Knitectonics - Scenario - Chapter VI

Knitectonics

Chapter VI

Scenario

George Street Station

scenario

Rigidity

Density

Porosity

Material

Knitting: Type of yarn Number of yarns Solidification: Type of resin Quantity of resin

Machine

Needles: Number Distance

Elasticity

Minimal Wastage

Adaptable

Modular & Portable Incremental & Collaborative

Material

Morphology

Lightweight

Components: Number Size Configuration

Method

Knot type Resin Areas Gravity Weight

System attributes diagram

Detail of knitted wall 1:4

142

Moderate building infrastructure demand

Rapid deployment

Relationality

Flexible

Knitectonics

After establishing a novel machinic fabrication system, cataloguing various tectonic elements that can be constructed and determining the physical material and deployment system, it was imperative to locate the ideal scenario application for Knitectonics.

Analysing the attributes of the system: Physical Continuous / Seamless / Inter-relational knots / Flexibility / Self computing Procedural Rapid and continuous deployment / Portable machine and material (modular, incremental, collaborative) Spatial Hierarchy of spaces / Continuous and interconnected / Multi- scalar (local/ global)/ Networks and nodes Programmatic Skin as structure so column free space / Circulation hierarchy / Directionality/ Connections and bifurcations Performative Embedded structure, infrastructure and services in skin / Economy in structure as lightweight / Energy conscious / Energy harvesting Contexual Possibility of easy connection- physical and cultural- to the context / Minimal impact on ecology / Minimal interference to surroundings while construction / Incremental Economy Minimal material waste during construction/ Maximum output from a minimal setup and input Technical Does not require elaborate construction infrastructure or formwork Resistant to corrosion

143

scenario

Infrastructure An integrated system, with multiple interconnected layers gives us an opportunity to embed micro infrastructure and services into a unified structure. Additionally, the aspect of rapid deployment makes it suitable for macro level infrastructure.

Macro level infrastructure can be broadly categorized as general infrastructure and specialized infrastructure, wherein specialized includes institutional/ industrial/ social/ cultural/ recreational buildings. The strength and lightness of knitted fibre composites and minimal impact to surroundings while construction, are an advantage for urban built infrastructure.

General infrastructure serves the function of channelling people, vehicles, fluids, energy and information in the form of networks and nodes. The continuity and connectivity of the material, assumes a possibility of endless fabrication, deeming it appropriate for transport infrastructure, both networks and nodes of a certain scale. It requires modest infrastructure and minimizes large scale wastage, and justifies ‘economy of means’ by placing material just where it is required. But it is not limited to the directionality and topological variations necessitated by transport networks and nodes, but also for hybrid usage and infrastructure.

The system being multi-scalar, modular and collaborative has the potential to attend to various scales, programmes and sites and can adapt to site constraints with the flexible approaches possible with respect to deployment and material usage and thus can address to a multiplicity of other functions. The nature of the system establishes a prototypical application for it in the realm of quick deployment, minimal impact and integrated mono-system, thus justifying ‘economy of means’ in terms of material, infrastructure, time and energy.

144

Bilbao Station _ Foster & Partners

Stuttgart Station _ Ingenhoven

TGV Train Station _ Santiago Calatrava

Insbruck Tram Station _ Zaha Hadid

Knitectonics

PRT System For testing our system in a proto typical application, we chose to develop the infrastructure for a new transport technology, the PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) system, which could reduce the dependence on cars and buses in dense urban areas and lessen congestion and pollution.

PRT Heathrow Ariport

Multi-Directional Web

Ground station

The Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system which emerged from a fundamental reappraisal of the transport needs of a city and consists of small, lightweight, computer-driven electric vehicles running on slender, special-purpose guideways and has dedicated stations. Its networks can be complex, multi-directional webs.

The vehicles route themselves through the network, bypass all intermediate stations until they reach their final destination, thus creating a higher service density than mass transit. The stations are comprised of one or more berths at which a single vehicle docks, allowing passengers to embark or disembark. Each berth can dispatch up to 400 passengers per hour, meaning that a small station can accommodate large numbers of passengers.

The on-demand nature ensures that individual passenger groups have very little waiting time, and hence the stations do not need to accommodate large crowds. These stations may be located above ground, at ground level, below ground, or even directly inside buildings. The guideways for the lightweight vehicles have a low overall loading requirement (less than half of pedestrian footpaths!) and ensure a low impact profile and minimal visual impact. 1 The PRT system being hi-tech and lightweight, with it complex connections, continuity and bifurcations, networks and nodes, adaptability, demonstrates resonance to our system.

