STUDIO AIR
2016, SEMESTER 2, Caitlyn Yiwen Ma
TABLE OF CONTENTS PART A CONCEPTULISATION A.0 INTRODUCTION A.1 DESIGN FUTURING A.2 DESIGN COMPUTATION A.3 COMPOSITION /GENERATION A.4 CONCLUSION A.5 LEARNING OUTCOME A.6 APPENDIX - ALGORITHMIC SKETCHES
A.0 INTRODUCTION
My name is Yiwen Ma. I’m a second-year student in University of Melbourne. I’m currently majoring in architecture and construction under the Bachelor of Environments. I was born and raised in China.
Over the past two years, I’ve been practicing softwares such as rhino and autoCAD. I also get to know some basic ideas about digital design through my two years study. However, I’ve never used grasshopper before I took this studio. Grasshopper is quite different from the computer programs that I’ve ever used before. I need to think logically to make my idea work, which is quite hard for a beginner like me.
For me, digital architecture is about using computer programs to generate and test ideas. Digital technology has become increasingly important in 21 century. I think it is very vital to practice digital software in order to adopt the changing society.
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A.1 DESIGN FUTURING
CASE STUDY 1
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FIG. 2: King Abdullah Petroleum Studies
As you may noticed, the increasing population has already caused too much damages to the earth Our behavior is putting human-being into an unsustainable and defuturing situation. The rise of sea level, loss of biodiversity and deforestation etc. are threatening our living in several areas. As architects, it is important for us to reverse this situation and redirect people towards a sustainable mode.
The modern architecture in 21 century is no longer limited to appearance and style. Rather, the architects should consider redirecting the future through their design practice. For example, in the project the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research CENTER, Zaha Hadid did not only apply technology onto the building, but also take the nature of form into consideration in order to achieve sustainability. 1 The idea of natural approach to form is still very influential many years after the KAPSARC was built.
Moreover, this building contributes to its inhabitants. This building is well-designed that it could capture the cooling northern wind and block the harsh western sun. This project creates a comfortable interior space for people to experience.
FIG.2: KING ABDULLAH PETROLEUM STUDIES AND RESEARCH CENTER
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CASE STUDY 2 Baubotanik tower is an excellent example which shows the combination of ecological environment and architecture. The plants are used as structural member in this scenario. The idea of constructing with living plants is very innovative. This also creates a sense of uncertainty which challenges the traditional viewpoint about architecture, which is the architecture is generally stable. It could be seen that this project explores the design possibilities as well as innovates the new construction methods (connect between the living plants).2 This tower is quite sustainable as it is made of trees and plants, which absorbs carbon dioxide. This ecologically friendly design focused on open up possibilities of what future could be and really challenges the boundary of architecture.
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FIG. 3: Baubotanical Tower
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A.2 DESIGN COMPUTATION
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CASE STUDY 3 In 21 century, technology develops rapidly. Many of the technological methods are gradually adopted in more and more designing programs. Architectural theories begin to emerge in the intersection between science, technology, design and architectural culture. This shows that the relationship between design and technological-advanced tools are closer than before. This project is an exhibition centre in Milan. It is an example of parametric design. Design through computation is very efficient in terms of manipulate geometrics. In this project, computing soft wares are used to manipulate the cladding strips that forms the building envelope. During the design process, computing software helps form exploring.3 It is used to develop and test the length, radius and connections
FIG. 4: Milan E3 Exhibition Center 14
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between each strip and therefore generate different forms of openings, which allows the aesthetics and the engineering of the surface to be investigated. This new way of design breaks through the boundaries of traditional architecture. It is beyond what we can do through sketching and model making. The Milan E3 exhibition centre also encourages the experimentation of digital materiality in architectural practices. The shape of the exhibition centre was erected as a parametric model. The size, shape of each glue-laminated timber ribs are calculated through computation and integrated within the design. Thus, it could be seen that the martial and structural innovation facilitates the digital fabrication in architecture.
FIG. 5: Milan E3 Exhibition Center demonstration diagram
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CASE STUDY 4
The Entertainment Centre is located in the capital of Kazakhstan. This building is designed to protect people from the inclement weather with a sheltered climatic enclosure.
This is the project where digital theories are applied in architectural practice. A new design process is adopted for this particular building. At the beginning, physical models are used to explore the structural behaviour and cable arrangement of the building. This traditional way of designing things is used in this case to determine the shape of the cable net. Then, the overall shape of the model and the cable arrangement are modified in computing programs. The process of form generation includes both computing and model making. Moreover, this project use 3D printing and rapid prototyping machine as a design tool to replace the traditional physical modelling method as the shape of this project is too complex to build without machine. Therefore, it is clear that the digital fabrication in tectonic practice increases the efficiency.
