PORTFOLIO
Sean Lyon
Contents Viรฐ ร ir Whaling Station Museum Ghost in the Machine Sum of Us Pavilion Digital Sand Selfishnest Pavilion The HIVE DJ Booth Levenshulme Cinema Habitat Internship at GXN Innovation Internship at 3XN Architects
VIÐ ÁIR WHALING STATION MUSEUM Year: Site: Tutors:
2018 — 9th Semester Við Áir, The Faroe Islands Robert Trempe, Jan Buthke
Brief The Faore Islands has a rich cultural heritage and a strong local identity. Embedded within this identity is the industrial scale whaling, an industry that has only recently declined to occasional cultural practices. The whaling campus of Við Áir on the main island of Streymoy has been in operation in many different iterations for nearly
a century and eventually closing down for good in 1984. Recently, preservation work has been undertaken on the site as it was recognised as a place of historic significance — only two other similar whaling sites remain in the world, the two others being located in the southern hemisphere.
Process There are many industrial artefacts scattered across the site — steam powered winches, reciprocating saws, bone crushers, blubber boilers and grinding stones — that all tell the story of the operations that took place. These machines each performed a specific function, arranged in an assembly line; and in turn each machine is comprised of
an assemblage of parts that relate to one another to fulfil the required task. Analysing these machines and breaking them down to pure points, lines, arcs and planes reveal a complex system of connections and interrelations that have meticulously been optimised by the engineers to perform each operation efficiently.
By undertaking a similar process of analysis onto the whole site revealed certain character lines and vectors of movement across the whaling campus. Following the concept of 'relational space', where space can be defined as the relations between objects on a site, sight-lines and circulation paths connect specified areas of operation.
Mapping
Objective
Resolution
Experiential Architecture Arriving by boat, visitors first encounter the architecture from the point of view of the original whalers. The encompassing landscape, the wild weather and turbulent waters enhance the visitor experience. Upon arrival, they are directed through the site and between the cluster of buildings. Telling the story of the Faroese whaling industry through forgotten artefacts salvaged from the site, the fist building concerns itself with
the pursuit and capture of the whale at sea; the second building exhibits the initial flensing of the whales skin and blubber; building three examines the act of severing the carcass into smaller pieces; and the last building shows the final processing and output products that are produced. The visitor needs to step outside to follow the assembly line of spaces — constantly exposing them to the harsh weather originally embattled by the workers.
Formal and Material Strategies The geometry of the buildings are designed to frame particular views to key machines, existing buildings, landscape elements and to hint at the next space to experience next. The resulting formal expression is that of fractured elements — pieces of a larger whole that have been carved and sliced apart, evoking the idea of the processed whale. Galvanized steel highlights relational planes — circulation paths and highlighted view frames are clad in the industrial steel. Moments of pause are bounded in concrete. Together these two materials create a somewhat uncomfortable spaces — they are cold and mechanical, and the very sound in the spaces are reflective and harsh, further adding to the overall experience.
Reinforced Black Sand Concrete 50mm Steel Rebar 11.3mm IPN 200 I-Beam Frame Solid Insulation 175mm Galvanized Steel Panels 5mm
Structure Inspired by the machinery present at the ViĂ° Ă ir Whaling Station, the spaces are built from prefabricated elements that come together on site to fulfil a specified operation of informing the visitor and telling the desired narrative. Each panel can be broken down to further elements, each of which interrelate with their neighbours to accomplish the overall objective of structural integrity.
GHOST IN THE MACHINE Year: 2018 — 9th Semester Site: Aarhus, Denmark Tutors: Robert Trempe, Jan Buthke Team: Suramya Kedia
Ghost in the Machine is an exploration into the potential of 3D scanning as a driver of form — paying particular close attention to the glitches arising from less-than-ideal scanning conditions. Using the technique of photogrammetry, a corner of the Architecture School workshop building was captured with 86 photographs — all from the same reference plane thus inducing a glitch around areas insufficiently photographed. A technique for analysing the resulting mesh was established: by reflecting virtual light rays off of the mesh and cutting them after a specified length, a cloud of points in three dimensional space, each with an associated direction. This resulting vector field is then used to perturb and warp a strict, rational form — in this case a series of tight parallel lines. The resulting geometry instructed a series of CNC toolpaths which were milled into dense polystyrene blocks and used as casting formwork. The resulting concrete tiles were laid out on the ground running parallel to the scanned corner — a visual spacial disturbance induced by the local material conditions.