PRT Vehicle

145

scenario

George Street

Cattle Market

Pulteney Bridge

City Aerial _ Proposed PRT Network for Bath 50m

George Street Station Cattle Market Station

Pulteney Bridge Station

Enlarged city area _ 3 Stations

146

Knitectonics PRT & City of Bath Researching PRT systems in urban scenarios led us to an interesting design ideas competition ‘ULTra PRT in Bath’ held in 2009. The city of Bath has a population of 80,000 people, but hosts nearly 4 million tourists each year. The personal rapid transit system potentially could be a solution for the public transportation challenge here. The aim of the competition was to study, investigate and present a hypothetical design of the PRT system in historic environments of Bath, to be used as a prototypical basis for PRT in other historic European cities. 2 The aesthetics, lightness and transparency of knitted fabric, along with the deep rooted culture of knitting in England’s historic towns, lead us to consider ‘PRT in Bath’ as a test scenario.

The circuit selected is a 3.4 km PRT network connecting nine stations around the old city of Bath. For the nodal interchanges, we located three sites where the PRT infrastructure is extended into other civic infrastructure, to explore the prototypical nature of the system on the basis of programme, scale, context, machine configurations and material.

Though all three sites use the same system, the design and deployment approach to each would vary, thus testing and demonstrating the feasibility of our system and also defining its limits and ranges.

George Street Station Cover Canopy (Station street access)

Cattle Market Station Underground Station Exhibition Space / Public Plaza

Pulteney Bridge Station Elevated Station + Tourist Center / Cafe

Bath _ Panoramic view from the south

147

Pulteney Bridge Station

Elevated PRT station

148

Knitectonics

149

scenario

Pulteney Bridge Station The first site is in the historical urban context of the Pulteney Bridge. The two hundred fifty hundred years old ‘living bridge’ is considered to be an instance of successful English Palladianism, that perfectly links the two halves of a Palladian city. The bridge is encircled with elaborate English landscapes and avenues with dense plantation.

The agenda at this particular site was to explore the system on connectivity, topology and views. Our programme for consisted of an over ground PRT station and a tourist information centre and cafe. The design idea was to locate the station and the information centre on the site as entities that balance each other in volume and are connect them through the PRT network and the landscape elements.

The station is located on an existing island platform on the river and the knitted columns form the enclosure. All the columns topologies take inspiration from the trees around; they initiate with one machine knitting the ‘stem’ and split into three branches to create a canopy. The spacing in the canopies filter daylight and the transparency of the knitted texture allows it to assimilate into the foliage.

The tourist information centre and the cafe are placed on the riverside, along the Beazer maze garden. The strategy here was to model the structure, such that the knitted topologies configure useable spaces inside as well as enclosures outside. The covered areas would function as services/ back office.

The semi covered spaces, with views framed through openings, would seat people and could further extend into public areas.

Pulteney Bridge from Cafe

150

Knitectonics 50m

Pulteney Bridge

PRT Elevated Line

Deployment Area

Avon River Beazer Maze Garden

Aerial view from the east

Tourist Center

151

scenario

Elevated PRT station

152

Knitectonics

153

scenario

Cattle Market Station

Main Entrance to exhibition spaces

154

Knitectonics

155

scenario

Cattle Market Station The second site, as suggested by the competition proposal, is on the “Walcot & Milsom Street Gateway” area of the city, which has been identified as one of the three cornerstones of the “Heart of Bath”. It is adjacent to the Hilton Hotel and a large multi-storey car park serving the Podium shopping centre. Set amidst the fine Georgian architecture of central Bath, the site is ideal for mixed-use redevelopment.

Our proposal is to extend the podium for the hotel and negotiate the level differences with conventional construction. The initiative here is to locate our system in the context of an existing building and explore spatiality and volumes. The programme comprises of a PRT station and an exhibition space, extending into a public plaza that overlooks the river.

The two lower level of the podium would be additional underground parking and the top level would be exhibition spaces, separated from the hotel by the PRT network and station. The knitted structures would connect floors in different volumetric capacities below the podium level and extend in a variety of spatial experiences above the podium, creating a public plaza and framing vistas.

