Ong_SuZheng 839559_FinalJournal

STUDIO AIR ONG SU ZHENG 839559

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“Algorithms thinking is taking an interpretive role to understand the results of genrating codes, knowing how to modify the code to explore new options, and speculating on further design potentials.�

CONCEPTUALISATION 3

Table of Contents Part A Conceptualize Part A.1 Design Futuring_05 Part A.2 Design Computation_09 Part A.3 Composition/ Generation_13 Part A.4 Conclusion_16 Part A.5 Learning Outcomes_16 Part B Criteria Design Part B.1 Research Field_22 Part B.2 Case Study 1.0_23 Part B.3 Case Study 2.0_26 Part B.4 Technique Development_30 Part B.5 Technique: Prototypes_32 Part B.6 Technique Proposal_32 Part B.7 Learning Objectives and Outcomes_33 Part B.8 Appendix- Algorithmic Sketches_34 Part C Detailed Design Part C.1 Design Concept_37 Part C.2 Tectonic Elements and Prototypes_43 Part C.3 Final Detail Model_45 Part C.4 Learning Objectives and Outcomes

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A CONCEPTUALIZE

A.1 Design Futuring

House R128 House R128 is an experimental four storey lightweight architecture with high transparency through the building- facade and interior spaces. It is also one of the few buildings that are completely recyclable and self-sufficient. Modular construction system was also used to allow individual elements to be replaced more easily so as to extend their life-time.

The success of House R128 in achieving transparency beyond three-dimensional suggests the essentiality of “duality of involvement that has enabled the firm to continuously refine and re-define the radical principles of design engineering.” 1 This promotes the idea that designers should always try to improve and challenge the existing principle of design engineering in a creative way to achieve the impossible. Besides this, Werner Sobek also suggests that architects, structural design engineers and other party involved in the architecture project should work together to achieve “highquality” sustainable building in the future. Moving on to the technical workflows, Werner Sobek says that before building on site, the architect should emphasize on the importance of knowing and sorting out the relationship between the fundamental systems of design engineering such as structural stability, facade technologies, engineering principles and ecological design in order to create the effect you wants to show e.g. transparency. In addition, enhancing the structural planning and production techniques allows the architecture to maximize it space and use of it. Using digital stimulation to know the “three dimensional flow of forces whose design space is dictated by architectural, climatic or other conditions” 2, allows the architect to know what material is the most suitable for a particular architecture elements.

The thought of neglecting in finding the approach to achieve triple zero rating due to poor design engineering makes people realized the importance of sustainability. “Building must make huge changes in the face of rapidly accelerating urbanisation, the induced consumption of energy and the resulting emissions” 3 suggests the reaction of people wanting to change their way of life. Besides this, research question on

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“how does transparency relate to other design engineering principles that ultimately contribute to ecological design?” 4 also make people think about their relationship between systems and finally created the solution- the success in making a transparency lightweight architecture.

The accomplishment in this architecture proofs that transparency can go beyond three-dimensional and most importantly, proofing that design engineering while being cleverly used can help to solve problems; contributes ideas to the on-going disciplinary discourse. It can be seen that in the future years, House R182 will still be appreciated due to its highly sustainable design- essential in prolonging the earth’s limited resources and the existence of human in today world. This architectural project served as a mark for architect to pursue. House R128 sitting on a steep sloped facing towards forest gives the inhabitants a nice panoramic view. without issue on privacy as it is taken care of even though the house is totally transparent. Last but not least, this house is a completely recyclable, emission-free, energy self-sufficient building which contributes to the earth.

Werner Sobek says that the relationship between architects, structural design engineers, and other engineering and management consultants will be very different-closer in order to expand for future possibilities. This is probably because creating a sustainable design needs a team of people with different aspect of knowledge to make design works.

CONCEPTUALISATION 7

House R128, Werner Sobek, Stuttgart, 2000

Cardboard Catherdral Cardboard Cathedral design by Shigeru Ban located in Christchurch, New Zealand is used as an example to further support the statement above.

Cardboard Cathedral is a temporary church built in 2010 as a replacement of the significant late 19th century Neo-Gothic Anglican Cathedral which was damaged during the earthquake in New Zealand.

