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2 .4.2 Techno-pattern: Skin, Environment and Fabrication Carmelo Zappulla
Techno-patterns:
Skin, Environment and Fabrication We may explain architecture through the relationship between Mater and Pater: Matter and Pattern. But just what transforms matter into built systems? The answer is: “techno-patterns”, patterns of materiality and physical organization. The work on matter has implications for the development of patterns, configurations of relationships that are able to integrate many architectural levels. In the process of determination of relationships, technology is not only an instrument but is creative form, it is part of the design process, it is “revelation”. Technology provides transparency, kinetic responsiveness, geometries that define complex surfaces or robotic manufacturing processes. In this article we will briefly see how the role and use of technology has been transformed in the conception of architectural skins and the latter’s relationship with their environmental context.
Revealing patterns in matter, a theoretical framework
The conception of the project cannot dispense with the logic of its materialization: in fact technology often fosters the formal development of the project and unfolds its true essence. For this reason, its material behaviour and technique inform the architectural project from its conceptual foundations to its final realization. By technique we intend those practical procedures, result of a certain know-how that perform a specific activity, whereas with the word technology we introduce the theoretical dimension of the practical process, the knowing-why.2 This idea of technology was anticipated by the Greek notion of technê. In fact, since the time of Plato, there was a strong relationship between epistêmê and technê, where both words referred to knowledge in the broadest sense. The technê encloses the practical domain but also includes the theoretical knowledge. It is a theory that becomes practice; it is concrete and depends on the context.3 In ‘The Question Concerning Technology’, Heidegger proposes that the technê is not primarily concerned with assembling, making or using tools and machines but rather with the phenomenon of ‘revealing’. Therefore, technology is no mere means, but a way of unveiling, bringing-forth. It belongs to poièsis, to the creation process, which generates, and transforms Cover - Marc Fornes, nonLin/Lin Pavilion, 2011 2
by finding new interconnections within the matter. So technology is not just an instrument but also a way of discovering or knowing. Any kind of production is a revelation; it is a way to express, to pioneer.4 In this article we want to talk about technology in terms of ‘material revealing’, as part of the creative process in architectural design. Hence, with ‘material revealing’ we mean, not only the expression of an honest architecture that unveils the way it is constructed, but a process of interaction between different levels: human activity, tools, matter, form, structure, environment, communication. At this point, it seems reasonable to insert ‘revelation’ within a systemic framework, as the result of the just mentioned interrelation aimed to generate a material structure. But then, how do the many levels that underlie the materiality project interact? They interact through patterns, a ‘configuration of relationships’ that links both the practical and the theoretical dimension, abstraction with material manifestation4. Therefore, the pattern is an abstract and graphic device that focuses on the qualitative aspect of materiality and its organization. The pattern is at the same time the organizational scaffolding that precedes the creative act and its further consequence. In the first case the pattern is the ‘a priori’ which determines the materiality while in the second case, it emerges spontaneously from a series of relationships. In this regard, it seems necessary to clarify the relationship between pattern and materiality. To this end, returning to the etymology opens interesting connections between the concepts of Pattern and Matter. The first word probably derives from the Greek Pater, father, the person who creates and gives structure to the family. The pattern is what connects and links the diverse and multiple parts of a composite structure. It is curious how, on the other hand, the etymology of the word matter comes from the Latin Mater, mother, first substance from which others are formed. On the grounds of the interaction between Pater and Mater, or between Pattern and Matter one can explain the generation of architecture or as in this case, more specifically, the relationship between technology and materiality. It is clear that, inevitably, the work on matter has a direct implication on the development of the pattern; an order which belongs to the building act, it emerges during the construction phase or it is consciously strengthened in the design phase. Here’s how the advances in technology affect form, materials, their way of assembling and the architecture conception. The pattern, however, does not impose as an extraneous order over matter but it must interpret its morphological characteristics, the involved strengths, the performative ability, etc...
