IN WIND THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE, 2016 WIND ARCHITECTURE STUDIO
Contents The Gap
1
Designing Design
3
Soft Structures
7
3.1_DYNAMIC FORCES
9
3.2_AIR-SUPPORTED 11 3.3_MEDIATORS OF KNOWLEDGE
15
Method 41
3.4_RESPONSIVE 17
5.1 TEAMS
43
3.5_READILY DEPLOYABLE
5.2 CRAFTING A RESPONSE
47
3.6_SELF-REGULATING 21
5.3 PROTOTYPING
49
3.7_RELATIONAL 23
5.4 DISTRIBUTION OF KNOWLEDGE AND PROCESS
51
5.5 COMPUTATIONAL AND GENERATIVE DESIGN
53
5.6 SIMULATING EXPERIENCE
55
Kit of Exploratory Parts
60
Geometry / Fabrication
81
Wind As A Wicked Problem
19
25
4.1 _RESPONDING TO WIND 27 4.2 _COMPLEX MATERIALS 33 4.3_ CONVENTIONS OF KITE MAKING 35 4.4 SIMULATING PERFORMANCE 37 4.5_THE DIFFERENCE OF SCALE: PROTOTYPES DON’T SCALE LINEARLY
39
4.6_ THE SOFT-WEAR OF HARDWARE 40
ILLUMINATION 359 WORKFLOW & PROCESS
361
EXPANDING ON THE TOOL KIT
364
BEHAVIORAL COMPOSITION
365
TRACKING DATA
367
STATE: ZEPHYR
369
STATE: BREEZE
371
STATE: GALE
373
NUANCED BEHAVIOUR
375
ORIENT 377 BURST 377 ORIENT 378 BURST 378
DIP 379
Acknowledgments
TWIDDLE 379 DIP 380 TWIDDLE 380 A MATRIX OF BEHAVIOUR
381
USER INTERACTION
385
PROJECTION STUDIES
387
PROJECTION STUDIES
389
A SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
391
Performance 395 9.1 INFLATION
397
9.2 FIRST FLIGHT
403
9.3 DUSK
411
9.4 NIGHT
419
Conclusion 429
Peter Lynn and Simon, thank you for teaching us how to fly - without the knowledge and expertise you provided our venture would not have made it off the ground. Max Jedwab and Davisha Textile, thank you for showing us how to work with an industrial sewing machine and for providing an impromptu production space. We have benefited tremendously from the love and support you give to your grandson and his educational ventures! Grimshaw Architects Melbourne, thank you for a flexible space large enough for us to stretch our kite strings out and develop our prototypes on this journey. Damon, Matt and Kate - thank you for putting up with our late night alarm dramas and any little rip-stop nylon pieces that may be still sticking around at ‘The Hub’! Martin Rogers AND Teemu From the library at Melbourne University, thank you for a project based around wind, we sure had some heavy equipment to wrangle! Thank you for letting us use the van whenever necessary to transfer our pop-up production workshop around Melbourne. Stanislav Roudavski, Thank you for guiding us through both calm and turbulent winds, for lifting us up when the breeze was low and keeping us steady. You were our pilot kite: this project is the result of your vision and guidance more than anything else. Alex Holland, Thank your for your constant positivity and always being happy to talk through any ideas. If you would ever like to make a replacement kite for the one that got away, you have 16 assistants willing to cut and sew for you.
Preface
Melbourne is a city of unpredictable weather. Renowned for having four seasons in one day, the city can go from picturesque sunshine to stormy and back again in a few short hours. This makes it the perfect place to develop an alternative mode of architecture based on wind. Alternative modes of architecture can disrupt and force you to question what is and what could be. The revolutionary 1960s saw a surge of artists, thinkers and designers coming together in an attempt to give a big middle finger to permanence and commodification within architecture (and also to society in general). The work of Ant Farm, Archigram and Utopie have provided a strong foundation for us to build on, with their quirky explorations of inflatable architecture and designs. Fusing this with the work of more recent innovators, such as the work of world-renowned kite maker and flyer Peter Lynn, to develop a new approach to the question of what could be. 16 folks were brought together in July 2016 under the pretence of a Masters of Architecture studio project. Guided by Dr. Stanislav Roudavski - someone who was paradoxically described to us as a “Russian winter who wanted nothing more than to fly kites with us all day”. The one project requirement: to create, innovate and to develop an architecture of wind. The following five months were some of the toughest we’ve endured as students. 16 (somewhat meagre) student contributions were thrown into the project. Many of us said goodbye to sleep, choosing instead to spend all our time sewing, cutting and testing our prototype. In doing so, we ended up with a design approach that highlights the possibilities of ephemera within architecture. We also ended up with glorious prototypes (we’re not sure who gets to keep the prototype, and are probably still working on a timeshare roster to sort this out). The findings of the studio is presented with the aim of starting conversation but moreso, this serves as a visual record of our findings. We want for people to be able to pick up from where we arrived and continue to explore the alternative design path started in the 1960s and continued by us. You too can become an ephemeral architect without having to start from scratch. This journal is a visual artefact of our trials, errors and successes, and have approached it as an instruction manual for all. So in the immortal words of the Sherman brothers who composed the original soundtrack for 1964 film Mary Poppins,
“Let’s go fly a kite!”
DESIGN STUDIO WIND_2016
The Gap “We need radical architectures that call into question not only the clothes in which we drape our private and public bodies, but also the very social relations by which they are constructed. We need, therefore, radical architectures which promote hybrids and differences in social qualities, that celebrate all manner of human activities and beliefs.”1
1
Many within the discipline echo Borden’s call for a radical shift, and the need to seek out methodologies that might push superficial design aside and promote instead significant innovation. In an attempt to shift the static conventions of architecture, Juhani Pallasmaa looks towards an architecture that does more than simply rely on visual imagery and ‘formal authority’. Instead of a commodified design mode, reliant on the ‘marketable image’, Pallasmaa suggests that architecture needs to shift the focus back onto the user of the space. For Pallasmaa, this can be achieved by creating designs that become more engaging when built, and that consider
the visual experience of space as more than a series of focused viewpoints, or collected moments2. This book outlines an in-depth analysis into research that was conducted in a Master of Architecture studio, with a strong focus on developing methods of fostering innovation throughout the design process. To develop these methods, design was first approached as a ‘reflective conversation with the materials of the design situation’3. The studio approach dissects the typical design process and forces reflective conversation by creating four working sectors; (Geometry, Fabrication, Illumination and Narration) each with specific responsibilities that form a framework of “a multidisciplinary, nonlinear process that required feedback”4 . The approach promotes a constant dialogue where all four constituents are given equal measures through a series of rapid prototyping.
1. Iain Borden, “What is radical Architecture?,” in Urban Futures : Critical Commentaries on Shaping the City, ed. Tim Hall and Malcolm Miles (New York: Routledge, 2003). 119.
2. Juhani Pallasmaa, “Toward an Architecture of Humility,” The People, Place, and Space Reader (2014). 3.
3. Heape Christoper, “The Design Space: the design process as the construction, exploration and expansion of a conceptual space” (Ph.D, University of Southern Denmark, 2007). 5. M Baranauskas, C Cecilia, and Rodrigo Bonacin, “DesignIndicating through signs,” Design Issues 3, no. 24 (2008).
6.
4. Branko Kolarevic and Ali Malkawi, Performative Architecture: Beyond Instrumentality (New York; London: Spon Press, 2005). 47.
Ibid.
7. Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby, Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2013).
As the focus for this project was an openended approach to design solutions, iterative methods were investigated and implemented. The traditional design process can be split into a cycle of first establishing and analysing problems and then working toward solutions5. Theorist Donald Schön argues that the problemsolution approach doesn’t explain how design structures are ‘made and remade in the course of designing6. In order to develop a model of architecture that encourages feedback and dialogue, ephemeral forms of design have been explored within the project. Due to their impermanence, kites were considered as a possible tool to explore ephemeral design. Harnessing the geospatial instability of kites and inflatable architecture, as well as the open-ended
design possibilities, the conceptual limits of current design were pushed to a point where this instability and impermanence began to act as a generator for dialogue between what can be produced and what might be produced if limitations and circumstances were removed. On considering unreal designs or “Design speculations,” Dunne suggests that exploring these unrealities “create spaces for discussion and debate about alternative ways of being, and to inspire and encourage people’s imaginations to flow freely”7. This catalyst leads to dialogue and encourages feedback to be generated as part of an ongoing design process, which is constantly refining and reshaping itself.
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CHAPTER 1: THE GAP
Commodity and convention have become the principle driving forces behind design. This is a shift that has left the discipline of architecture pushing to the side the freedom to design without time and financial constraints, ultimately contributing to a continued attachment to the slow-shifting traditions while other industries progress forward.
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
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Designing Design This study explores the intermediate space between process and product, questioning traditional approaches toward design. We do this with the aim of fostering innovation through exploring a wider dialogue between the processes that can inform a design approach. This exploration is about discovering the knowledge and skills that will allow future designs to emerge.
helping to examine relationships and forge new, innovative links. Looking to break the limitations of architectural design and creating a conceptual space that allows for a wider scope of possibilities, we have taken the ‘Wicked Problems’ approach to design. These are difficult and often contradictory problems in which you can’t predict all issues that need to be addressed within a problem until after a solution has been reached10. This approach shifts the focus of designing away from the prevalent solutions-driven method and gives priority to addressing the individual problems encountered along a design’s development11. Although this shifting of priorities doesn’t seem like a viable move in an industry where competition is abundant, this separation from the marketplace has given a parallel design channel, ‘free from market pressures or assumptions’ giving us a wealth of explorable ideas and issues12.
8. Heape Christoper, “The Design Space: the design process as the construction, exploration and expansion of a conceptual space” (Ph.D, University of Southern Denmark, 2007). 55
9.
Ibid.7
10. Richard Buchanan, “Wicked problems in design thinking,” Design issues 8, no. 2 (1992). 20 - 21 11. Richard Buchanan, “Wicked problems in design thinking,” Design issues 8, no. 2 (1992). 20 - 21
As designers, we need to widen our scope of influence when entering the hypothesis-generation stage of problem solving. The rigidity of design disciplines is a social construct, aimed at streamlining the solution generation process. Where one discipline ends and another begins is an arbitrary choice. We explore this at the level of the individual problem, which informs the wider result and expands the of scope of design possibilities.
12. Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby, Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2013). 12
13.
Ibid.12
14. Julian Bleecker, Design Fiction: A Short Essay on Design, Science, Fact and Fiction, vol. 2013 (2009). 7
Freeing the design process (even temporarily) from the clutches of solutions-driven work opens up the possibility of speculative design, which creates space for critical self-reflection, and puts the discussion back into discourse. More than just fantasy removed from reality, conceptual designs ‘are not only ideas but also ideals’13.
The culmination of this approach manifests as INWIND – an environmental art installation that combines high performance kite-making and advanced digital fabrication. Deployed at St Kilda Beach, a 12 metre long air structure acts to materialise the conditions of the twilight hour and present them as spectacle for a surrounding audience. This temporal use of space integrates movement into a response that invites the audience to interact with, and shape their environment. In this sense, INWIND not only acts as the catalyst in forming a design approach, but actively participates in disseminating ideas and encouraging further development. INWIND is a provocation; an experience ‘meant to produce new ways of thinking about the near future, optimistic futures, and critical, interrogative perspectives.’14
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CHAPTER 2: DESIGING DESIGN
Design space is an interweaving of knowledge and ideas, coming together to represent both the capabilities associated with this knowledge, and the language that contains or expresses these ideas8. This fabric of ideas and expressions will often be linked to a particular professional discipline or group of disciplines. Considering a discipline through the scope of design space allows for a fluid, dynamic understanding, and opens disciplines up to exploration and change9. Stepping outside the conventions of architecture fosters this development,
3
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
2
4
Design Challenges: Dealing with issues directly
Gaps in Knowledge
focused within our studio, this diagram represents
1.0
the key design issues. displaced throughout the semester.
Constricted Linear Approach Conventions of Kite Making
Digital Ecology
4.3
8.0 Complex Geometry
Our known knowledge enables achievable solutions within the known spectrum, while issues
Generative / Computation
Knowledge
5.5
that are unknown and yet realized fall outside is ‘achievable’. These
Generating Complexity
6d
5.4
are the issues that are
Lack of Precedence
7.0
Distribution as Knowledge
the spectrum of what
Developable Innovation
Shape/Form Definition
5.3
desired in order to achieve
Prototyping
speculative possibilities.
Emerging Technologies
Joineries
Scale
Techniques
Topology Manipulation
7.
4.5 Modulation/ Aggregation
Soft Structures
Craft
Self-Regulating
Material Constraints
5.2
4.2
6e Shape Shifting
3.6 Differential Forces
Unpredictable Wind
Time
6b
Generating Seriality
3.1
6f Sensing
Limitations In Hardware
4.1
6i Relational Experience
Simulation Performance
5.6
Movement
9.0 Site Acquisition
6g
3.7
6c Limitations in Software
3.4
Providing Interactivity
8.0
Behaviour
8.0
4.4
Responsivity Providing Social Amenity
6h Generating Spectacle (Display)
DESIGN STUDIO WIND_2016
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
3
Soft Structures Soft structures follow the line of thought that ‘buildings are not, or should not be, immune to their environments’15. Soft structures are ‘resilient’ rather than ‘immune’ as their integrity is generated by their performative and responsive status within an environment. It is this relational status that makes soft structures the principle toolset within this project; acting as the mediators in a critical examination of design practice
15. Susan Yelavich and Barbara Adams, Design as Future-Making (London: Bloomsbury, 2014). 74.
Within architectural practice, several key characteristics of soft structures can be exploited. These include (but are not limited to) the following traits:
7
++ Air-supported; the ability to delineate a vertical dimension. ++ Responsive and opportunistic to site conditions; being activated by latent forces ++ Readily deployable; flexible in terms of site, access, people. ++ Self-regulating; embodying a form of material intelligence. ++ Of relational status; generating space and experience through continuity and user interaction.
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CHAPTER 3: SOFT STRUCTURES
++ Expressive of differential forces; indicative of surrounding dynamic systems.
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Soft membranes have the ability to trace differential relationships and compute ‘ideal’ formal responses to forces. This characteristic enables them to reflect and respond to dynamism; defining them as an expression of process. This mapping of cause and effect can be extended from the behaviour of an outcome to the process and principles of its forming. In this sense, soft structures bear the traits of their conception and outcome simultaneously. It is this distribution of forces and mediation of change which can be seen to challenge the conventional hierarchies associated with construction.
Case Study
Sverre Fehn, Nordic Pavilion at Expo ‘70
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
3.1_DYNAMIC FORCES
Sverre Fehn’s pneumatic study illustrates the distribution of forces over a flexible membrane. The proposal was intended for the 1970 Expo in Osaka, Japan, where numerous innovative pneumatic designs were showcased. The Nordic Pavilion was intended to generate a discourse about the environmental impact of Industrial societies. The structure was to function like a lung by varying the internal pressure of the smaller volume while the larger (inhabitable) chamber provided a formal response. Features for future development: ++ Pneumatic, shape-shifting system (using a flexible membrane)
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++ Agenda for change (generating a discourse) Gaps in knowledge: ++ Not tested or built (system resolved theoretically) ++ Material properties not scalable ++ Needs constant supply of energy ++ Introverted/protective (rather than connecting with environment)
[1] Source: Sverre Fehn, Nordic Pavilion at Expo ’70. Arch Daily, accessed 28/09/16 http://www.archdaily.com/784106/ad-classics-nordic-pavilion-at-expo-70-sverre-fehn
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CHAPTER 3: SOFT STRUCTURES
++ Interaction through habitation
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DESIGN STUDIO WIND_2016
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
Case Study Single skin, single line kite
2. Flying a single skin, single line kite
These kites are a relatively recent design developed by Peter Lynn. They are categorised as a high-performance kite which seeks an efficiency of form in responding to wind. SSSL kites do not have the need for a rigid frame and steering mechanisms. As an air-supported structure, the kite expresses the dynamic and invisible forces of airflow—expressing the experience as both spectacle and tacit feedback to the ‘pilot’.
11
++ Efficiency of form ++ Air-supported by exploiting natural forces ++ Embodies an existing multidisciplinary knowledge base
3.2_AIR-SUPPORTED Air-supported soft structures can be considered ideal expressions of change, since the intangible and fluid characteristics of air imbue them with an un-paralleled lightness and flexibility. Pneumatic structures exploit air-tight membranes to achieve this through differential air-pressure; however, this principle is not limited to inflation, as kites are a principle example of this relationship.
Gaps in knowledge: ++ Suffers from stability issues (where ram air kites are more stable) ++ Limited complexity and scale of form ++ Limited capacity to interact with environment at the ground plane.
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CHAPTER 3: SOFT STRUCTURES
Features for future development:
12
DESIGN STUDIO WIND_2016 CHAPTER 3: SOFT STRUCTURES
2011). Pg 116
17. Ibid. pg 116
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16. Tim Ingold, Being Alive: Essays on Movement, Knowledge and Description (Taylor & Francis,
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
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Air is the manifestation of dualities; unlike water, earth and fire… air is still, yet forceful; felt but not seen; sensed but not touched. The differentiation in grasping the tangibility of these elements is constituted by the characteristic of their ‘surface’. Texture enables us to differentiate and visually identify a ‘scatter’ pattern. In the case of earth, light is reflected upon its surface—signifying its level of ‘smoothness’.16 Within the confinements of wind and air, there is no perception of texture; “…instead of perceiving surface we see an empty void.” 17 It is not until our gaze hones in on the entities which blot the sky in ‘texture’ that we become aware of its, or there lack of, surface.
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STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
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Air-supported structures such as kites can be seen as emerging from a multidisciplinary platform of knowledge; art, science, mathematics, history, culture and geography all benefit from the conceptual and physical frame work of kite design. A shared understanding of a kite’s limitations allows its perpetual flight; from materiality, bridle lengths/size, symmetry and fluid dynamics—and even then, its performance is not guaranteed. As an established knowledge, kites are a direct informer of a design process which encourages innovation and testing. The components of this investigation aim to emulate this same distribution of knowledge.
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CHAPTER 3: SOFT STRUCTURES
3.3_MEDIATORS OF KNOWLEDGE
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DESIGN STUDIO WIND_2016
Patrick Shearn, Liquid Shard, Pershing Square, Los Angeles, 2016. Liquid Shard is a site-specific installation which exemplifies differential change driven by the wind—an invisible, unmeasured natural force. The dynamic response within the relative static space allows an existing aspect of the environment to be perceived through different faculties. The success of the intervention and its fit within the environment can be largely attributed to its supple characteristics (in an otherwise platonic and static space). The installation acts as the catalyst in relating human and urban conditions as supple forms mediate between human characteristics and monumental scale. In this sense, it is almost entirely a relational structure. The installation also creates a similar relationship on the ground plane through the play of shadows, demonstrating the use of spatial continuity.
17
Features for future development:
As with kites, the formal flexibility of soft structures allows them to ‘compute’ dynamic and invisible forces. This temporal response to an environment enables soft structures to react to latent conditions; however, this characteristic is not limited to physical forces. There are several factors at play when inserting architecture into an environment, including social and cultural patterns of use.
