ARCHITECTURE DESIGN STUDIO :
AIR
THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
YONG QUAN GOH
-----
553243
FOREWORD
CONTENT
01 Expression of Interest: Architecture as a Discourse 02 Computing in Architecture 03 Design Project: Public Art and Motor Ways 04 Project Conceptualization: Materiality/ Performance/ Ornament 05 Project Theme: Air in Studio 06 Project Intepretation: Kinetic Structure 07 Final Submission: Critical Design Narrative
BMW CENTRAL BUILDING by ZAHA HADID LEIPZIG, GERMANY
UNDERSTANDING the COURSE: ARCHITECTURE as a DISCOURSE (1)
Located at Leipzig, Germany, BMW’s bold objective was to translate functional industrial architecture into a new ‘aesthetic’ - to use the new Central Building at its Leipzig manufacturing centre as a transition zone between manufacturing halls and public spaces, from which all the complex’s activities gathered and branched out.
By designing the Central building as a “Communication Knot”, this project advanced the architecture discourse. The dynamic focal point of the enterprise is visually evident in the proposed dynamic spatial system that encompasses the whole northern front of the factory and articulates the central building as a point of confluence and the culmination of various converging flows. The central area as a “market place” is intended to enhance communication by providing staff with an area with which to avail themselves of personal and administrative services.
Within the building, following a primary ‘scissor-section’ strategy, two sequences of terraced plates step up like giant staircases from north to south and from south to north, creating a continuous connection. One cascade begins close to the public lobby overlooking the forum to reach the first floor in the middle of the building. The second starts with the cafeteria at the south end, moving up to meet the first cascade then all the way up to the space projecting over the entrance.
‘The whole expanse of this side of the factory is oriented and animated by a force field emanating from the central building. All movement converging on the site is funneled through this compression chamber squeezed in between the three main segments of production.’
UNDERSTANDING the COURSE: ARCHITECTURE as a DISCOURSE (2)
WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL by FRANK O. GEHRY LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Designed by architect Frank Gehry, the Walt Disney Concert Hall is one of the most acoustically sophisticated concert halls in the world, providing both visual and aural intimacy for an unparalleled musical experience. Through the vision and generosity of Lillian Disney, the Disney family and many other individual and corporate donors, the city will enjoy one of the finest concert halls in the world, as well as an internationally recognized architectural landmark.
Parametric design has been pioneered by architects such as Frank Gehry who begun to exploit digital technology originally developed for the automotive and airplane industry for architecture. Offering new ways of controlling form, parametric design allows architecture to react to its context, the environment and rules and regulations, enabling a completely digital workflow from design to manufacturing.
From the stainless steel curves of its striking exterior to the state-of-the-art acoustics of the hardwood-paneled main auditorium, Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall is the new home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, will be one of the most acoustically sophisticated concert halls in the world. The hall is destined to be a new architectural landmark, generating as much excitement as Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, which its design predates.
‘I made a conscious decision to separate the power of the architecture on the exterior from the technology that’s required to make the concert hall work well from a sound standpoint. I started off with a simple box and let that be the space and then shaped the rest of it according to the sound requirements.’
STONE MUSEUM by KENGO KUMA NASU, JAPAN
UNDERSTANDING the COURSE: CASE STUDY
The project aims to retrieve the three stone-based traditional Japanese storages that were built long ago in the Ashino region of Nasu-city, Tochigi Province. The new program of Stone Museum aims for a revival of the space based on introduction of new passage ways that would all together create spatial unification between the inside spaces and their immediate environment. The passage ways are built out of two types of “soft” walls. One type provides softness by making a series of stone slats (louver).
Louvers are often important features in Kengo Kuma’s body of work. For Kuma, louvers and other strip structures allowed for transparency and openness in the building, and let light and air inside spaces. Kuma cites his childhood as the source of his desire to open interior spaces to the outside: “I grew up in a timber house that was very open and airy. One could always feel the wind. I can still remember that feeling today. I want to create a similar sense of openness.” Kuma found an opportunity to explore how to create louvers with stone when Nobuo Shira, the president of the Shirai Sekizai stonecutting company, asked Kuma to create a museum complex that would celebrate stone.
