The University of MelbourneMelbourne School of Design

Faculty of Architecture Building & PlanningBachelor of Environment

Architecture Studio AirSemester 1 2015

Hazel Bian [633796]Tutor: Geoff Kimm

CONTENTPREFACE

PART A

PART B

PART C

1

2-25

26-67

68-101

Preface Introduction

I’m Hazel, currently studying as a third year architecture student in University of Melbourne.

LiLike many others, my first taste of digital modeling was while un-dertaking the Virtual Environ-ment in my first year. We were asked to use Rhino the software to design a lantern that interacts with our hands. I enjoyed the learning process quite a lot as I gradually developing my skill in 3D modeling. Studio Air is a great opportunity for me to fur-ther develop my digital design skill. I’m looking forward to it!!

Vitural Environment project, lantern

I’ve taken the Virtual Environment in my first year of university. The ultimate goal in this sub-ject is to design a lantern that interacts with user’s hand by using Rhinoceros. I found this subject strongly relevant with Studio Air, and the two subject are structured in a very similar way, the design process in Virtual Environment gives a pgives a preview to the Studio Air.

1

.1 DESIGN FUTURING

.2 DESIGN COMPUTATION

.3 COMPOSITION/GENERATION

.4 CONCLUSION

.5 LEARNING OUTCOME

.6 APPENDIX

[A]. CONCEPTUALISATION

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Designing can always been seen as a discourse of human civilization. Materials reflect the crafts-manship, forms show the aesthetic design, func-tions represent the activities as so. And the con-cept behind the design, it’s what we pursue for the society. It has became more and more popu-lar now if the design was labeled with ‘recycle material’, ‘organic’, ‘donation for…’, which all pointing to one ultimate goal, sustainability. As we were told by many of the social media, that we human beings have reached a critical moment of our existence, which is very true. And what can we do to slow down the process? De-signing seems to be a good approach for us. Sustainable designs could be using recycla-ble/recycled materials in the design outcome, applying technologies increasing it strength/ durability, setting up well resolved urban plan-ning… We could have various approaches to the sustainable design and only after we no-ticed, can we start acting to respond designing for the future.

[A] COMCEPTULISATION .1 DESIGN FUTURING

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Sendai Mediatheque is now being the landmark of the Sendai city in Japan. It is a seven story height mixed program public facility design by architect Toyo Ito in 2001.

TThe architecture attracts me most by its striking outlook. The overall glass façade conveys the idea of ‘fluidity’ in Ito’s design. (Fig 1.1) The fluid spatial effect is interpreted as ‘barrier free’ floor plan in the Sendai Mediatheque. Ito addresses the issue as removing architectural barriers which how a space must be used, freedom from administadministrative constraints. This is also how Ito values architecture as a reflection of the society. The users contribute to the building arrange-ment, as they shall decide the organization of each space.

Besides from the light and airy glass façade, I appreciate the floating floor and the or-ganic looking seaweed tubes and its design concept. The tubes are the most identifia-ble character in the Sendai MediMediatheque knowing by the world. These 13 tubes are used not only for aesthetic purpose but also address to the structural intention.

Fig.1.1Sendai Mediatheque over viewSendai Mediatheque, 2001

Architect: Toyo ItoLocation: Aboba Ward, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

...I am hoping that, as such spaces are used, the Mediatheque will become a place for thinking about the city.—Toyo Ito (2001), [1]

Four tubes at the corner to support the building and also resist the earthquake; (Fig 1.2) the others are used to withstand the vertical gravita-tion loads and also being the vertical circulation shaft for air, electricity, light and people. (Fig 1.3) I was amazed when watching the YouTube clip of how the tubes react during an earthquake condi-tion; they are more flexible when moving up and down, destitute the load to the floor while re-maining the structure. And it’s impressing to see how the building is like after the earthquake. No solid wall in the building that could minimize the damage done by the earthquake. The repair of broken floor is much more easily than repairing a broken wall after the earthquake, which bring up to my mind the sustainability of the building can also ben shown in how it react with the earth-quake.The Sendai Mediatheque could be considering as structurally sustainable as it could resist the ex-treme environmental condition. I also appreciate Ito’s idea of integrating with the surrounding en-vironment and the culture context, as well as the revolution in engineer and aesthetic, and will always be my goal in the future studies.

