Ebeyan_Danielle_698494_PartA by Danielle Ebeyan

STUDIO AIR DESIGN JOURNAL SEMESTER 1, 2017 DANIELLE EBEYAN 698494

CONTENTS INTRODUCTION … 4

PART A … 6 A.1 Design Futuring … 9-13 A.2 Design Computation … 15-19 A.3 Composition/Generation … 21-25 A.4 Conclusion … 26 A.5 Learning Outcomes … 27 A.6 Algorithmic Sketches … 28

Introduction / about DANI EBEYAN My name is Danielle (Dani) Ebeyan, and this is my fourth year at The University of Melbourne, and I am currently completing my third year of the Bachelor of Environments, majoring in Architecture. As a design student, I have undertaken 2 design studios before Studio Air, and my experience lies mostly in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. I have experience in applying finishes and renders to floor/site plans and photographs, along with creating 2D illustrations using these programs. This semester, I am beginning to explore the design potentials of AutoCAD, Rhinoceros and Grasshopper as 3D digital modelling tools. I have understood that in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world, design consultants utilise digital modelling software and algorithmic design in every project, as it has enabled them to work quicker, more efficiently, create more accurate drawings and 3D representations of their projects, along with being able to represent these in a number of ways and perspectives to their clients. Ultimately, parametric design has enabled a whole new style of design, whereby mathematical and algorithmic relationships are the basis on which such advanced and complex building forms and technologies can be fabricated.

PART A

A.1 DESIGN FUTURING

A.1 PRECEDENT 01 // WALT DISNEY CONCERT THEATRE Frank Gehry, 2003 Downtown Los Angeles Los Angeles, California, USA

The Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by Gehry Partners, was opened in 2003.1 The general form of the concert hall, with its huge twisted metallic forms, was a defining feature in Gehry’s architectural language.2 In 1987, Lilian Disney donated 50 million dollars towards the construction of the hall3, and therefore a sophisticated, innovative and unique design was facilitated by this large budget. It’s complex forms were not only a design conceptacle developed by Gehry, but they were a construction and design innovation made possible by the softwares adopted by Gehry Technologies. The first generation of architectural software was developed in the late 1970s, which allowed consultants to draw ideas and documentation digitally, instead of manually by hand; ultimately the results were still line drawings with no engineering capacity.4

In the 1990s, Frank Gehry established a second generation of digital design in architecture, by using computer software previously used by aeroengineers, to enhance architectural designs and allow for their direct fabrication and construction.5 This advancement in technology created a whole new method for design in the built world, as the ideas that designers conceptualised in their minds could be translated into a digital language, and hence constructed into real structures. A design barrier had been broken, and today we utilise the possibility of three dimensional digital modelling, and its transference into the built world that surrounds today. This movement from design inception to real life creation was a radical technological improvement, and it has furthered the boundaries that defined how and what designers can produce in the future.

Fig 1 + 2. Street view and Auditorium view of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by Frank Gehry. Retrieved from ArchDaily. FOOTNOTES 1 Rennie Jones, "AD Classics: Walt Disney Concert Hall / Frank Gehry", Archdaily, 2013 <http://www.archdaily.com/441358/ad-classics-walt-disney-concert-hall-frank-gehry> [accessed 6 March 2017]. 2 Jones, “AD Classics”, ArchDaily. 3 Jones, “AD Classics”, Arch Daily. 4 Lian Chang, "The Software Behind Frank Gehry’s Geometrically Complex Architecture", Priceonomics, 2015 <https://priceonomics.com/the-software-behind-frank-gehrysgeometrically/> [accessed 6 March 2017]. 5 Chang, “The Software Behind Frank Gehry’s Geometrically Complex Architecture”, Priceonomics.