So form does not act as a higher principle that shapes a passive mass, since it can even be argued that the matter imposes its own form to form. 5 Each material system has a certain “formal vocation”: this vocation brings out the “techno-pattern”, i.e. the pattern of materiality and physical organization aimed at the technical efficiency. Even Focillon vindicates the fundamental relationship between technique, tools, materials and formal generation: the shape is suggested by the material and the technique used. This does not mean that the form follows a sort of mechanical determinism, but that each technique obeys its own laws that act upon the matter suggesting a specific formal development. The matter thus, owns potentialities that create a unique correspondence with architecture, and it manifests through pattern of colors, textures, and geometries. It is a matter, which, in the constructive action, is profoundly transformed, establishing a new order, distinguishable from the raw material. “The wood of the statue is not the wood of the tree,” 7 but it is a material that bears the marks of the process, of the tools that have shaped it, giving it a new order: “the life of the matter has been transformed.” 8 Returning more specifically to architecture and design process, we can detect that often, the spatial generating phase is followed by the material definition. This latter, as we know, influences the first and vice versa, in a feedback loop in which the materialization changes the space and space the matter. The conception of a space is then subjected to construction and material systems that allow interpreting the form in a different way. The space, whether generated by planar cladding, fragmented surfaces, complex geometries, continuous, porous or irregular cavities, will always be subjected to a constructive systematisation, oriented towards the identification of its technical and material elements. Behind the architecture there is always a constructive pattern, a material that is repeated and aggregated according to the principles of efficiency. The concept of continuity is undermined by the technical inability to realize continuous surfaces: even reinforced concrete, the top continuous material, must take into account the use of formwork. The discretisation, i.e. the reduction of a continuous element in to finished parts, is an indispensable process for the construction of the space or, more generally, of a surface: the geometric division is adjusted according to a pattern that responds more efficiently to the constructive aspects of the work. At this point, however, we must distinguish two attitudes. The first and most common consists of a prior formal exploration, mostly disinterested in matter, and a post constructive rationalisation. In this case computation Figure 1 - Herzog & De Meuron, Prada 4
Figure 2 - Self-sufficient Buildings Studio, 2012 IaaC.
becomes a tool that enhances the formal abstraction challenging the laws of matter. It is as if the intangible nature of the computer was also reflected in the immateriality of an architecture that neglects materialization in its initial steps. Instead, in the second attitude formal exploration is rather a consequence or it is intrinsic to the same material experimentation.
Envelope, from indifferentiation to responsivity
At this point we face the topic of the outer skin of architecture, the boundary that separates the inside from the outside, the complex boundary that separates and connects the human life and his environment. A building’s cladding is the most primitive architectural element which protects private property and is exposed to the external environment. Therefore, its skin dialogues with the atmospheric elements, fending off rain, heat and cold, controlling the flux of light, air and orienting the visual outwards. This encloses the interior space in the three dimensions and has not only a technological, but also ecological, political and representative importance. The awareness about environmental issues has attracted interest on
Figure 2 - F. L. Wright, Torre Johnson Wax Laboratory / Herzog & De Meuron, Prada / Sanaa, Dior 6
buildings energy consumption. The outer skin, for example, can no longer be an undifferentiated glass surface that creates a greenhouse effect then countered by air conditioning: it is necessary to study a skin that responds to the direction of the sun, which protects in summer and lets light pass in winter season. In human beings, the skin naturally regulates body temperature, which is a defence to weather changes, and operates through devices that dynamically react to climatic external conditions. Similarly, in architecture “skin is an homeostatic membrane that regulates the energy flows between outside and inside.” 9 Therefore, currently, projects are increasingly focusing on the study of the external surfaces, which must meet specific environmental parameters.
