Academic Work

Page 1

David Ettinger Academic Work Education

The University Of Pennsylvania Master of Architecture The University of Florida Bachelor of Design



Spoleto Center for the Arts

Boat Launch Facility

Center For Rehabilitation

Port of Miami Eco-Sino

Journal SquaRED

Aperiodic Wall System

Santa Fe Institute



Spoleto Arts Center Design Critic Paul Robinson

Project Location Charleston, SC

Project Description The Spoleto Festival is a 2 week long celebration of the arts. The Kronos Organization, a group of performers and musicians require a large performance space for use during the festival, along with a public art gallery. An additional living component for artists in residence requires space to sleep, eat, practice and relax. The public and private aspects of the program are split to provide a reclusive-ness to the performer’s living space. The monolithic construction of the performance space provides an improved acoustic quality while relating to the large scale institutional architecture to the east. The more tectonic living component breaks down the scale of the block to relate the site to the residential neighborhood across the street.


Site The corner of Broad St. and King St. is a transitory intersection in the city of Charleston. The corner site negotiates the juxtaposition of large scale institutional zoning one intersection east and the residential district located to the west and south of the site.



Program

[ Entry [ Cafe [ Kitchen [ Ante-Space [ Primary Circulation [ Ticket Sales


[ Auditorium [ Artists Residences [ Gallery [ Practice [ Porch [ Library


Adaptive Media Porch The Side porch is a key component of the Charleston Vernacular. Originally, the porch was implemented to provide a zone which would prevent the heat of the day from entering the house. It became more than just an environmental system, but a part of the culture. The porch is now a place of rest and informal social interaction. The application of this porch culture on a residence for performers allows for artists with different backgrounds to interact and collaborate. It is on the public corner of King St. and Broad St. which also promotes the improvised public performance. The porch reacts to the inhabitants making a larger than life condition of display.

Study 1/16”=1’-0”

Study 1/8”=1’-0”

Final Elevation




Cedar Key Boat Launch Design Critic William Tilson

Project Location Cedar Key, FL

Project Description Cedar Key State Park, located on the west coast of central Florida, protects the largest undeveloped river delta in the mainland United States. The park provides visitors with an opportunity to explore the unique conditions a river delta offers. The site is defined by its ever changing tidal condition and a 30ft tall shell mound which was constructed by Native Americans. The site intervention looks to provide a facility to allow visitors an opportunity to explore the key in their own way. The architecture provides an enclosure for kayak storage and launching, full service changing rooms and a visitors center to provide information for those ready to explore.


Tide Charts Time & Measure Emphasis is placed on ground manipulation as a way of using natural occurrences to define the area. The ground becomes a tool for measurement. Marks in the ground allow for the variations in tide to be expressed as they move through cuts in the ground to collection pools. The roof takes advantage of its large area exposed to rainfall with a cistern. [ +5’ ] [ 0’ ] [ -5’ ]




Enclosure Designing in a condition that is defined by its horizontality gave importance to the relationship of the contradiction of ground and sky. The floor seeks to provide a solution to the problems posed by the changing tides, while the overhead creates a canopy at the civic scale to provide shelter from the intense Florida sun. Modulating the components allows for a reference to measure changes in natural systems while providing a way to partition the space.

[ Water Facing ]

[ View of Overhead ]

[ Land Facing ]


Site Specific Construction Multiple layers of light, porous wall systems promote natural air flows to ventilate the unconditioned spaces. Louvered walls and an expansive canopy provide shade without removing expansive horizontal views. Glazed surfaces face the activities on the water, giving visitors the opportunity to view the action that the boat launch facilitates.

Curtain Wall

Entry Ramp

Showers



Evening Activity The boat launch facility illuminates the park in the evening, guiding in boaters that have stayed out to watch the sunset. When the lights go off after close, the absence of activity in the park is reflected in the absolute darkness of the night.