It is made up of materials that can be found by the site which consists of 98 equally sized cardboard recyclable tubes, lightweight skin and 8 steel shipping containers. Trapezoidal plan with tapering sidewalls was used to create A-shape geometry to ensure that the building is structurally firm. Moreover, special coatings that resist water and flammable items are applied on the materials to prevent disaster.

This church served as a mark for the rebuilding process after the earthquake; symbolizing the hope for a new future after the tragedy.

So what makes Cardboard Cathedral so unique? It’s probably it challenges the key tradition ideas of architecture that building must be permanent and lasting. This Cathedral reflects the value of temporary and highly flexible architecture in today’s world. The whole idea of this is to promote the idea of appreciating time even though it is only for a short period and use it as a design approach.

“Different philosophical understanding of historical value that does not primarily interface with material and form, but rather with time and place” 5 suggests the importance of time; it does not judge an object according to its value but the meaning behind it. In addition, industry professionals have also given a conclusion that the strength of the building has nothing to do with the strength of the material because earthquake can destroy a concrete building but not a paper building.

In the past, the contemporary world in the West only focus on designing buildings where time was always neglect, something that is ever-lasting and permanent due to their tradition and principle of using mechanics and geometry when designing architecture. However, building from the East which promotes temporary and flexibility makes industry professionals wonder how they can approach architecture in another way. This makes the West think about how time can be

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considered in architectural design and its environment.

The implementation and success of Cardboard Cathedral further support the view that temporary and flexible building is essential and useful in cases when unexpected circumstance occurred.

It will still be needed in the future as the world has become more prominent to natural disasters due to global warming. Besides this, it also symbolized the change in architecture design approach of the inveterate idea that the West has when building architecture.

I think that Cardboard Cathedral way of approaching architecture will still continue to be appreciated due to its usability and sustainabilitylocally source recyclable material. From “longing for permanence” to “aesthetic of the temporary” 6 suggest the change in mentality and view towards temporary architecture. This means that people have just started to explore the new option which has high potential in the future of architectural design.

Cardboard Cathedral was a replacement of a church and was built as a short term building. However, as it served as a significant support for people during the tragedy, it became a permanent architecture for the local community. People still goes there for prayer; however this elegant engineered piece of architecture is more like a monument to provide consolation for people who have been through the earthquake etc.

By releasing the architecture from fixed locations, time is controlled through cultural change, which in the Christchurch examples is brought about by an episodic rather than a gradual concept of change

CONCEPTUALISATION 9

Cardboard Cathedral, Shigeru Ban, Christchurch, 2010

A.2 Design Computation

The difference between computerization and computation is that the first one is about storing design that has already be conceptualized and manipulated while the latter one is a computer-based design tooldesign using computer to achieve final outcome. So, how exactly can we use computer in the architectural design process and what is the benefits of using it?

Due to the evolution of technology and human’s quest for building organic architecture geometry, software has been used to study and analyse the complex structural system and at the same time do what can be too complicated or impossible to illustrate using handdrawings.

Using Khan Shatyr Entertainment Centre and Nine Bridges Golf Resort as examples, discussion on why computation is a great facilitator for architectural design will be illustrated in the following essay, in terms of analysis and generating complex design. Firstly, I would like to give a brief description of the 2 precedent studies I have selected.

Khan Shatyr Entertainment Centre is a building with a “transparent inclined cone-shaped cable net structure that rises over a reinforced buried concrete base that in turn forms the 200-metre (656-foot) diameter support ring to the main cables with a single central support designed as a tripod to achieved stability in the building”7 whereas Nine Bridges Golf Resort, is a building with “a canopy of woven timber girders shelters the resort clubhouse with twenty-one slender columns support 32 roof elements, assembled from more than 3,500 intricately detailed glulam segments prefabricated in Switzerland.

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Besides this, from design to production here created reference geometry of the roof and generated 3-D models for all 467 different timber components, including the details for almost 15,000 lap joints.”

8 From the brief description of the two different architectural projects, large scale and complexity of the architecture is what I derived from it.

I wondered how the architects or engineer deal with this almost crazy and overloaded projects scheme.

However, the truth is that just by using computer in the design process enables architects to tackle and develop their projects using digital stimulation model effortlessly. This is almost impossible when using hand-drawn drawings as organic geometry architecture usually do not have a standard logic to follow and each and every little part of it looks very different.

