Gibbs james 607591 finaljournal by James Gibbs

STUDIO: AIR James B. Gibbs Semester 2, 2015 Tutor: Chen Canhui

CONCEPTUALISATION // TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A // CONCEPTUALISATION A.00 Introduction A.01 Design Futuring A.02 Design Computation A.03 Composition/Generation A.04 Conclusion A.05 Learning Outcomes A.06 Algorithmic Sketchbook A.07 References PART B // CRITERIA DESIGN B.01 Research Field: Geometry B.02 Case Study 1: Geodesic B.03 Case Study 2: Biomimicry B.04 Technique Development B.05 Technique Prototyping B.06 Technique Proposal B.07 Algorithmic Sketchbook PART C // DETAILED DESIGN C.01 Design Concept C.02 Tectonic Elements + Prototypes C.03 Final Detail Model

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PART A // CONCEPTUALISATION

A.00 // INTRODUCTION James Brian Gibbs // 607 591 Hey I’m James, I’m a third year Architecture Student at Melbourne University. This semester I’m studying Studio: Air, which is going to push me into computer aided design where I would usually feel more comfortable drawing and sketching. I’m currently 22 and living in Kensington in a share house. I enjoy basketball, seeing bands and this really does feel like a dating profile. So far through my degree I’ve studied Studio: Water, Construction Analysis and Design, and a series of Architectural History classes including Momo to Pomo, Foundations and Formative Ideas in Architecture. I’m really looking forward to this class because of the conceptual focus at the core as well as a strong prototyping to test our own ideas out more physically. I’m also looking forward to some of the final designs having seen some of the big ones from last semester on display.

A.01 // DESIGN FUTURING Castle Rock House, 2015 // Herbst Architects The Beach house at Castle Rock designed by Herbst Architects showcases a traditional approach to housing design. This split level holiday house is designed in such a way as to act as part of its surrounding nature rather than to showcase itself. The surrounding views are the main attraction here.

“The home has a fabulous openness: it feels at times as if it little more than a series of casual shelters on the way to the beach” The reason I have chosen this project was for its active relationship with the surrounding nature, yet it has been treated with a very analogue approach to design. As opposed to the series we have been shown during tutorials and lectures where the concentration has been on using software to either enhance a design or to formulate a form completely, a project that seeks the same result of a cohesive

relationship with nature without these tools can still be successful. This project isn’t going to influence a movement or even change the thought processes of other within the industry, however the point I’m getting at it this type of architecture is inherently personal. The house was built not to showcase style but to serve a purpose to a family of four, for this family to visit every year and to create their own bonds to the form and texture and openness. The architecture is only complete after years of work, and not through it’s form but through the memories created within its space.

A.01 // DESIGN FUTURING Italian Futurism, Early 20th Century The Italian Futurist movement published its first manifesto in 1909, outlining their intentions to overthrow the current backwards trend in architecture, the group’s obsession with the bettering technology of the time went on to influence a number of unbuilt projects they drew up. The purpose of their work was looking at the future and shunning all forms that had been created in the past. They saw the new technology they had as a opportunity to push the limits of what could be considered a built form or building. The new technology wasn’t even new ways to design building but were new advances in other areas such as motor cars which caught the futurists obsession. Unfortunately world war 1 saw the death of 2 out the 3 leading members of futurism, literally killing off the shortlived but extremely influential movement. The fact that none of their drawn works ever saw fruition in the built form didn’t translate into a lack of influence in following

architectural movements of the next 100 years. Influence is said to have extended into the art deco movement in the 20’ and 30’s but most notably we can see the extension of futurism into the post-modern version of neo-futurism led by Eiro Saarinen and Alvar Alto (disputed) in the 60’s and 70’s.

