Reflections on architectural design

REFLECTIONS ON ARCHITECURAL DESIGN ARC 6989

NAME: AKPEZI VICTORIA IKEDE

STUDENT NUMBER: 160244203

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Reflections on Architectural Design ARC 6989 Name: Akpezi Victoria Ikede Student No.: 160244203 Word Count :

The prototype human

Photo on top: Da Vinci’s anthropometric man Cover Photo: Protoype Model by Daria Belova

Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Design Studio Brief, themes and methods Chapter 3: Design methods A critical reflection on architectural design methods and their roles in: 3.1 Narrating 3.2 Experimentation 3.3 Assembly

Action Points/Conclusion

Studio Prototype City

01 Introduction This essay is a critical reflection on the design methods I have studied and applied in the course of my design research work for my Masters in Architectural Design programme at the University of Sheffield.

Following a brief description of my design studio and its research themes, I will discuss the design methods I have used under three broad headings; Narrating, Assembly, and Experimentation. These methods will then be assessed critically based on their relevance and effectiveness in meeting the research requirements for which they were used.

02 Design Studio

The studio is called prototype city, a digital design based studio focused on the use computational design technologies for various methods of site analysis and contemporary digital design construction. The core design methodology is centered on interpreting built form as a prototype. Although, the major focus of the studio is on digital approaches to architecture, conventional methods of design such as hand drawings and modelling are also part of the methods used for design exploration.

The concept of prototyping in the studio defines the built form as the first type or prototype of a thing, serving as an experimental ground for data collection to inform future postulations of similar ideas. The built form then, functions as a type of system that has the ability to collect data that could be processed and analysed. In an aim to better understand this concept, one of the first workshops carried out in the studio was a human simulation of a printer.

THE HUMAN PRINTER SCANNERS (INPUT)

Students who view an original image, are kept in a separate room

The images were created according to raster, vector and turtle vector modes of printing. As an initial exercise, this provided an insight into the different outputs that could be gen-

erated depending on design methods chosen. The exercise revealed that faster processes like the vector print produced more complete images though of lesser detail within a short

period, whilst the more detailed process of raster printing produced a less complete but more refined image.

PROCESSORS

Another group of Students who then transmit a set of written, predefined codes to the printers (printers are not allowed to see the original image). They are not allowed to reveal any extra information apart from the code, but can relay questions from the printer to the scanner.

PRINTERS (OUTPUT) Students who Interprete Code and generate printed image

Human Printing Vector Print

Raster Print

Turtle-vector print ( mixed methods)

The second semester project, titled experimental architecture, had an overall research theme, leaving the decisions on the specific methods of research up to us. The objective was to design an experimental artefact which challenged some conventional architectural approach to designing.

Specific requirements here included working with a virtual site, physically inaccessible, and using the different types of data gathered and stored in our online database to inform our design ideas.

Design work in this studio was done in small teams of five or less, with each team given a specific research theme as a basis for the selection of design methods. For the first semester project, the methods specified for design exploration were knowledge space, fragmentation, materials, movement and change, and simulation. We had the liberty to decide what theme we were interested in exploring, and I, together with 4 other students in the studio teamed up to work with simulation as research theme.

I will be referencing the work done in these two semesters as necessary throughout this essay, as well as design research done in other course modules as they apply to narrating, assembling and experimenting.

The brief was to design an artefact that would reinvigorate lost spaces in Sheffield and our site was a green park/ recreation spot in the heart of Sheffield.

In line with the studio aims, we came up with several ideas and concluded on designing an artefact that would function simultaneously as a wind break and dynamic light sculpture, with some acoustic properties to create and define a point of engagement on the site. In this way, we assumed the artefact would attract special attention to the site, which had begun a slow decline towards abandonment as at the time of our study.

01 Sidney Street, site for semester one ‘lost spaces’ design.

03 Design Methods

03.1 Narrating

A Story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end... but not necessarily in that order.

- Jean Luc Goddard .

Narratives are an exploration of stories as they unfold in time (Meagher, 2016). Stories in this context are descriptions (either verbal or visual) of the interactions between users of the site and the built environment.

