AIR studio Journal Part A
Haochuan Guo (David Guo) 659741 Semester 1, 2017
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Self Introduction
M
y 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 proc ess of exploration for me. I exlopred what exactly meant by designing, and how to balance between professor’s requirements and my own ideas. It is a bittersweet jo urney, and my strong passion for design has kept me persistent. It is also this passi on that helped me carry on through difficulties and frastrations, and gained recognit ion 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.
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A CONCEPTUALISATION
A.1. Design Futuring A.2. Design Computation A.3. Composition/ Generation
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A.1. DESIGN FUTURING Case Sduty 1 Project: Endesa Pavilion Architect: Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) Date: 2011 Location: Barcelona, Spain The Endesa Pavilion is a prototype that expands future possibilities in architecture as it demonstrates a new approach to the creation of architectural forms, called “form follows energy”1. The background of this proposition is that in the 21th century humans are confronted with various environmental challenges, so to deal with these problems design approaches should be adapted toward being more environmental sustainable as built environments nowadays are increasingly held responsible for environmental crises due to its greenhouse gas emissions, industrial and operational outputs and ecological disturbance2. Different from some of the buildings created before parametric design is applied in the field of architecture, this building’s complexity and variety in its forms is not driven only by the architect’s aesthetic tastes, instead it’s based on the so-called principle “form follows energy”, which in this case means using parametric design methods to created dynamic and adaptive façade modules’ geometries according to local conditions and
Endesa Pavilion
seasonal sun paths. As a result, it gains a very successful outcome as to the aspect of energy because it can generate twice as much energy than it needs to consume3. Therefore, in the context of environmental crisis, this project provides a new way of creating adaptive building forms based on the principles of energy saving by using parametric design tools, which is very different to the traditional static building forms.
Endesa Pavilion
1, 3. Areti Markopoulou and Rodrigo Rubio, "Smart Living Architecture: Solar Prototypes. Iaac Endesa Pavilion Barcelona," Architectural Design 85, no. 2 (2015). 2. N. T. Buck, "The Art of Imitating Life: The Potential Contribution of Biomimicry in Shaping the Future of Our Cities," Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, no. 2015 October (2015).
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Endesa Pavilion's adaptive facade modules responding to changed environmental conditions.
Endesa Pavilion
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A.1. DESIGN FUTURING Project: Mobius Project Architect: Exploration Architecture Location: London
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n the field of architecture, mimicking fundamental principles of ecosystems provides a new way of thinking to facilitate environmental sustainability and based on this way of thinking the architecture can contribute to their site and inhabitants by reducing wastes and using energy and materials more efficient. Instead of focusing on continuous functioning of every single element, this approach puts emphasis on the mutually beneficial relationships between different systems, which allows characteristics of sustainability such as interdependency and reciprocity that are rooted in ecological systems4.
The Mobius Project is a proposed ecosystem-based biomimetic architecture. The building has different parts responsible for different functions, including a greenhouse, a fish farm, a restaurant, a wormery composting system and a “living machine� water treatment system. As its name suggests, the architecture employs a design of closed-loop system that is inspired by how material and energy cycle within ecosystems to nourish the interconnected relationships among different species. The seasonal food people eat in its restaurant comes from the productive greenhouse, and food scraps
Digital Model of Mobius Project
4. P. Mang and B. Reed, "The Nature of Positive.," Building Research & Information 43, no. 1 (2014).
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from the restaurant is either composted in the wormery composting system, or fed to fish. In the building, the local wastes that are classified as 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 from 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 irrigation in the greenhouse5.
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.
In the project, we can see the interdependent relationships
Mobius Project proposed for a roundabout in London
5. Exploration, "Project: The Mobius Project," Exploration Architecture Ltd, http://www.explorationarchitecture.com/projects/the-mobius-project.
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A.2. DESIGN COMPUTATION Case Study 1 Project: ICD-ITKE Research Pavilion 2015-16 Architect: ICD-ITKE University of Stuttgart Location: Stuttgart
ICD-ITKE Research Pavilion 2016
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omputation employed in architecture can bring changes within design and construction industry, one of which is it can involve people from different disciplines, not only architects and structural engineers, in architectural design. The change is already ongoing as many of the leading architectural practices have formed their own internal multidisciplinary research teams aimed at developing expertise to exploit computational geometry6. The reason is scripting algorithms in computational
design approach7, which requires scientists and specialists from other fields contributing their own knowledge to architectural design. The ICD-ITKE Research Pavilion (2015-16) is a great example where architects, engineers and biologists collaborate with the computational tool to create the biomimetic structure, which was based on scientists’ knowledge and studies on constructional morphology of sand dollars8.
