VICTOR LU
THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE S E M E S T E R 2 2 0 1 5
DESIGN STUDIO AIR
2015 STUDIO AIR GROUP 2 TUTOR: CANHUI CHEN STUDENT: SHUCHEN VICTOR LU
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contents 4
Introduction
Part A CONCEPTUALIZATION 6 A.1 Desgin Futuring 8
MAD: Beijing 2050
12
The Building on the Water
16 A.2 Design Computation 18
Sagrada Familia
20 New Terminal at Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport
22 A.3 Composition/Generation 24
Centre Pompidou Metz
26
Galaxy SOHO Beijing
28 A.4 Conclusion 29 A.5 Learning Outcomes 30 A.6 Appendix
| 2 CONTENT
30
Algorithmic Sketches
32
Reference
34
Figures Table
Part B CRITERIA DESIGN
Part C DETAILED DESIGN
36 B.1 Research Field
72 C.1 Design Proposal
38 B.2 Case Study 1.0
72
Feedback of Previous Work
44 B.3 Case Study 2.0
74
Site Analysis
48 B.4 Technique: Development
76
Design Concept
54 B.5 Technique: Prototypes
78
Learn From Precedent
58 B.6 Design Proposal
80
Form Finding
64 B.7 Learning Outcome
82
Unroll Mesh
66 B.8 Appendix
88
Other Details
66
Algorithmic Sketches
90 C.2 Detailed Model
68
Reference
98 C.3 Learnig Outcome
69
Figures Table
100 C.4 Appendix 100
Reference
101
Figures Table
CONTENT 3 |
M
y name is Shuchen Lu. Actually my Medicare card displays Shuchen “Victor� Lu. Victor is my English name, which was selected randomly in an English class when I was in Year 7. I like its meaning so Victor has been with me for ten years. I grew up with my grandparents in southwest part of China. There were a lot of mountains and rainy days in my memory. My grandfather was a hydraulic engineer, who took charge of construction cost estimation and design. I often played beside his desk, and that was the first time I touch and see design and construction drawings in my life. However, I never think about I would do a similar job to him until I migrated to Melbourne. My family moved to Melbourne since 2011. And I initially planed to take a commerce degree in university, but I was surprised to found most of my classmates in high school and friends were in commerce degree when I looked around. I wanted to be different from them, then I took the way of architecture. I have three points in my philosophy of architecture: a. To solve the problem with human living space takes all priority of architecture. Architecture first of all has to solve and optimize the space utilizing. b. Architecture is solid history, so it has to reflect current aesthetics and social value. c. Architecture is an art of future. It faces to future and has to beyond present, where it stands on. Therefore, it could be seen that my projects on right hand side were very simple and linear (one was for Studio Water and another was Studio Earth) . I used to think a crazy non-linear form makes nothing to architecture and I thought some of architects nowadays to create a form only because it is cool. Especially more and more unbelievable crazy form have being generated since computational design popularized.
2
1 3
4
1&2 Earth Studio project: Secrete Pavilion 3&4 Water Studio project: Studly Park Boat House | 4 INTRODUCTION
But now, I changed my mind after taking Studio Air. I hope Studio Air could give me more inspiration and new idea.
INTRODUCTION 5 |
PART A CONCEPTUALIZATION A.1 DESIGN FUTURING
| 6 PART A
1 | 2
1. Figure 1 Floating Island Model of Beijing 2050 2. Figure 2 Photograph of The Building on the Water PART A 7 |
Figure 3 People’s Park of Beijing 2050 | 8 PART A
MAD: Beijing 2050 B
eijing has been the capital city of China for over two hundred years. Since CCP established People’s Republic of China on 1949, Beijing was constructed as a communist capital, which fellow the example of former Soviet Union. A lots of grand buildings, including a new Great Hall of the People and Tian’an Men Square, were to be built from scratch. Those architecture have strong flavour of communist ideology: grand, high and non-humanistic. MAD released this imaginary proposal project, Beijing 2050, to state a beautiful vision for Beijing on the postpolitical period. As known, Beijing is currently struggling with air population, congestion due to large population. This proposal design a sustainable, natural friendly city to this large capital, which provides people better living environments and sustainable future.
T
ian’an Men Square was built as the “red center” in this socialistic capital city for the political gathering. It has bluestone blocks flooring as large as the size of fifty Macau without any trees. In MAD’s project, Tian’an Men Square will be covered with tresses, it looks like the Central Park in New York City. In the post-political age, China no longer need a place for political gathering, and the party do no need such a large square to emphasize their power. Tian’an Men Square changes into People’s Park to let more people to enjoy their urban life freely. Trees, which are treated as the natural air filler, will provide more fresh air to the capital to deal with air pollution. “In 2050, Tiananmen Square could be an urban space filled with life and the green heart in the center of Beijing “1. By reviewing the history of human urbanization, it was clearly that people initially would like moving into the concrete forest and then realized returning nature was the best way to continue human civilization. This case provides a new way for that.
PART A 9 |
Figure 4. Floating Island
Floating Island over the CBD
T
he CBD in Beijing was built according to a western vision of modernization created in the last century. MAD jumps ahead and create a new CBD centre for the post-western, post-industrial society. It could be predicated that the population of the capital city will not decrease. How should we solve the decreasing living space with increasing population? The Floating Island would be a option. It r ises up from ground and make a horizontal
| 10 PART A
connectivity in air on Beijing. The future of a city needs to be interrelated rather than a sea of individual buildings, which is striving to be taller than each others. People’s need is a complexity, and the Floating Island provide a solution to people to deal with multi-need in one place. It releases out a huge amount of energy to urban life and solve the current traffic congestion issue due to inefficient mobility with Beijing city.
