STUDIO AIR 2017, SEMESTER 1, Manuel Hao Lin
Table of Contents 4 Introduction 6 A.1 Designing Future 16 A.2 Design Computation 26 A.3 Composition to Generation 34 A.4 Conclusion 36 A.5 Learning Outcomes 38 A.6 Appendix 40 Reference List
Introduction
I am Hao Lin, a third year student and major in architecture in University of Melbourne. I have been interested in urban planning since I was in middle school and I thought that doing jobs in urban planning with architecture background would be better. Therefore, I choose to study architecture in my bachelor degree. I think architecture is an art about spatial design, arranging things in space and topography. But at the present time, how to use algorithmic design to approach the best solution for a project would be very important in present days. Despite of design itself, I am also concerned about the sustainable design in architecture since I learnt EBS. During the two years studying of architecture, I have learnt how to use Rhino during the Earth Studio and DDF course and I grasp the basic part of Rhino. Moreover, in the fabrication process, I know how to use 3D printing and laser cutting in the fab lab, and used these fabrication techniques in the constructing in my Earth and DDF projects. At other subjects, I would use SketchUp for a draft models and use AutoCad for architectural drawings.
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Stable sheet Layer 4-13
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FIG.1: ASSEMLY DRAWING IN DDF
FIG.2: PROJECT IN EARTH
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A.1 Designing Future
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“But they can also inspire us to imagine that things could be radically different than they are today, and then believe we can progress toward that imaginary world.� 1
1. Tony Fry, Design Futuring: Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice (Oxford: Berg, 2008), p 1. CONCEPTUALISATION 7
FIG.3: PLUG -IN CITY2
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FIG.4: PLUG -IN CITY3
A.1.1 THE PLUG-IN CITY UNBUILT 1962-1964 Peter Cook, Archigram
Plug-in City was considered as a radical project at that time because it offered a different future that it is not just concrete, but a new way of urbanism and infrastructure. The modular residential units are movable, they can be install and uninstall in a central infrastructure according to population. The space station like modular units are connected by escalators. This radical design broke the idea that city must be fixed and localised and seen buildings as moveable and disposable.
Archigram The Plug-In City and other unbuilt designs such as The Walking City and The Instant City done by Archigram. These works “suggested a nomadic way of life and, more importantly, a liberation from the modernist answer of suburbia.”1 Archigram was the Beatles of Architecture at that time, inspiring the High-Tech Architecture such as Norman Foster, Richard Rogers. Nicholas Grimshaw, and the Japanese Architecture Metabolism, for example Kurokawa’s Nakagin Capsule Tower. The most famous design inspired by Archigram might be Pompidous Center by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano.
1. Archdaily, AD Classics: The Plug-In City / Peter Cook, Archigram, (2013), <http:// www.archdaily.com/399329/ad-classics-the-plug-in-city-peter-cook-archigram> 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. CONCEPTUALISATION 9
FIG. 5 PLUG-IN CITY2
“It (Archigram) was revolutionary in a sense of wanting life to be better, but not necessary having a political agenda to how better life could be… How can we irrigate the desert? How can we make more use of recycled water? How can we use more economic materials, but not make it dreary and boring? I don’t think THAT is Utopian, I think it is applied common sense!” Peter Cook
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FIG.6 PLUG-IN OFFICE3
Things are different from the 20th century, resources are no longer considered as infinite. “We live in a very different world now but we can reconnect with that spirit and develop new methods appropriate for today’s world and once again begin to dream.”1 Although some ideas of Archigram seem to be unsuitable for a sustainable future, the value and the spirit of changing the world are the things that we need to carry on. Bringing changes to the world, in a different way, for our future.