Unlike the traditional way of working in the 2D dimensional space, computing definitely can be used to re-define architectural practice as they evoke a totally new way of designing architecture. The inability of the traditional method like calculating the complex structural strength limited the possibility of what the digital stimulation software can do today. Hence, a totally new approach towards architectural design has evolved and will definitely contribute to the practice of architecture in the industry.

The evolution of software in architecture started in the mid-1990s where CAD emerged for architecture drawings. However, due to the limitation of the architects face when designing their dream home

causes the born of the 3D programming interfaces which allowed one to draw plans using algorithm. “Algorithm takes the defining properties of a component or joint as input parameters and delivers a perfect drawing or 3-D model as output. The ability for information of a thousand drawings to be reduced into one well-defined algorithm and a thousand small sets of only a few parameters” 9 simplify the massive and confusing mathematics the architect needs to plan and engineer to calculate for and this is indicates the start of wild dynamic design form from appearing in this century.

In addition, professionals’ today still uses traditional method in finding form. For example, in Khan Shatyr Entertainment Centre, a series of hanging models is used to investigate the overall behaviour of the structure in order to derive at the final form of the building. It is only after that, the drawings of this architecture is then reflected onto the digital simulation software for further refinement and accurate engineering calculation which the process seemed to be quite tedious. Hence, I believed that not long after, it will be completely replaced by software stimulations as it is much more efficient.

With the newly introduction of computation, I believed that it will cause the industry to neglect on the more achievable geometry in architecture as people have the tendency to challenge or make new things different from the past. Perhaps, after the wave of being cool and fashionable started to deplete, simple geometry building will still be appreciated due its simplicity and usability.

professionals according to the different areas in the world. This enables designers to be able to illustrate or feel the space in the virtual world through numbers and thus creating architecture that best suits the human comfort.

To make use of the opportunities the software creates, it is important for architects to master the integration of knowledge about structure, materials, fabrication and construction into design to explore the infinite possibilities; the different combination of every point, line, plane and commands in the software which may spark different ideas for architectural design.

Computation not only helps to calculate the structural stability, it can also calculate the amount of heat energy transmitted through the building via a climate data base provided by the other field

CONCEPTUALISATION 11

Interior of Nine Bridges Golf Resort, Shigeru Ban, Yeoju- South Korea, 2009

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Khan Shatyr Entertainment Centre, Foster + Partners, Kazakhstan, 2010

Khan Shatyr Entertainment Centre, Foster + Partners, Kazakhstan, 2010

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A.3 Composition/ Generation

Composition is a product of architecture design based on both conceptual and senses analysis- using drawings as a traditional way of designing architecture. It is about manipulation of architecture elements like shadow, light and water to trick the user’s eye by giving them a false impression that a particular space or architecture is very grand or distant etc. to evoke emotions of the users towards the building. For example, in Church of Light designed by Tadao Ando, the cross shape that punctured through the wall allows light into the relatively darker space creating an impression of new hope which is also somewhat relatable to the doctrine of Christian. Furthermore, due to sun movement, shadow will be cast at different location in the space during the day making the space more “alive�. In this kind of design approach, architects often focus on the micro details like how a particular wall should be designed to achieve the effect that helps in evoking human emotions. This often needs drawings, sketches or images to visualize and have a feel of it to see if it is successful.

professionals today is probably because of the infinite opportunities it provides and its ability to deal with complex design situation via algorithms- the most efficient way of communication with a computer.

Besides this, the great flexibility and adaptability of the generative design approach makes constant changing of parameters like modification and experimenting very easy. Hence, unexpected solutions that the particular architect might never think of when solving problems may emerged after a several times of trial and error. This is also considered as a part of design process in a digital format. Moreover, making use of data bases input in the software to run stimulation provides accurate results of its performance and also served as a platform to provide immediate feedback to the architects to create a more responsive design. The use of generation design approach not only helps in forging an identity of each building due to its unique context and concept, it also challenges the structural flexibility and how dynamic the architecture form can be.

Unlike composition, the newly evolved generative design approach is a highly computerizing way of making architecture. It is a rising star in architectural industry and this can be seen by the hiring requirement of architecture firms. In the past, firms tend to hire a group of computer specialist to tackle with software problems. However, in recent years, they wanted architects that are able to create their own design software; be a computational designer. This shows the significant and impact generation design approach is in today architectural world.