++ Definition of space through vague boundaries ++ Exploits continuity through temporal use of space ++ Placemaking through spectacle
18. L. Peter Kollar, On the Architectural Idea, 2nd ed. (Sydney: L.P. Kollar, 1987). 28. 19. Ibid. 28.
Gaps in knowledge: ++ Lacks resilience to be habitable ++ Site specific ++ Complex to set-up [2] Source: Shearn, Patrick Liquid Shard, Pershing Square, Los Angeles, 2016. In LA Times. August 6, 2016. Accessed September 28, 2016. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-liquid-shard-20160804-snap-story.html
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CHAPTER 3: SOFT STRUCTURES
3.4_RESPONSIVE
As the outcome of this study is to be inserted into an environment, it must also question and explore the nature of its ‘fit’. Architect and theorist, L. Peter Kollar defines ‘fit’ in regards to the architectural idea as “the characteristic of the relationship between the idea and the contexture.”18 Thus, a high degree of fit presents the possibility to “heighten the interaction of pre-existing entities and raise their realized potential.”19 It therefore becomes necessary to identify the ‘causal pattern’ of existing environments. This becomes a layered response, as the past, present and future of cultural and technological states must be explored. The challenge lies in successfully identifying and responding to the relevant entities in a way that enhances an environment and constructs new meaning.
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
Case Study
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Anish Kapoor and Arata Isozaki, Ark Nova, Matsushima, Japan, 2013.
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
Case Study Ark Nova is an inflatable concert hall, deployed for the Lucerne Festival in Matsushima, Japan, 2013. The structure can be completely deflated and loaded into a truck for transport, demonstrating how pneumatic structures can delineate an ‘instant’ volume in remote locations. For Ark Nova, the relatively short lifespan of the building is ideal in providing a social amenity and acts to generate innovation within the conventions of disaster relief. Features for future development: ++ Transportable ++ Quick to deploy and dismantle ++ Free-spanning
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3.5_READILY DEPLOYABLE
Gaps in knowledge: ++ Needs constant energy for inflation
Soft structures are light and transportable as well as being cost effective to produce and deploy. This inherent flexibility allows them to be ‘instantaneously’ inserted into environments (where they would be regarded as alien a conventional sense). Encountering other-ness can assist in emphasising existing relationships in order toconstruct new ones (as discussed in 3.4).
++ Static form (despite being an expression of differential forces)
[3-4] Source: Anish Kapoor and Arata Isozaki, Ark Nova, Matsushima, Japan, 2013. Design Boom, Ark Nova, accessed 09/10/16 http://www.designboom.com/architecture/ark-nova-inflatable-concert-hall-to-tour-japans-flood-hit-areas/
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CHAPTER 3: SOFT STRUCTURES
++ Social amenity—innovation within conventions of disaster relief
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DESIGN STUDIO WIND_2016 CHAPTER 3: SOFT STRUCTURES
creating structural systems which are light, strong and adaptable.20 With these flexible systems, it is possible to integrate variable densification which defines a ‘resting state’ to which a material may return when stretched or compressed. For a pneumatic structure, this is the differential distribution of forces though the tensile resistance of the membrane.
20. Yelavich and Adams. 60.
MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE _MSD
21
In soft structures, regulation refers to the performative properties of the material. For pneumatic structures, these contrasting states can be described as embodying a ‘parametric efficiency’. Due to the flexibility of membrane materials, forms can achieve almost equal stresses on both sides—forming the smallest possible surface area. In this scenario, a change in forces denotes a shift in state, allowing process and product to emerge simultaneously. Textiles naturally lend themselves to this is formal relationship;
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
3.6_SELF-REGULATING
The principles of pneumatic structures can be traced back to the original ‘parametric thinkers’, Frei Otto and Antoni Gaudi. Otto experimented extensively with dynamic forces through the fluidity of soap bubbles while Gaudi explored similar relationships with the distribution of forces through catenary studies. What remains consistent in each approach is that materiality is exploited to ‘compute’ complex differential relationships.
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DESIGN STUDIO WIND_2016
The ability of soft structures to be part of something rather than extraneous to it is due to an inherent flexibility—both literally and figuratively. This suppleness helps to define ‘vague boundaries’21—a unique trait that frames them as relational objects, allowing one to more easily ascribe their own experiences and form meaning. In this scenario, space is understood as both produced and productive—being defined by the dynamic characteristics of human experience. Understanding time as an additional dimension of space, contributes to an intimate relationship between patron and structure.22 Thus, soft structures mediate perception and experience, revealing the relations between the parts which constitute the whole.
21. Peter Eisenman, “Ten Canonical Buildings 1950-2000,” (New York: Rizzoli : Distributed to the U.S. trade by Random House, 2008). 203.
22. Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen, “What About Space?,” (Non-) Essential Knowledge for (New) Architecture 15 (2013). 104.
“Is a part a part of anything but the 23 whole?”
23. Plato, Theaetetus, 435. In Dialogues of Plato, trans. Benjamin Jowett, vol. 3 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010).
Ant Farm, inflatable interactive installation, 1971. [5] Source: Ant Farm, inflatable interactive installation, 1971. Symptomatic City, accessed 09/10/16 https://unitegenerator.wordpress.com/2009/07/28/ inflatbles-by-spatial-effects/
Pneumatic forms saw extensive use in the architectural discourse of the late 1960’s due to their relational status and subversion of conventional structure—aligning with social and political agendas. Collaborative groups such as Ant Farm used soft structures as vehicles for change through a series of inflatable interactive installations carried out in 1971. These installations encouraged interactivity, viewing participants as intrinsic to the experience of the work. Features for future development: ++ Subverting conventional structures with supple forms ++ Social amenity—generates experience ++ Audience as participants in generating experience ++ DIY approach Gaps in knowledge: ++ Product of specific social and political climate
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CHAPTER 3: SOFT STRUCTURES
CaseStudy
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
3.7_RELATIONAL
++ Does not respond to other environmental forces 23
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A wicked problem is spread over many systems of thought and processes. They are difficult to solve because of invisible factors and changing requirements that make the solution a moving target. Often, to satisfy one aspect of the problem is to deny another; so new issues are perpetually generated. Soft structures resemble wicked problems both figuratively and literally due to the challenges of material and process as well as their dynamic performance. In the case of kites, problems arise from their response to volatile, forces as part of an infinitely complex and interrelated set of relationships in flux. For the purposes of this project, these problems are identified, and in some cases, embraced to challenge and interrogate our design approach.
MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE _MSD
CHAPTER 4: WIND AS A WICKED PROBLEM
Wind As A Wicked Problem
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
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4
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Wind is difficult to predict, as it operates within a larger, interconnected, dynamic system. Our general understanding of the principles behind its behavioural patterns allows us to grasp the ‘tangibility’ of air, and apply its performative values to structures; but the outcome of this scenario remains impossible to predict. Soft structures are non-mechanical pneumatic structures, which passively react to surrounding conditions, subject to the conditions of the site. With this inherent unpredictability, we can only act to mediate the outcome by adjusting the parameters of design and inflation. Therefore, to design through soft structures is to engage with a chaotic system in which a small variation can result in profound changes in performance. Opportunity:
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CHAPTER 4: WIND AS A WICKED PROBLEM
Engaging with soft structures and dynamic systems forces one to redefine the design approach—to consider the temporal use of space and the interrelationship of all components.
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
4.1 _RESPONDING TO WIND
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DESIGN STUDIO WIND_2016 CHAPTER 4: WIND AS A WICKED PROBLEM
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Kite Master: “Even with all my years of knowledge, I can only make informed assumptions as to how this kite will fly… “
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
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“What are the boundaries of wind? Where does the notion of ‘environment’ begin and end?”
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Volatile stability
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Super stability Resulting in a gradual bias to one side from overcorrection. This is when a kite’s recovery from directional displacement reacts too aggressively while re-aligning itself to the wind.
Volatile Stability Total Flight Time 00m 09s
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CHAPTER 4: WIND AS A WICKED PROBLEM
Super Stability Total Flight Time 00m w
Resulting from feedback when a kite takes too long to equalize its pendulum balance. This is when a kite’s recovery from directional displacement reacts too aggressively while re-aligning itself with the wind, causing it to loop uncontrollably.
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
The stability of a kite presents a problem where the solution adversely affects or creates another issue. Thus, a balance must be found between the two to achieve maximum possible flight time. There are two main factors that contribute to why a kite might not fly:
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The performative values of soft structures are inextricably linked to materiality. Textiles naturally lend themselves to the supple requirements of these structures, but as result, embody the same characteristics of unpredictable and unmeasurable complex relationships. Textiles are a complex system, and therefore must be considered a dynamic component in a series of relationships. As a result, it is difficult to simulate the behavior of fabric, and currently impossible to mechanize the fabrication of soft structures entirely—requiring an inescapable level of tacit learning. Opportunity:
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CHAPTER 4: WIND AS A WICKED PROBLEM
Despite its challenges, materiality provides equal opportunity as an expression of process; ideal for fabricating designs which respond to wind.
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
4.2 _COMPLEX MATERIALS
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STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
4.3_ CONVENTIONS OF KITE MAKING Kite making is entrenched in many fields of knowledge; however, the way in which this knowledge is accessed remains relatively formalized. Based on centuries of refinement, the craft of kite making is closely aligned with the methodology of ‘thinking through making’. As such, to allow the cross-pollination of ideas necessary for innovation, a large portion of tacit knowledge must first be recognized. There are two challenges associated with this approach: ++ Engaging with tacit knowledge requires a large investment of time as the information can only by gained through experience (through trial and error). ++ Innovating within an existing field of knowledge must in many cases, subvert established conventions—abandoning the safely-rope of success in favour of the unknown. These challenges can be seen to limit the development of speculative possibilities outside of the practice. As a result, the current low-tech, hands-on methodologies are predominantly confined to replicating known and existing objects. Thus, the profession extrudes upon itself, only advancing within the spectrum of what is known and what is possible; instead of what is impossible and how can this be achieved? Within the established conventions of kite making, the following limitations define the form and complexity of a design: 24.
++ Material performance requires high strength and lightweight membranes.
[7.]LSource: Giant kites rise into the sky. Office de Tourisme de Berck Sur Mer. In International Kite Festival, France, 2015. Tourist Office official website. Accessed September 10, 2016. http://www.northernfrance-tourism.com/Major-Events/TheInternational-Kite-Festival
++ A hands-on design methodology requires tacit knowledge ++ Limitations of fabrication tools, techniques and joineries.
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++ Topological mapping of forms must enable ‘seamless’ joins and tactile strength. ++ Must produce a specific aerodynamic response through form and inflation rate. Opportunity:
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++ Low-tech approach defines complexity of developable forms and shapes.
Technology now permits a much greater level of sophistication in the management of differential data. By developing the knowledge of making as parameters for computation, algorithms can be exploited to generate and unpack complex shapes.
8. Component of INWIND demonstrating complex form
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Simulation failure, due to failed wind direction and flow.
Conventional toolsets used in computational design and testing have limited capacity to provide concise fluid simulations for complex systems. In the case of a dynamic, environment system, it is simply impossible to construct an accurate model (even if focussing on a seemingly singular element such as wind). That isn’t to say that idealised tests can’t contribute to the design process, but in the case of soft structures, the nuances of their performative values cannot be reflected. Technology now permits better aggregation of data, both in large scale (wind maps and weather data) and small scale (local sensors and camera data); however, these tools have limited capability to accurately predict patterns of movement. The current state of digital design in architecture, resides largely in design tools optimised for hard, static structures. With available software for rudimentary simulation of soft -fabrics (including Maya, N-cloth 2, Marvellous Designer, Core 3d and 3D coat), it is not efficient to simulate complex softshell structures nor account for advanced fabrication techniques (such as seam lines, material orientation and registration). Conversely, while physical testing resolves a lot of these issues, a controlled environment can only provide feedback for an ‘idealised’ scenario; whereas an outcome deployed in the natural environment is subject entirely to unpredictable conditions. Furthermore, diagnosing the issues in these performance tests is a tacit art in itself. Without access to wind tunnels, the use of industrial fans can only suffice in moving a limited volume of air within a limited volume of space. In either scenario, it remains that the volatile and unpredictable nature of wind cannot be replicated in a controlled environment. Understanding how a kite moves through the collection of local and overall data therefore becomes paramount in understanding how a kite works.
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
4.4 SIMULATING PERFORMANCE
Performance failure, Bridals twisting in simulation.
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Despite not entirely indicative of the true performance, simulating wind force in an enclosed space still illustrates an understanding, creating complexities that surpass the capabilities of most known computational software. These tests can reduce the risk of failure once designs are deployed on site.
Kite Master: “Almost all ram-air kites of complex geometry are designed based on physical prototyping instead of digital simulation.”
Hello Computer: “While able to simulate wind patterns in Marvellous Designer and 3D coat, it is impossible to simulate the error tolerance necessary for developing kites. Kite Modeler by NASA is largely based on well-established kite shape and data control; they offer accurate simulation but very little design flexibility. “
We found two candidate design software for our kite simulation: Marvellous Designers and 3D Coat. They are both capable of simulating wind as well as modelling soft structures. A ram-air kite was modelled in Marvellous Designers based on plans provided by leading kite designer, Peter Lynn. The simulation result was not successful—being rigid and unrealistic for the following reasons: -
++ The specific lightweight rip stop fabric used for kites is hard to specify within the digital environment. The grain structure that is central to its fabric behaviour is too complex to be integrated into the digital model. ++ The stagnation pressure that is critical to the functioning of a ram-air kite cannot be well simulated. In addition, launching a kite is not a linear process and its success or failure largely depends on many sitespecific factors as well as the flyer’s expertise.
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CHAPTER 4: WIND AS A WICKED PROBLEM
Opportunity:
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STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
4.5_THE DIFFERENCE OF SCALE: PROTOTYPES DON’T
SCALE LINEARLY
Prototyping ideas is a major component in developing soft structures. Despite the amount of feedback physical tests can provide, it remains that (particularly when dealing with wind) the performance of soft structures does not scale linearly. Therefore, a scale model is not entirely indicative of the outcome. In this case, it is not simply confined to perspective, but follows a series of temporal and performative demands. This ‘gap’ can be attributed to behaviour of the material itself. In the case of fabric, the weight, permeability and rigidity of the weave remains the same regardless of the structures size. It therefore becomes necessary to test prototypes at a 1:1 scale to determine their true behaviour. This includes the method of their making, as problems in process don’t arise until they obstruct further progress. For a kite, there must be a critical balance of forces to generate flight and stability. As the density of air remains constant, similar shapes at varying scales will perform entirely different. In addition to this, small variations in form and weight can adversely effect how lift is generated. Therefore, topographical form must be revised with a change in scale. Opportunity:
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9. Fabic studies at small scale (50mm width)
10. Fabic studies at large scale (1000mm width)
4.6_ THE SOFT-WEAR OF HARDWARE When it comes to integrating technology, not only does computation fall short of simulating the sheer complexity of dynamic systems, but the hardware itself lacks the ability to be placed in such an environment. In the case of a kite, every component must follow the same lightweight and supple performance requirements. Thus, integrating high-tech (such as a lighting system) becomes a challenging task. Not only does the hardware upset this delicate balance, but there remains nothing extraneous to the function of the kite, to which it can be attached. Even if a home is found for these technological systems, their functioning may be adversely effected by tension in the material and volatile forces generated by the wind.
Opportunity: Emerging wireless, portable and compact technology is readily available along with real-time processing of data.
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The disparity between scale and performance can also be productive, helping to define contrasting states and construct a flexible model for fabrication. Constructing and comparing prototypes can inform the design process in ways which conventional design practice cannot.
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Method The studio follows a critical practice-led design approach which aims to prototype and test ideas as they emerge. This results in a non-linear design methodology which encourages feedback between product and process, synthesising physical and computational and methods of forming.
RESEARCH & IDEAS
CK BA
ED
FE
ADJUST METHODS & WEAKNESSES
DESIGN PROCESS
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
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PERFORMANCE TESTING
COMPUTATIONAL FORM GENERATION
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CHAPTER 5: METHOD
RAPID PROTOTYPING
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The studio approach begins by dissecting the typical design process through the creation of four working sectors; each with specific responsibilities that form “a multidisciplinary, non-linear process that required feedback.�25 These teams are: Narrative, Geometry, Fabrication and Illumination each with their own intermediate goals and learning outcomes. All four constituents are given equal measures through the rapid prototyping of ideas with regular dialogue between disciplines.
Narrative Team The direction of the studio is constructed through the management and conceptual framework established by the narrative team. They are responsible for contracting and disseminating the core argument and ideologies behind the investigation. Members: Rhys JONES Danny NGO Nancy SAMAYOA Goals: ++ Develop a cohesive and structured project narrative. ++ Challenge the conventional hierarchies of architectural design by transferring knowledge from outside the discipline. ++ Explore a temporal understanding of design. ++ Ensure that each development is interrogated by the unifying idea. ++ Provide direction for each team and help to determine the most relevant outcomes for further development. ++ Establish and analyse feedback between physical and virtual making. Learning Outcomes
Members: Vivien AU Maggie BAO Bradley ELIAS Thomas JONES Goals: ++ To produce a HIWIND design proposal that responds to aerodynamics; ++ To produce a LOWIND design proposal that responds to user occupation and interaction. ++ To explore design iterations through computational design software. ++ To translate analogue, traditional design concepts into computational input. ++ To design a system / script that can universally unroll, tag, and nest different geometries. ++ To produce geometries that can be fabricated with reasonable ease, labor force, and time. ++ To test design outcomes through physical prototyping and incorporate feedback in design. ++ To digitally simulate wind effect on geometries and in turn estimate bridle placement
Learning Outcomes:
++ Integrated a multidisciplinary design approach.
++ Referenced a number of mathematical, logical theories to produce a number of design iterations.
++ A design methodology centred around a temporal understanding of materiality helps to explore the intermediate space between process and product. ++ A crafted response helps to synthesise methods of speculative design in architecture.
++ Learned various computational design software, plug-ins, and simulation software ++ Made use of physical scale prototyping to test the success of numerous design proposals. ++ From feedback from the fabrication team, we learned the requirements and preferences of fabrication preparation, from material restraints to guides for assembly. ++ Produced a number of scripts that function as a universal machine-- that is able to take in a variety of inputs and produce fabricable outputs.
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The geometry team makes use of computational design methods to generate complex, fabricable forms for the HIWIND and LOWIND design proposals. With the aid of software such as Grasshopper, Rhino, Houdini, and Marvelous Designer, the geometry team is responsible for producing design variations, matrices, simulations, models, and fabrication templates and guides. The geometry team also works hand in hand with the fabrication team to incorporate feedback from physical prototyping in the course of design development.
++ Developed a theoretical understanding of design methodologies. ++ Identified behavioural complexity as a key condition of practice-led design.
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Geometry Team
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
5.1 TEAMS
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The fabrication team is responsible for testing design proposals by scale prototyping. Working closely with the geometry team, the fabrication team takes ready templates and constructs to-scale models while testing material qualities, different fabrication techniques, and returns feedback to the geometry team identifying the issues and discrepancies unveiled during the fabrication process. Members: Stefanie JUDD Leila MOTTAGHIZADEH Sihang YANG Yijia ZHANG Goals: ++ To produce accurate, scaled prototypes of proposed designs. ++ Where necessary, to unroll, tag, and nest geometries for fabrication. ++ To understand complex digital geometries and assemble accordingly. ++ To identify issues of the design when fabricated and loop feedback to the geometry team. ++ To test materials, equipment, and techniques for potentials and limitations. ++ To test finished prototypes against wind and in settings similar to the brief-specified site. Learning Outcomes: ++ Learned to rectify issues that arose during fabrication preparation, such as where unrolled geometries deviate from the digital model, or where there are insufficient guides or tags to identify nested pieces. ++ Trained to use precision-based kite-making equipment, primarily sewing machines and hot knives. ++ Learned the qualities of different material types, their suited purposes, transparencies and effects, etc.