A.1 PRECEDENT 02 // OUT OF MEMORY Tighe Architects, 2011 Southern California Institute of Architecture Los Angeles, California, USA

In 2011, Patrick Tighe and his firm, Tighe Architects, worked to create this installation in the Southern California Institute of Architecture. In collaboration with composer Ken Ueno, and a robot from Machineous, the exhibit was created.6 The installation, named Out of Memory, is a sensory collision of sound, material, light, and technology to create a multi-sensory cave within the architecture school’s gallery space.7 The three dimensional installation was created using a spectrogram of Ueno’s musical composition, “translating the frequency map into points and vectors, which ultimately provided a basis for the digitally modeled 3-D surface.” 8 After an assembly of forms and plastic sheeting was arranged, layers of closed-cell foam (for structural support) and open-cell foam (for acoustic value) were sprayed onto the wall.9 “Provided by insulation manufacturer Demilec, the vegetable and soy oil-based foams created a selfsupporting parabolic structure as they expanded.” 10

The ideas that were explored in this installation define and celebrate sensory stimulation through design; Tighe Architects were able to combine all of sound, light and materiality to create a technologically innovative space where students, staff and the public could spend time and absorb their surroundings. This project displays an innovation to explore the senses, and how they are experienced in space, by breaking them down to their most simple and raw properties; the architectural form of the project represents each individual wave; there have been many architectural agendas that attempt to encapsulate the notion of music, yet are often something more conceptual and abstract. The Out of Memory installation focuses more on the technologies involved in its creation, and in turn represents the sound wave in its physical form. These kinds of ideas and their development allow for designers to interpret briefs with a different approach, and use the raw concepts and themes provided to explore new ways to create aesthetic installations.

Fig 3 + 4 . Internal view of the ‘Out Of Memory” sensory exhibit, designed by Tighe Architects. Retrieved from The Architects Newsaper. FOOTNOTES 6 Jennifer Krichels, "Out Of Memory: Patrick Tighe Architecture With Machineous", The Architects Newspaper, 2011 <https://archpaper.com/2011/02/lenticularis-roof/> [accessed 7 March 2017]. 7 Krichels, “Out Of Memory”, The Architects Newspaper. 8 Lindsey Mather, "7 Innovative Architecture Projects", Architectural Digest, 2016 <http://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/innovative-architecturedesign-projects#7> [accessed 8 March 2017]. 9 Krichels, “Out Of Memory”, The Architects Newspaper. 10 "Tighe Architecture", Tighe Architecture, 2017 <http://www.tighearchitecture.com/out-of-memory-c20we> [accessed 7 March 2017].

A.2 DESIGN COMPUTATION The notion of design computation, now a commonly used and almost necessary process involved in design, allows for designers/consultants to not only experiment with their ideas, but also find ways in which to represent them visually to others using digital software. The altering of a design is a more accessible option, as changing one aspect of the algorithmic definition can modify the design to suit the designer’s needs. The benefit in this, is that “parametric systems enable the writing of rules, or algorithmic procedures, for the creation of variations. Thus parametric design in architecture develops as a new form of design logic.”11 Forms that include abstract geometry, that involve a complex fabrication process, or that challenge the materials that we have available to us12, require design computation to understand the feasibility of their creation.

Furthermore, parametric design and digital modelling enables designers to visually represent their ideas to clients, and others who are not engaged in this discipline; “For example, the brief that architects are given by their clients is much too vague, in most cases, to form a complete statement of goals,”13 and therefore the use of advanced modelling softwares and digital design allows for designers to experiment with the inception of ideas, and engage the clients with these visually. This allows for an interactive design process whereby both the designers and clients may refer to the same visual representation as a basis for development. Ultimately, design computation has opened new doors to the field of architecture and engineering, as the possibilities and limits of design can be tested through digital modelling, specifically through the use of parametric design and algorithmic definitions.

FOOTNOTES 11 Rivka and Robert Oxman, eds (2014). Theories of the Digital in Architecture (London; New York: Routledge), 3. 12 Oxman, Theories of the Ditial in Architecture, 5. 13 Yehuda Kalay, Architecture’s New Media: Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design. Cambridge, MIT Press, 15.

