Architecture Design Studio AIR

AIR

ARCHITECTURE DESIGN STUDIO

LAURA MILLER 541 938

CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 2

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST PART A: CASE FOR INNOVATION: 1.1 ARCHITECTURE AS A DISCOURSE 1.2 COMPUTATIONAL ARCHITECTURE 1.3 PARAMETRIC MODELLING 1.4 ALGORITHMIC EXPLORATION 1.5 CONCLUSION 1.6 LEARNING OUTCOMES

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PART B: DESIGN APPROACH: 2.1 DESIGN FOCUS 2.2 CASE STUDY 1.0 2.3 CASE STUDY 2.0 2.4 TECHNIQUE: DEVELOPMENT 2.5 TECHNIQUE: PROTOTYPES 2.6 TECHNIQUE: PROPOSAL 2.7 ALGORITHMIC SKETCHES 2.8 LEARNING OUTCOMES

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INTRODUCTION My name is Laura Miller, I am 20 years old and a 3rd student in Bachelor of Environments majoring in Architecture. I have always had a strong passion for design, whether it through the medium of painting, model making or computer graphics.

Since i was about 12 i have always looked to architecture as the direction of design i wished to pursue. Architecture has a way of encompassing the values of our culture while creating an experience and place which can be used for specific functions.

It is the interaction the design has with its users in architecture that interests me the most.

Since first year, i have been introduced to sketching and computation as methods of designing. Virtual Environments gave an introduction to Rhinoceros and its abilities to change the way in which we can design. The Design Studio’s Earth and Water allowed me to learn skills such as AutoCad and Skecthup. I enjoy the possibilities proposed by computational design, and investigating the new ways we can approach th designing process. I hope that this project will further broaden my ability and understanding of computational design as it has such a strong influence on architectural practice today.

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PREVIOUS WORK The brief of this project undertaken in the subject Virtual Environments was to design a wearable body lantern through the means of computation reflecting an influence from nature.

We were introduced to Rhinoceros 4 as the software used to create and manipulate our designs. Through the project I developed skills and understanding of using form making tools, how to manipulate these forms to eventually panel and fabricate the final design.

Exploration of Rhinoceros allowed me to expand my approach to designing, and showed me the possibilities of using computation for designing. This project required us to begin the design process by sketching our ideas and inputing these into the computer for manipulation.

The outcome of this project allowed me to explore different patterning techniques which may perform as the structure and skin of the design simulataneously. Rhinoceros also accelerated the process for not only producing the design information but also the contruction information, allowing me to fabricate the lantern effectively.

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EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

PART A: The Wyndham City Gateway Project ‘should propose new, inspiring and brave ideas, to generate a new discourse.’

CASE FOR INNOVATION

1.1

ARCHITECTURE AS A DISCOURSE Why architecture? What solutions does architecture offer that will be beneficial to the Wyndham City Gateway Project?

In order to answer these questions we firstly have to understand the basis of this discipline and ask what even is Architecture? How do we define it in the 21st century?

Architecture is often hard to explain as one singular definition, it can be decribed in numerous ways. Many would proposes that architecture is design or architecture is problem-solving or that architecture is merely the producing of buildings.

However Williams (2005) wants us to understand that ‘architecture needs to be thought of less as a set of special material products and rather more as a range of social and professional practises that sometimes, but by no means always,

lead to buildings’.

This evaluation of architecture that Williams wants us to understand ignites the idea of architecture as a discourse. Discourse is defined as ‘a written or spoken conversation or debate’. (Oxford University, 2013). In relation to architecture the discourse involves the philiosophies and culture influencing these discussions. As a result informing the ideas and direction that inspires the design of a building.

Forming a contunious evolution within the discipline of architecture.

The following examples help reitterate how the discourse surrounding architecture informs and defines the architecture itself.

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SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM Frank Lloyd Wright’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is centred at the heart of Manhattan, New York. As one of Wright’s most well received but also controversial buildings of his career. The museum attracted a lot attention due to its bold contrast to the rigid grid which forms Manhattan’s skyline.