6. Rivka Oxman and Oxman Robert, Theories of the Digital in Architecture (London: New York: Routledge, 2014). 7. Ibid. 8. ArchDaily, "Icd-Itke Research Pavilion 2015-16 / Icd-Itke University of Stuttgart," ArchDaily, http:// www.archdaily.com/786874/icd-itke-research-pavilion-2015-16-icd-itke-university-of-stuttgart.
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In addition, computation could also make a significant change within the construction industry by providing an innovative linkage between “conception” and “production”, which is called the "file to factory"9. Because digital design information can be used in fabrication through CNC (computer numerically controlled) construction method that fabricates the resulting buildings from computational design approach, “much like robotic machines now help fabricate cars, airplane parts, and integrated circuits”10. For example, this pavilion project adopted robotic textile fabrication techniques for segmented timber shells, which being “the first of its kind to employ industrial sewing of wood elements on an architectural scale”, and the robotic machine for sewing was linked to the computational design by being integrated and controlled through a custom software12. Furthermore, computation applied in the architectural design process can lead to a more effective, accurate and efficient approach of performance-oriented designing. This is because computation enables designers to receive performance feedbacks at various design stages and thereby to better make further design decisions
Robotic Fabrication
Structural analasis in the computational design process
based on these building performance analyses13. At this project, multiple structural analyses, such as curvature distribution, stiffness distribution and mechanical analysis about grain directions and bending stiffness, were used to optimize the pavilion’s structural performance and determine its final form. As a result of these analyses in the computational design process, the outcome of the structure is very lightweight and material efficient lightweight13.
Robot machine sewing the bent timber segments
9. Yehuda E. Kalay, Architecture's New Media: Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design (Cambridge: MA: MIT Press, 2004). 10. Ibid. 11. ArchDaily. 12. Brady Peters, "Computation Works: The Building of Algorithmic Thought," Architectural Design 83, no. (2013). 13. ArchDaily.
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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
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Conceptual Fabrication:
Microscopic image of Diving Bell Water Spider nest
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n the field of architecture, computation as an evolution of means of communication significantly affects the design process by creating a symbiotic design system where both humans and computers can contribute their strong suits to architectural designs. The process of design requires both rationality and creativity to produce problem solutions and these solutions cannot be worked out with one facility alone14. Computers lack any creative abilities or intuition that humans possess but they are superb in being analytical precisely and faultlessly, which is where humans’ capability fall short15. Computation is a media of communication that allows humans to use understood models to express what information are required for computers to process16, which makes it possible to involve computers into the process of design, where traditionally humans do both rational and creative parts, and to let humans and computers do what they are expert at respectively. The ICD-ITKE Research Pavilion (2014-15) is a great example that demonstrate how computation as a
1. Inflated pneumatic membrane
2. Robotically reinforce 3. Stable composite shell membrane with carbon fiber from inside
communication tool enable computers to do the analytical and rational part in the architectural design process. In its design process, creative designers drew inspirations from the complex web structure of a reinforced air bubble constructed by water spiders, and based on the studies and researches on their construction behaviors designers developed an integrative computational tool to instruct the computers to embed water spiders’ fiber-laying behaviors to create performative fiber arrangements. Here human designers through computational design strategy let computers do the analytical tasks in the design process to find and optimize forms, including structural analysis, fiber orientation and material connections17. These complex works of analysis, simulation and calculation could hardly be done in a short time like this without employing computers by using computational design approach. With the introduction of computation, the design process becomes more efficient and the outcome is successful as the resulting shell structure is performative, lightweight and material-efficient18.
14. Yehuda E. Kalay, Architecture's New Media: Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design (Cambridge: MA: MIT Press, 2004). 15. Ibid. 16. Brady Peters, "Computation Works: The Building of Algorithmic Thought," Architectural Design 83, no. 2 (2013). 17. Moritz Doerstelmann, Jan Knippers, and Valentin Koslowski, "Icd/Itke Research Pavilion 2014Fibre Placement on a Pneumatic Body Based on a Water Spider Web," ibid.85, no. 5 (2015). 18. Ibid.