“11. We will sing of great crowds excited by work, by pleasure, and by riot; we will sing of the multi coloured, polyphonic tides of revolution in the modern capitals; we will sing of the vibrant nightly fervor of arsenals and shipyards blazing with violent electric moons; greedy railway stations that devour smoke-plumed serpents; factories hung on clouds by the crooked lines of their smoke; bridges that stride the rivers like giant gymnasts, flashing in the sun with a glitter of knives; adventurous steamers that sniff the horizon; deep-chested locomotives whose wheels paw the tracks like the hooves of enormous steel horses bridled by tubing; and the sleek flight of planes whose propellers chatter in the wind like banners and seem to cheer like an enthusiastic crowd.” //Exert from the Futurism Manifesto by F.T. Marinetti

A.02 // DESIGN COMPUTATION Various Works // BEEPLE, Mike Winkelmann When we talk about design computation we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean to talk about design software taking over the creative process from the artist or designer. Rather we talk about the designer and computer generated design coming together to create a process of efficiency in design. With the help of a computer a designer may have the opportunity to refine their own ideas multiple times before settling on a final design or form. In the case of Beeple we have an artist who uses software, in particular Cinema4d, to create a series of releases over a multitude of media. In particular he has become famous in his field for his commitment to releasing new projects everyday, starting in May 2007. Beeple releases all of the C4D files for each of his videos so that you can mess around with the process or use it as a tool to learn yourself.

Beeple has numerous videos that he creates using scripting work to gives fractal-like loops of mountains growing or water flowing etc. The way Beeple uses his software may not be in terms of design by script, but rather he himself is using his self to create the forms and structure seen in his work. He doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessarily use scripting to inform the forms of his work however its possible to see the same type of thinking coming through his work in a manual way.

A.02 // DESIGN COMPUTATION Dragon Skin Pavilion, 2012 // LEAD + EDGE Laboratory The Dragon Skin Pavilion is an architectural installation designed and built for the 201112 Hong Kong & Shenzen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture.

material’s basic properties and pushing its structural performance, while being aware of the aesthetic values and effects the system provides.

The Pavilion utilizes a newly developed environmentally friendly material called “post-formable” plywood, which incorporates layers of adhesive film to allow easy single curved bending without the need for steam or extreme heat. With no material loss, a CNC mill divided 21 of these 8x4 plywood sheets into 8 identical squares, and accurately cut the unique connection slots that were programmed into the pavilion geometry by computer.

This type of design is directly using the material to test the type of form possible, the advantages they have found mostly circle around their ability to manipulate the material into whatever form they wish. However I still find they couldn’t have designed this without testing the material limits and using software to create the connections necessary for such a unique system of connections.

The structure challenges and explores the spatial, tactile, and material possibilities that architecture can offer by revolutions in digital fabrication and manufacturing technology. The Dragon Skin Pavilion redefines the role of architectural design in construction by actively working with the

A.03 // COMPOSITION GENERATION ICD + ITKE Research Pavilion, 2010 // ICD + ITKE The ICD Pavilion (2010) is a great example of a structure that started with the material and experimented with its own-physical properties in order to find the final form of the pavilion itself.

always start in terms of “what am I aiming to achieve here? What will this look like? How do I go about building this project?” So therefore coming into a project like this is very eye opening.

In the case of the structure on the right the starting material are simple plywood strips that were bent to the optimal strengthening angles and then this is what influenced the limits of the material and form. Through a series of physics simulations and tests they are able to overlap the strips in order to provide such a shelter; resulting in 80 different strip patterns constructed from more than 500 geometrically unique parts. Total dimensions finishing with a diameter of 12 metres and plywood of 6.5 mm birch plywood. The connections here are what gives the structure its horizontal stability, due to being able to predict where weak points on each strip would lie and therefore how to counteract these forces. When we usually think about design we

By beginning with the material and experimenting in such a way it allows the designers to surprise themselves with what form they could possibly create. Obviously given the specifics of this project you would be able to picture the form without the software quiet easily, at least a simplified version of the final. However thinking more about how it will all fit together is were the software would’ve been able to really steer the specifics and practicality of the project.