It embodies the ideals of organic architecture through it fluidity and sense of continuity, drawings its influences from the modernist movement. The ideals comprised by modernism are evident in the museums rebellion against the ornametal facades of its historcial predecessors and its use of materials produced during the industrial revolution.

Wright’s vision was to ‘make the building and the painting an uninterrupted, beautiful symphony - such as never existing in the World of Art before.’ (Aaltonen, 2008) In order to achieve this Wright allowed each level of the building to simply flow into one another while wrapping around a central atrium. This brought forward a new way of thinking about spatial organisation, allowing

Figure 1: Guggenheim Museum, New York

the circulation throughout the building to connect all its parts.

As an art museum, the idea of revolving around the building in a continious fashion allowed the the exhibitions to tell a story as one moves through the space. This idea still translates to it’s users today, allowing for a functional and efficient circulation pattern.

This idea of a circular museum was highly controversial, prompting critiques decribing it as an ‘attack on art’. (Aaltonen, 2008) However Wright stuck to his intent of connecting the art with the building, causing a new discourse in architecture.

Although the ideas of a strong design intent and relationship between the buildings part are still qualities we find in architecture today, the always evolving discourse of architecture is looking to new ideologies of design. Rather than creating a segmentation between interior and facade, architectuure is exploring the ideas of designs performing as the structure and skin of the building simultaneously.

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CHINA’S NATIONAL GRAND THEATRE

Figure 2: China’s National Grand Theatre

Figure 3: Interior of China’s National Grand Theatre

Eloborating further on the idea of architecture as a discourse, Architect Paul Audreu’s striking National Grand Theatre of China in Beijing expresses the new ideas spiking converstation within the architectural practice .

‘Architecture is as much a philiosophical, social or professional realm as it is a material one’. (Williams, 2005) The voluminous curved building draws its insipartion the philosophies of organic architecture, simultaneoulsy create a social space for the art of theatre to be shared. Possessing the ideology of connecting the building to nature through its fluid lines and waterfront location, it almost seems as though it needs the environment surrounding to complete it. These ideals stem from the architectural theories brought about from computational architecture.

Figure 4: China’s National Grand Theatre

The glazing used on the theatre allows natural light to penetrate throughout the day, and at night when lit from inside ‘the movements within can be seen from outside’. (ArchDaily, 2008-2012) Evidently this rejects ideas of architecture to be static, allowing the movement of light to create a dynamic design.

This building attracted attention through its use of computational technologies, a strong contrast to the more traditional architecture surrounding the site. Computation allowed the architect to create the structure to be the skin of the building itself, a new architectural typology. Invisioned by Audreu as a structure which allows for ‘harmony through a combination of modesty and ambition, agreement and opposition’.

(ArchDaily, 2008-2012)

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1.2 COMPUTATIONAL ARCHITECTURE How can computation be advantageous to the designing of the Gateway Project? How does computation change the way in which we design ? How does is affect architecture?

A stark contrast to the traditional ideologies of architectural designing, the computer rejects the pencil and paper method allowing us to conceptualises complex geometries. Computation brings more to architecture than just complex forms, it also changes the way in which we approach designing. It ‘allows designers to extentd their abilities to deal with highly complex situations.’(Peters, De Kestelier, 2013) We now have the ability to design solely through computation, using parametric modelling to form and manipulate our design. However ‘design computation is still only seen by many as “just a tool” and remote from the real business of creative design’. (Frazer, 2006) We need to understand the functions and abilities of

our computational programs, in order to change our perception of them as ‘just a tool’ to utilizing them to their full designing capabilites.

Computation has evoked a new discourse in architecture. The innovative forms and design methods straying from the conventional and traditional have brought forth discussions of dehumanisation and relevance. The ideals influencing design culture have also moved from the emphasis on form and geometry. Computational architecture is there ‘particularly appealing are not the new forms but, paradoxically, the shift of emphasis from the form to the structure(s) of relations, interconnections that exist internally and externally within an architectural project.’ (Kolarevic, 2003)

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Digital modelling gives design the opportunity to explore new realms in architecture. We now have the ability to conceptualise designs in a 3 dimensional environment, providing greater understanding of our structures before they are built.

