ADS: AIR KAELYNN WONG TUTOR: FINN & VIKTOR
A.1 Design Futuring I was born in Singapore and i grew up there. I completed my diploma in Architecture last year and took a gap year working in DP Architects. This is my first year in Melbourne but a third year offer was given so here i am in my final year doing Bachelor Degree of Environments majoring in Architecture.
Kaelynn Wong Min Er
I also did a three month internship in Architrave, the in-house architecture and interior design firm for Banyan Tree Hotel and Resorts. The internship helped me alot as i was beginning to have doubts about continuing architecture but i realized practicing it in real life is rather different from school and i do enjoy doing it, creating spaces, detailing the interior spaces. I did the A&A for the main banyan tree office and also on several new resorts that were still in the conceptual development phase.
Through my internship, a colleague contacted me and invited me to work with him as a freelancer on a project consisting of a residential block, an office block and a 5-storey commercial podium. It was really an eye opener and i learned alot from him on techniques on spatial arrangement and design development. Going into the workforce made me realize the amount of constraints the government impose on us in Singapore. In DP architects, I had a few projects which i would draft out drawings such as sections plans and elevations, and also building a 6 tower condominium using revit as BIM became compulsory in Singapore in 2013. But mostly my time in DP would be to prepare drawings making sure that it complies with the codes and doing authority submissions.
Sustainability is like a relationship whereby it is nourishing and also needs to be nourished. - Helena,
B. (2012). Reshaping Environments, 14, p.309
The word “Sustain” would be like a systematic cycle whereby things are taken but also gets replaced so that the cycle never stops. It should be practiced everywhere especially in design as it is the key to having future generations being able to appreciate what we have now. Time would wipe us out if we do not take actions against our self destructive ways. There are many disagreements on whether it is right for humans to claim the worth of something taken to help in the cause of sustainability and that it will regain it’s worth in time.
Many have stated that by building high cost complicated environmentally efficient machineries is not right because those machineries are already using resources and damaging the world whereby the worth cannot be claimed back by the results of the machine. They did not consider that it might actually be the most efficient way for humans to conserve resources that are used up faster than it’s renewable. Because for humans to live without clean water or electricity would be impossible in the current age. Hence, design intelligence should be inplemented to conserve and sustain.
VS1/SA Water House VS1/SA Water, located in Victoria sqaure, Adelaide is a new commercial building that has received awards for it’s sustainable aspects. Hassell teamed up with Cundall (environmental consultant) had come up with a design that is catered to sustain the future.
“This is the first in south australia to achieve a GBCA 6-star Green Star design rating, and was delivered at competitive market rental, setting a new ESD benchmark.”-architectureau.com/article/sustainable-
architecture/
The building is cooled by underfloor ventilation and uses 100% outside air during building occupancy. A gas heat and power unit is connected to an absorption chiller-hot water system. It is able to reduce 25% of greenhouse emissions. Rainwater and recycle water are used for toilets and waterefficient taps, showers.Highly efficient water cooled chillers deliever significant energy savings. This had expanded future possibilities by conserving more energy and also increase the rate of renewable resources.
“When connected to the Glenelg to Adelaide Pipeline (supplying recycled water) in 2010, it will achieve a reduction of 70 percent water consumption. “ -archi-
tectureau.com/article/sustainable-architecture/
A landscaped plaza provides a forecourt to the building and a communal area for the inhabitants allowing interaction. A central atrium that rises up through ten storeys allows natural light in and enabling open stair access. (shown in bottom left picture) These are the basic strategies that make use of unlimited resources like natural light to lessen the electricity needed in the day. Making use of the site and nature should be integrated into design which would reflect on the design intelligence of the creator.
Green Square North Tower A five level commercial building located in Fortitude Valley,Queensland. They’ve expanded possible future possibilities the same way as SA water house whereby sustainable ideas and technology are integrated without compromising any conceptual design. They used large floor plates to provide external shading. This actually helps to reduce the heat load and lessen the energy of machineries and also investing in high efficiency air cooled chillers which minimizes water usage. A cogeneration plant is used to create power onsite using a gas engine generator, expended waste heat is captured and reused cool the building through an absorption chiller. They contributed to the inhabitants as this project invest in high efficiency machineries such as T5 fluorescent lighting with integrated controls and fixtures and fittings to reduce potable water consumption. This allows the tenants to have a lower running cost as many organizations these days value cheaper day-to-day running cost and also a green corporate image. They have actually incorporated lifestyle ideas as 160 bicycle racks are provided to promote cycling and reduce carbon footprints from cars. Not only that, they have also added in changing rooms and showers for the tenant’s convenience. Carpark lots are also greatly reduced so as to push the tenants into a healthy lifestyle and at the same time saving the world from heaps of carbon footprints if calculated over a few decades. I personally feel that this is a really good sustainable idea by strongly reinforcing the idea of sustainable not only by machineries but also by changing their everyday lifestyle. From this project, it is a really good start to a better future as it is almost self sustainable and having a go at changing the lifestyle of its corporate tenants.