1. Dunne, Anthony & Raby, Fiona, Speculative Everything: Design Fiction, and Social Dreaming (MIT Press, 2013), p.9. 2. Image Source: Archdaily, AD Classics: The Plug-In City / Peter Cook, Archigram, (2013), <http://www.archdaily.com/399329/ ad-classics-the-plug-in-city-peter-cook-archigram> 3. Ibid. CONCEPTUALISATION 11
“I thought about the fusion between modern architecture and the traditional techniques, between architecture and nature, so that man would be happy in his environment.” 1 Wang Shu
1. Contal, M, Revedin, J, & Herzog, T, Sustainable design: towards a new ethic in architecture and town planning (Boston: Birkhäuser, 2009), p.83. 12
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Left: “An interior view to the east campus. The volumes become entangled and the circulation routs are arranged over serveral levels.”4
FIG.7 VIEW
A.1.2 CHINA ACACEMY OF ART XIANGSHAN CAMPUS HANGZHOU, CHINA, 2002-2013 Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu Amateur Architecture Studio/ City Tectonic Institute of China The campus is built at the foot of Elephant Hill, which is one of the few “rural” places in urbanised Hangzhou. 21 buildings have the traditional features in design (e.g. enclosure), with two traditional bridges across the river and hillsides. U-shape, which is the traditional Chinese courtyard are applied in the design. He used the traditional techniques into modern buildings, with the use of recycled materials into making Wapan.1 These fragments came from walls or roofs destroyed by typhoon or demolition site. They could be reused for repairs or saved for future construction.2
The using of local materials and local techniques combining into modern architecture might be a “sustainable” way for our future. We are living in a finite world while we cannot sustain the current lifestyle anymore in the near future, but design could solve this problem.5 In the ancient times, people lived in a truly sustainable way, the traditional constructing techniques might be more sustainable than the current modern ones. The use of traditional techniques in modern architectures might be a possible way to sustain our future. Wang Shu is a proponent of traditional style in modern times, while many architects design “modern” buildings in China, his traditional style design might be against the mainstream in China. The building design looks like hundreds of years old but it still uses steels, concretes and other modern materials. Although it is traditional style, it could be still considered as “design futuring”.
Despite the traditional techniques and design features, each building is carefully designed based on its location: views, breeze, the sun and its relationship to the rest of the campus are taken into consideration.3 1. Wapan is a dry masonry technique to build walls while incorporating broken tiles, bricks, and stones. 2. Contal, M, Revedin, J, & Herzog, T, Sustainable design: towards a new ethic in architecture and town planning (Boston: Birkhäuser, 2009), pp.84-89. 3. Ibid. 4 .Ibid, p.86. 5. Tony Fry, Design Futuring: Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice (Oxford: Berg, 2008), p 2. CONCEPTUALISATION 13
FIG.8 WALKWAY1 The start of the walkway, at garden level. One can clearly see the stone base upon the campus building sit.
1. Contal, M, Revedin, J, & Herzog, T, Sustainable design: towards a new ethic in architecture and town planning (Boston: Birkhäuser, 2009), pp.85. 2. Ibid, p.88. 14
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FIG.9 ISOMETRIC VIEW2
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A.2 Design Computation
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â&#x20AC;&#x153;The research and application of digital and information-based design methods and production processes increasingly inform architectural practice. Innovative production methods not only lead to new formal expressions, but also allow architects to directly communicate with production to customize complex and highly specialized building components.â&#x20AC;? 1
1. Mark Muckenheim nd Juliane Demei, Inspiration: Contemporary Design Methods in Architecture (Amsterdam: BIS, 2012), p.241. CONCEPTUALISATION 17
FIG.10 GUANGZHOU OPERA HOUSE5
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A.2.1 GUANGZHOU OPERA HOUSE GUANGZHOU, CHINA, 2003-2010 Zaha Halid Architects
The Guangzhou Opera House is one typical example of design that pursued the potential of computing in design produce a design in China. “The Guangzhou Opera House design has been particularly influenced by river valleys – and the way in which they are transformed by erosion.”1 It represents the landscape of the Pearl River and connects to the history of Guangzhou As Patrik Schumacher, one of the main designer of this project, points out that the parametric design should “consider all forms to be parametrically malleable, differentiate gradually (at variant rates), inflect and correlate systematically” 2 and “avoid rigid geometric primitives like squares, triangles and circles, avoid simple repetition of elements, avoid juxtaposition of unrelated elements or systems.” 3 The twin-boulder design is following this rule. However, each boulder is different from the another, but can be still seen as one style.
digital technology, nonstandardised and personalised components are able to produce. Moreover, computer can help a lot in performance oriented design, it tried to simulate both quantity and quality and offer a new approach to the design of built environment.4 In this project, architects write codes in Rhinoscript to analyse the acoustic performance in interior space and achieve the requirement for performing just by architecture design without using any professional materials. Architecture’s development is always with the use of innovative technology, such as the Renaissance and perspective, Baroque and projective geometry, Modernism and isometric. Therefore, as Patrik Schumacher announced “Parametricism” at the Venice Biennale, it seems that “Parametricism” is related to parametric, or digital technology. Anyway, the design for Guangzhou Opera House is by using computing and digital technologies, and computing can help the development of architectural design. In another word, computing is a form of calculation that is accurate and untiring while it can influence the design process by allowing us to create things in a more creative way.
