Malak Abdel Naby - AUC - ARCH 473/3522

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 WO R K S H O P Malak Abdel Naby 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: Malak Abdel Naby Student ID: 900171333

Š The American University in Cairo (AUC), Fall 2020

Malak Abdel Naby Architecture Student

I am a 21 years-old, senior undergraduate who studies architecture at the AUC. I wanted to become an architect because I believe it is the greatest form of art and has a huge impact on the lives of people. I spend most my free time (Winter and Summer breaks) reading, listening to music, sketching or even exploring new places.

I believe my best trait is that I am very hardworking, and dedicated yet I tend to be stubborn sometimes. I always keep on challenging myself so that I can improve my skills on a daily basis and at the end of the day: what is life without a little extra risk.

Starting the course, I was actually very worried only to finish the course now and realize that I grasped the essence of the course. It is only after attending ARCH 473 that I came to realize that there is power in the simplest and smallest of ideas.

“Less Is More” -Mies van der Rohe

TABLE OF CONTENT

HOMELESS SHELTER

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BLANK FACADE

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FACADE FACELIFT

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The Chameleon served as an natural inspiration for the first project, to capture the idea of natural growth in nature, than abstracting it into a shelter.

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DESIGN OF A HOMELESS SHELTER

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Location: Al Minya, Egypt Al Minya Governorare is located in Upper Egypt, 245 km away from Cairo. It has a prime location by overlooking the Nile.

This governorate has a very important historical relevance, seeing that it hosts many pharaonic tombs and other historical monuments.

The rate of poverty is more than 60% in this governorate, where the total population is nearly 6 million. Minya is known to having a huge number of homless children.

The leading Industries in Al Minya are: Food processing (especially sugar and the drying and grinding of onions), Spinning and Weaving of cotton, Construction Feild (cement-making, quarrying (limestone), and brick-making.)

Climate Consultant Analysis The temperature range chart shows that the comfort zone in Minya ranges between 20 to 24 degrees celcius.

As for the hot season takes over between May toSeptember. As for the winter “below comfort� zone takes over for rest of the year except April. From the Wind Rose, the prevailing wind directions are North and North West. Followed by the sun shading charts in both seasons showing when shading is required. Average annual humidity is 40% with January being the most humid month and May the least humid.

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Climate Consultant

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5 The Jacksons Chameleon growth stages inside the yolk sac being studied in order to come up with my individaul concept

Describing the Progression inside the Yolk Sac

0-60 days: embryo becoming a multi-layered organism.

The ectoderm will form the skin, brain, and nervous system.

The endoderm will form the gut tract and internal organs.

The mesoderm will form the muscle, skeleton, and circulatory system 60-90 days: Nervous system & body formation After 90 days: Limbs formation + rapid growth 106-117 days: The yolk sac is being used to develop the midgut and nourish the chameleon.

160-200 days: Hatching Diapause Phenomena: the embryo suspends development due to env. conditions and resumes development when these conditions are satisfied.

THE SHELTER AS AN INCUBATOR ARCH 473/3522 - Fall 2020

The Chameleon’s growth is best described as a MULTI LAYERED PROCRESS, in which each component is essential to the creation of the following phase.

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Rhino: The Itterations

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The process of coming up with the final form was a rather complicated journey in which I was stating a new rhino file, EVERY WEEK. I faced many complications while coming up with the form, because the design process followed here is rather different than the one I am used to.

The common problem between all models included below are that they focused on many details but the overall abstraction form splited somehow.

The sense of scale and architectural manifestation were not considered in the first two models but only in the third.

While working on rhino sometimes I faced a few difficulties to mode what I exactly had in mind but with many many takes I think I managed to have a large variety of models and got exposed to new commands.