A.2 Design Computation Architecture have evolved drastically over time. It was originally built unplanned and was not considered a profession whereby anyone could step up to be a builder. In the olden times, all you need is a master mason and an army of craftsmen. It only turned into a profession when a Florentine nobleman, Leon Battista Alberti, strongly favoured aesthetic principles. From this, what used to be just brief ideas and simple sketches turned into scaled drawings to convey the architects idea and allow control over the building development. “With the introduction of scale drawings, architects ceased to be technicians supervising the construction project on-site and became designers, who expressed their professional skills through drawings.” - Yehuda, K. (2004).
Architecture News Media, p.8.
I would say Alberti had brought architecture to the biggest turning point or rather, starting point, by making it a profession whereby the design is controlled. He turned it into an analytical design process whereby the situation is analyzed thoroughly before planning out the whole construction to the last
detail and using foresight to solve problems that may arise during the construction. As history of professionalism of architecture starts out, it goes through a series of trial and error whereby one may be unable to foresee the problems or human error. Hence, to counter or rather minimize these mistakes, it goes by a design process consisting of four phases that are interlaced in one way or another. • Problem analysis • Solution synthesis • Evaluation • Communication This set of process is still used commonly in our current day and age. It had evolved with the help of computation as information and future problems can be calculated. Solution synthesis have been to think from scratch or based on a person’s life experience but by keeping a record of all the data of past projects, their mistakes and their successful methods. It provides a database which can be assessed by all to act as precedent studies and to learn from.
Because the human mind is not so good at recalling these datas, the computers comes in and provide us with solutions that had worked in the past with just a few click of the button. Also, computerization of the design solutions can be modeled out through softwares to see if it is workable instead of the traditional trial and error method and that helped it the evaluation phase. Communication obviously did better with how information is shared through computer instantly.
Softwares have also evolved from the basic 2D drawings to 3D modeling and then even to moulding of exact ornamental details and into 3D printing whereby technology have totally taken over craftsmanship. All these evolving softwares aids us in having a higher efficiency in our work and reduces error and also providing the quick precision we want.
The things we want to get out from softwares are also constantly evolving. For example a decade ago, we This is how the time taken programmed it to only draw for the phases have been out and update drawings greatly reduced over the efficiently. But in modern years with minimal mistakes. times, it is used to It also allows us to be able calculate energy and the to see our designs visually overall efficiency of the and also to explore more and building amongst various expand on our design. things.
- Conceptual Sketches of facade skin (Solution synthesis)
Al Bahar Towers
-Using parametric design tools to experiment and explore the facade (Evaluation)
The Al Bahar Towers takes up a longitudinal oval-like form and carries a skin made of over 2000 umbrella-like modules per tower. This is a computerized design whereby they had explore the possibilities of the form and facade and had developed it through the use of softwares which gives precision on prefabrication so there would not be any wastage of material. Having a glass building in a hot country would equate to having a greenhouse but the appeal of a glass-skinned steel-frame skyscrapers made them work out the heat problem that arise from it. They came up with a computerized sun-shading facade that was derived from the local architectural culture of the Mashrabiyas, wooden lattice screens carved to some geometric design accordingly to the sun’s position. It uses parametric design tools to fine-tune to the optimal wall to floor area ratio increasing the efficiency.
- Traditional islamic lattice shading device
-Pictures taken after
fixture of first module
Having our design built in softwares would allow us to fully explore the possibilities in forms and facades. It would give us a better idea and also our client who would not understand with just 2D drawings. This aids in communication with people from outside the circle. Primarily in parametric softwares, it is to fulfil the need for visual presentation. It then evolved to being able to show the different facades created whether it’s fully closed or partially open. It further evolved into being able to generate a series of data that can be used to run tests and generate results on how much energy is conserved and on how much heat is gained or loss. This helps to increase the effieciency of the building and lower the day-to-day running cost.