The last decade, when Rhino gradually became a mature software, Zaha used Rhino to find the reasonable form in the design. The external uses tessellation, by using
1. Zaha Hadid Architects, Guangzhou Opera House <http://www.zahahadid.com/wp-content/files_mf/guangzhouoperahouse.pdf>. 2. Patrik Schumacher, 'a new global style for architecture and urban design', Architecture Design: Digital Cities, 79 (2009), pp.14-23. 3. Ibid. 4. Branko Kolarevic, Architecture in the Digital Age: Design and Manufacturing (New York; London: Spon Press, 2003), pp. 9, 24. 5. Image Source: Zaha Hadid Architects, Guangzhou Opera House <http:// www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/guangzhou-opera-house/> CONCEPTUALISATION 19
FIG.11 INTERIOR DETIAL1
FIG.13 INTERIOR DETIAL 1. Image Source: Zaha Hadid Architects, Guangzhou Opera House <http:// www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/guangzhou-opera-house/> 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. 20
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FIG.12 INTERIOR DETIAL
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The personalized set of media skills of this generation revolves about the form-generation capabilities of modelers based on Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS)...â&#x20AC;? 1
1. Rivka and Robert Oxman, Theories of the Digital in Architecture, (London; New York: Routledge, 2014), p. 3. CONCEPTUALISATION 21
FIG.14 RESEARCH PAVILION, INTERIOR4
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This is an age in which digitally informed design can actually produce a second nature. 3
A.2.2 ICD/ITKE RESEARCH PAVILION 2014-2015 STUTTGART, GERMANY 2015 UNIVERSITY OF STUTTGART This research pavilion in University of Stuttgart a practice of computation design, it provides the opportunities for designers to create their own tools to produce potential evolutionary design. This pavilion is a relatively small scale experiment that collaboration of natural sciences, architecture and engineering. The pavilion simulates the air bubble that support water spider live under water. The fibre-reinforced air bubble can resist water flow and pressure. Researchers analyse the form and building sequences of underwater air bubble, and transfer into digital information and the constructing sequences. Finally, using construction robot to build the pavilion. Computational form finding method is used to generate the main shape of the shell.1 This allows designers to insert parameters and find possibilities of the performative fibre in a more efficient way.
In this case, the computational methods and customised robots help to build personalised components. This allows them to design and construct very complex forms in an economic way, while it is â&#x20AC;&#x153;very difficult and expensive to design, produce and assemble using traditional construction technologies.â&#x20AC;? 2 By building this pavilion, they not only explored how computing use in design, but also explored how it can help in the constructing process.
1. University of Stuttgart, ICD/ITK Reasearch Pavilion 20142015 <http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/?p=12965> 2. Branko Kolarevic, Architecture in the Digital Age: Design and Manufacturing (New York; London: Spon Press, 2003), p.3. 3. Rivka and Robert Oxman, Theories of the Digital in Architecture, (London; New York: Routledge, 2014), p.8. 4. Image Source: University of Stuttgart, ICD/ITK Reasearch Pavilion 2014-2015 <http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/?p=12965> CONCEPTUALISATION 23
FIG.15 CONSTRUCTION ROBOT BUILDING PROCESS1
1. Image Source: University of Stuttgart, ICD/ITK Reasearch Pavilion 2014-2015 <http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/?p=12965> 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. 24
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FIG.16 BUILDING PROCESS 2
FIG.17 RESEARCH PAVILION 2014-2015 3
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A.3 Composition to Generation
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“When architects have a sufficient understanding of algorithmic concepts, when we no longer need to discuss the digital as something different, then computation can become a true method of design for architecture.” 1
1. Brady Peters, ‘Computation Works: The Building of Algorithmic Thought’, Architectural Design, 83 (2013), p15. CONCEPTUALISATION 27
FIG.18 FONDATION LOUIS VITTON MUSEUM 7
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Computation reconstructs the architecture practice. Firstly, it increases architects’ intellect and potential to solve complex problems and explore new forms, new ideas. Writing codes becomes the brush for designers to draw what they think, for example, the Khan Shatyr Center locates in Astana.1 Secondly, computation (or scripting) has integrated in the design process in some architecture firms. Custom tools have become part of the design and many firms has adjusted to this trend in their own ways, they all need the work of computational designers.2 (p.11) Thirdly, it becomes an essential part in architectural practice, larger scale buildings such as airports must use parametric models as part of the design3 Algorithmic thinking has changed the traditional way of architecture practice, and design process are also influenced by it. Partrik Schumacher believe that the shift to generative approaches would continue and even has more influence in design works in the age of parametricism.4 (p.14) In his Parametricism manifesto, The Autopoiesis of Architecture, he describes the Parametricism as “the great new style after modernism” and argued that “Parametricism is architecture’s answer to contemporary, computationally empowered civilization”. to which attention must be paid in task completion”.
