This is a journal about the journey through the 2012 second semester of Architecture Design Studio Air which culminated in the design of a freeway art project named Rhythm. It comprises of a personal introduction; discussion on broader architectural discourse and digital computational architecture; exercises and experimentation with parametric techniques; the development of a new parametric technique; an expression of interest presentation for the Western Gateway Design Project; the evolution and process of designing the gateway; and a final presentation of the outcome: Rhythm.
CONTENTS 1. The Case For Innovation
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1.1 Introduction 1.2 The Computer in Architecture 1.3 Parametric Modelling
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2. Cut Case Study
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2.1 Research + Case Study 1.0 2.2 Case Study 2.0 2.3 Developing a Technique
3. Expression of Interest
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4. Evolution of Design
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5. Final Presentation
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References
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THE CASE FOR INNOVATION
about me Hi there, I’m Mark. I’m 20 years old and am currently in my third year of studying architecture. I was born in Perth and moved to Melbourne when I was about 10 years old. I’m an avid musician - I play the guitar, drums, bass and piano and teach guitar at a music school. I also enjoy writing, recording and producing songs.
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DIGITAL ARCHITECTURE EXPERIENCE Over the two years that I have studied architecture I have simply used the computer as a tool for communicating and presenting my designs through drawings and images created with AutoCAD, the Adobe Suite and Rhino, but not as a tool for generating designs. The project pictured above most heavily relates to digital architecture - it relied on digitizing a model and unfolding it’s surface to allow it to be fabricated out of paper (more on the next page). I have limited knowledge on digital architecture theory.
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PREVIOUS WORK: HEADSPACE As part of the first year subject Virtual Environments I designed this headpiece which represents the concept of a song by The Beatles. The headpiece takes the form of a sort of timeline running from the front of the head to the back to symbolize movement through time. The curves and peaks represent the changes in intensity or amplitude of the song, as can be visualised through soundwaves, while the bending left and right represent the way the song moves from left speaker to right or vice versa.
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PREVIOUS WORK: UNEARTHING This project involved designing a ‘discovery centre and place for cultural exchange’ on Herring Island - a small island located about 10km from Melbourne’s CBD. It was driven by the idea of creating path which tells a story about early Australian history through a series of four spaces which act as chapters in a chronological narrative. The chapters conform to the single module of a long rectangular space which encourages movement and flow - the modules are arranged to nestle into the site, and each space is distinguished through the use of light. It draws on BIG’s Danish Pavillion and Libeskind’s Jewish Museum as precedence for its linear exhibition style.
about me Hi there, I’m Mark. I’m 20 years old and am currently in my third year of studying architecture. I was born in Perth and moved to Melbourne when I was about 10 years old. I’m an avid musician - I play the guitar, drums, bass and piano and teach guitar at a music school. I also enjoy writing, recording and producing songs. At the moment, my favourite bands and artists are SBTRKT, James Blake, MF Doom and Arctic Monkeys. I don’t watch too much TV anymore but I love the animated series ‘The Boondocks.’
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A PERSONAL FAVOURITE: CASA CIEN I like this recent (2011) house/studio in Concepcion, Chile, because of the way it combines a clean and minimal modern aesthetic with raw and rugged finishes to create ‘a timeless appearance’. The spaces have a unique feel that achieves the clarity of many japanese modern houses which I like, without feeling cold or empty as they sometimes appear to. This building engages with the discourse of Mies’ well rehearsed adage ‘less is more’ - the design is driven by function (as visible in the nonuniform size and position of openings) and is free of ornamentation and conforms to a general modern style. It is also refers to some projects by Japanese firm SANAA in the way it adopts a simple orthogonal envelope and has irregular ‘punched’ openings, as well as the way it is composed of a repeated square module. It departs from this discourse and becomes unique in the way it adopts rustic timber cladding, almost rusty looking steel window frames, and more-dirty-than-normal concrete, all of which are a little adventurous in the language. It challenges ‘familiar building typologies’ by the way it is not immediately recognisable as a house, and it also provides a valuable contribution to architecture by its obsession on detai l. ‘We wanted an extra layer of concrete that could be removed. it took one worker four months hammering away at the surface to remove the extra 3cm’ (to achieve the desired external finish) (Nuijsink 2011).
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A PERSONAL FAVOURITE: VITRA FIRE STATION While I am a big fan of minimal residential architecture, I also really like Zaha Hadid’s earlier buildings. I think this building is building is beautiful - I love how dynamic, and at the same time, elegant, it is. It can be viewed as adopting a deconstructivist language which had been practiced by the likes of Gehry among many others for some time before this building (1993). This building takes a new sort of approach. While many earlier deconstructivist works express chaos (albeit controlled) quite predominantly, I think this building offers a kind of softness, even though the concrete planes are shard-like, through its materiality and sense of balance. One of my favourite finishes is concrete with expressed joints and casting marks, as seen here and in many buildings by Tadao Ando. The style achieved here is something of a precursor to future Zaha Hadid building’s such as the MAXXI, as well as, perhaps, to works by other deconsructivist architects such as Daniel Libeskind, who later designed buildings which, though very different, achieve a similar dynamism at times (Kroll 2011).