A.03 // COMPOSITION GENERATION Subdivided Columns // Michael Hansmeyer Michael Hansmeyer has a completely different approach to his design. Hansmeyer is a heavy scripter, his designs are the result of intensive form finding using a style of repetitive patterning and subdivision resulting in a type of form completely original from similar computer generated artists/architects. His style looks similar to the ideals from the futurist’s, I’d wager they would get along pretty well if they were to see his work now. The sub-divided column is at its core a Doric column that he has added and subdivided and several different levels; the first level is at the overall form, in order to keep the column in a regular form its necessary to give the interpretation that “this is still a column”, while also being able to work at the micro scale of the project which entails making sure the sub-division of the smallest parts of the project are able to patternise and shrink while not just copying one another, allowing the entire project to

stay as original as possible throughout each individual column. This style of computerised design is where we get into a debate over what is the meaning behind such a design, if any, can be justified through the process. If we look to architecture as a way of bringing meaning to a project, or at least in the way that there is an overall theme and generated idea behind a project. How do we then justify the creation of complicated form for the sake of being intensely complicated. Is there any meaning behind Hansmeyer projects? I do enjoy the look and the theme he has created with his own set of work, but I’m unsure of how he designs more closely. How has he created some kind of meaning behind his work, or is he simply creating masses and hoping for the best? Is there a method in his madness or simply madness?

A.04 // CONCLUSION To conclude Part A we look to the history of design and how rapidly digital design has been able to change our whole concept of design and fabrication/construction. The whole idea of form generation has been revolutionized by our ability now to test forms never before seen or realised manually even 20 years ago.

these brand new form and technology to inform their own designs for factories and city buildings, all of which were never built although countless drawings still exist of their vision. A vision that really saw the future of architecture and sought to make you feel almost uncomfortable in the presence each drawing had.

We started out by looking at a project in New Zealand, where they are really relying on their own taste in visual layout and practicality to design a beach house that can be used by a young and growing family. Their ideas in design and architecture specifically aren’t necessarily looking to broaden the horizons on their clients, rather to make something for the regular family to enjoy and make their own.

I then showed you the collected works of beeple in our design computation, the ideas I was looking at here was his use of software to design many works while still not completely by using the algorithmic styles of some other designers. His works are for the most part manually driven by his own vision but he is using software where be it Adobe Illustrator or in most cases Cinema4D and what he’s really doing is looking to increase his skills and compatibility with the software, the more he uses it the more he’s able to understand the program and let the program understand him and what he’s trying to get out of the

Now when we look at the Futurists we see a group hell-bent on pushing the limits of what the current technology of their time can do (automobiles, trains etc) and using

software. Ultimately you become fluent on the software as we are attempting this semester with the Grasshopper plug-in for rhino. The Dragon Skin pavilion and the ICD Pavilion are both examples of using the material itself to inform the overall form of a project. Where we see the flexibility and strength in particular help feed the design process and create the hundreds of individual connections that would otherwise have been impossible to figure out with trial and error for years. This style of software generated design allows for endless design around the material of a project.

nothing in common with the result of the design, he’s created almost the monsters that grow and move out off lines of code he’s place into a computer. This is the peak of designing something completely otherworldly, something that shouldn’t even exist in this world. But this is the point we were getting towards, we are getting to a point in design where we need to look to computer software design to push as far as we can the design limits and I feel that this helps everybody long-term in the way we are able to think about what design really is; and that’s a solution, and this is it.

