STUDIO AIR
D E S I G N
J O U R N A L
TSUN FUNG WONG #814229 SM2, 2017
CONTENT A. CONCEPTUALISATION A. 0 INTRODUCTION // P. 4 - 5 A. 1 DESIGN FUTURING // P. 6 - 7 A. 1. 1 CASE STUDY 1 // P. 8 - 9 A. 1. 2 CASE STUDY 2 // P. 9 - 10 A. 2 DESIGN COMPUTATION // P. 11 - 12 A. 2. 1 CASE STUDY 1 // P. 13 - 14 A. 2. 2 CASE STUDY 2 // P. 15 - 16 A. 3 COMPOSITION / GENERATION // P. 17 - 18 A. 3. 1 CASE STUDY 1 // P. 19 - 20 A. 3. 2 CASE STUDY 2 // P. 21 - 22 A. 4 CONCLUSION // P. 23 A. 5 LEARNING OUTCOME // P. 23 A. 6 ALGORITHMIC SKETCHES // P. 24 A. 7 APPENDIX // P. 25
A. 0 INTRODUCTION Hi, my name is Tristan, a second year architecture student studying in University of Melbourne. My interest in architecture has been developed since i was young. Lego was a great part of my childhood while it enhance my sensibility on three dimensional space as well as geometries. Also, watching my father, who is an architect himself, drawing plans on AutoCAD provide me a foundation of computation design. This further pushes me into the feild of architectural study. In my perspective, architecture is not only about forms and geometries. It is about the process of critizing and improving that aims to fully express the content of a building. Every aspects, including the impression and the funtion, should be connected and designed percisely. Thus, it can only be seen as a whole. My facourite architect is Alvar Aalto due to his dedication to design buildings in user’s persepective. Every elements such as form, color, proportion and materials are finally link to the funtion of his design. Therefore, I believe that humanizing architecture is the way and direction for architects in every curcumstances.
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PART A CONCEPTUALISATION
CONCEPTUALISATION 5
A. 1 DESIGN FUTURING As it is presented in the reading “Speculative Everything”, the future is shaped by our designs. Will it leads to a predictable future? Or can we successfully build our preferable future? Sustainability is one of the main development direction for designers in the 21st century, responding to the disastrous global warming and all sorts of natural, environmental problems. Architects strive on designing buildings that can be describe as ‘ecofriendly’ as a protocall. All of a sudden, technologies such as green roofs, green walls and solar power is valued more so than ever. And this has became one of the mainstream for the futrue of architecture.
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CONCEPTUALISATION
A. 1. 1 CASE STUDY 1 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE Renzo Piano (2008)
The California Academy of Science designed by Renzo Piano is one of the famous representative of green building in 21st century due to its curvilinear green roof, materiality, application of natural light, rainwater recovery and usage as well as energy production. This LEED platinum certificated design is revolutionary at the time1, as a sustainable building that almost can be seen as a small ‘eco-system’. The green building is signified by its roof. The 2.5-acre merges into the landscape of the Golden Gate Park as Renzo Piano stated “lift up a piece of the park and put a building underneath”2. Although the green roof is well designed, it is not too surprising after all as the concept of a roof garden has been influencing long ago; on the other hand, the essence of this architecture is in its reduction of waste material and energy as well as its bio-diversity. Thus, it is a good design that influenced and inspired architects who pursue such sustainable architecture, as well as set up a whole new standard for environmental engineers.
1
“Our Green Building.” California Academy of Sciences, N.D.
2
“An Architect’s Vision.” California Academy of Sciences, N.D.
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A. 1. 2 CASE STUDY 2 GARDENS BY THE BAY Wilkinson Eyre (2012)
Gardens by the Bay in Singapore is another wellknown green architecture in 21st century, led by Grant Associates1. Compare to the California Academy of Science, the impact of the 250-acre garden is excessive. This project revolutionarily created the vision of ‘city in a garden’2, contradicted the concept of a roof garden that only brings limited impacts on the building. It also has impact on popular culture (reference for the movie guardian of the galaxy3), people’s life style and even the direction of the country; it has already become one of the signatures of Singapore as being the most visited site for tourists who travel to Singapore4. In other words, this project has truly shaped Singapore’s future.
1
“Our Story.” Gardens by the Bay, N.D.
2
“About the Gardens.” Gardens by the Bay, N.D
3
“The VFX of Guardians of the Galaxy.” Fxguide, 2015.