Perception of the classes of users on our site

Design narratives can be created using any method where the user or users of the site in question can be clearly defined and identified. Users here might include some non-human components of a space such as the stream and plants that were crucial elements on our site.

We created narratives in our design studio using pictorial representations of the site. As a method of site analysis, we made site visits to document the site in pictures and in video formats. The videos recorded were used to

create time lapses, which are essentially long recordings taken from different points on the site depending on the subject of analysis and condensed into a few short seconds of film.

The creati on of a ti me lapse video required from our team eight uninterrupted hours of recording the site, indirectly informing our understanding of the acti viti es that take place within the space. Interesti ngly, spending such large amounts of ti me on the site placed us in the positi on of users.

Our decision to focus our design proposal simply on creati ng a functi onal wind break eventually was based on how cold we felt whilst taking the videos and photo recordings with no form of shelter to protect us from the elements.

Maps were another tool we used for storytelling. We used maps mostly downloaded from Google as a tool for describing our fi ndings from the walk around the site, and for initi al proposals and descripti on of our ideas.

In some cases, the maps wold be super imposed with 3D images of our design models to assess its contextual relati onship with the site.

Screenshots from time lapse videos recorded in Graz, Austria.

Asides from human acti vity, the videos were useful in studying weather variati ons during the day, traffi c patt erns, as well as

sources of noise or disturbances. ‘Mapping Movement’ Movement group, protoype City Studio

The movement/change team in the studio who coincidentally worked on the same site as my team did were able create a fascinati ng joinery of these downloaded maps to illustrate the movement of the site’s water body, Porter brook, through the city of Sheffi eld.

Koolhaas (1994) uses characters to describe the transition of Manhattan from a simple idea on a map to a city formed by political decisions, translated through architectural developments. Similarly, we identified some of the different user groups we were designing for through site analyses. Our first action to understand the site was to walk around it to identify the surrounding buildings, offices, parking spaces and whatever else we could find.

In the process we discovered that the site was surrounded by several art spaces and architectural offices, including some dance studios. This highly artistic character of the community informed our conclusion that the reason behind the vivid presence of graffiti paintings found on the different parts of the site, might have been a result of the training the young students who lived nearby might have gained from these art schools.

grafďŹ ti

The graffiti paintings and skateboard vandalism eventually became so overwhelming that the space had to be closed temporarily.

In this way, it became apparent that even though our artefact met all of our functional and aesthetic requirements, social issues like vandalism could still pose a significant threat to the sustainability of any form of design intervention.

02.2 Experimentation The approach to architecture should be like science, with breakthroughs that create new information, not repetition of old ideas.

- Frank Gehry

The fi rst step for a successful simulati on is the defi niti on of some kind of a model. (Gengnagel et al, 2011). Thus, we started out by creati ng a 3D model of the site as existi ng to make for a realisti c duplicate of the real world environment, a basic requirement of simulati ons (Groat, 2013). We then proceeded to place a fully resolved model of our designed artefact on the three dimensional site to carry out a series of simulated tests and assess its ability to meet our core requirement as a functi onal windbreak.

DESIGN SIMULATIONS

Using Autodesk fl owdesign, a soft ware built to simulate wind patt erns, we tested out our design model on the site. The choice of this soft ware was based mostly on Although simulati ons do not necessarily mean computer our limited knowledge of what was available for design graphics and soft ware iterati ons, we were instantly led to simulati ons, as well confi dence in our ability to hanle the soft ware based on experience gained from previous approach simulati ons in this manner based on the core digital focus of our studio, and also, due to the infl uence familiarity with Autodesk products.

The soft ware uses points or lines to illustrate patt erns of connotati ve meanings of simulati ons in movies and of wind fl ow dependant on the model imported into its popular culture. environment.

Autodesk Flowdesign interface. Left: Wind flow displayed as tiubes, Right: Wind flow displayed as particles.