The performance team aims to alter the preconceptions of the static observation of kites and inflatables through a experience informed by the incorporation of digital intelligence, contextual responsiveness, and performative behaviour. The INWIND project focuses on the nuances of material and structural behaviours of pneumatic design and through a digital system, create a display that accentuates the dynamic nature of the structure. Members: Michael MACK Andy NICHOLSON Woon Khai WONG Tony YU Goals: ++ To design a virtual system that incorporates simple interactions ++ To design a digital ecology that integrates the virtual and physical environments in an intelligent system. ++ To develop a toolkit for sensing, interaction and performance that is universally, but situationally applicable to various design directions. ++ Interpret combinations of analogue responses and digital data that informs dynamic systems. ++ To develop and design for these technical systems in response to prototyping feedback. ++ To simulate resultant effects through digital means as a way of prototyping and testing ++ To represent curated data as a virtual display that gives insight into the performative nuances of pneumatic structures. ++ To accentuate the performative and material aspects of pneumatic structures through a dynamic display. Learning Outcomes: ++ Learned various programming languages. ++ Developed a toolkit for environmental and interactive input.
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++ Curate an appropriate combination of technologies in response to design direction.
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++ Developed interfaces that allow for rapid iteration testing and simulating. ++ Made use of prototyping tests to refine hardware and software.
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++ Learned specific kite-making techniques, such as fabric orientation, maintaining symmetry, fabric registration, and techniques for knotting and bridle attachments.
Illumination Team
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
Fabrication Team
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This project’s design approach can be located within craft practice, where process and product emerge simultaneously. This definition is not limited to physical prototyping and testing; as it helps to describe the interdisciplinary thinking and cross pollination of ideas. Barbara Adams, in her essay crafting capacities, defines ‘craft’ as a “social way of working with people through the medium and intelligence of materiality.”25 Materiality in this case is understood as both natural and artificial (and by extension both corporeal and intangible). By defining craft as an activity; the design processes of speculation, prototyping and testing may be located within a single ‘artistic endeavour’ (or unified outcome).
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CHAPTER 5: METHOD
By crafting a response, we begin to compare individual biographies with broader social characteristics in order to define the greater context. As our design process employs both computation and physical making, this can also be viewed as the distribution of knowledge to interrogate the interrelationship between hand and machine; society and self.
25. Yelavich and Adams, Design as FutureMaking. 20.
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
5.2 CRAFTING A RESPONSE
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Since this study must respond to dynamic systems, an understanding of spatial configuration is extended to the performative characteristics of the material and structure. For example, it becomes necessary to determine if a design will fly. Since this process cannot be exclusively simulated digitally, it must be done through physical prototyping. This serves as the first distinction between our design process and a conventional architectural approach.
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CHAPTER 5: METHOD
Prototyping fabric structures involves a comparison of traditional methods of fabrication with innovative solutions for unpacking and assembling complex geometric forms. Only through physically interacting with the material and observing its performance as part of a system does the necessary feedback become apparent; allowing the design to be developed accordingly.
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
5.3 PROTOTYPING
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STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
5.4 DISTRIBUTION OF KNOWLEDGE AND PROCESS Planning, modelling and prototyping soft structures involve the distribution of two distinct modes of knowledge. These can be described as tacit knowledge (this is ‘personal know-how’ and comes with experience); then there is ‘distributed knowledge’, which refers to two linked ideas: ++ The knowledge needed to produce a product is spread over many systems of production and thought.26 ++ Technology has embedded within it, knowledge that is transformed and accessed in a new form.
26. Peter Dormer, The culture of craft : status and future, Studies in design and material culture (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1997). 139.
Viewing materiality as an expression of process is critical to exploring how these modes of knowledge emerge in design practice. This understanding sees (all) materials as being inherently dynamic. Therefore, to extract information from material performance, it is necessary to unpack the various methods in which tacit knowledge can be conveyed and re-integrated into various forms of computational design. These methods include: ++ Constructing prototypes and details at varying scales to determine behaviour ++ Identifying contrasting states to determine parameters ++ Documentation through photos and video (to map change)
‘Crafting’ with digital design tools involves an understanding of the contrasting states or performative values of a material. In this sense, information gained from physical prototyping can be fed back into the digital design process. These parameters allow the design and testing to be simulated artificially—distinctively different to arbitrary form-finding through geometric operations. Mette Ramsgard Thomsen, in her essay Digital Crafting and the Challenge to Material Practices, discusses the potential for digital design to explore material behaviour through geometric variation.27 Testing artificially allows a greater scope for variation and contrasts the slow-forming process of making. In this scenario, the exploratory act of physical making is analogous to digital design, uncovering the characteristics of the material which can be extrapolated as parameters for further development. Within this process, there is an inevitable difference between ambition and outcome; that is, in order for an idea to become manifest, it shifts from a degree of principality, to multiplicity. By this understanding, parametricism—and the tools required to explore it— can be seen as a flexible model that can be negotiated by virtue of inevitable difference. 28
27. Yelavich and Adams, Design as Future-Making. 60.
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++ Regular dialogue between teams utilising diagrams and physical demonstrators
28. Mark Burry, “Antoni Gaudí and Frei Otto: Essential Precursors to the Parametricism Manifesto,” Architectural Design 86, no. 2 (2016). 32.
Distribution of knowledge from Fabrication through diagraming by Sihang Yang.
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5.5 COMPUTATIONAL AND GENERATIVE DESIGN Computation is information processing that incorporates a range of interrelated design elements, that together create an environment capable of generating complex geometries. This technique, when applied to architectural design, often takes the form of algorithmic expressions. INWIND takes advantage of computational, and beyond that, generative design methods for the purposes of iterative form-finding and fabrication preparation. In computational design, designers create and manipulate algorithms to contain, configure, and influence interrelated elements. Effective computational design requires algorithms to be reasonably flexible and for the associated design environment to have the capacity to accommodate corresponding transformations. Digital simulations can also allow designers to predict, assess, and analyze prospective performances in sophisticated, discriminative ways. The computational method thus serves as a highly efficient and cost-effective means of problem-solving, while acting as an extension to designers’ capabilities. Beyond the realm of parametric design, generative design is form-finding through a predefined set of grammar. Designers relinquish their control over formal characteristics, and instead design the set of production rules where complex forms and patterning can develop. In contemporary practice, generative systems are used to achieve novel design solutions, complex geometries and patterning, or to selectively breed solutions in evolutionary systems. The generative approach is what leads to emergence-- design that embodies characteristics of originality, spontaneity, unexpectedness, and creativity. In other words, designers put together a system that ultimately outperforms its original specifications, and allows self-organizing, collective, and cooperative behaviour to manifest on their own. As such, the major benefit of generative design is the ability to produce complex geometries simply by amplifying the setup in primitive algorithms.
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[SEA-TREE] CONTEXT IGNORE F+PREMISE: FTFTFTAT RULE 1: A=F!”[B]T////[B]T////[B]T////[B]T RULE 2: B=&FTA\ATC RULE 3: C=FTDJ F MOVE FORWARD AT DISTANCE L(STEP LENGTH) AND DRAW A LINE / ROLL RIGHT A(DEFAULT ANGLE) DEGREES & PITCH DOWN A(DEFAULT ANGLE) DEGREES “ MULTIPLY CURRENT LENGTH BY DL(LENGTH SCALE) ! MULTIPLY CURRENT THICKNESS BY DT(THICKNESS SCALE) [ START A BRANCH(PUSH TURTLE STATE) ] END A BRANCH(POP TURTLE STATE) A/B/C/D.. PLACEHOLDERS, USED TO NEST OTHER SYMBOLS
MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE _MSD
Nevertheless, while generative design is capable of creating innovative, complex forms, its unpredictability render it extremely difficult to control or direct. The resulting outputs may be unrecognizable, unusable, or challenging to fabricate. Therefore, while INWIND benefitted immensely from the computational and generative approach, it also demanded a level of rationalization and manual input to make physical fabrication possible.
USE OF GENERATIVE TECHNIQUES - THE RULES FOR A
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DESIGN STUDIO WIND_2016 CHAPTER 5: METHOD
Designing with the natural environment requires an understanding of the unseen invisible forces which populate it. In the case of kites--without extensive knowledge of aerodynamics and wind forces—how it flies is largely un-intuitive. As this project aims to make users aware of these subtleties, various methods for simulating experience must be employed. In our case, this is done through the collection of local data in various forms (such as spatial configuration, reaction and differentiation). This builds a distributed knowledge base from which a spectacle enhancing process (or performance in a temporal sense) can be constructed to respond to, and enhance the morphology of a complex, soft shell structure. There are two stages to this approach.
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
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5.6 SIMULATING EXPERIENCE
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In the first case, this is done by setting up a primitive model of wind in the form of a constant and controlled supply of air (provided by a fan). This is sufficient for initial performance testing, but to simulate the unpredictability of wind and the relational status of each design, it becomes necessary to adopt ‘real-world methods’ by deploying prototypes in public environments. This can be low-tech, such as using the wind speed relative to the velocity of a bicycle. Indicative of ‘guerrilla architecture’, it also serves to construct an understanding of audience interaction—often providing an opportunity to question on-lookers about their interpretation and experience. In the second case, gathered information from the performance testing is input as data for digital systems to detect trends and construct a pattern of behaviour. This is done through:
CHAPTER 5: METHOD
++ Detecting localised behaviours through sensors
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++ Detecting audience behaviour through a combination of technologies
This information is aggregated and output through visual lighting systems with the aim to enhance the experience by affecting a structure’s representation directly. These realtime methods and observations open a dialogue between user and object. To explore the possibilities of this relationship, a wide range of available technologies are tested in order to develop a comprehensive digital and technological toolkit.
MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE _MSD
++ Detecting spatial configuration through camera tracking
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6
Kit of Exploratory Parts The kit of parts represents the various tangents and exploratory processes that occurred throughout the duration of the project. Collectively, they illustrate the characteristics and possibilities of soft structures through the shared knowledge of the studio. Regardless of which components were selected for further development, the toolkit emphasises that the project’s outcome is one of many design possibilities.
[A] Material Expression
[D] Shape/Form Definition
[F] Seriality, Versioning, Phenotypes
[I] Sensing People
[G] Parasitism/Opportunism
[B] Shape Shifting
[E] Aggregation/Clustering, Modulation
[J] Display/Performance
[C] Movement As Performance
[H] Sensing
b1 a3 a1 a1] Traditional Canadian smocking techniques to manipulate tensile stability. a2] Stitch pinching surface manipulation. a3] Pleating and folding fabric surface to achieve curvatures. a4] irregular/ chaotic surface manipulation by converging fabric and stretchable elastic.
[A]
a2
a4
MATERIAL EXPRESSION Material expression through fabric manipulation enables soft surfaces to re-define their structural performance. Utilizing existing techniques in fashion (such as pleating, folding and stitching), interesting formations can be produced which can redistribute applied forces. In some cases, this is the pressure of internalized air from inflation. Through the application of material manipulation techniques, varying expressions can be achieved through the definition of contrasting states. This creates an inextricable link between formal expression and material performance. These approaches also demonstrate the speculative possibilities of interdisciplinary research and design.
b2 SHAPE SHIFTING Closely related to material expression, these projects focused on the deformation and definition of contrasting forms by utilising the supple nature and tensile strength of fabric. Despite exhibiting manipulation techniques, the focus of each study branched to other areas such as temporal expression through inflation [b2]. The outcome in each scenario is defined by the materials ability to ‘compute’ forces, closely aligning with the principle of pneumatics. This approach sees the potential of flexible structures to accommodate a user’s needs (both physical and social).
b3 b1] Tensile strength test using shifting anchor points to compute differential forces through material performance. b2] Inflatable test, studying distribution of forces within a volume. The pneumatic structure defines a spectrum of ‘change’ within two contrasting states (or limits of air-pressure). b3] This proposal seeks to develop a structural weave system that responds to differential forces when pneumatically activated. This research is directed towards producing a fabric structure which demonstrates a level of control over the range and distribution of its contrasting states.
[B]
c1
c2 C1] Simulation illustrating the emergent outcome of proposed ‘smart’ fabric system. The rippling effect was triangulated to be defined digitally. C2] Small-scale manipulation of smart material system module.
[C]
d1 MOVEMENT AS PERFORMANCE To reflect dynamic performance, speculative studies explored simulating the performance of fabric systems. The localized distribution of forces in material systems can be seen to actualize a greater expression of form. When studied over an interval, material expression can be seen as a collection of events (or as a process) defined by a series of physical relationships. This scenario describes a type of ‘material intelligence’, which defines how forces are distributed and mechanically manipulated. Studies which focused on performance at a larger scale, attempted to digitally simulate material intelligence to reveal and adjust the outcome without having to construct the system in its entirety.
d2
SHAPE/FORM DEFINITION Inflatable pneumatic forms are created by internalized air pressure, resulting in a force that spans the materials tensile capacity. In many cases, this was achieved by tacit experimentation with the aim to replicate computationally generated forms. These tests signalled the developments of other resolutions which could aid in translating the making process as algorithmic parameters.
d1] Internal pneumatic pockets act to invert tensile forces to define negative curvature and undulating pneumatic surfaces. d2] Various patterns were tested on pneumatic fabric structures to replicate algorithmically generated forms.
Negative spaces and concave surfaces are difficult to achieve with soft structures. Various methods of fabrication were explored in order to physically generated a predefined shape. To achieve negative curvature, studies explored the application of internal air-pockets to invert tensile pressure. Prototypes also utilized lightweight compressive foams to resist compression.
[D]
f1 e1
e2 e1] Integrated modular system with external skin (deflated and inflated). e2] Clustering through tessellated, triangulated ‘airpockets’ to produce variable volume and space. e3] Modular 3-dimensional triangles, clustered to create an aggregated form.
[E]
e3
AGGREGATION/CLUSTERING, MODULATION
f2
f3
SERIALITY, VERSIONING, PHENOTYPE
Modular aggregation is an effective means of rationalizing complex geometries, especially in the case of generative design. This method uses a single module as an axiom. A set of production rules is then applied consistently and repetitively allowing the simple module to branch and grow into a complex system which is unpredictable from conception. A consistent module only needs to be resolved once for it to be replicated elsewhere, allowing the overall form to be highly flexible. With modular aggregation, one can generate a variety of design iterations that are resolved and theoretically achievable within a reasonably short amount of time.
Computational form generation exists within the realm of possibility, unconfined by the physical limitations of manifested form. This is both a virtue and design challenge when it comes to responding to the performative characteristics of materiality. As early explorations of vector fields and surface mapping, the seriality of these outcomes was gradually defined through an evolution of generative processes. Although the fabrication of these outcomes remains unresolved, their versioning can be seen to establish a language of form which begun to interrogate product and process through rapid prototyping; developing a tree of ‘achievable’ phenotypes.
In the same way that modular fabrication is desirable in built architecture, with soft structures it remains a cost-effective means of easing fabrication preparation and reducing the requirements of construction time, labour, equipment, techniques, and costs. It creates a scenario where one script fits all. If one module can be unrolled computationally, the script can be applied to all other components. The greatest challenge is the assembly of individual components, but as a method of creating and rationalizing complex structures, modular aggregation can remove most obstacles in the equation.
It remains that a rapid generative approach helps to orchestrate speculative possibilities while mapping formal development. When comparing a matrix of iterations, it becomes possible to identify consistent patterns of thought through composition and method. It is then through a reciprocal relationship to physical prototyping that a concise understanding of ‘achievable’ design is formed
f4
f5 f1] Variations of FISHkites, each of an iteration of algorithmic process. As a fleet, each design acts as part of an expressive and performative, ‘wind’ installation. f2] Zebralette: Vector Fields & Surface Mapping (undulating curves). f3] Frill-O-Mena: Vector Fields & Surface Mapping (dynamic frills) F4] Venus Skytrap - Vector Fields & Surface Mapping (extrusion of spikes and hairs as dorsal fins) f5] Sky Urchin: Vector Fields & Surface Mapping (an urchin hurtling through the sky)
[F]
g2
g1
g3 g1] A woven intervention within the urban environment generates a formal response to a complex set of relations. g2] Parasitical installation, reacting to human interactivity. g3] Inflatable installation leeching into the urban fabric; transforming ‘play’ into space. g4] Soft-structure test exploiting wind force to create an opportunistic shelter.
[G]
h2
g4
PARASITISM/OPPORTUNISM As explained earlier through the nature of ‘fit’ (3.4), soft-structures are indicative of their surrounding factors. Due to this characteristic, they can be seen as parasitic to the opportunism generated by site conditions. Studies explored various ways in which structure and environment may become intertwined. The resulting outcomes generate relationships with internal and external spaces; facilitating occupation, protection, exposure and therefore, experience. Dynamic and unpredictable forces can allow structures to obtain a kind of autonomy over their state of being. For one study [g4] an ‘opportunistic’ reaction to wind creates results in a place of refuge. Rather than a space of consistency, the inhabitation within creates an occupation of static tension, as at any moment the winds may die down and the overwhelming structure will begin to collapse. Both opportunistic and parasitical to its site conditions, this methodology explores a responsive understanding of a contextual intervention that surpasses aesthetics. While in appearance it is boldly alien, the form created and the structure’s existence is wholly dependent on its response to site.
h1
h3
SENSING Understanding the mechanics of how kites fly involves an intimate knowledge of aerodynamics and flight forces, their impact on design, as well as dynamic instabilities that adversely affect flight. These criteria for flight can similarly be translated into all pneumatic structures for the purposes of understanding the forces of wind and their effects on soft structures. However, these effects are not immediately apparent to observers. While a person tethered directly to a kite will feel the tension of the tether, an observer remains uninformed of this dialogue. With the aid of technology, a system can be designed which is able to receive data from the kites. This ranges from understanding the properties of the materials through sensing the bending of the material [flex sensor] or movement in the skin via distance offset data [ultrasonic sensor]. On a larger scale, cameras can also be used to determine the position of the kite by determining a light or colour threshold value [blob tracking], or track movement using the difference between frames of the video [contour tracking]. With the aid of scripting to rationalise this data, other forms of information can emerge, such the speed of the kite, or by inference, the apparent effects of wind on the structure.
h1] Camera tracking test using movement tracking through Processing. h2] Flex sensor set-up and programming to determine bending values. h3] Initial capacitive touch sensor test using aluminium tape.
[H]
i2
i1 i1] Using camera tracking to identify instances of people alongside kites. i2] Light sensor test using a mobile phone screen light. i3] Using blob detection to track lights from a mobile phone at night.
i3 SENSING PEOPLE Interactive mediums of architecture are utilised to strengthen engagement and enhance experiences. By allowing users some degree of interaction with architecture, this gives rise to the potential to create ontological effects, transforming users from ‘disembodied observers’ into active participants [T.B, Ryan ML). Through an integration of a feedback system, users are encouraged to engage with, rather than look at, the curated experience of the designer. Similar technology to those used to sense and detect kites and pneumatic structures can also be adapted to engage with users. Direct interaction with the structure through conductive touch sensors, or through the inclusion of light sensors encourage users to explore inflatable structures. These systems are flexible enough to enable their integration within the dynamic skin of soft structures, while robust enough to ensure their functionality.