Figure 5. Floating Island
PART A 11 |
THE BUILDING ON THE WATER Office building of Shilian Chemical Factory, Jiangsu, China By Alvaro Siza
T
his is the first project Alvaro Siza made in China. As an architect, whose personal style is significantly obvious, Avaro Siza gives this factory architecture a poetic prospect--A white concreted building on a reflective pond. Conventionally, chemical factory is a ugly and dirty place in our mind, especially, the chemical factories in some developing countries like China, whose pollution abatement technology and regulation are insufficient. The image of those factories usually with some high chimneys, gray-brown smoke plume and polluted sewage. However, Alvaro Siza’s practice turned these over in the case. The office is built on a discarded sewage pound. This is a example of re-utilizing of factory facility. Siza used streamline geometry as the form of the whole building to create a neat space. This project provides another possible view of factory Figure 6. Bird View of the Building on the Water
| 12 PART A
Figure 7. The Building on the Water
PART A 13 |
| 14 PART A
architecture, which the factory could become such beautiful and make human and environment in harmony. The factories is no longer a place, which is dirty and ugly, people do not to want to go. Nowadays, the population is still increasing and we are approaching to imitation of land carrying capacity . The industrial area finally will meet the urban area although people currently zone them away separately. The Building on the Water by Siza gives us a brand new solution for future, which lead the industrial area to be integrated into urban area harmoniously.
Figure 8. Top view of the Building on the Water PART A 15 |
PART A CONCEPTUALIZATION A.2 Design Computation
| 16 PART A
1 | 2
1. Figure 9 Internal view of Sagrada familia 2. Figure 10 Terminal 3 at Shenzhen International Airport PART A 17 |
T
he death of Gaudi left so many regrets to world. Uncompleted Sagrada Familia was one of these regrets. 1883, Antoni Gaudi took the charge of designing and constructing this minor basilica 2. As he said, God never gives us straight line. Therefore, Gaudi designed this church with a complicated three dimensional shape in hyperboles, parabolas and conoids etc. These advanced design resulted in the difficulty and delay in the real construction of this church. Over one century, the construction of this building had been suspended to waiting for the construction method and techniques available. Even so, people still can not replicate Gaudi’s fabulous idea. Thanks to modern computation softwares, Gaudi’s imagination could be reverse engineered. Those software nowadays allow architects to investigate and understand the complexity of Gaudi’s design based on current built structure. Luckily, through years of effort, Sagrada Familia restarted to build and is planning to be finalized by 2026 3. In addition to computational software reverse engineering. Modern 3D modelling and fabrication technology push the construction of this church into a new stage. 3D modelling allows architecture to do experiment with computer to find the proper form and structure of the towers. And 3D printing accelerates the process of construction. Besides, parametric designing and BIM tools provides a opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration. These modern technology allows old master’s design to be shiny brightly.
| 18 PART A
Figure 12
Figure 13
SA Figure 11. Sagrada Familia
AGRADA FAMILIA
BY Antoni Gaudí
PART A 19 |
T
he construction of new terminal at Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport was the major governmental projects of Shenzhen City 2010 4. Shen-
mesh to minimize them into five major types, which decreases the cost of construction 6. Figure 14. 3D Perspective of New Terminal at Shenzhen International Airport
NEW TERMINAL AT SHENZHEN BAO’AN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT zhen is located on Pearl River Delta, where is the modernist and most dynamic ar ea in south part of China. The prosperity of market and buss economical activities push the demand of air travel. Therefore, a large-scale terminal was calling to be here. However, Shenzhen is a city which lacks of basic energy of production. To balance the energy consumption of such a large-scale architecture and condition of the city is the key to deliver the design of this largest public architecture in Shenzhen.
FUKSAS Italy won the competition of the new terminal. They used computational software to estimate sunshine duration each day on this site. Over 3o,000 skylights were built on roof, which was estimated to save over 4,7200 kw/h electricity to this city 5. Meanwhile, the computational aid design avoids terminal to overheat by sun in the afternoon. In addition, free-form surface required high standard structural design, which would pushed the construction cost up. Architect utilized the computational software to optimize the surface | 20 PART A
Computer aided design nowadays help architect to not only find the form of architecture, but also figure out the structural problems. Figure 15. Surface Construction
Figure 16. Internal Image of New Terminal
PART A 21 |
PART A CONCEPTUALIZATION A.3 Composition/Generation
| 22 PART A
1 | 2
1. Figure 17 Centre Pompidou Merz 2. Figure 18 Galaxy SOHO Beijing PART A 23 |
CENTRE POMPIDOU METZ Conceptualized by the architects Shigeru Ban and Jean de Gastines, with architect Philipp Gumuchdjian
T
he first decentralised satellite of a french museum, the Centre Pompidou-Metz is a masterpiece of contemporary architecture. The basic shape of this huge building is a hexagon, although abstract roof cover its real shape. It has over 8000 square meters rood cover, which was originated from traditional Chinese straw hat by Shigeru Ban 7. Computational design played a significant role in this project. The major component of this building are three cuboid exhibition halls. And the parametric design covers them with a free-form surface. The architect generated a single mesh unit with computer, and then flew these single unit onto the surface to get the mesh. As know, timber is not prone to extremely bend. Computational design optimized the outcome of mesh, and classified different single units into one major types, which benefits to save the cost of construction. Meanwhile, computational design helped architect to deal with bending issue. It resolved the whole mesh with many nodes, in order to fabricate each single mesh unite separately and assembly them in site easily.
| 24 PART A
Figure 19. Centre Pompidou Metz
In this case, computational design not only generated the form of the architecture, but also help architects to make the project to realize in reality easily. We could say that parametric design and 3D modelling are not a tool only for exploring geometry. They could be applied to manufacture stage to deal with fabrication issue.
