Architect and Computational Design Portfolio

PORTFOLIO

The uneasiness I felt having this quote haunting me throughout my university years was overwhelming. Every design I made, no matter how thoroughly researched, failed to satisfy my eagerness to find an optimum solution; if any. With an ever-changing world and an infinite number of possibilities, sticking to one answer did not feel right nor wise. I felt that the ever-going debates of form-follows-function vs function-followsform were no longer relevant; what informs both was a more intriguing question. The answer seemed to be a simple yet a powerful one: Data!

The following work is where my new journey began ...

“To create, one must first question everything” – Eileen Gray.

CONTENTS

ENCODED FIELDS

FORCE FIELDS EXPLORATIONS

SNOWFLAKE

INTERACTIVE GENETIC ALGORITHM PLUG-IN

TOWARDS PRINTABILITY

TOOLKIT FOR 3D CONCRETE-PRINTED DESIGN

DIGITIZING STEREOTOMY

WALL-DESIGN USING DIGITAL STEREOTOMY

NEURO-REMAPPING REMAPPING BRAIN PULSES INTO 3D ARTIFACTS

INFORMED FLUIDITY

DESIGN INSPIRED BY WATER RIPPLES

ENCODED FIELDS

From forcefield curves into mesh-based formations

A series of mesh-based artifacts are the result of transferring forcefield curves into mesh using Cocoon Plug in. The process started with manipulating the different forces that are affecting the curves in the field to produce a variety of forcefield curve formations. The generated curves formed the base of the transformation to different meshbased artifacts. The transformation process involved varying the different parameters of the Marching Cube

algorithm that is embedded in Cocoon plug-in. The result are a series of artifact that can be 3d printed to different scale.

Design Supervision:

Zayad Motlib

Year: 2020

Tools : Rhino - Grasshopper3D Cocoon

Interactive Genetic Algorithm Plugin SNOWFLAKE

A grasshopper plugin to create Interactive Genetic Algorithm (IGA) inside Grasshopper environment.

Genetic Algorithm (GA) is an evolutionary algorithm that is inspired by natural evolution used for optimization. Interactive Genetic Algorithm (IGA) uses the concept of GA while allowing user-interaction to guide the evolution towards a more favorable outcome.

Snowflake allows multiple levels for interaction in GA. It allows the user to select certain solutions/ phenotypes to guide the evolution towards finding better options that are geometrically

similar to the selected phenotypes. The plug-in allows other levels of interaction by changing certain settings of GA during the evolution process.

Snowflake uses SPEA2 as the base logic for the GA.

This research was done in collaboration with the UNSW PhD candidate, Zayad Motlib. Beside the joint discussions on the algorithmic methods, usage and overall structure of IGA, I have been solely responsible for the coding, development, and maintenance of Snowflake.

Programming language : C#

EXPLORATION & OPTIMISATION

Snowflake provides the user with a set of tools to explore, analyze, and evolve new design options that meet certain quantitative objectives and qualitative preferences.

SNOWFLAKE OVERVIEW

GEOMETRY SETUP

example: Width

Geometry Parameter1

example: Height

Geometry Parameter2

example: Facade Area

Quan�ta�ve Objec�ve1

example: FSR

Quan�ta�ve Objec�ve2

Gene Reader

Quan�ta�ve Objec�ve Reader

IGA Se�ngs

Main

GEOMETRY CREATION DEFINITION

example: Curvature

Characteris�c Objec�ve1

example: Proportion

Characteris�c Objec�ve2

Characteris�c Objec�ve Reader

example: Building envelope

Geometry1

example: Floors Outline

Geometry2

Geometry Reader

IGA READERS IGA SOLVER

Snowflake allows the user to interact with the genetic algorithm to guide the evolution towards more favorable outcome. The image on the right shows the overview of the plug-in.

Geometry Setup and IGA Reader:

-Create your parametric geometry definition.

-Choose some parameters to act as Genes and connect to the GeneReader (for example building dimensions).

-Choose some numerical outcome/analysis to act as Quantitative Objectives, select their goal (minimize or maximize), and connect to QuantitativeObjectiveReader (for example, minimize building’s skin area, maximize building’s FSR).

-Choose some numerical outcome/analysis to act as Characteristic Objectives and connect to CharacteristicObjectiveReader (for example, curvature, proportion).

Main Solver:

-Input the settings for the solver. Those settings include; Population Size, First Population Size Mutation Factor, Crossover Factor.

-Run the Main Solver. It allows you to:

-Reset (start from the beginning)

-Evolve (evolve a generation)

-Select (select some phenotype/options to guide the evolution of the next generation)

Output:

The output generation can be deconstructed and further analyzed using a different component. It allows the user to view the Population, the Selection they have made so far, and the Pareto-Front (phenotype that are part of the optimal group).