Michael Hansmeyer is where I chose to finish my research, he has a design style that is incredibly rare and complicated. His design have reminders of futurist works however he creates them in such a way that the original form has absolutely

A.05 // LEARNING OUTCOMES From what weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been reading and researching through this part of the semester I feel like Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve gained somewhat more of an appreciation for the intricacies of computer generated design. Originally I pictured those types of designers as someone who would throw together some ridiculous patterns and forms and call it a building but now I feel like there so much more to designing this way than I had ever realised. These kinds of software can be used for so much more than pure form finding. In particular I like the use of these designs to showcase issues that have been occurring in the world today or the way they highlight and bring attention to issues people may not be realising are happening. Its interesting to find a project that is more inclined to use the nature or context of the design to inform the form or somehow react with its surroundings to make a design more interactive.

A.06 // ALGORITHMIC SKETCHES

A.07 // REFERENCES SUB HEADING // Author of Artist Castle Rock Beach House / HERBST Architectsâ&#x20AC;? 11 Aug 2015. ArchDaily. Accessed 11 Aug 2015. <http://www.archdaily.com/771657/ castle-rock-beach-house-herbst-architects/> http://herbstarchitects.co.nz/media/ uploads/2015_02/HE0414_H_Herbst_ VjRKW4D.pdf Apollonio, Umbro, ed. Documents of 20th Century Art: Futurist Manifestos. Brain, Robert, R.W. Flint, J.C. Higgitt, and Caroline Tisdall, trans. New York: Viking Press, 1973. 19-24 http://www.kpf.com/project.asp?S=1&ID=509 h t t p : / / l i f t a rc h i t e c t s . s q u a re s p a c e . c o m / journal/?currentPage=4 http://l-e-a-d.pro/w/wp-content/ uploads/2012/02/DragonSkinPavilionPressPack.pdf http://www.oliverdavidkrieg.com/?page_ id=123 http://www.michael-hansmeyer.com/projects/ columns_info.html?screenSize=1&color=1

PART B // CRITERIA DESIGN

B.01 // Research Field: Geometry The Turbulences FRAC Centre // Jakob + MacFarlane Architects Built in 2013 the project was designed as an exploration computer generated design referencing the historical context in a new way, literally causing a â&#x20AC;&#x153;zone of turbulence (and therefore the name). The Volumes created by the meeting of the two geometries (referenced by historical context on site) are extruded vertically and stretched over the court and toward the city. From what I understand of the building the idea was to create a building that looks like it was growing out of the site, not in terms of biomimicry but in terms of growing out of the relevance of the site and its context, the type of design that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t explicitly have a form. The form then is derived out of finding a way to conceptualize the impact of a the overlap of two historical events on the

same site. Although the concept behind the design seems purposely vague the geometry itself is more interesting.

B.01 // Research Field: Geometry Hylozoic Soil, 2007 // Phillip Beesley Made up of a network of micro-controllers, proximity sensors, and actuators, the Hylozoic Soil is an interactive environment. Modeled parametrically and being digitally fabricated, the system responds to the movement of occupants through the gentle ripple motions that occur throughout the acrylic skin. A series of sensors embedded into the skin communicate with the arduino board which send signals to a number of actuators to control the movement of different â&#x20AC;&#x153;breathing poreâ&#x20AC;? components to gently brush against people in the space. I was drawn to this architecture due to this interaction with its occupants, a strong connection in kinetic architecture that responds to the direct touch of passerby by. I am very much interested in this kind of an interaction within my own designs, and less interested in something that is only meant to be seen. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m looking more into some that interacts with our other senses, most likely touch.

B.02 // Case Study 1 Geodesic SmartGeometry2012, Gridshell // MATSYS Run over 4 days at SmartGeometry 2012, this workshop focused on the design and construction of a wooden gridshell. The team used only straight members of wood bent along the geodesic path to create a small self supportive structure. The team used parametric tools to minimize the material waste on the project while still maximizing its presence. The geodesic properties of the design are shown to be limited by the materials used in construction. In this way the form of the building itself is derived not from the mind of a designer to look this way originally, but in the way that they were able to manipulate the wood and let its limits surprise the team. Similar to the way the ICD paviliion was generated through material performance. The goals of the structure are to find those limits in the materials, this is what informs the project. The structures possible are to

be tested in order to push the limits of the structure and the process behind its own design.

