Kwok hoi man 752464 by Pris

STUDIO A I R 2016, SEMESTER 2, Brad Elias Hoi Man (Priscilla) Kwok

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INTRODUCTION

A. CONCEPTUALISATION A.1 DESIGN FUTURING A.2 DESIGN COMPUTATION A.3 COMPOSITION/ GENERATION A.4 CONCLUSION A.5 LEARNING OUTCOMES A.6 APPENDIX - ALGORITHMIC SKETCHES

REFERENCE

I N T R O D U C T I O N

About myself I am Priscilla who is in my second year majoring in architecture. I started doing year 9 in a high school in Geelong in 2011 and completed VCE in 2014. I am not especially passionate about architecture, nor do I have a clear definition of it. I would say architecture to me is the creation of space and experience for people who enter it. It is the combination of aesthetics, practicality and habitation which does not merely provide shelter. Having completed a number of studios and architecture subjects, there are some ideas that I was introduced to and concepts that I found useful. I appreciate the importance of CAD (computer-aided design) and technology that help in producing 3-dimensional sketches and prototypes that not only illustrate the proposed design in a clear and accurate way, but also allow us to produce the result with better quality and efficiency. 1.1 PHOTO OF MYSELF

This is a sleeping pod designed by myself with was created through the exploration of the system behind a given object, analysis of the system and prototyping in testing the effects, followed by digital fabrication with the aid of 2- and 3-dimensional programs and techniques in order to produce the physical sleeping pod in actual scale, aiming to provide privacy and sense of security to users. It has probably be the first and only time I have ever been involved in designing mainly depending on computerisation techniques. Rhino was intensively used in generating the desired design which was then unfolded and fabricated with 2D laser cutting and reassembled again.

1.2 SLEEPING POD PHOTOS

D E S I G N F U T U R I N G

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Ron Herron is a British architect who proposed the idea of the walking city in 1964. His idea was to build giant walking robots that could move freely in search for resources and fuels needed so that the supply of materials will not longer be limited by different locations of people. These ‘robots’ could connect with one another to form larger ‘walking metropolises’ that collaborate and share resources if needed1, and disconnect when unnecessary. This idea is strongly associated with new perspective and unusual way of design. Having noticed the limitation, Herron bravely and innovatively proposed the idea of a walking city, which is ‘an exploration of how things come into being and act beyond their mere function’2. Clearly These moving cities perform more than hosting citizens and allowing for economic activities to take place; they are created with the ‘realization of design intelligence” in order to settle the unevenly distributed resources and resolve shortage and excess of supplements in various places.

Often designers are limited by radial designs that are mostly successful and act as an indication of the ‘right’ way of design. This project of a walking city extend beyond the design boundary to ‘embrace the extreme, the imaginative, and the inspiring’3 as it suggests possibilities and encourages the making of future that is not imaginable.

1.3b Prototype of walking city by Homo Faber

As absurd and almost impossible as it sounds, it is the impossibility within this design that appeals to imagination and engage the intellect. Although this is only a proposed idea that has yet to be built, Homo Faber’s prototypes effectively turns this idea from plausible to possible. It shows how it can be more than just a proposed idea that it stimulates people in believing that it would work. 1.3b Prototype of walking city by Homo Faber that shows the scale and structure of the proposed idea.

1.4 Proposal of actual walking city by Manuel Dominguez

Spanish architect, Manuel Dominguez, was inspired by Herron’s idea and proposed an actual walking city. His “Very large Structure“ can move on caterillar tracks to where resources are abundant. 4 1. “Walking City, From Archigram | The

This structure mainly consists of colossal steel frame and caterpillar tracks. It is proposed to encourage reforestation of the cities that it replaces and manages the surrounding ecosystem. It also incorporate on-board energy generation as well as to provide enormous possibilities of jobs for unemployed citizens. This is an entire system within this single structure that not only allows for but to strongly encourage flow as it move around and extract resources from static cities. It allows for exchange and supplyment between different individual systems which are now interconnected with each other.

Seasteading Institute”, The Seasteading Institute, 2011 <http://www.seasteading. org/2011/03/walking-city-archigram/> [accessed 1 August 2016].