L.F. Rehabilitation Center Design Critic Scott Erdy

Project Location Philadelphia, PA

Project Description The Lama Foundation Center for Social Rehabilitation is the product of the Lama Foundation, an organization from the south west United States. Their goal is to bring people back to nature. They live with nature by farming and building using natural techniques and materials. They promote the awareness of self that is achieved with a closeness to nature. The Lama Foundation aims to become a catalyst for change in the West Philadelphia community. Their lifestyle will be put on display. Individuals coming from correctional facilities back to West Philadelphia will have the opportunity to stay with the Lamas who will teach their ethos to the individuals in transition. The Lamas look to inject the community with their teachings by reintroducing exconvicts back into their homes now as thoughtful and engaged members of the community.


The Narrative of Winslow Jackson I wish no longer to be tried for the sins I have committed. I was and still remain a product of my environment. I lived as a recluse of society; not alone, but entirely on my own. My community committed its sins against me, which I in turn committed against society. My rehabilitation was a gift. Systems for rehabilitation have been provided for me since I was young. They left me unaffected, sending me back to the negative system from which I came. What I will make my final attempt at rehabilitation took place five minutes from where I grew up, but in an environment I have never experienced. A community was formed, made up of what society no longer desired. The organization provided a catalyst which enabled abandoned and used individuals to help reconstruct their potential. The foundation drew a correlation between the lives we led with our negative impact we had on the environment. I lived a life of consumption. Through a restructuring process, I achieved a purity of mind and body. People dedicated themselves to teaching me and I am grateful. I now wish to teach others. To remain within the community I left, to plant a seed of change.



Visibility The concept of the design is to make an ideal form which will be a beacon to the community. The form hovers above the Frankford-Market elevated train tracks and emerges from the line of trees along Cobb’s Creek. It takes advantage of the most visible location available on the site. The box can be seen from along 63rd and up along Market st. Its visibility is important, it displays members of the West Philadelphia community who are trying to improve their lives. It welcomes those searching for a new beginning.

Parametric Surface The surface of the box was developed through an iterative study of the natural conditions of the site. Initially, light studies were used to determine ways a geometry could control the amount and condition of light that enters a space. Using changes of densities and thickness, the surface transforms the space inside. Adjustments in the tilt of the surface direct views to specified orientations. These manipulations allow the surface to perform specific tasks in enhancing programmed space. Adjustments were made to make private spaces more private and public more public by changing the density and tilt of the surface to allow more or less light.


[1] + [1] Sky

[2] + [1] Sky

[3] + [1] Sky

[1] + [2] Sky

[2] + [2] Sky

[3] + [2] Sky

[1] + [1] West

[2] + [1] West

[3] + [1] West

[1] + [2] West

[2] + [2] West

[3] + [2] West


Program

[ Hermitages [ Kitchen [ Primary Circulation [ Bedrooms [ Meditation Garden [ Back Porch [ Entry [ Aeroponic Floors



View from West Philadelphia

Entry Threshold View to Sky



Visual Access In the evening, the program glows from within, bringing attention to the internal activity. The surface allows views in to the public functions while masking private program types from the view of onlookers.




Eco-Sino Design Critic David Ruy

Design Team David Ettinger Adam Fenner Johnny Lin

Project Location Port of Miami, FL

Project Description The project develops a fluid architectural language in concert with radical structural and mechanical systems—spaces and mechanisms co-evolve. While developing a coherent fusion with a diversified landscape, the fluidity of the architectural form also comes into a relationship with the fluidity of the interiorized environmental conditions. Literal mass runs in parallel to thermal mass. The radical pragmatics of the building systems simultaneously operates as the spectacle of the casino. Mechanized bladders expand and contract with the daily fluctuations of atmospheric pressure at the site, allowing the building to inhale and exhale once per day. In addition to developing controlled environments through alternative means, the micro-climates extend the range of sensations to the extremes of experience.


Studies in Fluid Motility Fluid movement operates based on the laws of conservation. Studying how two fluids interact under specific conditions was used as a sketch tool for finding the most efficient organization of space. This study shows fluid movement based on a one directional impact. The way in which the two systems interact is a product of the most efficient way for the ink to move through the water. Varying the way in which interaction occurs produces a multiplicity of results.