4
“gbtb Annual report”, Gardens by the Bay, 2016
CONCEPTUALISATION 11
A. 2 DESIGN COMPUTATION Due to the development of technology, people has utilized as well as adopted to the new efficient and effective ways to work on their task in different field. The architectural industry is not an exception. Architects has been ‘evolved’ from writing a construction ‘recipe’ to technical drawings, from hand drawings to AutoCAD, from 2D representation to 3D modelling such as Rhino and Sketch Up. Presently, computation has become a great part in architectural design. Architects start using computer programs to document as well as acess and optimize their design, and this gradually becomes an unseperable part of the process of architectural designing.
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CONCEPTUALISATION 13
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A. 2. 1 CASE STUDY 1 HEYDAR ALIYEV CENTRE Zaha Hadid (2007)
Zaha Hadid is one of the famous architect in 21st century, and her architecture is well-known by its organic form. With computation, these forms can be easily generated as well as manipulated. The Heydar Aliyev Centre is one of her recognized design. The flow of the curvilinear lines continues to the landscape1. It is stated that it could serves as a device to welcome and direct visitors; the interior of the architecture is also flowed with the rhythm of the curve lines. It can almost be described as a poetic piece of sculpture, and it is undeniable that the elegant organic form is aesthetically pleasuring. However, as an architect, aesthetic factors are far not the only aspect we are pursuing. An architecture is not a piece of gigantic sculpture, and our job is not just to carve out an organic shaped machine. There are much more than art that we will have to consider. If computation is just a tool to present elegancy, it is beginning at a wrong end.
1
“Heydar Aliyev Center / Zaha Hadid Architects.� ArchDaily, 2013
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A. 2. 2 CASE STUDY 2 AL BAHAR TOWERS Abdulmajid Karanouh (2012)
In a performance-oriented design, architects can rapidly resolve complex problems by using different programs. The Al Bahar Tower is the headquarter of the Abu Dhabi Investment Council. Its location, Abu Dhabi, is considered as hot desert climate. Temperature can be extremely hot throughout the year, so a good shading system is necessary. In fact, the tower has an largest solar-responsive shading system in the world1. By applying computation during the process of design, the performance of the adjustable louvers can be programmed to a specific pattern throughout the year by calculating the algorithm of the sun path. Each piece of triangular shading is coated with fibre glass and programmed independently2. It will be closed and folded at night and seen more as a façade. During the daytime, the pieces will spread out and act as a shading device. It is estimated that this shading device can safe more than 50% energy usage of the building3. As the first project of computation oriented design that respond to solar and light conditions on a large scale, the Al Bahar Tower is a successful example of computation architecture. 1
“AL BAHR TOWERS.” Al Bahr Towers | Office & Workplace | AHR | Archi-
tects and Building Consultants 2
“Al Bahar Towers Responsive Facade / Aedas.” ArchDaily, 2012
3
Holloway, James. “Modernizing the mashrabiya: Smart-skinned Al Bahar
Towers near completion.” New Atlas - New Technology & Science News, 2013
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A. 3 COMPOSITION / GENERATION The designed form of architecture have had a pattern since the construction of ancient classical architectures: The geometric pyramids, the symetric Roman temples, the rectangular glass boxes of skyscrapers... Through the application of parametric design, architects nowadays can generate more complex pattern for the form of their designs, an algorithmic pattern perhps. Thus, more dynamic and organic form can be generated and documented in a efficient way. This leads us to the question: To what extend should designers design parametrically?
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A. 3. 1 CASE STUDY 1 WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL Frank Gehry (2003)
The Walt Disney Concert Hall, located in Los Angeles, is designd by famous post modernism architect Frank Gehry. This architect is well-known by his application of sweeping, metalic facade, which he also applied it onto the concave facade of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. At first glance the elevation of the building seems dynamic and interesting; however this vigorous facade once had reflection problems due to the combination of concave panels and highly polished material1. It acted as a parabolic mirror which concentrated sunlight and heating up the area severely; after complaint by the neibourhood, Gehry came up with the solution of sanding the metalic panels to decrease the impact of glare2. The incident perfectly demonstrate a possible problems that parametric designs may encounter. 1
Pogrebin, Robin. “Gehry Would Blast Glare Off Los Angeles Showpiece.”