SNOWFLAKE COMPONENTS

TOWARDS PRINTABILITY

Design Toolkit for 3D Concrete-Printed Houses

Concrete 3d printing is emerging as an efficient and promising technology in construction. However, one could argue that the impact of this technology on the construction industry has been relatively nominal despite its potential. Most architects and designers remain uninformed on how to address concrete 3d printing constraints in the design process. This dichotomy between the traditional workflow of an architect and the new design constraints presented by the new technology introduced a gap in the design to construction cycle. The new cycle between design, tool, materials and construction is still evolving and redefining the architectural profession. To contribute to bridging this gap, this research introduces a workflow and an easy to implement toolset for architects and other users to address printability constraints at the outset of the

design process for a floor plan generation. The proposed method adopts a robot arm on a rail as the construction method and applies the developed method on house design. The proposed tools are designed to provide instant visual and geometrical feedback for the users to interact, check and validate the printability of a given floor plan layout. They have been designed to be interactive, flexible, fast, expandable, and easy to use by architects and other users. Additionally, they have been tested on a variety of house layouts with different complexities. By simplifying the tools and the process, the research seeks to bridge the gap between design and construction and make 3d printing technology accessible to a wide range of users. It also aims to contribute to the ongoing research on 3d printing towards making this technology mainstream for construction.

Designed for:

MSc. in Computational Design at Barttlet - Thesis Project

Year: 2021

Tools : Rhino - Grasshopper3D

EXPLORING PLAN DESIGN AND RAIL PLACEMENT

TOOLSET OVERVIEW

INPUT PARAMETERS GEOMETRY

exterior_walls_centrelines

interior_walls_centrelines

exterior_split_points

interior_split_points

rail_line

prin�ng_layer_width

robot_maximum_reach

rail_minimum_width

All the visual and analysis tools work in a simultaneous manner. As the user begins to modify the starting parameters, instant visual feedback will occur to guide him/ her to modify the design and/or

rail placements to their preference. The designer can interact to modify any of the input parameters (walls, split points, rail placement, etc.) and monitor the effect on all the visual tools in real-time.

Visualization and Evaluation tools and Generation tool can take the inputs directly from the main user input parameters, or the modified version through the Geometry Modification Tools.

VISUALIZATION

PRINTING FIELD GRAPH

PRINTABILITY EVALUATOR

RAIL PLACEMENT ZONES

RAIL PLACEMENT & DIRECTION GUIDE

WALL GEOMETRY & INFILL

GENERATION

PLAN EXPLORATION

TOOLS DETAILS

The developed tools are divided into three main categories: (i) Geometry Modification tools, (ii) Visualization tools, and (iii) Generation tools.

Each of the tools aims to target/ visulizae a certain aspect of the printing constraints.

Geometry Modification tools will analyze the curvature changes along the exterior walls, and allow for geometrical changes to improve printability.

Visulization tools gives an instant visual feedback of the plan and tested rails. It highlight areas where rails cannot exist (Rail Placement Tool), provides a visual guide for

the rail placement and direction by finding the medial axis of each room and the distance field graph (Rail Placement & Direction tool), show the area each rail can cover (Rail Field Graph tool), and lastly, it gives a feedback on the printability condition/enclouser of each wall segment (Printability Evaluator).

After analyzing the given floorplan for printability and rail position, the next step will be to generate the 2d geometry of the wall. The Generation tools does that by generating the infill pattern and a possible printing toolpath.

Geometry Modification Tools

walls >= max_allowed_length

Visualization Tools

rail_free_space

sine-wave_frequency

Number - input

obs�cals_to_test

list of Curve - Input

exterior_full_centerlines

Curve - Input

sine-wave-amplitude

Number - Input

rail_possible_space

list of Curve - Output

interior_full_centerlines

list of Surface - Output Rail Placement

exterior_full_centerlines

Curve - Input

obs�cals_to_test

list of Curve - Input

Curve - Input

exterior_full_centerlines

Curve - Input

indica�ve_rail_direc�on

list of Curve - Output

obs�cals_to_test

list of Curve - Input

indica�ve_rail_direc�on

list of Curve - Output

obs�cals_to_test

list of Curve - Input

Wall-design using digital stereotomy DIGITIZING STEREOTOMY

This project that explore the possibilities of using digital fabrication techniques as the main driver of the design. Two different technologies were used to guide the wall design of this project, sterotomy and robotic wire-cutting. Stereotomy is a design strategy for domes, vaults, and bridges such that stone or wood blocks could be assembled into selfsupporting constructions without any glue at

the interfaces of the blocks. The process of adapting individual blocks such that when assembled can create a stereotomic structure influenced the workflow for designing elevational wall. In order to fabricate the stereotomy blocks, the blocks were designed to be fabricated through robotic wire-cut technology.