1.08

1.01

1.02

1.03

1.09

1.10

1.11


1.04

1.05

1.06

1.07

1.12

1.13

1.14

1.15


Splatter

Drag

Swirl


Fluid Study Tracings Based on controlled studies of the interaction between ink and water, certain results emerged as the most successful ways to organize space. Images of fluid movement were translated into line drawings. These were then cut and folded to produce 3 dimensional artifacts which maintain the integrity of the ink studies. A color gradient is used as a notational device, making coherent the changes which occur in section. These begin to demonstrate ways in which the fluid drawings can be turned into architecture, using the gradients as a way of viewing egress.

Pull Through


[Plan Diagram - Level 3]

[Plan Diagram - Level 2]

[Plan Diagram - Level 1]

Sports Facility Hotel Lobby Entrance Restaurant/ Leisure Parking Casino Boat Dock Mechanical Room Hotel Rooms Landscape


Building Plan The inherent logics of fluid movement is realized in plan. Loose boundaries give the sensation of changing space. Movement through these transitions occurs without interruption, providing each itinerary a path without resistance. The openness and illusion of endless interiority feeds into the dynamics of the casino.


+638'-2"

Low pressure deflates the A.E.E. moving cooler air through the static program, then back to the environment

+600'-0"

+549'-2"

+500'-0"

+400'-0"

Increased atmospheric pressure inflates the A.E.E. with dry cool air

+300'-0"

Air is directed into the building and dehumidified with condensation coils

+200'-0"

+100'-0"

+69'-2"

+/-0'-0"

Cooler ocean water is piped through coils to remove moisture from the air through condensation


Environmental Section High pressure (A.M.) Low pressure (P.M.) A.E.E. Inflated A.E.E. Deflated The section of the building is organized with the intention to respond to the local environment. Miami is situated between the Atlantic Ocean and the Everglades. Moisture from the warm water in the Everglades is absorbed by the cooler air from the east throughout the day. This process is quantified by the building barometric pressure. Once the atmosphere reaches saturation, it rains, the pressure falls and the process begins again the next day. The daily cycle of pressure change is used to facilitate the creation of unexpected enclosed environments. Changing pressure moves air into the building across the large AHUs. The moving air is directed into large inflatable habitats which provide unique climates.

Expansive surfaces are used for solar collection to reduce energy consumption


+638'-2"

11

+600'-0"

10

+549'-2"

P4 3/32"=1'-0"

9

+500'-0"

8

+400'-0"

7

6

623'-2" +300'-0"

P3 3/32"=1'-0"

5

4

+200'-0"

P2 3/32"=1'-0"

+100'-0"

3

2

+69'-2"

P1 3/32"=1'-0"

+/-0'-0"

1

Building Section The section demonstrates the relationship between static space and dynamic space. Traditional occupation exists within the buildings internal framework. This structure supports the environmental spaces which only resolve forces in tension. Internal spaces are given access to the environmental spaces at multiple scales of occupation.


STATISTICS: TOTAL HEIGHT: HEIGHEST FLOOR: FLOORS IN TOWER: TOTAL ROOMS: CASINO AREA: HOTEL AREA: LEISURE AREA:

[ Sub-Zero Bar ]

638’-2” 549’-2” 47 1569 150,000 sqf 350, 000 sqf 200,000 sqf

[ Hotel Lobby ]

[ Casino Insets ]


Inverse Pressure Full Compression

Corian Panel Decking

E.T.F.E. Panels

Hydraulic Deployment

Hinge Joint w/ Air Ballast Support

3 Inch Wide Flange Vertical Truss

Post Tensioned Waffle Slab


Technical Section A series of very specific mechanical movements enable the operation of the breathing system. Daily pressure changes interacting with inflatable spaces require systems which can dynamically change volume. This is achieved with the use of flexible E.T.F.E. panels arranged within a grid of hydraulic arms. At maximum positive or negative pressure, the surface area of the skin is the same. From the maximums to neutral requires a reduction in the surface area. The hydraulic arms contract as the surface moves to center. The surface area of each panel is reduced, minimizing the overall area. This process is reversed as the surface moves outwards or inwards to its maximum pressure location.


