Senior Project (May 2015): Architecture as Life Forms

My Senior Project 2015 Core Thesis My senior project for the bachelor of architecture

degree, situated around the Dubai Creek, is a futuristic experiment in exploring building materials and technology as lifelike, smart ‘organisms’ adapting to an established and active community.

Following from human vertebraic evolution, smart technology and construction aiming higher and higher, the project is an urban network of smart, kinetic pavilions, with the parts moving and responding around a central ‘spinal’ column to environmental conditions, human interaction, and other surrounding activity. The function of these pavilions are to provide upper pedestrian pathways, calming recreational spaces, and experimental educational and ‘living pod’ spaces, all scheduled and interactive with a smartphone app interface.

Senior Project Revised: 1.2: Pole Dance Kinetics 1.2: 4D Pole Dancing and Architecture

Elevation Sketches; Typology

MAJOR PRINCIPLES: • Kinetic Architecture • Responds to environment, online and real-life.

• Response is determined at two levels: • MIT self-assembling materials; preprogrammable and capable of responsing to certain stimuli.

Pole Poses Reference Front Splits

Seat

Invert Splits

Front Splits

Living pods speak to the experimental nature of the project and how well it can interact with context, with respect to both the urban scale and the personal scale.

Education speaks to the futuristic and ambitious nature of the project, and its use as an example to what scientific and engineering innovation and cutting-edge technology can be applied to in our everyday life.

Non-commercial recreation speaks to the spatial and material qualities and potential to provide social and relaxing spaces.

Pedestrian speaks to the social and interactive nature of the urban network.

As well as cooperating on the user scale with urban needs, this network also establishes a synergetic relationship with the RTA network by directing users towards the stations, rather than competing with them. This should set up a synergetic relationship to use the RTA ferry to connect the project with a space elevator 22.2 km offshore (according to the 1967 Open Space Treaty). This not only affirms Dubai’s reputation of world-record breaking for towers and development, as well as broadening the tourist scene in Dubai, it also provides opportunities and establishes international relationships with aspiring and professional astronomers. Most importantly, it brings the exploration of evolution, technology and ambition full-circle as the concept of ‘life-form’ architecture is connected with man’s desire to build towards and explore the universe that created us.