STUDIO AIR JOURNAL B

ARCHITECTURE DESIGN STUDIO

AIR

THI NHU LAN NGUYEN 569295

C O N T E N T

PART B CRITERIA DESIGN B.1. RESEARCH FIELD B.2. CASE STUDY 1.0 B.3. CASE STUDY 2.0 B.4. TECHNIQUE: DEVELOPMENT B.5. TECHNIQUE: PROTOTYPES B.6. TECHNIQUE: PROPOSAL B.7. LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOME B.8. ALGORITHMIC SKETCHBOOK

B1

RESEARCH FIELD

Archipelago Pavilion

Source: http://www.evolo.us/architecture/archipelago-parametrically-designed-pavilion

Designed and built in collaboration between Chalmers University of Technology and RÜhsska Museum of Design in Copenhagen, the Archipelago Pavilion is a network of seating structures that inhabits the cortyard in front of the Museum. The structure provides shaded seating inside and creates shaded spaces around it to place existing .chairs and tables. The structure was built on site by 33 architecture students The pavilion was parametrically designed in Grasshopper and Rhino and built from 2 mm thick laser-cut steel sheets. Exactly 133 pieces of steel were joint together with 1535 joints with a total of 3640 bolts holding it together. Inside the pavilion visitors can lie comfortably on the surface, thanks to the steel’s possibility to stay cool when shaded.

The intricate web of spaces resembles clusters of small islands in an archipelago. The perforation on the roof spreads out an organic pattern resembling the one you would see .from a tree in the forest The Archipelago Pavilion was initially created for the purpose of the course, as an exploration of translating computer generated design into built architectural objects through digital fabrication Using archipelago as a precedent for our part B in both developing our skills in Grasshopper and observing more sense of strips technique but learning the pavilion building process and the materiality they have used for this. This can be considered as a successfully parametrically designed and well built project. However, the idea of using steel for this project was good in terms of model-making but it can at the same time get .heated during summer which is not really pleasing .

Source: http://www.dailytonic.com/biothing-a-transdisciplinary-lobratory-founded-by-alisa-andrasek

With ‘biothing’ the New York based architect Alisa Andrasek founded a transdisciplinary lobratory that focuses on the generative potential of computational systems for design. Her major intrest is the analysis of self organising and .adaptive systems, which can become manifest in different scales For the Seroussi Pavilion we looked into self-modifying patterns of vector“ fields based on behaviors of electro-magnetic fields (EMF). The logics of attraction/repulsion were computed in plan and than “lifted” via series of structural micro-arching sections through different frequencies of the sine function. Additional feature built into our script allows for local adaptation to the site in regards to the section – given that the pavilion is implanted into a ”.”quite steep hill EMF trajectories needed to “find the ground This is provided as a definition of strip technique for our part B1 case study, as we learned through it in grasshopper and made changes to archive many different possibilities from the orgirinal form. As when we experienced through this case study, we know that it was not easy to create such form and it a well parametrically designed precedent for us to learn from or apply into our design .later since there are not so many good precedents for the strips technique

B I O T H I N G

ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2010 The structural analysis model is based on a FEM simulation. In order to simulate the intricate equilibrium of locally stored energy resulting from the bending of each element, the model needs to begin with the planar distribution of the 80 strips, followed by simulating the elastic bending and subsequent coupling of the strips. The detailed structural calculations, which are based on a specifically modeled mesh topology that reflects the unique characteristics of the built prototype, also allows for understanding the internal stresses that occur due to the bending of the material in relation to external forces such as wind and snow loads, a very .distinct aspect of calculating lightweight structures The computational design model is based on embedding the relevant material behavioral features in parametric principles. These parametric dependencies were defined through a large number of physical experiments focusing on the measurement of deflections of elastically bent thin plywood strips. Based on 6400 lines of code one integral computational process derives all relevant geometric information and directly outputs the data required for both the structural analysis model and the manufacturing with a 6-axis industrial robot This was successfully built and gave us a strong sense of materiality in strips technique when the whole structure was built by bending all the flywood to archive such aesthetically pleasing yet .very eco-friendly looking

