A I R
ARCHITECTURE IS REVOLUTION.
ABPL30048 ADS_AIR SEM 2 2013 GROUP 2+5 RUOXI HONG_519649
ABOUT ME
China is where I come from and the mother land where I feel proud with. Though arguments and opinions lasts, the culture there lay the roofs of me. Lots of the public judge this place with such a great influence brought by all those political issues manipulated by the wealth, however, most of them forgot what makes the world are all the people and their lives, and what enrich this planet is variable culture systems from all human kinds. I love my country for its culture and people.
speaking manner and the implied meaning, Chinese are born with such a kind of ability to understanding the rest then to speculate the central ideas. For example, to link two points on a piece of paper, a IELT’s standard way is to add a black straight line between the points, while a traditional eastern way is to keep darkening all the rest part of the paper until a white path from this point to the other appears before you. The elegance within Chinese style is to be vague yet still clear.
IELT teaches international students that western thinking style is fond of logical, straight and direct methods for idea expression and thoughts communication. However, a traditional Chinese style is more sensitive and complex, and kind of more interesting in my mind. In that case of communication, both sides show their attitudes and judgments more relying on its speaking manner and the meanings behind their words. To understanding those
The experience of travelling around China just shapes my understanding of this old country further. The Suzhou Embroidery, the Tibet prayer flags, the Eight Diagrams village planning in Anhui, the old lady selling roasted rice pancake in Kunming, the doorman who gave me a helping hand to reach the falling bags in Hongkong, and lots more images in my memory reflect what this place really has and why it is so charming to be the
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Shangrila in so many people’s dream. Back to architecture learning, I have finished the Journalism major in Chinese university and now change to a totally new area, architecture, In Australia. Two years ago, architecture is still one of my many passions out of academic learning and professional career, just like traveling, watching pedestrians’ behavior or appreciating cooking or photography arts. Right now, I sit in the computer labs playing Rhino 5 in the University of Melbourne. Such a shift just happened to my life, and I enjoy this challenge so much. On the right hand side: photos of my observation of the circulation system of Hongkong, a metabolic megacity, in a recent trip. The ideas hiding behind those snaps will be explained in the later analysis of architectural precedents.
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PAST EXPERIENCE
Most complicated outcome of my digital attempts is to be in the virtual environment subject to design a wearable lantern. I use Rhino to express my understanding of parasitism in architecture. Also I have the basic knowledge and skills about AutoCad, Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator, Sketchup and some other software, building with the architecture studio and other courses learning. On the right hand side: Final outcome of Virtual Environment final project.
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CONTEXTS PART A
CASE FOR INNOVATION
A.1 ARCHITECTURE AS A DISCOURSE A.1.1 WHAT IS ARCHITECTURE...............................................................................7 A.1.2 ALGORITHEM OF ARCHITECTURE................................................................9 A.2 COMPUTATION WORKS A.2.1 COMPUTATION VS COMPUTERIZATION....................................................11 A.2.2 ONLY ADVANCEMENT IN TECHNOLOGY.................................................13 A.3 PARAMETRIC MODELING A.3.1 APPLICATION OF RHINO AND GRASSHOPPER.........................................15 A.3.2 THE WAY TO A UNIVERSAL SOLUTION........................................................17 A.4 SUMMARY 4.4.1 RHINO EXPLORATION..................................................................................19 4.4.2 CONCLUSION..............................................................................................21 4.4.3 LEARNING OUTCOME.................................................................................22 4.4.4 REFERENCE...................................................................................................23
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A. CASE FOR INNOVATION
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WHAT IS ARCHITECTURE This question sits in every architectural designer’s mind and drives them exploring the possible answers through continuous practice. To me, I would like to say architecture could be everything, a little bit exaggeratedly. It could be engineering perfection, an artistic doodle, a passionate talk about someone’s fancy or a real building somewhere in the world. It could be a normal grey box for multiple families in middle class to live in Mexico, or could be a bronze sculpture standing at the west Australia beach. Romantically and still uncertainly, Kalay says, “Design, accordingly, is a purposeful activity, aimed at achieving some well-defined goals.” 1 It may be a waste of time arguing what is architecture, but more meaningful to define what architecture could be and how to realize those expectation as an architectural designer not an architectural history lover, in my point of view. On this point, the recent trip to Hong Kong inspires me so much that my observation of this city refreshes my understanding of architecture and even urban planning. I realized that architecture is does about people, communication and exchange. It should be a speech that someone likes to mention it, someone could speak out, someone could hear, someone could understand and someone could actually use it or say take advantage of it. Also, it should prepare for any changes within any step. It is meaningful when it is in a complete and dynamic circle of that communication.