A.3 Composition/Generation Computation aided design is an important part of architecture and it shows how far architecture have come whereby setting up a software and using scripting or other parametric tools allows the computer to generate a series of different outcomes and combinations with a slight tweak of the changeable variables. Using computation Establishing a system by scripting or modeling creates a quick visual and by tuning changeable variables it allows numerous unpredicted outcomes which strectches creative ideas and design. It is going through the proccess of ‘puzzle making’ mentioned in Yehuda Kalay’s bookArchitecture’s New Media; Principles, Theories and Methods of ComputerAided Design, whereby the goal or final product is unknown.
FLARE Industrial designers Christopher Bauder and Christian Perstl have designed a kinetic façade called FLARE. It dynamically controls how much light and heat a building lets in. It also acts like a living skin, allowing the building to express, communicate and interact with its environment. This is another facade whereby it uses computing to achieve its design means and also to work out the efficiency of the facade without compromising the design aesthetic qualities. The pictures on the left shows diagrams on the development and also rendering images that are tuned using parametric design tools to help with both the visualisaion while it concurrently generates data on how it’s feasibility and fine-tuning it to reach its optimal peak without compromising any of the two.
Computation tools helps to generate different outcomes in a flash allowing the designer to explore the endless possibilities of design. By fine-tuning the interchangeable variables, it is like a form of graphic stimulation whereby it helps the designer to foresee how it would interact with its surrounding and with the users of the building. This greatly increases the efficiency of the building and reduces the time and effort needed to do so.
Mumbai Terminal 2 Airport It relies on computation tools to come up with the optimal design. It is modeled through scripting and was then further fine-tuned in the program to create the correct atmosphere the designer wanted to attain. For example, changes in the scripting can allow the pictures above to have bigger intersections in between or it can be changed to become thicker elements weaving together or creating bigger spacing between the woven elements. All this can be done in a flash with the help of computation tools. It then goes through the process of generation as the final design goal is now known and using the constraints, eliminating other possible outcomes which would be ‘problem solving’ as described by Yehuda Kalay.
-Sketchup Model - Preliminary Sketch
-Developing the composition through computation - Completed Building of the National Stadium
Beijing National Stadium It is known for it’s dramatic visual impact and stylistic cues that blend modern steel construction with forms found in nature. The picture on the top shows a schematic sketch of how the design started out. With the aid of computation whereby it is scripted and moulded to look similar to the sketch then using the system it established to create different possibilities in the design and the precise parameters would then be chosen and it is further developed into the composition shown on the right.
A.4 Conclusion
A.5 Learning Outcomes
Architecture is a very broad topic with a very long history and it had evovled from only fulfiling aesthetic reasonings to functionality and now to our present day, the efficiency of a building. The trend in modern day would be to create an eco-friendly building whereby the goal is to increase the efficiency of the building and to be able to provide for its own energy and water usage.
Through the lectures from ADS: AIR, I have come to realized he difference between computation and computerization as previously i only had a vague idea and that I thought they meant the same things.
The way achitecture is presented had also evolved from schematic sketches to scaled drawings to digitalized drawings to present our ideas and design concept to others. In the recent years, computation is widely used to aid in design possibilities and calculating the efficiency and feasibility of a building and designers are trying to work towards design intelligence whereby good foresight is needed. The creation of composition and generation had made greatly reduced the amount of errors and time taken although now that the knowledge of architecture had been built up over the years, there are alot more aspects to consider and alot more of possible problems and side effects caused by our desgin that we have to look into as compared to the early ages.
I have learned how architecture had evolved over the years as i have never given much thoughts on how architecture as a professionalism had started out although we did learned the history and different eras of achitecture. After going through the Part A readings and Journals, I realized the importance of architectural computing and felt that it is the way to work towards achieving design intelligence. Rhino and grasshopper are new softwares that i have never touched on. The tutorials had really helped me open my eyes as to how scripting can be done to be able to generate design options quick and fast and I am sure that these two softwares is going to be used in my future career helping me to develop my designs and broadening design possibilities.
Algorithmic Sketchbook
Week 1: Loft & Array Shows how a series of lofted curves is able to create a facade-like pattern.
Week 2: Pipe Intersecting curves to form a low-lying shelter.
Week 3: Spheres