Discrete Moments The affects of occupiable space are varied by changing color and light qualities. A coherent formal language is maintained to preserve a seamless fluid movement through spaces.



Formal Resolution Form is driven as a response to the technical performance of the conditioning systems. The building surface is composed of large air intakes and the flexible surfaces of the interior environments. The intakes are arranged to take advantage of natural air flows and provide service to the adjacent ecologies. Landscape parks cover the expansive casino, giving families alternative recreation to the casino’s programs.




Journal SquaRED Studio Critic Matthias Hollwich

Design Team David Ettinger Adam Fenner Jake Fry

Project Location Jersey City, NJ

Project Description Journal Square is the primary PATH station for regional commuters entering Manhattan. The current condition of the site is strictly utilitarian. Only the commuters with the intention to use the transportation system bother with the challenge of navigating the station. Journal SquaRED is a redevelopment scheme which will make the Journal Square PATH station a regional destination.


Designing a Future Context Journal SquaRED looks to the future needs of a growing metropolis region as a context in which to be designed. Predicting the future is almost impossible. Technology we envision arriving in 20 years may be here as soon as 5. Changes in the environment that may impact our way of life are subject to change on a time line that to the planet is an instance, but us, a lifetime. The design of Journal SquaRED’s context focuses on the relationships of increasing or decreasing trends. Technology acts as an agent of change. The urban redevelopment scheme takes advantage of the predicted technology, environment and culture to solve future problems in the regional transportation system of the New York City Metropolis.

Local Transit Initiative The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) and NJ TRANSIT spearhead a multiagency Smart Growth partnership known as the Transit Village Initiative. The Transit Village Initiative helps to redevelop and revitalize communities around transit facilities to make them an appealing choice for people to live, work and play, thereby reducing reliance on the automobile. As urban areas become more dense, fuel more expensive, and environmental costs of personal car travel a more hotlydebated political issue, regional transit systems will be important to provide for a growing need.

The End Of Oil Energy Instability:

The Middle East is the dominant oil province, covering 63% of the conventional oil reserves. Conventional oil is equivalent to approximately 60 years of current production - 40 years for the reserves, 22 years for the resources. Adding unconventional oil reserves results in a Reserves/Production (R/P) ratio of 80 years. Unless unconventional oil resources would be producible in the 21st century, oil production will decline sooner or later.

Mobility Index Fresh Water Levels Energy Consumption Oil Production

Socialized Car Share Car Share:

MIT makes advances in automotive technology which reduce the cost and environmental impact of the personal automobile. This technology allows for the municipalization of individualized transit. The new infrastructure of travel embraces the desire for private transportation. A new hierarchical organization of transit involves the sharing and linking of family scaled automobiles. Automotive transportation exists at three scales, local, regional and national. With the newly developed technologies, linking configurations enable efficient national and regional travel in car trains. Local travel maintains the individuals desire for the freedom of self navigation in ones own vehicle.

Alternative Energy Collection Researchers develop small scale environmental energy collectors. Increased levels of efficiency in energy collection allow for the technology be easily adapted by the public. New collection panels become surfacing elements for future building projects.


Journal SquaRED Journal SquaRED is envisioned as a new typology in the urban infrastructure. The project takes on the responsibilities of housing programs that generally make urban space unavailable. The housing of banal programs, e.g. private parking, within the landscape frees the developer driven tower from the plinth and allocates the freed space to public recreation. Journal SquaRED acts as an agent of change. It addresses contemporary concerns for tomorrow, altering for the better what could be a future in decline.

Dust Bowl Drought Aversion

Unlimited Battery Thanks to U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory funding, you may never have to recharge your laptop battery again. Scientists have created commercial betavoltaic power cells made from semiconductors which use radioisotopes as an energy source.

