Portfolio
ARCH 473/3522 - DIGITAL DESIGN STUDIO AND WORKSHOP Maram Zeitoun Spring 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: Maram Zeitoun Student ID: 900161241
Š The American University in Cairo (AUC), May 2020
Maram Zeitoun Architecture Student
an added challenge of unlearning what I’ve previously learned to open my brain up to a whole new realm of possibilities, aiming to understand the formulatory basis of the complex structures and geometries taking the architectural scene by a storm nowadays, as well as to learn the techniques employed in their creation, through introducing an alternative design process, reliant on software to actually assist in the design process rather than being purely used representationally.
Initially, making the decision to go into Architecture for me was a spontaneous one, and year by year, it was through my studies of Architecture that I began to really look at my surrounding context, question it, and formulate theories as to how it came into being. Growing up in Cairo, there sure was plenty to look at. I came to find that the mental stimulation and challenge resulting from studying architecture has expanded my mind and changed me in a way I don’t think something else could have. Going into this course, I find myself feeling the same sense of anticipation I had upon first entering into the world of architecture, the sense of crossing a border into uncharted waters once more, this time with
Table of Contents 01 Minya Homeless Shelter
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Concept Developement Modelling Experimentation Form Generation Developed Model Architectural Drawings Fabrication Reflection
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02 The Blank Facade Canvas
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Research on Casting Material Experimentation: Tile #1 Derived Material Use Guidelines Material Experimentation: Tile #2 Derived Parameters Reflection
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03 The Parametric Facelift
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Transitioning: Assessing the Logic of the Crease Experimentations with Triangulation Form Generation Response to Wind Response to Solar Radiation Response to Function Response to Direct Sunlight Grasshopper Definition Final Form Reflection
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In this project, the lotus flower was taken as a natural inspiration whose growth process was studied and abstracted, and from this abstraction a model for a homeless shelter in Minya was developed over multiple iterations using Rhino, and was prepared for fabrication using Slicer
The Lotus plant served as the inspiration for this project, as it is a symbol of Upper Egypt
01 Minya Homeless Shelter
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01 Minya Homeless Shelter
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Tracing the lines of growth of the lotus was decided upon to extract ideas for the shelter
Concept Development I was initially against selecting the lotus as an inspiration. I had a feeling that a lot of people would go for it as it was a popular symbol of Upper Egypt. And I ended up being right. We ended up being two groups using the Lotus, totalling to ten students. The Lotus flower follows the same growth cycle that all flowers do. Seed to root to shoot to flower to fruit to seed once more. What differs with the lotus is its status as an aquatic plant, and the adaptations it undergoes to enable its survival in its environment In order to derive a unique aspect for the growth of the lotus, I decided to trace out the imaginary lines of growth in the lotus, how does it shift from form to form and how does it expand in size and volume. I would then use these lines as a guideline to develop the form of the shelter.
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Modelling Experimentation
Multiple modelling iterations were derived from the abstracted cross sections
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01 Minya Homeless Shelter
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The abstracted steps for manipulating the chosen cross sections to develop the form: vertical growth, gradual expansion, and layering
Form Generation
The morphology I developed of star to warped star to circle, was derived from imagining that the rhizome of the lotus (its bulky root) would unwind to develop the solid, strong stem. I started playing around with these cross sections in multiple ways. An issue I kept having in my modelling attempts was that I would make fragmented models made out of several parts that would then appear to be patchy (see iterations 2, 3 and 4) which made the form much less dynamic.
Another struggle i faced was thinking through the typical mentality of building, for example, in iteration 3, I was fixated on making the roof usable, so I made it entirely flat, and attached an alien ramp to it to make it accessible. It was after iteration 3 that I decided to revisit my linework, and play around with it to develop the form from one surface without patching.