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Architectural Manifestation: The Translation Zoning Logic

Public Farmers Market Commercial Area

Modeling Strategy

Initial Curves & Planar Surface

Lofting

Extrude Curves

Paneling Grid

Add more curves & Split

Add Textures & Materials

Semi-Public Communal Area WCs Cafeteria

Private Residential Area

Materiality

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Spatial Connections: 3D Section

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Model Fabrication Laser Cutting: Rhino & AutoCAD

Scale 1/400

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3D Printing: Cura

In order to be very efficient, the model fabrication will be done using two methods: 3D printing and laser cutting. The model is done in scale 1:200 on cura. As for the laser cutting file but had to be in 1:400 to fit in the storybook. The first trial I pluged my model into Cura Softoware, I got an error seeing that all the hexagones where all single surfaces, thus the software wasn’t able to slice it. I had to re-go back to rhino in order to turn all surfaces into polysurfaces (using the offset command). Afterwards group the entier outer skin together and turn into a mesh with more polygons. After doing these modifications I plugged in the model once again in Cura, the result I got was 2 hours and 12 minutes, with a fast printing setup (0.2-fast) and 20% infill and with supports. Modifications have been applied such an increase in the wall thickness to reach 5mm, decrease printing profile to (0.15-normal) and add more support. All the above mentioned modifications resulted in the outer skin being produced in 4 hours and 13 minutes. The laser cutting has been done using the unroll command to turn surfaces into planes. This was then taken to AutoCAD to fix the scale.

Going through the fabrication process in this course helped me put things into percpective, and made me realize that there is defenitly more than one way to reach the same end result. Effecencicy and consisnous play a huge part in desicion making here.

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Second Project’s Inspiration Picture Walter Jack: Crushed Wall. Concrete installation, Heartlands, Cornwall

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THE BLANK FACADE CANVAS

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Fabric Formwork Fabric formwork is a building technology that involves the use of structural membranes as the main facing material for concrete molds. Unlike traditional formwork, fabric is very glexible and deflects under the pressure of fresly poured concrete resulting in a very smooth surface that can easily have curvitures.

Looking Back Into History

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Roman Times Vitruvious introduces the use of reeds tied together in the process of vault construction & for plaster finishing. They due to practicallity they used this construction method while working undergrand for ease of accessibility and flexibility.

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Early beginnings: Gustav Lilienthal (1849–1933) Considered a pioneer in this field, he invented the fabricformed suspended floor in 1899. See’s the surfaces as “similar to that of a sofa cushion” when using fabric, wire mesh undeneth it and concrete.

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Large-scale applications: James Waller (1884–1968) This era arrosed with WWI. It consisted of a woven fabric made from any vegetable fibre stretched over a timber frame and plastered with cement mortar.Waller introduced four sub categories to his work: (1) Draped and plastered, (2) Stretched and plastered, (3) Filled and

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and stressed through hydraulic pressure for columns, (4) level, lying on the ground. When working with vaults he started to have spans varrying from 5 up to 12 meters.

He created a system in 1955 for spans of up to 150 m using prefabricated, external trussed arches from which he suspend the fabric.

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Architectural expression: Miguel Fisac (1913–2006) Fisac was the first person to acknowledge the aesthetic capabilities of fabric formwork. When asked to comment about one his projects , Centro de Rehabilitación in Madrid, he said, “The result that the weight of this soft material gives to the concrete when poured is real and effective; the concrete takes on the texture of the material in a tactile way”. In 1990, Unno discovered the strength of plastic netting as a formwork material and subsequently developed a fabric formwork system for load bearing walls, while looking for low-cost formwork.

Applications The field of application of fabric forming is a spectrum full of many divisions, it varries from aethtetic building facades, structural elements such as beams, abstract sculptures and furniture pieces.

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Types of Fabric Formwork

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PNEUMATIC FORMWORK

Wallace Neff in 1942 pioneered the use of inflatable domes as formwork for concrete bubble houses.

As with Waller’s shell, these inflatable domes used a cement gun, with the concrete being mixed at the nozzle. The formwork itself was described as a rubberimpregnated fabric. The main advantage of this method was that it presented a low-cost way of quickly erecting dome shells by reducing the need for materials and labour.

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POURED OVER FORMWORK

The easiest method to pour concrete using fabric formwork. Here this the fabric is streched over a wooden base, it is usually sewn, cut, altered. Obstacles could be added to help form the conctrete being poured and the result will be shaped around this mold.

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POURED INTO FORMWORK

The formwork typlogy is the closest to traditional formwork, here the three dimensional structure is already done but hollow inside that would be filled with concrete.

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THE NEXT PART OF THE STORYBOOK SHOWS THE FINAL 3 EXPERIEMENTS RESULTS ALONG WITH A VERY LONG PROCESS OF TRIAL AND ERROR THAT CAME WITH IT.

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EXPERIMENT 1

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Lessons Learned from Failed Attemps What Is It? Wooden Stickes directed in three different directions supporting a triangular shaped fabric.