Similar to the scienti fi c method of experimenti ng which fl ows from questi on - hypothesis – research – idea – testi ng – data analysis - conclusion – reporti ng, we would compare our results with our expectati ons, refi ne the model, and run the simulati on again to see if the alterati ons worked before presenti ng our fi ndings to be reviewed.

Our concluding model tested well with soft ware, redirecti ng the wind tubes symbolizing air movements away from the sitti ng spaces on our site.

A more technical approach to wind simulati ons was applied in a diff erent course centered on challenges in interacti ve built environments. The soft ware used for the simulati ons is called EnviMet headquarter. According to my tutors, EnviMet is regarded as one of the most stati sti cally accurate soft ware for climate simulati ons, capable of generati ng more dependable data outputs for analysis. Envimet represents elements of climate in vibrant colours, and also in some cases parti cles in moti on.

In the use of both soft ware for computer simulati ons, a major setback was that the success or failure of the simulati on depended largely on the designer’s skills and accuracy in detail modelling and soft ware manipulati on.

Also, the simulati ons could never account for non-stati sti cal parameters like feelings of comfort or propriety our model in relati on with the site’s real world character.

EnviMet working environment

EnviMet Wind simulator

The data generated from the more sophisti cated EnviMet soft ware was only as accurate as weather data input generated from weather stati ons or airports. The availability of such data thus becomes a limitati on to the extent of research that can be done.

In contrast, the approach to experimentation for my second semester design project was focused on challenging conventional architectural methods. Groat (2013) describes this method as a study using the treatment of independent variables to measure outcomes in comparison to a control group, with a focus on causality.

This was the method we used in approach to our second semester design brief; a proposal for an experimental artefact. Experimental in this sense meant challenging a conventional approach to architectural design. This could be in choices of materials or forms of making, graphical representations any other such way of conventional ‘doing’.

To gain an understanding of the ways in which this could be achieved, we carried out a series of precedent studies analysing previous experimental approaches to architectural design. My precedent study was a metereosenstitive pavilion, made from industrially altered plywood, ingrained with the climatically responsive properties of

Experimental Marketplace Design: Second semester project

the spruce cone. The material responsiveness was used to create apertures that opened and closed to allow in light and air in response to changes in climate.

Metereosensitive material pavillion by Prof. Achim menges

These two approaches to experimentation come from different ends of the spectrum - whereas one approach is testing the feasibility of a fully resolved idea using experiments, the other requires the very idea of the design proposal to be an experiment in itself.

02.3 Assembly Use the best possible materials and reveal the qualities of those materials and the craftmanship of their assembly - Karl Friedrich Schinkel

Early on in the studio, we were introduced to methods of fabrication in 3D printing and laser cutting. A knowledge of materials and assembly of parts is a useful tool for creating models because built forms are typically too large to be constructed as one whole (Gengnagel et al, 2011).

We designed our windbreak to be a composite of a series of vertical components. The model thus started by resolving the composite parts of a singular module. As we experimented with models, it became apparent that each method of fabrication lent itself to a different type of model. Whereas laser cutting was suitable for models with relatively flat components easy for the laser to cut through, models with more solid components possessing depth and volume would be created more easily using 3D printing.

Upon completion of design simulations, we attempted to create a human scale prototype to compare our simulation findings with reality using a wind anemometer. As architects, it is easy to get lost on paper in the creative process of design, ignoring the physical attributes as to how the specific design will be built. In translating designs from paper to built-form, the design evolves into something different. (Sheil, 2005).

As (Gengnagel et al, 2011) point out in their foreword, we were immediately faced with a question as to what

extent our simulation outcomes could be realized in physical structures. None of the methods we had been taught were suitable for the scale of the prototype we wanted to build given the time we had to work with.

Since the primary aim of building the prototype was to compare air patterns on the site with our simulations using an anemometer, we made improvisations and created cut outs from cardboard boxes.

The most glaring outcome upon partial success of building the prototype was that the form which worked in the computer simulations failed in real life. An immediate change in form became necessary. Inferring from this event, it is worth noting that computer simulations must be done in conjunction with some degree of real life prototyping for higher accuracy in results.