Geodesic Trees // Species 5

Unknown // Species 4

Solid Arcs // Species 3

Structural Piping // Species 2

Membrane // Species 1

B.02 // Iteration Matrix

B.02 // Results of Form Finding

During the first species I was really experimenting in creating some kind of membrane that could possibly be added to the geodesic domes. After changing the original geometry and trying to fit the geodesic through the points I became in the imperfect lofts that had begun to come out of the geodesic accidents In the second species I simply was messing around with the location of the beams in the geodesic mesh. Testing the limitations of the possible curves that came out of the geometry During the third species set I reworked the arcs through each geometry, looking into the structural properties of the shapes I was creating. The last one in the series went to single wide boards that had a centrepoint and streamed out, the idea was a connecting centre point similar to the many in a geodesic dome, however with just one piece in the centre and allowing the rest of the boards to support each other. The fourth series was more sporadic that my previous ones, I was more looking for a geometry to surprise me, the first part was looking into how to triangulate the lofting over the original form and then I looked into these cubic shapes along the paths

of the geodesics. The goal was more to create some 8-bit looking version of the geodesic and seeing how the form would react to the shapes I was pumping in. During this exercise we were expected to experiment with the overall goal of the original style, in my case to experiment on how I could manipulate the geodesic qualities on different geometries. I found that adding more beams across the surface gave a more complex final geometry. From this I gathered that the complexity was lost if I tried something to big. The scale of the design definitely helped add a complexity and liveliness to the final. Also I found myself a bit limited in geometric shape, the geodesic qualities only worked on certain geometries and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not sure if Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d continue to stick through it in the next case study. However a good part bout starting out here was the better understanding of how the materiality affects the geometry and possibly carry this through into the next part of the project.

B.03 // Case Study 2 Biomimicry Canopy, Toronto, 2010 // UNITED VISUAL ARTISTS The project came to my attention while researching for case study 2.0, where my tutor advised that the project after expressing my own concerned that the geodesic patterning structure was too restricting in terms of form. During my research I was excited to see the extra non-architectural side to the project, the side most likely done by coding the lights to react as if you were walking through a forest. I felt like this really would engage pedestrians (mostly at night) as they walked through the literal canopy. Identifying the Canopy’s pattern at first seemed a frustrating task since I couldn’t get a decent direct view of the under side of the project head on rather than at an angle. However upon discovering this as a Cairo pentagonal tiling, I was able to begin on reconstructing the geometry in Grasshopper. “Inspired by the experience of walking

through a forest’s dappled light, Canopy is a 90-meter long light sculpture spanning the front facade of the Maple Leaf Square building in Toronto, Canada. This permanent architectural installation is made of thousands of identical modules, organised in a non-repeating growth pattern. Their form, abstracted from the geometry of leaves, reflect nature. A combination of daylight and artificial light sweeping through the work recalls the activity of cells Within a leaf, leaves in a forest canopy, or a city seen from the air.” ~United Visual Artists

B.03 // Reverse Engineering Upon further examination of the pattern scattered across the Canopy project I noticed diagrammed out the shapes I could see and the repetition of certain elements. In this case I noticed that each Pentagon was made up with 2 right angles on its interior and this was common across all the pentagons. In online research I was able to find the exact tessellation I was looking for (as seen below) but ran into trouble without lunchbox installed with grasshopper. My tutor was able to help me with the tessellation and gave me the push towards the final reincarnation I was able to produce Hexagon section proved to be much simpler with lunch-box, however once I moved into creating the pentagons that would divide up the hexagons I ran into trouble. In order to create the pentagons I Needed to find the points along the edges of each pentagon and drawn them from there. Although first of all I needed I middle line to draw the division of the pentagons and then I could draw in the connecting

lines to make pentagons. From here I had my basic pattern done, and could go about mixing the pattern up or experimenting with the type of form I could use it on. This meant making the pattern 3 dimensional, and led me to offset each face and loft between the original and the offset faces.