However, Mark Foster Gage argued that parameter has influenced the design, but parametricism is not new to architecture and it can date back to classicism, and consider parametricism is not yet a style that can compare to modernism.5 On one hand, computation enables new ways of thinking, it can construct and test the model in a more efficient way. On the other hand, when architects pay more attention on writing codes, “scripting degenerates to become an isolated craft rather than developing into an integrated art form.” 6 One disadvantage for using computing in design, might be the complexity of the software. The unnecessary complexity with too much information “may require additional effort may increase complexity if local design decisions and increases the number of items".8
1. Brady Peters, ‘Computation Works: The Building of Algorithmic Thought’, Architectural Design, 83 (2013), p.11. 2. Ibid. 3. Patrik Schumache, ‘Parametricism 2.0: Gearing Up To Impact the Global Built Environment’, Architectural Design, 86 (2016), p.10 4. Ibid. p.14 5.Mark Foster Gage, A Hospice for Parametricism. Architectural Design, 86(2016), 128-133. 6.Brady Peters, ‘Computation Works: The Building of Algorithmic Thought’, Architectural Design, 83 (2013), p.15 7.Ibid. p.13 8. Robert Aish and Robert Woodbury, 'Multi-Level Interaction in Parametric Design', in Andreas Butz et al. (eds.), International symposium on Smart Graphics: Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, 2005), p.151. CONCEPTUALISATION 29
FIG.19 FORM-FINDING PROCESS 2
FIG.21 FORM-FINDING PROCESS 4
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FIG.20 COVER3
FIG.22 COVERT FROM INSIDE 5
A3.1 Khan Shatyr Entertainment Centre Astana, Kazakhstan, 2006-2008 Foster + Partners This project is a multipurpose center located in Astana. The team used parametric design tools (form-finding algorithm) to find different forms and it quickly generates a cable net structure and they use programs to test the model. There is a unique and efficient design tool in the team, which can produce the prototypes rapidly. The custom programs help the design team to rapidly come out with several possible form options and then they use 3D printing to generate the sketch models. Although there are thousands of components, computer programs can help greatly reduce the works. 1
1. Brady Peters, Khan Shatyr Entertainment Centre <http:// www.bradypeters.com/khan-shatyr-centre.html> 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. 4. Ibid 5. Ibid CONCEPTUALISATION 31
FIG.13 FORM-FINDING PROCESS 2
FIG.24 FORM-FINDING PROCESS54
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FIG.24 ROOF MODEL3
FIG.25 ROOF5
A3.2 Thomas Deacon Academy Peterborough, UK 2003-2007 Foster + Partners This academy building has a central courtyard that is surrounded by a curving band. A doubly-curved roof covers the central area. The design team used different parametric tools and 3D modeling software to find a variety of the roof forms, which needs a large spa and panelisation strategy. The final form, which is an inflated pneumatic surface is found by a custom program. 1
1. Brady Peters, Thomas Deacon Academy <http://www. bradypeters.com/thomas-deacon-academy.htmll> 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. 4. Ibid 5. Ibid CONCEPTUALISATION 33
A.4 Conclusion
Design has the mission to build a sustainable future for us. How to design sustainability becomes a significant issue at this time. The purpose for introducing computing in design and architectural practice is not just about expending the potential for designers, but also makes a sustainable future for us and our next generations. Through the help of digital design methods and its related technologies such as parametric and algorithms, architects can design the building more sustainable because the software can simulate the design’s impact and its performance. The evolution of digital technologies in design has make more possibilities for architects to explore new ideas. And the architecture practice has been reshaped by the shift from composition to generation. Using algorithmic software such as Grasshopper gives me a new opportunity to find new ideas and expand the imagination boundaries through the help of algorithm. Sketch on a real paper could provide the basic forms, but using algorithm could make it more efficient and provide more possibilities.