Infinity Tower located in Dubai designed by Owings & Merrill (SOM) is the one of the best example of how powerful generative design approach can be. This particular skyscraper is a 73 storey building with each identical slab rotating slightly as the level moves up resulting in a twist effect of a cuboid. From the exterior form of it, it seemed so impossible even for the structure to work. However, generation design approach overcomes all the difficulties and even reduces the wind load and solar heat gain of the building.

The reason why this particular design approach is so valued by

Despite the list of advantages generation design approach provides,

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Church of Light, Tadao Ando, Japan, 1989

it cannot be said that composition is totally worthless. I felt that both of the design approaches are complementary to each other as the first one focuses more on the exterior and the latter one on the interior. For example, in generation design approach, the dynamic exterior form is what makes the architecture unique and be able to identify it as a landmark. On the other hand, in composition design approach, it’s the journey through the interior spaces which carved in people memories. So, how can the fusion of this two creates a new design opportunity is worth to investigate on. In conclusion, in today’s architectural world, generation design approach might be the trend. However, we should not neglect composition but see it as a chance to further improvise architectural skills in creating an awesome architecture.

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The Infinity Tower,

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, Dubai, 2013

A.4 Conclusion

Part A is all about my research on critical design and thinking and the importance of architectural computing. From Part A.1, I have learnt that debate is essential in contributing to architecture design practice as it is the process of finding problems and solving issuepushing the limits of the existing boundaries to keep on improving on our architecture knowledge. Moving on, part A.2 and A.3 enable me to understand the importance of computing architecture- how is it affecting the world? The researches I have done on this particular topic provide me insight on the pros and cons of this particular design approach and how it contributes to the design process.

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A.5 Learning Outcome

In the beginning of the week, I was kind of fluster and panic when I know that I need to work with Rhino, Grasshopper and InDesign as I have no clue on how to use any one of this software. Grasshopper is the one that I took the longest time to understand how it works through the video tutorial and the algorithmic sketchbook exercise. I have learnt how to loft surfaces with curves, using triangulation tools to form surface and creating meshes. These are really basic tools in Grasshopper but I think it will come in very useful in the future when I am writing my own algorithmic. Although I am still quite confused on how to use Grasshopper but I think that I will be able to master it as time goes by- practice makes perfect!

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Reading journal articles provides me an in-depth understanding on the current hot topic in architecture industry and the importance of critical thinking when practicing architecture- to form debate to improvise on the existing problems and point out issues happening currently in the industry. In addition, I have also noticed the essentiality of architecture computing. I think that by learning and absorbing as much as I can in this module will definitely help me to excel in this aspect.

A.6 Algorithms Sketches

I chose this sketch because I find the stepping effect very interesting.

I derived from this model using triangualation tool which follow the path of a random loft surface I drew in the software. This actually illustrate the flexibilty in Grasshopper. This is a totally customize sketch I build on my own.

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Bibliography

1.

Werner Sobek, ‘Radical Sources of Design Engineering’, Archit Design, 80 (2010), 24-33 (p. 27).

2.

Werner Sobek, ‘Radical Sources of Design Engineering’, Archit Design, 80 (2010), 24-33 (p. 33).

3.

Werner Sobek, ‘Radical Sources of Design Engineering’, Archit Design, 80 (2010), 24-33 (p. 33).

4.

Werner Sobek, ‘Radical Sources of Design Engineering’, Archit Design, 80 (2010), 24-33 (p. 28).

5.

Stylianos Dritsas, Kang Shua Yeo and Taylor, M, ‘Time Matters: Transition and Transformation in Architecture’, Archit. Design, 86 (2016), 42-49 (p. 44).

6.

Taylor, M, ‘Time Matters: Transition and Transformation in Architecture’, Archit. Design, 86 (2016), 86 (2016), 42-49 (p. 49).

7.

Mangelsdorf, W, ‘Structuring Strategies for Complex Geometries’, Archit Design, 80 (2010), 40-45 (p. 43).

8.

Scheurer, F, ‘Materialising Complexity’, Archit Design, 80 (2010), 86–93 (p. 93).

9.

Scheurer, F, ‘Materialising Complexity’, Archit Design, 80 (2010), 86–93 (p. 89).

