SLIPSTREAM TERMINAL 2 HEATHROW AIRPORT RICHARD WILSON
Complex architectural and engineering
challenges of turning a simple idea-solidifying the motion of a cartwheeling aircraft, into a vast kit-of-parts jigsaw puzzle for Richard Wilson’s new sculpture at Heathrow Airport.
This challenging project is done with the creative use
of computing techniques. A series of computation processes were being carried out to produce this unique form and translating it into a buildable kit-of-parts for rapid assembly. These include a novel combination of film animation software, aerospace design tools and scripting. The idea is preceded from the Futurist Umberto Boccioni’s bronze sculpture Unique Forms of Continuity in space ( 1913) that imagined the strange volumes carved in air by thdynamic motion of the body. Hence today, the creative use of computing power realising Boccioni’s future dream with the creation of Slipstream In Slipstream’s design, cutting-edge computer programming technology, a popular technology in aerospace industry is used. It can accurately translate the volume of an aircraft’s movement through space. However, in order to transform this unique sculpture from the virtual world into the reality, many millions of operations had been running through by the generation of parametric modelling together with complex custom script. Here is the contradiction between rationality and creativity. The generation of the sculpture from the source motion is beautiful, however, for it to be constructed is highly irrational. This is because each point on the Slipstream sculpture are differed and always markedly from every other. Trials followed by trials, a synthetic solution mentioned before made it possible to develop an integrated model of more than 30,000 unique pieces!
In order to present the visual design, there is usually a sufficient space to locate the structure to support the envelope of a building. For Slipstream, a three-way iterative design process which finally came out with a satisfied form after 48 version of trying. The main support of this sculpture is the 76-metre steel skeleton, onto which were attached a series of 110 OSB bulkheads that threaded like jigsaw pieces around the steelwork. A series of plywood spars are linking those OSB bulkheads together and set out the complex surface of the Slipstream. A dual layer of thinner and curved ply forms the sculpture’s skin which each panel is dovetailed into its neighbours. Onto the upper layer of ply is scribed the setting-out pattern for the aluminium panels which the sculpture’s instructions were printed upon its surface. Scripts generated the plywood skin components and the aluminium panels and also dealt with input pieces that displayed a high degree of variance in shape and size. In this case, computation does not only aid in virtual modelling but also helping to build the actual masterpiece in real world.
John Holland-Kaye, explained that “Heathrow is one of the few places where art, architecture and engineering come together in one space and we hope our passengers will enjoy Slipstream when they travel through Heathrow”. This would be what we all hope for the sculpture at Copenhagen as well. Besides being responsive to the green policy, users are always being part of the main concerns in this project.
The creation of Slipstream tells me how a creative use of a range of computation technologies end up with such a remarkable sculpture in reality. Without the aid of Grasshopper, it is impossible for me to produce a parametric sculptural design simply with the use of Rhinoceros. However, in order to transform the digital design into real model, Rhinoceros is playing an important role with the unrolling surface tool. This technique is quite similar to Slipstream, which many pieces of two dimensional surfaces build up together to form a three dimensional object of complicating curving. The use of many layers from steel skeleton, OSB bulkheads to the series of plywood spars have given me a great idea on how to build up my design in the future by reminding myself to always leave extra space for my design so that the structure could be accommodated. Not only that, the technology used to capture the energy as well as generate electricity require spaces to place it strategically within the sculpture. Furthermore, the principal design of motion inspired me to consider of wind movement and the abstract moving pattern that could be contribute to my design ideas
TO THE MICRON
RICHARD BECKETT & SARAT BABU The digital has always been rooted in material and communication. It is about the relationship between computational design thinking and material manifestation. Mathematics allows us to operate upon the transformation of model fabricating that engages geometry. In the case, grasshopper can be a useful tool that can relate mathematical variables to the digital model.
A new computational architecture through
high-resolution multi-scalar design and manufacturing. A new potential architecture that encompasses a scalar hierarchy of matter, allowing design to be taken place concurrently at scales from micrometre to metre. This advanced computation makes a radical shift in the methods of prescribing volume, which is a toolset that abstracts form to a dimensionless yet absolute state. Now, there is no limitation in what can be rendered due to the complexity of the representation but more about our ability to understand the formal language of construction. Selective laser sintering is a new approach that using the sintering polymer powders to produce materials with comparable properties to engineering-grade plastics. Meanwhile, it enables the production of stable structures with wall thickness as fine as 400 micrometres. This is definitely a big jump of an additive-based methods of construction, which is the most direct method of physically rendering forms of digital products. Their limitations as a construction process is due to the physical qualities of the resulting objects, that being overcame by the selective laser sintering technology.
The concern on this technology is the ability to include both macroscopic form and material properties, to fabricate them on current commercial additive manufacturing systems and engage in localised control of material properties throughout their physical volume. It is not simply use additive fabrication methods to build hybrid materials. Designing in this space does relate back to function through human interaction, whereas a freeform high-definition fabrication requires an equally high-definition design context. The advantage of this technology in architecture is the adaptation of mesoscopic structures to illicit optical details while maintaining the macro size bulk structural stiffness-to-weight ratio which enables practical application within its spatial boundary. The context of envelope can respond through a range of optical and mechanical properties without affecting the gross volume of the shape.
This micro scale of fabrication could give me inspiration on further explore my sculpture with the use of Rhinoceros and Grasshopper tools. Wind-generated energy may be flowing through these micro-scale facades in a high speed into the turbine. From a simple cube, algorithmic practice in grasshopper allows possibilities in converting it into a complex faรงade as shown in the lecture. By referring to a set of database in regarding to the site context, we can manipulating the changing variables in order to produce various possible outcomes, which later can be traded-off to come out with the final satisfied solution.