What were the compilications?

After pouring the gypsum the sticks weren’t able to support the fabric, thus extra supports were needed. The paste spreed wasn’t consistent throughout.

What is the resulting shape?

A triangle sagging at the middle.The experiment hardened in 2 hours, but many cracks starts to appear. What is very intressting is that the shape has two very opposing tetures. From one side its very neat and has the fabric’s pattern imprented upon it. Seeing that the the formwork was not designed to help the shape have a proper thickness, this could be a reason leading to the cracking that occured.

Inconsistency will spreading the gypsum lead for an intressting perforation pattern.

The use of CONTROL POINTS & define a proper THICKNESS are two major points that would affect the success of the experiment.

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A Walkthrough of the Process

Result after 8 hours

Diagram showing the fabric formwork Diagram showing the pouring points After removing the secondary before pouring, the three control and the areas where they were formwork, bumps and crests could points and highlighting the edges. inconsistencies in the poured mixture. be seen.

After removing the canson paper, I realized that it wasn’t fully fixed leading for gypsum to be poured outside.

Texturing effect from the sheet.

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While taking the model out of the The gypsum was able to penetrate formwork pressure was applied at a underneath the foam ball, thus no weak point leading for cracking. Also perforations happened. showing the contrast in textures.

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3D Printing: Cura

This is probably one of the best experiments I was able to conduct through this phase of the semseter. The most challenging part was to figure out how to give a thickness for the form. since rigid materials such as cardboard, cork and foam did not come as any help, accordingly a looser material was required and the formwork ended up being as follows.

The main formwork is made out of the fabric.

The secondary formworks are half a foam ball, cardboard to form the outer box boundaries and 200g canson paper to define the edges.

Pouring was done from the 3 control points to avoid the gravity effect. I used my hands to spread the gypusm after pouring but it resulted in a deformation of the shape.

The amount of gypsum poured covered the foam ball placed and since it was glued to the fabric it paced beneath it also. Therefore, I should have resolved to a more volumentic shape to make sure it cuts through.

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EXPERIMENT 2

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Lessons Learned from Failed Attemps The ratio of water to gypsum used is 3 cups of gypsum to 2 cups of water.The resulting mixture is very heavy.The main idea here is to use a plastic sheet as the formwork itself, The plastic is socked it into the mix and is left to dry. The gypsum however did not stick that much on the plastic sheet itself.

The use of proper BOUNDARIES for the formwork as well as a stiff material to allow for the gypsum to form.

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A Walkthrough of the Process

Result after 10 hours

Initial formwork composed of an old Inconsictencies in the mix allowed Fragementation to the end result due shoe box infilled with canson and for bubbles to appear in the poured to the variations in the height of the covered with plastic. mixtures. paper used in the middle.

Intressting resulting paper like forms The outcome is successful to imitate showing that gypsum is a very easy a pillow shape yet is the paper material to manipulate and form. deformation was better thoughtout the form would be less bulky.

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Effect of air on the mixture after it dried. It gave an edge to the final outcome making it have some sort of a dual texture.

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3D Printing: Cura

This experiment is one with the most intressting final outcome. This is also thank to the freeform that came out of the formwork, which was designed as follows. The main formwark used is an old shoe box infilled with 300g white canson paper and cover using a plastic sheet. Pouring whas done from above with the intention to have a pannel that is smooth and straight from one side and very deformed from the other.

Since the canson form wasn’t controlled -it was rather habhazard- the result wasn’t a panel but rather small fragments.

As observed on the picture at the left the gypsum was able to perfectly take the shape of the paper. The bubbles that appeared on the surface were a result of of the poured gypsum being expose to air or the oil added on the plastic sheet for ease of removal.

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EXPERIMENT 3

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Lessons Learned from Failed Attemps The ratio of water to gypsum used is 3 cups of gypsum to 2 cups of water.The resulting mixture is very heavy. The main idea here is to have a rectangular formwork, with wooden stick behing the fabric to act as obstacles to help form the panneling effect in the inspiration. The mix unfortunatly was too heavy in comparairaison to the loose fabric and did not withstand it.

Box should have an adequate width to allow gypsum to be poured freely. Fabric needed treatment while doing the formwark to help define the shape a bit. A layer of plastic should’ve been placed for the formwork to be removed.