1.1 Undifferentiated Immateriality
Before air-conditioning spread, walls were thick with tiny openings, so as to thermally insulate buildings. In the first half of 1900, the effects of the Industrial Revolution were widely disseminated and transparency became an essential quality in architecture. The Crystal Palace, Universal Exhibition, (London, 1851) is the archetype of modern technological advances applied to glass and cast iron manufacturing. These developments became indispensable conditions in modern and contemporary architecture: great visuals, light, air and immateriality. In fact, these technologies, which originally belonged only to engineers, slowly spread among architects. Mies Van de Rohe sublimated the idea of transparency, achieving with Farnsworth House (Plano, 1950), an almost immaterial architecture. A new interpretation of transparency was experienced by Wright for the Johnson Wax Laboratory Tower (Racine, 1950). Through a process of material redundancy, a linear glass tubes seriation replaces the traditional windows. Full transparency becomes a blurred and fuzzy environmental effect. In recent years, technology has allowed to overcome the distinction between walls, ceilings and windows: it is now possible to use the same treatment for all exterior surfaces, highlighting the objectual character of architecture. An example is the Prada diamond (Tokyo, 2003), by Herzog & De Meuron. This iconic crystal has a glass facade, consisting of a diamond pattern of flat panels, concave and convex integrating different levels: structure, facade, aesthetic, communication and functional distribution. Another architecture in Tokyo with a strong object-character is Dior by Sanaa. From a distance the building, looks like a transparent prism, but closely it unveils a more complex density, by overlapping two surfaces: exterior glass and interior translucent acrylic shaped like a macro-scaled fabric.
1.2 Responsive Static Pattern
The hymn to transparency, on the one hand, has conferred aesthetic quality and hygiene, but on the other hand, has contributed to the massive introduction of air conditioning systems, contributing to global warming. The objectuality that characterizes the cases mentioned above, if, on one side, reinforces a sculptural image, on the other, leads to an undifferentiation which is responsible for a controversial relationship between architecture and context. The homogeneous use of a material or cladding, often contradicts the inhomogeneous characteristics of the environmental context that requires a differentiated and responsive use of architectural envelope. The pattern, applied to the skin, therefore, represents a possibility to maintain an objective character and at the same time interact with the surrounding context, filter the light, solar radiation, visual, etc. Recently, in a context in which the climate debate becomes imperative, architecture is responding by increasing the energy efficiency of the buildings. This is for architects, and in general for the world of construction, an opportunity to generate multi-layers, permeable skins, with the most diverse technological solutions. This leads to an enormous range of applications that allows coping with the various shading systems. The differentiation of materials in relation to the functions, typical of the modern movement, is abandoned, and smarter skins are conceived combining, instead of separating, several aspects of the project: ecological, communicative and representative. For example, Herzog & De Meuron are among the most prolific architects in designing patterns that reinforce the objectuality of architecture and integrate more components of the project. Probably they have designed the first case of a reactive pattern skin: dating back to 1994, Signal Box Aufdem Wolf, Basel. The concrete building is lined with horizontal bands of copper, which allow the transition from opacity to transparency through a gradual twisting. The cladding works as a Faraday cage: isolating the interior from any external electrostatic field. Therefore, within the same system, electrostatic isolation, opacity and transparency can be integrated by a simple twisting pattern. After a design process lasted nearly twenty years, the focus of these Swiss architects remains unchanged in the recent Messe Basel - New Hall, 2013. Also here the envelope consists of two layers and the exterior one is an aluminium mesh, which incorporates a dĂŠployĂŠe pattern. This latter changes gradually its perforation scale, generating a gradient from opaque to permeable. This produces a shaded effect controlling the light penetration without sudden interruptions or materials changes. It is not contemplated to superimpose different orders, there is a unique and possible order able to integrate light, views and constructive system. Figure 3 - Herzog & De Meuron, Messe Basel, New hall, 2013 8
Most of these cases are envelopes developed in two layers: an inner conventional layer and an outer one that gives the final image to the building controlling the light gradient. In a different way UNStudio and Zaha Hadid Architects, deepen the integration of transparency in the skin tessellation. In doing so, some of their projects generate a pattern consisting of modules that change size and depth, allowing through a progressive transformation, the soft transition of light. For instance Z. Hadid’s Civil Courts for the Campus de la Justicia (Madrid, 2007), has a double ventilated skin tessellated by an arrangement of rhombus tiles which respond to environmental and program needs: from open to closed, from flat to 3-dimensional sun-shade according to orientation and views. Moreover, within the same system, these elements gradually change their morphological characteristics. Similar is the approach of UNStudio’s envelope in the design competition for the Omotesando commercial complex (Tokyo, 2008). In this case the variation in permeability is based on a hexagonal tessellation, which reveals an interlocking tissue. A single tile that increases or decreases its frame controls the permeability of the facade.