The New York Times, 2004 2
Coates, Chris. “Dimming Disney Hall.” Los Angeles Downtown News - For
Everything Downtown L.A., 2005
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A. 3. 2 CASE STUDY 2 BEACH AND HOWE Bjarke Ingels (In Construction)
Beach and Howe is a project directed by Bjarke Ingels. It is under construction in Vancouver downtown. The triangular podiums that hold up the parametric residential tower is served as a multipurpose urban village including working, shopping and leisure programmes1. However the biggest focal point of the project falls onto the strang twist of the tower itself. The lose area of the tower forms a slender base supporting a wider top. It, to a certain extend, preserve the space for pedestrians while maximizing the volumn of the building2. The parametric aspect of the project not only create an intriguing form for the architecture, but also is designed for the specific location for a specific reason. This successfully presents the direction that parametric design should follow.
1
“Beach and Howe: BIG Draws a Curtain Aside to Usher in Downtown
Vancouver.” Archute, 2015 2
Arch2O.com. “Beach and Howe Tower | BIG.” Arch2O.com, 2016
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A. 4 CONCLUSION The world is gradually changing, so
also able to enhance one’s creativity.
do people. This change signifies new
However, we should not abuse such
challenges and new problems, and
powerfulness, to an extend when
we should not suppose that we can
we relies on it too much that we
overcome these new problems with
lost our primitive intention. Instead,
the old method. Thus, new ways, more
we should manipulate it as a usefull
effective ways perphs, is brought up
tool to make up our deficiencies.
and people must manage to master it before the old method is out of the way. Computation is the new way to solve problems and approach success. It not only assist human to complete repeatative labour, but it is
A. 5 LEARNING OUTCOME What sort of architect do you want
helps me to criticize my own work
to become, and what kind of
in the future. Last but not least, the
architecture do you want to design?
research deepen my understanding
This is an extremly simple yet critical
about computation design including
question that every architectural
its benefits and drawbacks. That
student should be able to answer.
demonstrates the importance of
Part A of the design journal helped
learning computation tools, and also
me to understand as well as to define
leads me to the right path during the
myself. It leads me to a favorable
application of such programmes
direction that I have never consider of. Moreover, the critical think during the case study analysis helps me to reflect architects that are seen as successful in a different perspective. This not only contribute to my knowledge about the possibility of architecture, but also
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A. 6 ALGORITHMIC SKETCHING
BLINK-BLINK NECKLACE Loft > Delauney Edges > Pipe
THE FLOATING LEGO Box Morph
CONCEPTUALISATION 25
A. 7 APPENDIX 1. “About the Gardens.” Gardens by the Bay. Accessed August 18, 2017. http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/about-us/corporate-information.html. 2. ”Al Bahar Towers Responsive Facade / Aedas.” ArchDaily. September 05, 2012. Accessed August 18, 2017. http://www.archdaily.com/270592/al-bahar-towers-responsive-facade-aedas. 3. “AL BAHR TOWERS.” Al Bahr Towers | Office & Workplace | AHR | Architects and Building Consultants. Accessed August 18, 2017. http://www.ahr-global.com/Al-Bahr-Towers. 4. “An Architect’s Vision.” California Academy of Sciences. Accessed August 18, 2017. http://www.calacademy.org/an-architects-vision. 5. Arch2O.com. “Beach and Howe Tower | BIG.” Arch2O.com. November 23, 2016. Accessed August 18, 2017. http://www.arch2o.com/beach-and-howe-tower-big/. 6. “Beach and Howe: BIG Draws a Curtain Aside to Usher in Downtown Vancouver.” Archute. November 11, 2015. Accessed August 18, 2017. http://www.archute.com/2015/09/27/beach-and-howe-big-draws-a-curtain-aside-to-usher-in-downtown-vancouver/. 7. Coates, Chris. “Dimming Disney Hall.” Los Angeles Downtown News - For Everything Downtown L.A.! March 21, 2005. Accessed August 18, 2017. http://www.ladowntownnews.com/news/dimming-disney-hall/article_25f5eec5-339b-5f51-810e-1f1af7fcd361.html. 8. “Heydar Aliyev Center / Zaha Hadid Architects.” ArchDaily. November 13, 2013. Accessed August 18, 2017. http://www.archdaily.com/448774/heydar-aliyev-center-zaha-hadid-architects. 9. Holloway, James. “Modernizing the mashrabiya: Smart-skinned Al Bahar Towers near completion.” New Atlas - New Technology & Science News. February 07, 2013. Accessed August 18, 2017. http://newatlas.com/al-bahar-towers/26139/. 10. “Our Green Building.” California Academy of Sciences. Accessed August 18, 2017. http://www.calacademy.org/our-green-building. 11. “Our Story.” Gardens by the Bay. Accessed August 18, 2017. http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/our-story/introduction.html. 12. Pogrebin, Robin. “Gehry Would Blast Glare Off Los Angeles Showpiece.” The New York Times. December 02, 2004. Accessed August 18, 2017. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/02/arts/design/gehry-would-blast-glare-off-los-angeles-showpiece.html?mcubz=3. 13. “The VFX of Guardians of the Galaxy.” Fxguide. March 18, 2015. Accessed August 18, 2017. https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-vfx-of-guardians-of-the-galaxy/.