Fig1.4 Detail model

Fig1.2Tubes at corner deal with lateral and gravity loads

Fig1.3tubes as servant space

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Fig1.5 Sendai Mediatheque street view

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The Melbourne School of Design locates at the centre of the University of Melbourne campus, and now has been a new landmark of the university. This is a pedagogical building design by John Wardle Architects (Melbourne) and NADAAA (Bos-ton) in collaboration. (Fig1.5)

The MSD building is well engages with the sus-tainable design issue, it has been awarded a 6 Star Green Star Design v1 rating in Australia. The build-ing well utilized the natural ventilation and lighting, where the magnificent atrium at level one and the huge empty space above allow the air ventilates through the building, and enable the sunlight to penetrate through the panel glass roof. Personally I enjoy the most in the building is the staircases. (Fig1.6, 1.7)The Y Stair has a mid land-ing area where it splits to up and down directions that users could get to destination in shortest path. T

Melbourne School of Design, 2015Architect: Wardle Architects(Melbourne) & NADAAA(Boston)Location: Melbourne, Australia

Fig1.5 Melbourne School of Design

Fig1.6Y stairs

Fig1.7 Stair cases 8

Fig1.5 Melbourne School of Design

The beauty in the design not only provides a clear span across the atri-um, while it’s also user friendly, ap-proaching from the aesthetic aspect and coherent with the entire building. And now students might have a quick conversation at the mid landing space of the staircase if they bump into each other while not blocking the traffic. The staircase in the building stands beyond its original purpose of trans-ferring vertical distances, and it also contribute to better user experience, creating active spatial relationship be-tween user and the surrounding envi-ronment.

Together with innovation of technol-ogies, parametric design was intro-duced as a method to achieve design goals in more precise manner. How-ever, it is not always the benchmark of architecture in 21 century, more impor-tantly, it requires the ability to connect and respond to the local environment.

Fig1.8 South east view of MSD

[A] COMCEPTULISATION .2 DESIGN COMPUTATION

As the developing of the technology, computation has been now commonly used in the design industries. Using computer aided design (CAD) has now became a trend within architectural design, computers per-forming in superior analytical function and together with human creativity and exploration can create de-sired design outcome. Traditional architecture workflow is kind of a ‘top down’ process of design. The architects, engineers and the consultants are work separately during all stages of design, this may results to huge cost when engineers involve at the very end when architects already finished the drawings can do very little to im-prove the efficiency of the design. Architects generate an idea base on self-knowledge, previous experience and personal preference, and utilize computer as a tool to accurately draft out and present the design idea. In this case, computers are used to produce precise drawing to convey the architects’ ideas which ‘still only seen as just a tool’ , as they’re simply used to draft out the design ideas, and dismiss the essential of CAD.

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[A] COMCEPTULISATION .2 DESIGN COMPUTATION

COMCEPTULISATION [A] DESIGN COMPUTATION 2.

In this case, computers are used to produce precise drawing to convey the architects’ ideas which ‘still only seen as just a tool’ , as they’re simply used to draft out the design ideas, and dismiss the essential of CAD. Computation however, is using the computer in a different perspective; computers are now taking over the role of ‘designing’ by using algorithm to generate the design possibilities. Com-puters can ‘calculate’ the desirable de-sign outcome using the database and the input scripts set by architect, which is more effective, and intuitive for the site as is has discarded political prefer-ences, eliminating personal opinions and only create the suitable outcomes to the brief. It is sort of pushing out of the design boundary.

As Terzidis opinion to algorithm is in-tended to ‘align with neither formalism nor rationalism but with intelligent form and traceable creativity’ , indicating computation is a logical process in response to a particular eager, while collecting and analysing data relevant to the parametric model and the pur-sue factor. Computation is a ‘bottom up’ design process, which starting the design by gathering information of topography, population and such en-vironmental parameters as the basis of design, could better respond building with the surrounding environment and best achieve its potential, while being accurate and consistent through out the design process and allowing the de-signers to achieve sustainable goal and eventually bring out efficient outcome.

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Guggenheim Museum, 1997Architect:Gehry Prtners, LLPLocation: Bibao, Basque Country, Spain

One of the most famous computer-ization examples in the world might be the Guggenheim Museum in Bil-bao design by architect Frank Gehry. The Guggenheim Museum is a futur-istic, complex form while using selec-tion of captivating materials to make an iconic architecture to the world. (Fig1.8)

Fig2.1Guggenheim Museum sketch

The entire architecture is gener-ate according to the sketches and handmade model by Frank Gehry, and imported to a 3d design soft-ware (CATIA) and take a further step in the development. In this instant, which is very much a top-down process, the design idea in generate and refine by the archi-tect while the other participants in the design process are fixing up all the details for the building can actually get build. Traditional work flow like this will heavily rely on the architects’ personal preferences on the design, and other parties involving are helping the architect to refine the design ideas till the building gets build.