While walking around the city, I started to observe the transportation system in this credibly huge city. There are so many travelling methods. Beyond the basic one likes metro or bus, freeway or laneway, or rarely seen in Melbourne ones like tunnels or Passover for pedestrians, what deeply interests me is how this system works and how efficient it could be. I start to think how could all the designers from generation to generation to set such a complicated and running well system. The answer come to my mind after days of thinking is that, all the designers try their best to express the time and to work for the people. When building a light foot bridge is perfectly fitting people’s requirement, then they would use it more. Consequently, near this foot bridge, crowds get around, streets become lively, transportation and business start to flow, and most important, this design becomes alive. It is not a completed concrete structure then forgot by the public, but becomes some crucial part of someone’s memory, maybe for a school girl it is where she meets her first lover first time there. Then this could be regarded as a meaningful design, a real architecture, in my mind. Furthermore, this concept has been applied to the whole urban system and from time to time. Not only a foot bridge, but all the linkage methods in this city, form a dynamic system of this city then shape people’s living here. And then what you can see is that Hong Kong is one of the most vibrant spaces 7
in the world with highly flowing and efficient circulation system. All the dynamic changes take place for the new requirements of its users and reflect the time. In returns those change continue to contribute to complete and perfect this system to challenge the users to rise with new demands. When people get tired of long time travelling, designers develop funny APPs for smartphone to makes waiting interesting. When the attitude towards beauty shifts to simplicity, designers catch the trend or even lead it, like Apple. Hence, all designs are about the people, about what people really want and making efforts to follow people’s changeable mind. It is doubtless that all the variable thoughts from the people, including the actual designers, are the very initial designers of the architecture, as they decide the well-set ‘goals’ at the first stage. Therefore, designers are fearlessly to take advantages of every possible method to achieve that goal. As the possible methods developing in such a fast way, architecture designers now welcome a new age of computation. This is the era of change. In this subject, it is the era of Rhino 5 and Grasshopper. On the right hand side: Kartal Pendik Masterplan from Zaha Hadid, which enlighten a new age of architecture design at some stage. The architecture in this style is considered to mirror the society development and technology advancement. This in turns has influence on the spreading of computation design.
Fig 1
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ALGORITHM OF ARCHITECTURE As discussed before, architecture should be a sort of solution for the real and dynamic demanding from the public. In real world cases, such as in commercial design, it is to find a solution to meet clients’ and site’s requirements.
actions, and communicating with others involved in the process is what designers do.” 2
Kalay provides a sound and clear method, which is:
This meets the principle of Wilson’s “Algorithm”, 3 as Kalay expresses that architecture could be treated as a mathematical problem. There is a certain way to solve it, though input information for each step in the way is unknown and the result could not be perfectly right. There is a rule that architect could follow to complete architecture.
“Analyzing problems, setting goals, devising actions that might accomplish them, evaluating the efficacy of these
“An algorithm is a recipe, method, or technique for doing something.” in Wilson description. 4 From this point of
Here comes the second question. How to make a piece of architecture fitting that definition?
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view, it makes me think that an architect may become more like a doctor. You diagnose the sickness, you got the recipe. All the rest you need to do is to slightly change the proportion of the pills and wait for this circle to end when patient reveal or start another circle when new symptoms appear. With the technology it is super easy to get an architecture design under this rule by applying new design software, such as Rhino and Grasshopper. Architecture and computation specialist define a set of infinite and effective variables, give them logic for the computer to run the commands and the
design outcome generate within a snap. I tend to say this is a very attractive idea, though personally I do not that welcome this change. If the computation works for architecture someday could really develop into a very easy used software and everyone could input all the requirements that he wants, then 3D print it out, there is no place for architect any more. Because at that time, people are no more in the need of communication with someone else to realize their mind. There is not such a communication faster and easier than you
talk with yourself. The clients could manipulate the software and reach the most satisfying result by their own. However, at present stage, due to the constrains of technological development, this process is mainly realized with the assistant from professionals, our architects and computational specialists. Below: Kokkugia, Melbourne Docklands redevelopment, 2008 This urban design demonstrates the possibility of digital design to deal with more complex design issue within a super large scale and quantities. Digital design methods make it possible for the designers to identity
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each component and build the linkage of each variable in complex way. Hence the effect of a change in a single component could be reflected in the whole system operation, which is more close to the system running in the real world.