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Developed Model Exterior shot showing main central structure and one surrounding enclosure iteration ARCH 473/3522 - Spring 2020
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The main form was developed by lofting and twisting through the cross sections, simplifying the resulting form, then pullying the form to layer around the central twist forming the major central structure. Perforations were then introduced to this central structure for indirect lighting, both through the central shaft and through the shaded openings, to shield from the sun of upper Egypt. An enclosure is then formed around the central structure by pulling curves from the main structure to form walls that twist along with the form. How large the volume of the enclosure is depends on how many people will be using the shelter.
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Exterior shot showing operable perforations that control 01 Minya Shelterarea light flowHomeless to the farming
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Interior shot showing possible interior configuration to use more space by introducing a mezzanine Maram Zeitoun
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Architectural Drawings Ground Floor Plan Scale 1:75
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01 Minya Homeless Shelter
Mezzanine Floor Plan Scale 1:75
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Section AA’ Scale 1:75
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01 Minya Homeless Shelter
Section BB’ Scale 1:75
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Top view of overhang
Prior to fabrication via Slicer, the model was deconstructed into a main core and the enclosure walls
Fabrication
Slice pattern accomodative of form
The fabrication process was a first of its kind for me, as leading up to it, I wasn’t approaching it as an intuitive step that can actually contribute to the design, naturally this point of view changed as I went through the process. I decided to rely on slicer for the fabrication process, as my core form was relatively massive and could be expressed adequately through slicing. Going into the slicing software, I couldn’t have predicted that I would be going for a diagonal slicing direction, it is through experimenting that this decision was made, as this slicing direction was determined to be the most suitable for the form with regards to level of detail and piece connectivity.
New approach to enclosure walls
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When it came to the fabrication of the enclosure walls, this decision to use interlocked slices was also brought forth by experimentation. This logic can be expanded to provide perforations, in replacement of the circular perforations (see 3D shots). The slices offer a lot of control as to where to seal and where to keep open, based on the user’s needs. 01 Minya Homeless Shelter
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Reflection After going through the first project, I have to say that my approach to design definitely changed, most significantly in the sense that this design process has been extremely fluid, with changes to the design coming to light even in the fabrication phase, the supposed last step in the process. If I am to critique my work for project one, I would say that it sometimes still teeters on patched and put together, going forth into project two, I aim to change my mindset to now embrace this fluidity in design, and thus accommodate and welcome the changes it brings forth.
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In this project, the casting process of concrete was studied, leading to a first experimentation with a tile out of gypsum, from this first experimentation came a set of guidelines, and through these guidelines a proper second tile was modelled, and from this second tile parameters were extracted in an aim to deconstruct the spontaneous creasing of plastic into a set of steps
The spontaneous wrinkling of plastic served as the inspiring springboard for the design of the facade
02 The Blank Facade Canvas
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Research on Casting The primary method relied upon for the use of concrete has always been casting.
Traditional wooden formwork
It is the development of the formwork itself that resulted in the development of the casting process, allowing for the creation of more complex forms. Starting off with traditional formwork that was built piece by piece on site, then prefabricated modular formwork was introduced to speed up the construction process
Prefabricated Table Formwork Portfolio
02 The Blank Facade Canvas
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CNC Milling of frozen sand to create formwork Developments in CAD/CAM technology have augmented the design possibilities for complex structures requiring custom formworks. The formworks applied to erect structures as the one pictured are generally fabricated using a CNC-mill to carve material out of a piece of foam or wood. These formworks are usually discarded after a single use.
Formwork for the Dancing House was fabricated via CNC Milling
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Until now, this wasteful production process has been the most efficient technique available for making custom formworks for complex concrete constructions.