Figure 20. 3D Modelling of CPM Figure 21. Timber Work of CPM
PART A 25 |
Galaxy SOHO Beijing
Zaha Hadid 2011
P
ersonally, Zaha’s projects initially make me bias parametric and computational design. It was hard to love those large-scale curvaceous monsters. It could be questioned that what role architect play as behind the computational design? Is only to select a beautiful result of the shapes computer generated? Galaxy SOHO Beijing was built with those questions 2011 in China. China is in rapid development period in recent three decades. Westernization and modernization disorderly are spreading everywhere in China, especially in some mega-city. Those city became the experiment land to architects all over the world. Zaha Hadid is one of the hottest architects in Chinese market. The reason of popularity of her designs in some governments is some local rulers think they need such a distinctive landmark to show their power and special political aesthetics, while Zaha indeed is such an architect, who has strong personal style and characteristics. For architecture itself, Galaxy SOHO is a good project. Aesthetically, it really remind people of the galaxy with its beautiful curvaceous form. Parametric design enables the 360-degree spatial fluency 8. It can not be achieved without modern computational generation. Only parametric modelling could realized this unparalleled shape and form. However, computer could not take all jobs from architect completely. When architects are emancipated from massive proposal drawings, they should move to other important work such as context analysis. Architecture reflects the social aesthetics and value, which were built up over the history. Therefore, architecture should closely relate to its context. Galaxy SOHO was built on Beijing, which has over 3,000 years history. Such a post-modern architecture looks incompatible to its surroundings. Computer does not know history but architect does. If more context could be reflected on this huge project, it would be much better.
| 26 PART A
Figure 22. Galaxy SOHO Beijing Figure 23. Urban Context of Galaxy SOHO
PART A 27 |
Par CONCEPTU A.4 Conclusion F
rom the exploration of design futuring, it could be seen that human’s society is return to nature because of the contradiction between dwindling land resources and expanding population. How to integrate modern civilization with nature harmoniously is the problem, which the designers and architects should consider. Computation provides designers and architects more opportunity and possibility, while people still need to think about how make the design remain a human-oriented rather than the random result of computer generation like Galaxy SOHO, which was criticized in Part A.3. However, computational design is still a good thing to lead design go towards future and further.
| 28 PART A
rt A UALIZATION A.5 Learning outcomes B
efore I stared this subject, all my design were initially generated with pen and paper. I often generated my conceptual shape and form in mind and then draw them out on the paper and only use computer to model it because I need 3D rendered perspective. Also, it could be said that I hate parametric design before I took Studio Air because personally I do not like non-linear form and “crazy” stuff. With theory learning in Part A, I realize the computational and parametric design is not only for “crazy” form and shape. They are very useful to assist design to move towards more efficiency, logic and convenience.
PART A 29 |
A.6 Appendix Algorithmic Sketches
MODELLING FOR CANTON TV TOWER
I
used to try make a model of Canton TV Tower only by Rhinoceros, but I failed. The massive mash surface is quite hard to draw one by one although the rule of their generation could be clearly identified.
Firstly, just draw three circles in Rhinoceros as the control lines of the whole body. Then, use dived curve command to dived each circle into same segments. Lastly, just with Geodesic tag, a beautiful mesh could be generated.
With further learning of algorithmic sketches with Grasshooper, I found this work became quite easy to complete.
This process is not quite complicated but it remains me to rethink the way and method the architecture I saw before to generated.
| 30 PART A
PART A 31 |
A.6 Appendix References 1. ‘Beijing 2050’, MAD Architect, 2010, <http://www.i-mad.com/work/ beijing-2050/?cid=4>[accessed 9th August 2015] 2. 3. Mamoou-Mani, Arthur, ‘Marc Burry, The Sagrada Familia and the SG11 Sound Responsive Wall’, WeWantToLearn.net, 2011, <http:// www.achimmenges.net/?p=5173>[accessed 10th August 2015] 4. ‘Ten Costly Architecture in China’, China.com, 2011,< http://military. china.com/aerospace/domestic/11162375/20150115/19211492_all. html>[accessed 10th August 2015] 5. 'Misunderstood the Design of New Terminal', MyDrivers.com, 2013, < http://news.mydrivers.com/1/288/288275.htm> [accessed 11th August 2015] 6. Helbig, Thorsten and Kamp, Florian, New Terminal 3 for Shenzhen Bao’an Airport: a 1250m long structure (Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineering, 2011), pp.37 7. ‘Centre Pompidou-Metz / Shigeru Ban Architects’, ArchDaily, 2011, < http://www.archdaily.com/490141/centre-pompidou-metz-shigeru-ban-architects> [accessed 11th August 2015] 8. ‘Galaxy SOHO by Zah Hadid Architects’, Dezeen Magazine, 2012 <http://www.dezeen.com/2012/10/29/galaxy-soho-by-zaha-hadidarchitects/>[accessed 11th August 2015]
| 32 PART A
A.6 Appendix Figures table Figure 1. Floating Island Model of Beijing 2050 <https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ 71/4d/97/714d975b14ae805a95f74ad4c238f4f4. jpg>[assessed 10th August 2015] Figure 2. Photograph of the Building on the Water < http://static3.uk.businessinsider.com/ image/54cf90d5dd0895f54e8b45d> [assessed 10th August 2015] Figure 3. People’s Park of Beiijing 2050 Figure 4. Floating Island F igure 5. Floating Island < http://www.i-mad.com/work/beijing2050/?cid=4>[assessed 10th August 2015] Figure 6. Bird View of the Building on the Water Figure 7. The Building on the Water Figure 8. Top view of the Building on the Water < http://static3.uk.businessinsider.com/ image/54cf90d5dd0895f54e8b45d> [assessed 10th August 2015]