A.2 PRECEDENT 01 // WATER CUBE PTW Architects, 2003 Beijing, China

The Water Cube project was constructed for the Olympic games in Beijing, China 2008.14 The swimming pool complex utilises parametric design through its external façade, consisting of a pattern and repetition of abstract polygons, with varying numbers of sides and vertices. The complex is a typical example of the utilisation of parametric design, and how algorithmic definitions can be used to create a geometric building façade. This notion of geometric repitition is something that is now more commonly used (such as our local Federation square), as its outcome can be more readily achieved, and further altered if just one small element of its parameters is changed.

To create a system of shapes that fit together manually would be a more complicated task, and would need to be performed over again each time one dimension or parameter was changed, therefore the accessibility of softwares that enable this type of patterning has contributed to its popularity. The ‘cushion’ like geometries that complete the cube shaped building are also solar panels that work to power the complex;15 another example of how design computation allows designers to combine aesthetic and sustainability into their projects.

Fig 5 + 6. External view of the ‘Water Cube’ olympic swimming pool, and magnification of ‘Cushion Shape’. Retrieved from PTW Architects. FOOTNOTES

14 "Watercube – National Swimming Centre", PTW Architects, 2017 <http://www.ptw.com.au/ptw_project/watercube-national-swimmingcentre/> [accessed 14 March 2017]. 15 Watercube, National Swimming Centre,.

A.2 EXAMPLE 02 // BMW WELT COOP HIMMELBLAU, 2007 Munich, Germany

The BMW Welt was designed as a sales and museum complex for BMW cars.16 The building has a sweeping exterior, with a glazing feature that merges seamlessly with steel, and twists and changes shape in and around the building.

"We translated the geometry of a constantly changing cloud into architecture," says Wolf D. Prix.17 This exemplifies how parametric design allows for the computation of individual elements into one whole system: each element of the glazing is an independent entity, and through the use of algorithmic patterning, they can be fabricated with a small change between each element to create one entire sweeping entity. It would be near impossible, or require extensive mathematics and sketch modelling to make these kinds of minor differences between hundreds of elements possible.

Similar to the ‘Blobwall’ by Greg Lynn (as discussed in Week 2’s lecture), parametric modelling allows for us to transform a given geometry into many altering forms so that they may fit together seamlessly, like a puzzle.

Fig 7 + 8. External view of the BMW Welt. olympic swimming pool. Retrieved from COOP HIMMELBLAU FOOTNOTES

16 Adel Zakout, "Top 10 Buildings: Parametric Design", Huffington Post, 2013 <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adel-zakout/top-10buildings-parametr_b_838268.html?slideshow=true#gallery/18610/9> [accessed 14 March 2017]. 17 Zakout, Top 10 Buildings, 2.

A.3 COMPOSITION + GENERATION “Computation is redefining the practice of architecture. Architects are developing digital tools that create opportunities in design process, fabrication and construction”.18 Using a more traditional approach, design was always something that was sketched, developed and finessed before it were drawn and modelled in its final form; the process was essentially linear, from the design inception, to its development, and final outcome. Since the introduction of parametric design and computation, the design process can be modified at any stage, and this idea of ‘linear design’ and permanence has been deteriorated.

FOOTNOTES 18 Brady Peters, Computation 19 Peters, Computation Works, 13..

Using this more modernised approach, the design outcome can be narrowed down by the use of parameters;19 by understanding the needs of the brief and converting this to numerical data, programs like Grasshopper can work to channel the design, and each component can be modified or altered within the program (rather than completely rewriting the design). Ultimately, the design outcome can be easily defined, and it is after this that it can be modified, tweaked and altered by changing one or two parameters at a time.

Works: The Building of Algorithmic Thought, Architectural Design (2013), 10.

A.3 PRECEDENT 01 // ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion A. Menges & J. Knippers, 2014-15 Stuttgart University Stuttgart, Germany

As an example of design generation/composition through computation, the ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2014-15 demonstrates an innovative building method inspired by the underwater nest construction of water spiders.20 By utilising a robotic fabrication process, an inflatable form is progressively reinforced with carbon fibres from the inside of the structure. The resulting form, is a lightweight fibre structure, and “forms a pavilion with unique architectural qualities, while at the same time

being a highly material-efficient structure.”21 These exemplars of design and construction explore application capacities of novel computational design and its relevant fabrication methods in modern architecture. The notion of mimicking a process evident already in nature (the oceanic biome), and understanding the algorithmic process that would define how the water spider constructs its nest, encapsulates how a certain composition can be generated through the understanding and use of nature’s predefined parameters.

