Sat Naing Aung_Sat_869309_PartA

STUDIO AIR 2018, SEMESTER 2, ISABELLE JOOSTE SAT NAING AUNG

Table of Contents 3 INTRODUCTION 4 CONCEPTUALISATION 4 Design Futuring 6 Design Computation 8 Composition/Generation 10 Conclusion 10 Learning Outcome 11 Reference List 11 Figure List 12 Algorithmic Sketches - VORONOI CUBE 14 Algorithmic Sketches CIRCULAR OCTREE

INTRODUCTION

My name is Sat Naing Aung. I am a 3rd year Architecture and Construction student at the Melbourne University, originally from Burma, aka Myanmar.

Architecture, for me, is a form of problem solving which requires multi-displinary knowledge to achieve an optimum solution not only for a client, but for our planet as a whole.

In addition to Architecture, I’m also passionate about Photography, especially Macro because I always love to see things from a different perspective.

Regarding Digital Tools, I have been using computers to translate my ideas into drawings, diagrams and renders since the beginning of the course. I have gained an intermediate level of knowledge in AutoCAD, Rhino3D, Photoshop, illustrator and inDesign in the past two years.

Nevertheless, I have only learned in theory how Algorithmic Design is capable of simulating a situation to generate all the possible solutions at an extreme level of accuracy in a significantly shorter time frame than human beings. I have never used computers as a generative tool to produce works that would not be possible otherwise.

Therefore, I grasp this opportunity at Studio Air to dive into this field of Architecture and improve my skill set with computer-generated design which, I believe, is the future of Architecture.

INTRODUCTION 3

CONCEPTUALISATION Design Futuring We are living in an era in human history when rapid deterioration of the earth due to our human-centred activities over thousands of years is being witnessed and recognized. It is upon us to take immediate and effective actions against these harmful conditions to guarantee the future of our own as well as other living species on this planet. According to Fry, this is only possible through Architecture and Design[1].

Emerged out of the necessity to provide shelter as one of the basic human needs, Architecture has become much more than merely designing buildings. Throughout its development, Architecture has and has been both positively and negatively influenced by various aspects including but not limited to politics, culture, life style, economy and sustainability. Undoubtably, it plays a crucial role in acting against the defuturing of our planet.

Fry states that ‘design futuring’ comprises two tasks: to slow down the accelerating rate of defuturing and to redirect our activities in a way that is non-anthropocentric[2].

FIG.1: STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF GERMAN PAVILION, EXPO ‘67

FIG.2: GERMAN PAVILION, EXPO ‘67

German Pavilion, Expo ’67 by Frei Otto Otto’s lightweight and low-cost structures were results of the World War 2, during which he built many structures with very limited source of materials. Based on his radically simple concepts of tension between suspension point and anchors (Fig.1), he pioneered the tent-like structural system at an industrial scale after the war[3]. Referred to as “a tight, white sheet draped over tent poles” (Fig.2), the German Pavilion at Expo ’67 which featured a suspended hyperbolic structure made out of steel cable mesh and translucent polyester membrane was Otto’s first work to be internationally recognized[4]. It was constructed within a period of six weeks and dismantled after the expo, emphasizing the structure’s efficiency in construction.

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CONCEPTUALISATION

Despite being a temporary structure, it started a new chapter in structural intelligence and was the major inspiration to many of the tensile structures constructed during the past 50 years .

Although invented about half a century ago, the idea is still relevant today. Together with technology, it could be further developed to design projects like ‘The Millennium Dome’. Moreover, today’s advancement in material properties and recyclability might be able to improve the concept’s resource efficiency to slow down the rate of defuturing.

FIG.3: UMWELT ARENA

Umwelt Arena by Rene Schmid Architekten Fry argues that one of the causes of defuturing is our treatment to the planet’s resources as if they are infinitely renewable[5].

In fact, sun is the only infinite source of energy accessible for free from almost every part of the earth. It provides light and heat which can either be directly used or be transformed into other forms of energy such as electricity and stored to be available when required.

The Umwelt Arena runs on solar power which is harvested by the photovoltaic system integrated onto the entire roof surface area (Fig.3). This system generates 540,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year which is more than what the building requires to run for a year, making it a “plus energy house”[6]. Unlike the German Pavilion, it is not the first building to use this technology.

However, it is an excellent demonstration of the use of technology due to the placement of roof panels at different angles to collect maximum solar energy throughout the day.

This building serves as a prime example of modern environmental technologies that are exhibited in it. In other words, it contributes to design futuring to redirect human activities by promoting to use renewable sources of energy.