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CONCEPTUALISATION 27
B. 0 BRIEF After the setting a general direction in part A, a certain level of understanding for the operation of computational design is developed. This provides the foundation for part B of the journal: CRITERIA DESIGN. A particular technique or tectonic system is to be developed using compulational methods through case-study analysis, parametric modelling and physical prototypes.
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PART B CRITERIA DESIGN
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B. 1 RESEARCH FEILD GEOMETRY Geometry is a branch of mathematics which considers the shape, size and relative position of an object. The basic units of geometry are length, area and volumes1. The concept of geometry has been influential in the field or architecture since long ago. From the ancient pyramids to the modern parametric designs, geometry is one of the major concern for architects. As mentioned in part A, architecture is not just about creating a set of nice looking geometry; instead, the geometry has to fulfil the architecture’s purpose of function and utility. Hence, I want to develop my computational skill on geometry in order to minimize its control over my design. This can not only improve my computation design techniques, but also enhance my sensibility over space and shapes.
1
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H. M. S. Coxeter. “What Is Geometry.” Cut the Knot, N.D.
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B. 1. 1 CRYSTALLINE SKYSCRAPER Adrian Smith & Gordon Gill (In Construction)
The Crystalline Skyscraper designed by Smith and Gill, the architects responsible for the Burj Khalifa, is under construction in Chengdu, China; it is designed for a hybrid use of office, residential as well as hotel. The form of the skyscraper is claimed to be “inspired by the unique ice mountain topography around Chengdu”1. It is undeniable that architecture nowadays is gradually leaning towards form and geometry designs. Even the signature of modern architecture, skyscrapers, are designed with new, intriguing forms compare to the old, simple glass boxes. This further proves the importance for architects to master different geometries.
1
Frearson, Amy. “Construction starts on Smith and Gill’s ice-inspired sky-
scraper for Cheungdu.” Dezeen, 2014
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B. 2 CASE STUDY 1. 0 GRIDSHELL Gridshell is a structure that derives from a double curvature grid. It is usually made of timber or steel due to their tensile and compression strength; hence, a gridshell is usually designed to be structural supportive. Also, gridshell is also known for its properties of organic shape as well as free column space1. In this part of the journal, I will study the potential of gridshell by developing different forms and patterns in grasshopper. The development will be mainly divided in to 4 species: Pipe, Offset, Pattern and Input; the outcomes will be assessed based on their Materiality, Fabricatability, Functionality and Aesthetic quality.
1
Anonymous. “Gridshells: Free-form and Free-span Buildings.� Geometrica,
N.D.
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SPECIES 1. 0 - PIPES
Pipe = 10
Pipe = 15
Pipe = 25
Pipe = 30
Pipe = 40
Pipe = 50
Pipe = 100
Pipe = 500
Offset = 1
Offset = 3
Offset = 4
Offset = 5
Offset = 10
Offset = 15
Offset = 20
Offset = 25
SPECIES 2. 0 - OFFSET
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SPECIES 3. 0 - INPUT
Triangles
Rectangles
Ovals
Non-flat Rectangles
Anti-Circles
Anti-Ovals
Non-flat Triangles
Stars
SPECIES 4. 0 - PATTERN
Delaunay = 5
Delaunay = 50
LB Diamond
LB Hexagonal
Delaunay = 500
LB Quads
Intersection Delaunay
LB Random Quads
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SUCCESSFUL OUTCOMES
Iteration 1. 8
MATERIALITY FABRICATABILITY FUNCTIONALITY AESTHETIC
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Iteration 2. 6
MATERIALITY FABRICATABILITY FUNCTIONALITY AESTHETIC
Iteration 1. 8 is formed with pipe; the
Iteration 2. 6 is generate by offsetting the
thickness of piping provides it a plenty
gridshell definition. The mesh patterns
amount of materiality. The bulging organic
on the iteration enhance its possibility
geometry gives it the impression of softness
on fabrication. Also, the double void in
and comfortability. Yet, the crossovering
the middle of the geometry provides
pipes make it very difficult to fabricate.
aesthetic quality to the structure.