[I]
The tracking systems used for inflatables can also be adapted to process information such as the number of people in an area, or once again using a contrast threshold, if someone is using a mobile device at night. Through prototyping and tests, it is possible to determine the accuracy of these technologies and establish a method that the information that is received through the sensing of people and interaction can be used.
j2
j1
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DISPLAY + PERFORMANCE Following on from the collection of data, a method of representation needs to be developed which can accept incoming data and provide an immediate visual response. These representations and displays however, must also adhere to the same limitations of the integration of hardware in soft structures, but also be able to show a degree of controllable complexity which can be controlled at a whim. Therefore, an abstraction of information can be programmed into displays as a series of individual actions-responses which can be potentially overlayed or integrated in such a way that is within the capabilities of the system. The responses of the system thereby result in systematic behaviours. LED’s
EL Wire
Projection
Addressable LEDs can be controlled via a programmable microcontroller to change their colour based on standard RGB values, as well as their dimness. Usually in the form of long strips, these LED lights are flexible enough to be suspended within, or fixed to the surface of the material without failing. The inclusion of batteries and other control hardware however mean that weight and stress testing of the hardware would need to be done.
Electroluminescent wire provides a glow when a current is passed through the wire. They are flexible, and can very easily be sewn into seams or sandwiched over fabric panels to provide light. Electroluminescent materials only come in set colours and only have ‘on’ and ‘off states due to their reliance on AC current. This additional requirement also means that additional hardware will need to be integrated.
Projectors emit lights and images through a lens. The benefit of projectors is that any information that can be displayed on a computer screen can also be projected without any additional hardware. Projectors however, are stationary objects and can only project within a specific range. However, the integration of tracking data and motion capture opens the possibility for targeted projection.
j4 j1] LED Diffusion light test: LED’s at 100mm from ripstop nylon j2] EL Wire diffusion test with ripstop nylon j3]. LED Diffusion test in tube prototype with suspended LED light fixing j4] Individual Lighting tests with Arduino and LEDs
[J]
550
Flex sensors are variable resistors that can be used to detect disturbances in material. This could be used to reflect the dynamism of the fabric and the flex that occurs due to wind forces. The flex sensors are lightweight flexible units that can be attached to many types of surfaces. For the tests carried out, data was collected from flex sensors tested in different positions on an inflatable module.
500
MOMENT BEFORE FLEX IS REGISTERED
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STATIC MOMENT
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MOMENT AFTER FLEX IS REGISTERED
DATA feedback numeral
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FLEX 6
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Detection of Day/Night shift Light sensors can be used to detect the intensity of light under different conditions such as natural and artificial lights. The test shown was carried out from dusk to night to capture the drop of natural light intensity. This data could be potentially used to determine other environmental factors which impact the nature of the experience.
SUNSET @ 19:00
1000
SUNSET @ 19:45
In addition, these can also be used to detect hand held objects which emit light. Devices such as torches or mobile phones can also be detected. Tests show that the glow of a mobile phone on someone’s face is enough to trigger a reading. However, a consideration is the narrow range of vision of the sensor.
800
CAMERA FLASH
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PHONE LIGHT TURNED ON
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SUNSET @ 20:10 AMBIENT LIGHT LEVEL OF ROOM PHONE FACED AWAY
PHONE LIGHT TURNED OFF
DATA feedback numeral
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0
TIME periods
DATA KEY OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENT TEST, ST KILDA
18:10 INDOOR ENVIRONMENT TEST
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DISTANCE IS NEAREST TO THE SENSOR INDICATE DEFLATION
Ultrasonic sensors are used to determine the distances between an object and the sensor. The primary test carried out involved a single sheet of material with a mounted ultrasonic sensor to see if firstly, the material could be detected by the sensor; and secondly, to see if trends in data could be established between times of inflation, deflation, and other states. Overall, the data showed that these points could be easily identified; however, the sensor is less effective above a two-meter range causing several errors. This finding must be taken into design consideration.
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TOUCHED WITH WET HAND WHEN FAN IS OFF
TOUCHED WITH WET HAND WHEN FAN IS ON 140
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TOUCHED WITH BARE HAND WHEN FAN IS ON
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TOUCHED FROM BEHIND WHEN FAN IS ON
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Capacitive sensors work by storing electrical charge in a single electrode that can be simulated by any conductive material. Using characteristics of body capacitance, it can be triggered by touching the conductive material with varying pressure and exposure. Our approach is to attach touch sensors on the surface of the inflatable which will then trigger different displays. The simulations aim to respond to various conditions of touch such as bare hands, hands on gloves, wet hands and touch from behind the conductive surface.
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Geometry / Fabrication
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As discussed in Section 4, HIWIND and LOWIND
methods of construction and optimisation that was
are ‘wicked’, meaning a collaborative process was
then fed back into Geometry. This back forth dialogue
undertook by Geometry and Fabrication in order to
between the two groups helped to establish a
explore how such structures perform when inflated.
pragmatic direction for development for all the teams.
To progress an interactive methodology that would
Each negotiation refined the scope of direction, leading
allow all four teams to fulfil the design brief, the
to specific iterations of digital and physical prototypes,
Geometry and Fabrication teams entered into a series
which in turn informed critical assessment, reflection
of active negotiations, where forms were generated
and more iterations..
parametrically, rationalised and made developable, fabricated and then finally tested for inflation… Geometry explored generative forms using a series of algorithmic methods, while Fabrication developed
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7.1 _THE SET UP
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Generative methods of design were used to develop
of architecture’ ***Weinstock We approached the project
both LOWIND and HIWIND. Though a complete
concept as a reaction against traditional - and often
justification of the benefits of algorithmic form finding
overly simple - kite making methods, with generative
are beyond the scope of this journal, the primary
computation ‘evolving’ our iterations, while still obeying
benefits include rapid iteration, innovative form finding
simple rules set in place, such as geometries that
through simple rules, and a move away from the
needed to be mappable. By creating complex order
conventional tropes of kite design.
through the evolutionary approach, we were able to explore the benefits of mutations and unexpected
Besides this suitability for the project theme, the method was specifically selected for developing our designs as it allowed us to produce unexpected results. The ‘“theoretical errors” and design mutations’ of generative design have driven the ‘historical evolution
variations.
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7.2_GENERATIVE METHODS
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Working with soft fabric led to opportunities and
much later in the fabrication. This was evident with
constraints that were explored throughout the
the complex geometry of our project as the interior
fabrication process. As fabric benefits from an
and exterior of the fabric had to be accounted for
increased tensile strength it creates opportunities to
when inverting the surface topology. When working
create complex shapes and join multiple surfaces
with curved surfaces, seams were a liability as many
through a series of simple seams leading to flexibility of
seams applied to a structure could distort the intended
form.
geometry. To counter this, an effort was made to ensure seams were rationalised. This rationalised use of seams
The joining of surfaces requires a seam allowance to
helped simplify parts of the fabrication process, such
be accounted for in the design phase. Seam allowance
the inversion of surfaces. Angles can be used to shift
is a utilitarian part of soft structure design that - as an
direction and create bends, but these must be carefully
aesthetic choice - requires concealment. Concealment
considered and - for complex structures - computed,
is accounted for early in the pattern making stage but
as these changes can only be created through
flaws of procedural order can still become apparent
simultaneous tension from multiple directions.
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7.3_TOPOLOGICAL MANIPULATION & SOFT SHELL STRUCTURES
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An innovative combination of highperformance kite-making and digital fabrication, the installation consists of two large (10-20m) inflatable ‘lanterns’ illuminated by responsive lighting. The first of these - HIWIND - flies through the evening sky, while its sibling - LOWIND inflates on the ground, creating a shelter that spectators can explore..
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INWIND
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“...Once one enters an argument of ‘form for form’s sake’ where form is abstracted from other concerns, it is not easy to ‘resynthesize’ these concerns into the form in the final design.”
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Neil Leach _ The Anaesthetics of Architecture (1999)
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HIWIND_Concept Design (Algorithms 1-4)
HIWIND
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The ‘concerns’, referred to by Leach (1999) in the
is largely due to an indulgence in the perceived
anaesthetics of architecture, are for the most part,
novelty of ‘flashy’ algorithmic approaches. It’s often
political and ideological in nature. However, Leach’s
easy to generate complex, vaguely/superficially
argument could be made for other architectural
‘bio-mimetic’ geometry (this term is hackneyed and
concerns, such as those relating to material/
often used inappropriately in architecture) when
structural performance, tectonics, etc. This - the
using ‘off the shelf’ generative algorithms. Most
idea that architecture which is the expression
designers who have engaged with algorithmic
of a ‘form for form sake’ philosophy is generally
thinking have experienced this ‘honeymoon’ period,
devoid of any inherent structural or performance
and even those with slightly more experience in
based intelligence - is a seemingly simple point.
the field of computational design tend relapse into
Yet it is one that is often forgotten in the field of
this state of naive wonderment when encountering
computational design (in an architectural context).
‘flashy’ new algorithms. When designers are
It’s a point that inexperienced designers may
seduced by ‘fancy’ complex geometry, they usually
easily forget whilst engaging with digital tools. This
end up playing the ‘form for form’s sake’ game.
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Concept Design: Initial Algorithmic Sketches
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they had to posses a large air intake at the front of
process of latently ‘resynthesizing’ design concerns,
the kite and a smaller outlet at the end. , 2. They had
as outlined by Leach (1999), was experienced with
to make vague formal reference to certain species
regard to algorithms 2-5 (outlined in the schedule
of fish., 3. Their form had to be produced using a
of algorithms). At best, they aspire to be fancified
parametric model.
windsocks. They indeed represent algorithmic exercises in ‘form for form’s sake’. The argument for the early fish kites was structured around three key rules: 1. The kites were to function like wind-socks;
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During the design process for ’HIWIND’ this difficult
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HIWIND_Early Algorithmic Sketches (Algorithms 1-4)
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zebralette
1 DESIGN STUDIO WIND_2016
HIWIND_Concept Design (Algorithms 1-4)
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frill-o-mena
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HIWIND_Concept Design (Algorithms 1-4)
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trap venus
3 DESIGN STUDIO WIND_2016
HIWIND_Concept Design (Algorithms 1-4)
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urchin
HIWIND_Concept Design (Algorithms 1-4)
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6m
flying
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14 m
feasibility
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total unrolled strips for a 14m scheme = 152 Sq M.
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61 60 59 58
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total unrolled strips for a 14m zebralette = 152 Sq M allowing for 50% waste, zebralette will cost $ 1442.95 using super rip stop nylon.
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zebralette
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prototype
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A
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zebralette
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prototype
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HIWIND_Prototype A Results
1 As wind can be hard to predict, producing the scaled prototype allowed for differences between the physical prototype and the digital model to be explored. Testing of Zebralette revealed traits of the design that were unable to be explored with a digital model.
Static Digital Modeling Vs Dynamic Prototyping The structure was relatively airtight, and succeeded in holding shape when inflated. The method of creating and concealing the seams did not affect the overall kite integrity, with the prototype successfully replicating the digital model. What the digital model was unable to demonstrate was the effect of changes
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external pressure became greater than the internal pressure, the kite’s wind opening would close in on itself, temporarily cutting off the airflow into the kite. This action created an unintended, yet interesting rippling effect, which deformed the structure and created new geometries. Fortunately, this was not a critical interaction as the kite would self-correct before sinking too low to fly, reinflating to its intended form, and then repeating the process. This cycle of inflation-deflation reveals a level of complexity that the
The digital file used for fabrication had a significantly smaller amount of unrolled parts than the original geometry, this was to allow for rapid fabrication. Because there were fewer strips, each piece was wider, causing the shape to become slightly deformed, with sharper edges rather than the smooth undulating surface previously seen in the digital model.
Material Performance The thin plastic drop sheet used for prototype construction also reacted in an unpredicted manner when tested for airflow. When tested, the lightweight material revealed structural stress points where the drop sheet was vulnerable to significant stretching.
2
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4
5
As the thin plastic was prone to damage, sewing was ruled out as a viable option for connecting bridles to the open end of the kite. Instead, double-sided
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in wind direction and pressure. Often when the
Fabrication Process
tape was utilised to fix the bridles onto the kite. This was relatively successful, although the nature of the material only allowed for a small deformation range. This meant that only a small amount of force was needed to deform the plastic beyond the point of no return.
digital model fails to demonstrate - the dynamics of kite can be random and unpredictable, leading to new geometries. See Fig. 1-5.
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the cell
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prototype
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HIWIND_Prototype B Negitiation HW_2 : Results
1
The cell kite aimed to explore a combination of concepts leading into the development of L-systems. The conal shape as an aggregation of long tubes was explored in relation to its ability to funnel wind, as well as its potential as a modular cell system.
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of the kite. If the intake had been round instead of flat, more air would have been directed into the kite rather than around it.
Orientation
bridles, causing the kite to become unstable when
To successfully fly, a kite needs to be able to vertically
in flight - being manipulated too easily by the force of
orient itself. The SSSL kites we had previously
the wind and folding in on itself rather than inflating.
experimented with achieve this with a lip/leading
This was fixed by adding more bridles around the
edge, which captures the air and pushes the kite
circumference of each of the larger circles
upwards. The design of the cell failed to account for
Air Pressure As An Shape Informer This model had been designed with a conical structure, which proved effective. The intake opening
2
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5
this, and the prototype would rotate around its axis
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The cell prototype was initially secured with too few
of deflation, possibly due to the flat shape of the front
until the bridles became tight and twisted.
Performance
was larger than the back of the structure, which led
The kite did not hold shape well. We had intended for
to rapid inflation by creating a buildup of air pressure
the openings to be circular, but with the added wind
inside the kite. If these openings were reversed - with a
pressure, and the way the tubes were connected
small opening at the front and a large opening at the
along the length of the model, the openings were
back, the low internal pressure would not be sufficient
pulled in various directions. This created polygonal
to inflate the kite and offset the external pressure. In
shapes instead of the circles that were present in the
spite of this design, the kite still experienced moments
digital model. See Fig. 1-5.
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Following the mid-semester review, discussions were held regarding the feasibility of a 'spikey' fish kite.. It was quickly determined that this type of geometry posed several challenges which would all be insurmountable given the time constraints,. Such challenges, safety concerns and issues with functionality and feasibility. On top of all this, this type of geometry would not meet the requirements of the revised brief - it would be difficult to realise as a soft structure.
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No more spikes?
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ruffles
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5
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Ruffles is a direct relative of fish # 3 (Frill-O-Mena)., The algorithm used to generate the geometry for fish # 5, code name 'Ruffles', was a simple ‘curve attractor’ Grasshopper definition.. The patterning system was adjusted in an attempt to produce more feasible geometry.
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ALGORITHM#5: CURVE ATTRACTORS
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Spike is a direct relative of fish # 3 (Frill-O-Mena)., The algorithm used to generate the geometry for fish # 6, code name 'Spike', was a simple point charge/ vector field algorithm similar to that used fish 1-4. The patterning system was adjusted in an attempt to produce more feasible geometry. Vector fields work by assigning each point in a point grid a specific vector characterized by its divergence and curl, and its normal. The curve network generated by L-systems can then be distorted,
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spike
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manipulated, and remapped accordingly
6
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ALGORITHM#6: VECTOR FIELD SYSTEM
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A focus shifted from speculative and fanciful exercises in ‘form for form’s sake’ to a more sober algorithmic approach which attempted to account for issues relating to functionality and fabrication. A new set of ‘fish’ algorithms were designed (algorithms 6-8). The third algorithm in this series, ‘Coralina’ (#8 Overall) - a coral like form designed using a simple Lindenmayer System (L-System) - was chosen for prototyping. The challenge then shifted from designing a superficially biomimetic ‘fish kite’. The new goal was to design algorithms capable of generating branching linework geometry. This geometry which would function as as the invisible/immaterial bones
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coralina
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for a soft structure kite.
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ALGORITHM#6: LINDENMAYER SYSTEM
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following spread) was used in order to generate the invivisible bones for thhis branching form. This arrangement of ‘invisible bones’ wasd then patterned using a faceted strip system.
coralina
7
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A standard L-system (whose rules are listed on the
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ALGORITHM#6: LINDENMAYER SYSTEM
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LINDENMAYER SYSTEM
A number of iterations--including the final built geometry- in HIWIND use L-Systems for form-finding. Created by and named after biologist Aristid Lindenmayer, L-Systems are rewriting systems that successively replace the axiom-- otherwise known as the initial string-- in accordance to a set of production rules. The algorithm was initially developed to explore simple multicellular organisms, but soon it was recognized that multicellular organisms can be divided into separate modules that share the same growth algorithm; following which L-Systems can harness extreme complexities by adopting concise specifications to generate extensive, emergent structures consisting of numerous modules. Since L-Systems inherit the rules of universal programming codes, it is theoretically infinite in length and level of complexity, and therefore particularly suited for modelling growth processes.
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coralina
Overall, L-Systems are remarkably efficient and compact considering the amount of fractal detail the system is capable of describing. Coralina is one of the earliest L-System explorations for HIWIND. It Turtle plug-in in Grasshopper. The design is made symmetrical along its long axis to avoid twisting in mid-air. With each generation, the branches grow smaller in width, reducing the amount and force
AXIOM
makes use of a relatively regular, tree-like configuration using the
of wind flow as it reaches the ends. The overall form is patterned and panelled in horizontal strips to facilitate unrolling, cutting, and
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system rules: A=!""[B]////[B]////C B=&FFAJ C=&FFF!FAJ
F f + – \ / ^ & | J “ ! [ ] A/B/C/D
Move forward at distance L(Step Length) and draw a line Move forward at distance L(Step Length) without drawing a line Turn left A(Default Angle) degrees Turn right A(Default Angle) degrees Roll left A(Default Angle) degrees Roll right A(Default Angle) degrees Pitch up A(Default Angle) degrees Pitch down A(Default Angle) degrees Turn around 180 degrees Insert point at this position Multiply current length by dL(Length Scale) Multiply current thickness by dT(Thickness Scale) Start a branch(push turtle state) End a branch(pop turtle state) Placeholders, used to nest other symbols
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assembly.