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An approach is taken by TailorCrete (Gramazio and Kohler, 2011), for which a digitally controlled flexible mold system was developed. It uniquely uses a flexible mold system off-site to fabricate recyclable wax formwork inlays, which are subsequently brought on site and inserted into a standardized formwork system. The wax inlays can then be re-melted and reused, however there are limitations in the achievable curvature
Curving formwork with wax inlays
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02 The Blank Facade Canvas
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3D printed concrete columns by ETC Zurich
With advancements in 3D printing technology, it became more possible to achieve more complex forms with concrete. Concrete itself can be 3D printed directly as in the columns pictured above. It is however sometimes more practical to 3D print the formwork if the volume of the subtractions is smaller than the filled areas or for structural reasons
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02 The Blank Facade Canvas
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Thermo-formed molds can also be used to make custom tiles
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This design by ZAarchitects develops a smart masonry system by determining the necessary load bearing areas This pattern is then sent to a robotic arm for the arm to cut out the formwork pieces out of foam, and the blocks are made block by block
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02 The Blank Facade Canvas
Fabrication process of panels, credit: ZAarchitects
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A plastic bag was selected as a good starting point for texturizing the tile, as it would produce various sizes of creases, distributed in a random set up of lengths, angles and depths. Since while conducting these experiments I was running low on material, using white cement and gypsum I molded additional creasing (following the pattern set by the plastic bag) in case the plastic’s creases are crushed beneath the gypsum’s weight. Inserts were also provided to account for perforations. Window wire was introduced to act as reinforcement that would bind the tile together, as i’d predicted that the gypsum-water mix would become brittle upon hardening. This setup produced the first tile, pictured right.
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02 The Blank Facade Canvas
Material Experimentation: Tile #1
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Derived Material Use Guidelines
Due to a non-homogeneous mixture produced through poor workmanship, the center of the tile (which survived the removal process) had a paste-like consistency, while the edges had a runnier consistency Through this observation, it was determined that a paste-like consistency was more suitable, and was obtained through a 1:1:1 ratio of white cement to gypsum to water.
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The strips of window wire added to reinforce the mixture proved significantly effective in holding the tile together.
Due to the aforementioned non-homogeneity of the mixture, the produced tile ended up having non-uniform thickness.
From this experiment, it was determined that it would be effective to spread out the layout of the reinforcement even further
The minimum thickness of the tile that did not break off was determined to be 2.5 cm
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When the reinforcement was placed first and then the paste was poured, the reinforcement blocked some of the paste from going through So it was decided that the mixture should be placed on two parts with a reinforcement layer placed inbetween
From the minimum thickness guideline, one can deduce that the minimum distance between opening and opening or opening to edge can be set at 2.5 cm From the opservation that openings constitute weak points in the tile, the use of reinforcement around the openings would be effective
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Material Experimentation: Tile #2
02 The Blank Facade Canvas
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Derived Parameters Following the guidelines from experiment one, this tile (pictured left) did not break on extraction and satisfied the size requirement.
Crease depth to width relationship definition
Maximum crease depth Due to the random nature of the plastic texture creasing, multiple different creasing patterns were produced, this pattern (pictured above) is the one i wanted to produce
Crease to crease distance
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36 Openings are to be placed in creases so that they are shaded from direct sunlight, the parameters governing opening placement are as follows:
Shallow Creases
Opening Parameters
These shallow creases were off goal, but the parameters to produce them were assessed to be as follows:
Facade-wide crease depth
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a: crease width b: crease depth c: crease-to-crease distance t: tile thickness
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s: spacing between openings x: opening diameter y: base to opening centroid dsun: relative distance to sun
02 The Blank Facade Canvas
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Reflection This project was really refreshingly different and interesting in my opinion. The physical experimentation, while difficult and tedious (and prompted me to venture out during quarantine in a makeshift HAZMAT suit for supplies), helped me really develop a solid understanding of how the material behaves, and following the guidelines I extracted in trial 1 leading to a successful trial 2 was extremely rewarding. Going the reverse route and extracting parameters from a physical experiment I believe will come to be helpful when it comes to using software as it gave me an insight on the logic behind the process.