The design of exhibition spaces gives us the opportunity to experiment with connectivity, volumes and openings; and so allows us to utilise the knitted surface and layering to demonstrate a play of lights and shadows, opaque and transparent and topologies, such that the inside surface becomes the outside surface and vice versa.

Interior view of underground station

156

Knitectonics 50m

PRT Underground Line

Deployment Area Hotel

Parking Structure

Avon River

PRT Elevated Line

Aerial view from the east

Interior view of exhibition areas

157

scenario

Interior view of main exhibition space

158

Knitectonics

159

scenario

George Street Station

Entrance canopy

160

Knitectonics

161

scenario

George Street Station The third site is the entrance canopy to an underground station of the PRT at George Street. George Street on one hand extends to the river and on the other continues into the elaborate green, open spaces of the historic centre. It houses a number of grand restaurants, boutiques and souvenir shops for tourists.

The focus here was to detail the micro resolution of knitted fabric and embed the performative qualities of different fibres into the structure. The programme is minimal, with the PRT station canopy located on a constrained site of a narrow walkway along George Street. This application is used as the pilot project to demonstrate deployment using our machinic system.

Three big machines are set up to fabricate the spatial elements of the canopy, along with thirty small machines for knitting additional structural elements wherever required. It validates the system to be a unified system, as a variety of fibres are knitted simultaneously to integrate diverse performance features for instance structure, services, lighting and signage. The materials used are pre-impregnated carbon fibre for structure, Gore tenara yarn for the envelope, aluminium conductive fibres for electrical conductivity, solar cells for light luminescence and silicon fibres for signage and data transfer.

The material density and layering varies as per the structural and visual shielding requisites and also in response to the environmental parameters specific to site. For instance, the core of the elevator requires higher structural strength, imparted to the system by layering and dense knitting. It is interesting to note that the materials self compute their equilibrium status to balance the tensile and compressive forces on them and are constantly in a process of equilibrium evaluation.

Interior view of underground station

162

Knitectonics 50m

Deployment Area

George Street

PRT Underground Line

Aerial view from the south

Entrance canopy

163

scenario

Materials selected for deployment

Properties

Structural Pre-Preg

- Lightweight - High performance

Carbon Fiber + Epoxy Resin

- Curing hardener - High adhesion and durability - No shrinkage

Envelope Gore Tenara

- Maintains strength of seam - UV and weather resistant

Vapour Barrier Silicone

- Water resistant - Stable at high temperatures - Elastic

Energy Harvesting Flexible Organic Cells

- Sunlight converted to energy - Forms insulating layer - Customized energy density for buildings

Lighting / Data Silicon Optical Fiber

- Reduces energy consumption - Transports light - High bandwidth and data transfer speed

Interiors Thermoformable yarn

- Low stiffening temperature - Reformable

Mechanical Plastic Tubing Circuit

- Embeds water systems within structure - Withstands high temperatures, during sun exposure

164

Knitectonics Layer

Technical data - Tensile strength is 15 times of steel - Weight is 30% less than Aluminium - Thermoset - Time required to set is 15 m- 24 hrs

- 15% light transmission

- Inorganic polymer/ elastomer - 800% elongation capacity

- Organic photovoltaics - Made of conductuve plastic materials like polymers

- Transparent -Conductive

- Heated to 65 degrees for one minute, sets when cools - Reformed at above settings

- 2mm diameter plastic tubing

165

scenario

1

2

5

6

9

10

Sequence of machine deployment

166

Knitectonics

3

4

7

8

11

12

167

scenario

George Street Plan

168

Knitectonics

169

scenario

George Street longitudinal section and axonometric of one machine head

170

Knitectonics

171

scenario

Notes for Chapter VI 1. http://www.ultraprt.com/ 2. http://www.ultraprt.com/bath/

Entrance canopy

172

Knitectonics

173

Frozen Fibers S a n h i t a C h a t u r v e d i [India] E s t e b a n C o l m e n a r e s [Colombia] T h i a g o M u n d i m [Brazil]

Tutors

Marta MalĂŠ-Alemany Jeroen van Ameijde Daniel Piker

www.knitectonics.com

Machinic Control 2.0 Design Research Lab v13 Archit ectural Association London Phase II Copyright Š Frozen Fibers 2011, otherwise indicated and used only for academic purposes.