CRITERIA DESIGN
Iteration 3. 6
MATERIALITY FABRICATABILITY FUNCTIONALITY AESTHETIC
Iteration 4. 5
MATERIALITY FABRICATABILITY FUNCTIONALITY AESTHETIC
Iteration 3. 6 is generated by changing
Iteration 4. 5 is generated by diamond
the base circular geometry of the gridshell
shaped lunchbox panels. As a characteristic
to rectangular. Its section makes it a very
of lunchbox panels, this iteration is relatively
functional geometry as it looks like two
easy to fabricate. while the grid shell forms
separated tunnels. The elegant curves
a structural frame, this iteration serves more
increase its aesthetic potential.
like a shelter. The diamond patterns provide a geometric quality to the structure.
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B. 3 CASE STUDY 2. 0 CANTON TOWER Canton Tower, designed by Mark Hemel and Barbara Kuit form the Information Based Architecture in 2005, is located in Guangzhou, China. It was built for the Guangzhou New Television Tower Group; the 600 meter tall tower was once the tallest TV and Sightseeing tower in the world. Being the important new landmark of Guangzhou, Canton Tower was hopped to attract 10,000 visitors everyday1. “Where most skyscrapers bear ‘male’ features; being introvert, strong, straight, rectangular, and based on repetition, we wanted to create a ‘female’ tower, being complex, transparent, curvy, gracious and sexy,” claim Mark Hemel, the director architect of the project. The famous curvilinear and human-like form of Canton Tower was hoped to represent the dynamic and the excitment of Guangzhou city2. 1
Anonymous. “Canton Tower / Information Based Architecture.” Archdaily,
2
Anonymous. “Information Based Architecture: Canton Tower.” Design
2010 Boom, 2010
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B. 3. 1 REVERSE ENGINEERING CANTON TOWER In order to perform ‘female’ characteristic, curve is a main theme of the geometry of Canton Tower. The whole structure is formed by two ellipses; minimal surface is formed by rotating the elipses relatively, and it perfectly presents an elegant, slim and curvy ‘female figure’.
PSEUDOCODE 1. Create 2 Elipses 2. Loft the 2 Elipses 3. Lunchbox Structure [Base Grid 1-D Structure] 4. Cull verticle curves 5. Pipe verticle curves 6. Set radius of verticle pipes to 3 7. Cull diagonal and horizontal curves 8. Pipe diagonal and horizontal curves 9. Set radius of diagonal and horizontal pipes to 1 10. Rotate top elipse clockwise by 120 degree
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TOP ELIPSE
CURVE
ROTATE
120 DEGREE
LOFT
BOTTOM ELIPSE
CURVE
TRUE FALSE FALSE
FALSE TRUE TRUE
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LB BRACED GRID 1-D STRUCTURE
CRITERIA DESIGN
CULL
CULL
3
1
PIPE
PIPE
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B. 4 TECHNIQUE: DEVELOPMENT CANTON TOWER To further develop my technique and understanding on the research field, I will alter the Canton Tower grasshopper definition that I reverse engineered in B.3. This can help me to further explore the potential of computational design. Also, playing around the definition of a real construction project like Canton Tower usefully helps me to understand the connection between virtual digital designs to the real world. The development will be divided into 5 species: Input Geometry, Mesh, Lunchbox, Morphing, and Weaverbird. The first specie plays with different input to form distinctive base geometries, while the rest explore different method to further modify the base geometries. Same as B.2, the iterations in this matrix will be assessed base on their Materiality, Fabricatability, Functionality and Aesthetic quality.