2. Fry, Tony (2008). Design Futuring: Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice (Oxford: Berg), pp. 1–16

3. Dunne, Anthony & Raby, Fiona (2013) Speculative Everything: Design Fiction, and Social Dreaming (MIT Press)

4. “An Actual, Real Life Walking City”, A Steampunk Opera (The Dolls Of New Albion), 2014 <https://steampunkopera.wordpress. com/2014/09/19/an-actual-real-lifewalking-city/> [accessed 1 August 2016].

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1.5 The operation of rolling bridge

Breaking the stereotype of a bridge, the Heatherwick studio designed a pedestrian bridge at Paddington Basin, London. 5 Its main function is to provide access for residents and at the same time allow access for the boats in the inlets. It critically challenges the radical design of a bridge being rigid and static, and took it to a whole new level which incorporated mechanical engineering and algorithm into the structure. This creation opens up new perspectives and encourages alternative way of thinking. Opening bridges are commonly designed with a ‘single rigid element that fractures and lifts out of the way’. 5 However, this bridge opens smoothly by transforming from a straight structure into a curled up sculpture.

‘Design ... is about problem solving.’3 The rolling bridge allows for pedestrians to pass through while not obstructing the existing path for boats. It allows for the coexistence of access for both humans and transportations It can be understood as part of a system that encourages flow and mobility when it connects the two banks of the canal. This structure performs beyond its primary function; pedestrians do not merely use the bridge as it is initially designed, but also appreciate it as a sculpture which is a subfunction led by its flexibility and aesthetics.

5. http://www.heatherwick.com/roll

A series of hydraulic rams are integrated into the balustrade in opening up the bridge. 5 Each of the eight segments lifts and results in the bridge rolling up until both ends meet and form a circle. 1.6 Mechanism of the bridge

3. Dunne, Anthony & Raby, Fiona (2013) Speculative Everything: Design Fiction, and Social Dreaming (MIT Press).

5. David McManus, Isabelle Lomholt and Isabelle Lomholt, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Rolling Bridge, London, Paddington Basin, Architect, Rolling Bridge Paddington - E-Architectâ&#x20AC;?, e-architect, 2010 <http://www.e-architect.co.uk/ london/rolling-bridge> [accessed 11 August 2016]. 1.7 The bridge as it opens up

D E S I G N COMPUTATION

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6. Oxman, Rivka and Robert Oxman, eds (2014). Theories of the Digital in Architecture (London; New York: Routledge)

7. Definition of ‘Algorithm’ in Wilson, Robert A. and Frank C. Keil, eds (1999). The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (London: MIT Press)

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Parametric design gives ‘new form of logic’ to digital design thinking 6. The Serpentine Gallery pavilion by Toyo Ito successfully demonstrated the ‘aesthetic and tectonic possibility of the algorithmic’6 by shattering the solid structure into geometric pieces that are treated as both openings and structural elements. “Algorithm is an unambiguous, precise, list of simple operations applied mechanically and systematically to a set or ... objects’. 7 Computation is mainly used to set geometry to the form. Instead of cutting the structure into random components, algorithm is created as constraints, which reduce the size of the solution space and therefore result in a more desirable outcome. Not only has it incorporated logic into providing aesthetic quality, it also effectively minimised uncertainties and possible errors that could occur in the fabrication process by providing rules as planned.

1.8 The interior of Serpentine Gallery pavilion

1.9 Logic that forms the geometry

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This parametric pavilion is created by a group of 11 undergrad students in Mexico with the use of NURBS and integrated parametric modeller (rhino and grasshopper). 8 It started off with an single pyramidal component that was panelled across the vaulted surface, which changes the scale and shape of the pyramidal component as its height varies. Computation here is not ‘just a tool’9 but in fact, part of what creates the form and performance of the pavilion. It used technology to redefine the associative relationship between the design itself and its material, which has been unfolded digitally in order to cut laser cut and folded to form the varies projections on the surface.

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It was argued that computation has led to fake creativity10 by setting algorithm that limits the creation of variations. In fact, I would argue that designers who are able to think algorithmically can ‘understand, execute, evaluate and create algorithm’ themselves11; they are who create algorithms that guide their design rather than being limited.