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A.3. COMPOSITION/GENERATION Case Study 1 Project: AA DRL ProtoHouse 1.0 Architect: Gilles Retsin Location: London
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ne of the advantages of using the design method of generation is it greatly extends the potentials in architecture and allows people to have a radically different spatial experience which is almost inconceivable previously before this revolutionary change coming. The Softkill ProtoHouse is an architectural prototype generated by using an algorithm that imitates the growth of fibrous structures in bone19. The algorithm organizes thousands of thin lines into a stiff, interconnected structure without any traditional building elements such as walls, floors and ceilings. This outcome dramatically changes people’s perception of architecture because it dissolves the boundaries between interior and exterior and gets rid of solid mass and surfaces. Therefore, the generative architectural design can create architecture with new
aesthetics and moods by its revolutionary design approach that mimics nature’s evolutionary approach. However, this approach to architectural design is still limited in the preliminary stage. One reason is realizing and constructing these proposed buildings that are created in a generative way, just like the ProtoHouse, usually requires the method of 3D additive manufacturing, but the industry of 3D printing has not developed enough to manufacture large scale buildings, due to some reasons, mainly the economic considerations (e.g. high costs for its considerable labor-intensive pre- and post-processing)20. By this day they are not cost-effective except for smallscale uses21, which restrict the development of designs of generation into the real world.
ProtoHouse 1.0
19. Gilles Retsin, "Something Else, Something Raw: From Protohouse to Blokhut - the Aesthetics of Computational Assemblage," ibid.86, no. 6 (2016). 20. Matthias Holweg, The Limits of 3d Printing, Harvard Business Review (Harvard Business School, 2015). 21. Ibid.
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ProtoHouse 1.0
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A.3. COMPOSITION/GENERATION Case Study 2 Project: Fibrous Tower Architect: Kokkugia Location: Proposed for Hong Kong
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nother advantage of generative architecture is it can generate numerous variations in an architectural design process based on sets of provided constraints. It is because of the very different way in which generative design works: as defined by Hesselgren, generative architectural design is not about how to build the buildings, rather it is about to design the rules and the system that build the buildings22. Designers don’t deal with detailed materials and products in a direct way, but generate them using a generative system with constraints to regulate the generative process, which could be understood as an evolutionary design process with particular selection criteria23. The variations changes
Skyscraper Fibrous Tower by Kokkugia
22. Angus W. Stocking, "Generative Design Is Changing the Face of Architecture," cadalyst, http:// www.cadalyst.com/cad/building-design/generative-design-is-changing-face-architecture-12948. 23. Christiane Herr, "Generative Architectural Design and Complexity Theory," https://cumincad. architexturez.net/system/files/pdf/ga0213.content.pdf.
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numerous possible permutation of a design solution could be generated by the manipulation. But the generative process driven by algorithms is still a controllable approach though the significant complexity and variety of the outcomes, as an algorithm describes a process that input, output and intermediate sets participate in, which is in a certain state or may go to some certain other states, but the state transitions are finite24. The proposed skyscraper Fibrous Tower demonstrates the difference between the designs of generative approach and those created in traditional ways.The non-linear and organic tower shell structure has a significant variations and complexity in its form, but they are not created by human designers directly, instead algorithmically generated by a cell division procedure in
Fibrous Tower proposed for the urban environment in Hong Kong
the tower geometry25. Its performative load-bearing and non-column structure, and the thickness that allows the use of conventional formwork techniques to construct, are achieved by the initial algorithm considering various constraints, which is controllable though it feeling very complex and with significant variations. However, one of the shortcomings of the generative design is at its development stage today it lacks social and contextual knowledge so they cannot yet be put in charge of taking such responsibilities26. For example, to realize the Fibrous Tower into the real world, human selection was still needed to pick the most appropriate outcomes from a vast of variations considering local social conditions and impacts.
Its non-linearstructure where load is distributed through a network of paths,
24.Definition of 'Algorithm'. The Mit Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (London: MIT Press, 1999). 25. Neil Leach, "Digital Towers," Architectural Design 79, no. 4 (2009). 26. Herr.