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SPECIES 1. 0 - INPUT GEOMETRY
SPECIES 2. 0 - MORPH
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SPECIES 3. 0 - LUNCHBOX
SPECIES 4. 0 - WEAVERBIRD
SPECIES 5. 0 - MESH
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SUCCESSFUL OUTCOMES
Iteration 2. 9
MATERIALITY FABRICATABILITY FUNCTIONALITY AESTHETIC
Iteration 3. 2
MATERIALITY FABRICATABILITY FUNCTIONALITY AESTHETIC
Iteration 2. 9 is generated by morphing
Iteration 3. 2 is generated with lunch box
spheres over the base geometry. The
panels. Lunchbox is a useful plug-in for
bulging spheres form a spongy outer
grasshopper that generates panels or structure
layer for the base geometry; it provides
through surfaces; it helps to break down large
a rich quality of softness and elasticity.
surfaces, making it easier to fabricate as well as providing patterning. In this iteration, the elementary geometries fold up and form a simple erecting structure. Considering the dynamic forms that skyscrapers are designed nowadays, this iteration could serve as the structural skeleton of a high-rise.
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Iteration 4. 1
MATERIALITY FABRICATABILITY FUNCTIONALITY AESTHETIC
Iteration 5. 3
MATERIALITY FABRICATABILITY FUNCTIONALITY AESTHETIC
Iteration 4. 1 is generated by solid difference
Iteration 5. 3 is generated with meshing.
between voronoi and the base geometry.
This rectilinear structure generally looks like
Voronoi is a patterning method widely
modern glass skyscrapers; however, the
used nowadays in the architectural field.
missing pieces of the rectangular box form
However, there are still plenty of potential in
a negative space for the geometry. It could
this method that it is not yet discovered. In
be designed as roof garden or balcony to
this case, the pattern created is intriguing;
maximize the function of a special geometry.
however, the suspended geometry requires support. Hence, the aesthetic quality of this iteration can be used as a facade pattern.
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B. 5 TECHNIQUE: PROTOTYPES FABRICATION TECHNIQUES Fabrication is a necessary step for computational design. It is the only way to transfer digital data into a real world object. Without the step of fabrication, a computation design is merely a digital artwork. Thus, it is also important to develop our fabrication techniques. In this part of the journal, I will test on a few fabrication methods such as laser cutting and vacuum forming.
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B. 5. 1 LASER CUTTING Laser cutting is one of the new fabrication technologies. It utilities laser to cut through materials in order to achieve high accuracy cutting. Another benefit of laser cutting is that it is capable of cutting complicated geometries such as curves; therefore, it can resolve tasks like sophisticated computational designs. In order to explore the limitation or drawbacks of this fabrication method, my group has experimented with two laser cutting materials, 1mm boxboard as well as 3mm MDF. We tried to use the 1mm boxboard to create a profile of our sleeping cocoon proposal, designed with zip-teeth joints on it. We find out that some details are destroyed due to the high temperature during fabrication. Also, due to the fact that 1mm boxboard is relatively weak, some parts (especially the edging parts) falls off when we try to remove the profile from the boxboard. We tried to make a box as well as a scaled roof prototype with 3mm MDF; sandwich joints are applied this time. Compares to boxboard, this materially significantly has a great strength. Also, we tried to avoid adding tiny details onto the design. As a result, none of the previous failure was repeated. However, the surface near the cutting edge is smoked which may affect the aesthetic quality of the model. Also, there will be a strong unpleasant smell for this specific material.
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B. 5. 2 VACUUM FORMING & FOAM CUTTER Vacuum forming is a form of thermoforming. A sheet of PETG plastic board will be heated to forming temperature, when it can change its form. Then, it will be stretched onto a single surface mould by a vacuum. The plastic sheet then will be moulded permanently into another shape. We tried to use vacuum forming to form the transparent tessellation on the scaled roof prototype. We firstly decided to cut foam balls into shape and use it as the mould because we wanted to achieve the result of a bulging shape. During the progress, foam cutter is used to cut the foam balls in shape. A foam cutter is a tool used to cut polystyrene foam with a heated thin metal wire. I found that the foam cutter is a great tool to deal with polystyrene foam and similar materials due to the nice edges created after cutting. We put the foam mould into the vacuum forming machine and ran the operation; however, the outcome is not satisfying: the foam mould cannot resist the heat from the melted plastic sheet. Therefore, we lastly used the laser cut roof frame as the mould and successfully fabricated the bulging shape we wanted.