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THE COMPUTER IN ARCHITECTURE There are a number of benefits of using computers in the architectural design process. Computers offer not only the ability to do analogue tasks such as drawing and modelling more accurately and quickly, they are also able to analyse designs to allow designers to test whether ideas such as a shading or acoustic devices will actually work. Most importantly, however, they are able to generate designs and create architectures less bound by the constraints of our sometimes limited imaginations, free to take unprecedented forms bound and directed only by our most important and relevant contextual constraints (Kalay 2004). The traditional architectural design process, nonetheless, can be improved by the integration of the computer as a tool for dealing with rational processes. Problem analysis results in huge amounts of information that can be organised and made meaningful with the aid of the computer; solution synthesis can benefit from the organised constraints of the previous phase; evaluation can be undertaken by the computer in the aforementioned way of analysing and testing proposed solutions; while communication can be achieved through the computer in a way which can ‘expand access to information and open up the design process for more people to become involved’ (Branko 2003). When the computer intertwines with the design process in this way, it offers many new and exciting possibilities for approaching design through the way it can, and already has, allowed for technological advancement and complex geometrical exploration – this is greatly enriching for architecture. With the computer, the possibilities for the way a building can work structurally, materially, spatially and formally are stretched far beyond anything conceivable without the computer. Projects such as Frank Gehry’s well renowned Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao are prime examples of the way computers have pushed these boundaries. In terms of fabrication technique, use of materials and the clarity of flow from idea through to execution, Bilbao represents a leap forward (or outwards) from designing without computers.
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THE COMPUTER IN ARCHITECTURE Within computational architecture, the branch of discourse which particularly resonates with me is that of performative architecture. I am very interested in modern architecture and the idea of form that follows function and ‘the house as a machine for living in’ so this concept of architecture driven by performance aptly appeals to me. ‘The emphasis on building performance (broadly understood from the financial, spatial, social, cultural, ecological, and technical perspective) is redefining expectations of building design, its processes and practices.’ (Branko 2003). For me, having practical and sustainable motivations as the primary shaper of design is a good thing, and the computer again allows this to be realised to its fullest potential. While architecture has always sought to do this, the power of the computer allows for a more detailed and calculated response that is about performance ‘through and through.’ An example is Foster’s GLA Headquarters in London, which adopts complex digital analytical techniques to generate its pebble like form which has a reduced surface area which results in less energy transfer through the building’s skin. I don’t think the GLA Headquarters building is particularly beautiful but it is interesting and I think the use of performance based constraints on the computer has the potential to achieve aesthetically strong architecture which is novel and profound.
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PARAMETRIC MODELLING Parametric modelling is a powerful and exciting field which, like most things, has both advantages and disadvantages. Parametric architecture can be thought of as a bottom-up approach where individual parameters of the design - the details, the nitty-gritty - and their relationships are specified and they ‘interact’ to produce a whole form. It starts at the bottom of the pyramid at the small scale stuff and works up. Conventional modelling, on the other hand, envisions the design holistically, and is concerned with overall organisation and form first, and then moves down in this pyramid to produce a building. A key advantage of parametric modelling is that it is flexible to formal change and drastic development. Because the model is predicated on relationships between elements, the form can be changed and transformed without creating problems. Conversely, changing individual elements can be difficult because these relationships have to be broken or reworked. Conventional modelling represents the opposite – individual elements are easy to change since they are independent, but changing the entire model requires reworking every individual piece. What follows is that parametric modelling is able to produce many more iterations and possible design solutions than its counterpart since it can be done quickly and easily. In the search for a design solution, the ability to produce a great number of candidate solutions is highly beneficial. Conventional modelling techniques, because of the rigidity of their systems, inherently demotivate the designer from embracing change. The prospect of change involves ‘starting over’ in a sense, and time restraints can’t always allow this. Both approaches to modelling have achieved praised architectures worldwide, but it should be noted that large-scale, real-world architecture, in all likelihood, rarely engages in parametricism alone in a purist manner. Parametric processes can be incorporated into the traditional process or occur parallel to it in order to produce a building. Key examples of this are works by Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry, whose firms are typically concerned with form first. They are able to generate ideas for form using analogue means, and use parametric techniques to refine them, or to explore materiality, or to define certain spaces within individually.
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GUANGZHOU OPERA HOUSE - ZHA ‘There are very clear technical parameters that normally govern such a space, and our auditorium had been modelled over a hundred times’ – Simon Yu (ZHA). In the past decade, Zaha Hadid’s projects have become synonymous with parametricism as a style – commonly understood as a malleable and fluid language which also, through its softness, supposedly enhances the relationships between spaces. The Guangzhou Opera House is no exception. Though the origins of the external form is unlikely purely parametric, the main concert hall (or auditorium), as suggested in the quote, relied heavily on parametric tools to satisfy the very specific and complex acoustic needs - ‘reverberation, sound pressure, or volume, and clarity.’ (SeddonKilbinger 2010). Though this may be the case, considering the appearance of the hall (which adopts a language quite typical to other ZHA works), it seems naive to suppose that this form is born purely from performance parameters.The need for the space to take this form is questionable and the use of parametric tools seems to have enabled complex and fluid forms for complexity and fluidity’s sake - other succcessful concert halls have taken simpler measures.