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A.4. CONCLUSION
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rom the study in Part A, the answers to questions of “what is to be built” and “how it will be built” become clear. Both social and environmental conditions have changed compared to any time before this new age. Conventional design techniques are outdated in terms of approaching a new era of more advanced social and technological development and achieving the mutual goal of humans in the 21th century, which is moving towards sustainability. It is high time for we designers to integrate new design tools to deal with the changing world.
We will no longer regard computers as only more convenient and fast drafting and modeling tools, instead we use them in an innovative way to create the future designs. The design logic behind computation and generation is completely different and revolutionary. We will no longer focus on the aesthetics of old ages to design architecture but intend to exploit the infinite possibilities and potentials in architecture, and begin to touch the most fundamental rules based on which the natural organic world is generated, and are determined to apply these rules into our design system.
Structural Model of DNA Watson & Crick 1953
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A.5. LEARNING OUTCOME
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hrough the learning in Part A, I develope an new insight into the thories and practices at the forefront of the discipline. Before this studying, I only perceive designing with parametric tools like grasshopper as an approach to achieving products that are beautiful but unpractical. However, this experience of study let me understand the huge significance behind those "unpractical" designs, which will actually open up a new world for us and really change the world's future, because its innovative and revolutionary way of design is a huge leap from the traditional ways.
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Reference List ArchDaily. "Icd-Itke Research Pavilion 2015-16 / Icd-Itke University of Stuttgart." ArchDaily, http://www.archdaily.com/786874/icd-itke-research-pavilion-2015-16-icd-itke-university-ofstuttgart. Buck, N. T. "The Art of Imitating Life: The Potential Contribution of Biomimicry in Shaping the Future of Our Cities." Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, no. 2015 October (2015). Definition of 'Algorithm'. Edited by Robert A. Wilson and Frank C. Keil, The Mit Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. London: MIT Press, 1999. Doerstelmann, Moritz , Jan Knippers, and Valentin Koslowski. "Icd/Itke Research Pavilion 2014-15: Fibre Placement on a Pneumatic Body Based on a Water Spider Web." Architectural Design 85, no. 5 (2015): 60-65. Exploration. "Project: The Mobius Project." Exploration Architecture Ltd, http://www. exploration-architecture.com/projects/the-mobius-project. Herr, Christiane. "Generative Architectural Design and Complexity Theory." https:// cumincad.architexturez.net/system/files/pdf/ga0213.content.pdf. Holweg, Matthias. The Limits of 3d Printing. Harvard Business Review. Harvard Business School, 2015. Kalay, Yehuda E. Architecture's New Media: Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design. Cambridge: MA: MIT Press, 2004. Leach, Neil. "Digital Towers." Architectural Design 79, no. 4 (2009): 68-79. Mang, P., and B. Reed. "The Nature of Positive.". Building Research & Information 43, no. 1 (2014): 7-10. Markopoulou, Areti , and Rodrigo Rubio. "Smart Living Architecture: Solar Prototypes. Iaac Endesa Pavilion Barcelona." Architectural Design 85, no. 2 (2015): 128-31. Oxman, Rivka, and Oxman Robert. Theories of the Digital in Architecture. London: New York: Routledge, 2014. Peters, Brady. "Computation Works: The Building of Algorithmic Thought." Architectural Design 83, no. 2 (2013): 08-15. Retsin, Gilles. "Something Else, Something Raw: From Protohouse to Blokhut - the Aesthetics of Computational Assemblage." Architectural Design 86, no. 6 (2016): 84-89. Stocking, Angus W. "Generative Design Is Changing the Face of Architecture." cadalyst, http://www.cadalyst.com/cad/building-design/generative-design-is-changing-facearchitecture-12948.
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A.6. Appendix - Algorithmic Sketches
STUDIO AIR
2017, SEMESTER 1
ALGORITHMIC SKETCHBOOK David Guo 659741
WEEK 01
WEEK 02 3 points not in a line
A circle formed by 3
lines of same
points
distances from the centroid of circle
Points in a Sphere surfaces on a cube
lines in a cube
Points in a cube
divide curve
arc 3 pt
loft
contour project arc sed z vector end point lines boundary surface geometry centroid
pOPULATE 2D META BALL
EXTRUDE
CONTOUR DIVIDE LENGTH
WEEK 03