Zaha Hadid is an architect at the forefront of computational design. She utilizes computation to realise and manipulate geometry such as the curvilinear form in Figure 6, to produce structures that demonstrate the advantages of parametric modelling. The idea for the design of the Szervita Square Tower in Budpest (Figure 5, 6, 7) intends to present itself as a radical contrast to the traditional pedagogy of the surrounding architecture while maintaining in context with the heritage of the city centre.

Figure 5: Parametric model in 3D design space

Computation allows Hadid to approach the designing of this building in a different way to how we would traditionally. Using parametric modelling, Hadid has the ability to create this structure with the fusion of two complex geotmetric patterns overlaying a blob-like form.

Digital technolgies allow an acceleration to the process of designing with great complexity and in turn ‘the design information is the construction information’. (Kolarevic, 2003)

Figure 7: Compterised model of design

Figure 6: 3D render of proposed design for Szervita Square Tower

Figure 8: Compterised model of design

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1.3 PARAMETRIC MODELLING What is parametric modelling? and how can this new way of designing help develop the Wyndham City Gateway Project into a wellrecognised structure?

Parametric modelling is a term that seems to be changing and evolving as its use in architecture becomes more recognised and practised. Steming originially from mathematics, the term parametric is a ‘set of equations that express a set of quatities as explicit functions of a number of independent variables, known as parameters’.

(Weinsstein, 2003). In terms of architecture, it allows us to create algorithms forming our deisgn ideas and manipulate the forms produced by changing the parameters of inputs inside the parametric model.

Parametric modelling ultimately allows for control and efficiency in our generation and development of design ideas, presenting greater opportunities for innovative and creative forms to be produced. The influence of parametric modelling on the architectural practice has even spiked the question of parametric design forming its own design movement. Elite architectural figures such as Patrik Schumacher forsee the idea of parametricism becoming ‘the great new style after modernism’ (Schumacher, 2010).

Although parametric modelling seems to have no limitations in its ability to control all elements of the design within connecting algorithms, caution must be taken to recognise the some implication that do arise.

With the capability to perform such small iterations to a design, there is the potential for changes to go unnoticed, which may implicate the fabircation of the design later in the process. The inability to replicate or contribute to a parametric model without previous knowledge of the algorithms in use also poses as an issue facing this way of designing.

However parametric modelling exposes far more possibilities to architecture, that outway the implications that may be faced.

It accelerates the design process and accuracy in structure design, as well as attracting attention and motivating discussions within the architecture discipline and wider communtiy. This can allow for a less expensive building process and ultimately involves less people in the construction phase. How can we afford to not utilize the advantges of parametric modelling in architecture?

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Figure 9: Scaled card model of Torus House

Figure 10: Interior of Torus House

Computational architecture such as parametric modelling stimulates the idea of this ‘digital continuum’ in which we are discovering new and innovate ways to design with the use of computers. Preston Scott Cohen’s Torus house encompasses the new ideologies governed by parametric design. He employs the idea of topology, integrating two dissimilar mathematical geometires allowing him to create a structure which forms the idea of ‘oscillating between being outside-in and inside-out’. (MoMa, 1999) This idea made feasible through computation gives the house the ability to change with our perceptions of how we are to live.

Parametric modelling has changed the way we understand ideas influencing design. Designed through mathematical representation, usually a curvilinear form.Topology has now become ‘less about spatial distictions and more about spatial relations.’

(Kolarevic, 2003) It is this shift in thinking that has drawn attention to computational architecture, especially parametric design.

Figure 11: Interior of Torus House

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Figure 12: Mercedes-Benz Museum

UN Studio’s Mercedes-Benz Musuem located in Stuttgart, Germany utilized computation in order to manipulate mathematical algorithms within parametric models to produce the final design.

Figure 13: Mercedes-Benz Museum

This project has been inspired by the control and efficiency of parametric modelling to produce an organised and layered spiralling structure. (UNStudio, 2006) It encompasses a strong position of parametric modelling in the present and future of architecture, asking the question of the ability to produce this design without the use of algorithmic relationships.

Although this building makes a bold statement on the benefits of parametric design by standing forthright in its flat and low density context, there is still the challenge of how this building may have developed further if it was not restricted to the design direction which had to be conceived and followed from the beginning of the development phase. Would the form emulate a different impression?