FIG.26 BAO’AN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TERMINAL 31 Massimiliano Fuksas and Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineering, Bao’an International Airport Terminal 3, Shenzhen, China, 2012
1. Brady Peters, ‘Computation Works: The Building of Algorithmic Thought’, Architectural Design, 83 (2013), p.15. 34
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A.5 Learning Outcomes
I think I have developed a lot since the beginning of this semester through playing the definition of grasshopper components, computation is really changing the way architects design. Using digital software, designers can simulate the performance of designs without building physical models. After reading many articles in these three weeks, I do experience the power of algorithmic computing, it expands one’s intellect and design capability to a new frontier. Not only in the digital design process, algorithm and computing can improve the efficiency of constructing process. Furthermore, I just realised that the skills I learnt before are just “computerisation”, not “computation”. A truly computation is one can deal with a complex problem with the help of computing, but I can only do the basic jobs by using computer. Computing can help me to improve my previous works. For example, in Studio Earth, I wanted to create a random cutting at a pavilion, but all I did were just manually cutting the wall without any strategy. By using computing like Grasshopper in Rhino, I could redesign it according to proportional theories.
FIG.27 CAYAN TOWER1 Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), Cayan Tower, Dubai, 2012
1. SOM, CAYAN TOWER <http://www.som. com/projects/cayan_tower> 36
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A.6 Appendix
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Reference List Aish, Robert and Robert Woodbury, 'Multi-level Interaction in Parametric Design', in Andreas Butz, et al. (eds.), Smart Graphics (Berlin / Heidelberg: Springer, 2005), 924-24. Archdaily, AD Classics: The Plug-In City / Peter Cook, Archigram, (2013), <http://www.archdaily. com/399329/ad-classics-the-plug-in-city-peter-cook-archigram> Contal, M, J. Revedin, and T. Herzog, Sustainable design: towards a new ethic in architecture and town planning (Boston: Birkhäuser, 2009), 84-89. Dunne, Anthony and Fiona Raby, Speculative Everything: Design Fiction, and Social Dreaming (MIT Press, 2013), 1-9, 33-45. Fry, Tony, Design Futuring: Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice (Oxford: Berg, 2008), 1-16. Gage, M. F., A Hospice for Parametricism. Architectural Design, 86(2016), 128-133. Kolarevic, Branko, Architecture in the Digital Age: Design and Manufacturing (New York; London: Spon Press, 2003), p.3. Muckenheim, Mark, and Juliane Demei, Inspiration: Contemporary Design Methods in Architecture (Amsterdam: BIS, 2012), p.241. Oxman, Rivka, and Robert Oxman, Theories of the Digital in Architecture, (London; New York: Routledge, 2014), p.8. Peters, Brady, ‘Computation Works: The Building of Algorithmic Thought’, Architectural Design, 83 (2013), 08-15. Peters, Brady, Khan Shatyr Entertainment Centre <http://www.bradypeters.com/khan-shatyr-centre.html> Peters, Brady, Thomas Deacon Academy <http://www.bradypeters.com/thomas-deacon-academy.htmll> Schumacher, P. 'a new global style for architecture and urban design', Architecture Design: Digital Cities, 79 (2009), 14-23. Schumache, P., ‘Parametricism 2.0: Gearing Up To Impact the Global Built Environment’, Architectural Design, 86 (2016), 8-17. SOM, CAYAN TOWER <http://www.som.com/projects/cayan_tower> Robert Aish and Robert Woodbury, 'Multi-Level Interaction in Parametric Design', in Andreas Butz et al. (eds.), International symposium on Smart Graphics: Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, 2005), 151. University of Stuttgart, ICD/ITK Reasearch Pavilion 2014-2015 <http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/?p=12965> Zaha Hadid Architects, Guangzhou Opera House <http://www.zaha-hadid.com/wp-content/files_mf/guangzhouoperahouse.pdf>.
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