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COMPUTATION VS COMPUTERIZATION
According to Peters, computation is different from computerization. Distinguished from the stereotypes that computer plays a role of helping architects to develop easier or more powerful way of visualization, computation is more focused on the design itself, more about how the ideas generate and change. It is not a drawing tool but a method that could offer infinite possibilities for modification and refinement. 5 The greatest feature of computation, more specifically in this case, Grasshopper, is to provide the possibility of change. It generates a design by a deliberate algorithm with some initial and crucial information clearly input. Meanwhile, the designer could give the variables, or say components, definition/
meaning to reflect the requirements from the project and the designer. Hence, through keeping adding or deleting components, changing the linkage pattern, rewriting the algorithm, new design outcomes will flood until the most satisfying works come out. It saves great time on modifying the design and waiting for the outcome in a traditional computerization way. Just like the example I gave in self introduction, there is never only one way to link two points on a piece of paper. Architect is not the only person to dominate the design now. It is the time to explore a new way of thinking and it is the time to explore the new era, which is more dominated by the artificial intelligence. Maybe, instead of saying design with the assistant from computers,
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we should regard that a design is to be completed with the cooperation from computation in the future. On the right hand side: SOFTlab, Xtra Moenia, San Gennaro Gateway North, New York, 2011 In this studio, we are required to be focused on the monumental feature of a computation design. In my opinion, a monumental architecture could be either heavy in volume or in its visual power, in other words, the impressiveness the project shock the audience. This tensile structure takes advantage of the Kangaroo plug in for Rhino and Grasshopper to express tension in such a delicate and colorful manner, which is absolutely fresh and could not be achieved easily by other methods.
Fig 3
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ONLY ADVANCEMENT IN TECHNOLOGY?
Computational work is not only featuring with some super hitech looks patterns, but more important, it perfectly reflects the nature of architecture and architectural design discussed above, which is a dynamic circle. The algorithm a designer writing down is a micro system which is the possible prediction of the design project in the future. As computation work could provide feedback of design at any stage within the whole designing process, the
designers and clients could value at the job at any stage and makes change to meet their expectation better. This capability of computation works makes it easier for the designers and clients to find out the best solution as they have much more choices rather than dozens of sketch or physical modeling, which is extremely time costing and highly relied on commuters’ expression skills.6 Therefore, computation work brings a revolution to architecture design. It helps
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architecture design developing towards a more dynamic and user-friendly way. On the right hand side: Foster + Partners, Khan Shatyr Entertainment Centre, Astana, Kazakhstan, 2010 This project shows the potential of computation design but not computerization design. With computation techniques, architecture design is not only having more possible path to solve the problems but greatly improve the working and communication efficiency.
Fig 4
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APPLICATION OF RHINO AND GRASSHOPPER
Since computation works becomes more practical and widely applied and accepted, Rhino and Grasshopper become the most popular parametric modeling platform for architecture design. The reason for its popularity is its great modeling ability and its visible programming and modeling process, which makes the programming more easily understood and manipulated. As Burry (2011) discusses in his “Scripting Cultures: Architectural Design and Programming�, there are three
major advantages of computer programming. They are saving investment in time, reducing production cost and getting rid of some impossibility in other software. On this point of view, an architect is better to be a tool maker rather than a tool user, which is the possible future of architectural professional career in the coming ages. 7 On the right hand side: UN Studio, M Benz Museum, Stuttgart, Germany, 2001–2006 This project demonstrate how architects and engineers develop a design from very
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initial play with sketch and simple model making to looking for the circulation logic into a sharp and speed feeling museum by applying parametric designing methods. The revolution is not only existing in its unique forms but more inside of this building, such as how the space flows, how the show rooms connected by spiral ramp and how each individual components form an organic and futurism work. This is a way to be monumental both interior and exterior.
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THE WAY TO A UNIVERSAL SOLUTION
Instead of developing every particular model for a different problem, it seems that designers and engineers are making efforts to work out a more generate and abstract language system to cope with all the problems. 8 Parametric modeling could be applied into many aspects and create amazing outcomes, such for construction analysis or problem analysis, and most commonly 3D modeling. I found this concept is more interesting to
me as this is the key of efficient work and dynamic work, which I thought architecture design should be. On the right hand side: Ă lvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura with Cecil Balmond, Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, London, 2005 This project sort of shows the magic of parametric design in an obvious way just to create a shelter. It is rough and old, but when I watch this project I
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start to imagine the possibility and change that parametric brought to the architecture industry in nowadays. Parametric begins with this kind of experiments and gradually becomes such a powerful tool and design concept in nowadays. That is another kind of interpretation of being monumental for architecture that it makes great contribution to the time and change the world at some stage.