8_“Parametric Pavilion In Monterrey, Mexico - Evolo | Architecture Magazine”, Evolo.us, 2015 <http:// www.evolo.us/architecture/parametric-pavilion-inmonterrey-mexico/> [accessed 10 August 2016].

9_Frazer, John H. (2006). ‘The Generation of Virtual Prototypes for Performance Optimization’, in GameSetAndMatch II: The Architecture Co-Laboratory on Computer Games, Advanced Geometries and Digital Technologies, ed. by Kas Oosterhuis and Lukas Feireiss (Rotterdam: Episode Publishers), pp. 208-212

10_Lawson, Bryan (1999). ‘’Fake’ and ‘Real’ Creativity using Computer Aided Design: Some Lessons from Herman Hertzberger’, in Proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Creativity & Cognition, ed. by Ernest Edmonds and Linda Candy (New York: ACM Press), pp. 174-179

11_Wayne Brown, Introduction to Algorithmic Thinking

1.11 SKETCH AND DETAILS OF PAVILION

1.10 PARAMETRIC PAVILION IN MONTERREY, MEXICO

A.3 COMPOSITION/ G E N E R AT I O N

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1.13 ALGORITHM BEHIND THE DESIGN

1.14 SOAP BUBBLES

What informs composition? Architectural design has been generated by geometry defined by architects who determine its composition; the development of digital design technology has now enabled designers to script their own rules and logic, making both the design and fabrication processes flexible and intuitive. Every phenomenon appears with a certain composition. One would think water ripples and branches of trees are patterns that are ‘naturally’ occurred; in fact, having a pattern implies that they are calculable and “computable”12, in other words they are created following a set of rules and logic that are pre-determined.

1.12 STRUCTURAL FRAME OF NATIONAL aquatic CENTER

12_ Definition of ‘Algorithm’ in Wilson, Robert A. and Frank C. Keil, eds (1999). The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (London: MIT Press)

13_ Oxman, Rivka and Robert Oxman, eds (2014). Theories of the Digital in Architecture (London; New York: Routledge)

The National Aquatics Center in Beijing was designed based on the composition of soap bubbles, which was re-interpreted with computational tools. Its form was not merely imitated but digitalised into algorithmic procedures which set parameter to the design. There are two main components associated: cohesion as well as segregation. Each cell within the composition is closely associated with one another but at the same time, maintaining certain distance between the cores. They are represented by writing scripts in parametric modellers (Grasshopper) which allows for ‘creation of variations’13.

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1.16 Swarm visualizat

Based on the boids system, swarm intelligence explores the associative relationships within generative design processes. Digital parametric programs are used to simulate self-organized elements into an emergent intelligence.13 The Hive pavilion in London represents the pattern of a swarm of bees which creates an experience for inhabitants. This structure is creating by hexagon shaped-frames that are joined together. Each joint can be understood as a ‘bee’ that together form a coherent body.

1.17 The inside of Hive pavilion

Algorithm inhabits within the swarm as a system ,which results in computable outcomes. By setting finite set of simple rules, for instance, the distances between each elements and the amount of components within a given boundary, variations of composition can be automatically calculated which match with the constraints. However, while this computational intelligence undoubtedly increases efficiency and allows for the most desirable outcome to be generated, it is the certainty it gives that sets the boundary for innovation14 and therefore limits the possibility of better feasible solutions that may not meet the given algorithm. Since rules are set by designers who tell the computer what exactly to follow, there are likely to be conditions which would optimise the design that are left out when scripting the rules. Generative design leaves no room for exception; the outputs that are and can only be generated by the given logic which obscures the appearance of a ‘better’ or more innovative result out of the boundary.

5 The Hive pavilion

13 _”SWARM INTELLIGENCE IN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN - Chen”, Yuxingchen.com, 2015 <http:// www.yuxingchen.com/SWARM-INTELLIGENCE-INARCHITECTURAL-DESIGN> [accessed 12 August 2016].