1. Tony Fry, Design Futuring: Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice (Oxford, New York: Berg, 2009), p. 1.

2. Tony Fry, Design Futuring, p. 6.

3. David Langdon, ‘AD Classics: German Pavilion, Expo ‘67 / Frei Otto and Rolf Gutbrod’, ArchDaily, 27 Apr 2015, [Accessed 7 Aug 2018] <https://www.archdaily.com/623689/ad-classics-german-pavilion-expo-67-frei-otto-and-rolf-gutbrod/> 4. David Langdon, ‘German Pavilion, Expo ‘67’, ArchDaily, <https://www.archdaily.com/623689/ad-classics-german-pavilion-expo-67-frei-otto-and-rolf-gutbrod/> 5. Tony Fry, Design Futuring, p. 1.

6. Vaillant, ‘Green Umwelt Arena Spreitenbach’, Vaillant, 2018, [Accessed 7 Aug 2018] < https://www.vaillant.info/architects-planners/reference-projects/green-arena-zurich/>

CONCEPTUALISATION 5

Design Computation Since the invention of computer-aided design, computers have been widely used in Architecture in many ways. During the early days, they were used to computerize analogue tasks such as drafting for improved speed and accuracy with less labour. As the technology has advanced, computers become capable of more than computerization. Thank to their ability to process tons of information in a relatively short period of time with perfect accuracy, they are now used to compute input data to generate results, for example, structural analysis, form generation, etc. This advance in technology has caused dramatic changes in the building industry, especially in terms of scale and quality of projects.

At the same time, there has been an ongoing debate on the use of computers in Architecture and whether they are going to completely take over the role of human designers in the future. Although this theory seems possible since computers can perform most of the design-related tasks faster without careless mistakes as instructed, they lack the ability create a new instruction on their own. In other words, they do not have the qualities such as creativity and intuition to become a designer[7].

Therefore, it is impossible to completely remove humans out of the design process. Instead, a more advanced complementary relationship between humans and computers could be the answer to the future of Architecture.

FIG.4: NATURTHEATER GRÖTZINGEN

Naturtheater Grötzingen by Michael Balz and Heinz Isler Architectural form finding processes vary from sketching a desired form based on the designer’s knowledge or experience to using digital algorithms to produce solutions based on a set of defined rules.

An interesting innovation that emerged between the two methods is the use of physical models for design computation which based on laws of physics in a given situation to achieve an optimum form. Before the digital computation was available, this method was practised to produce practical and structurally efficient forms to span over a relatively large area which would not be possible otherwise.

Naturtheater Grötzingen was one of the projects designed by physically experimenting pneumatic membranes and inverting hanging membranes.

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CONCEPTUALISATION

FIG.5: FORM FINDING OF NATURTHEATER GRÖTZINGEN

The final design was a product of hanging membranes which is believed to be the most accurate method because the same gravitational force acts on the physical model and the actual structure, thus the tensile forces acting in the hanging membrane would reverse into compression when the form is inverted[8] . This results in a shell structure of thin reinforced concrete with an impressive clear span of approximately 650m2.

FIG.6: FABRICATION OF ICD | ITKE RESEARCH PAVILION 2011

FIG.7: DESIGN PROCESS OF ICD | ITKE RESEARCH PAVILION 2011

FIG.8: ICD | ITKE RESEARCH PAVILION 2011

Research Pavilion 2011 by ICD-ITKE University of Stuttgart With the aid of advanced technology, the aim of this temporary pavilion was to structurally mimic the performance capacity of nature through a modular system. It was algorithmically designed based on biological principles of sand dollar sea urchin’s skeletal plates and the way they are linked at the edges, and digitally fabricated out of 6.5mm thick plywood sheets (Fig.6).

During the design process, an optimized data exchange scheme of closely related form finding and structural analysis was used to repeatedly analyse and modify the complex geometry form[9] (Fig.7). The product was an organic structure which is extremely lightweight compared to its size (Fig. 8).

Computation was crucial not only during the design process of the project but also in the implementation of it. The digital processing power of computers has opened up an infinite range of practical yet unimaginable performance-based opportunities by using simple geometries within the defined parameters from which the most suitable solution can be chosen. Moreover, it has enabled the inter-disciplinary approaches such as biomimicry which could lead to unique architectural innovations.