These severe events seem to have occurred approximately once or twice a century over the last 400 years. Some evidence even suggests droughts lasting more than a decade during the late 13th and 16th centuries that were much more severe than those of the 20th century, according to Schubert. Architecture that is environmentally responsible specifically with water conservation will likely reduce the likeliness of another severe drought


A New Urban Scheme By occupying the intersection, built space takes advantage of under-developed public air space. The redistribution of program from within the block to between the blocks opens the space of once too dense urban fabric to communal amenities. The plinth which occupies the pedestrian level of the planned towers often defines hard urban boundaries. These typically uninviting programmed spaces are dispersed within the landscape, private burdens taken on by the municipality. Leisure and recreation activities promote community congregation and a positive social environment.

X-ray of Retail Space 1� = 252’


street

Existing Urban Plan

PRIVATE

PRIVATE

street

street

street

PRIVATE

PRIVATE

street

GREEN

MIXED USE PROGRAM

street

PUBLIC

street

Proposed Urban Plan

URBAN

street

SPACE


+800'-0"

11

+755'-2"

+700'-0"

10

P3 3/32"=1'-0"

9

+600'-0"

+549'-2"

8

+500'-0"

P2 3/32"=1'-0"

7

650'-0"

+400'-0"

6

5

+300'-0"

4

+200'-0"

3

+105'-2"

2

+100'-0"

P1 3/32"=1'-0"

0'-0"

-43'-6"

1

Landscape and Tower Section The constructed ground condition transforms from thick to thin as it relates to the program it interacts with. Above the retail space it performs as a solid landscape, while only thinly masking retail below. The surface unravels into a thin path system as it bridges over the station. Above the station, the tower canopy provides shelter which enables the landscape to thin itself, allowing more light and air to the open tracks below.


Continuous Surface Landscape amenities function as attractors to the site. They provide the community with free to use open space, acting as the largest public park in Jersey City. The surface flows without disruption from the park to promenade shopping. The seamless interaction of the two typically discrete program types develops increased access to retail by park goers and increased use of park space by shoppers.

[ Civic Canopy ]

[ Landscape Subsurface Retail ]

[ Active Landscape Surface ]


Surface Panelization The landscape is stretched vertically over the tower’s program by way of a common structural grid. Panels gradiate the surface, filling zones which directly correlate to their environmental orientation. The regular panelization allows for an ease of replacement as technologies advance and the systems are upgraded.

[ Nano-Vent Skin ]

[ Organic P.V. Glass ]

[ Living Wall ]

[ Hydro-Dynamic Cache ]



Vertical Ante-Space Vertical lobbies exist under the tower’s “dress”. They are mediators to the daily activities that occur within the programmed space and promote unexpected experiences and encounters. Light passing though the environmental surfaces produces an ambient glow, affecting the occupant by more than just the built qualities of their environment.



Immersing Virtual Experience A two player video game was designed as a representation device to describe the physical condition of Journal SquaRED. As an academic project, a video game allows the participant to guide themselves through the landscape. By allowing the player to discover the project for themselves, they are able to answer the specific questions they have about spaces and conditions, not limited to static renderings and flythroughs provided by the designer. More than just a representation device, a video game allows a purely academic design project to over step the usual limitations of its marketplace. The game has been made available for download on the internet to give the world community a chance to participate in the sharing of ideas for the future of Journal Square Path.


Two Player Split

Single Player Multi-Angle

Two Player Split


Interior Environments Interior spaces with natural outdoor qualities wrap the heavily constructed highly regular interior programs. The materiality of the space helps define its function for indoor recreation.




Aperiodic Wall System Design Critic David Ruy

Design Team David Ettinger Pablo Kohan Johnny Lin

Project Description Current fabrication technology enables designers to produce limitless variation. There is no longer the challenge to design radical form, but instead to achieve extreme affect efficiently. Through non linear repetition, a limited number of building units produces infinite variation. A framework of strict orthogonally geometry supports 5 unique wall units. The translation of the digital model uses CNC technology to produce the 5 unique molds which in turn can make the number of units required to fulfill a conceived wall system.