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Hybrid BOIDS / L-System Algorithm In addition to L-Systems and BOIDS like functionality, the Harpo makes use of vector fields to further manipulate the branching system. Vector fields work by assigning each point in a point grid a specific vector characterized by its divergence and curl, and its normal. The curve network generated by L-systems can then be distorted, manipulated, and remapped accordingly. The Harpo algorithm also includes the following added functionality:
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1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
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Food System: (new branches only grew when the tree is close to nutrients) Allignmnet: (Allligns branch growth direction with a guide curve) Trim Behaviour: Prunes all branches outside of a containment area
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harpo
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Hybrid BOIDS / L-System Algorithm
In addition to L-Systems and BOIDS like functionality, the Graucho algorithm makes use of vector fields to further manipulate the branching system. Vector fields work by assigning each point in a point grid a specific vector characterized by its divergence and curl, and its normal. The curve network generated by L-systems can then be distorted, manipulated, and remapped accordingly. The Graucho algorithm also includes the following added functionality:
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7
8
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Food System: (new branches only grew when the tree is close to nutrients) Allignmnet: (Allligns branch growth direction with a guide curve) Trim Behaviour: Prunes all branches outside of a containment area Fusing: Fuses neighbouring branches that grow within a specified radius
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Groucho
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filters out any overlapping that tends to occur in branching
characterizing growth, and parameters characterizing the
systems, and it generates a huge variety of iterations with very
relationship between the seed and the branching development.
primitive input parameters.
much space as economically viable, but the driving concept
The primary issue with using space colonization for kite form-
of space colonization is to apply this movement within a
finding is the lack of control over the direction of branching.
predefined volume, weaving through a predefined configuration
While aerodynamics require that all branching face towards
of points.
a similar direction, since the algorithm drives the next branch
Credit: Adam Runions, Brendan Lane, and Przemyslaw
In Sputnik, a starting configuration of points is provided, and
towards the next closest food available, it does not know to
Prusinkiewicz This algorithm generates a wide variety of tree and
becomes the food that determines the branching structure.
reject food that is in the opposite direction to incoming wind.
shrub like linework, controlled by a small number of parameters
From a single starting node, each branch walks towards
and algorithm variations. Sputnik is generated by space
surrounding nodes that are within a predefined radius-- if the
colonization-- an algorithm that uses the competition of space
node has not been previously occupied, the branch forms
to determine the structure of branching. Space colonization
towards that node and continues to expand from thereon. The
ITERATIONS 1 - 8
10
In essence, all branching algorithms aim to expand into as
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
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Space Colonisation Algorithm
beauty of applying space colonization is that it automatically
which pre-defines three inputs: the initial seed, parameters
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Sputnik
is derived off a similar algorithm of leaf venation patterning--
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A* Search / Shortest Walk Algorithm
Nikola uses the A* Search Algorithm to generate a
process and performs shortest walk on a pre-existing
complex curve network that forms the underlying
map. In this regard, it is capable of generating paths
skeleton of the kite. The driving idea of A* Search
that are highly efficient, while retaining an irregular,
is to avoid expanding off already expensive
almost unpredictable overall form. On the other hand,
paths-- expanding being generating successors to
while it is fundamentally similar to space colonization,
explored states, and expensive being evaluated by
space colonization only introduces the starting node,
the estimated cost to reach a certain destination.
whereas A* Search introduces both the starting node
It is a variation born out of several other graph-
and the ending nodes. It also does not know how to
based path-finding algorithms-- the Breadth First
avoid nodes that are used by other paths. Therefore,
Search algorithm, which explores paths evenly in
it tends to generate overlapping paths that share
all directions, and the Dijkstra’s Algorithm, which
the same nodes, and no two paths are similar in the
prioritizes paths that consume lesser resources
resulting output. The benefit of using A* Search in
to numerous locations-- A* Search is the ultimate
form-finding is its complex appearance that is difficult
optimized version that finds the shortest path towards
to achieve otherwise, an effect that is logically quite
a single destination.
similar to space colonization, but ultimately vastly
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
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Nikola
different in its visual output. In contrast to L-Systems, A* Search presets a graph Summary: This algorithm randomly populates any closed NURBS polysurface (boundary representation) and calculates the 'shortest path' through the randomly populated points through to a specified goal point.
of nodes for path-finding, so instead of branching
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ITERATIONS 1- 4
1
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4
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according to a set of production rules, it reverses the
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"It won't work.... but we should at least try to build it..."
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-Dr. Roudavski
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to pattern geometry generated by the ‘Coralina’ algorithm. A hexagonal profile curve was extruded along the lines generated by the coralina L-System algorithm. Those hexagonal extrusion where then divided into strips.
C
prototype
the yabby
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‘The yabby’ uses a standard faceted strip system in order
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PROTOTYPE_C: The Yabby
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the yabby
PROTOTYPE_C: The Yabby ‘The yabby’ uses a standard faceted strip system in order to pattern geometry generated by the ‘Coralina’ algorithm. A hexagonal profile curve was extruded along the lines generated by the coralina L-System algorithm. Those hexagonal extrusion where then divided into strips.
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prototype
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C
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the yabby
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prototype
144 143
C
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HIWIND_Prototype C Negotiation HW_3 : Results
1
Complexity of Components Fabricating this prototype was time-consuming, as the geometry had not been resolved for efficiency. The seams were in an awkward position and converged in the one point, making them difficult to sew. Fig A highlights the individual and complex
145
Fig A. Fabrication pattern for yabby prototype. Yellow piece is an example of geometry difficult to fabricate seams.
some with small angular components. Not only
Scaled Material Issues
difficult to sew, but these shapes also made the
The material used for scaled-down prototype of
prototype prone to inaccurate fabrication and errors.
Zebralette had allowed for quick modelling and
The seam positioning issue was resolved in future
demonstrated similar performance to what we
prototypes by collaborating with Geometry more
expected from the digital model. Therefore, we had
closely, and reassessing the method of creating
decided to continue working with plastic sheets
branches within the structure.
for scaled-down prototypes. Yet during the inflating
Mapping Fabrication Process
2
3
4
5
process, we discovered that the transparent plastic sheet was too thin and ripped easily in strong wind.
With so many unique pieces, we had developed
For Yabby prototyping we change to a thicker type of
an unrolled map of parts for keeping track of how
plastic sheet that allow us to perform testing under
to assemble and fabricate the prototypes. This
stronger conditions.
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geometries that were generated in the digital model,
still resulted in errors. Due to the issues related to the unresolved processes, only half of the Yabby
Image 2 shows the unstable and unbalanced status
prototype was developed. This was then closed up to
of the front branches. The bridling system was not
create an inflatable geometry and test the physical
sufficient for the branching structure at the front to
properties of the model.
fully inflate and hold its position. Future iterations will need more thoughtful consideration of bridle arrangement.
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Following the fabrication teams completion of (half of) prototype C (the ‘yabby’), it was made clear that the faceted strip system would not suffice. This technique result in awkward connections which may have been achievable using a hot knife, but would be difficult to sew.. The fabrication team proposed the idea of patterning the branch nodes like trousers. Focus then shifted from a faceted strip system to a NURBS pipe system which would allow for cleaner connections.
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PATTERNING SYSTEMS: MOVING FORWARD
"Can't we just make them like pants?"
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-Leila (fabrication team)
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P01
149
Makes clean cuts between converging pipes using the average angle between incoming branches.
Pipe-O-Matic_V2
Makes clean cuts between converging pipes using the average angle between incoming branches. Node arms are set at fixed lengths, pipe thickness is determined automatically according to ideal radius given node arm length).
P03 Pipe-O-Matic_V3
Makes clean cuts between converging pipes using the average angle between incoming branches. Node arm length determined in accordance with desired pipe thickness, pipes may taper according to user specified parameters.
P04
P05
Makes clean cuts between converging pipes using the average angle between incoming branches., node arm length determined automatically in accordance with desired pipe thickness.
Pattern Maker for hex, more effiicient and cleaner 'modular' approach (processes any network of curves!) relies on all incoming branches (converging at the node) to converge at the same angle.
Pipe-O-Matic_V4
HEX -MAKER_V1
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Pipe-O-Matic_V1
P02
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Schedule_P01-P05 Patterning Algorithms
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P01_2D
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Algorithm_P01 Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Radius) Algorithmic Process Flipbook
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P01_2D
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Algorithm_P01 Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Radius) Algorithmic Process Flipbook
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1
3
P01_2D
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Algorithm_P01 Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Radius) Algorithmic Process Flipbook
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4
155
156
3
P01_2D SP
LI
AN
E
LA
SP
step_01.1 extend pipes
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PL
2
P LIT
4
4
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T
1
1
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2
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Algorithm_P01 Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Radius) Algorithmic Process Flipbook
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PL
LI
ANE
AN
E
SPLIT
Find the angle between a given pipe and each of its neighbouring pipes. Draw an arc which represents this angle. Draw a perpendicular frame (plane) at the middle of this arc.
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NE
A PL
step_01.2 draw planes
T
PLANE
4
4
159
LIT
SP
2
SP
1
T
SPL IT P L
LI
LANE SPLIT P
SP
3
1
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3
P01_2D
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Algorithm_P01 Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Radius) Algorithmic Process Flipbook
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P
PL
LI
ANE
AN
E
SPLIT
Find the angle between a given pipe and each of its neighbouring pipes. Draw an arc which represents this angle. Draw a perpendicular frame (plane) at the middle of this arc.
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NE
A PL
step_01.3 split pipe
T
PLANE
4
4
161
LIT
SP
2
SP
1
T
SPL IT P L
LI
LANE SPLIT P
SP
3
1
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3
P01_2D
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Algorithm_P01 Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Radius) Algorithmic Process Flipbook
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P
T
PL
ANE SPL IT P L
LI
LANE SPLIT P
SP
LI
E
L1 L2 SPLIT
NE
A PL
step_01.4 draw planes Find the angle between a given pipe and each of its neighbouring pipes. Draw an arc which represents this angle. Draw a perpendicular frame (plane) at the middle of this arc.
T
PLANE
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4
163
LIT
SP
2
SP
AN
1
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3
P01_2D
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Algorithm_P01 Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Radius) Algorithmic Process Flipbook
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P
SPLIT
PL
PLANE
4 step_02.2 draw planes Find the angle between a given pipe and each of its neighbouring pipes. Draw an arc which represents this angle. Draw a perpendicular frame (plane) at the middle of this arc.
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PL A
E
4
165
NE
E AN
1
T
3
SP LI T
LI
SPLIT PLAN
SP
1
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3
P01_2D
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Algorithm_P01 Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Radius) Algorithmic Process Flipbook
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2
SPLIT
PL
PLANE
4 step_02.3 split pipe Split the pipe using the planes created in step 1
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PL A
E
4
167
NE
E AN
1
T
3
SP LI T
LI
SPLIT PLAN
SP
1
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3
P01_2D
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2
Algorithm_P01 Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Radius) Algorithmic Process Flipbook
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2
NE PL A
AN
E
L2
PLANE
PL
L1 step_03.4 select longest length
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T
SP LI T
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LI
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SP
SPLIT
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P01_2D
2
Algorithm_P01 Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Radius) Algorithmic Process Flipbook
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E
3
1
SPLIT PLAN
ANE L SPLIT P
P01_2D
1
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3
2
T SPLI
AN
E
step_03.2 draw planes Find the angle between a given pipe and each of its neighbouring pipes. Draw an arc which represents this angle. Draw a perpendicular frame (plane) at the middle of this arc.
5
171
PL
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4
LIT
4
SP
E
PLAN
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2
E
3
1
SPLIT PLAN
ANE L SPLIT P
P01_2D
1
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3
2
T SPLI
AN
E
step_03.3 split pipe Split the pipe using the planes created in step 1
5
173
PL
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4
LIT
4
SP
E
PLAN
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Algorithm_P01 Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Radius) Algorithmic Process Flipbook
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2
E
3
1
L1
SPLIT PLAN
ANE L SPLIT P
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P01_2D
E
PLAN
L2
T SPLI
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Algorithm_P01 Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Radius) Algorithmic Process Flipbook
SP
175
PL
AN
E
step_03.4 select longest length
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LIT
176
2
3
P01_2D
1
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3
2
177
AN
E
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PL
4
LIT
4
SP
E
PLAN
5
T SPLI
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Algorithm_P01 Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Radius) Algorithmic Process Flipbook
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P01_3D
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Algorithm_P01 Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Radius) Algorithmic Process Flipbook
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step_0.1 select pipe
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P01_3D
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Algorithm_P01 Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Radius) Algorithmic Process Flipbook
182
step_01.1 draw planes Find the angle between a given pipe and each of its neighbouring pipes. Draw an arc which represents this angle. Draw a perpendicular frame (plane) at the middle of this arc.
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P01_3D
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Algorithm_P01 Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Radius) Algorithmic Process Flipbook
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step_02.1 split pipe Split the pipe using the planes created in step 1
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P01_3D
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Algorithm_P01 Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Radius) Algorithmic Process Flipbook
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step_03.1 split pipe Keep the longest length of pipe.
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P01_3D
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Algorithm_P01 Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Radius) Algorithmic Process Flipbook
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Repeat steps for all pipes
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P01_3D
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Algorithm_P01 Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Radius) Algorithmic Process Flipbook
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Algorithm_P01 + coralina (#7) Piped L-System
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Algorithm_P01 + coralina (#7) Piped L-System
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Algorithm_P01 + coralina (#7) Piped L-System
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Algorithm_P01 + coralina (#7) Piped L-System
DESIGN STUDIO WIND_2016
Makes clean cuts between converging pipes using the average angle between incoming branches. Pipe radius is automatically determined in accordance with user specified node arm length parameter.
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P02
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Algorithm_P02_Algorithmic Process Pipe-Maker_01 (Fixed Node-Arm Length)
200
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Algorithm_P02 + coralina (#7) Patterned L-System
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14.1 M
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Algorithm_P02 + coralina (#7) Patterned L-System
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14.1 M
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Algorithm_P02 + coralina (#7) Patterned L-System
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Algorithm_P02 + coralina (#7) Patterned L-System
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Algorithm_P02 + coralina (#7) Patterned L-System
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Algorithm_P02 + coralina (#7) Patterned L-System
Embedded in the P02 patterning algorithm is a tagging and unrolling script which produces annotated parts along with an full schedule of parts. The tagging system draws three registration marks for alignment and labels all borders with the numbers of connecting parts.
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Algorithm_P02 + corallina (#7) Tagging & Unrolling Piped L-System
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Embedded in the P02 patterning algorithm is a tagging and unrolling script which produces annotated parts along with an full schedule of parts (preview below). The tagging system draws three registration marks for alignment and labels all borders with the numbers of connecting parts.
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Algorithm_P02 + corallina (#7) Tagging & Unrolling Piped L-System
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Makes clean cuts between converging pipes using the average angle between incoming branches., node arm length determined automatically in accordance with desired pipe thickness.
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P04
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Algorithm_P04_Algorithmic Process Pipe-Maker_04 (Fixed Node-Arm Length)
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Algorithm_P04 + coralina (#7) Patterned L-System
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Algorithm_P04 + coralina (#7) Patterned L-System
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Algorithm_P04 + coralina (#7) Patterned L-System
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Algorithm_P04 + coralina (#7) Patterned L-System
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Algorithm_P04 + coralina (#7) Patterned L-System
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Algorithm_P04 + coralina (#7) Patterned L-System
DESIGN STUDIO WIND_2016
After developing several patterning systems for a ‘coralina’ style L-system, it was determined that this type of generative/irregular set of linework may not be best suited to clearly express the wind. Focus then shifted to a more ‘elegant’, grid style l-system, one whose regularity would allow for a more legible expression of the wind. This decision to seek a more simple yet effective L-System for our kite represents an ambition to achieve a mathematically ‘elegant’ outcome. According to Software Engineer, Joel Spolsky, ““The proof of a mathematical theorem exhibits mathematical elegance if it is surprisingly simple yet effective and constructive; similarly, a computer program or algorithm is elegant if it uses a small amount of code to great effect.” (26)
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Allowing for emergence:
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# OF INITIAL BRANCHES
8
6
4
3
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Algorithm_12 Elegant / Self Linking L-System
AXONOMETRIC
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TOP VIEW
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ELEVATION
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Algorithm_12+P04 Elegant / Self Linking L-System
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Algorithm_12+P04 Self Linking L-System
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foh
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the claw
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prototype
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D
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HIWIND_Prototype D Negotiation HW_4 : Results
1
Fabrication Process A version of the 5 legged Yabby was made at a
Split Collar
1:1 scale, which allowed for smoother joints to be
There were two fabrication options which produced
developed and for a more efficient fabrication process. Unlike previous models, the ‘claw’ was designed with fabrication in mind, this meant that the previous sharp angles and irregular geometry was eliminated, allowing for a much simpler and quicker
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here and proved to be successful. The claw prototype signaled a shift in prototype development from the prior models. This was the first prototype to both be constructed from fabric and at a scale of 1:1. Pieces at the larger scale were much easier to connect, but the combination of a more complex model and the larger size of pieces made assembly a more error-prone procedure. This preempted the problems encountered with the hex model - the soft construction materials meant that we were assembling a limp structure, and assembly had to occur as a process removed from the final shape.
of the ‘claw’ had a split-collar, and the second was that the five legs had one single collar that they all connected to. Out of the two options considered for joining branches to the body, both were deemed to be relatively straightforward, so the split-collar was chosen for testing. While this method was successful
2
3
4
5
in joining non-standard and curved geometries, the assembly process was tedious and tricky, outlining the need for the assembly phase to be supported by
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fabrication process. The labelling system was tested
the same geometry. The first was that the five legs
a clear set of directions. This highlighted the issues encountered in assembling the yabby prototype, where the lack of a guide led to confusion, difficulty, and possible errors. Future iterations would require quality checking for the direction of seams - a step that wasn’t required when welding the plastic of earlier models. We were also made aware of the specific ways that fabric interacted with wind forces.
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Pattern Maker for hex, more effiicient and cleaner 'modular' approach (processes any network of curves!) relies on all incoming branches (converging at the node) to converge at the same angle.
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P05
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Algorithm_P05 Hex-Maker (Tripod System)
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step_01 pipe straights Pipe all straight sections of the l-system linework. Pipes may vary in radius in accordance with user specified parameters. In this example, pipe radius is directly proportional to the length of each base curve.
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P05
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Algorithm_P05 Hex Maker (Tripod System)
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step_02 extend pipes Pipe all straight sections of the l-system linework. Pipes may vary in radius in accordance with user specified parameters. In this example, pipe radius is directly proportional to the length of each base curve. Then extend the pipes for splitting.
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Algorithm_P05 Hex Maker (Tripod System)
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step_03
create diagonal (tapered) pipes
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P05
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Algorithm_P05 Hex Maker (Tripod System)
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step_03
create diagonal (tapered) pipes
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P05
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Algorithm_P05 Hex Maker (Tripod System)
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step_02 extend straight sections
step_05 draw perp frames / split pipes
step_03 draw perp frames / split pipes
step_06 repeat for all branhces
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step_01 pipe straight setions
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P05 DESIGN STUDIO WIND_2016
Algorithm_P05 Hex Maker (Tripod System)
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HEX + (P05 EMBEDDED) Self Linking L-System
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HEX
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Algorithm_14 (HEX) Iterations 1-16
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Algorithm_14 (HEX) Iterations 1-4
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Algorithm_14 (HEX) Iterations 5-8
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Algorithm_14 (HEX) Iterations 9-12
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Algorithm_14 (HEX) Iterations 13-16
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HEX
prototype E DESIGN STUDIO WIND_2016
Prototype-E_(HEX) Fabrication / Assembly Guide
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prototype E
HEX
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prototype E
HEX
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Dealing With Scale
Self intersecting
Internal seams
When fabricating the Hex kite it was difficult to
The Hex was designed such that there are closed
A point of difficulty with the Hex kite was how to
understand the geometry as it was deflated and as
loops, this is because of the self similar tripod system.
achieve internal seams for a structure that is,
a result, distorted. The large scale of the kite made it
As a result of these loops, the hex cannot be turned
topologically, not a distorted plane and cannot be
difficult to understand where a piece was, or where it
inside out completely. This is the reason why the idea
completely turned inside out. To solve this issue we
was supposed to go. We were unable to determine the
of completely internal seams seemed impossible
went through a process of practical experimentation.
context of where pieces fit together, this is because the
initially.