14_ Definition of ‘Algorithm’ in Wilson, Robert A. and Frank C. Keil, eds (1999). The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (London: MIT Press) tion

A.4 CO N C L U S I O N Design is a problem solving, to fix what seems impossible. This requires imagination and hope, hope that create possibilities followed by future. Architectural designs should not be generated as ‘add-ons’ to the nature we human inhabit in but instead, be used as a facilitator of flow, that acts to organise the system. Architecture has to incorporate with everything else within the system as it is only a small part of it but not all. This can be achieved with the aid of computational technologies which stimulate possible design outcomes with the given constraints and are therefore adaptive to changes in environment and conditions. Architectural design is currently experiencing a shift from composition to generation, that is, from human-generated ideas to algorithmic designs. Logic of algorithm has not only provided boundary and constraints to automatically generate desired outcomes, but more importantly allows for more abstract and unconscious compositions to be generated. It has effectively enhanced efficiency as well as communication throughout the design process. However, this pattern of logic has created limitation to innovation and design. Given a set of rules to control the results implies that there is no exception, that every outcome generated is predictable and calculable. If all designs are generated in the same way, then there will never be ‘unique’ and ‘creative’ ideas; new architecture will and can only be imitation and copies of existing constructions. When all the possible outcomes are exhausted eventually, there will be no solution to problems.

Architectural computing has become the dominating design method which creates possibilities for future as it is flexible in adapting changes. Design intelligence allows more accurate and sophisticated outcomes to be generated which has led to a new era of creating and designing. Computerization was quite familiar to me since the start of this year due to previous experience. Throughout the first three weeks, I was introduced to the idea of computerisational and algorithmic designs which changes my thoughts to digital design and fabrication. I realised that computerizational technology does not merely make designing easier by allowing designers to communicate their ideas with symbols, but can also generate possibilities by apply algorithm. Setting rules and let computer do the rest would definitely provide better efficiency and quality of my later works.

A.5 LE ARNING OUTCOMES 25

A.6 A PPE N D I X

A L G O R I T H M 27

OcTree is mainly used in creating solid components within the given boundary. I experienced using planar surface, solid and lofted forms as the bases, which give varies outcomes when connected to the OcTree. They are all started off by populating 2D/3D to set a number of ‘points’ within the set boundary. By varying the seeds it changes the density of the ‘points’ which directly affects the results. Voronoi 3D is also used in one of the five figures created in order to give variation to the form of the components instead of solid cubes.

1.18 ALGORITHMIC MODELS

TEXT REFERENCE 1_”Walking City, From Archigram | The Seasteading Institute”, The Seasteading Institute, 2011 <http:// www.seasteading.org/2011/03/walking-city-archigram/> [accessed 1 August 2016]. 2. Fry, Tony (2008). Design Futuring: Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice (Oxford: Berg), pp. 1–16 3_Dunne, Anthony & Raby, Fiona (2013) Speculative Everything: Design Fiction, and Social Dreaming (MIT Press) 4_”An Actual, Real Life Walking City”, A Steampunk Opera (The Dolls Of New Albion), 2014 <https:// steampunkopera.wordpress.com/2014/09/19/an-actual-real-life-walking-city/> [accessed 1 August 2016]. 5_McManus, David, Isabelle Lomholt, and Isabelle Lomholt, “Rolling Bridge, London, Paddington Basin, Architect, Rolling Bridge Paddington - E-Architect”, e-architect, 2010 <http://www.e-architect.co.uk/london/rolling-bridge> [accessed 11 August 2016] http://spatialpixel.com/generative-design-variants/ https://au.pinterest.com/pin/85146249178526679/ https://dimitrie.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/plansa1-copy.jpg http://www.cadalyst.com/cad/building-design/generative-design-is-changing-face-architecture-12948 6_Oxman, Rivka and Robert Oxman, eds (2014). Theories of the Digital in Architecture (London; New York: Routledge) 7_Definition of ‘Algorithm’ in Wilson, Robert A. and Frank C. Keil, eds (1999). The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (London: MIT Press) 8_“Parametric Pavilion In Monterrey, Mexico - Evolo | Architecture Magazine”, Evolo.us, 2015 <http:// www.evolo.us/architecture/parametric-pavilion-in-monterrey-mexico/> [accessed 10 August 2016]. 9_Frazer, John H. (2006). ‘The Generation of Virtual Prototypes for Performance Optimization’, in GameSetAndMatch II: The Architecture Co-Laboratory on Computer Games, Advanced Geometries and Digital Technologies, ed. by Kas Oosterhuis and Lukas Feireiss (Rotterdam: Episode Publishers), pp. 208-212 10_Lawson, Bryan (1999). ‘’Fake’ and ‘Real’ Creativity using Computer Aided Design: Some Lessons from Herman Hertzberger’, in Proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Creativity & Cognition, ed. by Ernest Edmonds and Linda Candy (New York: ACM Press), pp. 174-179 11_Wayne Brown, Introduction to Algorithmic Thinking 12_Definition of ‘Algorithm’ in Wilson, Robert A. and Frank C. Keil, eds (1999). The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (London: MIT Press) 13_”SWARM INTELLIGENCE IN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN - Chen”, Yuxingchen.com, 2015 <http://www. yuxingchen.com/SWARM-INTELLIGENCE-IN-ARCHITECTURAL-DESIGN> [accessed 12 August 2016]. 14_ Definition of ‘Algorithm’ in Wilson, Robert A. and Frank C. Keil, eds (1999). The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (London: MIT Press)