Assembly using 3D printer

Assembly using laser cutter

Modular components must be resolved for succesful assembly of the whole.

Paper assembly using origami to test prototypes of folded structures. Paper lends itself easily to folding, making it useful for easily testing out possibilities with folded structures.

‘Prototyping’. Comparing our simualtion results with real life testing using wind anemometer. The results revealed the need for a change in form.

Action Points/ Conclusion

The specific theme for my studio, (simulation), gave me insight into a new way of testing architecture, an ideal which I hardly imagined being able to afford giving the short timelines of design projects.Simulations could significantly shorten the amount of time spent in construction as most failures due to trial and error which are prone to cause delay would have been eliminated in the simulated environment.

The idea - testing approach to experimentation was useful for information gathering, rapid ideation and instant feedback loops. Whilst testing the effectiveness of the artefact, we became sensitized to the right kind of adjustments to make to our model, to give the kind of feedback we wanted.

Stories are essential for communication in architectural design. The architect’s drawings and plans could at times be in abstraction until human characters have been introduced to interact with the idea.

In my opinion, there are two types of narratives that can exist in a design study; the existing and the proposed. There are stories that exist on any given site where individuals have formed a way of life, and new stories that are created by the introduction of a new building. Any new design idea presents with it a new way of thinking and doing that forms new scenarios.

Predictions could be made based on data gathered and analysed, but new narratives can also be constructed by the architect, as a desired end result of the proposal.

Whitby Convenience(Baker,2016)

‘The Whitby toilet attempts to hail people, compelling individuals to behave in a particular way in relation to the building’ (Excerpt from Baker, 2016)

Mapping is a good method to archive things that are likely to change quickly or over a period of time. Maps are effective for understanding the permanent and more temporary boundaries of site, allowing the possibility of predictions on the changes that are more or less likely to occur in the future around these boundaries.

Knowles (2013) used maps as a way to illustrate the habits and patterns of Nigerians in the diaspora in London. She observes the activities that take place in the predominantly Nigerian church in London as a focal point for mapping the behavioural patterns of her focus group.

This method was quite apt, as Nigerians are known for their strong religious beliefs and devote a large part of their time to their places of worship.

In the future, it would be interesting to explore the concept of mapping beyond the delineation of borders on a two dimensional plan, and create maps that are illustrations of social behaviour.

Bedolina petroglyph, Valcamonica (Turnbull, 1989) Maps as the designer percieves.

There is more to assembly than just the joining together of physical components to form a whole. Kostof (1992) describes the city as an assembly of buildings, people and borders. Each piece in an assembly must complement and in a way, give rise to the other. Much like a city starts from a brick, which forms a wall, that defines a building. A set of buildings define the building line, which in turn creates a street that then has sidewalks, crossings and so on, and in such manner a city is formed.

Assembling the city, Kostof (1992)

REFERENCES

In conclusion, the tools available for design research are quite vast with rapid improvements made daily.

A careful assessment of the suitability of the method must be done before venturing to use it, as they could be time consuming without providing the results needed.

Baker, S., 2016: Theory Forum: At your Convenience or The damned toilet! [online]. YouTube. [Viewed,17 December 2016]. Available from: https://youtu.be/UO1j48yKYbk Groat N. L. (2013)2nd ed: Architectural Research Methods [e-book] Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2013 Gengnagel C, Kilian A, Palz N., Scheurer, F. (Eds.) Computational Design Modelling: Proceedings of the Design Modelling Symposium Berlin 2011. (2011) Springer-Verlag: Berlin.

Knowles, C. (2013). Nigerian London: re-mapping space and ethnicity in superdiversecities, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 36:4, 651-699.

Koolhaas, R. (1994). Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan. New York: Monacelli Press Meagher, M. (2016). Prototype city studio brief, ’Experimental Architecture’.

Sheil, B. (2005) Design Through Making: An Introduction. John Wiley and Sons Ltd, West Sussex) Kostof, S. (1992) The city assembled: The elements of urban form through history. Thames & Hudson: London.

TurnBull, D. (1989) Maps are Territories.Science is an Atlas. Chicago Press, Chicago.