Figure 9. Internal view of Sagrada familia < http://gregannandale.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Barcelona-La-> [assessed 11th August 2015] Figure 10. Terminal 3 at Shenzhen International Airport <http://www.fuksas.com/en/Projects/ShenzhenBao%E2%80%99an-International-Airport-Terminal3-Shenzhen> [assessed 11th August 2015] Figure 11. Sagrada Familia Figure 12. Sagrada Familia Figure 13. Sagrada Familia Mamoou-Mani, Arthur, ‘Marc Burry, The Sagrada Familia and the SG11 Sound Responsive Wall’, WeWantToLearn.net, 2011, <http://www.achimmenges.net/?p=5173>[accessed 10th August
2015] Figure 14. 3D Perspective of New Terminal at Shenzhen International Airport < airport/shenzhen_airport_01_fuksas_schiavello_01.jpg>[accessed 10th August 2015] Figure 15. Surface Construction Helbig, Thorsten and Kamp, Florian, New Terminal 3 for Shenzhen Bao’an Airport: a 1250m long structure (Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineering, 2011), pp.3-7 Figure 16. Internal Image of New Terminal < http://ideasgn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Shenzhen-Airport-> [accessed 11th August 2015] Figure 17. Centre Pompidou Merz < http://www.arup.com/~/media/Images/Projects/C/Centre_Pompidou_Metz/> [accessed 11th August 2015] Figure 18. Galaxy SOHO Beijing < http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/ galaxy-soho/>[accessed 11th August 2015] Figure 19. Centre Pompidou Metz Figure 20. 3D Modelling of CPM Figure 21. Timber Work of CPM < http://www.arup.com/~/media/Images/Projects/C/Centre_Pompidou_Metz/> [accessed 11th August 2015] Figure 22. Galaxy SOHO Beijing < http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/ galaxy-soho/>[accessed 11th August 2015] Figure 23. Urban Context of Galaxy SOHO < http://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-> [accessed 12th August 2015] PART A 33 |
PAR
CRITERIA
| 34 PART B
RT B
A DESIGN
PART B 35 |
B.1 RESEARCH FIELD STRIPS AND FOLDING â&#x20AC;&#x153; Figure 1
Strips and Foldingâ&#x20AC;? is an interesting research field of the algorithmic technique. It aims to transform a single surface into a volume. In this succession of transformation, the continuity of the material is always emphasized.
In the book The Fold: Leibniz and The Baroque by Deleuze, it discussed that the importance of folding technique which applied on Baroque architecture. Deleuze states that folding is an endlessly producing operative. 1 Also, he emphasized points of inflection, elastic points and transformations play the important roles significantly in Baroque architecture. The time pasted, it is quite interesting to see this technique is still utilized and emphasized in architecture nowadays even through the designing tools are completely digitalized. Indeed, it is computational technology that leads the manipulation and application of these techniques to become much easier than what predecessors did. Based on folding and strips techniques, the volume could be altered both internally and externally. This extends more room for designers. Besides, the method to realize fold are various, such as parallel, intersecting and overlapping. Those varieties give more aesthetic value to architecture. Moreover, strips and folding brings a economical fabrication to design. For example, in some cases, the facades becomes the structure itself due to application of this technique. Therefore, the utilization of material gets maximized. | 36 PART B
PART B 37 |
B. 2. CASE STUDY 1.0 Species 1
Species 2
Species 3
| 38 PART B
PART B 39 |
Species 4
Species 5
Species 6
Species 7
| 40 PART B
PART B 41 |
SELECTION CRITERIA 1. AESTHETICS 2. THE ABILITY OF APPLICATION ON ARCHITECTURE 3. CONSTRUCTABILITY
T
his iteration reminds me a fountain, so I could say it has certain aesthetics and ability of application. Whereas, in terms of constructibilty, it is not easy to build out as what it exactly looks like (with curved lines). However, those lines could be the pattern on a certain material. Besides, a fountain, I think this form could be enlarged into a light tower or a parvillion because it has shetter structure and downward surfaces.
| 42 PART B
T
his iteration was selected out is most due to its aesthetics. It looks like a blooming flower, which surprised me very much when I got it. As seen, most of iteration I got look very “2D” but this one give me a very strong “3D”feeling. In terms of ability of application, this form could be use as a lager scale public architecture such as opera house, stadium and something else. It not necessarily need to be build exactly same but this iteration gives designers some inspiration to find a form.
T
he fi sele very b which some a
first thing of the reason why this iteration was ected out is aesthetics. This iteration delivers a beautiful, intricate, and symmetrical pattern, could be used as a decorative elements in architecture.
T
his iteration is very much closed to what the original pavilion looks like. However, the radiuses of the circles at the top are much bigger than original one. This structure reminds me an airport terminal. Recently, the proposal of Beijing New Airport has been released out, which designed by Zaha Hadid. The new terminal looks a little similar to this iteration but it do not have such openings at the top. Those openings at the top of roof could be the skylights for the terminal, which will help the architecture to achieve higher stainability level. Therefore, I think this iteration is quite successful in aesthetics, ability of application and constructability.