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Private House - Gramazio & KOHLER This project has been hailed as being generated parametrically by the architect(s). I like the way it deviates from the idea of parametricism as a style or language and uses parametric techniques as a way to achieve functional goals while expressing them in a kind of minimal language. “The stipulations of two geometric operations were used to determine the ground plan shape of the house. One condition was to keep the neighbouring house’s view of the lake free, the other was to permit access and parking behind the house.” I’m not entirely convinced about the need to use digital parametric techniques for these requirements, but it may be more complex than I suspect. ‘315 vertical wooden slats, affixed to the surface of the wall, completely envelope the facades.’ This façade undulates gently to allow for ‘flowing levels of transparency’ and more light to enter the strip windows. (Cifuentes 2012). The architect(s) didn’t specify whether these curves were generated parametrically but it seems like they could have been. Parametric techniques here were used with restrain and were able to generate a form that responds to the context in a way that avoids being derivative.
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THE CASE FOR INNOVATION
My JOURNEY SO FAR At this point, parametric theory is becoming quite interesting to me - I appreciate that it has the potential to free the designer in some ways and I guess I can see it being a big part of architecture in the near future, so I’m keen on embracing it. At the same time, however, a great majority of the architecture I see online and in magazines still conforms to more traditional methods and I usually like these works, often more than their parametric counterparts. I really like simplicity (or informed simplicity), but parametric approaches usually deal with complexity and often produce architecture which feels like it has to appear ‘undrawable’ or unconventional to be valid. The resultant style is one which is occasionally beautiful, but usually overwhelmingly complex or messy for me. I think it is a good thing to push our imaginations but I can’t help but feel it is often unncessary or purely experiemental here. Even parametric approaches such as agent based and performative systems (among others), which have very pragmatic goals, end up appearing unncessarily complex and unattractive to me. Functional goals sometimes seem to serve as excuses to generate wacky forms which are then tweaked to achieve subjective aesthetic goals, in turn comprimising those very functional goals! I still think parametric design is an entertaining and liberating thing, but it seems impossible to detach it from the aesthetic it is associated with and I’m not convinced there is a need for a stylistic movement. Whether parametric methods lead to a beautiful language for the sake of beauty itself, I am not sure, and whether they advance the functional performance in a way that demands a new language, I am even less convinced, but they certainly can produce very impressive results which are suitable for some situations.
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BEGINNING WITH AN ATTRACTOR PT. APPROACH Having formed a group interested in an attractor point approach, we began looking at works such as the BKK pavillion in Melbourne, the work of Falice Varnini, the MOCA at Luther Burbank Centre, and then works such as the Central Signal Box in Switzerland. In these projects, what interested us was the idea that the forms were able to appear one way from one point, and a completely different way from another point, in a very deliberate manner - we liked the sense of suprise or illusion that this created. Considering this effect in the context of a freeway, we realised the change of perception of form from one thing to another could be achieved easily, but could only be experienced very quickly - it would be perceived as a momentary pulse. Inspired by the MOCA precedent, we then considered that we could extend the idea by repeating the effect many times to create a sense of rhythm. We envisioned an effect like the percieved rhythm of driving past regularly spaced street lights, only heightened to the level of an experience through the sense of surprise or illusion involved with each pulse, and by varying the time intervals. We thought this idea of simply creating an experience that made the space around the driver feel animated without actually having things move was very, well, attractive! Our argument is driven by this appeal to every intended user’s appreciation of an interesting experience - ‘An attractor point informed approach allows for an interactive architecture which can engage the user from multiple viewpoints, presenting opportunities for distorting the user’s perception of space and time. This can transform the typically mundane task of driving into a rich and memorable visual experience which reflects ideas about the context.’
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CASE STUDY 1.0
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This is an experiment on a parametric defition for a surface treatment on OMA’s McCormick Tribune Campus Centre. 1. The original definition was trialed with a black and white image map, but the low contrast between the icons led to it being unreadable. 2. The icons were swapped for (+) and (-) symbols. 3. The icons (curves,) were swapped for lofted surfaces. 4. The base surface was changed to a fluid loft and the icons were swapped for three sizes of circles. 5. 3&4 are combined.
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CASE STUDY 2.0: BKK PAVILLION This project by BKK architects is a pavillion which, from the outside, appears to be a cube with its ‘walls’ made of planes forming irregular-sized hexagonal cells. From the inside, it appears to be a series of lines representing the thickness of the card and not the faces/surfaces - users experience a sense of infinite projection/expansion all around (as seen above) (Day 2005). The pavillion operates interestingly in the way it provides an experience which depends on the user’s position - this makes it interactive and offers an element of surprise. The images suggest the desired effect was succesful, however it doesnt particularly require parametric techniques - parametric tools don’t make the design process easier or make the result more successful than otherwise.
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This was the first step we took in attempting to recreate the our case study. We hadn’t read up on the process yet and didn’t know where to begin, so we decided to try to create just one of the hexagonal cells. We also overlooked the ‘extrude to point’ component, so this attempt clumsily tried to create vectors between the corners of the hexagon and the attractor point, resulting in overlapping extrusions.