SUM OF US PAVILION Year: 2018 — Summer Site: Charlottenborg Kunsthal, Copenhagen
Sum of Us is a celebration of the idea of “opensource” – of how culture itself is an opensource endeavour accentuated by the rise of a global network supporting unprecedented collaboration and sharing, leading to a hub of collective knowledge, art and ideas. As the world is becoming a more fundamentally interconnected place, the role of open-source information sharing has become a major driver in contemporary society. Culture itself is an emergent open-source phenomenon: individuals within a community share and communicate thoughts, ideas and knowledge that furthers the identity of the group and creates something bigger than the sum of its parts. This sensation has exploded in the last two decades with the arrival of the internet. Open and crowd-sourced ideas, knowledge and products are freely shared over this global network. Anyone, regardless of their participation in the enterprise can access and benefit from the collective output of the community. All this data is stored in a proverbial cloud infinite in size and in possibilities.
The Sum of Us pavilion is a captured instance of this cloud made manifest. The organic form moulded by collective human endeavour is suspended in a digital matrix, acting to rationalise and rasterize these thoughts, and storing them for future development and utilisation. An interactive light and sound installation tracks individual visitors entering the pavilion, generating personalised audialvisual experiences that accumulate over time – the communal output of which will be experienced by all. Traditional vernacular architecture and craftsmanship can be thought of as “opensource” in that specialised techniques were passed on person-to-person and from generation-to-generation. Designs would evolve and develop as new technologies emerged, as influences came from further afield, and as separate disciplines intertwined. Reflected in the architecture of Sum of Us is an evolution of traditional carpentry techniques from across the world: the lattice frame joints are based on a common Japanese puzzle knot; and the cloud’s structure is formed by Asian basket-weave traditions combined with Islamic tiling logics. Held within the hyper-rational machined grid is cloud sculpted by human artistic expression. This symbiosis is indicative of how our contemporary global culture operates – organic human ideas spreading and flourishing on a worldwide machine. Photo courtesy of Joakim Züger
Users interacting with the pavilion on the opening night
DIGITAL SAND Year: Site: Tutors:
2018 — 8th Semester Rømø, West Jylland, Denmark Robert Trempe, Jan Buthke
The west coast of Denmark's Jylland region is subject to intense natural energies. Strong winds and heavy tidal currents constantly reshape the sandy coastline in a dynamic play of forces. By mapping the various currents present in and above the North Sea, resulting vector flow lines convey just how much activity is present on site. The results of these interacting forces can be seen on all scales — from the macro-scale arrangement of sand dunes and coastal features, to micro-scale sand deposits and carvings around a single blade of grass.
Upper atmospheric currents
Lower atmospheric currents
Can an understanding and critical analysis of such a system be used as a driver of spacial form? By using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software and custom scripts the invisible wind patterns found around the chosen sand dunes were calculated. A 3D dimensional vector field was mapped and imported into a custom Processing script which then (using a cellular automaton based of dune formation model) visualised the results. Could such a mapping be used to define fluid architectural boundaries between program, space and site? Various sand formations on site
Ocean currents
Combined flow
Sand formation simulation + visualisation
void draw(){ background(0); fieldB = fieldA; if(showVector){ displayVector(); } // updateVector(); displayField(); for(int y=0; y<rows; y++){ for(int x=0; x<cols; x++){ if(fieldA[x][y] < grain){ continue; } //SALTATION //Define gradient based on leeward slope int xLee = x + (int)Math.signum(wind[x][y].x); int yLee = y + (int)Math.signum(wind[x][y].y); if(xLee < 0){ xLee += cols; } else if(xLee >= cols){ xLee -= cols; } if(yLee < 0){ yLee += rows; } else if(yLee >= rows){ yLee -= rows; } float dHx = fieldA[xLee][y] - fieldA[x][y]; float dHy = fieldA[x][yLee] - fieldA[x][y]; float dH = (sqrt(pow(dHx,2) + pow(dHy,2))); //hop length float hopLengthX = (hop * wind[x][y].x * fieldA[x][y]) * (1 - (float Math.tanh(dHx)); float hopLengthY = (hop * wind[x][y].y * fieldA[x][y]) * (1 - (float)Math.tanh(dHy)); //grains to transport depending on slope float grainAmt = grain * (1 + (float)Math.tanh(dH)); //target location int blowToX = round(x + hopLengthX); int blowToY = round(y - hopLengthY);
}
}