PART B 43 |
B.2 CASE STUDY 2.0
DOUBLE AGENT WHITE
D
ouble Agent White by Marc Fornes is a wonderful case for my case study 2.0 even though it is only a prototypical architecture. It combines nine intersecting spheres together to create a shelter space to clients as a pavilion. It is achieving a maximum degree of morphological freedom with a minimized amount of components. In terms of fabrication, the object oriented computing designing generates the developable parts of double curved surfaces, which provides a strong material rigidity to the project. Also, the projects was resolved into numbers of double curved surface in order to achieve structural continuity, visual interplay and logistical efficiency. Most importantly, this project is highlighted because of its double agent system-- two parallel but divergent sets of distributed agents describe the surface condition. And also the project had two sets: the first is a controlled macro set that generates the overall geometry with the minimum number of elements. The second involves a much more expressive set of higher resolution and morphologies that crafts aperture as ornaments. At this step, I think the architects utilized other software than Grasshopper. Overall, those two sets inform each other simultaneously, following the logic of assembly mobility. 2 | 44 PART B
Figure 2
PART B 45 |
Step 1 Draw some random points as centres of spheres.
Step 2 Generate spheres based on the points and then adjust the location of points in order to find the best form of spheres combination.
Step 3 Making the union of each single sphere and meshing spheresâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; surface (triangulating) in order to prepare the easy fabrication.
| 46 PART B
Step 9 Assemble them on site. In case, designers used the pin as conn tion components.
Figure 4
Figure 3
Step 8 Unroll all triangular mesh surfaces and join some of them into one piece due to the pattern, and then fabricate them out.
this nec-
Step 5 Culling pattern base on triangular meshes and generate the patterns on them.
Step 6 Re-mesh the spherical objects with hollow pattern.
Step 10 Completed.
Figure 5
Step 4 Picking up the edges of each triangular mesh.
PART B 47 |
| 48 PART B
Species 3
Species 2
Species 1
B.4. TECHNIQUE: DEVELOPMENT
PART B 49 |
Species 6
Species 5
Species 4
| 50 PART B
Species 10
Species 9
Species 7
Species 11
PART B 51 |
| 52 PART B
T
his iteration was selected out because it has very different method to generate the pattern on the surface. The combination of spheres were divided into series of points, and then connected with circles. This gave me a brand new perspective to generate the pattern on these complicated mesh surface. Due to this method, this iteration could be easily fabricated with same way totally.
I
think this iteration is most successful one, at least personal this is my favorite.
First, the hollow areas on each surface are so large that make this combination look like a net. Second, those hollow areas could be the opening of an architecture in the future application. Third, those regular patterns make the fabrication much easier and also it will reduce the time people spend on assembling.
T
his one was selected out because the similarity of the original project, although it is not totally same as the original one. The original project used some structural analysis software of plug-in to generated the pattern which is quite complicated to me at this stage. However, this iteration rebuild it at least by same process. In the future using, this object could be a pavilion, a small hub, even a sculpture.
PART B 53 |
B.5. TECHNIQUE: PROTOTYPES
| 54 PART B
PART B 55 |
ASSEMBLY M
Adhesive Edges
I
n the prototype stage, I have two plan to fabricate the combination of spheres. First plan is to unroll all pieces and print them on paper and cut down to assemble. Considering to the weak durability of paper, this plan was nearly abandoned initially. However, through this fabrication process, I found it is quite difficult to control every piece paper has same curvature, hence Plan B, 3D printing.
| 56 PART B
F
or 3D printing, all spheres were unwaved into smaller piece units. In order to assembly them together, I firstly tried use PVA glue to make adhesion with each two. However, due to the resolution of the 3D printer, the connection edges were too smooth to be glued. Also, due to the material of the 3D printing, it is not able to work well with PVA glue. Therefore, this plan failed.
METHODS
Mortise and tenon joint
P
lan B for assembling is to create a pair of mortise and tenon joints in both sides of the two neighboring pieces. However, the 3D priter could not fabricate such tiny thing accurately. In the next stage, I will try another fabrication method in order to find more ways to assemble it.
PART B 57 |
PART B.6. TECHNIQUE: PROPOSAL
| 58 PART B
PART B 59 |
Eastern FWY
Yarra River
SITE ANALYSIS
Merri Creek
pH Level: 7.8 Water Quality Index: 7.0 Good
pH Level: 9 Water Quality Index: 0.3 Very Poor 4
| 60 PART B
M
erri Creek is a branch of Yarra River, but it not as clean as Yarra River. Except the obvious clarity of water, people are not quite aware of the difference between Merri Creek and Yarra River in terms of water quality. According to Merri Creek Management Community, Merri Creek is polluted by heavy metal ion, which caused by factories upstream. 3 The industrial sewage increases the alkalinity of Merri Creek whereas Yarra River still remain a acceptable pH level, which around 7.5-8.5. As an indicator of water quality, pH level is quite important, but it is not obvious to ordinary people. There is a big visitor activity area surrounds the intersection of Merri Creek and Yarra River. There is a observation platform of Dights Fall, BBQ park and a walking bridge, also there is a walking ramp from Eastern Free Highway, which leads a lots of people to the site. My site was selected here in order to let more people to see my project, which reflects the difference of water quality visually to visitors.
PART B 61 |
If the water gets polluted, the surface tension of water will become larger. 5 Due to this, we often could see there are some bubbles on the polluted river. This form was hired to my project in order to indicates the fact which Merri Creek is polluted
| 62 PART B
right now visually. And also the color changes of the surface of project, which is associated with pH level of water, will remind people rethink the water we drink, the environment we live, the way we manufacture the products.