Source: http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/?p=4458

LOOP 3 Loop_3 is a project conceived and realized by Loop_3 design team, a group of students form Architectural Design 3 course at the Faculty of Engineering, Università di Bologna, for an installation on invitation by the 1st Architectural Biennale of Thessaloniki - “Architecture .)and the City in South-Eastetrn Europe” (18.01-26.02 2012 The installation is a self-standing object that uses mathematical trigonometric functions (explored through parametric design software) as a mean of aesthetic device, exploring a use of rationality in complex shapes that merges user spatial interaction, curvature as a structural and expressive strategy (the voluptuous ripples also strengthen the overall shape) and form as a sorting device to deploy functions. Carrying 3D models, showing pictures from various projects as well as a pad to interactively explore design strategies We have thought of using this one as a precedent for case study 2.0, however after getting through it, we were aware of our grasshopper skills which are not able to reach this standard and create such complex structure yet. This can be considered as a successfully parametrically designed and built using strips technique

Source: http://www.co-de-it.com/wordpress/loop_3.html

B.2 CASE STUDY 01

Exploring the possibilities of the Biothing definition provided by changing existing ..parameters, input geometries and component options Such as: Longer field lines, Elliptical original curve, Increased start points, Altered curve gradient, Originalcurve is a field line, Large central circles, Altered original curves, Spin Force instead of Point Force, Additional field lines, Altered original curves to 3D, Original, mirrored and lofted, Original, pipes

B.3 C A S E S T U D Y 02

FORM GENERATION After archiving and being quite satisfied with our outcome, we took a look back to the orgirinal precedent to see what similarities we have successfully got and what .differences we have not been able to pursuade regarding our grasshopper skills As the main purpose of the archipelago pavilion is to create a small community place for students to come, sit down or lie down comfortably on the surface of the pavilion as it was purposedly designed for it. As we can see clearly in the photo down there, those entrances were made to be perpect circle which did chanllenged us a lot in making our own model to have such looking. Furthermore, we also did not make those tiny small holes on our grasshopper model as what they did on the surface of the pavilion. There is one column cut into half whereas ours is not cut in half.

However, after all, we are still quite satisfied with the shape we have got and by far it helps bring us to the next step where we have to create our own design which ..may be even in more complex shape. It is a good starting point to push us further

Source: http://www.evolo.us/architecture/archipelago-parametrically-designed-pavilion

We started our form generation by making a curve which seems to be the same shape as the archipelago bottom part

We made the top curve and then divided into 3 pieces and again made 3 small curves at the middle of bottom curve and top curve in order to create those 3 columns .like the archipelago pavilion

Learning from the method of making grid shell in week 3 online tutorial, divided those curves we created earlier into many points

in order to make all those vertical curves that connect the top curve, middle curve and top curve together to create a comfortable surface for people to lie on as the purpose of Archipelago pavilion

After, adjusting the height and the bottom, top, middle curves' sizes and the number of points on those curves to archive our desirable shape at the end

T

B.4

TECHNIQUE DEVELOPMENT

Iterations slowly evolve away from the original definition, until they are no longer identifiable

B.5

T E C H N I Q U E P R O T O T Y P E S

Our very first attempt at strips architecture which was hand-made to simply get an idea of how strips connect to each other and to test out the materiality as well as the solidity that if they could stand by themselves with no support. We were trying to make a floral shaped pavilion with those strips connected to each other to provide self-support. We .considered this as a failure but still, we learned, understood and got more sense about strips

Our second hand-made prototype after double thickening the materiality and re-constructing. Finally we could archive our attempt at making a small .floral shaped pavilion which is something inspiring for our design proposal

Unrolling our grasshopper model and making the prototype by using Fab-lab tool were considering as the most challenging parts of our part B. We had been struggling during the process of unrolling since we could not figure out how to unroll the model into all those strips after several attempts. However, we tried to exploited the grasshopper 3d forum as much as we could. We got quite a lot unrolling scripts there, however, not all of them works and easy to understand. We went through Kangaroo and some more plug-ins untill we got the right plug-ins we need which are unroll-brep GHpython and Generation. Even though, this part was considered as the hardest part yet most successful part as we could early pursuade the unrolling .technique which we believe not every one in the subject have reach this stage

B.6

T E C H N I Q U E P R O P O S A L

Energy Generation

R E S E A R C H

Human Movement

Piezoelectric: vibration to electricity Flywheel: method of storing energy as rotational motion energy Dynamo: converts mechanical energy to electricity

