B I N
X U
ARCHITECTURE DESIGN STUDIO 3
“AIR” DESIGN JOURNAL 2012
22 - Cut Case Study 2.0
17 - -Scripting Advantages
14 - Morphogenesis
5 - Architectural Discourses
Design Matrix - 29
Cut Case Study 1.0 - 19
Parametric Modelling - 15
Conputational Design In architecture - 12
Personal Information - 2
Contents
About Me
Hello everyone, my name is Bin, but you can call me Ben! I am from China and I am a mad fly fisher! I really enjoy the moment when I am standing on the bank of creek in forest as I personally feel that I become part of the nature. and I am interested at applying or strengthening the dynamic aspect of a building while maintaining the building to be considered as part of the back ground context. I have used CAD to establish my design plans and then use Sketchup for modelling since couple of years ago. I really like the way CAD presents tidy precise and clear plans. This is my first time engaging with Rhino3D, everything is new.
personal Work: The Boathouse
The intension of the design of the Boathouse is to simulate a jet boat which relates to the Yarra River next to it. The 3 stores are made from large concrete slabs which emphasis the size of the building and make the building look more magnificent in terms of its size. On the other hand, a jet boat shape is not only giving dynamic feeling to the building but also reflecting to the flowing water next to it. Moreover, those long span bridges connecting to the road on the uphill and car park utilize the technique from Mies’ Bricks Country House. It creates the endless feeling and visually enrages the building. A big building is always more eye-catching than a small building. Apart from that, those bridges also simulate the Yarra River next to it. Overall, this design strongly reflects to the background context and utilizes the geographical aspect of the site. This design is suitable for the motorway Project as the project sites are long but relatively narrow lands which can be utilized to place any long span wall/objects to create the endless feeling so that the project becomes more eye-catching. As the design intension is to make the building become coherent within the background context, it creates smooth and logical connection between the highway and inland roads.
Conclusion: Any architecture must be analyzed with the background context or as a whole. Anything that standing there without showing respect to the surroundings will be no senses. An individual building is not architecture however it is just part of the architecture. To this end, architecture must be seen as a whole. Utilizing the background environments is very important. The background environment will be beneficial to the object only if the object shows some respect to it. Especially for the Motorway project, people are most likely to have a glance of the project when they are driving on the highway. Therefore if the background contexts emphasize and support the project, it will be more like a landmark instead of a “boring project�.
“Both in architecture and in an object, there should be a similar level of coherence and mutual reinforcement as there is between the detail and the whole.� -Jean Nouvel, Ateliers
Agbar Tower Bercelona Spain Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Fermin Vazquez/b720 Arquitectos, 2004
As Barcelona is a port city, the design of Agbar tower simulates a jet of water with stable pressure to create a feeling of geyser surging from the earth to the sky in order to reflect the nearby blue water. Therefore the Agbar tower reveals the geographical traits of the city. On the other hand, the tower is also in relation to the background context which includes the legacy of the Guadi’s famous Sagrada Familia (Alex Sanchez Vidiella, 2007). The tower is served as the main tower of Sagrada Familia. It reveals the importance of how building integrates within the background context (Alex Sanchez Vidiella, 2007). This building design can be utilized for the Motorway project as it has strongly internal relationship with the background context as it reflects to the nearby blue water and Sagrada Familia. It will impress drivers by showing the traits of the background context and make them become interested at exploring the surrounding environment.
“Architecture is part of the natural” -Frank Lloyd Wright
Falling Water, PA, USA, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1935
As Wright’s theory of architecture “Architecture is part of the natural” (Hoffmann Donald, 1993), he provided and examined his ideology by making the unique architecture “Falling Water” as part of the natural. This building is built right on top of the existing falling water. Instead of modifying the natural to become suitable for the building, Wright actually decided to let the water go through/under the building. This design maximally maintains the background environments. The materials also reveal the design intension. Stone, brick and timber are all natural materials which can be seen within the background context. How to make the Motorway Project become coherent with the background context is very important. A sudden change of style of upset the background context by creating some incoherent and inconsistent feeling and view. The Motorway project is producing a sign or a landmark and therefore it must contain the traits of the surrounding environment. Those unique traits will then attract and impress people/drivers by drawing their curiosity.