7. Yehuda E. Kalay, Architecture’s New Media: Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004), p. 2.

8. Tessa Maurer, Elizabeth O’Grady and Ellen Tung, ‘HANGING MEMBRANE: THE NATURTHEATER GRÖTZINGEN’, Evolution of German Shells, 2013, [Accessed 7 Aug 2018] < http://shells.princeton.edu/Grotz.html> 9. Achim Menges, ‘ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2011’, University of Stuttgart: Institute for Computational Design and Construction, 2011, [Accessed 7 Aug 2018] < http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/?p=6553>

CONCEPTUALISATION 7

Composition/Generation During the past few decades, the Architecture industry has witnessed an enormous shift towards technology in design processes, especially in drafting and structural analysis. Today, the shift has expanded to the conceptual stage which can be regarded as the most fundamental component of design. Architectural composition which arbitrarily relies on aspects such as proportion, program, functionalism, symbolism, experience, etc. has been gradually replaced by computer-generated design which uses algorithmically defined rules to produce a set of possible outcomes. The latter has become more popular for its approach of taking every single definition into consideration to find optimum solutions which address either all or most of the applied restrictions. Due to the computers’ ability to handle and process large and complicated sets of data quickly and accurately, the task has become much more time and labour efficient with little error if compared to the former method.

It is often argued that generative design limits the discretion and creativity of human designers since this process only looks for “strategies to facilitate” for which computers are mainly in charge[10]. It is true to a certain extent that merely instructing a set of parameters to generate a form does not require highly specialized architectural knowledge or creativity apart from algorithmic thinking. However, these skills are extremely vital in originating and defining these parameters which could produce unimaginable outcomes of desired quality. “Evolutionary Architecture” is one such field where creativity as a result of natural evolution is analysed and emulated to form basic parameters of generative architecture[11]. While the process of computational generation alone can be restricting at the conception of a project, it can be used to amplify the human creative power if properly integrated.

Digital Plaster by madMdesign

FIG.9: ALGORITHMIC EXPLORATION OF DIGITAL PLASTER

Digital Plaster was developed based on the concept of material self-organization, or material agency: materials are capable of actively organizing complex patterns and evolving accordingly with their internal morphogenetic potentials as well as external environmental forces. To form the rules for generation, material behaviour of cast plaster in fabric formwork is physically experimented and analysed. The findings such as patterning and connection are then algorithmically defined and simulated to achieve the best possible outcome in terms of “structural performance, material distribution and fabrication”. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a digitally controlled phase changing material which iteratively evaluates and re-casts with time[12].

The advantage of generation in this process is being able to find the form with desired quality within a relatively shorter period of time. On the other hand, differentiation of the study of material properties and form finding may cause unexpected outcomes when implementing the project at a larger scale.

FIG.10: DIGITAL PLASTER 8

CONCEPTUALISATION

Composite Swarm by STUDIO ROLAND SNOOKS Composite Swarm is a 2.5m tall architectural prototype which is structurally efficient with minimal use of materials. It was designed with a swarm algorithm defined by the self-organizing behaviour of ants and fabricated out of composite materials thinner than 1mm using robots. The surface, structure and ornament of the installation are fused into a single form which is not deductable[13].

Design generation was able to find an optimum shape which is self-supporting up to a height of 2.5m while using material thickness of less than a millimetre which is otherwise unimaginable. This could be further developed into a façade or an ornamentation at a larger scale.

FIG.11: COMPOSITE SWARM

10. Fakhri A Bukhari, A Hierarchical Evolutionary Algorithmic Design (HEAD): System for Generating and Evolving Building Design Models (Queensland University of Technology, 2011), pp. 95-96.

11. Fakhri A Bukhari, A Hierarchical Evolutionary Algorithmic Design (HEAD), p. 100.

12. Manuel Jimenez Garcia, ‘DIGITAL PLASTER’, madM, November 2010, [Accessed 8 Aug 2018] <https://manueljimenezgarcia.com/digital-plaster> 13. Roland Snooks, ‘composite swarm’, STUDIO ROLAND SNOOKS, 2013, [Accessed 8 Aug 2018] <http://www.rolandsnooks.com/#/compositeswarm/>

CONCEPTUALISATION 9

Conclusion Conceptualization is the most fundamental in an architectural project because it forms the foundation of the entire project.

Design futuring approaches must be properly incorporated at this stage in order to achieve a solution with the desired quality with the applied restrictions.

In my opinion, computational design towards a generative form is the most accurate, efficient and logical approach to produce the best possible outcome.

Although it seems limiting in terms of creativity, generative architecture, in fact, is a great tool to amplify ones creativity if properly utilized which could lead to superb innovations.

Design computation might not be the only answer towards the future of our planet. However, at this pace of defuturing, it might be the best possible solution to slow down the rate of defuturing while reshaping human activities.