Fig 9+10. Internal and External views of the ICD/ITKE Research pavilion. Retrieved from Stuttgart University.

FOOTNOTES 20 A. Menges and J. Knipper, "ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2013-14 | Achimmenges.Net", Achimmenges.Net, 2017

<http://www.achimmenges.net/?p=5713> [accessed 16 March 2017]. 21 Menges and Knipper, ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion

A.3 PRECEDENT 02 // GALAXY SOHO Complex A. Menges & J. Knippers, 2014-15 Stuttgart University, Stuttgart, Germany

The Galaxy Soho project was a retail centre, office space and entertainment complex built in Beijing, China; its form was a circular based, comprised of four volumes with long sweeping walls that came together to create a continuum of open space, which is ultimately devoid of corners.22 The continuous spaces are linked with long spread bridges across the higher levels, which further emphasises this circular relationship in the plan, with no beginning and no end. The use of circular plans and an abundance

of curvature require the use of computational generation in order to create a seamless composition. Circular geometry, containing all reoccurring numbers, requires computational accuracy to be able to draft its form, understand the spaces that are created, and be able to firstly generate, and then later modify the radii and curves to experiment with different spatial arrangements (something that would not be feasible without parametric modelling systems).23

Fig 11 + 12. External views of the Galaxy Soho complex. Retrieved from Zara Hadid Architects.

FOOTNOTES 22 "Galaxy SOHO - Architecture - Zaha Hadid Architects", Zaha-Hadid.Com, 2017 <http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/galaxy-soho/> [accessed 17 March 2017]. 23 "Galaxy Soho / Zaha Hadid Architects", Archdaily, 2012 <http://www.archdaily.com/287571/galaxy-soho-zaha-hadid-architects> [accessed 17 March 2017].

A.4 CONCLUSION Using a more traditional approach, design was always something that was sketched, developed and finessed before it were drawn and modelled in its final form; the process was essentially linear, from the design inception, to its development, and final outcome. Since the introduction of parametric design and computation, the design process can be modified at any stage, and this idea of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;linear designâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and permanence has been deteriorated. Using this more modernised approach,

the design outcome can be narrowed down by the use of parameters; by understanding the needs of the brief and converting this to numerical data, programs like Grasshopper can work to channel the design, and each component can be modified or altered within the program (rather than completely rewriting the design). Ultimately, the design outcome can be easily defined, and it is after this that it can be modified, tweaked and altered by changing one or two parameters at a time.

A.5 LEARNING OUTCOMES Throughout the course of the last 3 weeks, my understanding of design computation has developed so that I am now familiar with more and different ways in which design generation and composition can be manipulated; to accept that computation holds many possibilities in a designâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s outcome is the starting point, but to begin to understand what these possibilities are and how different computational processes can lead to achieving these is what allows the mind to visualise these graphically and begin to create them parametrically. Some of my past designs have not been developed to my desired extent, purely because I was unaware of

how to define their compositions using parametric design; to create these geometrically and conceptually complex designs involved the piecing together of an extremely complicated puzzle; something that seemed impossible, or much too time consuming. Often the design that I was able to create would have been very close to the final outcome, as there was either little time or viability to create different ones. To have been able to understand how to build these forms using programs like Grasshopper would have allowed for me to have created more accurately represented forms, and be able to alter them easily through experimentation through the program.