Fig 6
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RHINO EXPLORATION
Through weeks learning and experiment of Rhino and Grasshopper, I gradually form a understanding of what is Grasshopper and how it works. The part interests me most is the parametric feature of Grasshopper. That is the point makes this digital design tool powerful. To use Grasshopper well you have to build a clear logic first, then is the right information definion and input and later modification. The variability of outcome is the biggest charm of this tool, while the complicity in understanding and getting familiar with Grasshopper language and link this too to the Wyndham Gateway competition in a
suitable manner is the most challenging part. On the right hand side and below; Screen captures from Rhino and Grasshopper for the experiment of building a shelter. The flexibility of shape and the complex pattern generating by Grasshopper will be one of the design focus to reflect Grasshopper’s potential in architectural design in the later composition approach chapter.
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CONCLUSION
The world is a dynamic system, and architecture as an interpretation of the world in micro scale, dynamism should be its most important feature. A piece of architecture, with monumentality, should not be a work forgotten by the public and the history after creation, but a work integrating well with the context and satisfying the public demands in a most suitable way. For achieving this goal, Grasshopper and Rhino provide a new platform for our architect to explore as much as possible paths to the final solution. It offers the amazing skin pattern and unusual shape for the gateway design, which would make it memorable visually. Furthermore, parametric design could analyze more issues that having impact on the design, such as different context condition or different design focuses, and prepare variable possible solution for further valuation. Then let the world vote for the best gateway we will have at Wyndham.After three weeks
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LEARNING OUTCOME
learning about Grasshopper and parametric design, I realize this is a really powerful tool with great potential. Therefore to learn it well seems to become one important step in my architecture career. Parametric design should not only involve the industrial professionals, the more meaningful point is to create a platform for the public to engage with design process and speak out their opinion. Hence they have the opportunity to get the architecture they really expect. As my imagination in the before argument, the day that everyone is architect may not be that far to come, and architect at that time maybe more likely to play a role of consultant or “tool maker�.
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REFERENCE FOR TEXT
1. Yehuda E. Kalay, Architecture’s New Media : Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2004), pp. 5 - 25 2. Yehuda E. Kalay, Architecture’s New Media : Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2004), pp. 5 - 25 3. Definition of “algorithm” in Wilson, Robert A. and Frank C. Keil eds(1999) in The Mit Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science (London: The MIT Press) pp.11-12 4. Definition of “algorithm” in Wilson, Robert A. and Frank C. Keil eds(1999) in The Mit Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science (London: The MIT Press) pp.11-12 5. Brady, Peter (2013) Computation Works: The building of algorithmic thought. Architectural Design, 83, 2, pp. 8 - 15 6. Brady, Peter (2013) Computation Works: The building of algorithmic thought. Architectural Design, 83, 2, pp. 8 - 15 7. Burry, Mark (2011). Scripting Cultures: Architectural Design and Programming (Chichester: Wiley), pp. 8 - 71. 8. Daniel C. Llach (2013) Algorithmic Tectonics: How Cold War Era Research Shaped Our Imagination of Design Architectural Design, 83, 2, pp. 16-21
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REFERENCE FOR IMAGE Fig 1 Zaha Hadid, Kartal Pendik Master plan http://www.zaha-hadid.com/masterplans/kartal-pendik-masterplan/ accessed at 08/08/2013 Fig 2 Kokkugia, Melbourne Docklands redevelopment, 2008 http://www.kokkugia.com/ accessed at 02/08/2013 Fig 3 SOFTlab, Xtra Moenia, San Gennaro Gateway North, New York, 2011 http://softlabnyc.com/SOFTlab_portfolio.pdf accessed at 12/08/2013 Fig 4 Foster + Partners, Khan Shatyr Entertainment Centre, Astana, Kazakhstan, 2010 Brady, Peter (2013) Computation Works: The building of algorithmic thought. Architectural Design, 83, 2, pp. 8 - 15 Fig 5 UN Studio, M Benz Museum, Stuttgart, Germany, 2001–2006 http://www.unstudio.com/projects/mercedes-benz-museum accessed at 17/08/2013 Fig 6 à lvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura with Cecil Balmond, Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, London, 2005 http://www.serpentinegallery.org accessed at 17/08/2013
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