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We then discovered the ‘extrude to point’ component which made the task much easier. Here we tried to recreate one of the walls of the box by creating a hexagon grid and extruding it towards an attractor point. The idea was to repeat this 6 times to make the box, however this is incorrect for two reasons - 1, the cells are uniform in size, and 2, the adjoining corners/edges would stop the effect of infinite projection.
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We then read that the project originated from a geodesic sphere which had been extruded and trimmed to create the cube shape. We weren’t able to access a geodesic dome model at the time, neither did we have the capacity to create one in grasshopper, so this drawing shows our unsuccessful attempt to map hexagons on a sphere for something a little bit like a geodesic dome. It was abandoned early on.
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We managed to find a geodesic dome that was triangulated, and decided to test the extrude and trim process on it. The model was composed of solids, so we were required to trace between points so as to have a frame of lines. Since this was tedious, we only created a small corner. the extruded portion was then trimmed outside of Grasshopper to achieve this.
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This step represents the final re-engineered case study. Having acquired a geodesic dome with the correct surface pattern, It is similar in principle and effect to the original, but is different because the pattern created by the extruded cells is the same on all sides and is clearly focused on the centre. The actual project is extruded to a non central point which makes the cells appear more random, contributing to the sense of surprise when viewed from the inside.
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This is the parametric diagram of the project - the simplicity is largely due to the fact that the final result is created by a few manipulations to a predermined form (the geodesic sphere). In the following stages, we took this method of extruding and trimming and applied it to our other ideas of using fins and considering them on a long roadside structure as mentioned earlier.
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DEVELOPING A TECHNIQUE A
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C
In search of a techinque which could satisfy our argument we developed a grasshopper definition which allowed fins to be created on a surface with varying depths (A). This enabled a pattern which could be seen from one point, while it appeared transparent (or as just lines) from another point (like the BKK Pavillion), but the problem with this definition was that the angle was fixed perpendicular to the surface. This meant that the perception of transparency with movement would be constant, and that it would require the user to turn 90 degrees to view it, which is not ideal for a roadside project. We developed another technique which enabled the rotation of fins according to attractor points, however this lost the ability to create the varying depths, and had fins facing backwards where their angles are irrelevant (B). Our solution was to take the first defnition and extrude the fins to an attractor point in front of the object where a car could experience both the pattern and transparency peripherally. This would also have all fins angled to a single point, so the transparency point would be exprienced as a pulse instead of in a gradual or constant way (C).
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DEVELOPING A TECHNIQUE
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We then decided to reduce the density and number of fins considering that each set of fins attracted to a point would represent one visual pulse that could be repeated, and they wouldn’t need to be as long as those on the previous page. We then tested different patterns and angles with a flat plane base geometry.
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E
These iterations take the same number and density of fins and alter the wave-like pattern and base geometry in an attempt to emphasise the pulsing effect. They represent a number of possible ‘proof of concept’ ideas which exhibit the changing visual impression and pulsing effect.
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DEVELOPING A TECHNIQUE
This is the iteration we decided to use to represent the outcome of our matrix process as our proof of concept. It was chosen because we had an idea about how it could be constructed to produce a model and it articulated the point of our technique in a simple, easy to understand way. We felt that the other ideas (in part E) were either too difficult to construct in the given time period, or would distract from the desired effect. The form for this concept is dictated by the need for a planar surface (in order to create a structural support for ease of construction) which is angled towards the hypothetical approaching car in two directions so it leans over to give sense of enclosure, thus heightening the effect. The bending of the fins creates a sidewards ‘V’ shape which displays just one possible effect of the perceived surface/pattern. The technique, as displayed here, can be adapted to the context by changing the shape of the surface, the pattern (or bending of each fin) as well the number of fins per set (this represents only one set of fins in a longer series). These factors will allow a context-determined rhythm to be correographed.
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DEVELOPING A TECHNIQUE
Although the moving visual effect can be demonstrated virtually, we modelled this outcome to test how it could be constructed, what types of materials would be suitable, and how it responded to light. These tests proved useful in highlighting a few issues: 1. that the planar structural infill needed to be cut at a non-right angle to the surface to properly hold the bending fins without shearing (1), and 2. that a bendable material for the fins will not realisticlally hold the desired shape if only supported at one point (2) - they tend to remain flat and don’t fit the profile of the structural frame. These issues are associated with the small scale of our model and the fact that it had to consider elements as 2 dimensional. At a real-life scale, the thickness will be digitally modelled so it is not simply imposed by the material, but designed for and fabricated in three dimensions. This will solve both issues to an extent. For the second issue, the design intent will be articulated exactly if the material is rigid and self-supporting.
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THE CASE FOR INNOVATION
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THE ARGUMENT An attractor point informed approach allows for an interactive architecture which can engage the user from multiple viewpoints, presenting opportunities for distorting the user’s perception of space and time. This can transform the typically mundane task of driving into a rich and memorable visual experience which reflects ideas about the context.
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This is the BKK Pavillion in Melbourne which shows two modes of perception, the external view of the object, and the interal view which achieves the effect of transparency that our attractor point does. It is successful in this sense but is relatively simple and doesn’t make comprehensive use of parametric techniques. It also deals with a stationary user who is able to rotate, where as our project involves a fast moving user, who should only be looking in one direction.