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B. 6 DESIGN BRIEF Nowadays, trends and fashions are mostly controlled by celebrities. They determine the definition of life style. People blindly follow their so called ‘trends’ and this atmosphere gradually forms the ridiculous consumerism. This is an abnormal state which people should keep in mind; therefore, my group tries to provoke this bizarre with our proposal. The best way to change the mind-set of people is to make them question themselves; for that reason, we choose to play with sarcasm, and use extreme ironic examples to make them truly face the problems. In our proposal, we take advantage of this unusual phenomenon to market architecture. Referencing to the Jeff Koon & Louis Vuitton hand bag, which combines the well-known art pieces with the handbag, we sell our luxurious spa by sticking it onto the famous Cabanon. Does combining two zeitgeist generates another monumental masterpiece? or will it becomes an uncanny, grotesque Frankenstein?
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B. 6. 1 DESIGN PROPOSAL Our product is a luxurious spa sitting in a gridshell that can be hung behind the Cabanon. Playing with the quale of luxurious, we flip the general purpose of tessellation and gridshell. The gridshell, which also holds up the Jacuzzi, is made of carbon fibre, which is 14 times higher in embodied energy than steel cables; yet it is not able to support its own weight but rather relies on the tessellated roof. Whereas the unsustainable polystyrene roof is totally structural. The gridshell is fully covered in gold. This emphasizes on the absurd level of luxurious, and further contrast on the simple, humble Cabanon. The site is located at the only place that people can view the Dight Fall, creates a photoboom effect, and the reflects on people’s vanity when they try to ‘own’ a masterpiece, or even a view in this case. We chose Johnny Depp as our client, due to his extravagant life style. As a man in debt, his luxurious is virtual and vague. Also, his unusual taste is another reason we choose him. This leads to the question, will you follow such a celebrity’s ‘life style’ even if that is not really your ‘original’ savour?
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B. 6. 2 MARKET RESEARCH DIAGRAM
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B. 6. 3 SECTION & ELEVATION
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B. 6. 4 EXPERIENCE RENDERING
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B. 6. 5 EXPERIENCE RENDERING
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B. 7 LEARNING OBJECTIVES & OUTCOME
Part B of the journal mainly focus on building the foundation of computational design. It
develops my algorithmic skill, fabrication technique as well as a basic concept for my future proposal. In the first section of part B, I learned to generate gridshell and minimal surface through grasshopper, and further alter it to provide new qualities for its geometry. Also, the research about the research field strengthen my understanding of the application of geometries in different architectures and the reason behind it. The second section of part B grounded computational concepts by fabrication. I comprehend the importance of fabrication; it not only turns a virtual design into reality, but also discovers the flaws of the design. Different fabrication tools, materials and joints are tested in this section; both benefits and drawbacks are analgised during the process. This provides me a wider range of methods to fabricate my future design. Last but not least, the last section of Part B leads me to utilities my own iterations into an architectural project; all the fragments is merging together and form a bigger composition. I start to understand how can different grasshopper definition and input can be used together and integrate a dynamic design. Also, this section provides me a general direction, theme and base for my later designs. I personally found the sarcastic tone of our project is intriguing while meaningful, and I will keep the style for the rest of the studio group designs. In conclusion, unlike Part A, Part B of the journal is more about applying computational technique into design. This is the first step to the final semester design, but also the most important step.
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B. 8 ALGORITHMIC SKETCHES
POSH-PORCH 7
KACOON 7
PORCH ITERATION
KACOON 6
KACOON 5
THE LAST SPA COLUMN
CRITERIA DESIGN
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B. 8 APPENDIX 1. “Canton Tower / Information Based Architecture.” Archdaily. Retrieved September 15, 2017. http://www.archdaily.com/89849/canton-tower-information-based-architecture 2. “Construction begins on Smith and Gill’s crystalline skyscraper in Chengdu, China.” Architectural Design. Retrieved September 15, 2017. http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/news/construction-begins-on-smith-and-gill-s-crystallin 3. “Gridshells: Free-form and Free-span Buildings.” Geometrica. Retrieved September 15, 2017. http://geometrica.com/en/gridshells 4. “Information based architecture: canton tower.” DesignBoom. Retrieved September 15, 2017. https://www.designboom.com/architecture/information-based-architecture-canton-tower/ 5. “What Is Geometry?” Cut the knot. Retrieved September 15, 2017. https://www.cut-the-knot.org/WhatIs/WhatIsGeometry.shtml
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