Patterning // Species 4

Piping // Species 2

Void opening space // Species 1

B.04 // Technique Development

Hollowed out // Species 3

PART C // DETAILED DESIGN

C.01 // Design Concept: Culmination + Collaboration Hsin Yeh // PLANT-NET

Yuliana Widjaja // Be-dight

Concept: To express the power and beauty of plant growth and engage people with it. Complex pattern created by repetition of simple geometry, script knowledge of generating pattern by drawing curves through specific points. Also using Kangaroo to form find.

Concept: To replace the current Dightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Falls vvertical slot fishway with a structure that is much more aesthetically pleasing yet still just as or more so functionally practical than the current concrete mass. Complex meshing script, forces the surface to the point of failure in order to generate warped complex forms using physics simulations.

Feedback: To have a clear reason of what the pattern and form of the network are inspired from. To think about a more suitable material, and develop a construction method. To test shading effect with analysing software, such as Ladybug.

Feedback: Strong concept, great idea of what the project could possibly be

James Gibbs // NO NAME

Tingru Liu // Net Tower

Concept: To imitate the surrounding nature and to showcase the uninhibited nature of certain areas of the site. Hexagonal patterning system throughout the form of the structure, both are dependant on each other. Knowledge of patterning using points created along each edge of the hexagons, dividing up the hexagon into irregular or regular shapes

Concept: An interactive structure suspended above water & ground. Network pattern is simple but strengthen enough for loading some weight. Light-weight material (Lycra) makes the installation possible to suspending on surrounding trees.

Feedback: Needs a stronger reasoning behind the form, not enough depth in the project. Too superficial, didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t dig deep enough into the project.

Feedback: Lack of reason why on this site. Need more work to testing the strengthen and pressure on trees.

C.01 // Design Concept: Site Context Dight’s Falls, Yarra Bend Park The site for this project is important due the already existing fishway on site which is the topic of the design. What we have on site already is a large engineered vertical slot fishway, the reason this is the topic is due to the presence this gives the area, already this is a well visited area due to its extensive park, walking areas and close proximity low to medium density housing. The site is mostly visited as a thoroughfare for those exercising, walking or riding to places of work. However what I’ve also noticed is many local students are taken to the areas from High Schools, Primary schools and in some cases straight from the Collingwood children’s farm. What this means for the site is a large presence of visitors both young and old and therefore the exposure is a great opportunity to turn this very basic engineered concrete vertical slot fishway, which doesn’t look very pretty by any means, into something more exciting for human and fish and to really make the area much more exciting than the current concrete block will allow the site to ever be

The University of Melbourne Dight’s Falls

Existing Vertical Slot Fishway Existing Surrounding Walking Tracks Collingwood Children’s Farm Existing Surrounding Parklands

C.01 // Design Concept: Current Fishway ALREADY EXISTING PROJECT

C.01 // Design Concept: Design Proposal The design intention is to keep the major elements that are necessary in Fishway as designed by the engineer, but transforming the wall shape maximize its efficiency. A research of innovative fishway design by Martin Mallen-Cooper, Brenton Zampatti, Ivor Stuart, and Lee Baumgartner in June 2008 concludes that â&#x20AC;&#x153;manipulating Turbulence by adding wall roughness in the vertical slot design can improve performanceâ&#x20AC;?. Previously they used PVC Pipes to achieve this. For this reason, instead of using PVC pipes, we want to change the wall texture to achieve the same outcome but minimising the cost and use of extra material. More so with the new design we are looking to extend the length of the fishway from its current 40 metres worth of tunnel up to between 60-70m. What this would mean for the design is a slow gradient for the

water to fall and in response a lowering of water velocity overall for the newly designed fishway. Looking at the current design we also have to be aware of other possible prospects that we are unable to see through our own research. For example how are the slots cleaned or are they cleaned at all. What are they not revealing to the public that could lead to a failure of design on our behalf. These are problems not yet fully realised from our preliminary research into the fishway as it exists today but is something we need to explore through experiments.