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This is the Museum of Contemporary Art at Luther Burbank Centre. It shows the way there can, again, be two modes of perception, seeing the side of a surface geometry (tubes here) and seeing through (transparency) while dealing with movement. When the user sees through, they are able to see an image of the logo. It is successful in the way it gives an illusion of animation, but doesn’t deal with rhythm or pulsing as we intend because the image appears linearly or gradually.
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This is the Central Signal Box in Switzerland. It is covered in horizontal fins which are angled to create privileged points to allow for views in and out and create differing levels of light and transparency. It is a successful example of the way fins can create multiple viewpoints and it lead us to the idea of using vertical fins to create the transparency effect. It is less relevant to our project because it is static and deals with internal users.
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technique
Our technique takes ideas from each from each of these precedenct projects. It articulates its form using fins which are angled according to an attractor point, and adopts a long roadside form which introduces the dimension of time. This proof of concept model represents one set of fins in a longer line. Passing this set of fins achieves a pulse of spatial transformation. Many of these can create a desired rhythm.
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Top: These are some of the ways the sets of fins can be arranged to distort the user’s sense of time. The dark, thin rectangles represent aset of fins attracted to one point. The way in which the pulses are choreographed will be determined by contextual factors. Bottom: These are a few other ways the sets of fins can appear.
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This is a parametric diagram of our technique. It addresses our argument by creating fins which bend to create a secondary form which is perceived ‘first’, then attracted to a point where the user next sees only the edges and through to what is behind the fins (yet to be determined). The quick change of form distorts the user’s perception of space, while the repetition of this pulse distorts the user’s perception of time. This effect ‘follows’ the user and creates an experience.
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THE CASE FOR APG Our technique creates a form which gives users an experience. The interactive, animated nature of the visual rhythm is a moment of time for the user where space and time are played with - this is something exciting and memorable within its context. It creates a freeway intervention that doesn’t have to be ‘looked at’, but can instead be felt. It is not perceived as an inanimate otherly object, but as something entwined with the user. This gateway for the City of Wyndham deserves to be an attraction, and we feel the experiential effect of our technique allows it to be that.
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WHAT NOW? At this point there is a disparity between the proof of concept model and the argument. Currently, the model is very conservative (overly constricted by construction challenges) and fails to back up our claims of an extraordinary experience. Contextual information along with further exploration of the technique are needed to push the final outcome to something which is deeper and more fulfilling. Guest crit suggestions included making it such that the experience changes depending on the weather conditions. This is an exciting concept, but is in conflict with our initial idea of choreographing a rhythm which requires rigidity. Investigation into the needs of the context and brief will help determine which is more important, or otherwise a comprimise can be made between the two ideas. Another idea involved having two layers of fins to create moments of more unexpected transparency or non transparency. A multi-layered approach such as this is needed to make the driver’s experience richer. So far, the experience of creating a parametric technique has been exciting and fun, however it feels very arbitrary and experimental. Since we are developing only a technique with no scale or context, the main driver of design decisions seems to be ‘what looks cool’ (which is very subjective) or what formal results conform to the ‘language’ of parametricism. Because of the ease and joy of doing this, the outcome, in our case, and perhaps in many others, seems to be superficial. It can be a nice exercise in imagination though. I’m sure that, given a brief and context, it will feel more meaningful.
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PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS Having read the project documents and analysed the site, we began designing by first considering which of the three designated areas we would site our project on. We initially imagined it on site A where it would be visible both in and outbound from Melbourne, but encountered a number of issues regarding the great distance from the viewer, and how we would create the experience for users on either side. Because of these issues and the emphasis that the brief placed on the project as a gateway to metorpolitan Melbourne, we decided to site the project along the northbound road between sites A and B.
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STAR GUITAR As a precedent for a visual effect, we watched the music video for the song Star Guitar by The Chemical Brothers, directed by Michel Gondry, where the entire video is a view looking out of the window of a moving train. Objects in the world passing by (such as buildings, towers, silos, etc) by are edited to line up with the music to create visual pulses that complement the music. The idea of the visual rhythm seemed particularly relevant to our context in that it is a direct expression of movement at speed and the nature of travel. Our goal was to use our technique to create a real life version of this - a visual rhythm achieved by spatial devices. Our first step was to abandon the idea of having the fins placed vertically on the side of the road, even though the obects in the video clip are on the side of the train. Our desired effect was to be as vivid and exciting as possible - the video clip is somehwat subtle without music, and we thought a side-of-road project did not feel immersive it felt like it could even be missed. In addition to this, drivers are not able to safely look as sideways as the viewer in the video. Our idea, then, was to move the experience overhead where the driver could look safely forwards and experience the visual effect at the top of the car windscreen where it would be prominent.
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iteration 1: CONCEPTION What resulted was the idea below. It was conceived without structure (regrettably) as we focused solely on effect. The idea involved taking the proof of concept model (a set of 10 attracted fins), flipping it so it became horizontal and overhead, changing the base surface to a curved one, and repeating it to create a wave-like form. The repetitions of this along the road endured for 600m and created a 20 second experience. The wave idea was carried out as an expression of sound’s wave-like properties without too much thought at this stage. Circles were then added as placeholder visual pulses (like those in the video clip) to create a rhythm to test the effect. We had difficulty in deciding what the rhythm should be and what it should be based on - we ultimately settled for one which increased in speed by halving note lengths each bar moving towards the city to embed meaning and contextual significance into the project by symbolising the user’s transition from rural to urban. I.e movement from relaxed and quiet to louder and faster. It also seemed to give a sense of excitement which was one of the goals outlined in the brief. Since it was overhead now, we also had to consider the minimum allowable height for a structure like this and found 5m to be an appropriate figure to aspire to.