PART B 63 |
B. LEARNING O AND OUT P
art B is most hard part in this subject so far, but it gave me brand new idea of the computational design. I once thought that the designing done by Grasshopper were all computational result, people only played a role asâ&#x20AC;&#x153;selectorâ&#x20AC;?during this process. However, I changed my mind now. Especially, through the reverse engineering of Case Study 2.0, I have noticed that the computational design still need designer to have a clear idea about the destination , goal and even imagination of final result, then use the Grasshopper or other digital tool to achieve it. This point refreshed my mind completely. Beside, during the reverse engineering, I found there is not only one way to build a same work or projects. There are so many methods and ways to realize same target. In my reverse engineering, I got three different ways to do it. First one is using Metaball and Kangroo as two key command. This one takes long time to compute and the mesh it produced is not quit smooth. Second plan is using VB script to generate the spherical mesh directly, it
| 64 PART B
.7 OBJECTIVES TCOMES takes a short time and offers a easy way, but due to some bug in VB script, for some certain data input, the script will failed . Also, VB script is quite hard to write properly. Last one is only using Grasshopper its own basic definitions. This plan takes a long time to connect each tag properly and make them work, but everything is under control compared with VB script plan. However, to make the union of each single sphere together, it is not easy to make them to create a smooth and continuous surface. Therefore, each plan has it own advantage and disadvantage. This thing was not in my consideration about Grasshopper. Lastly, I want to mention a little about interim presentation. I got a brand new idea for my project for next step. They were very interesting and exciting. I will redo the prototype stage, and do more experiments about materiality to achieve my goal of project--let the spheres flow on the river and indicate the pH level of the water to educate people to be aware of water pollution.
PART B 65 |
B.8 App Algorithmic
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pendix c Sketches
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B.8 Appendix References 1.Deleuze, G. 1993. "The Fold: Leibniz and The Baroque": 1-6 2. Fornes, M. 2012. Double Agent White <http://www.evolo.us/architecture/doubleagent-white-in-series-of-prototypical-architectures-theverymany/>[accessed on 11th September 2015] 3. Merri Creek Management, 2015 < http://www.mcmc.org.au/> [accessed on 20th September 2015] 4. Cleaner Yarra & Bay, 2015 < http://www.cleaneryarrabay.vic.gov.au/reportcard/yarra/yamer0195> [accessed on 22th September 2015] 5.Han, Minghan and Jin, Yong, 2005. Green Project: Theory and Application.
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B.8 Appendix Figures table Figure 1 Loop 3 http://www.arch2o.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Arch2O-Loop_3-Co-deiT-13.jpg Figure 2 http://strabic.fr/IMG/jpg/DSC_0475.jpg Figure 3, 4 &5 http://www.evolo.us/architecture/double-agent-white-in-series-of-prototypicalarchitectures-theverymany/
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PART C DETAILED DESIGN
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C.1 FEEDBACK OF P V
ictor “Don’t use 3D printing for the whole model, re think the joint system.” Our starting point for our group was that we would not use 3D printing and would develop our design in a way that would be conducive to being unrolled or made into strips for either fabrication through a card cutter or laser. As far as possible we would also look to develop a fixing or joint system that would be available off the shelf rather than bespoke.
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V
icky “The geometry used in the proposal is very interesting however the concept needs to be refined and the prototype needs to be explored at a larger scale and different material.” The technique and geometry used in this Part B project was decided upon as our starting point in developing our script and form.
1.1 PREVIOUS WORK D
ora “You should fabricate a few different cells and extract information from the digital model so that you can create a more controlled and precise outcome.” The use of parametric design for precision and control was essential for the geometry we were seeking to develop, without it fabrication was impossible as the double curved geometry was too complex.
P
hilip “Increase the scale of the proposal and consider its materiality.” At the same time that we started developing the script for our geometry and had a rough idea that we were probably going to be using developable strips in our final model, we made decisions early regarding materiality and eliminated rigid materials such as Perspex, plywood, foam and MDF. Polypropylene was chosen as it would be within our budget constraints, however if our proposal was built and installed at the site we would probably consider thin aluminium sheets.
--The text in this page credit to the presentation script written by Philp. PART C 73 |
Opportunities
F
A. Meander of the creek has eroded the north side of the bank creating a larger body of water and relative to the narrower areas of the creek a slower moving body of water.
B
C
E
A
B. Northcote High School - potential for school to incorporate the installation as a talking point and site visit regarding our waterways and the environment. C. Summer Park - potentially high circulation of people past the site and overflow from activities in the park. D. Clear open area on the Merri Creek trail - a natural stopping and gathering point.
D
E. Storm water outlet - high pollution levels. F. Sports fields opposite - potential run off of fertilizers etc.
C.1.2 SITE ANALYSIS The Merri Creek site is an area of surprising picturesque views and an atmosphere of tranquillity that belies the effects of its urban setting. Much has been improved by volunteer organizations and local councils to dramatically improve Merri Creek through efforts to rectify and restore the area along the creek and the creek itself, through removal of weeds, replanting of native species and the removal of rubbish and many other initiatives. Water quality is highly polluted due to the storm water runoff from the urban landscape of roofs, roads and concrete paths which concentrates the pollution in the urban environment by washing it off hard surfaces and into the storm water system. Merri Creek is part of the Lower Yarra waterway and is part of an interconnected waterway including the Yarra River, Plenty River, Darebin Creek, Moonee Ponds Creek and Gardiners Creek and highly valued by the public1. The government authority in charge of the waterways, Melbourne Water has listed the water quality of the Lower Yarra system as one of its significant management challenges2. Merri Creek is part of an important system | 74 PART C
of waterways in Melbourne that the people of the city use for recreation and an improvement in water quality would have benefits for the community as well as for the flora and fauna of the site. Melbourne Water’s long term goals for the Lower Yarra waterway; • “Very high”- populations of fish and frogs. Amenity through increased linking of sites • “High” – populations of macro invertebrates, streamside birds, platypus and vegetation. 3
Taken from “Condition of Key Values” chart on the website.