The various ways that Kuma layers the horizontal strips of stone demonstrate the range of screenings that Kuma’s louver systems can achieve, and also demonstrates Kuma’s efforts to use the stone material in entirely new ways. Indeed, Kuma’s use of the Ashino stone heightens awareness of the material while simultaneously dematerializes it. Kuma conceived the stone walls of the museum to be broken down so that they become “particulates.” This particulate nature appeals to Kuma: “Without particularizing materials, we cannot appreciate them as materials, nor feel their vibrancy.”
‘Poetics buildings are all based on a set of basic principles and design tools. Most characteristic of Kuma’s work is his respect for the natural site and his interest in preserving the original landscape. Kuma’s constructions are sensitive to the natural environment and do not intrude upon nature.’
INTRODUCTION to COMPUTING in ARCHITECTURE: INNOVATIONS by CONTEMPORARY COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN
THE YAS HOTEL by ASYMPTOTE ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Located at Abu Dhabi, The Yas hotel has became the first hotel to be built over an F1 race circuit. The exterior surface faรงade is an environmental responsive skin which reflects the sky and surroundings during the daytime and is lit by colorful changing LED lighting system during the night time. Asymptote has collaborate with Arup Lighting to create an iconic centric vision from day to night during the F1 The concept of this building is ranging from the aesthetics and forms together with speed, movement, dynamic flow and spectacle to the artistry and geometries forming the basis of ancient Islamic art and craft traditions. Motion, line and atmosphere were main keypoint that inspirated the architect. This Grid-Shell component is a key aspect of the overall architectural design and significance of the project by producing an atmospheric-like veil visible from miles away.
race.
‘The hotel embodies various key influences andinspirations ranging from the aesthetics and forms associated with speed, movement and spectacle to the artistry and geometries forming the basis of ancient Islamic art and craft traditions, a perfect union and harmonious interplay between elegance and spectacle.’
The hotel features an iconic curvilinear geometric gridshell of 5,800 glass panels which are in different size from about 450mm to approximately 3 metres in dimension that drape the two towers. The towers straddle the Formula 1 race track which is connected by an iconic link bridge with a feature lounge that allow patrons to watch the race pass underneath them.
CONTEMPORARY SCRIPTING CULTURE:
STRUCTURAL OSCILLATIONS by GRAMAZIO & KOHLER VENICE, ITALY
This project is a 100 meter long brick wall to run as a continuous ribbon through the Swiss pavilion during the exhibition “Explorations� - the Swiss contribution to the 11th Venice Architectural Biennale. The materiality and spatial configuration the wall consisting of 14,961 individually rotated bricks. It was built on the site by R-O-B, which is a mobile robotic fabrication unit. With the looped form wall design, it has created an involute central space and an interstitial space beyond between the brick wall and the existing structure of the pavilion.
The main idea was to conceive as a system with open parameters. The course of a single, continuous curve carried all the generative information necessary to determine the design. This curve functioned as a conceptual interface, which enabled the needs of the individual exhibited groups to be negotiated. As each group’s requirements were modified, the threedimensional, undulating wall could be automatically re-generated. Each curvature in the lower layers was balanced by a counter-curvature in the upper layers, thus giving the wall its architectural expression.
The wall loop adapted its shape according to its course, widening and narrowing, producing tension-rich spaces to lead visitors through the exhibition. In addition, the individual bricks were rotated according to the curvature. The greater the concavity of the curve, the more the bricks was rotated. This further emphasized the plastic malleability of the wall, which acquired an almost textile character, in oscillating contrast to the firm materiality of the bricks. ‘This project is a good presenter of the contemporary scripting culture as it shows the ability of scripting in the design or even the building stage by the use of a mobile robotic fabrication unit. ’