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ITERATION 1 (CONTINUED) The view from the perspective of a driver can be seen in the image left. The visual effect was tested through numerous animations (below) with reasonably interesting results. The issue of structure was explored by using posts connected to a spine from which the fins could be hung, but the idea was still largely pushed aside for later consideration (bottom). After producing these ideas we realised the bending of the fins was no longer achieving anything, so it was removed from the definition.
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ITERATION 2: INTEGRATING STRUCTURE Since the structure was the greatest concern, it was suggested by Paul that instead of adopting a traditional primary and secondary structural system, the distinction between structural and non structural elements could be blurred, resulting in a magical sense of floating. The idea was to have the fins curve down to the ground so that they could support themselves as a sort of a tunnel made of fins. To create the waving effect, the tunnel could then be trimmed to create voids, meaning there would be areas where fins were still floating. To solve this, it was suggested that all of the fins could be tied together with a sinous surface that could also create the visual pulses that were simply circles before this. At this point we also refined the scale of the project such that it was now 320m in length (as opposed to 600), to achieve 32 beats according to an optimised fin set length of 10m.
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ITERATION 3: RE-EVALUATIon At this point a number of problems were still present. We decided the fins would be made of aluminium because it is inherently thin, enabling the effect of transparency. It is also malleable, allowing us to to achieve the bends required. Even though the entire structure was touching the ground now, the aluminium fins would not realistically support themselves and would bend downwards and collapse. In order to support the fins, they needed to be hung from something else. It was suggested by Alison that we hang the fins from an outer shell with structural integrity. The backdrop behind the fins would then be solid, so to create visual pulses, the outer shell could be perforated to make holes of light as opposed to patches of darkness. Additionally, the shape we had chosen (one with a sharp bend) was not suitable for cantilevering, since it provided a point of weakness. We adapted to form to be more a shallow arch shape to better distribute loads. The other issue was that, with regards to the visual effect, we had created multiple layers with which to create many rhythms, but were only utilising one. The swaying from left to right that was offered by the wave shape was uniform and regular, the fin pulses were regular and the pulses were also rigidly organised. Since our project was musical in nature, the uniformity and lack of interest contradicted our design intent and threatened to make the project underwhelming and boring. We redesigned the overall form (wave shape) according to a real audio wave manipulated to increase in frequency, and main accents (holes) in order to compose something truly exciting. We tried to use grasshopper and firefly to generate these holes according to melodies input manually into grasshopper, however this wasn’t effective (more later).
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Stills from animation testing of four iterations with varying wave shapes.
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ITERATION 4: FINAL STRUCTURAL RESOLUTION With the visual effect working to our favour now, the last issue was, again, structure. The fins were able to hang from an outer shell, but what was the outer shell made of? The suggestion was that it had a steel skeleton, but even so, it was now required to span nearly 80 metres! The airy envelope we had imagined was not realistic, so it was proposed that the structure would touch the ground on one side for the entire length while the fins kept the same form beneath. The outer shell was then rethought as an aluminium skin and an outer steel skeleton structure. We decided to reveal the structure on the outside since it had no effect on the internal user, and we felt it acted as an expression of the fin concept externally to drivers on the southbound road since the large steel beams were essentially larger scale fins.
Stills from animation testing of the resolved design.
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CONSTRUCTION The final outcome dictated a construction method that involved large curved steel beams cantilevered with generous footings. These would be tied together with thick rods to provide lateral support. These rods were incorporated into the model rather crudely, and could have been integrated more fluidly, but this opportunity was left unexplored due to time restrictions. We then decided definitively that the surface with holes would be constructed from an aluminium panelling system, and the fins would also be made from aluminium sheets largely for its ability to achieve double curves. The aluminium skin could tied directly to the steel beams and the fins then could be tied to the skin. An issue arose here in how the fins actually join to the skin and also maintain their angle which is of such importance. In order to do this it was suggested that a V shaped bracket could be inserted at the corners between the fins and the aluminium cladding and each component could be bolted to it. Admittedly, the materiality of the project was considered in the later stages and could have been considered more thoughtfully. This construction process was tested and communicated through a 1:50 model which used plywood for the steel beams, steel wire for the lateral support, and card for the aluminium components (below) It was structually sound and the fins, thanks to the joint at ground level, remained at their intended fixed angles, allowing us to display the effect. For the grand scale of the project, the components are relatively small and can be transported to site via truck and be assembled on site. Issues may arise in that it surrounds the road itself and is as close to the road as a proposal can be. Construction may inconveniently require the closing of all three lanes.
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We (Attractor Point Group) are interested in the relationship between music and architecture. We believe our design is relevant and advantageous for this freeway art project because it reflects one of the natures of driving, and travel and movement, that is that it is rhythmic - driving is full of rhythms that we see and feel. The effect can be quite powerful and can be highly experiential and memorable. The musical nature of the approach also offers a platform to create a unique analogy with regards to the specific location of Wyndham.