fieldB[x][y] -= grainAmt; if(blowToX >= cols){ fieldB[0][(int)random(rows)] += grainAmt; continue; } else if(blowToX < 0){ fieldB[cols-1][(int)random(rows)] += grainAmt; continue; } if(blowToY >= rows){ fieldB[(int)random(cols)][0] += grainAmt; continue; } else if(blowToY < 0){ fieldB[(int)random(cols)][rows-1] += grainAmt; continue; } // if(fieldB[blowToX][blowToY] > 1.0){ // break; // } fieldB[blowToX][blowToY] += grainAmt;
// if(t % 50 == 0 && t>1 && t<2002){ // saveFrame("####.png"); // } }
t++;
void updateVector(){ float r = randomGaussian() / 100; for(int y=0; y<rows; y++){ for(int x=0; x<cols; x++){ wind[x][y].rotate(r); } } } void displayVector(){ stroke(230,130,230); for(int y=0; y<rows; y++){ for(int x=0; x<cols; x++){ pushMatrix(); translate(x*scl+scl/2, y*scl+scl/2);
SELFISHNEST PAVILION Year: 2018 — 8th semester Site: Rysilinge, Fyn, Denmark Tutors: Robert Trempe, Jan Buthke Team: Mikkel Elsbøl Nikolajsen, Álvaro del Río
Brief The Selfishnest is an architectural intervention exploring the virtual and digital lives we project out onto the world. We mould and craft an online presence to exhibit the best of ourselves and to curate a life devoid of negative human experience. The meteoric rise of social media sites and instant communication platforms has propelled the human need to feel comfortable in a public world where every move, post and comment is scrutinised and prowled upon. This extroverted digital nest temporarily satisfies our cravings for the attention and validation from our peers by broadcasting this often filtered and manipulated perspective of a skewed reality onto our digital wall of images. No other physical human act best exemplifies this contemporary phenomenon more so than the act of taking a selfie.
Bodily Mappings of the Act of Taking a Selfie
Informing the Body Investigating this act through mappings of bodily movement reveals how one optimises the camera position to balance flattering lighting conditions upon the face with an attractive and captivating background. Tracing these movements through space and time served as a departure point for generating a form on
the given site — one that informs the body and its motion across the site to entice and encourage the operation of taking a selfie. The use of translucent foil filters and reflects the harsh incoming light, playfully illuminating the nest with a warm light that changes with time and reacts with the occupants bodily movement.
Construction Detail Construction The construction is an aggregation of nodes, connectors and surfaces. 48 unique triangular faces were subdivided in order to efficiently nest them onto the CNC milled plywood sheets, significantly reducing material waste. The triangular
foil sheets are pinned in three places and pulled taught. 58 different connector types hold not only these subdivisions and maintain structural continuity â&#x20AC;&#x201D; they also hold the foil edges in place as not to have them hanging or drooping.
Photos courtesy of Mikkel Elsbøl Nikolajsen
THE HIVE Year: 2016 — sixth semester Site: Manchester Airport Tutors: Shiobhan Barry, Matt Pilling
“The field describes a space of propagation, of effects. It contains no matter or material points, rather functions, vectors and speeds. It describes local relations of difference within fields of celerity, transmission or of careering points, in a word, what Minkowski called the world” - Sanford Kwinter In mathematics and physics, the tools for analysing the inherent energy conditions of a site are scalar and vector fields. Certain properties of matter such as heat, colour, density, pressure and elasticity are intensive (vector) properties: they are not reduced when the matter itself is divided. For example the colour or temperature of an orange isn’t reduced when the orange is sliced in half. On the other hand, its mass and volume is reduced. These are known as extensive (scalar) properties of matter. The material energies of the site are the intensive properties of the airport. Vector field diagrams make these inherent properties visible and tangible to the observer. Reiser + Umemoto note in their manifesto Atlas of Novel Tectonics that intensive material properties should describe the geometry itself.
“The most important distinction in our changed notions of architectural design is the shift from geometry as an abstract regulator of the materials of construction to a notion that matter and material behaviours must be implicated in the geometry itself.” - Reiser + Umemoto
Models This 1:20 facade model demonstrates how the space frame structure works. Almost everything was 3D printed as each of the nodal joints were different. To achieve this, a custom Grasshopper algorithm was developed. A network of lines representing the frame
members are fed into the script and the 3D geometry is generated, ready to be printed. Variables such as node size, screw diameter, beam diameter ratio and printer tolerances are all present in the script and so theoretically it can be used on a 1:1 scale.