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B CRITERIA DESIGN

CRITERIA DESIGN

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Khan Shatyr Entertainment Centre, Foster + Partners, Kazakhstan, 2010

ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion, Stuttgart, Institution of Building Structure and Structural Design, 2010

B.1 Research Field Strip and Folding is considered as a form of architectural ornaments.

It makes use of folding or replicating techniques of strip of material to form texture or pattern on a particular shelter. Conceptual design can run wild but it is useless if it is unrealistic. Thus, to ensure that conceptual design is buildable, computational design is introduced.

In this case, computational design is used to explore the different material behaviour- how much force to applied to bend a particular material before it breaks or is the intersecting point strong enough to form space without the use of structural elements. This suggests a brand new opportunity in designing or exploring architectureusing the nature of materials to express the desired effect for the conceptual design. Besides this, fabrication is much easier by using strip and folding method to construct complex geometries as computational design is able to break down and calculate the

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exact numbers that are required to build the architecture. ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion is one good example on the above explanation.

For this project, the team uses the computational design to calculate the strongest point when the timber strip is being bent so that it can acts as its own structural system. Moreover, the use of two different timber strips profile and making them interlock with each other not only form a pattern/ ornament but also creates space in between for people to use. Lights entering through the little gaps of the timber weaving structure reflect interesting shadow pattern in the interior giving it another sense of beauty in alignment to the architect’s brief.

The timber planks were fabricated in the factories to its exact profile and ship off to the site. The team then install each and every strip accordingly in a circular form to create a pavilion that stands on its own using curving timber planks.

B.2 Case Study 1.0

The model quality of this particular render has much improved from its original one. Sense of depth can be seen by the contrast where lines are more concentrated in a certain area. Besides this, the mixture of field lines, hexagonal shape etc. gives the model its identity. The render is now more interesting to study and explore due to the elements it consists. Yarn like materality also makes the overall render looks light and translucent.

Breaking apart from the circular shape, this particular model looks like a splash of paint on the wall. It is no longer rigid and tense and it definitely pleasured people eyes due to neat lineweight and direction the field are facing.

Pointy edge makes this render looks more aggressive and attention catching as compared to the rest. Moreover, it look likes a string of huts together giving it a “village” vibe where it is vibrant and lively.

Unlike the rest, this particular render illustrated a more balanced visual effect with its line weight. Besides this, the mixture of all other iterations makes the model looks like being “blend” together forming a fabric surface which may be quite interesting to explore for architectural design purpose.

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SERIES 1 _INPUT GEOMETRY

Rectangle

SERIES 2_ POINT CHARGE

Point Charge: -50

Circle

Point Charge: 1

Triangle

Point Charge: 3

Square

Point Charge: 50

Hexagon

Point Charge: 80

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SERIES 3_ CURVE DIVISION

Curve Division: 1

Curve Division: 10

Curve Division: 20

Curve Division: 50

Curve Division: 100

SERIES 4_ GEOMETRY DIVISION

Geo Division: 10

SERIES 5_ GRAPH TYPE

SERIES 6_ MIXTURE

Biezer

Geo Division: 25

Conic

Geo Division: 50

Gaussian

Geo Division: 100

Parabola

Geo Division: 250

Perlin CRITERIA DESIGN

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B.3 Case Study 2.0 Research has been done on the merri creek site and it is found out that this particular site consists of stones and plants that exist million years ago. I think that this is a very interesting fact as it is uncommon to find it in todays world. This gives the site an significant idenityhuman civilization and elvolving nature. However, as not all of us are archeologists, we often neglect the underlying story behind it and thus making the site meaningless. Therefore, in this particular project, I aimed to increase the awareness of people to the layers of cultural and historical movement of this particular site.

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As an excercise to boost up my grasshopper skills, I have selected Dior building facade to study on as I felt that the translucent facade is quite interesting. The diagonal lines that breaks the block of building into smaller parts add value to the design and ambience of the surrounding street and buildings. It is this underlying little details that changes a dull and bunk building into a light and attention catching building.