To this end, I have sought to create a new architecture for a time that would reflect an understanding of history, a new understanding of museums, and a new realization of the relationship between program and architectural space. Therefore, this museum is not only a response to a particular program, but an emblem of hope. -Daniel Libeskind
Extension to the Denver Art Museum, Denver, Co, USA, Studio Daniel Libeskind, 2006
The design of extension to Denver art museum is showing how architecture reflects background context by showing the progress of a growing city (Alex Sanchez Vidiella, 2007). The pitched roof blocks represent the Rocky Mountains rock crystals as well show the development of the surrounding city by forming relatively abstract objects projecting all different directions. This also shows the dynamic aspect of a growing city. Moreover, in order to get more connection with the background context. Studio Daniel Libeskind utilized varied materials to emphasis the differences between tradition and modernity so that there is a strong contrast between the “old city” and the “new city”, which on the other hand also relates to the background context by emphasizing the process of development.
Reference: 1.Hoffmann Donald(1993), “Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water: The house and history” (USA, Dover Publications) 2.Alex Sanchez Vidiella(2007), “The Sourcebook of Contemporary Architecture” (Spain, An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers) 3. Daniel Libeskind(2001), “The Space of Encounter”(USA, Universe Publishers)
Computational Design in Architecture Guggenheim Museum, Bibao, Frank Gehry, 1997
“Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is the best known example that captures the zeitgeist of the digital information revolution, whose consequences for the building industry are likely to be on scale similar to those of industrial revolution: the Information Age, which is “challenging not only how we design buildings, but also, manufacture and construct them.” – Kolarevic, “Architecture in the Digital Age” According to Vanity Fair’s survey of 52 experts, including 11 Pritzker Prize winners, Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao becomes the most important masterpiece of architecture built since 1980. “The building blazed new trails and became an extraordinary phenomenon. It was one of those rare moments when critics, academics, and general public were all completely united about something.” – Paul Goldberger
What makes Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum such a success is the adoption of computational design in this masterpiece. It will not stand there without the computational innovation in architectural design, not to mention generating a new era for architecture. Kolarevic also stated in the reading “Digital technologies are changing architectural practices in ways that few able to anticipate just a decade ago. In the conceptual realm, computational, digital architectures of topological, non-Euclidean geometric space, kinetic and dynamic systems, and genetic algorithms, are supplanting technological architectures.” Computational design has a significant effect on contemporary architectural design. Computational design become more and more important for architectural design because its modelling generating can accurately generate virtual models of design and surrounding environments. Architects therefore can analyse, test and review the results which are very close to reality. Moreover, computational design can easily achieve today’s focusing such as sustainability, safety, resistance against natural disasters etc. we can make modifications in the digital drawings rather than redo whole sets of hand drawing. In other words, Computational design method has enhanced efficiency of architects. Furthermore, computational design helps architects corporate with other related professions. Computation based modelling method is capable for analyse the constructability of the design and therefore engineers can easily work out the loads.
Morphogenesis
Generative design method is the one of unique innovation of computer based design method. Kolarevic gave a definition to it: “In a radical departure from centuries-old traditions and norms of architectural design, digitally-generated forms are not designed or drawn as the conventional understanding of these terms would have it, but they are calculated by the chosen generative computational method. Instead of modelling an external form, designer articulate an internal generative logic, which then produces, in an automatic fashion, a range of possibilities from which the designer could choose an appropriated formal proposition for further development.” We can test out more interesting shapes by morphing the original forms in a generative logical way. A particular important property of NURBS objects is that “they are defined within a “local” parametric space, situated in the 3D Cartesian geometric space within which the objects are represented.” In parametric design, t is the parameters of a particular design that are declared, not its shape. By assigning different values to the parameters, different objects or configurations can be created. Parameters are the direction and constraints that we set to create the geometries suit to our need and design concept.
Parametric Modelling
International Terminal of Waterloo Station, London, UK, Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners, 1994
The roof structure consists of a series of 36 dimensionally different but identically configured three-pin bowstring arches, because of the asymmetrical geometry of the platforms, Instead of modelling each arch separately, a generic parametric model was created based on the size of the span and curvatures of individual arches were related. This is an innovative improvement for design. Parametric design highly upgraded the digital modelling speed for complex non-Euclidean geometry. It also transformed role of architects in the design processes of buildings. “For the first time, architects are designing not the specific shape but a set of principles encoded as a sequence of parametric equations by which specific instances of the design can be generated nd varied in time as needed.” – Kolarevic, “Architecture in the Digital Age” Architects are therefore using parametric method to seek out infinite potential design solutions.