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1.2.1 Kinematic Responsivity: Mechanical Vs Material
The responsiveness of the examples studied above is based on the variation of a static geometric structure, based on the progressive transition of the skin permeability according to environmental and program conditions. Now we consider the permeability of mobile systems, which respond to external stimuli with movement. A façade shading system is based on the use of mobile elements: articulated, software-controlled membranes regulate the light opening depending on sun exposure. The first operation of this type was developed by Jean Nouvel at the Institut du Monde Arabe (1981-1987). The ‘Arab’ facade consists of 30,000 light sensitive diaphragms, in order to control the sunlight through a mechanized system, controlled by sensors, which filter sunlight. Given that the project dates back to 1981, it is both technologically and culturally innovative. Later, there were other attempts of this kind, like the pneumatic system developed by Foiltec for the project of Atelier Brückner at Expo 2000 in Hanover10 or the social residences by E. François Louviers in France (2006). The idea of generating dynamic facades able to regulate building insolation has been patented by Tessellate™. This adaptive system consists of the superposition of several perforated screens, whose pattern can shift and evolve varying the permeability of the entire skin. The introduction of a mechanical system often involves costly maintenance problems that may cause the failure of the facade interactivity, as happened in the Institut du Monde Arabe. New studies on materials make it possible to replace complex mechanical devices with material systems that intrinsically respond to external stimuli, without the need for electricity, sensors or other electronic devices. In particular, D.K. Sung, following the comparison between human skin and buildings, is examining the possibility of thermal bimetal, a laminated sheet metal material that bends when heated. Her research is based on the development of surfaces that control the entry of light through the deformation of their pattern. This happens without the use of external power, but only because of the material nature. Within the context of intrinsic material responsiveness, Achim Menges and Steffen Reichert, conduct an interesting research about the application of hygroscopicity (the capacity of a material to respond to the moisture) to dynamic material systems of laminated wood.
Figure 4 - Jean Nouvel, Institut du Monde Arabe, 1981-1987
2. The pattern of geometric approximation.
Remaining in the field of architectural skins, major technology improvements have been achieved to design and manufacture complex surfaces through parametric 3D software, and CNC fabrication systems. In this process, several approximation methods are used to transform “mathematical surfaces” in ‘discretized surfaces’ which are fabricated through the assembly of a series of discrete elements. Triangulation is one of the most studied methods because it is the easiest and cheapest way to convert a complex surface into a set of flat triangles. The approximation in this case is very low, unless very small panels are used with the consequence of an increasing number of elements and connections. The puppet theatre by M. Meredith for the Carpenter Center in Cambridge, is an example of a complex surface discretised in a series of triangular/ diamond panels. The fabrication is digital, the designer prepares the files that the machine directly cuts. Since the construction process is shortened, there are fewer intermediaries, less probabilities to re-interpret the project and multiplying mistakes. Note that the triangulation has generated its own completely independent aesthetic, which dispenses with the same approximation of complex surfaces. Many projects are, in fact, designed by triangulation from the first sketches, mainly because of design, as well as economic, reasons. However, research on geometric approximations does not end with the triangulation and the spread of free-form surfaces, but it has also encouraged several scholars to develop more sophisticated systems of a priori rationalization, discarding triangulation and choosing quadrilateral panels. For example, H. Pottmann11 shows how a complex surface can be constructed following its “geometric needs”, simultaneously using flat, single or double curved panels and significantly optimizing production costs. Some surfaces, such as ruled surfaces, can be built through economic polystyrene molds produced with hot wire cutting technique, as in the Nuragic and Contemporary Art Museum by Z. Hadid Architects (Cagliari, 2006). A Surprising approximation approach has been conceived by M. Fornes: some of his projects like NonLin/LinPavilion reveal an ingenious construction strategy based on the division of highly complex surfaces into strips. Therefore, the strips, used for approximating the virtual model, can be virtually unfolded, and then Laser or CNC cut and finally folded and fixed together during the assembly.