Christian Dior Building, Tokyo, Pritzker Prize Laureates SANAA, 2004

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Point List

Flatten

Item List

Polyline

Item List

Polyline

Item List

Polyline

Item List

Polyline

Polyline

Surface

Curve

Explode Tree

Divide Surface

Curve Polyline

Polyline

Flip Matrix

Explode Tree Polyline

Surface

Divide Surface

Circle

Expression

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Offset Merge Offset

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C DETAILED DESIGN

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Merri Creek River

C.1 Design Concept Merri Creek is a park with rich history tracing back from many eras ago. It was said that 400 million years ago, this particular area was covered with water; it is a part of the sea. However, due to natural phenomena that happened through the years, the water receded and has left behind a layer of yellowish marine siltstone and sandstone rocks. It then turns into a sandy layer about 65 million years ago.

Volcanoes which erupted from 0.8 to 4.6 million years ago by Hayes Hill and Mt Fraser sent lava along the ancestral valleys of the Merri and Darebin Creeks and into the valley of the Yarra River has again changed the site fabric. This actually affects or has influence on the look of Merri Creek we see today. In short, the indigenous plantings, constructed wetlands and the animals tells the story of Merri Creek. It holds the identity of this particular place.

Unfortunately, people today don’t actually realized the underlying history and would not spare a glance on it. Hence, in order to increase awareness, my design concept is to make it obvious just like the above picture where the stones disturbed the fluidity of the river flow which catches people attention. I am considering to do something which is edgy or bumpy out of a smooth surface for my garment.

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Further Technique Development

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IMAGE SAMPLING

OC TREE

ORIENT

CONTOUR/ MOVE

BOX MORPH

INPUT GEOMETRY

JITTER

OC TREE 2

ORIENT 2

DETAILED DESIGN

Selected Iteration Due to the substandard work I produced for the interim presentation, I was told to reinvestigate the site, Merri Creek and re-iterate a few more interesting models which fit in with my design concept and interest. With this, I have started to explore further by generating more iterations. After a few try, I have finally produced one that I am satisfied and interested in. As seen from the previous page, the image highlighted with a box is the one I have chosen for my garment. Its fluidity despite the sharp edges gives the model an overall graceful sense and thus making it unique and pleasant to see. Besides this, I have chosen this model mainly because it fits my idea of making something bumpy out of a smooth surface in trying to attract attention of the public to its underlying history. Moving on with the iteration I produced, I have tried to make a few prototypes testing out different ideas on how can I achieve the effect I want on a one to one scale model for my garment.

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1st Prototype Black polypropylene is used to create the spiky effect by tying 4 small triangles in a row and combined the different rows together with string.The copper plate in between the triangles is to ensure that the triangles are movable even after being tied to form a flexible design in alignment my design concept. The joineries which can only be seen at a few particular angle illustrated my design concept of letting small details be seen in the design to make people wonder and interested in finding the underlying story.

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2nd Prototype Besides polypropylene, MDF is also used to try out the same effect.

Each polygon has two holes at the side and they are connected two by two with cable ties. This form a pattern similar to my iteration.

However, I think that this one is not as successful as the first one.

This is probably because of the materiality. MDF is made of wood thus it cannot be bend or have that fluid effect making the final product looking unsuccessful.

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3rd Prototype Unlike the previous prototypes, this particular model is being built to test on other options to create a better fabrication in alignment to my design concept. This prototype is fabricated according to the “Orient� iteration. The different value of denseness on the model interests me and make me think of how can I applied this to my own design.

As seen from the images below, MDF is being used to create the thickness; solidity of the model surface. Each square panels with one big hole in its middle and four other at the side are being connected together with triangular copper rings. Area with higher density on the iteration is being shown in the model by overlapping the square panels with each connected by the metal circle ring.

Black polypropylene was also used to test out this idea. Cable ties were being used to connect the small and big square frame forming similar pattern to the digital stimulations. Despite the effort put in in wanting to make this prototype successful, the outcome isn’t that satisfying.

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C2. Tectonic Elements & Prototypes Moving onto the second segment of Part C journal, the grashopper definition of the selected iteration is being reintegrated to the specific garment form. The images below show the play of materials such as Gold, Red Ruby and Stone. Since my design motivator is about Merri Creek- a natural habitat, I decided that my final materiality of my garment shall be made out of stone or at least something similar to its texture if wearing stone isn’t that realistic.

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Making Prototypes Zooming into the 3D rhino model of the garment, it can be seen that the skarf is actually made up of several groups of distorted pyramid mesh. With this, a set of “distorted pyramid�is being drag out and each and every one of it is being unroll using the rhino command. The unroll surface is then being fabricated using laser cutter. Later the surface was then glue together again forming a pointy 3 dimensional polygon. These polygons were then being attached to a framework using pins.