Designed for:

MSc. in Computational Design at Barttlet - Studio Project

Year: 2021

Tools : Rhino - Grasshopper3D - RhinoVault2

STEREOTOMY & ROBOTIC HOT-WIRE CUTTING

The robotic hotwire cutter is used to generate complex forms by cutting 3-D blocks of material using a robotic arm and a custom-made cutting tool.

In hot wire cutting, the wire moves through directrices to cut EPS material. Any changes in the properties of the directrices will affect the motions and consequently the final form. When hot-wire cutting, arbitrary surfaces are translated to hot-blade-cuttable geometries

It targets cost-effective production of double-curved foam moulds.

During cutting the cutting tool is kept in a horizontal plane perpendicular to the cutting direction. Due to the use of a wire to cut the geometry, the geometry must be a ruled surface (a surface that is made by the translation and rotation of a straight line segment).

TOPOLOGY EXPLORATION & FORM-FINDING

The process consists of 4 phases: geometry tool, form finding tool, blocks division, and blocks generation tool. Each of these phases can work entirely independent so that it is adapted to take the input from any source, and therefore not relying on previous phase. In the first phase, different geometries can be created

using different topologies. After creating the topology, the mesh is refined for next phase.

Phase 2 is the form finding phase using TNA software (RhinoVault) to take the output geometry from phase one and find the responding thrust network mesh applying different constrains.

BLOCK GENERATION FOR FABRICATION

BLOCK GENERATION

In phase 3, the output mesh from the TNA is used as an input to create staggered Pattern.

The last phase in the tool, is to create the block for wire-cutting fabrication

technique. In this phase, two constrains were met. The first one is for the sternotomy to have all the cutting planes normal to the surface. The other constrain

is to have the block made out of rulled surface for wire cutting.

NEURO-REMAPPING

Remapping brain pulses into 3d artifacts

“The Basis of the Universe Isn’t Matter or Energy - It’s Data” James Gleick

The experiment aims to explore brain waves as ultimately made of information. Such information is not purely an abstract entity, it can be used to create objects with formal expression. Our brain continuously generates dynamic models in the form of pulses that can be output as information and used to generate different instances of objects. The project involves detecting brain pulses with EEG device and converting them into data for pattern mapping to create a variety of artifacts. A

computational algorithm translates real-time information from brain signals into raw data. Raw data represents the electrical pulses of the brain. The algorithm will transform these data into the five different brain waves according to their frequency and out them as numbers. These numbers are used to generate discrete curves which are used to generate the different patterns on the surfaces of these artifacts. Each artifact acquires a separate identity that represents a persona’s state of mind at a particular moment.

Designed for:

ControlMAD Master Course Final Project

Year: 2019

Tools : Rhino - Grasshopper3D

Muse Headband - Muse Monitor

EEG-DETECTING DEVICE

EEG (electroencephalogram) represent the electrical activity of the brain.

Electrodes are attached to the scalp and detects the electrical impulses in the brain.

In this project, I used MUSE Headband.

Muse Headband is a wireless EEG device that detects the electrical activity of the brain using 4 sensors:

-TP9 :Left ear

-TP10 :Right ear

-AF7 :Left forehead

-AF8 :Right forehead

Gamma 32-100 hz

Beta 13-32 hz

Step 1: Divide initial curve based on the percentage of relative band power of each brainwave

Step 2: Modify each segment to visually represent different brainwaves

Alpha 8-13 hz

Theta 4-8 hz

Delta 0.5-4 hz

Step 3:

Create the profile of the vase using the modified curve

INFORMED FLUIDITY

Artifacts Design Inspired by the Fluidity of Water Ripples

Inspired by the interaction of forcefields of water ripples on a still surface, a series of artifacts are created simulating the fluidity of water movement. Based on the surface topology, the ripples move gently and elegantly from the points of impacts outward. Different light effects, based

on the surface material, add depth and transparency to the overall fluidity.

Year: 2020

Tools : Rhino - Grasshopper3D

CONCEPT

Simulation of the impact of impact of water ripples on the different typologies of objects. Starting with a given geometry, a negotiated forcefield has been applied to create a fluid ripple effect on its surface. The forcefield was created by the placement of a number of points with a varying strength value. The resultant field is a result of a negotiation between points strengths and their locations.

THE END

Heba Eiz

Computational Designer | Architectural Programmer | Design Researcher

heba.eiz.20@gmail.com