ABPL 30048 ARCHITECTURE DESIGN STUDIO: AIR Ong Su Zheng 8396559
ABPL 30048 Architecture Design Studio: Air
INTRODUCTION Hi, I am Ong Su Zheng. The reason why I choose architecture is because I enjoy the process of designing. Design seem to a the coat of paint of colours to the dull world. Who could have imagined the world to be without design? With this passion in mind, I have decided to study architecture. Before coming to Melbourne, I have previously studied architecture in Singapore polytechnic which somewhat affirmed my decision in pursing architecture as my career path.
CONTENTS Introduction__03 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 A.6 Appendix - Algorithms Sketches__17
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A
CONCEPTUALIZATION
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A.1 DESIGN FUTURING Architecture as a design practice that contributes ideas to the ongoing disciplinary discourse and cultural at large. Precedent Studies: House R128 and Cardboard Catherdral
House R128
pr 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 “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 threedimensional 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, emissionfree, 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.
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Cardboard Cathedral 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,
House R128, Werner Sobek, Stuttgart, 2000
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 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 sustainability- locally 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
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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 tool- design 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 hand-drawings. 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 coneshaped cable net structure that rises over a reinforced buried concrete base that in turn
Cardboard Cathedral, Shigeru Ban, Christchurch, 2010
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. 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.
ABPL 30048 Architecture Design Studio: Air
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.
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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. 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 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.
Interior of Nine Bridges Golf Resort, Shigeru Ban, Yeoju- South Korea, 2009
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A.3 COMPOSITION/GENERATION How architectural literature and practice reacts to the shift from composition to generation? The pros and cons of the new design approach. Church of Light and The Infinity Tower were used as precedent projects to provide clearer idea of the two methodology in achieving architectural design.
Khan Shatyr Entertainment Centre, Foster + Partners, Kazakhstan, 2010
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.
The reason why this particular design approach is so valued by 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.
Church of Light, Tadao Ando, Japan, 1989
Despite the list of advantages generation design approach provides, 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. The Infinity Tower, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, Dubai, 2013
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A.4 CONCLUSION
A.6 ALGORITHMIC SKETCHES
A brief summary on what I have learnt for the first three weeks in this module. 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.
Brief summary will be given in this segment on why I choose this algorithmic sketch- the creative ideas behind and the characteristic it demostrated of the argumentations in this journal. 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.
A.5 LEARNING OUTCOMES My learning experience on the theory and practice of architectural computing and how can I applied the knowledge in the future to aid my design process. 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!
ABPL 30048 Architecture Design Studio: Air
Reading journal articles provides me an indepth understanding on the current hot topic in architecture industry and the importance of critical thinking when practicing architectureto 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.
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NOTES
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).