As I am unfamilar with the fablab system and process, I actually miscalculate the dimension and end up producing tiny surface which can be hardly glued together with barehands. Hence, I have to throw away the 10 over sheets of white polyproplyene I fabricated. After consulting the lecturer, she adviced me to make the surface at least three times bigger for easy working.

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C3. Final Detail Model

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Looking through the images above, one might have thought on what does that all means? It is the process of me making my prototype.

To create the spiky edges, the distorted pyramids were being “unroll” using the rhino command and were later being laser cut out by the fabrication lab of University of Melbourne on a piece 600 by 600mm black polypropylene. The cut outs were then being folded back into its 3D form using hot glue. I find the part gluing the surface together the most challenging. I have tried duct tape, super glue, UHU glue, elephant glue and many other methods to secure the overall form.

However, nothing works! It will burst the very next day or even worst the two surfaces won’t even stick together. After struggling for almost a week, I have finally found my saviour- the hot glue. The hot glue managed to stick the two little surfaces which has different bending angle together and make it stay. The downside of this method was probably the messy final product with obvious glue stain I get at the end of the day. (Images on Page 45) After solving the tedious and troublesome gluing process, the 3D distorted pyramids polygons were then being attached to a framework I made accordingly to my sister body size using pins. The framework was made up of two long polypropylene strips. The open and end of the two plastic strips were connected using screw nail to form a circular surface which can be hang on my sister’s shoulder.

The making of the framework was a success as it turns out to be what I wanted have imagine virtually. (Images on Page 46-49) As for the pinning of the distorted pyramids to the framework, I have also met some problems. For example, the pins did hold up or secure the polygons correctly. The whole thing seemed to be a bit shaky and wobbly. The polygons did not lie flatly onto the circular framework.

Hence, without any choice, I have added in some hot glue to reaffirms the structure or even the whole prototype to make the building of the model possible. (Images on Page 50-51) In short, the process of making this prototype, starting from rendering iterations has causes me so much havoc. However, no pain no gain.

Despite the struggle through the process, I did learn something out of digital stimulation, fabrication and even connections making.

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C.4 Learning Objectives and Outcomes We have finally come to the end of this course. To be truthful, Studio Air is quite a challenging module for me this semester. Time management, weekly reading tasks and assignment have been haunting me since the day I step into the class. However, saying that this module is a total nightmare or disaster to me and that I wanted to escape from, it is totally not true. I do enjoy the classes and making prototypes.

Through this module, I have a new understanding on architecture.

In the past, architecture to me is just a box with human in it. Crazy architectural form is something I would never think off or even dare to attempt. But after this module, I know that crazy forms can not only be fashionable, identifiable but also functionable. Besides this, it can also be easily done using digital stimulation. Moving on, the importance of digital design in today architectural world cannot be neglected. Digital stimulation which can provides exact numbers on the energy a building needs or produce suggests the importance of it especially in today world where everyone is tackling and solving problems on sustainability; going green- saving the mother earth.

Knowing the importance of computation in today society, I am glad that I have a chance to experience and learn grasshopper, InDesign and the rhino software in school. Even though, I am not that expert in scripting grasshopper definition yet but at least I have learnt the basic knowledge of it and can produce simple iterations myself. I believed that practice makes perfect. I might be not able to get the essence of it now but I am confident that I will get it in the future.

Besides the ability to master digital stimulation designing software. I have also noticed the importance of fabrication and the convenience it brings especially in model making. To be honest, I have wasted at least three hundred dollars in trying to fabricate all my materials for the models in this module- most of them stays in my storeroom now.

Lack of knowledge in materiality has also causes me many troubles too- I did not know that polypropylene can be such a nuisance when trying to make stick the two surfaces together.

In conclusion, Studio Air is a taxing yet interesting module. I wish that I have spent my time more efficiently when I am studying and learning in the course so that I could have more feedback and time to improve my own design and knowledge.

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Bibliography 1.

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GT, walking: an excuse to have gourmet picnics, 2009 <http://danjonathantravel.blogspot.com.au/2009_06_01_archive.html> [accessed 2 November 2014]

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