C.02 // Tectonic Elements and Prototypes: Prototype 1 This was the first model we decided on, the 3d printed model in the centre isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t to scale but it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessary to be shown in scale; in fact it was impossible to print to scale. The point of the model was only to give the viewer a way of picturing the form of the fishway on the site. What you really get out of this first prototype which is more of a final model if anything, is a sense of how well it stands out without looking grossly out of place. The model is successful due to its ability to explain the project at first glance.

C.02 // Tectonic Elements and Prototypes: Prototype 2 This prototype goal was to give clients a better idea of how each apartment would work out, here we have two fins separated every 2 metres. The goal of each fin is to slow down the water enough for the fishes to be able to swim upstream around Dightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Falls.

C.02 // Tectonic Elements and Prototypes: Prototype 3

FINAL FORM FOR PROTOTYPE

SEPARATING T PROTOTYPE INTO

THE O STRIPS

UNROLLING THE STRIPS TO BE LASER-CUT

C.02 // Tectonic Elements and Prototyping: Joint Testing After numerous efforts to find a process of connection that was both strong and efficient, we came to the riveting system. The eyelets were unfortunately too large to give the clean look we were after and the staples were incredibly unstable and wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t last long enough. The rivets however were very strong and durable, there was definitely a lot more effort needed to do each individual rivet, however it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t as time consuming as we had first envisaged and the result was well worth it.

C.02 // Tectonic Elements and Prototypes: Prototype 3

C.02 // Tectonic Elements and Prototypes: Prototype 3 The results of this prototype allowed us to really show our clients and audience what exactly our fishway fins would look like, along with the patterning throughout. Almost an unintended goal was also shown in the form of how sturdy the prototype was. Even in this laser cut plastic we were able to pull and yank and throw the prototype around with it always having the flexibility to fix itself back together. The rivets while taking forever and a lot of effort to put together turned out our best bet due to there improvement on the overall look and strength on the prototype here. We also chose to make the edge strip in black and white not necessarily in the final model but for this prototype to better explain the curves as they were happening in front of the viewer.

C.03 // Final Detail Model

C.04 // Critics Response The main response we received was more in terms of how the fins would actually work to slow down the water, what we are doing that will improve on the current system. In response we have re-thoughtout the laying of each fin to be more like the current project which after more research revealed actually causes a swirling in the water that the original design didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t realise. With this in place weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re confidant the fins will be able to do their job of reducing water velocity on site

C.05 // Learning Outcomes Reflection Before I came to the subject I never really understood the increase in Architects using digital tools to completely inform whole design. I could see why they would use CAD style programs to draw up plans but to have the entire form of the project decided by software and script seemed to me at the time as though they weren’t really trying to use their own creativity to create form. However now when I look to these designers I can really see how much they’ve invested themselves into these scripts and programs. See the effort that’s gone into creating forms so alien from what could have ever been created or identified without these new tools. I saw the streamlining of ideas, appreciated the time saved and how far we were able to explore in such a short period of time. The breakthroughs possible if you’re able to test a form over and over and over again in such a short amount of time.

What I really got out of this class was the idea that we are able to design things that aren’t possible. The limits of fabrication are non-existent, if you have a strong knowledge of what you’re really doing then the fabrication and physical aspects will come along with it. I have learnt an incredible amount on Grasshopper, it’s going to make my efficiency in other subjects that much better if I’m able to design and push ideas a lot farther especially due to the restricted time we already have in our studio subjects. I’m looking forward to really taking the summer to experiment more and more with the program to push along what my own capabilities are in terms of software fluency.