AIR studio Journal Part A
Haochuan Guo (David Guo) 659741 Semester 1, 2017
(1)
Self Introduction My name is Haochuan Guo, and I'm a third year architecture student at the university of Melbourne. The 2 years of architecture study is a continuous process of exploration for me . I exlopred what exactly meant by designing, and how to balance between professor’s requ irements and my own ideas. It is a bittersweet journey, and my strong passion for design ha s kept me persistent. It is also this passion that helped me carry on through difficulties and fr astrations, and gained recognition and fulfillment at the end. All of my design projects up until this point have been done by traditional techniques such as hand drawing, physical modeling and some digital modeling programes, but I have never touched the designing approach that is called computation like grasshopper, and this subject give me an opportunity to explore a totally new world of design.
(2)
“It is a question of building which is at the root of the social unrest of today: architecture or revolution.� -------Le Corbusier
A
century earlier, Le Corbusier responded to the potential social upheaval because of industrialization in that machine age by proposing understanding a dwelling as a 'machine for living'. The first several decades of the 20 centry saw a series of social upheavals. Living in that age and to respond its situation, Le Corbusier proposed his famous saying "Architecture or Revolution". However, we living in the new century face very different situations compared with earlier architecture masters, but the new environmental and social conditions impose very diiferent challenges
(3)
A.1. DESIGN FUTURING Case Sduty 1 Project: Endesa Pavilion Architect: Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) Date: 2011 Location: Barcelona, Spain
T
he Endesa Pavilion is a prototype that demonstrates the role of parametric designing methods in creating intelligent and sustainable architecture, and how architectural forms can be generated by the parametric design. The form of the building is optimized by parametric modelling methods that consider the local environmental conditions. The building's variation and complexity in its form is not merely driven by the architects' aesthetic tastes, but also by the inherent functional purpose at its very early stage of design, which is to minimise the energy consumption or even produce a surplus to feed other conventional buildings' consumption. Therefore the interesting point is the parametrically designed building is able to has variation and complexity in its forms driven by the intent of functionality that is precisely the same reason why modern architecture often present forms giving feelings of simplicity, austerity and lack of variety. Over a period of one year the project was used as a
(4)
control room for the monitoring and testing of several projects related to intelligent power management. It is the first 1:1 prototype of a wooden solar-tracking facade system applicable to different scales and latitudes. The adaptive modular system is based on parametric modelling and digital fabrication, with an algorithm oded to optimise geometries depending on local conditions to create a constructive system that aims to integrate passive strategies with active ones, traditional knowledge with cutting-edge technology, and local conditions with global logics.
(5)
A.1. DESIGN FUTURING Project: Mobius Project Architect: Exploration Architecture Location: London
Nowadays, built environments are increasingly held responsible for environmental crises due to its greenhouse gas emissions, industrial a:nd operational outputs and ecological disturbance. This proposed architecture demonstrates how mimic fundamental principles of ecosystems can help facilitate sustainability by making specific references to a case study of an ecosystembased biomimetic architecture. The Mobius Project is a proposed architectural project, being as a combination of urban farm and city restaurant located in a roundabout in London, designed by Exploration Architecture. The architecture employs an approach of closed-loop system that is inspired by how material and energy cycle through ecosystems to nourish
(6)
the interconnected relationships among different species. The building has different parts responsible for different functions, including a greenhouse, a fish farm, a restaurant, a wonne1y composting system and a "living machine" water treatment system. The seasonal food people eat in its restaurant comes from the productive greenhouse, and food scraps f om the restaurant is either composted in the wonnery composting system, or fed to fish. In the building, the local was biodegradable will be processed for composting or diverted to the anaerobic digester that produces methane to generate electricity and heat to support the greenhouse's operation. Also, the solids flited fom the
wastewater can be used for anaerobic digestion, while the remaining water is treated by the "living machine" that imitates ecosystems of wetlands by integrating bacteria, zooplankton, plants and fish, and the treated water will be used for drinking and crop in-igation in the greenhouse. In the project, we can see the interdependent relationships in natural ecosystems are mimicked and a small-scale ecosystem is created, consisting of producers (crops in the greenhouse, plants in the "living machine"), consumers (fish, humans) and decomposers (bacteria, zooplankton, worms). A sustainable model is realized here by designing this ecosystem-based architecture where every species has its own role to play but at the same time its performances will also nourish its relationships with other system participants. Also, the closed-loop model, being like ecosystems, minimizes negative impacts of the building by "feeding" the system with its own output.