Scripting Advantages
Load Distribution Diagram, ICD, ITKE research pavilion
Scripting affords “a significantly deeper engagement between the computer and user by automating routine aspects and repetitive activities, thus facilitating a far greater range of potential outcomes for the same investment in time.” - Burry, Scripting Cultures Along with extending design experimentation, scripting can also be “the antidote to standardisation forced by an ambition to lower production costs, rather than any more sophisticated motivation: the previously elusive opportunities for multiple versioning and bespoke production can now be considered more seriously through the use of scripting.” - Bury, Scripting Cultures It “affords the designer opportunities to escape the strictures inherent in any software” - Burry, Scripting Cultures
ICD, ITKE research pavilion, Germany, ICD, ITKE University of Stuttgart, 2011
The Institute for Computational Design (ICD) and the Institute of Building Structures and Structure Design (ITKE), together with students at the University of Stuttgart have made this temporary pavilion. The project’s aims are to integrating the performative capacity of biological structures into architectural design and to test the resulting spatial and structural material-systems in full scale. Their focus was set on the development of a modular system which allows a high degree of adaptability and performance due to the geometric differentiation of its plate components and robotically fabricated finger joints. This project is an example of computational parametric design which allows architects to script all potential solutions and choose the most appropriate one to have the further development.
Cut Case Study 1.0
Group Argument: We are interested in patterns that create an experience of movement through triggering the visual perception and engaging the viewer with their surrounding environment.
By far the parametric design impresses me by the way of connecting different components and how it can be easily varied in order to counter any constrains. Parametric design methods which includes panalisation, geometry, structural, kinetic, pattern, biomimicry, attractors and responsive can be utilised to achieve different design intentions. Furthermore, computational design gives better efficiency to architects as they can simply modify the component they want and the computer will automotive generate the result it causes very close to reality. The contemporary technologies can also make the parametric component easy to be manufactured. In conclusion, parametric design will become the style of architecture in the Information Age. As we have been assigned into group to investigate how pattern works in parametric design, we found that pattern is suitable for creating symbols, shadows, data variations and optical illusions. In order to impress the city council, the design of instalment needs to be eye-catching, storytelling and have the capacity of being the landmark.
McCormick Tribune Campus Center, Illinois, OMA, 2003
The faรงade of McCormick Tribune Campus Centre is a great example of parametric design driven by image (data). OMA uses different symbols to form an image of Mies Ven der Rohe. The arrangement of symbols is selected based on the brightness of the image sampler. They eventually produce a picture of Mies Ven der Rohe as a whole. The key thing we have learnt from this is to use different symbols or small patterns to produce a large image.
Remaking the Facade of McCormick Tribune Campuse Centre with a Koala Image as the image sampler
Remaking the Facade of McCormick Tribune Campus Centre with a Koala Image as the image sampler and add extrusion component to the end of grasshopper to let the symbols extrude based on the brightness of the image sampler, the effect is not as clear as the one without extrusion. Therefore I think for the output for pattern design should not be extruded.
Cut Case Study 2.0
John Lewis Department Store, Leicester, Foreign Office Architects, 2008
The reason why we choose John Lewis Department store is because of its double skin. The images printed on the panels are different, but no matter how panels are joined, they always form a continuous image. Therefore the important parts are the image joins at the edges of each panel. They must be identical so that no matter how the panels assembled (rotation, flipping), the image will always perfectly flows to other panels. In the other hand, the double layer also gives the moirĂŠ effect, which makes the pattern move visually. The double layer design also acts as a filter. The patterns have different transparency according to the functions of different internal spaces. Private spaces will have lower transparent pattern to prevent being seen from outside.
First, we need to figure out the connecting points at the edges of the panel. We draw a square surface and reference it into Grasshopper, then using the Divide Surface Component to subdivide the surface to have 3 columns and 3 rows. We then got several points in on the surface. Connect the output of Divide Surface to Point List, and flatten Divide Surface component, we then have numbered points. We can then use item list to choose what points we need in order to draw connecting points with same width.
Then we can select the points at the edges which can be used to identify the coordinators of the connecting points. We make these edge points become the centre of circles with radius of 0.125. Then use Curve-Curve Intersection Component to find out the intersections points created by the circle and side lines of the surface. The distance between two close points are 0.25, which is the fixed width for the connecting curves.
Tried to use Bezier component to draw the curves, but it is very complicate and the direction of Bezier curves are hard to control as they sometimes fly out of the panel. We decided to draw the pattern by hand using picture frame and trace over the curves. The connecting points on the edge of this parten has been considered to have same width so they will join up no matter how the panel been rotated or flipped.
Instead of drawing another pattern, we simply rotated, flipped, mirrored the original pattern, and assembled them in a random order by using the data (image) running definition similar to the OMA one. The edges are perfectly connected and formed a fluent image.
By repeating the first 2 steps with a different image sampler, we form the other layer, then place it on top of the first layer we created before.
There is another way of arrange this pattern: Morph Box Component in Grasshopper. This is more useful for parametric design as it can fit any brep or solid in to any loft surfaces created by curves. This is extremely useful when the panel is not flat. We can make our original pattern as the brep and put in any surface we want by using this component.
Design Matrix