ZIKAI WANG STUDIO AIR tutor MEHRNOUSH KHORASGANI 2017, SEMESTER 1
Table of Contents 3
Introduction
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A.1 Design Futuring
6  A.2 Design Computation
Introduction I am a final-year undergraduate majoring in Architecture, who has only now begun to appreciate for myself the potential of parametric design. In a prior studio, I have developed plans into rendered CAD and cardboard model using a computerised card cutter. From my lecturers, I’ve glimpsed into the uses of parametric design, as with Queensbridge tower in Southbank, where the Honeybee plugin was used to arrive at a shading solution, or with the Crematorium in Kakamigahara, where Toyo Ito’s concept for an undulating canopy was structurally optimised using genetic algorithm to iteratively evaluate batches of 50 options and combine successful options. These examples have left an impression with me and motivate me to find creative applications of computational design.
Part A: Conceptualisation A.1. Design Futuring
2002 London City Hall is an early project of Foster + Partners’ SMG (Specialist Modelling Group), pioneering in scale and complexity, and in the pivotal role of parametric design in its realisation, being among the first to design buildings as a set of principles encoded as parametric equations rather than a specific shape or composition. The group began with a pebble-shaped parametric model, whose generic form could be adjusted using a custom parametric control rig in Microstation. From this ‘variable template’, alternatives could be produced for testing. SMG helped established the method of parametric design, which begins by describing internal generative logic, to automatically calculate options for further development.
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CONCEPTUALISATION
Their early projects were designed before readymade parametric design tools like Generative Components. ‘Early design work was done through heavily misusing existing computer-aided design software, by hotwiring incompatible pieces of software together and by modifying workflows with custom computer program scripts.’ The team developed a software macro to automatically generate the glazing solution, even laying out the glazing panels in a flat pattern for fabricators and contractors to sue in pricing, manufacturing and assembling. Fosters + Partners’ SMG set a major precedent for applications of parametric design in commercial building.
The 2010 Bundoora Spine landscaping project provides students an opportunity to interact with nature, with a promenade linking the main road to the RMIT campus. The renewal program both encourages walking and promotes sustainability, with artful yet low maintenance plantings, water capture, introduction of wetlands to maintain water quality of the campus lake, and a recycled timber boardwalk bridge which protects the native flora and fauna as well as stabilising the dune.
The spine also includes with concrete seating and lighting for safe navigation. There is also a lawn terrace and public art features like sculpture and hidden speakers. The spine will only become more used in future as planned extensions are built.
Fig.1: (explain here & reference at the end of your document)
CONCEPTUALISATION 5