Frame Connections

Unit Connections

Blend Concept



Porcelain Clean-up

Rough Frame

Frame Assembly



Final Model

Connection Detail

Finished Frame




Santa Fe Institute Studio Critic Cecil Balmond Roland Snooks

Design Team

David Ettinger Kyu Ho Chun Alan Song-Ching Tai

Project Location Philadelphia, PA

Project Description this project explores the generation of complex topologies through the self-organization of program. a multi-agent design methodology was created to generate a stigmergic interaction of agents seeded with programmatic intent. the project was developed within the complex phenomena research studio that explores non-linear algorithmic design methodologies


Pheromone Trails & Ant Inteligence Journal SquaRED looks to the future needs of a growing metropolis region as a context in which to be designed. Predicting the future is almost impossible. Technology we envision arriving in 20 years may be here as soon as 5. Changes in the environment that may impact our way of life are subject to change on a time line that to the planet is an instance, but us, a lifetime. The design of Journal SquaRED’s context focuses on the relationships of increasing or decreasing trends. Technology acts as an agent of change.

20

50

100

20


movement= wander + peromone attraction current parameter 1.wieght of pheromone arrtaction 2.frequency of dropping the pheromone 3.decaying rate of the pheromone current parameter 4.dispersion speed of the pheromone 1.wieght of pheromone arrtaction

movement= wander + peromone attraction

[ Agent Based SelfSelf Organization] Ant &Ant Pheromone Diagrams [ Agent Based Organization] & Pheromone Diagrams

200

2.frequency of dropping the pheromone 3.decaying rate of the pheromone possible parameter 4.dispersion speedwander of the pheromone 1.maximum angle of ant

2.vew range of ant possible3.dispersion parameter angle (number) of pheromone 1.maximum wander angle of ant 2.vew range of ant 3.dispersion angle (number) of pheromone

wander

pheromone attraction

wander

dispersion of pheromone strength of pheromone decrease with time

pheromone attraction

new direction new direction

original direction

new direction =sum of pheromone weighted direction new direction =sum of pheromone weighted direction

dispersion of pheromone strength of pheromone decrease with time

t=2 t=1

t=2

t=0

t=1

original direction

t=0

400

999


am and Siteand relation [Program Site Relation]

Site & Program Specific Performance

A second agent introduced to the sytem constructs an environment in which the programmed agents can begin to organize. Both agent types are distributed on site according to contextual and programmatic analysis. The following interactions of the agent types define the architectural organization. Multiple variations are generated and studied to determine the most apporopraite solution.

subway ay hw hig

parking subway

hig ay hw

site parking

Condition: Always

Blue and Pink agents tries to keep its linear path-following organization by the phromone attaction rule

parking

site

subway ay hw

hig

green space site

green space

green space

main program : library, labs, auditorium, public spaces program agent : main program : library, auditorium, public spaces Creates linear labs, organization for programs. It is most

appropriate for libraries because of the convinience of program agent : for books. I might also be appropriate for lab searching Creates linear organization for programs. It is most organization. appropriate for libraries because of the convinience of main program library,I labs, public spaces searching for: books. mightauditorium, also be appropriate for lab connective agent : organization. Shapes the public spaces. Negotiates between public program agent spaces and :other programs, landscape and building to Creates linear for programs. It is most connective agent : create theorganization main circulation. appropriate for libraries of the convinience Shapes the public spaces. because Negotiates between public of searching for books. I might also be appropriate fortolab spaces and other programs, landscape and building organization. create the main circulation. connective agent : Shapes the public spaces. Negotiates between public spaces and other programs, landscape and building to create the main circulation.

Blue agents introduce complexity by interacting with the pink agents.

Pink agent alone create a completely normative space.

Condition: No blue agents are around pink ones.

Condition: Blue agents are close pink ones.

programs.

Pink agents can wander around without having the height restriction to create a more dynamic organization.