The design process of the Entertainment Centre illustrates the idea of digital continuum: the form generation, morphogenesis, materialization and digital fabrication form a continue loop, which makes up the digital design principle.
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FIG. 6: The Entertainment Center
A.3 CPMPUTATION/GENERATION
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CASE STUDY 5
FIG. 7: National Bank of Kuwait Headquarters
The National Bank of Kuwait Headquarter is an environmentally responsive building. In this casestudy, algorithmic thinking and parametric modeling are integrated during the designing process.
Through parametric modeling, many geometrical solutions could be produced for the building.For instance, the primary parametric modeling software named ‘GenerativeComponents’ is used to simulate the structural, environmental, functional and operational performance of the building.4 The level of curvature and the shape of the fins are tested via software, Eventually, the fins act as a shading device
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and the structural support for the floor plates. Hence, by using this software, continuing to investigate geometrical solutions would become possible. In other words, algorithmic thinking enable people to modify the code, which leads to the exploration of new ideas as well as find further design potentials.
Parametric model is used to generate multiple variations of the building shape. It also helps create new design opportunities. The trend of using parametric modeling as a method of design is growing rapidly in the past few decades. We should embrace this change and break theboundry of traditional architecture.
FIG. 8: National Bank of Kuwait Headquarters
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The Galaxy SOHO is a project that is designed through computation. Digital technology is used in this project to codify a design, so the the design is geometric and mathematical related. The algorithmic thinking not only facilitate the form generation but also open up our imagination and let people explore what is once unimaginable.
At the digital form-generating stage, the material is simulated along with the parametric geometry. This is to show the overall building performance at various stages, so the designers can get feedback and explore new design opportunities through out the whole designing stage.
FIG. 9: Galaxy SOHO
In terms of form generating, the Galaxy SOHO project overlays several layers of models in CATIA to generate a higher geometric definition.5 They also created a developable surface to justify the shape of the building to make it aesthetically pleasing. Moreover, material computation is a vital part in this project. It is regarded as part of the geometric solution. And it determines weather the project is constructible.
FIG. 10: Galaxy SOHO
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CASE STUDY 6
FIG. 11: Galaxy SOHO
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A.4 Conclusion To sum up, this 3-week exercise really helps me understand the digital design. I think computation programs are becoming more and more important nowadays. Thus, learning how to use the equipment to design seems to be vital. I plan to further develop my grasshopper skill and get familiar with the commands in the program. I’ll try to create some interesting geometry by using the command that I’ve learned.
A.5 Learning outcomes After read the three weeks readings and went through the grasshoppers videos, I started to get a better understanding of digital design. The ideas about algorithmic thinking and commutation that are mentioned in the reading really changes my point of view towards architecture. Especially in the article ‘design futuring’, the author discussed about how the design can reshape the world and the role of architects in the society is much more complicated and more important than I thought.
I found it a little bit hard to deal with grasshopper as I’ve never used this software before. But after 3-week practice, I gradually understand how this system works. I also think this program is quite useful because in this program, I could create things that could never be done through drawing and model making. The digital design gives me a new perspective of looking at architecture.
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A.6 Appendix - algorithmic sketches
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Refernece
1. Cristiano Ceccato, ‘Material Articulation: Computing and Constructing Continuous Differentiation’ , Architectural Design, 82 (2012), 96-103. 2. DaeWha Kang, ‘To a Curator of Beautiful and Healthy Lives: A Note to Myself’ , Architectural Design, 85 (2015), 122-127. 3. Dusanka Popovska, ‘Integrated Computational Design: National Bank of Kuwait Headquarters’ , Architectural Design, 83 (2013), 34-35. 4. Olver Storz, ‘Living Systems: Designing Growth in Baubotanik’ , Architectural Design, 82 (2012), 82-87. 5. Wolf Mangelsdorf, ‘Structuring Strategies for Complex Geometries’ , Architectural Design, 80 (2010), 40-45. 6. Wolf Mangelsdorf, ‘Structuring Strategies for Complex Geometries’ , Architectural Design, 80 (2010), 40-45.
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CASE STUDY 1 ITERATION SERIES 1
PART B ITERATION SERIES 2
ITERATION SERIES 3
CASE STUDY 1 ITERATION SERIES 4
PART B ITERATION SERIES 5
ITERATION SERIES 6
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CASE STUDY 2
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