This experimentation demonstrated that it is possible to turn inside out particular branches, separating them
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Because the hex is self similar, once we figured out how to connect the most complicated joint, which was three tripods connected to one another, we were able to fabricate the remainder of the kite. Each generation was connected to itself in the same way the generation before it was connected. We started at the generation that had the most parts which was generation E, this meant that each generation after this was much simpler, with the simplest being generation A.
where each piece of fabric was indistinguishable.
Hex is self intersecting, and due to the nature of the
into parts that are - locally - topologically compatible
We countered this by going to a large open space,
material and the closed loops formed, it often tangles
and threading them through the other parts until they
an opening up the parts of the Hex that were already
by wrapping around itself. Because the geometry
can be reached by a sewing machine. In this way, it
sewn. Laying out the fabric and orienting it in the
intersects with itself at various points it was easy to
was possible to achieve internal-only intersections
correct way was a necessity, as it allowed the next
make mistakes when connecting two pieces together
for structurally fusing branches.Digital models cannot
pieces of the kite to be pinned, minimising mistakes.
to create a closed circuit. Even though systems were
simulate the complexity of soft materials systems.
When mistakes were made, the piece was simply
put in place marking where pieces fit together it was
These kinds of materials can be pulled and stretched;
unpicked and re-sewn in the correct position. Once
still easy to connect pieces incorrectly. We marked
manipulated in such a way that parts can be pulled
We found some issues in the first inflation: A leg was
fabrication was complete, the kite’s ability to inflate was
where each piece fit to the next, however, two pieces
through each other to sew. This is what we did with the
not closed so we had to pull it through the whole kite
tested, this allowed for a better inspection of the form,
may line up and still be inaccurate. This happens when
hex.
through the generation A opening to sew it closed
and any mistakes such as twisted or damaged parts
the hex is twisted around itself, hence it is important to
were easy to see. It was important to maintain the
untangle the hex before pinning and sewing pieces.
First inflation
There was a twisted tripod which was fixed by marking, We connected tripods from generation E together
unpicking and resewing
materials integrity and appearance, this was relatively
with other generation E tripods, we did the same for
difficult to do as the scale was so large
generations A-D. Once each generation was made, we
We had previously lost a capped end piece, which we
connected the generations to one another starting at
left until the end to sew back on, this also had to be
Because of the scale of the kite, methods were
generation E as it had a small closed end. Because we
pulled the entire way through the kite and out through
explored to try and aid in understanding how pieces fit
connected it in this way, we were able to pull the parts
the opening in generation
together. The methods included:
we needed to sew out through the larger generations openings, and achieve entirely internal seams.
First flight
++ Colour coding When we flew the Hex kite for first time we noticed ++ Numbering
some errors that were previously overlooked. There were three pieces that were twisted slightly, however
++ Seam placement
this was simple to rectify. We marked them and made sure when we disconnected and reconnected that
++ Nesting templates on fabric, minimize fabric waste, templates made the unrolled geometry more accurate ++ There were pieces that repeated throughout the hex kite, so one template was used from all these pieces, to eliminate error and maximize efficiency
they were in the right position. Currently hex has no errors.
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fabrication process initially started in a small space,
Self similar (tripods)
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HIWIND_Prototype E (HEX) Results
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Difficulty understanding deflated/distorted geometry testing at full inflation to inspect for errors. Identifying mis-orientated pieces or damaged parts.
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just one more friend to meet....
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Brother of HEX + (P05 EMBEDDED) Recursive Subdivision Algorithm
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BOH
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Algorithm_15 (BOH) Iterations 1-16
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Algorithm_15 (BOH) Iterations 1-4
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Algorithm_15 (BOH) Iterations 5-8
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Algorithm_15 (BOH) Iterations 9-12
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Algorithm_15 (BOH) Iterations 13-16
Following the mid semester review, focus shifted from
function with very particular types of input geometry.
speculative and fanciful exercises in ‘form for form’s
Focus shifted once more, and instead of trying to create
sake’ to a more sober algorithmic approach which
patterning algorithms which could be universally ap-
attempted to account for issues relating to functional-
plied to the linework generated by a variety of different
ity and fabrication. A new set of ‘fish’ algorithms were
nodal/network or branching algorithms (although this
designed (algorithms 6-8). The third algorithm in this
was achieved with algorithm P02) time was invested in
series, ‘Coralina’ (#8 Overall) - a coral like form designed
attempting to tailor the final patterning algorithm to a
using a simple Lindenmayer System (L-System) - was
very particular type of simple l-system (that used in the
chosen for prototyping. The challenge then shifted from
‘Hex’ algorithm (#14).
DESIGN STUDIO WIND_2016
designing a superficially biomimetic ‘fish kite’. The new goal was to design algorithms capable of generating
The final patterning system was even embedded in
branching linework geometry. This geometry which
the definition for the ‘Hex’ kite (algorithm 14). The final
would function as as the invisible/immaterial bones for
branching algorithm (BOH #15) was then written on the
a soft structure kite.
back of the HEX patterning system. So, in the end, the
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HIWIND_Summary words by Bradley Elias
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inverted and fused into one algorithm. What started as a
lingered. The aim of the branching experiments (algo-
processes consisting of two discrete stages (designing
rithms 7-11) was to control a variety of different branching
complex form (‘for form’s sake’) and then attempting to
algorithms such that they produced linework geometry
post-rationalise that geometry (or re-synthesize con-
which could serve as appropriate input for a secondary
cerns, as Leach puts it), flipped to become something
iso-surfacing or piping algorithm. However this proved
resembling the opposite. The recursive subdivision
difficulty, The goal was to use these algorithms in a two
algorithm used in the design of ‘BOH’ (algorithm 15) was
stage manner. First generate the linework, then pattern
designed with a mind to meet all of the limitations and
the linework. Ultimately 5 key ‘patterning’ algorithms
requirements of the HEX patterning system (P05). The
(P01 - P05) were designed, each with differing input
HEX patterning system (P05) was refined and ultimately
parameters / variables and varying degrees of flexibility
merged with the recursive subdivision algorithm (used
and efficiency. It quickly became apparent that these
for BOH) in order to form a singular algorithmic ap-
patterning definitions would all utilise some form of
proach, one that accounted for performance based
‘pipe’ splitting or booleaning operation. This approach
concerns.
seemed to yield the cleanest joints. Other tools/techniques were quickly jettisoned. These early techniques\ tools included T-Splines, Iso-surfacing and a more simplistic ‘faceted strips’ approach (involving paneling and unrolling nurbs geometry) - prototyped in the ‘yabby’ experiment). It also became apparent that each of the 5 ‘pipe splitting’ based patterning algorithms would only
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two stage of the algorithmic design process had been However, the initial ‘form for form’s sake’ argument still
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LOWIND_Concept Design
LOWIND
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.A lightweight, transportable structure operating in a state of performance and dormancy, refuge and turbulence, privacy and spectacle; all dependant on its contextual environment. When its surroundings are calm, welcoming and inhabitable, the structure lies inactive. When the weather is turbulent, the structure is activated, building a calm refuge within. This project explores how can a lightweight, transportable soft structure be developed that is
activated only by the wind and can be physically occupied. Furthermore, the project will endeavour to find what steps need to be taken to stabilise the structure while maintaining its ephemeral nature. And finally, what sort of experiential spaces would be created by such an intervention?
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Concept Design: Initial Sketches
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Refuge as Performance explores the
wind are in a state of constant flux, as they
dynamic relationship between activation
push and pull in response to the turbulent
and dormancy, turbulence and tranquillity,
environment.
spectacle and privacy. Existing in a dominant state of dormancy, this refuge
Refuge as Performance presents an
pavilion examines an activation of form
interesting relationship to its environment
that occurs only in turbulent, windy
– one in which the form, while alien in
environments. Once engaged, this
appearance, is wholly adaptable and
transient pavilion inflates, revealing a
responsive to site. Like earlier kite tests, the
series of internal and external refuges–
form and movement created are in direct
momentary spaces of calm amidst the
response to its environment; a physical
hostile environment. Inside, these places
and visual realisation of invisible forces on
of asylum and reprieve created by the
the site.
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LOWIND_Concept Refuge as Performance
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The physical occupation and interaction were key considerations in the early iterations of LOWIND. As the initial geometry was curvilinear, it was comprised mostly of doubly curved surfaces that were difficult to prepare for fabrication. The surfaces could only be forcibly smashed instead of being properly
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between the original and unrolled geometries. This was later accounted for by rebuilding the geometry computationally and triangulating it for fabrication. The early negotiations of LOWIND attempted to incorporate a level of formal complexity by integrating design software into the form development process.
Iterative Development
With the aid of computational software we were able to explore more options and generate design matrices for LOWIND
Accurate Modeling and Wind Simulation One difficulty that remained throughout the course of design was simulating the effect of wind. Marvellous Designer - a 3D program largely used as a tool for fashion design, simulating physical and gravitational environments, including abilities for wind tests - was explored, though proved too slow and clunky for simple tests on the scale for which we needed to operate. The final form at its fully inflated state must be designed, but there are few ways of visualising
Early form-finding iterations of LOWIND were
such effects short of physical prototyping. As such we
produced digitally, but not parametrically. While the
learned much about material properties and bridle
Geometry team had much control over the design
attachments from producing a scale prototype of
details, it was difficult to produce large amounts of
this iteration.pulled in various directions. This created
design iterations by this method. In later stages we
polygonal shapes instead of the circles that were
began translating our concepts into numerical input.
present in the digital model.
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unrolled, which creates an unavoidable deviation
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LOWIND_Prototype A Negotiation LW_1 : Results
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LOWIND_Prototype B Negotiation LW_2 : Multiplicity
Building upon initial inflatable prototypes, this next phase explored how these structures could be further developed in regards to complexity of form, spatial variance - both internal and external, and considered the possibility of layering of spaces to allow for inflation from multiple directions. This directional multiplicity could inflate the form from different directions and in different configurations, depending the direction of the wind source at each moment. This led to a more nuanced complexity in inhabitation /
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spaces with a gradient from fully enclosed to exposed inhabitation.
Active Engagement This development in the structural complexity
The added complexity created issues in determining
lent itself to an engagement with varying spatial
how these resultant forms would inflate in relationship
relationships, both in form and inhabitation. Where
to the wind – was the space being inflated facing into
multiple forms met, a pushing and pulling between
the wind? While the forms can be further developed,
the forms occurred, influencing how these spaces
limitations in terms of keeping the shape relatively
could be engaged with and occupied. As a result of
streamlined are likely to arise, and future iterations
the form’s dynamism, occupation of the space would
would need to minimise turbulence as much as
require an active engagement with navigation and
possible. The additional weight added by material that
inhabitation, beyond that required to inhabit a static
may not always be inflated can create drag and add
structure.
dead weight to the light structure.
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interaction, and a layering of primary and secondary
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Engaging with the relationship between open and closed spaces as defined by the physical and visual occupation of the structure, LOWIND
While the structure is truly lightweight, transportable and malleable, in activation, its engulfing form undulating
encourages the occupant to mentally and physically engage with the shifting forms. As the undulating, lightweight form continually elongates,
in the wind has the effect of enclosure and immersion. This effect on the physical environment means that
shrinks and engulfs the internal and external spaces for occupation, initial perception of visual and physical inhabitation is continually augmented.
the heaving form creates dynamism between mass and lightweight in structural appearance and internal
Can the intervention be inhabited while still being outside of the form? Is there a single threshold where you pass from in relationship to the structure
environments. This continual play with perceptions of mass and lightweight can create varying experiences of
to outside? Similarly, at what point can you not delve deeper within?
occupation and perception – a refuge, a performance, permanence/transience, a dwelling or a kite. Does the form
DESIGN STUDIO WIND_2016
feel as though it floats above you? Does it engulf you? Where does it begin and end?
STUDIO LEADERS: DR STANISLAV ROUDOVSKI & ALEX HOLLAND
LOWIND_Prototype C Negotiation LW_3 : Spatial Relationships
Refuge as Performance explored a series of performative, experiential and environmental dualities and revealed an array of social and spatial relationships.
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The twisted, overlapping form creates layers of interaction and privacy, light and dark, openness and closure.
between this lightweight soft structure and a volatile wind creates a tension between existing as a static, perfect form and an undulating push and
Comprised entirely of thin, ripstop fabric, the layering of material acts as a gradient between direct, indirect and diluted
pull as the structure responds to its environment, the wind and gravity. LOWIND once activated, exists in a constant state of push and pull, activation
relationships. The division via fabric creates a unique understanding of occupation and personal space, as occupants
and discharge.
can still clearly heard, and felt. Only a dilution to the visual perception of occupation, (and perhaps smell), is created by the fabric. Instead, occupation appears as a layering of shadows, graded via layers of material, as well physical distance.
between an idealised static form and undulating reality, creates a particular engagement with form and occupant, as the spaces are negotiated, navigated and experienced. Some areas can only be visually accessed, while others allow for a physical occupation. This undulation in existence and form engages with a multiplicity of public and private spaces as the user negotiates and traverses through the form and its occupants. The undulating structure exposes a series of open and closed spaces, playing with perceptions of enclosure, engagement with form and connectivity. Once the space was activated, it
While existing in a dominant state of dormancy, this refuge pavilion examines a momentary
The thin material of the structure emphasizes a series of unique relationships between public and private space. One can be in close proximity, but divided by a
experienced a prolonged period of deactivation and
activation of form only in turbulent, windy environments. Once engaged, this transient pavilion
thin sheet, so in one sense, now in individual private space. In a similar proximity, but within the structure, they may be in an intimate relationship to one another.
inflates, revealing a series of internal and external refuges– momentary spaces of calm amidst
Externally, this relationship to form and form may reveal a third tension between public and private space, one in which strangers are connected simply by
release, revealing a controlled form and movement.
the hostile environment.
proximity to the pavilion.
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The structure’s pulsating existence, struggling
Activation of the pavilion, wholly dependent on the wind to create an idealized form reveals a dynamic tension to the structure. The relationship
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INITIAL FORMS
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Experience While the structure was truly lightweight,
enhance the sense of exploration and reveal within
transportable and malleable, in activation, its
the structure. Even while the overall form remained
engulfing form had an effect of enclosure and
relatively simple, layers of complexity have been
immersion. This effect on the physical environment
achieved through user experience, occupation and
meant that the form could also take on the qualities
interaction.
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experiential qualities in varying states, posing
Without physically testing whether this additional skin
questions such as does the form engulf you? Float
would help with stability and maintaining inflation,
above? Does it end?
we could not be sure of its viability. As such, a site specific prototype was developed for the Grimshaw
A double skin was introduced as part of a second
Architecture Hub.
design proposal, primarily to test spatial relationships and stability. This addition helped to balance the
The prototype was developed along four key
structure, when incorporated around the opening.
principles: (01) areas for public, private and external
By doing so, it would allow for accessible areas to
occupation, (02) democratic distribution of form, (03)
significantly vary in size, while still maintaining overall
centrally anchored paths so to maximise undulation
form and inflation. This additional second skin would
of form, and (04) smooth connectivity between
also create interesting intersections between areas
spaces. Over this, a second skin was added at the
that could be accessed, in terms of both physical and
entrance, to provide stability of form and maximise
visual occupation. When coupled with the twisting,
potential inflation and form. .
undulating form, this further development would
01
02
03
04
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of mass. This relationship to form revealed different
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Bunching plastic in the blob. The reason this happened is that there were parts of the digital model which folded over itself, it was not a flat surface, so when the model was unrolled and fabricated there were some sections which we had to manually correct. Look at the digital model closely to understand this.
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This prototype directly responded to the particular
The controlled environment would allow for idealised
dimensions of the available space, while providing a
forms and relationships to be further developed as
controlled environment to test and alter the prototype.
potential outcomes – key views where windows lined
The developed form curled and twisted in response to
up to see right through and make a contained shape,
the infrastructure of the space, with further complexity
or from where all the sliced panels appear removed
in its patterning and windows added in response to
from the structure. From this idealised form, the hope
key visual connections beyond the site.
was that any variance or undulation would be further
bridles are a necessary part of the blob, as they hold the inflatable in place, holding a similar shape to the digital form. The digital form does not take into account the force of the wind inside the ground structure, so is not designed to be able to support itself without the use of bridles.
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1
accentuated.
Digital Disparaties Bridles were necessary to hold the inflatable in place
itself, parts of the fabricated structure would bunch
and create a similar shape to the digital form. The
together, creating an uneven surface. As a result,
digital form had not taken into account the wind
when the model was unrolled and fabricated some
force inside the ground structure, so it was unable
sections had to be manually corrected. See Fig 2-3.
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to support itself without the use of bridles. Due to sections of the digital model being folded over
2
3
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patterning options that can be easily manipulated computationally, and be used to generate a large variety of iterations with minimum time and effort. Ultimately, the goal was to maintain developability so that the geometry can be unrolled with minimal or no deviation.
Results
for fabrication. Complex patterning tends to produce very fragmented pieces, which is time-consuming to produce physically. The smaller the pieces, the larger the room for error in cutting and assembly. As we worked with limited material choices, the options in showing the digital patterns physically were few. In response, the team often created patterns by alternating opaque and transparent pieces, or generating seams across the form for cutting and
The most challenging, recurring constraint of
sewing. As such the pattern also determined the logic
patterning is to ensure that the geometry can be
of how triangulated pieces are to be joined, unrolled,
unrolled properly into a reasonable number of pieces
and their fabrication sequence.
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With our final geometry, we began exploring complex
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01
01 _ Democratic distribution of form 02 _ Spatial ratio of 1 : 2 : 3 : 1 : 0.5
Private = 1
Public = 2
Opening = 3 (sum of public and private)
External Space = 1
Passageway = 0.5 (of connecting space)
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Algorithmic Program
03
03 _ Centrally anchored curved pathways 04 _ Smoothness of connections
05 _ Kissing point
04
06 _ Windows responding to spatial connectivity
05
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No greater than 45° angled to curves, to minimize chance of additional turbulence or conflict
06 333
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In the course of design development, the patterning of LOWIND has gone steadily from what is purely pragmatic for fabrication, to a proposal that takes into consideration user experience and interaction. It began from a simplistic, practical approach of triangulation-- the earliest iterations of LOWIND were geared towards having developable strips that can be easily unrolled, tagged, nested, and made within reasonable time with minimal effort. However the team soon started exploring with materials of varying transparency, particularly with the options of transparent and opaque-- this allows us to take into account the complexities of distances between components between isolated components, the framing of views, and the corresponding effects these considerations have on user experience and the success of inflation. Therefore the final patterning for LOWIND, while pragmatic enough to be easily fabricated,
focuses on drawing a dialogue between spaces deemed to be occupied. The idea of having narrow transparent windows in the structure is to frame the view of occupants, against other occupants on another end of the geometry, as well as towards the surroundings. In its intermediate stages, LOWIND is centered around visually breaking down massing with patterning. As with all simple geometries, the huge massing of LOWIND calls for a gradient of patterning that introduces sufficient daylight as well as making it less visually dominating. The many techniques of hexagonal tiling, fragmentation and culling by pattern, introducing stripes, surface curvature analysis, offsetting, and so forth, were experimented with to break down the massing of LOWIND. Each iteration unveiled new issues with regards to computation or fabrication preparation, but each has its takeaways that were reinterpreted into a new iteration. The current proposal for LOWIND strives for the right balance between form and function-while it must retain a certain structure, both computationally and physically, to be fabricable, it also boasts of a pattern that responds to its occupants, its internal components, and its surroundings. The idea of transparent slits is to have subtle but effective openings, as skylights and as windows, to introduce natural sunlight and frame the views of occupants. As developable strips they remain easily unrollable, and aesthetically compliant with the rest of geometry.