Conditio

Blue ag ing and the pro


Test One [Generic Emitters]

Test Two [Hi/Lo Emitters]

Test Three [Internal Public]

Test Four [Branching]

Test Five [Two Into One]

Test Six [Simple Intersection]

Test Eight [Side Angled]

Test Nine [Split Step Down]

Test Seven [Side Stepped]


[Marching Cube[Marching algorithm Cube Algorithm] Meshing Techniques Meshing Opeartion

Meshing Opeartion [Metaball Algorithm] [Metaball algorithm Meshing Techniques

Metaball Algorithm

metaball algorithm - creating bounding region from points A second agent introduced to the marchingconstructs cube algorithm - creating bounding region from points sytem an environment maximum effective range in which the programmed agents can begin to organize. Both threshold range value of >= threshold agent types are distributed on site value of < threshold according to contextual and programmatic analysis. The following interactions of the agent types define the architectural organization. Multiple variations are genercomparing the value of vetices to threshold each condition corresponds to a unique meshing strategy ated and studied to determine the most apporopraite solution.

v1=1 p1 1

v12=2

p12

3

a

a b

original equation 1/a^2

modified equation : b is the cuttoff distance when a<b 1-(4/9 )x(a^6/b^6)+(17/9)*(a^4/b^4)-(22/9)x(a^2/b^2) when a>b value=0

v2=5

p2

the location vetex on edge is determine by the equation p12=p1 + (p2 - p1) * (v12 - v1)/(v2 - v1)

calculate value for each grid point with metaball algorithm

A second agent introduced to the sytem constructs an environment in which the programmed agents can begin to organize. Both agent types are distributed on site according to contextual and programmatic analysis. The following interactions of

construct mesh with marching cube algorithm

in order to construct the marching cube to work value of each nearby grid points need to be calculated

Original Points [0]

Threshold Distance [10]

Threshold Distance [20]


Test One [Generic Emitters]

Test Two [Hi/Lo Emitters]

Test Three [Internal Public]

Test Four [Branching]

Test Five [Two Into One]

Test Six [Simple Intersection]

Test Eight [Side Angled]

Test Nine [Split Step Down]

Test Seven [Side Stepped]


Points A finalized point set provides clear programatic organization but no formal resolution. A sytem to best recognize the intended form of the agents is developed from their structuring.

Wrap A deffinition composed in grasshopper uses the points developed from the agents to produce a geometric base for the form. A circle geometry moves its control points inwards and rebuild itself iteratively. once it comes within the specified radius of an agent point, the control point from the cirlce stops moving towardws the center. The resulting deformed cirlces are the approximation of the form defined by the multi agent system.

Form The polylines are lofted into a single nurbs surface. This is the most honest approximation of the form developed by the multi agent points. The linear process is performed a second time with adjustments in the cirle warp definition. The two surfaces are used as a slicing mechanism for the 40 iterations of metaball surfacings. The processed surface displays the actions and intentions of the multi agent system.



Library Library

Minimal Surface Topology

DN DN

A second agent introduced to the sytem constructs an environment in which the programmed agents can begin to organize. Both agent types are disUP UP UP UP on site tributed according to contextual and proUP grammatic analysis. TheUP following interactions of the agent types define the architectural organization. Multiple variations are generated and studied DN DN DNthe most apporopraite solution. to determine DN

DN DN

DN DN

UP UP DN DN

Lab Lab

DN DN

DN DN

Auditorium Auditorium + + Cafateria Cafateria

Auditorium Auditorium Level Level Two Two

Level Level Three Three


[ Library ]

[ Atrium ] +100'-0"

+90'-0"

+80'-0" +76'-2" +70'-0"

+60'-0"

+50'-0"

+40'-0"

+30'-0"

+20-0"

+10'-0"

-10'-0" -14'-6" -20-0"

-30'-0"



Structure - Space - Skin Several tesselations were tested with structural analysis software to determine strenght and material efficiency. The result was that the hexagonal pattern, typically unsable as a surface, turned rigid in double curvature. The steel structure is surfaced in wood panels and uses custom cuts only on complex double curved corners. The layered skin is connected to the structure in families of 8 at a time.


The Importance of Color The surface displays the actions and intensions of the agents in the patterning of the skin. The application of different colors to either side of the fins maintains the fluid movement inherent to the multi agent system.



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