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2.1 Digital Manufacturing
As we have seen, the use of Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines and other digital production systems have played a key role in both the algorithmic managing of the project and the using and manufacturing of complex geometries. In particular, the introduction of machines, which directly produce part of the project, involves several aspects to be considered: - Thinking the project according to its possible rationalization and digital construction. This phase often involves re-thinking and re-defining, for example, the configuration and the approximation of a surface. - The preparation of a special construction file. A decomposition process oriented to the direct production of the project components. - The distance between architect and constructor is shortened. The file is prepared in full scale and it is thought to be directly manufactured. It is essential to dedicate a few words to the description of digital fabrication techniques used in architecture, because, as we have stated earlier in this chapter, each of the following types are closely related to the physical process of the project. As we know, there are two digital manufacturing processes, which differ by the way the material is handled: 1. The subtractive process wherein a material is milled, cut or engraved. This process is primarily related to cutting machines: laser, wire EDM, water jet and milling classified according to the number of axes of movement. 2. The additive process, in turn, builds by accumulating material. Although, generally, relates to 3D printing of small-scale objects such as FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) or SLS (Selective Laser Sintering), E. Dini has extended this technology to the large scale. Along with these two fabrication processes also industrial robots have received a great interest in the architectural field. These devices, unlike previous ones, are not specialized in a single task, but can be programmed and customized to develop the most unexpected materials systems. Furthermore, being constituted by a mechanical arm, they are able to move and reach any point within a given spatial domain. Therefore, they perform not only all the tasks already achieved by CNC cutting machines, but they can also be programmed to follow special assembly processes. At the University of Stuttgart, the Institute for Computational Design founded by Achim Menges, has a manufacturing and robotics lab and since 2010 has been working in computer research aimed at the construction of pavilions that involve industrial robots. This leads to the definition of new material systems as in the case of Winding T, 2013-14, a pavilion where robots weave carbon fiber-reinforced composite modules without the use of any molds.
Furthermore, the research laboratory DFAB, directed and founded by Gramazio and Kohler at ETH in Zurich, has generated interesting prototypes by using industrial robots for the assembling of complex bricks arrangements. The Programmed Wall (ETH Zurich, 2006) shows how to teach the machine to build a complex surface through the assemblage of conventional bricks, where students define the constructive logic with which the material has to be organized. The same research has been applied to the architectural scale, on the facade of the Gantenbein (Fläsch, 2006) winery. Recently, in the investigation of Flight Assembled Architecture (FRAC Centre Orléans 2011-2012), researchers have come to hypothesize the construction of a skyscraper by ‘drones’, able to place “blocks” in space, thus overcoming the spatial restriction of robotic arms. These projects represent a challenge that focuses on the computation of material systems that have ancient roots. The interweaving of bricks has stimulated the composition of extremely interesting patterns from the Roman times. Also Arab architecture thrives on complex arrangements of bricks, which often yield ornamental patterns. Historically, the constructive textures of bricks have always had a fundamental importance in architecture, determining innovative structural systems, but the profound change that architecture has lived, has reduced the manpower availability to achieve such complexity. Digital manufacturing provides the possibility to re-experience this complexity by replacing the lost craft capacity: in other words, the machine can play dynamics of manufacturing or assembling. As in the mentioned examples, of Gramazio and Kohler, through the gradual displacement of bricks is possible to produce gradients that gradually introduce air and light. So, what seemed a simple technical device can actually become an instrument of project able to ‘reveal’, to link the construction with other levels of project, such as structural, programmatic, aesthetic and environmental. As we must teach the robot the construction method, we are required to decrypt all phases of assembly and translate them to the machine, maintaining an absolute control over construction. The advantage is unveiling the construction method and being actively and creatively engaged in a process that usually was taken apart from the architect capabilities. On the other hand, however, we must give up the contribution of other professionals and the ‘warm’ imperfection of the manual labour12.