Learning Outcome At this stage of learning, my knowledge on algorithmic design has improved a lot, particularly in theory.

I have learned about the importance of design futuring and the role of Architecture in it.

Moreover, I have realized how computation can be beneficial to Architecture in addition to computerization of design tasks.

Last but not least, I have learned the advantages of generative architecture over conventional compositon.

If I ever had a chance to learn about these in the past, it would have been of huge aid in my previous projects in terms of efficiency and accuracy.

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CONCEPTUALISATION

Reference List 1.

Achim Menges, ‘ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2011’, University of Stuttgart: Institute for Computational Design and Construction, 2011, [Accessed 7 Aug 2018] < http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/?p=6553> 2.

David Langdon, ‘AD Classics: German Pavilion, Expo ‘67 / Frei Otto and Rolf Gutbrod’, ArchDaily, 27 Apr 2015, [Accessed 7 Aug 2018] <https://www.archdaily. com/623689/ad-classics-german-pavilion-expo-67-frei-otto-and-rolf-gutbrod/> 3.

Fakhri A Bukhari, A Hierarchical Evolutionary Algorithmic Design (HEAD): System for Generating and Evolving Building Design Models (Queensland University of Technology, 2011), pp. 95-96.

4.

Manuel Jimenez Garcia, ‘DIGITAL PLASTER’, madM, November 2010, [Accessed 8 Aug 2018] <https://manueljimenezgarcia.com/digital-plaster> 5.

Roland Snooks, ‘composite swarm’, STUDIO ROLAND SNOOKS, 2013, [Accessed 8 Aug 2018] <http://www.rolandsnooks.com/#/compositeswarm/> 6.

Tessa Maurer, Elizabeth O’Grady and Ellen Tung, ‘HANGING MEMBRANE: THE NATURTHEATER GRÖTZINGEN’, Evolution of German Shells, 2013, [Accessed 7 Aug 2018] < http://shells.princeton.edu/Grotz.html> 7.

Tony Fry, Design Futuring: Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice (Oxford, New York: Berg, 2009), p. 1.

8.

Vaillant, ‘Green Umwelt Arena Spreitenbach’, Vaillant, 2018, [Accessed 7 Aug 2018] < https://www.vaillant.info/architects-planners/reference-projects/green-arena-zurich/> 9.

Yehuda E. Kalay, Architecture’s New Media: Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004), p. 2.

Figure List Fig.1: STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF GERMAN PAVILION, EXPO ‘67, http://www. wintess.com/portfolio/german-pavilion-expo-67-montreal/ Fig.2: GERMAN PAVILION, EXPO ‘67, https://www.archdaily.com/623689/adclassics-german-pavilion-expo-67-frei-otto-and-rolf-gutbrod Fig.3: UMWELT ARENA, https://www.archdaily.com/285637/umwelt-arena-rene-schmid-architekten Fig.4: NATURTHEATER GROTZINGEN, http://shells.princeton.edu/Grotz.html Fig.5: FORM FINDING OF NATURTHEATER GROTZINGEN, http://shells.princeton.edu/Grotz.html Fig.6: FABRICATION OF ICD | ITKE RESEARCH PAVILION 2011, http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/?p=6553 Fig.7: DESIGN PROCESS OF ICD | ITKE RESEARCH PAVILION 2011, http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/?p=6553 Fig.8: ICD | ITKE RESEARCH PAVILION 2011, http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/?p=6553 Fig.9: ALGORITHMIC EXPLORATION OF DIGITAL PLASTER, https://manueljimenezgarcia.com/digital-plaster Fig.10: DIGITAL PLASTER, https://manueljimenezgarcia.com/digital-plaster Fig.11: COMPOSITE SWARM, http://www.rolandsnooks.com/#/compositeswarm/ CONCEPTUALISATION 11

Algorithmic Sketches - VORONOI CUBE

Voronoi Cube as illustrated in the tutorial is baked and certain cells are removed to create a hollow irregular box.

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CONCEPTUALISATION

Spherical voronoi creates s converging towards the centro moved in Z-direction to s

sharp-angular cells oid. Certain cells are show this effect.

Removel of cells in spherical voronoi based on a simple rule: no two cells are to be adjacent.

CONCEPTUALISATION 13

Algorithmic Sketches - CIRCULAR OCTREE

Octree on the surface of open cylinder

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CONCEPTUALISATION

Certain cells are moved in XYZ-dire an exploding effect

ection to create t.

The previous effect is amplified by moving large number of random cells to random distance.

CONCEPTUALISATION 15