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A Walkthrough of the Process

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Formwork and Pouring The main formwork is made out of cardboard - forming the box boundaries (25*32*25).The secondary formworks are the corrugated plastic sheet to give a texture for the model.

Extra cardboards have been added to further define the shape: vertical seperators inside the mold and curved one to support the bottom of the plastic sheet.

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Let it Dry for 14 hours The cardboard forming the seperators absorbed the paste and it solidified with the rest of the model and I wasn’t able to remove it.

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Removing the Formwork

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3D Printing: Cura

This is probaby the worst experiment of all three, seeing that the final outcome is very safe.

The initial experiment that lead to this outcome made me realize during the first week the fabric form making is not as easy as it sounds, because the fabric in itself needs a lot of treatment before it becomes able to define a certain shape and dictate parameters. In contrast to the rest of the experiments, the formwoork used here was very rigid not allowing for “controlled errors� to occur.

The designed formwork was as follows. The main formwork is made out of cardboard - forming the box boundaries (25*32*25). The secondary formworks are the corrugated plastic sheet to give a texture for the model. Extra cardboards have been added to further define the shape: vertical seperators inside the mold and curved one to support the bottom of the plastic sheet.

The cardboard forming the seperators absorbed the paste and it solidified with the rest of the model and I wasn’t able to remove it.

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CONCLUDED PARAMETERS CONTROL POINTS & OBSTACLES

THICKNESS OF THE GYPSUM

Have as many control point as the end result dictates. The distance between 2 control points should be equal to the radius of the circle this edge arc belongs to.

Thickeness of the material and the amount of penetrating light within the structure. A gradiant that goes from opaque to translusive.

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CANSON FORM & DIRECTION

Paper deformation downwards lead for a more properly defined shape, or in any direction pointing towards the boundries of the outer boxx.

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MATERIAL OBSORBANCE

The material used to create perforrations needs to be very strong to handle water absorption. As well as the thickness the patterns in the fabric or corrugation in the sheet, reflects on the fina outcome.

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Sunset Shot of the New Facade of Bloom Bank

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PARAMETRIC FACADE FACELIFT

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Project’s Brief

“In this project, the objective is to explore and parametrically generate a prototype for a building façade skin that takes into consideration issues of environmental comfort, spatial relations and human aspects using a passive approach. You are required to develop a parametrically driven building skin for the building shown below (Blom Bank Egypt SAE - Main Branch, South Teseen Rd, New Cairo). The main façade of the building is in a South/Southwest orientation, and so you are required to devise an appropriate envelope that provides adequate shading and sun protection.

Your building skin designs should originate from your explorations in Part I: The Blank Façade Canvas. Each student should capitalize on ideas captured in the material exploration exercise and develop conceptual approaches based on the derived parameters, rules and relationships so that you can define extensive iterations for a variety of design alternatives.Your approach should devise a parametric logic for the design of the façade skin based on environmental, spatial, functional, and/or aesthetic considerations. You are to assume functional and behavioral scenarios and settings during your investigation.”

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Site & Environmental Studies

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SOLAR RADIATION

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WIND ROSE

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SUMMER SUN PATH

RADIATION RANGE CHART

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Slabs Modifications

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INCLINDE/ INVERTED STEPING

The slabs extention increase as we go up resulting in a inverted steping happening behind the curtain wall. The inclination should help in protecting from summer sun.

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MIDDLE PROTRUSIONS

Protruding slabs in the middle floor, with an accessible terrace on the upper floor.

The cavity is covered from above using louvres.

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ALTERNATING PROTRUSIONS

Protruding slabs in an alternating manner at each floor allows for the creation of breathing spaces at each floor as well as hacing a smooth and intresting outer facade.

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Precedent Examples AL BAHR TOWERS, UAE

The DSF Layers is composed of an outer layer made out of 1049 umbrella shaped shading devices (stailess steel supportung frames, aliminum dynamic frames and fiberglass mesh infill). The Inner Layer is made out of Curtain wall panels with floor to floor height: 4.2m & Width: 0.09-0.12m. The cavity is 2.8 meters.

Some of the few advantages is to reduce glare and decreases 50% of solar gain.

Parametric Design in response to sun exposure and changing sun angles during the different days of the year.