The key idea behind our project was drawn from a film clip for a song called Star Guitar by The Chemical Brothers directed by Michael Gondry. It is entirely the view looking out of a train and he has manipulated this video so that the things flicking past align with the music so it is a visual rhythm which aligns with the song. We wanted to create the real life, unique Wyndham version of this.
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The brief stressed the importance of the project as a gateway into metropolitan Melbourne so we focused on the road going into Melbourne and sited the project here.
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We then create a long surface that follows the user overhead and creates the time span.
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The surface then has fins placed underneath the surface for the entire length.
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The stretch of fins is divided into 32 sets to be thought of as 4 bars of 8 beats.
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The fins in each segment are then attracted to different points on the road as the driver passes through. By doing this the fins flick in pulses instead of just gradually. This pulsing creates the regular time keeping rhythm.
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The surface then has holes put in it which are experienced as flashes of light to create a rhythm of strong beats in the way the film clip does.
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The holes could be achieved in two ways. One was with this grasshopper definition using firefly where notes can be played into grasshopper. It can output frequencies which can control the radii of circles which can then be mapped onto our surface.
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It can produce a pattern like this. The issue is that such a pattern is completely arbitrary and it is difficult to find a song or melody relevant to Wyndham. It is also unable to be identified by the driver and doesn’t offer a strong visual result.
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We instead used this composed rhythm which involves halving note lengths every bar to create a speeding up motif. This acts as a representation of the journey the driver has made and their transition from rural to urban - from slow and relaxed to fast and loud.
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This is the resultant pattern in holes. They were later deformed and additional smaller offbeat, syncopated holes were added.
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The whole stretch then has an extreme close up soundwave form mapped onto it in plan to create a third rhythm that is experienced as a swaying from left to right and right to left to add an additional part to the music and to better express the fluid nature of music. This wave is made to increase in frequency as it approaches Melbourne as part of the analogy, but at a different rate so there is this interplay between the parts, but they still achieve the same effect.
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The structure then becomes real by having the surface wrap around and come down on one side to ensure there is at least on point of support for the entire length. We chose the southern side to ensure than the northern side was open so the sun would still be able to enter to have the fins visible enough.
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Steel outer structural beams are placed in the ground with generous footings to account for cantilevers. They are held together with thick steel rods to provide lateral support. A skin of aluminium cladding is tied to the beams. The aluminium fins are then tied to the cladding with fixed angled joints.
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Photos of the construction model -98-
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Site Plan
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Aerial Render
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As a whole, the design creates an 11 second musical passage of 4 bars of increasing intensity that represents Wyndham’s position as a gateway to Metropolitan Melbourne and the point of transition into excitement. We feel that this satisfies the argument by making the rhythm of driving felt (that is a rhythm about the location) and it creates excitement for drivers passing through and a memorable experience fit for Wyndham.
Animation. Watch the full video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3fK3AhnbO0
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Approach view
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FINAL PRESENTATION RESPONSE After the final presentation, one of the key concerns about the project in the panel was the materiality of it. It was suggested that more thought could have gone into the selection of materials and that earlier consideration could have allowed greater ‘feedback of the materials into the design’. More emphasis on the way the materials play with light, age with time, move with the wind, etc. weren’t touched on or considered in depth in our project, but could have been very enriching. For future projects, this focus on materials, as well using models as an investigative tool early in the design process, can be greatly beneficial. Other critique of the project suggested more thought could have gone into the way the structure landed on the site, as it began and ended rather abruptly, which is certainly the case. The idea was explored in the final week before presentations but we had difficulty tailing the design off elegantly and abandoned the idea, largely due to time restraints. It was also suggested that the ‘form was one of the weaker aspects’ of the design, which is partially due to the way it lands, and also due to the relative simplicity of the envelope. Given more time, it would be nice to develop the form further. Another issue was that it would have been nice to see the entire form in a physical model since our project was so heavily dependent on the whole form. This was another task considered in the final week but not followed through with, due to time constraints and the fact that for the form to be read, and for it to be built, the model would have to be at an impractical scale. Nonetheless, it was unforunate to omit such an important model. Aside from these issues, feedback was very encouraging and motivating!
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REFLECTION Now, at the end of semester, I’m finding digital and parametric tools to be very appealling. Of the studios I’ve completed as part of my degree, I’ve learnt the most in this studio by far. I feel as though parametric techniques, when used appropriately, can create architecture that is so immensely deeper than a lot of traditionally designed architecture. It has opened up many opportunities for me and made me appreciate the digital architecture I see a lot more. The digital culture surrounding grasshopper really appeals to me in that there is a great sense of community online where everyone is keen to share their knowledge and defintions, so I feel confident that there is huge resource pool available on anything (even definitions that let you play music through grasshopper) that I can go to when I’d like to explore an idea. Upon finishing the subject, I have wondered a few times how I might use the skills I’ve learnt in this subject in future studios and am really excited about the possibilities. I’m not exactly sure if I’ll be able to make a completely parametrically designed building, but I’m sure I will be able to find certain areas where techniques can be applied.