IMAGE REFERENCE 1.1_Image by author 1.2_Image by author 1.3_”A Walking City; Archigram | Unique Vs Reproducible: Towards A New Challenge / Labfabmvd”, YouTube, 2016 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4EuFYqA2DI> [accessed 12 August 2016]

1.5_”Rolling Bridge | Heatherwick Studio”, Heatherwick.com, 2016 <http://www. heatherwick.com/rolling-bridge/> [accessed 2 August 2016]. 1.6_ “Rolling Bridge | Heatherwick Studio”, Heatherwick.com, 2016 <http://www. heatherwick.com/rolling-bridge/> [accessed 2 August 2016]. 1.7_McManus, David, Isabelle Lomholt, and Isabelle Lomholt, “Rolling Bridge, London, Paddington Basin, Architect, Rolling Bridge Paddington - E-Architect”, e-architect, 2010 <http://www.e-architect.co.uk/london/rolling-bridge> [accessed 11 August 2016] 1.8 “Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2002 By Toyo Ito And Cecil Balmond With Arup”, Serpentine Galleries, 2002 <http://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/serpentine-gallerypavilion-2002-toyo-ito-and-cecil-balmond-arup> [accessed 10 August 2016]. 1.9 “Core 3-Skyward”, Pinterest, 2016 <https://au.pinterest.com/pin/91549804900855208/> [accessed 10 August 2016]. 1.10_“Parametric Pavilion In Monterrey, Mexico - Evolo | Architecture Magazine”, Evolo.us, 2015 <http:// www.evolo.us/architecture/parametric-pavilion-in-monterrey-mexico/> [accessed 10 August 2016]. 1.11_”Parametric Pavilion In Monterrey, Mexico - Evolo | Architecture Magazine”, Evolo.us, 2015 <http:// www.evolo.us/architecture/parametric-pavilion-in-monterrey-mexico/> [accessed 10 August 2016]. 1.12_”The Virtual Building”, Ingenio-web.it, 2016 <http://www.ingenio-web.it/ Articolo/1261/The_virtual_building.html> [accessed 12 August 2016]. 1.13_”The Virtual Building”, Ingenio-web.it, 2016 <http://www.ingenio-web.it/ Articolo/1261/The_virtual_building.html> [accessed 12 August 2016]. 1.14_”The Virtual Building”, Ingenio-web.it, 2016 <http://www.ingenio-web.it/ Articolo/1261/The_virtual_building.html> [accessed 12 August 2016]. 1.15_Monika Mróz, “A Pavilion Reminiscent Of A Bee Swarm – Ignant.De”, Ignant.de, 2016 <http://www. ignant.de/2016/06/30/a-pavilion-reminiscent-of-a-bee-swarm/> [accessed 12 August 2016]. 1.16_”SWARM INTELLIGENCE IN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN - Chen”, Yuxingchen.com, 2015 <http://www. yuxingchen.com/SWARM-INTELLIGENCE-IN-ARCHITECTURAL-DESIGN> [accessed 12 August 2016]. 1.17_Monika Mróz, “A Pavilion Reminiscent Of A Bee Swarm – Ignant.De”, Ignant.de, 2016 <http://www. ignant.de/2016/06/30/a-pavilion-reminiscent-of-a-bee-swarm/> [accessed 12 August 2016].