DJ BOOTH Year: 2015 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; forth semester Site: Pangaea Festival, Manchester Group: James Nutt, Claire Greenland, Arjun Mistry, Maimie Attwell Thomas, Tom Bodger, Nadina Narain Role: Lead structural designer, fabricator, builder Support: Pete Lee, Diana Muresan Sam Hall, Lina Keturkaite
Brief Commissioned by the organisers of Manchesterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pangaea Festival, a DJ Booth was needed for the silent disco arena. Ergonomics, structure, buildability, weatherproofing and overall design narrative all needed to be delivered within the given budget and to a strict deadline. The design needed to be both easy to construct and deconstruct for storage when not in use. Construction The lightweight components were fabricated using a CNC router to achieve the desirable accuracy needed for good structural connections. These plywood components were bolted together using reversible connections for ease of disassembly, storage and transportation.
LEVENSHULME CINEMA A
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Year: 2015 — forth semester Site: Levenshulme, Manchester Tutors: Carrie Lawrence, Ash Hunt
Fi n a l B Nig ht D a rk
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Box Office Foyer
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All is Los t 55 Act II
Narrative Architecture ‘Narrative’ plays a very important role in the development in architectural experiences: from Le Corbusier’s promenade architecture that leads users through a sequence that tells a story, to Libeskind’s radical use of dramatic forms that deliberately makes visitors feel uncomfortable. ‘Save The Cat!’ is a formula coined by the screen writer Blake Snyder and is used in countless Hollywood scripts. This formula will provide the template for the narrative of going to see a film: from buying the tickets to sitting in the auditorium. The ebb and flow, ups and downs of a generic 110 minute movie will be compressed to just 110 seconds.
WC
B Sto
Brief Levenshulme is a transient place. People rarely stop to visit the area and many of the residents leave to work and play in Manchester city centre. A lack of things to do produces very little draw for outside visitors and a lot of the shops, services and amenities cater for local residents. Levenshulme needs something to boost visitor numbers and create growth for the many locally owned shops and services. Historically there have been a number of cinemas in the region, though with the exponential rise of TV, they had all closed their doors by 1960.
Private Screens
Cinema
‘Save the Cat!’ narrative arc
Narrative plan
Museum Gallery
HABITAT Year: Site: Tutor:
2013 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; first semester Oxford Road, Manchester Matt Pilling
Brief The homing pigeon has been used for centuries to relay messages across countries: the ancient Greeks used them to proclaim the winners of the Olympics, in 1167 AD there had been a regular service between Baghdad and Syria established, and in 1896 a pigeon mail service was founded in New Zealand ferrying messages between Great Barrier Island and Auckland. The goal of this project was to create a contemporary dovecote within Manchester to house a small population of homing and carrier pigeons.
Development Homing pigeons use local landmarks, both natural and man-made, to help navigate their environment. A suitable site was chosen after consideration for local tall buildings, major roads, railway lines and waterways. As the study shown above indicates, a particularly dense cluster of various landmarks is located towards the north end of Oxford Road. Since the relationship between these three elements are so strong, the angles at which they intersect each other shall be heavily expressed in the form of the final design.
A material study of the siteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s surrounding buildings reveal a heavy use of brick, masonry and tiles in the construction and façade details. To make the dovecote a landmark that stands out from the local urban fabric and thus easier for carrier pigeons to home in on, a stark use of smooth concrete shall contrast with the surrounding pallet of ornate, reddish-brown masonry.
INTERNSHIP AT GXN INNOVATION Year: 2016 Location: 3XN Architects, Copenhagen Team: Kasper GuldagerJensen, Lasse Lind, Casper Ă&#x2DC;stergaard, Morten Norman Lund, KĂĽre Stokholm Poulsgaard, Matteo Grometto
Brief After graduating from the Manchester School of Architecture in 2016, I spent one semester working as an intern at GXN Innovation in Copenhagen, Denmark. GXN is the internal research and development team at 3XN Architects focusing on applied architectural research in green materials and building technologies. Here we investigate sustainability strategies, circular building ecologies, behavioural design and digital fabrication methods with relation to ongoing building projects.
INTERNSHIP AT 3XN ARCHITECTS Year: 2017 - 2018 Location: 3XN Architects, Copenhagen Supervisors: Jan Ammundsen, Jesper Bork
Brief Upon completing a semester at GXN Innovation, I moved over to the competition department of 3XN Architects. Here I spent another two semesters working on competitions in varying phases, and on commissions. Here the work was more focused on the design of buildings in multiple stages â&#x20AC;&#x201D; from initial massing concepts to interior finishes. Interns at 3XN have a degree of design freedom seldom found in large architectural practices and I was given some important design responsibilities that made it into the final architectural proposals. The use of computational toolsets, such as Grasshopper, was encouraged in the early stages of design â&#x20AC;&#x201D; from facade options to floor area optimisation to solar performance analysis. This led to an increased awareness of the role of computation in a commercial office setting
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
sean-lyon@hotmail.com +45 31 65 88 64