HOUSE OF THE SEA, ITALY

The structural system in concrete and steel is buffered on each side by full-height glass walls which are in turn enclosed in a modular brise-soleil grid in white painted steel, which forms a pattern of intertwined hexagons with an Arabic influence. During the day, this mesh protects against direct sunlight while at night it provides a constantly changing reflection of the surface of the water, transforming the Casa del Mare into a striking landmark that can be recognized even from a considerable distance.

Work with a STATIC operartional mechanism for the facade facelift ARCH 473/3522 - Fall 2020

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Parameters & Goals CONTROL POINTS & OBSTACLES

INITIAL PARAMETERS

1) Thickness of the panel 2) Solid to void ratio of the panel 3) Scale of the panel 4) Environmentally Responsive 5) Responsivness to users needs

HEIGHTS VARIATIONS GOALS

1) Provide Shading 2) Thermal Buffer 3) Sound Buffer

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Initial Design Idea 1

Shape inspired by Project 2A using fabric forming Materials: Steel Frames and Fiberglass mesh infill Dynamics/ Responsivesness: 1) Elements are scaled to smaller/ larger modules according to location.

2) Inner shape could have dynamic opening of different sizes.

Front Model View

Top Model View

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Initial Design Idea 2 Shape inspired by Project 2A using fabric forming of Experiment 1 and the dynamic shape of Experiment 2 Materials: Dynamics/ Responsivesness: Static Facade

Front Model View

Top Model View

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Zoning Logic

OPEN PLAN LOUNGE

OFFICES

MEETING ROOMS

ADMINISTRATIVE AREA TERRACES Protruded terraces at each floor resuted in the broken curved shape of the facade.

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Grasshopper Script

Prefinal Design Iteration

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Section & Shot

Building Cross Section

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Final Design Iteration Create a double skin facade (DSF) that is static, taking the varying shape of the protruded slabs, resulting in a smooth outer surface. The concept is to use triangular perforation that grow in size as the facade moves towards the west. The smallest perforations are present towards the middle to provide shade towards the outer terrace.

WESTERN SIDE

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EASTERN SIDE

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Sectional View Se

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Sectional Blow-Ups Note that the details included below are not my original work, they are taken from external references.

Steel Diagrid supporting the DSF.

Grasshopper Script

Corridor Type DSF. The diagram below shows how wind circulates through the facade as well as enters and exists the building.

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Plan View & Slabs Variations

Coming up with the final grasshopper script was a bit challenging since I had to take the knowledge I got from the different assignments we took througout the past month. However, it was constantly hard for me to be able to model what i wanted to do; there was always something that I did wrong. This was a very exhausting process, yet working on taking the experiential shots using enscape is was rewarding.

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Experiential Shots

04 PM

02 PM

12 PM

The shots included below help give an a image of the effect of the shade and shadow that is generate inside the different spaces, through out the different times of the day.

All the shots included below are taken from the third floor, overlooking the outdoor terrace included for workers to socialize in and/ or take a break.

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Biblography

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Aranda, B. and Lasch, C. (2006). Tooling, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, USA. Balmond, C. (2007). Informal, Prestel.

Dunn, N. (2012). Digital Fabrication in Architecture, Laurence King Publishing.

Frederick, M. (2007). 101 Things I learned in architecture school, MIT Press.

Freyer, C., Noel, S., Rucki, E. & Antonelli, P. (2011). Digital by Design: Crafting Technology for Products and Environments, Thames and Hudson.

Hensel, M., Menges, A. & Weinstock, M. (2010). Emergent Technologies and Design: Towards a Biological Paradigm for Architecture, Routledge.

Iwamoto, L. (2009). Digital Fabrications: Architectural and Material Techniques, Princeton Architectural Press.

Jabi, W. (2013). Parametric Design for Architecture, Laurence King Publishing.

Kolarevic, B. (2005). Architecture in the Digital Age: Design and Manufacturing, Taylor and Francis.

Segaran, T. & Hammerbacher, J. (2009). Beautiful Data: The Stories Behind Elegant Data Solutions, O’Reilly Media.

Spiller, N. (2009). Digital Architecture Now: A Global Survey of Emerging Talent, Thames and Hudson.

Tedeschi, A. (2014). AAD – Algorithms-Aided Design, Le Penseur Publisher.

Terzidis, K. (2006). Algorithmic Architecture, Routledge.

Vysivoti, S. (2012). Folding Architecture: Spatial, Structural and Organizational Diagrams, Bis Publishers