But if parametric modelling was not employed, would the architect still have the ability to create efficient spatial oragnistaion in a complex curvi-linear form while maintaining his design intent? This structure falls into the architectural discourse encompassing the growing practise of computation.

In this case the ideas and philisophies of expressing innovation and forward thinking have worked to the advantage of this design, utilising the attention parametric modelling attracts. It allows the architects to focus more on their intent to produce a form emphasising layers and organisation, controlling the parameters of the design efficently through parametric modelling.

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Similar to the previous example of Zaha Hadid’s work, the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre uses the abilities of computation to create a complex geometry. This strong form embodies fluidity and curvilinear forms, only possible through parametric modelling.

The bold structure employs the new architectural ideologies of interconnections and relationships between the systems at work. Parametric modelling allows for the continuity of structure within such a changing geometry.

Figure 14: Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre

This design possesses a strong stance on the neccessity and importance of parametric modelling in the architectural practice. It goes to the extent of implying parametricism as a design style itself. An idea proposed by David Schumacher an architect second to Zaha Hadid in her practice.

The Cultural Centre rejects the principles of previous design styles, avoiding rigid forms, lack of variety and employing unrelated elements.

Instead Hadid utilised the principles offered by this idea of ‘Parametricism’ forming a design in which all systems communicate with one another while being differentiated through gradients and bound by curvilinear forms.

Figure 15: Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre

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1.4 ALGORITHMIC THINKING Exploration of Grasshopper and Rhinoceros has helped develop my understanding of what parametric modelling is and how it works.

Through the video tutorials explaining different ways to create forms and patterns, I was able to explore designs that would be far more difficult to realise through handsketching. Parametric modelling accelerates the designing process, giving the opportunity for more forms to be explored in a set period of time.

The first parametric model featured here was an inital algorithm explored in week 1. It is a quite a simple mathematical formula in terms of the number of inputs and parameters used. However it produces a strong and complex form as a result. This is a design not easily explored through sketching.

The next parametric model is a patterning list, in order to create complex and interesting patterns which may be used for fabrication or structure. It requires a more intricate algorithm in order to produce the pattern, but allows you to alter the patterns in many different ways using different parameters which create the relationships forming the design.

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1.5 CONCLUSION This chapter has evaluated and explored the benefits of employing parametric modelling in the design for the Wyndham City Gateway Project. Through examples of built and proposed structure that have utilized these new ideologies and designing methods, it provides evidence of the strong impact and attention a parametric design will bring to the project and the city of Wyndham.

Parametric modelling offers the opportunity to create an innvative and forward thinking design which will collaborate with the briefs intent on demonstating ‘inspiring and brave ideas’. It allows for an efficient and controlled process of design, which will provide opportunities for more forms to be explored.

This way of designing also allows for the design information to become the structural information, lessening expenses on the construction phase and giving more emphasis on developing a design which will best express the briefs intent on promoting Wyndam City and creating an interesting and eye-catching design.

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1.6 LEARNING OUTCOMES Through the process of this journal so far, i have developed my understanding of computation further and learnt about parametric modelling and the possibilities it offers the architectural practise.

At the beginning of semester i did not have the knowledge and skills to see the computer as anything more than a computerisation tool, in contrast to something that could be employed during the initial designing stages.

Parametric modelling allows for the entire project to be designed solely through computation, which presents itself as an exciting process that now allows designs to follow a logic of relationships and interconnections that may be manipulated with control and efficiency. Parametric design would have made a significant impact on previous project, allowing me to explore more complex geometries and forms in an accelerated process.

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PART B: The Wyndham City Gateway Project ‘need not be literal or didactic in its referenceres, as it may capture a more abstract, aspirational intent and feeling.’

DESIGN APPROACH

2.1 DESIGN FOCUS

BIOMIMICRY ‘It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.’

- Leon Megginson

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WHY BIOMIMICRY?