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In this project, the facade of Blom Bank in New Cairo was remodelled based on the derived concepts and parameters developed in Project #2, which were developed further to satisfy the required responsive design features that were then coded and had multiple iterations tested using Grasshopper
The curved glass facade of Blom Bank in New Cairo was set as the facade that would undergo a parametric facelift
03 The Parametric Facelift
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Logic of a Crease
Understanding the crease: the logic of the formation of a crease was extracted to be as follows:
Line Creation
The scale of the creasing was increased to human scale, and the inner skin is used as a separator from the work zone
The openings were developed to be more inline with the form of the crease (away from the constraint of simple physical modelling) Portfolio
Random Extension/Reduction
Point Extraction
Random Rotation
Depth Creation
Triangulation 03 The Parametric Facelift
Triangulation was chosen as the means of connection between the points as it would then satisfy the structural aspect while maintaining the creasing aspect, with triangular formations always being structurally stable
Social Potential
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Experimentations with Triangulation
The first triangulation attempt of a sample surface
Attempting use on a floor-by-floor basis, reads as more of a shading device
First attempt at triangulation size variation accomplished through division into panels
Developing a more gradual transition in triangulation size
Shading Potential
Ventilation Potential ARCH 473/3522 - Spring 2020
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to Wind
To make use of the wind flowing through the opening in the rectangular mass, the curved surface was divided and each part offset to catch the prevailing wind.
The surface divisions were offset by values of 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 m respectively. Greenery was introduced at the points of offset to cool the incoming winds. Portfolio
The climber plants are used would latch onto the triangulations through a region that is uninterrupted by slabs, the inner skin configuration at regions of greenery is shown above 03 The Parametric Facelift
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Response to Solar Radiation
Solar Radiation
External Envelope Surface Area
Triangle Size
Upon studying the cumulative insolation on the facade, it was observed that the amount of cumulative insolation on each region of the facade was as noted in the above diagram, with the intensity reaching its maximum near the central division of the facade. To reduce the exposed surface area of the external envelope in regions of high solar radiation, it was decided to set the triangle sizes of the central region to be larger than those of the periphery, to limit heat transfer to the interior
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Response to Function Configuration of based on activity
inner
skin
Private Space
Shared Space
The second factor deciding triangle size is nature of activity behind the facade. If the space is a shared space, the triangles are larger to enable their use as seating or surfaces etc.
Private Space
Vertically Connected shared spaces Private Space (one-person office, etc.)
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Shared Space (Multi-person office, lounge, etc.) 03 The Parametric Facelift
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Response to Direct Sunlight
With only face down triangles being openings, any light that goes in would be diffused and reflected off of a solid face up surface
Face-up triangles are set to solid
Face-down triangles are set to glass
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Grasshopper Definition 1
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The final grasshopper definition, outlining the design steps: 1. Division and staggering of the surface 2. Surface preparation for triangulation 3. Surface area manipulation based on attractor 4. Setting crease depth 5) Creating the Delaunay mesh 6) Setting face-down faces to be windows
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Reflection Wrapping up this project, and the course, I have to say that working on it was an extremely different process to what I was used to. Where I had to implement algorithmic thinking in order to produce a design responsive to its users and its environment. I had to break down what I wanted to do with the design into its constituent parts, and organize step by step how these parts were to come together to formulate the design before putting hypothetical pen to paper. The design that was produced is only one iteration out of multiple possible iterations that could come out of the parameters I set, and multiple other architectural alternatives can be generated, and then tested to see if satisfactory. My thinking process has definitely been enriched, as I have now fostered the capability to deconstruct a design and to develop a logical generative step-by-step process, a feat that I aim to keep working on through growing my proficiency in this once completely foreign field.
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Bibliography
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ARCH2O (n.d.) “Emerging Laboratory Culture in Architecture” Bari (2019) “Gothic Construction Techniques Inspire ETH Zurich’s Lightweight Concrete Floor Slabs” in ArchDaily Chen et al (2018) “Form-finding with robotics: Rapid and flexible fabrication of glass fiber reinforced concrete panels using thermoformed molds” in Journal of Computational Design and Engineering Lloret et al (2014) “Complex Concrete Structures: Merging Existing Casting Techniques with Digital Fabrication” in Computer-Aided Design Rawn (2015) “Digitized Stone: ZAarchitects Develop “Smart Masonry”” in ArchDaily Walsh (2019) “What is the Future of Concrete in Architecture?“ in ArchDaily
ŠAll rights reserved, American University in Cairo (AUC) May 2020