Wang zikai 760549 journal

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ZIKAI WANG STUDIO AIR tutor MEHRNOUSH LATIFI 2017, SEMESTER 1


Table of Contents Introduction.......................3 Part A - Conceptualisation A.1 Design Futuring............4 A.2 Design Computation.....6 A.3 Composition/Genera- tion................................8 A.4-5 Conclusion & Learning Outcomes....10 A.6 Algorithmic Sketches.11

Introduction I am a final-year undergraduate majoring in Architecture, who’s only now begun to appreciate the potential of parametric design. In a prior studio, I have produced rendered CAD and basic cardboard models using a computerised card cutter. My lecturers, gave me my first taste of computational design, as with the Crematorium in Kakamigahara where Alberto Pugnale structurally optimised Toyo Ito’s concept for an undulating canopy using genetic algorithm to iteratively evaluate batches of 50 options and combine successful options.

“In the past, design was about the form and function of things. These features… could be delivered in a fixed form, such as a blueprint. In today’s ultranetworked world, it makes more sense to think of design as a process that continuously defines a system’s rules rather than its outcomes.” Thackara, John (2005). In the Bubble: Designing in a Complex World (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), p. 224

These examples have left an impression with me and motivate me to find creative applications of computational design.


Bundoora Spine, 2010 This landscaping project links the main road to the RMIT campus and provides students an opportunity to interact with nature.

A.1. Design Futuring London City Hall, 2002 This early project of Foster + Partners’ Specialist Modelling Group was among the first of its scale to be realised as a set of rules encoded as parametric equations rather than a specific composition. This was before ready-made parametric design tools like Generative Components, so SMG’s method relied on ‘heavily misusing existing computer-aided design software... and by modifying workflows with custom computer program scripts.’ SMG’s workflow began with a pebble-shaped parametric model, whose generic form was modified with a custom parametric control rig in Microstation to produce alternatives for testing. Fosters + Partners’ SMG helped established the method of parametric design in buildings.

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The new promenade includes has concrete seating, public art features and lighting for a safe and active environment.

The building’s rounded profile presents an excited vision of a more ecological future, but compared to more modern projects, is energy inefficient.

Introduction of low maintenance plantings and a wetland helps maintain water quality of the campus lake recycled timber boardwalk bridge which protects the native flora and fauna as well as stabilising the dune. The renewal program encourages walking and promotes sustainability. 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)

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A.2. Design Computation

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The potential of cybernetic design to solve complex problems was recognized even as MIT engineers pioneered CAD in the 1960s. Their goal was to use ‘abstract languages to make computational representations able to describe any design problem’ (Douglas Taylor Ross, Computer Aided Design: A Statement of Objectives (Cambridge, MA) 1960). By describing design problems as an algorithm designers have gained the ability to generate construction information directly from design information. Two fields of application which take full advantage of computational possibilities are performance oriented design and experimental design of forms.

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White Magnolia Office Tower Skidmore, Owings and Merrill are leaders in exploring novel structural concepts using custom FE (finite element) analysis software, whose algorithms can efficiently assess and visualise structural performance of complex structures. For the White Magnolia office tower, SOM applied an FE algorithm to arrive at the most efficient structural distribution within certain economic constraints, which can be otherwise non-intuitive.

Louisiana State Museum & Sports Hall (LSMSH) CAD pioneer Ivan Sutherland envisioned that CAD designs could become the master document from which all auxiliary information is derived. The digital model formed the basis of the entire design and construction process of LSMSH. The structure is distinguished by its undulating curvilinear circulation and atrium, shaped by over a thousand free-form cast-stone panels. Constructing these geometries with traditional 2D representation methods would have been inefficient and prone to misinterpretation. CASE not only

produced a comprehensive digital model to robotically fabricate moulds, but continued to use the BIM model as the basis on which to coordinate all construction trades and manufacture. Model-based delivery was used to predict conflicts, maintain design intent and track progress. Such ‘file to factory’ digital workflows provide the opportunity to be freed from standardization; for programmable industrial robots, unique components have the same fabrication costs as identical ones.

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A.3 Composition / Generation

Discourse on this new form of parametric design logic has been driven by collaborative networks like Smart Geometry, whose breakthrough was to repurpose the logic of mathematical and geometric relationships to transform “architectural design into an interface surrounded by information flows” Arturo Tedeschi. Parametric systems describe problems with algorithmic procedures (Rules), whose flexible parameters enable experimentation with a high level of generative variability. The previous entry introduced the concept of computational design, performance oriented design and BIM. The following examples go further with algorithms mimicking natural processes to sketch and produce unexpected results. Ligna Pavilion Our lecturer introduced us to biologist Aristid Lindenmayer’s formal language of axioms which could describe fractal plant growth. This L-system uses simple rules which can develop a simple shape into a complex system. The Ligna pavilion by student Lundén Österlund has an experimental timber structure generated by algorithms following the logic of this natural growth model. Lunden used the fractal generative L-system as basis for his own shape grammar, to visually model 3D branch growth as a network of lines and nodes.

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19 trees were sketched by algorithm, whose overlapping branches were joined and simplified with a cleaning script to make the cupola structure. Over 300 unique birch branches produced by CNC-milling. The definition and formalization of biomimetic principles of design is potentially a significant contribution to design knowledge. the potential is to combine performative design with computational modelling of natural principles to create architecture which can embody some aspects of ecological systems. (Oxman, 2012).\

Green Void & Tower Skin Architect firm LAVA has moved away from traditional design with their experimentation with biomimetic membranes inspired by the structural efficiency of natural geometry of bubbles and spider webs. Their Green Void installation is an example of computational form-finding. Within the customs house atrium, they placed 5 rings at different locations and used minimal surface equations to calculate the most efficient connection between rings. Its nylon membrane is stretched to 300 sqm in surface area but weighs only 40kg. The

sculpture has the impression of solidity and visually transforms the space with minimal material and installation/fabrication Their ‘Tower Skin’ design proposal similarly aims to enhance performance of building by reskinning it with membranes. The original UTS tower relied heavily on air conditioning and electric lighting. The membrane would create a shaded microclimate, to let occupants open up windows and use natural ventilation. The project demonstrates a practical method to give old buildings a second more sustainable life without demolition. CONCEPTUALISA-


A.5 Conclusion

A.7 Algorithmic Sktechbook

Architects distinguish themselves with an “ethos of artistic sensibility and intuitive playfulness in their practice” (Terzidas), and critique of generative design processes is concerned with the loss of architect control to automated procedures and overlooking human intuition and identity. I believe algorithmic thinking should be understood as “means to explore parallel, non-traditional ways of thinking… offering alternatives or hints which wouldn’t have occurred to human designers.” It encourages a different sort of creativity, and gives designers a different role, in a new desig paridigm. The value of computational approaches to creative design is that it extends our problem-solving ability to meet the exponential pace of our global ecological crisis, whose scale of complexity the design community is still unequipped for.

A.6 Learning Outcomes From the aforementioned precedents the most important thing I have learnt from the large commercial projects such as London City Hall of LSMSH is about the many possibilities of parametric design models to change the way prototyping, fabrication and construction management are approached. From the smaller projects like the Green Void or Ligna I have come to appreciate the potential of biomimetic design. I now have a much better grasp about the specific ways algorithms can be applied to improve structural performance experiment with novel forms.

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