time: overnight Advantages Thread mimics the fiber hierarchy that the spider creates around the diving bell The glue stiffened and strengthened the thread, making it retain its structure after popping the balloon Disadvantages The mixture took too much time to dry The balloon deflated completely in a second The thread was brittle, not elastic or sticky
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Learning From Nature
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8 Experiment III: Glue Gun Sticks Materials: Glue Gun Sticks Mixture ratio = Heated glue sticks Solidification time: almost instantly Advantages Can mimic the fiber hierarchy that the spider creates around the diving bell High elasticity when hot Transparent Disadvantages It is not sticky Dries too fast, losing its elasticity Is not strong enough to retain the balloon’s shape (pops)
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Learning From Nature
9 Experiment IV: Glue Mixture Materials: Water & Glue Mixture ratio = 50:50 Solidification time: overnight Advantages Clear & molds easily Has a slight sticky feeling to it, even when dry The balloon took some time to deflate Very fine in texture Retains a little bit of its elasticity when dry Disadvantages The mixture took too much time to dry
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Stage Reflections
Thinking of a project concept that would help influence the required project facade design was a somewhat unclear task in the beginning. However, certain phenomemon patterns (such as mobility and fiber hierarchy) were deduced and utilized as the following parameters of design: Mobility of spider: Anchoring/Zoning of project Adaptation of the bell: Form Fiber Hierarchy: Facade detailing The spider’s pattern of mobility was chosen to inspire the circulation and functionality of the project (reflection the students’ own back and forth motion between design studios). Sketches were then needed to illustrate how these concepts will be implemented and reflected in the project
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“A spider’s survival hangs on a thread of silk and what its able to engineer with it”
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Capturing Mobility
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Tracking Spider Motion Portfolio
Capturing Mobility
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Conceptual Approach #1 A Pattern of Mobility
Diving bells are irregularly constructed sheets of silk and un unknown protein-based hydrogel that is extruded from the spider’s spinneret glands then spun into a dome-shaped web between submerged water plants The spider then rises to the surface and traps bubbles using the fine hydrophobic hairs on its legs and belly It carries the bubbles down to its web and releases them, gradually filling the dome with air. After a few trips, the spider has amassed a bubble so large it can fit inside
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Conceptual Approach #2 The Fiber Hierarchy and Connection The Egg - Cocoon Sac
Formed within the diving bell itself. The egg-sac is attached with several threads to the interior of the cocoon sac, without touching
a=inner closing b= structure which closes down the entrance, c= egg-sac, d=cocoon-sac, e= cocoon-sac incorporated into the diving bell
The Diving Bell The diving bell threads consist of three different types: thick threads (1.05-1.15 µm); loose, thin, single-stranded threads (0.34 ± 0.04 µm) and aggregated threads The threads have no clear spatial orientation: they are all woven very chaotically without any clear direction. The diving bell, when pulled out of the water, became shiny, lost its suppleness and became fragile. When replaced into the water, its original suppleness and
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Microscopic Images of Threads
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Conceptual Approach #3 Adaptation and Balance “The process is adaptable to the dynamic form of the pneumatic surface and the volatile environment in which the nest is constructed� Microscopic images of the water spider’s nest construction reveal the hierarchical fiber arrangements of the composite structure. Thicker structural fiber bundles form a sheet web to trap the air pocket, branching fibers create a crosslinking composite structure, and surface-filling fiber arrangements locally reinforce the shell. The water spider is able to systematically reinforce its nest through a series of fiber-laying behaviors that constantly adapt to the changing shape of the pneumatic (pressurized air) body during construction, and result in hierarchical fiber arrangements.