Whilst there are many challenges to the site such as, litter, weed control, flooding and erosion, our group has chosen to focus on water quality as an issue that has an impact on all of the key long term goals of Melbourne Water’s plans and management of Merri Creek and the waterways at large. --The text on this page credit to Philip.
Most polluted section of the creek, where our propasl site is.
Vegetation Map In Merri Creek PART C 75 |
C.1.3 DESIGN CONCEPT O
ur proposal is an installation to draw attention to issues around water quality and how the urban environment impacts rivers through storm water runoff. The installation will have two functions. Firstly, and most importantly it is hoped that the design form will provoke interest and speculation about its presence on the river and thereby provide an opportunity to prompt people to inquire and be informed as to what it is, particularly children. Secondly, the installation is on top of a floating island that uses local plants growing at the base in a grow media to contribute positively to water quality. The floating islands act like wetlands in their concentration of wetland plants growing in a media that floats on the water. The plant roots make their way through the media and down into the water where the plant takes up nutrients and in the process removes nitrates and ammonia, which are serious pollutants in waterways. This process also dissolves oxygen into the water body. The floating island and the roots provide a surface area that attracts microbes and these also feed upon the nutrients and help cleanse the water. The same principle of microbes and large surface areas are used in aquatic farming in biological filtration systems as well as in domestic aquariums. Floating islands have an advantage over wetlands, in that they are able to tolerate changes in water levels to a great depth because of their ability to float on the surface. This allows them to function normally in a range of conditions that would cause wetlands to be reduced in their functional effectiveness. A further advantage to the floating islands is the scalability of the islands which can be added to a body of water as needed.
--The text in this page credit to the presentation script written by Philp. | 76 PART C
CONCEPT DIAGRAM
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LEARN FROM PRECEDENT T
he precedent of our project is Guitoyle’s Volacno, which was built in 1876, and the original function of it was a water storage tank in the botanic garden. Currently, it is re-functioned into a “Working Wetlands” with the floating mats and selected plants. This re-functioned project now aims to use the roots of the aquatic plants and bacteria system to purify the water.4 This project has a commanding views of the city, and its striking landscape design showcases low water use plants. People could observe it on the boardwalks and viewpoint platform. This gives visitors an opportunity to explore the long-hidden but remarkable feature of the garden. Additionally, it is outstanding for its educational function, which is telling people how plants work for water improvement and making visitors be aware of water pollution. Our project was inspired by this and tried to solve the water pollution issue in Merri Creek. As diagram shown on right, the floating mat consists of a durable polyester mat injected with expanded polyurethane for the benefit of buoyancy. The growth medium is inside of the mat, which consists of sand, peat and useful compost.
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Growth medium
0.7 m depth
0.6 x 0.6 m floating mat
Filling/ emptying pipe
1.0 m
Figure 1 Floating Mat Function Diagram
Figure 2 Floating Wetland Photo
Figure 3 Guitoyleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Volacno
Figure 4 Floating Wetland Working Diagram
Figure 1: Cross-section of FTWs in a treatment pond (from Headley and Tanner, 2011).
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C.1.4 FORM FINDING P
rior to our group project our team individually explored the use of tensile, relaxation and inflatable behaviors of material through the use of Kangaroo and Millipede in Grasshopper. The precedent for our form find-
ing for our group project was inspired by the Marc Fornes Lin Pavilion and its form being reminiscent of creatures from the water such as squid, octopus, marine flatworms and coral formations.
SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT Lines & Boundary Geometry Wrapper
Geometry
ISO Surface Minimal Surface
Mesh Triangulate
Millipede Mesh Mesh Edges
Divide Curve
Discontinuity List Item
Intepolate
Curve Closest Point Cull Pattern
Sort List Points on each edge
Pattern
Mesh Edges
To Polar
Curves designed as new edges
Sort List
Divide Curves
Points in order
Vector 2Pts
Springs From Line Anchor Points Kangaroo Physics
Amplitude Move
FORM FINDING PROCESS
STEP 1
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STEP 2
STEP 3
STEP 4
STEP 5
STEP 6 --The text in this page credit to the presentation script written by Philp. PART C 81 |
C.2.1 prototype fabrication UNROLL MESH MESH PLOY-SURFACES
DECONSTRUCT BREP BREP IN GH
GROUP INTO STRIPS
SELECT BOUNDARIES DISTINGUISH CURVES & LINES
CULL OUT LONG EDGES
ADD TWO GROUPS OF HOLES
KEEP SHORT EDGES
ADD ONE GROUPS OF HO
GENERATE TAGS
O
nce the geometry is completed, the project could move to next stage- fabrication. In order to fabricate in easy way. All poly-surfaces which form the mesh of the geometry have to be disassembled into each single triangle. Then those triangles have to be regroup into strips manually (due to uneven size of triangles, it is hard to regroup them automatically with any types of script). Basically, the common method is select them out linearly, which means make the triangles joint with each other only by one edge. This is helpful to unroll three-dimension things into two-dimension without error. In this project, it initially produced 100 strips, however, due to the size limitation of laser cutting material, the longest four strips were regrouped shorter and produced 104 strips finally. The 104 strips were inputted into grasshopper definition which makes connection tags for edges.
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In the prototype test, it was found that only one tag on the edge did not join the strips very will due to the oversize length of the edges. Therefore, I add new script into initial one, which could cull the overs-length edges out by the mathematical formula, and then add the double tags on it to ensure it to join the strips rigidly. There was other error occurred when I was doing the finial model strips. That was the boundary of the strips consists of curves, because the patterns were added into the geometry, which were on the vertexes of each single triangle on the mesh and then forms some curvature edges. Those curvature edges were once added with connection tags too, which were not right to the model. Therefore, I add a short smart script into basic fabrication definition, which use “contains (x, “line”)” formula to differentiate the “line-like line” and “ploycurve”. This definition ran very fast and take a little memory to figure out the result for next step.