EVOLUTION

+

FOR LIFE & ORGANISMS TO EXIST TODAY

NATURAL SELECTION

they must be:

OPTIMAL

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SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

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CONCEPT - TREE What makes a tree optimal?

leaf shedding leaf orientation interlocking branch tissue vascular system layering tree growth rings root system

ABILITY TO ADAPT How do these processes affect design?

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ADAPTATIONS FOR DESIGN LEAF ORIENTATION Adaption due to the sun, to prevent the tissue within the leaves from burning.

In terms of the project: Direct exposure of surfaces in the design to the sun may be avoided to maintain the beauty and ‘eye-catching’ nature of design.

Sun can effect the degradation of materials: fading, discolouration, cracking, shrinkage.

INTERLOCKING TREE BRANCH TISSUE Structural adaptation allowing branches to attach themselves to the tree’s trunk.

The strength of the connection between the branch and trunk is dependant upon the formation of the interlocking branch tissue.

In terms of the project: Interlocking can be utilized to create a rigid structure in the design.

LAYERING TREE GROWTH RINGS A new ring layer is formed on the trunk of a tree each year, the age of a tree may be determined by the amount of rings it has produced.

The size and colour of the tree rings is dependant upon the climatic effects of its context.

In terms of the project: The adapation of the layering of growth rings may be adapted as a metaphor connected to the growth of Wyndam in terms of population.

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PRECEDENTS - RMIT DESIGN HUB

The RMIT Design Hub was designed to be a climate-responsive organism using a smart skin facade. This smart skin incorporates 16,000 automated sun shading sand blasted cells. These cells are photovolaic with the ability to turn transparent in the rain, while also allowing for evaporative cooling and fresh air intakes, resulting in improved internal air quality and reduced running costs.

Sections of the cells have the ability to track the movement of the sun in order to provide shading. Parts of the nothern facade is dedicated to the research in solar energy technology. The cells in the entire skin of the building have been designed with the ability

to be easily replaced by the advancements of research in solar cells, as technology in the future allows for it.

This building involves many diciplines to coming together to produce a multifunctional and highly-efficient building.In terms of Biomimicry it has inherited the process of adapting to its context, in its ability of follow the suns path create shading and alllowing for change in its solar technologies. This form of adaptation is a useful application of the design of the Wyndam City Gateway project, abstracting biomimicry for its systems and process, opposed to its form.

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PRECEDENTS - THE MORNING LINE

The Morning Line project was concieved through the idea of creating both a monument and ruin simultaneously through exploration of open celluar structures, idealized as a ‘universal bit’.The geometry of the ‘universal bit’ was realised from a truncated tetrhedron, intending to reproduce its ability to grow and shrink as well as attaching back upon itself in order to create three-dimensional fractals.

To form the idea of growth , the geometry was generated through the language of

cells and lattices found in crystallographic construction. The ‘organising’ force of crystal structures inspired the deisgners, allowing it to perform as a modulated structure through its simple principles and unfolding geometries.

In terms of biomimicry, the Morning Line demonstrates a unique and innovative solution to design, allowing it to perform on a multitude of levels, not just as a static structure.

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EXPLORATION MATRIX

Our introduction to using grasshopper as a designing tool in our project explored input directions in relation to our focus on biomimicry. We experimented with voronoi inputs, applying them to both surfaces and solids, as well as interchanging voronoi edges between linear and curli-linear lines. Exploration of appling hexagonal shapes to a surface in also shown, in order to experiment with attractor points across these surfaces. Further development of grasshopper definitions and understanding of how these inputs functions will allow for these types of forms to extend in the direction of biomimicry in terms of our focus on the tree.

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2.2 CASE STUDY 1.0

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In Case Study 1.0 we explored the definition used to produce the VoltaDom by Skylar Tibbits. Using the alogorithms forming the original geometry of cones used in the design, we appled multiple inputs and parameters to extend the form further. The first column series of mutations explored the apllication of the convex hull input. Changing the parameters on this input extended the design producing the final outcome forming a cell-like geometry. The second column series experimented with delaunay edges, changing the curved edges of the cones into a connected linear system. The outcomes form complex systems of interlocking linear edges. The third column is a series of designs formed through the application of the substrate input. These outcomes extend the form of the cones into an abstact collection of geometries fitting together in a complex arrangment within a circle or rectangle. The final column applies the cone geometry to solid forms. These forms create interesting effects on the orginial solid solid, creating a more complex and visually effective design.