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Fiber Layering
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Site Selection Criteria
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A central location with one single main entrance provides controlled accessibility Adjacent to multiple departments (Architecture, Physics and Construction), therefore greatly exposed to students Elevations gives a sense of hierarchy and balance Inspiration can be drawn from the openings in the mashrabiya Sunlight is limited outside 12 am to 3 pm hours due to the surrounding contextual heights Confined corners found in an open space
Contextual Inspiration
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Inspiration Conceptual Features • • • •
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Lines of thin fibers supporting an elegantly shaped lightweight translucent membrane Adaptive to a variety of contexts, reactive to real-time conditions As the membrane changes shape, the robot adapts its approach as needed Structural material is printed upside down (similar to spider’s delivery of silk above its abdomen)
Capturing Mobility
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ICD/ITKE Pavilion
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Building Objectives • • • • •
A lightweight yet strong structure Study stations that are adaptable and flexible to its user’s needs Confined private stations within open spaces Patterns of solids and voids Connectivity between rooms
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Capturing Mobility
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Design Model Approaches Different iterations were carried out with the modeling techniques that would be undertaken in the design process. The first experimentation was done using a lumious solid material, however, it gave a weak and rigid reflection of the desired concepts. The second trial involved utilizing grasshopper equations to model the form. The purpose was for the geometry to be inspired by a mathematical equation. However, the shell lacked the targeted concepts Finally, the third iteration involved a wireframe layered structure with a trranslucent membrane cover. This form was sucessfully able to achieve the required flexibility from the desired project
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Rules of Design The challenge of producing a final model form was based on how the three conceptual approaches could be implemented in a coherent and logical way. How would the statement of each concept be clearly reflected in the project? The end result involved how the pattern of mobility of the diving bell spider could inspire the circulation and anchoring of the project to its context. The balance and adaptation of the bell through its inflation and deflation process could help orient the form that will be generated. Finally, the fiber hierarchy and connection that surroundes the diving bell was the perfect inspiration for the skin detailing and shape-shifting structure of the form.
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Final Model Design
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Model Fabrication
To wrap up phase II of the project, it was required to use 3D printing technology to produce a scaled fabrication of the rhino model. The process proved to be rather complicated in terms of technicalities, since the the model was comprised from numerous pipes that were seperated from the form itself. For the Cura 3D printing program to be able to read the model as a single form, the form was converted into a single mesh structure using T-splines software, then extracted to .stl file format into Cura
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Stage Reflections
With a final form generated and ready for fabrication using 3D printing technology, a general idea of the aimed project was reached. However, a limitation to this stage was that the overlapping fibers of the form were created randomly. This is due to the limitation of the Rhino modelling approach. A certain concept would have to be thought of for the model’s fiber arrangement as well. For instance, the density of the fibers will have to be influnced by the function of the space as well as the targeted light penetration into the room. This could be achieved by the required shapeshifting mechanism of the facade, which would be explored in the final stage of the project using parametric equations in grasshopper.
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“The process of producing the diving bell is adaptable to the dynamic form of the pneumatic surface and the volatile environment in which the nest is constructed�
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Patterns of Mobility
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Patterns of Mobility
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Steel framing structure for reinforcement Paramteric secondary structure consisting of both fixed and airinflated (pneumatic )pipes
Fixed primary structure creating the external skin
Form Generation
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Pneumatic Pipe Structure This is a membrane structure that is stabilized by the pressure of compressed air. Air-supported structures are supported by internal air pressure. A network of cables stiffens the fabric, and the assembly is supported by a rigid ring at the edge. The air pressure within this bubble is increased slightly above normal atmospheric pressure and maintained by compressors or fans. Air locks are required at entrances to prevent loss of internal air pressure. General Characteristics •
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Lightweight: there is no maximum span as determined by strength, elasticity, specific weight as with other materials, thus allowing for great lengths. Benefits: these types of structures are very easy to fabricate erect and dismantle, as well as very economical, making them a choice material for temporary constructions. Material: Synthetic Rubber Membrane combination of plastic and rubber. They can take better wear and tear. They are the lightest, most flexible, and more resistant to elongation.
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Layout View
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Form in Context
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Ground Floor Plan
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Cross - Section
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Elevations
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ŠAll rights reserved, American University in Cairo (AUC) May 2019