A2. DESIGN COMPUTATION
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CONCEPTUALISATION
Shanghai EXPO British Pavilion
T
hrough the engagement of computation, digital architecture as a new typology of architectural design emerged in the first decade of the new millennium.(1)According to Kalay, there are 4 steps during the design process:problem analysis, solution synthesis,evaluation and communication(2).Most of these steps could take benefits from computation.Once the problems have been identified together with the goals to be achieved, the superb searching ability of computers will contribute to solution synthesis. At the same time, it will also be human’s responsibility to contribute the creativity to solve problems. As a new form of design logic, parametric systems allow the existence of writing of rules, algorithmic procedure to enable the creation of variations. In this way, people are able to create unimaginable forms by parametric modeling and work out the structure and performance before the construction. can be a good example of showing how the computation enable creation and innovation. Among the Expo’s sea of hard surfaces, the Seed Cathedral’s surrounding landscape is conceived to act as a continuation of the building’s texture. A special artificial grass surface has been uniquely developed to act as a welcoming and restful public space for Expo visitors. Beneath the Seed Cathedral and the landscaped surface area is a canopied and naturally ventilated entrance and exit sequence for the Seed Cathedral. This circulation zone, running along three edges of the site, contains a narrative of three innovative environmental installations designed by London-based design studio, Troika. They are: Green City, Open City, and Living City. The creation of the extraordinary and complex Seed Cathedral structure and the landscape architecture was achieved through close collaboration between construction managers Mace, lead engineers Adams Kara Taylor, services engineers Atelier Ten and highly skilled Chinese engineers and contractors. In order to reduce unnecessary transportation, 75% of the materials for the UK Pavilion have been sourced from within a radius of 300km around Shanghai. It is also the British government’s intention that most of the materials of the UK Pavilion will be reused or recycled at the end of the Expo.
CONCEPTUALISATION 13
A2. DESIGN COMPUTATION
14
CONCEPTUALISATION
Abu Dhabi Performing Arts Center
T
aken the biological influence by inventive scientific moment of the second decade, Natural design as a response to environmental context was gradually embedded in many architectural design. More than just simulate the appearance of the organic, natural design followed the natural principles bring out form in the way of responding to conditions of the environmental context. Abu Dhabi Performing Arts Center can be a good example of showing how design computation helped the designer to achieve the craved outcome and how the natural principles embedded in the architectural design. Sitting on a linear intersection of pedestrian paths in the cultural district, this sculptural form building gradually evolved to be a growing organism , spreading a sets of branches. As it twines with the site, the complexity grows together with the height and depth, sitting towards the water like fruits on a vine. Echoing with the sea front promenade , a branching geometry was located on where the island was formed. As a new typology of design logic, the exist of parametric design enable the variation of parameters to take place in order to achieve manipulating goals of forms without compromising
the structure. The spacial representations of this building are evolved by a set of simple geometries together with programmatic diagrams superimposing into a range of repeated cycles.In this way, the abstract analogy of organism like branches, fruits represented by these parametric diagrams are then transformed into architectural design. The Abu Dhabi Performing Arts Centre’s distinct formal language is derived from a set of typologies evident in organizational systems and growth in the natural world. These natural scenarios are formed by energy being supplied to enclosed systems, and the subsequent decrease in energy caused when organized structures develop in nature. The ‘energy’ of the Performing Arts Centre is symbolized by the predominant movements in the urban fabric along the central axis of the pedestrian corridor and the cultural centre’s seafront promenade – the site’s two intersecting primary elements.
CONCEPTUALISATION 15