(7)
A.2. DESIGN COMPUTATION Case Study 1 Project: ICD-ITKE Research Pavilion 2015-16 Architect: ICD-ITKE University of Stuttgart Location: Stuttgart
The ICD-ITKE Research Pavilion (2015-16) is a great example that demonstrates how computation could redefine architectural practices. It showcases outcomes driven by biomimetic investigation into Shell Structures of sand dollars with the help of computation. Taking advantages of optimizing and selecting computational processes, traditionally which are the works of architects, Also, the resulting outcome is very successful as it has a performative and lightweight structure. It is also a demonstrator on the intersection of architecture, engineering and biology.
(8)
Biomimicry is the main idea about this project. However, the designers not only wanted to create forms that superficially mimic the apperances of organisms and animals in the natural world, but intented to investigate the intrinsic rules that determines their forms and structures. They studied the rules on which the structures of sand dollars are based and worked out the algorithms, and write algorithms describing the rules they observed, which enables the process of computation and the realization of the final optimized outcomes. Their study on the constructional morphology of sand dollars, the double layered system, leads to the outcome of the lightweight and performative segmented timber shells, in the process of which computation is a crucial and indispensable process. For this reason, the project also involved an interdisciplinary cooperation between architects, engineers, biologists and paleontologists. It presents a new approach to architectural design, by which biomimicry can be achieved through computation and participation of scientists studying on the nature. The computational design approach makes it possible for hiring automatic robotic fabrication methods in the construction stage. In this project, the pavilion was designed and realized by the same team consisting of students and researchers, rather than the traditional ways where architects design the structures but when it comes to realizing the outcomes the construction specialists take more responsibilities.
(9)
A.2. DESIGN COMPUTATION Case Study 2 Project: ICD-ITKE Research Pavilion 2014-15 Architect: ICD-ITKE University of Stuttgart Location: Stuttgart
ICD-ITKE Research Pavilion 2014-15 Similar to the first case study, this pavilion also demonstrate how computing affect both the design processes and outcomes. The computational for finding method was adopted to create the shell geometry and the main fibre bundle in a biomimetic way. A digital agent emulating the spiders in the nature navigates the surface shell geometry and helps to generate a proposed robot path for placement of fibres. The designed algorithms use a number of interrelated design parameters to guide the digital agent's behaviors and make the final structure lightweighted and material efficient.
Stable fibrous nest construction of the Diving Bell Water Spider (Agyroneda aquatica)
(10)
Another benefit of the adaptive computational design strategy is the corresponding development of a robotic fabrication process for carbon fiber reinforcement on the inside of a exible membrane. Threrefore the project's construction process was not a seperate stage after the design was completed but instead the fabrication is taken into account along with the designing process. In this way the construction is no more labour-intensive and both the engineers and the architects cooperate to realize the project by computational methods and robotic fabrication process.
The result is not only a particularly materialeffective construction, but also an innovative and expressive architectural demonstrator. The integration with natural elements during design process allows designers to generate future potentials.
Microscopic image of Diving Bell Water Spider (Agyroneda aquatica) nest
Conceptual Fabrication Strategy: 1. Inflated pneumatic membrane 2. Robotically reinforce membrane with carbon fiber from inside 3. Stable composite shell
ICD-ITKE Research Pavilion 2014-15 (11)
(12)
(13)
(14)
(15)
(16)
(17)
(18)
(19)
(20)
(21)
(22)
(23)
(24)