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCbKeklrY9c

ENERGY GENERATION EXPLANATION

PRECEDENTS

GRASSHOPPER PARAMETRIC MODEL

P A V I L I O N I N S I T U

As responding to the design brief, we are required to design an artwork which can capture the energy from the nature in order to generate a new alternative renewable energy. Our site is at Denmark. "Many humans spend hours each week using energy in the form of exercise for its own sake. Treadmills, weight machines, and exercise bikes take energy pro- duced by our muscles and counteracts it using friction, gravity or air resistance. But what if we harnessed that energy and used it to generate electricity." That is what our proposal initially aims at. Our design will not only capture the nature of energy but only draw attention at how it can be used in its different forms. Providing an engaging, communal electricityproducing activity is what we have been really working on in order to design an innovative and eye-catching artwork . By utilising computational techniques for form generation and fabrication, we generated an aesthetically pleasing structure which will draw people to the park and create an engaging yet healthy community

B.7 LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOME

Throughout part B of studio AIR, I have developed a strong understanding by learning about architectural computing and brought our grasshopper skills to the next level by experimenting through 2 case studies, which are exploring the possibilities of Biothing pavilion and reverse-engineering The archipelago pavilion. Later on, we had to continue with Case Study 2.0 technique, which is to develop the definition to extend and alter its functionality. Those tasks practically help students get really into the software and be familiar with creating a complex object in grasshopper.

Furthermore, getting our desirable shape was hard but it was even harder when getting to the unrolling part. We did actually invest a huge amount of time to investigate and experiment how to unroll the object we made. We thought of giving up on the archipelago pavilion reverse-engineering and changed to another precedent which may be easier to re-engineer since it seemed to be out of our ability to unroll the object. However, we realized that it was about success but endless experiments that bring us further in the subject. We decided to get on Grasshopper 3d forum for some unrolling scripts. Finally, we could get it done with GHpython, Generation plug-ins .and successfully sent them to the Fab lab for the next step which is prototype making Getting through each step helps us understand more and more about parametric design. Creating a grasshopper model of the design is hard but building, constructing and bringing it to life are also another significant challenge. We have got several troubles building the prototype, which we thought was easy and could be done just by a few hours. However, it turned out taking us the whole day to figure out how to join those strips together and especially how to prevent them from collapsing.

Furthermore, through the model-making process, it helps us understand more about how materiality has a strong influence on the project as well as the size of the model and the real project makes a huge difference when it comes to connect those strips together. We have got 3 prototypes demonstrating each stage we got through and we thought they were all failures until the guest critique said they did not think those .prototypes were failure but successful trials at this stage

At the end of journal B is where our design proposal takes place, which prepares to bring us to our final design in Part C. At this point, after several experiments through the case studies, we had to think out of the box, accord to the LAGI design brief to make our own. At first, we need to utilise the precedents provided as a starting point to draw out our initial design idea as well as incorporate the energy generation technique into our design. There are many options of renewable energy technologies provided in the design guide that we can choose from. We thought of using Piezoelectricity method, which utilizes human movement to generate energy. However, we do not think it would be efficient enough to produce energy so we were bold enough to make another decision, which is rotational energy and it is not in the design guide.

We have done a lot of research online, physics explanation and comparison in order to make sure it works efficiently and be able to incorporate into our design. The idea of making our artwork as a gymnastic place where engage people and create a friendly community was good as the guest critique commented. However, inserting unsubtly the giant treadmill into our initial design, which was inspired heavily by the archipelago and a bit of hesitation to go for something more creative and serious .lack of experiment that lead our initial design to be considered as insufficient work In conclusion, we still do believe that we have invested a huge amount of time and made an effort for our design proposal, which includes the interesting idea of renewable energy generation and several attempts of prototype-making by both using Fab-lab and hand-made. However, in terms of algorithmic technique, we still find it hard to work logically in grasshopper and have met several difficulties to archive our desirable shaped Grasshopper model. We decided to choose strips as our technique and have found it intellectually and technically challenging both in making grasshopper model and unrolling for model making. Throughout the next few weeks until the end of the semester and the final detailed design, we need to improve our grasshopper skills as much as possible if we want to persuade a more complex design idea and translate it into the grasshopper model as our current initial .design for the proposal part is not innovative enough to get further for the next step

B.8

ALGORITHMIC SKETCHBOOK

First attempt at making grasshopper model based on the archipelago as a precedent.

We divided the model into 2 half, made the bottom half first and then later use the mirror component to reflect that upside down to archive our desirable shape but unfortunately the archipelago pavilion is .not symmetrically built

Second attempt in order to make the perfect circle entrances as the Archipelago and the comfortable surface to lie on but we did not get the shape by this method

Third attempt which was most successfully built compared to the other two and most simaliar to the archipelago shape. We applied the same method as the grid shell grasshopper model making and finally .archive our desirable shape

REFERENCES