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While HIWIND engages with complex geometries, LOWIND explores a vastly different theme of complex patterning. As the design concept of LOWIND revolves around user occupation, experience, and interaction, simple geometries are much better at maintaining their inflated state at ground level, accommodating occupants, as well as allowing and directing circulation around the designed spaces. Hence the overall geometry of LOWIND comprises of dynamic spaces for occupation, passageways that connect these spaces together, all of which are smooth single surfaces that do not detract from this purpose. LOWIND uses a variety of panelling systems not only for ease of fabrication as it is the case for HIWIND, but also to create a dialogue between individual components of the structure that would otherwise be completely separate.
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PATTERNING ITERATIONS
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_Techniques Hexagonal Tiling Surface Mapping _Objectives Create parametrically changeable patterns Maintain developability for fabrication _Takeaways Surface mapping is controllable & visible _Issues Undevelopable Grasshopper structure collapsed
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1
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_Techniques Triangulation Cull Pattern _Objectives Maintain developability for fabrication Use material choice / seams for patterning _Fixed Avoid projecting arbitrary patterns onto surface Maintained Grasshopper structure _Takeaways Triangulation as basis for patterning _Issues Fragmentation lengthens fabrication timespent
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2 TRIANGULATION & FRAGMENTATION
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_Techniques Surface Curvature Analysis _Objectives Define pattern by geometry Use materials of varying shades / transparency _Fixed Generate long strips, joined for ease of fabrication _Takeaways Surface curvature analysis for pattern distribution _Issues Abrupt pattern changes unresponsive to site conditions
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3 CURVATURE ANALYSIS
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_Techniques Surface Curvature Analysis Variable Frame Offset _Objectives Soften pattern changes _Fixed Use information from curvature analysis with 2 materials Soften pattern changes _Issues Fragmentation is time-consuming & error-prone to make
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4 PATTERN GRADIENT
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_Techniques Rail Curvature Analysis Surface Mapping Graph Mapping _Objectives Use information from curvature analysis meaningfully _Fixed Analyze rail curve instead of lofted surface _Takeaways Graph mapping for patterning Using a double grid to maintain Grasshopper structure _Issues Thin, long strips needed to be trimmed / selectively removed Vertical slits as opposed to horizontal slits for unrolling
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5 SURFACE MAPPING
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TECHNIQUES
OBJECTIVES
GEOMETRIC TESSELLATION
++ Hexagonal Tiling
++ Create complex patterning that can be easily manipulated, and generate a large number of iterations with minimum time and effort
++ Surface Mapping
FIXED
TAKEAWAYS
ISSUES
++ Surface mapping as a patterning technique - it allows for complex patterns and a much more controllable, visible manipulation on a flat grid
++ Pattern not triangulatable, not developable, cannot be unrolled for fabrication
++ Triangulation as the basis for patterning-- patterning must be generated with triangulated surfaces or be projected onto such in a visually pleasing way, and cannot collapse the Grasshopper tree structure as it will make unrolling very illogical and fragmented
++ A fragmented pattern can triple fabrication time-spent, as unrolled pieces cannot be joined into strips
++ Surface curvature analysis as a guide for pattern distribution and manipulation
++ It later became apparent that different materials have different weights, textures, and shades, so it may be better to stick to one that is opaque and another that is transparent for patterning
++ Maintain developable surfaces that are optimal for joining and unrolling with minimal or no deviation
TRIANGULATION & FRAGMENTATION
++ Triangulation ++ Cull by Pattern
CURVATURE ANALYSIS
++ Surface Curvature Analysis
++ Instead of creating an arbitrary pattern that is projected / mapped loosely onto the geometry, create triangulated surfaces based on the pattern such that elements like seams and joints between different materials can already show the surface patterning
++ Triangulated surfaces for fabrication
++ Allow the geometry to define the patterning
++ Patterning generates large, long developable strips for fabrication, and has the flexibility to be unrolled vertically or horizontally
++ Make full use of available materials (materials of different transparency and shades) PATTERN GRADIENT
++ Surface Curvature Analysis ++ Variable Frame Offset
++ Soften the patterning changes from one end of the spectrum (full opaque, unpatterned surfaces) to the other (large transparent panels)
++ Maintained Grasshopper tree structure for unrolling�
++ Generates a pattern that can use the information derived from surface curvature analysis without using a multitude of materials
++ A fragmented pattern is very timeconsuming to make, and produces a lot more room for error as the fragments are even smaller than before, therefore harder to cut and sew
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++ Rail Curvature Analysis ++ Surface Mapping ++ Graph Mapping
++ Using the information derived from curvature analysis in a meaningful way that does not hinder fabrication
++ As surface curvature analysis generates a gradient as information, it is more suited for the purposes of distribution, and therefore usually generates a pattern that is very fragmented and difficult to resolve for fabrication; therefore the approach is changed to rail curve curvature analysis, which uses this information to distort the mapping grid accordingly and changes the location of vertical seams across the geometry
++ Graph mapping for patterning allows one to quickly change the distribution and sizes of the patterned panels very easily ++ Using a double grid to generate the mappable grid for surface mapping better maintains the Grasshopper tree structure for joining and unrolling. The double grid serves to weave transparent pieces into opaque pieces logically
++ Earlier iterations of this patterning generates transparent slits with dimensions / curvatures based on graph mapping. This results in some very thin, long strips at the extremes (first few and last few slits, as well as the ends of the slits) which are not ideal for fabrication. Later iterations trimmed the slits from top and bottom and removed slits that were too thin as work-arounds for this problem ++ Earlier iterations of this patterning boasted of horizontal transparent slits, but it poses an inconvenience to unrolling, as horizontally unrolled pieces are too long to be printed or traced onto a piece of fabric and would have to be split into smaller
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++ Generates a gradient of patterns as a response to the abrupt material changes in the previous iteration SURFACE MAPPING
++ Tiling / Panelling Tools does not retain Grasshopper tree structure and collapses all output meshes, hence panels lose their sequencing logic and cannot be easily joined or unrolled into individual strips for easy printing / cutting
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ITERATION
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Reference Base Rail Curve
2
Mirror Base Rail Curve
4
Divide Curve by Number
5
Orient on Perp. Planes on Rail
3
13 Create a Mapping Surface from Lofted Surface Dimensions
14
6 Orient on Perp. Planes on Extensions
15
16 Divide Mapping Grid into End Batches and a Middle Batch
Extend Base Rail Curve by Arc
Redistribute Mapping Grid by Rail Curve Curvature
Subdivide Surface
7 Scale Profile Curve by Graph Mapping
8 Scale Profile Curve by Graph Mapping
9 Scale Profile Curve by Graph Mapping
17 Divide Mapping Grid into End Batches and a Middle Batch
18 Divide Mapping Grid into End Batches and a Middle Batch
10 Sort Profile Curves along Rail Curve
11
12
19
20
Adjust Seams of Profile Curves
Loft Surface
Create Slits by Graph Mapping
Mappable Grid
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ALGORITHMIC PROCESS
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21
Mapped Grid
24 Generate Triangulated Surfaces
22
PATTERNING LOGIC
Vertical Subdivisions
25 Generate Triangulated Surfaces
23
26
Horizontal Subdivisions
Control the number of slits and remove slits that are too narrow for fabrication
Trim Entrance
351
Categorize by Material Choice
30 Isolate Grid Points on Inner Curve
28
Remap Grid without Slits
29 Isolate Grid Points around Entrance
31
Project Points onto Circle
32
Draw Bridle Curves
Terminating slits once they reach a certain width that cannot be easily fabricated
Subdivisions are sparser where the rail curve curvature is lower to reduce the number of unrolled strips for fabrication
Control where the slits are positioned based on whether they function as skylights or as windows The distorted remappable grid must maintain the same algorithmic tree structure so that the triangulated surfaces can be joined and unrolled accordingly for fabrication
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Subdivisions are denser towards the ends of the rail curve to create a smooth end
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DESIGN STUDIO WIND_2016
The transparent slits serve as subtle but effective openings-- as skylights and as windows-- to introduce daylight and to frame users’ views. In this way we can create a visual dialogue between isolated components of the overall geometry.
The overall form is composed of distinctive gathering spaces at the ends and passageways of varying radii-- at its largest it emphasizes the spaciousness of an inflated interior, at its smallest it allows for a person to pass through. Its internal design manipulates the wind flow-- whether stuffy, windy, or ventilated at various points-- all characteristics serve to shape users’ experience and interaction with the structure.
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LOWIND has a large entrance and is adequately proportioned for it to stay inflated in wind. The bridles anchor the structure to the ground and help to maintain its shape.
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8
ILLUMINATION INWIND aims to respond to the changing and dynamic nature of the site and the continual forces that are present. Utilising a visual interface, the object becomes an emotive architectural performer within the dynamic environment. This interface is driven by the different facets that are derived from the imposed ability for the structure to sense aspects of its surrounding and respond to them. Rather than the architectural object that is designed ‘for’ or ‘within’ the site and its context at its conception, INWIND is transformed into a structure that is dynamically and continuously (re)shaped by the environment. Using emergent design as a foundation, a framework can thus be established to which further development can be made. By developing this system from a bottom-up approach, individual functions can be further expanded upon to contribute to a systematic digital ecology for soft structures where complexity will develop through the “multiplicity of simple interactions” (WEINSTOCK). The process explored several aspects of a ‘digital toolkit’ shown in chapter 6, and this research eventually culminated in a selection of technologies to test and implement within INWIND. The culmination of the process is a digital ecology involving camera vision, tracking, and mapping in conjunction with a visual projected display. A script integrates location and movement data, amongst other nuanced behaviours of the tracked HIWIND structure in response to the wind, into a digital information. This information forms the basis for establishing visuals based on three primary behavioral states with several additional scripted events that occur based on the responses of the kite to the environment. Michael Weinstock, “The Architecture of Emergence: The Evolution of Form in Nature and Civilisation, (London: John Wiley & Sons, 2010), 10.
Environment
Ambient Light
Camera Tracking
Digital Reading
Camera Tracking
Digital Reading
-Webcam Light tracking
Data Out: -Amount of Lights (Devices)
Audience
Track interactive element
-Webcam Movement and Blob detection and analysis
Processing
Display generation
Data Out: -Amount of movement -Point of movement -Size of movement -Object location -Object size
Kite
Dynamic object to track
Processing
Analogue Performance
Relate physical performance with data, forming trends and patterns
WORKFLOW & PROCESS Following on from the prototyping and tests undertaken outlined in Chapter 6.b, the interactivity team focused on narrowing the scope of feasibility for the project, as well as beginning to translate aspects of the toolkit into usable data. The software Processing allowed the combination of numerous hardware and software components due to its vast libraries that enable arduino, camera input, and computer vision to be used within the same interface. Working with the geometry team and with extensive testing into hardware capabilities, the team was able to determine a number of different aspects from camera tracking data which could then be used to inform a number of behavioural qualities to be projected onto the HIWIND structure.
Synthesis & Interpretation, Evaluate data against: -Adaptive Thresholds -Average Determinators -Instance Thresholds
Projection
States and Nuances Interactive modifier
EXPANDING ON THE TOOL KIT The prototyping tests undertaken involved extensive testing of the primary systems selected. Two primary forms of camera tracking could be implemented through the same Processing script. The first of these was blob tracking which processes images by specific values to identify patches or ‘blobs’ of area which meet these values. For the purposes of the script, this was set to determine light and dark contrast values. The second type of tracking used was movement tracking which compares each frame to the previous to locate any difference in pixels. In both these cases, a threshold value could be established within the script that controlled the amount of light or movement that can be detected. Both of these cases can be applied to the tracking of kites. Not only can the location of the kite can be determined, but a number of other variables based on how the kite moves can also be interpreted. Projection as a display method also offered a quick means of design iteration and prototyping, allowing the team to proceed with rapid testing before the full-scale prototype was completed. Initial testing with the projector showed the degree of visibility and certain ranges, and the amount of clarity achievable using this method. It also became evident that while HIWIND would be launched during the day, the projection would not be visible during this time. Only during the night when the structure was invisible due to a lack of natural lighting would the projector be at maximum effect. This would later inform design ideas with regards to temporal experiences over the course of the flight.
BEHAVIORAL COMPOSITION A. Creating the flowfield vectors B. Creating focus points to alter vector fieldfor later use with tracking
The aim for the team was to produce a display that could highlight several behavorial states that would be later named; Zephyr, Breeze and Gale. Borrowing ideas from the concepts of behavioral emergence, the intention was for different actions of the kite to trigger these different states which could be easily communicable.
C Running particle simulations over flowfields D. Orientation tests with particle flowfields E. Testing noise and intereference to flowfields F. Combining flowfields and tracking
The projection itself is based on flow-fields; the method to which wind data is recorded over large areas. Flow fields exist as a series of vectors overlaid on a grid to which particles simulating the wind are overlaid and affected by the directional fields below. This method of simulating the wind on a 2D interface initially provides several parameters which can be altered. Namely, strength of the flow fields, grid size, and vector amplitude magnification. In addition to this, colour and density of particles could also be altered to change the representation.
A
B
C
D
E
F
points
As the projection directly represented this data gained from the kites, the composition requires a level of intuitive interpretation by the audience. For the projection to properly achieve its purpose, it must as much as possible, translate the interpreted data into display. Cooler colours were selected for calmer wind states while warm and hot colours were reserved for agitated states. Similarly, the speed and size of the particles were programmed to reflect these three states. Due to the nature of particle behaviour, empty spaces occasionally occur. Thus, the eventual grid overlay developed uses these particles to inform the colour and size of a grid cell, both allowing the sense of motion, as well as control over the visibility of the display.
TRACKING DATA The data obtained from the camera mapping and tracking provided a methodical way to identifying patterns in both the wind and kite. From these two tracking methods, the script can determine a number of different variables. These are as follows: Location - The average point of the tracked structure provided by blob detection Movement - By comparing the average point through frames and measuring the distance Average Movement - Derived from the amount of movement over time Amount of Movement - The amount of movement detected between frames Degree of Movement - The degree to which the kite is moving between frames Orientation - By comparing areas of movement based on the geometry of the structure. Upon establishing these variables, each of these aspects can be individually controlled and curated, with the amount of impact of each contributing to different aspects. Tests were taken in parallel in order to ascertain the behaviours of the kite and correlation with the data. All this information eventually became what informed the projections to follow.
PREVIOUS FRAME CONTOUR CURRENT FRAME CONTOUR
LENGTH CALCULATION ORIENTATION
PREVIOUS AVG MIDPOINT CURRENT AVG MIDPOINT
diagram of tracking variables
STATE: ZEPHYR A calm and steady wind results in little to no movement being detected. This is reflected through colour, pattern and rate of motion across the kites canvas. In this state the pixels adopt cooler colours such as blues and purples as they flow gently across the the kite representative of the direction and speed of the wind.
(avgM) Average Move Amount (avgMT) Average Move Amount Overall (amtM) Instance of Movement (movS) Instance of Movement Size (ptD) Instance of Overall Location Difference (kL) Instance of Kite Length (kS) Approx size of Kite Thresholds
avgM St. Kilda test - low readings
STATE: BREEZE A steady breeze shuffles the kite in the wind, this movement is recognised and represented in light blue hues, the pixels move at a slightly increased rate.
(avgM) Average Move Amount (avgMT) Average Move Amount Overall (amtM) Instance of Movement (movS) Instance of Movement Size (ptD) Instance of Overall Location Difference (kL) Instance of Kite Length (kS) Approx size of Kite Thresholds
avgM
St. Kilda test - mid readings
STATE: GALE When there is a large amount of turbulence the kite moves wildly in the wind. This continuous level of movement results in the agitated state , In these strong winds the pixels reflect the instability of the kite, the rate of motion is similarly matched with with the wind speed, pixels are seen to move wildly in an uncoordinated fashion and are displayed in hotter hues such as red and yellow.
(avgM) Average Move Amount (avgMT) Average Move Amount Overall (amtM) Instance of Movement (movS) Instance of Movement Size (ptD) Instance of Overall Location Difference (kL) Instance of Kite Length (kS) Approx size of Kite Thresholds
avgM
St. Kilda test - high readings
NUANCED BEHAVIOUR N1-N7 Demonstration the progression from the primary breeze state into the secondary nuanced ‘burst’ behaviour.
In addition to the primary three states, the structure has the exhibits additional short term nuanced behaviour relative to the overarching long-term behaviour of the wind speeds. Examples of environmental conditions that could cause this are bursts of wind, or change of wind direction. These can be similarly detected within the kite tracking. These nuanced behaviours are represented as overlays on top of the current state being displayed. Analysis of the tracking data identified four main nuance actions related to the structure’s behaviour which are reflective of the presumed wind conditions at the time; Burst, Dip, Orient and Twiddle.
N7
N1
N2
N3
N4
N5
N6
ORIENT Orient accounts for shifts in orientation. The form of the kite does not change. Rather, the entire direction of the shape changes the directional flow of the display.