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REFERENCES Cifuentes, Fabian . “Private House / Gramazio & Kohler” 12 Aug 2012. ArchDaily. <http://www.archdaily.com/260663> Day, Norman. 2005. ‘Seeing 11.5 Billion Times 6.5 Trillion Miles’, The Age, on SIAL, <http://www.sial.rmit.edu.au/Projects/Pavilions_for_New_Architecture.php> Kalay, Yehuda E. 2004. Architecture’s New Media: Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press), pp. 5 – 25 Kolarevic, Branko. 2003. Architecture in the Digital Age: Design and Manufacturing (New York; London: Spon Press), pp. 3 – 28 Kroll , Andrew . 2011. “AD Classics: Vitra Fire Station / Zaha Hadid” 19 Feb 2011. ArchDaily. <http://www.archdaily.com/112681> Nuijsink Cathelijne. 2011. ‘A Hundred Ways To Shape A Square’, Mark Magazine Issue 32, June/July 2011, pp. 176 - 191 Seddon-Kilbinger, Sara. 2010. ‘Washed Ashore’, Mark Magazine Issue No 29, December/January 2011, pp. 113 - 125 Unknown Author. 2012. ‘MOCA @ Luther Burbank Center – Santa Rosa, CA’, Envelope A+D. <http://www.envelopead.com/proj_moca.html> Unknown Author. 2012. ‘119 Central Signal Box’, Herzog & de Meuron. < http://www. herzogdemeuron.com/index/projects/complete-works/101-125/119-central-signalbox.html> Unknown Author. 2005. ‘Pavillions for New Architecture’, Monash University, <http:// www.monash.edu.au/muma/exhibitions/past/2005/pavilions.html> (Blog Discussion). 2010. ‘Patrik Schumacher – Parametricism’, Digital Morphogensis. <http://www.nzarchitecture.com/blog/index.php/2010/09/25/patrik-schumacher-
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IMAGES 1. Casa Cien, 2012, Architizer, viewed 16 August 2012, <http://www.architizer.com/ en_us/projects/pictures/casa-cien/29365/251016/> 2. Casa Cien, 2012, Architizer, viewed 16 August 2012, <http://www.architizer.com/ en_us/projects/pictures/casa-cien/29365/251018/> 3. Casa Cien, 2012, Architizer, viewed 16 August 2012, <http://www.architizer.com/ en_us/projects/pictures/casa-cien/29365/251022/> 4. Casa Cien, 2012, Architizer, viewed 16 August 2012, <http://www.architizer.com/ en_us/projects/pictures/casa-cien/29365/251004/> 5. Wojtek Gurak, Vitra Fire Station, ArchDaily, viewed 17 August 2012, <http://www. archdaily.com/112681/ad-classics-vitra-fire-station-zaha-hadid/img_0914/> 6. Wojtek Gurak, Vitra Fire Station, ArchDaily, viewed 17 August 2012, <http://www. archdaily.com/112681/ad-classics-vitra-fire-station-zaha-hadid/img_0956/> 7. Wojtek Gurak, Vitra Fire Station, ArchDaily, viewed 17 August 2012, <http://www. archdaily.com/112681/ad-classics-vitra-fire-station-zaha-hadid/img_1064/> 8. Bilbao, viewed 24 August 2012, <http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2006_ Sketches_of_Frank_Gehry/2006_sketches_of_frank_gehry_014.jpg> 9. Bilbao, viewed 24 August 2012, <http://moreaedesign.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/ model.jpg> 10. Bilbao, viewed 24 August 2012, <http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_fU7LdRkUMVM/ TPQjbtNw_9I/AAAAAAAADLQ/OEyWXcWVlgU/s1600/Guggenheim-Bilbao-Spain. jpg> 11. GLA Headquarters, viewed 1st September 2012, <http://www.roseville.co.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2011/08/A009-00298.jpg>
12. Guangzhou, viewed 1 September 2012, <http://www.fubiz.net/wp-content/ uploads/2011/04/guangzhou-opera-house-3-1.jpeg> 13. Private House, viewed 3 September 2012, <http://www.archdaily.com/260663/ private-house-gramazio-kohler/501fecdf28ba0d67a4000004_private-house-gramaziokohler_110601_023_3744_rk_pr-jpg/> 14. City Boacava House, Mark Magazine Issue 29. 15. Abu Dhabi, Viewed 10 September 2012, <http://imgs.abduzeedo.com/files/archi/ zaha-hadid/4164400487_aec4f58711_o.jpg> 16. BKK Pavillion, viewed 14 September 2012, <http://www.sial.rmit.edu.au/Projects/ Pavilions_for_New_Architecture.php> 17. Central Signal Box, viewed 20 September 2012, < http://4.bp.blogspot. c o m /- i W 7C T h w j 4 p 0 / Ta 5 h M n C p q I I /A A A A A A A A A V I / r b i Z Z g V Q i d 4 / s1600/5032796460_5e39b200a9_b.jpg> 19. BKK Pavillion, viewed 14 September 2012, <http://www.sial.rmit.edu.au/ImageViewer. php?i=9&s=Projects&p=7c4c1ab6f4cf5c28608e41c9600ccb5eb1d1132d>
mark ng 2012