These designs may be applied to our project development to assist the form finding process. They create complex geometries, and can be easily extended through changing parameters. Application of these input may be associated to our design focus, by abstracted the processes of a tree into systems of parameters applied to a form through grasshopper.

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2.3 CASE STUDY 2.0 The Spanish Pavilion was designed by Foriegn Architects in 2005 for the World Exposition in Japan. This bold and striking building represents the essence of Spanish architecture in its brightly coloured facade. The outer skin of the building, sepreated from the internal pavilion, consists of varying hexagonal geometries precisely fitting together to form a consistent facade.

This lattice structure made up by these geometries has a repetitive nature, which to some extent is broken up with the variation in colours. This Pavilion is successful in providing a bold and intriguing design, however more complexity could be explored to abstract the central form of the hexagon to create a facade that is more unexpected.

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In re-engineering this Pavilion we came across many difficulties, mainly in part for the lack of our knowledge in Grasshopper. To create a basic representation of this design, we applied a hexagonal geometry to the surface of a box. From this we created panels and frames on the individual hexagonal surfaces in order to create the variation shown in the Pavilion. These variations are formed by punched out holes in there centre of the hexagons, creating small openings in the facade.

The process of this case study helped to develop further skills in using grasshopper, and applying it to real-life projects. However our group did not see the potential in this definition to apply it to our idea of Biomimicry. We want to create a more abstracted design of the processes and systems encompassed by nature. This pavilion is too straightforward in its geometires, and basic in its overall form. Although it worked well for its context of the World Expo, it will not work well for the context of the Wyndam Gateway project which needs to express ‘brave, new ideas’ through its ‘abstract, aspirational intent’.

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2.4 TECHNIQUE: DEVELOPMENT

Moving forward from the Case Studies and into the development of our design techniques, we explored our direction of the tree adaptation in further detail within Grasshopper algorithmic exploration. Within this matrix we explored the process of tree growth rings, through the idea of rings layering upon itself. The form of a spiral was explored with its ability to layer back on to it self generating a larger and strong form, similar to that of the tree. Abstracting the spiral form for its essential idea of layer, and exploration of simple layering techniques appied to linear forms was also developed. The abstraction of laering away from the spiral form has more potential to develop further in oder to attend to the needs of the brief.

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Devolping more complexity in the design was enabled through the use of attractor points and a multitude of layers. Attractor points were utilized to investigate the orientation of leaves, and how this may be incorporated into the design. Extending the idea of layering panels from the previous matrix as well as looking at geometries on a surfaces we explored the relationship created through attractor points.

Exploration was made through extruding and angling these panels and geometries at different values and angles. This is a technique which may be developed further in the design, as it has an ‘eye-catching’ appeal in its changing form, with the potential to engage with the site and adaptations of biomimicry.

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Again referencing the inital matrix’s experimentation with layering panels, we extended this further by incorporating the idea involved in the tree adaptation of interlocking branch tissue. By using polylines connecting points, a ruled surface was created. From this we extruded panels from the surface, and intersecting different surfaces to form a sense of interlocking. In some cases these linear lines took appearance of curvi-linear forms, creating complex forms incorporating rigid and fluid impressions. These explorations in the technique of interlocking and layer is one which would have great potential in the Wyndam Gateway Project. These design incorporate the focus on biomimicry through a complex and eye-catching form, which would easily stretch across the site along the highway.

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2.5 TECHNIQUE: PROTOTYPES

Initial fabrication exploration through prototypes investigated two different approaches: using a tensile structure, such as wire to prevent the structure from collapsing, and using the design as the structure itself. The wire prototypes allowed for the designs which used layering and orientating/rotating panels, whereas the technique of the design also being the structure was limited by the exploration we had done previously to only demontating extrusions/tesselations of a surface. Further prototyping in the proposal of the design will help develop the ideas of fabrication and allow for a coherent relationship between the algorithmic sketch and the built project.