CASE 3
Movement Size Location
Trigger: -If size of movement (movS) is large -If location change (ptD) is large amtM > 125% avgMT
CASE 1
CASE 2 amtM
amtM
movS > 2000 ptD > 10
amtM > 125% avgMT amtM > 125% avgMT movS
movS > 2000 ptD > 10
movS > 2000 ptD < 10
Time (seconds)
ptD movS Time (seconds)
amtM
amtM
ptD
ptD movS Time (seconds)
Time (seconds) movS movS >> 2000 2000 ptD ptD >> 10 10 amtM > 125% avgMT
amtM > 125% avgMT movS ptD movS ptD Time (seconds) Time (seconds)
amtM ptD movS movS ptD
movS>>2000 2000 movS ptD>>10 10 ptD
movS>>2000 2000 movS ptD><1010 ptD
ptD movS movS ptD Time(seconds) (seconds) Time
Time(seconds) (seconds) Time
BURST
Time (seconds)
ORIENT
CASE 3
Movement Size Location
Burst registers when there is a large wind burst. Visually the kite is tugged and deforms, characterised by high of movement largely stationary. Trigger: -If size of movement (movS) is large -If amout of movement (amtM) is large -If location change (ptD) is small
CASE 1
CASE 2
amtM > 125% avgMT
amtM
amtM
movS movS ptD ptD Time Time (seconds) (seconds)
amtM > 125% avgMT movS > 2000 movS > 2000 ptD > 10 ptD < 10
(avgMT) Average Move Amount Overall movS (movS) Instance of Movement Size
Time Time (seconds) (seconds) (avgMT) Average Move Amount Overall
Time Time (seconds) (seconds)
(avgM) Average Move Amount (amtM) Instance of Movement
amtM ptD movS movS ptD (avgM) Average Move Amount
movS >> 2000 2000 movS ptD >> 10 10 ptD movS ptD ptD movS
(amtM) Instance of Movement (movS) Instance of Movement Size
TimeInstance (seconds) (amtM) of Movement
(avgMT) Average Move Amount Overall
(movS) Instance of Movement Size
2000 (kL) Instance movS of Kite > Length
(amtM) Instance of Movement
(ptD) Instance of Overall Location Difference
(kS) Approx size of Kite amtM >
movS > 2000
> 10 (ptD) Instance of Overall Location ptD Difference movS
(avgMT) Average Move Amount Overall
(avgM) Average Move Amount
(movS) Instance of Movement Size movS > 2000 ptD > 10
movS > 2000 movS ptD > >102000 ptD > 10 amtM > (avgM) Average Move Amount 125% avgMT
(kL) Instance of Kite Length
(kL) Instance of Kite Length
amtM (kS) Approx size of Kite movS Thresholds ptD
(ptD) Instance of Overall Location Difference
ptD > 10
Thresholds 125% avgMT
BURST
amtM
DIP
CASE 3
The Dip nuance is characterised by theavgMT sudden stilling of the kite, characterised by a lack of movement.
amtM
75% avgMT >amtM
avgMT
Trigger: -If amount of movement (amtM) is below a threshold informed by the overall movement amount (avgMT) 75% avgMT >amtM
Amount of Movement
75% avgMT >amtM
avgMT
amtM
avgMT
avgMT
amtM amtM 75% avgMT >amtM
avgMT
75% avgMT >amtM
amtM
75% avgMT >amtM
amtM
CASE 1
CASE 2
75% avgMT >amtM
75% avgMT >amtM 75% avgMT
avgMT
Time (seconds) 75% avgMT >amtM
>amtM
amtM
avgMT
75% avgMT >amtM Time
Time (seconds)
amtM
(seconds)
avgMT avgMT
amtM Time (seconds)
75% avgMT >amtM
avgMT 75% avgMT >amtM TimeamtM (seconds)
amtM
Time (seconds)
75% avgMT >amtM 75% avgMT >amtM
75% avgMT >amtM
Time (seconds)
seconds) Time (seconds)
Time (seconds)
Time (seconds)
Time (seconds)
Time (seconds)
DIP
High movS, followed by high amtM
TWIDDLE
CASE 3
High movS, followed by high amtM
The Twiddle nuance is informed by a burst of wind, a contraction and release motion causes high amounts of movement in the back. Trigger: -If length (kL) dips -If size of movement (movS) is large -Followed by large amounts of movement (amtM)
Amount of Length Movement
High movS, followed by high amtM
High movS, followed by high amtM
High movS, followed by high amtM High movS, followed by high amtM
High movS, followed by high amtM
High movS, followed by high amtM
amtM
CASE 2
amtM
High movS, followed by high amtM
amtM
kL amtM amtM
High movS, followed by high amtM
kL < 90% Average kL
kL
kL < 90%
kL
amtM kL < 90% Average kL
kL
amtM
kL < 90% Average kL
amtM kL
movS
movS (avgM) Average Move Amount
movS
(avgM) Average Move Amount kL < 90% (avgMT) Average Move Amount OverallkL Average (amtM) Instance of Movement
(avgMT) Average Move Amount Overall
(movS) Instance of Movement Size
(amtM) Instance of Movement kL
90% Location Difference (ptD) InstancekL of < Overall
kL < 90% (avgMT) Average Move Amount Overall Average kL
kL < 90% (movS) Instance of Movement Size Average kL
(avgM) Average Move Amount
(amtM) Instance of Movement
(ptD) Instance of Overall Location Difference
(kS) Approx size of Kite
(avgMT) Average Move Amount Overall
(movS) Instance of Movement Size
(kL) Instance of Kite Length
Thresholds
(amtM) Instance of Movement
(ptD) Instance of Overall Location Difference
kL (movS) Instance of Movement Size kL < 90%
kL < 90% (kL) Instance Average kL of Kite Length
(kS) Approx size of Kite movS Thresholds
movS Time (seconds)
movS Time (seconds)
(avgM) Average kL Move Amount
Time (seconds)
Time (seconds) kL
kL
kL < 90% Average kL
High movS, followed by high amtM
amtM
mtM
kL < 90% Average kL
kL Average kL
High movS, followed by high amtM
amtM
Time (seconds)
Average kL
(kL) Instance of Kite Length
TWIDDLE
ZEPHYR | DIP
A MATRIX OF BEHAVIOUR From these three primary states paired with the secondary behaviour displays, a huge range of displays can be generated. These events are sripted to occur independently of one another, yet also restrained by the method to which each of the nuance states are triggered. As such, they can be combined, and overlaid with one another, the ends of some secondary states informing the beginning of the next. Primary states transition behind the scenes, altering the overall nature of the secondary states if and when they are occuring. This results in a complex web of potential displays that can occur.
ENTER NUANCE BEHAVIOUR SEQUENCE
EXIT NUANCE BEHAVIOUR SEQUENCE
ZEPHYR | TWIDDLE ZEPHYR | BURST
BREEZE | BURST
BREEZE | CRASH
BREEZE | DIP
GALE | DIP
GALE | BURST
ZEPHYR | BURST These images show a close-up of the changes between the nuance ‘burst’ within the primary state ‘zephyr’, with no additional overlaid secondary states or transitions.
ZB1
ZB2
ZB3
ZB4
ZB5
ZB6
ZB7
ZB8
ZB9
ZB10
ZB11
ZB12
USER INTERACTION The development of interactive behaviour creates a dialogue between the kite & audience and audience & audience. During testing and prototyping, mobile devices and cameras were used to take photos in dark conditions, resulting in trackable light in the surrounding region. The team decided to translate this into a variable. Using a second camera and by adapting the same script used for the kite, the number of artificial lights could then be tracked. This intrigue from onlookers and observers is translated into the projection as a ‘spectacle’ event, activating the second projector - a reward for the audience’s actions, willing or unwilling. But the kite has a bit of an attitude! As the kite is exposed to an audience it adapts and develops its behaviour. It gets used to the amount of attention, and adapts to requiring larger and larger amounts of light to activate the event. The spectacle event is reflected relative to the amount of light and coerces dialogue between the audience to initiate the event. With a growing audience the spectacle is more prominent acting to further entice additional viewers.
attC and attR set to a base of ambient lights
DEFAULT
When amtD is above attR, Disp turns on attC increases
If not Disp, durC increases if amtD increases
SPECTACLE
attC and attR set to a base of ambient lights
amtD 1 attR 1 Disp LV1 attC 1.0
mtD 1 attR 1 tC 1.0
attC and attR set to a base of ambient lights Disp duration reflects durC DurC = 2500ms
attC and attR When amtD is If not Disp, durC set to a base of above attR, increases if amtD ambient lights Disp turns on increases When amtD is If not Disp, durC Disp duration durC increases even durC = 4200ms attC increases above attR, increases if amtD reflects durC if attR is not reached attR = 3 Disp turns on increases amtD = 3 increases even durC = 4200ms durC increases scaling attC decreases over time attCdurC increases DurC = 2500ms if attR is not reached attR = 3 to amtD when no amtD amtD = 3
DEFAULT When amtD is above attR, Disp turns on attC increases
Disp LV2
If not Disp, durC increases if amtD increases
durC increases even if attR is not reached
DurC = 2500ms Disp LV2
amtD 1 Disp attRLV3 1 Disp LV1attC 1.0
Disp LV1
Disp LV3
attR ceilings to attC
durC = 4200ms attR = 3 amtD = 3 attC decreases over time when no amtD
durC increases scaling to amtD attR ceilings to attC
durC = 8000ms attR = 3 amtD = 3
durC increases scaling to amtD Disp LV3
attC decreases over time when no amtD durC = 8000ms attR = 3 amtD = 3
Disp LV1
amtD - Amount of Devices attC - Adaptive Counter: Attention attR - Attention Threshold durC - Adaptive Counter: Duration Disp - Display changed; Intensity & Duration
amtD - Amount of Devices attC - Adaptive Counter: Attention attR - Attention Threshold durC - Adaptive Counter: Duration Disp - Display changed; Intensity & Duration
durC = 8000ms attR = 3 amtD = 3
8000ms 8000ms
SPECTACLE
DEFAULT
8000ms
attC decreases over time when no amtD
attR ceilings to attC Disp LV3
Disp LV2
attR ceilings to attC
durC = 8000ms Disp LV3 attR = 3 amtD = 3
SPECTACLE 2000ms
2000ms Disp LV3
8000ms
2000ms
Disp LV2
amtD - Amount of Devices attC - Adaptive Counter: Attention attR - Attention Threshold durC - Adaptive Counter: Duration
durC increases scaling DurC = 2500ms to amtD
durC = 4200ms attR = 3 amtD = 3
Disp LV3
amtD 1 attR 1 attC 1.0
durC increases even if attR is not reached
DEFAULT
SPECTACLE
Disp duration reflects durC
Disp duration reflects durC
Disp LV3 2000ms
PROJECTION STUDIES Blurring Directly altering the sharpness on the projector distorts the image to create less defined objects or patterns. This effect was considered because the harsh geometries of projected shapes tended to remove focus from the geometry of the kite. However, this effect also reduced the distinct nature of the projection. B1 through B4 display the bluring effect. B1 being the sharpest transitioning through to the unfocused B4.
B1
Transparency (Pixel ‘fade-out’ of the form) The solution to the particle type pixel visualization was a level of transparency by feathering the size of the pixels, causing the kite to seemingly fade into the night. The pixel size and density can be altered to dissolve the kite into its surroundings or increase its presence in the sky. Over time, from the launching of the kite to the night, the kite would ‘fade’ and become less visible with the natural light.q
T1
T4
T2
T5
T3
T6
B2
T1 through T6 display different stages of transparency, T1 showing fuller colour through large pixel density and T6 pixels fade the kite into its background.
B3
B4
PROJECTION STUDIES Angles of Viewing Clarity of the projection depends on the audienceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s viewing angle and the point of projection. Members viewing the kite from projection side are treated to an unobstructed display while members viewing from opposite sides will experience a different performance where the light reflects through the kite illuminating it like a lantern. The layering of the kite due to the geometry caused the lights to flicker through the generations. refer A1 through A5.
A1
Double projection As seen by the angle study, projection onto a complex geometry is limited by overlapping layers in the field of view of the projector. This is exacerbated due to the dynamic nature of the kite. Using multiple projectors therefore increases the field of projection both along the same plane, and from various angles of the kite. Creating an overlayed projection from multiple angles not only creates intriguing lighting condition due to addition of light, but can be used to emphasise or deemphasise the perception of the geometry. D1 through D6 show the combination and result of two different projections using a dual projectoion method.
D1 A2
+
A3
D4 +
D2 =
D5 =
A4
D3
A5
D6
A SEQUENCE OF EVENTS From the possible states, experiences can be imagined which highlight a number of these primary and secondary interactions which exist between the Kite and the environment around it.
A spectator approaches the Kite on a pleasantly windy night as it sits in its breeze state.
The spectator takes out his phone to take a photo as the wind begins to pick up. The Kite begins to change to reflect this.
Further spectators gather as the wind picks up, changing the Kite changes into its â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;galeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; state. A larger, more chaotic red and yellow display fills the Kite.
More spectators approach and photos are taken. As they do, a flood colour begins to wash over it.
As the audience begins to take out their phones and photograph the kite, the spectacle event triggers and it is flooded with colour.
The result of this design is a system that combines the physical responses of kites with digital data collection. While relatively small in scope, it has explored methods of translating the actions of soft structures into a virtual environment. This information can then be analysed, and utilised quite accurately to determine certain aspects of kite structures. The projection and potential interactive aspects provided a means for additional expression which contributed to the overall experiential qualities. Notions of visibility are altered temporally, with the physicality of the kite fading with natural light whereby the movement of the kite is represented through the abstracted data projection. All these aspects as well as those provided in the digital toolkit contribute to the knowledge surrounding digital technologies in soft structures.
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Performance The resilience of HIWIND is derived from its flexibility; helping to convey the contrasting states of its performative values. A response to unseen forces is made tangible by the dynamism of its material system. Although the system’s capacity is first set by human imagination, the performance itself extends beyond what is first speculated by responding to (and participating in) an environment’s infinitely complex causal pattern. A system’s ability to ‘compute’ these forces then becomes a dynamic expression of process. In this sense, each component in the structure serves a higher function and thus appears as a whole. Pneumatic structures (or soft structures) illustrate this through their ability to express forces and relationships with the utmost efficiency. HEX (as an iteration of evolutionary forms) has been developed through the definition of several ‘tools’ (understood as existing knowledge). Most prominently this includes ram air structures and membrane technologies—the characteristics of which are partly transferred to the resulting installation. Its inflation and deployment therefore reveals how complex forms may interact, exploit and enhance inherent characteristics of their own performative values with those around them.
9.1 INFLATION HIWINDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inflation within a controlled, contained environment created an unexpected opportunity for physical occupation. Both internally and externally, this one to one relationship presented unique spatial experiences, moving amongst the structureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voids. Inside, the tri-pronged divisions of form emphasise the fractal patterning and shifting scale of the branching system which divides ahead of occupant. These uniform divisions of space create a series of linear thresholds, slowly moving from physical to visual occupation, and beyond.
9.2 FIRST FLIGHT Upon sky deployment at St Kilda, HIWIND exhibited a breathing, pulsating form; rhythmically undulating in response to variances in air pressure. Under the leadership of a pilot kite, and the inflation of a consistent, directional sea wind, the kite inflated in a steady and rose to an anchored point 10m above the sand. While physical occupation was not a factor, the increased presence of gravity on the floating form created new physical interactions as the structure rose and fell in relationship to the ground and its viewers. Predominantly, the flight demonstrated HIWIND’s ability to appear as an enclosed entity—visible from a great distance—helping to draw in a small audience. It’s debut in the public realm provided valuable feedback on audience experience by questioning spectators who appeared throughout the day. Readings almost always fell into two categories: a description of a sea creature or a reflection (or model) of ecological growth (sometimes compared to an organism such as algae).
9.3 DUSK The supple characteristics of HIWIND’s form are extended to the textural quality of its surface. At dusk, the dynamic, augmenting sunlight on the opaque white fabric creates a layering of light and dark; movement and shadow, set against the darkening sky. This glowing effect (of the ‘golden hour’) on the undulating skin, acted to unify and express the temporal conditions of light and wind. Conversely, this reading also contributes to reading HIWIND as an alien object within the landscape (despite its prescience being wholly driven by natural conditions). Therefore, the installation at dusk forms a complex relationship with the environment by synthesising and contrasting dynamic natural conditions, mediated by an artificial, alien form.
9.4 NIGHT The evening brought with it the opportunity to test and display the interactive elements developed to enhance the spectacle during the failing light. When illuminated, HIWINDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s outlandish appearance became a focus along the shoreline. The projected patterns flattened the structure, losing the depth that had been produced by natural light, but imbued the form with a contrasting brilliance. In addition, the tone and reading of the structure could be augmented by changing the colours and rhythm of patterning. The experience was made more surreal as the relative position of its animated form was no longer as comparable to the ground plane. This contributed to its figurative comparison to sea creatures.
10
More specifically, these conditions have a direct impact on the role and use of computation and craft in design. In the case of HIWIND’s latest iteration, HEX, this has been achieved by designing holistically with the attending of the structural system. It is an approach formed by physically testing iterations and adjusting the algorithm to reflect observed conditions. The resulting algorithmic process now has embedded within it, the patterning system required for fabrication. This is the distributed knowledge of tacit learning; of material and process. As a result, HIWIND becomes scalable in terms of complexity while retaining a hierarchy and modularity of form (thus lending itself to fabrication).
Conclusion INWIND is perceived (by a majority of its audience) as an environmental art installation. This interpretation is entirely correct, but it is not conclusive. INWIND is also a component in a complex set of relations, perpetually in flux. It is an iteration of an ongoing design process, with no end—and in a sense—no beginning. It is less of an artefact and more of an expression, and this is perhaps what makes it so ‘productive’ as a tool for interrogating design and imagining new futures. Due to the complexity and breadth of the design approach, there are many layers which determine the success of this project. For example, each outcome can be seen as a collection of intermediate goals, and even then, whether these goals are met is not indicative of the level of meaning (or learning) grasped from the various tangents the design process had provided. This is due to the disparity between ambition and outcome, which is integral to the continuous evolution of ideas. Perhaps the best place to begin this analysis is the top; the how and why of architecture—what does INWIND contribute to an architectural discourse? What is our architecture? To begin, it is necessary (albeit ambitious) to provide a definition of architecture. For our purposes, architecture can be understood as being a human condition and spatial configuration. This response is constituted by the unification of essence and substance; however, a discussion of these ontological statements would be extraneous to this discussion. What is important is that it places the architectural idea between the gross and the subtle1—that the architecture occurs between process and product—as an expression of becoming. How did we create it? Through extensive research, design, fabrication, testing and documentation; soft-shell structures have proved to be a flexible and productive medium to explore this definition of architecture. Fundamentally, the design approach has emerged from two conditions:
++ This is considering the temporal quality of materiality as being an expression of process; comprised of an infinitely complex system of relationships. ++ The design process itself may be crafted to follow this same cyclic, causal pattern through a system of feedback. This approach then finds practical solutions to a relationship, but this is not the relationship, so the resilience of each outcome is derived from its placement within a design continuum, derived from pre-existing entities. The complexity of this response reflects the wicked problems that the design must address. As an idea is made manifest, it inevitably becomes an expression of multiplicity. The feedback from this process redefines the initial intention—so the idea is always evolving.
What was the outcome?
1. The terms gross and subtle refer to the realms of existence, first proposed by Plato through his infamous cave parable in Republic. The gross degree is aligned with the corporeal experience of man while the subtle belongs to the incorporeal.
2. Renzo Piano, The Renzo Piano Logbook (London: Thames and Hudson, 1997)., 174.
Soft-shell structures, which are inherently dynamic, have proved a fitting explorative medium for process-driven design through a continuum of input and refinement. The installation, INWIND is a reflection; an expression of dynamic conditions. As no part can afford to be extraneous to its performative function, we as designers have been challenged to produce an economy of thought and process—interrogating each part in regards to unified whole—to understand “what philosophy of life had shaped it.”2 It is through this understanding of the whole that the natural division can then be observed and new meaning may be formed (say, between observer and spectacle). Understanding the whole is fundamental, but not necessarily an innovation. What remains to be contributed to an architectural discourse is the method by which a unified result may be produced. In our case, this aligns with a theoretical framework of the design space; that a speculative and multidisciplinary design approach expands the realms of possibility. The proof is in the innovation we have brought to the existing field of kite design. Proof that a leap of faith has provided a means to ground (or in this case take flight) the research and toolkit we have developed. For a project which samples a broad field of research and practice, mapping the design process through a series of exploratory studies has helped to draw a path back to the ‘known’. This process is more about communication and the distribution of knowledge than simply a means to defining the outcome. What does it mean? INWIND actively compares and contrasts the relational elements of space, generating an experience which both responds to and enhances the environment in which it is placed. Architecture of this nature considers the additional dimension of time, integrating dynamism into a response which invites the audience to interact with, and shape their environment. This journey starts with the understanding that Architecture not only serves the material needs and desires of the corporeal, but participates in the unintelligible needs of the human condition. This success of our response is not confined to its exhibition and dissemination, but rather, it is seen through the minds whom have helped shaped it (and will shape many more things to come). For us, it is the ability to embrace a non-linear process; to think holistically and paradoxically; to make comparisons and connections between experience and the unknown. Perpetuating these learning outcomes is perhaps our greatest contribution to an architectural discourse. Despite some initial uncertainty surrounding the outcome; building, inflating and flying HIWIND at full scale worked the first time in each case. Whether this is indicative of our design process, cannot be known until we eventually fail. That is the nature of speculative design, and testament to the productive nature of the various tangents left in favour of others.
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