A.6 ALGORITHMIC SKETCHES In researching and learning about algorithmic patterns, digital computation and parametric design, it was also important to experiment with the programs Rhino and Grasshopper in order to understand the kinds of parameters you can apply to an object, how you can create relationships between multiple objects/commands, and how these may be translated into the design project that we will be completing by the end of semester. In Week 01, the principle of a ‘reference point’ was introduced, and how applying certain parameters to each of these points and linking them together can alter the form of a given object. We surface divided a lofted set of curves, and transformed each divided point into a sphere. The radii of the spheres were determined by their distance from the provided reference point. This relationship could be applicable in situations whereby a single geometry is repeated, but changing shape throughout its course; an example of this was the BMW Welt in section A.2.

In Week 02, we explored the notion of spiralling, and how to apply a ‘series’ to a command, whether that be move, rotate, etc. By applying it to both move and rotate simultaneously, a spiral effect can be created. This can further be lofted, surface divided, and have the intersection points of the surface be translated into lines/pipes. In Week 03, we explored the ‘Image Sample’ command; by understanding that the component translates the darkest and lightest points of an image into geometries, we could add volume to the geometries to turn a 2D texture into a 3D one. This parameter could be applied not only to imagery, but also to patterns and textures that can be projected onto surfaces of built structures.

week 01

week 02

week 03

BIBLIOGRAPHY Chang, Lian, "The Software Behind Frank Gehry’S Geometrically Complex Architecture", Priceonomics, 2015 <https://priceonomics.com/the-software-behind-frank-gehrys-geometrically/> [accessed 6 March 2017] Definition of ‘Algorithm’ in Wilson, Robert A. and Frank C. Keil, eds (1999). The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (London: MIT Press), pp. 11, 12 "Galaxy Soho / Zaha Hadid Architects", Archdaily, 2012 <http://www.archdaily.com/287571/galaxy-soho-zahahadid-architects> [accessed 17 March 2017] Jones, Rennie, "AD Classics: Walt Disney Concert Hall / Frank Gehry", Archdaily, 2013 <http://www.archdaily.com/441358/ad-classics-walt-disney-concert-hall-frank-gehry> [accessed 6 March 2017] Kalay, Yehuda E. (2004). Architecture’s New Media: Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), pp. 5-25 Kilkelly, Michael, "5 Ways Computational Design Will Change The Way You Work", 2016 <http://www.archdaily.com/785602/5-ways-computational-design-will-change-the-way-you-work> [accessed 13 March 2017] Krichels, Jennifer, "Out Of Memory: Patrick Tighe Architecture With Machineous", The Architects Newspaper, 2011 <https://archpaper.com/2011/02/lenticularis-roof/> [accessed 7 March 2017] Mather, Lindsey, "7 Innovative Architecture Projects", Architectural Digest, 2016 <http://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/innovative-architecture-design-projects#7> [accessed 8 March 2017] Oxman, Rivka and Robert Oxman, eds (2014). “Theories of the Digital in Architecture.” (London; New York: Routledge), pp. 1–10 Peters, Brady. (2013) ‘Computation Works: The Building of Algorithmic Thought’, Architectural Design, 83, 2, pp. 08-15 "Tighe Architecture", Tighe Architecture, <http://www.tighearchitecture.com/out-of-memory-c20we> [accessed 7 March 2017] "Watercube – National Swimming Centre", PTW Architects, 2017 <http://www.ptw.com.au/ptw_project/watercubenational-swimming-centre/> [accessed 14 March 2017] Zakout, Adel, "Top 10 Buildings: Parametric Design", Huffington Post, 2013 <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adelzakout/top-10-buildings-parametr_b_838268.html?slideshow=true#gallery/18610/9> [accessed 14 March 2017]

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1+2: Retrieved from [http://www.archdaily.com/441358/ad-classics-walt-disneyconcert-hall-frank-gehry] Figure 3+4 Retrieved from [http://www.tighearchitecture.com/out-of-memory-c20we ] Figure 5+6: Retrieved from [http://www.ptw.com.au/ptw_project/watercube-nationalswimming-centre/] Figure 7+8: Retrieved from [http://www.coophimmelblau.at/architecture/projects/bmw-welt/] Figure 9+10: Retrieved from [http://www.achimmenges.net/?p=5713] Figure 11+12: Retrieved from [http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/galaxy-soho/]