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2.6 TECHNIQUE: PROPOSAL

LEAF ORIENTATION

INTERLOCKING BRANCH TISSUE

LAYERING TREE RINGS

+

CONTEXT

= ENGAGE WITH SITE

INTERLOCK

LAYERING

ORIENTING

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In relation to the Wyndam City Gateway Project and the design direction of Biomimicry, our design will engage with the site by streching across the road while also involving the ideas propsed through the adaptations made by the tree. To incorporate all the processes chosen on the tree, we explored the application of layering multiple panels along various curilinear shapes. This juxtaposition of linear and curvi-linear lines gives greater complexity visually, also using rectangular shaped panels allows for the project to be easily fabricated while still giving the impression of a fluid form. Adding another level to this design, we explored attractor points to angle the panels towards as specified point, this created a design which appeared either solid or sectioned dependant on where it was viewed from.

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INTERLOCKING The adaptation of interlocking branch tissue is abstracted into the design as a structure to allow for stability and complexity. The interlocking portrays the idea of strength and is a functional desigh element forming the frame for the panels.

LAYERING The adaptation of tree rings is utilized in the design as layered panels creating an overall curved form. These panels give the idea of growth, as they are repeated across a central curve, forming the overall design.

ORIENTING The adaptation of leaf orientation is involved in the design through the rotating panels oriented towards a point. In this project the attractor point would be the position of the sun in order to avoid exposure on the surface of the panels causing degratation to retain the intent and beauty of the design. This concept also allows the design to become contextual form, linking to the idea of biomimicry and the ability to adapt/change due context and climate.

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The final prototype uses polypropylene panels and thin metal wire to fabricate the chosen exploration outcome. This propotype shows the different visual effects the oriented layered panels give from various angles, interchanging between the appearance of solid and broken. The polypropylene also allows for light to transmit through, creating an eye-catching appearance which has the potential to be lit at night in an interesting manner.

The thin metal wire creates the structure in which the panels are joined and allows for an interlocking form. The wire is a difficult material to work with, it tends to kink easily when manipulating it, and is difficult to create a protoytpe which can stand on its own. In future design development and prototyping, further investigation into materials which may replace this should be made, in order to fabricate the final design effectively.

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2.7 ALGORITHMIC SKETCHES INTERLOCKING

The algorithmic sketch which produced an interlocking form, was one which created a ruled surface which could then be applied to many different surfaces. By using this algorithm on multiple surface, these could then be unioned to create an overall interlocking form.

ATTRACTOR POINT

The algorithmic sketch utilizing attractor points to affect form created a relationship between the geometry and point. Changing the parameters in this relationship allowed for the form to change in various ways, creating interesting forms.

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ATTRACTOR/ORIENTED PANELS

The algorithmic sketch producing our final technique proposal outcome uses an attractor point and panels along a curved line. The relationship between the specified attractor point, which is to represent the sun, and the form through parameters may change the orientation of the individual panels. Interlocking is incorporated into the alogorithm in a different way, using a pipe geometry which intersect with the other secton of the design.

This algorithm utilizes key tools in grasshopper connected with the inputs needed to create the design intent producing a system that shows development from Part A in the complexity and understanding in the program.

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2.8 LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES

This next stage in ‘Expression of Interest’ has developed my understanding of both grasshopper and parametric design extensively.

The Case Studies formed a solid basis for introducing more complex algorithms and outcomes. Although we did not use the definitions forming these case studies, they developed my understanding of how an algorithm translates into a fabricated design.

Our technique development and argument correlated well due to our strong direction in approaching the project. Moving forward into further exploration for a final form, more emphasis on grasshopper sketches will need to be made. From the strong base of the processes we have focused on in Biomimicry, we will be able to experiment with complex and interesting forms in a specied design direction.

The final outcome of the technique proposal, although encompassing all the adaptions of biomimicry, lacks in being ‘eye catching’ and portraying ‘brave new ideas’. It is a simple initial form utilizing our knowledge of parametric modelling and our design direction, however does not fabricate as a complex or interesting form in its context. From this simplicity further algorithmic expression can be explored, to develpp a better understanding of what we want to achieve. In doing this, our final design will not only satisfy the brief but also our goal in replicating specific processes from nature.

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