OLES
ORIGINAL 100 STRIPS
All ploysurfaces were re-group into strips
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C.2.2 prototype fabrication ASSEMBLY METHOD W
e tested rivet, screw and even adhesive tape. And finally we found rivet + washer this combination works very well, because the metal washer provides a support when the rivet was trimmed off, and also washer is strengthener than polypropylene.
Metal washer
Rivet (the end of rivet will trimmed by rivet gun)
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FIRST PROTOTYPE: SMALL STRIP + SCREW + CONNECTION TAG
SECOND PROTOTYPE: FULL SCALE STRIP + EYELETS +OVERLAP
THIRD PROTOTYPE: FULL SCALE STRIP + RIVET + MESH + CONNECTION TAG
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MOST SUCCESSFUL PROTOTYPE , THIS M
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METHOD USED FOR THE FINAL MODEL
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C.2 prototype f OTHER D
PROTOTYPE 1 FISH LINE BONDING
A
fter finished the physical model, we found the edges of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;flowerâ&#x20AC;? in our geometry have to be strengthen for two reasons: first, the shape have to be rigid; second, the edge have to be emphasize due to the whole model is white, and the edges could not be seen clearly from far distance.
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PROTOTYPE 2 RUBBER BONDING
Firstly, we used fish line to bond the edges, due to the fish line is soft, the edges could not be bonded in a ideal shape. Secondly, we tried rubber strip. It was a little better than fish line, but due to the property of rub-
2.3 fabrication DETAILS
PROTOTYPE 3 RUBBER BONDING + RIVET
ber, this material was not strong enough to bond the edges into particular sharp. Also, rubber strips can not secured on the polypropylene sheet rigidly, Even we tried to used rivets, but it took a long time and was very difficult to make it. Finally, we found a black plastic fixing band for our project.
PROTOTYPE 4 BLACK PLASTIC BONDING
It has a piece of aluminum sheet inside, which we could pinch it to fix in on the edges rigidly. This was easy, and low time-consuming. Most importantly, this was the most rigid bonding method we tried, and even we could hang the model up only by dragging this bonding strip.
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C.3 FINAL DETAIL MODELS
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C.4 LEARNING OUTCOME A s a group work, we started everything from beginning again, and the project turned to brand new.
The first thing I learnt in this group work is teamwork in a good workflow. Dora and Vicky mainly took charge of scripting and Philip and me worked on fabrication. We once thought we could work in parallel while Dora and Vicky doing the script, I and Philip to test the joints and fabrication method. However, that is not what happened. Each task in this project infiltrates each other, they could not done separately. For example, I tested the strip method with a ideal perfect model, it works very well. But when I got exact our 3D model, I found the mesh was not triangulated very evenly, this caused a big problem to disassemble the mesh into each single flat strip to unroll and fabricate. Also, the mesh consisted of a huge number of ploy-surfaces, which is impossible for us to make it into a physical model in consideration of timeconsuming and cost. Those issues had to discus with script team while they are scripting, otherwise
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it will waste time to redo the work if discuss this issue after they finished. In terms of fabrication, the most important thing I noticed from our project is about material. In fact, the selection of material should be considered at very beginning especially we got limited choices and fabrication methods in university. Ideally, we reckon our physical model could stand up by its structure automatically since it looks good during computer modeling stage. However, our model was scripted by Kangaroo and Millipede. Especially with Kangaroo, it builds the model by physical tension. In other words, our model actually “stands” by “tensed” (“dragged”) on somewhere in the computer rather than “stand” by its own structure. In order to make it “stand” in real world, there are three ways: a. To hang it on somewhere to make the geometry expand by gravity; b. To using a strong material such as aluminum and thicker polypropylene sheet to strengthen the structure itself;
c. To make an extra frame to help it to stand. I did not notice this when I make the model, so I just choose the Method B, which we once believed that it would work well. Unfortunately, Fab Lab in university only provides and could cut the 0.6 mm polypropylene with laser cuter. This type of polypropylene is not thick enough to provide sufficient support for itself. Even we want to try 1.4 mm polypropylene as one of our prototypes but it does not work with the laser cutter in Fab Lab thus the fail of it. Therefore, I reckon if we could make it with aluminum sheet as what our precedent did, our will probably work. In terms of joint system. I produced two proposal. One is to joint each strips by overlapping directly, and other one is to joint them by overlapping the connection tags which were added into strips. According to the prototype, we found overlapping causes the model to deform and then collapse. Therefore, we chose to add a connection tags to
joint them. Rivet, screw and even adhesive tape were tested for joints. Both rivet and screw could work, but the screw sometimes would drop out. Therefore, rivet was used in our model. With rivet, the strips were connected very rigid but it was the biggest time-consuming proposal with increased cost. Except selecting ploy-surface for make a single strip, adding tags, arranging strips for cutting and so on were done by Grasshopper automatically. This remind me to think about the advantage of computational design again. Even the selecting process, it could be done by Python scripting if the triangulation got done evenly and optimized. This saves a lots of time in comparison with doing it manually.
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C.4 Appendix References 1. 2. 3. Meblourne Water, 2015. Acessed on 29th October 2015. < http://www.melbournewater.com.au/ waterdata/riverhealthdata/yarra/Pages/Yarra-catchment.aspx> 4. http://www.massey.ac.nz/~flrc/workshops/11/Manuscripts/Tanner_2011.pdf
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C.4 Appendix Figures table Figure 1-4 Chris et al. 2011, Floating Treatment Wetlands
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