Figure 5 - Gramazio-Kohler, Flight Assembled Architecture, FRAC, Centre Orléans, 2011-2012 14
Conclusion:
We have seen how the study of the skin is a pretext to talk about technology, not only as a tool to make, but above all to understand, to ‘reveal’ creatively. In this generation process, the pattern acts as a bridge between matter and technique. Today, thanks to the urgent interests towards environment, the importance of the skin in relation to the ecosystem is crucial. In this interaction, the envelope feeds on other meanings, such as communicative, social or political. The skin is then enriched with multiple levels and a formal complexity that faces particular geometric and structural issues. The question of the geometric approximation leads to sophisticated studies about form and digital manufacturing. This has opened new paths in the introduction of robotics in the construction process, even revolutionizing the design process or the physical conception of the object. Also the concept of technical reproducibility has changed, although the standard production has remained unchanged during the two hundred years of industrial production. It is only in the last 20 years that this production system has undergone a major transformation through digital manufacturing and the introduction of computer in the production system. On the one hand, the distance between the designer and the object is reduced, and, on the other, the use of computers, through the direct management of the design parameters, allows the generation of morphological declinations.
Notes
1. This section is a revised version and English translation of Zappulla [2014], ‘Tecno-patrones: pieles, contexto y fabricación’. In Palimpsesto, Cátedra Blanca de Barcelona, N.11, p. 10-11 2. Agazzi, E. [1998], ‘From Technique to Technology: The Role of Modern Science’, in PHIL & TECH 4:2, p.3 3. Heidegger, M. [1977], The Question Concerning Technology, Garland Publishing, INC., New York & London, p.13, from the German Vorträge und Aufsätze, Pfullingen: Gunther Neske, 1954). 4.5. Zappulla, C. [2014]. Per una Scienza Architettonica del Pattern? PhD thesis, Barcelona: Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Departament de Projectes Arquitectònics. 6. Focillon H. [1990], La Vita delle Forme, Einaudi, Torino, p. 52. 7. Focillon H. [1990], p. 53. 8. Idem 9. See the lecture on “Envelopes” held by Zaera Polo at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles, 19 November 2009 (the full record is downloadable from http://sma.sciarc.edu/video/ alejandro-zaera-polo-envelopes/) 10. The pneumatic system allows the regulation of the distance between the two membrane-cushions of the exterior skin. The first represents the positive pattern and the other the negative, and their joint action controls the envelope transparency by regulating the proximity of the cushions. 11. Cfr. Pottmann [2010], pp. 72–77. 12. On this, it is worth recalling W. Benjamin’s famous, nostalgic remarks on the loss of the hic et nunc. Almost a century has passed since the first publication of The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1936), and today also architecture can be viewed as the result of a process of ‘technical reproduction’.
References
1.T. Bonwetsch, “Designing robotic assemblies”, en P. Terri, P. Brady, Inside Smart Geometry: Expanding the Architectural Possibilities of Computational Design, John Wiley & Sons, 2013, pp. 218-231. 2. H. Focillon, Vita delle Forme, Piccola Biblioteca Einaudi, Torino, 1990 3. M. Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology, Garland Publishing, INC., New York & London, 1977. 4. H. Pottmann, “Architectural geometry as design knowledge”, The New Structuralism: Design, Engineering and Architectural Technologies, 80 (4), 2010, pp.72–77. Figure 6 - Stigmergic Fibers, IaaC Studio lead by Marco Poletto and Claudia Pasquero- Jean Akanish, Dolan Alexander, Ali Yerdel, Jin Shihui 16
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