Fig2.2 Guggenheim Museum

This is an architectural association design research done by group of students of Shumacher in 2009. (Fig,1.10) He shows the correlation of different subsystems in the building, and here exemplified how the façade pattern correlates to the structural system. The example shows the possibility of surface articulation corresponds to structural flow-lines or stress distribution. (Fig 1.9) As Shumacher illustrates ‘the differentiation of the surface should serves as a medium of articulation, … correlated with the geometric or functional aspects of the space the surface con-structs’. Shumacher emphasizes that correlation will be the sec-ond hallmark of parametricism. In this case, the facade pattern could be taken from any relevant subsystem within the building; the shape could be varied in forms as it correlates to different subsystems. The overall form is not as important in the comput-erization as form is not always the first priority in the design pro-cess. It allows the architects more freedom in exploring design possibilities, since computation is mainly based on algorithm and parameters, the design language is mostly about the logical process and data analysing, thus, it is considered to be ‘tracea-ble creativity’ .

Parametric Urbanism, 2009 [proposal]Architect: Schumacher

Fig2.3 ParametricUrbanism

[A] CONCEPTUALISATION .3 COMPOSITION/GENERATION

‘We are moving from an era where architects use software to one where they create software’

Brady Peters

The shift from composition to generation has been taken place for few years in the archi-tecture firms. The algorithm plays a crucial role behind the changes, as it became the way that architects address a design issue using computational solution as using pen and paper in the old days. Algorithmic thinking means taking on an in-terpretive role that comprehend what result we will get from the code, with the knowl-edge how to modify the parameters in the code and further explore the design poten-tial. Combining human creativity with com-puters’ information processing which allow the designers to extend their ability to deal with more complex situation. Algorithmic thinking also change the design process rather draft out the result precon-ceived by the architects, but the generate the outcome by computer using the specific scripts written by the architects.

It shifts the role of architects from ‘drawing’ to ‘finding’ the result. It’s better for capturing and communicating designs, which augments the intellect of architects to explore the ‘multitude of parameters that instrumental of the building’. Parametric modeling is now being commonly used in the industry for its convenience in transferring information and accuracy in quantifying parameters of the building project. The development ‘families of components’ al-lows parameters distributed in a precise manner gener-ate strong relationships between each other, which result as easy in modifying details, precise and efficient fabrica-tion process. The scripting culture has been hugely innovated in the recent decades that the scripts are no longer written by CAD specialists, but also the designer creating geometry and finding form through sketching with code. David Rutten who creates the Grasshopper has an architectural background and encourages Grasshopper as ‘bustling bazaar-type environment’ for architects, where architects ‘visually link together components that are conceived of, and created by, other architects’.

[A] COMPOSITION/ GENERATION

Infinity tower, 2006Architect:George J Efstathiou, Ross WimerLocation: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The 307 meters height sky-scraper Infinity Tower located in Dubai is known as the tall-est twisted high rise building in the world. The tower rotates 90 degrees from the base to the peak, where the lateral stepping of the perimeter columns for the Infinity Tower became a driver of the build-ing’s exterior architectural expression. The SOM architects work in close collaboration with the structural engineers in cre-ating the unique outlook. In order to achieve the full 90 degree spiral, each floor is roated by 1.2 degree to chret-ing the shape of a helix. Fi-nite element algorithm was critically used in collaboration, while computation analysis and visualize the structural forces for the various struc-tural design option that were considered for the building’s twisting form.

Fig2.4Infinity tower

Fig2.5 Fake hills, MAD

Shanshui City,2012Architect: Yansong Ma, MAD ArchitectsLocation: Beihai,ChinaParametric design might be the most efficient design outcome, how-ever, sometimes what we want is less than that. Human beings desire the design could provoke emotional response in our heart, we would like to live in buildings that appeal to our aesthetic or stimulate our feeling towards happiness or joy. Or even the ‘beauty for nonsense’ , we are now shift the view from mechanism towards ecology, that build-ings are not act as machine for us to live in, more over, it became part of our live. However, computation could not resolve this problem by any written code, as it could no analysis the human emotion nor social/cultural context of the site. People will not appreciate the building just simply extract the building from Grasshopper and put on site, no matter how efficient it is. The building constructed by Ma Yansong as part of his designing theme ‘Shan Shui City’ in Guangxi, China.(Fig. 1.13) He is used the analogy of the natural landscape for the exterior structure for the building. (Fig. 1.14)Yet I don’t fully accept this is the most desirable outcome that I expect. It’s superficial of just copying the shape of the landscape; the design logic behind seems to be missing.

Fig2.6Guilin,China

[A] CONCEPTUALISATION .4 CONCLUSION

Architecture has always been a reflection of human civ-ilization, there is always story to tell of the materials, the design ideas, using of technologies behind a design. It mirrors the current economic conditions, social statues, political issues and cultural influences. Architecture can be read as human history in another interpretation. We are now living in 21th century where technologies are the most influential factors to our lives, and so does archi-tecture. Computation has been a trend in the designing process not only in architecture. Parametric design, de-rive from computation are commonly seen in daily life. It is a new design language, when algorithm joined in the design process for the first time. It leads to a differ-ent perspective of design logic and rethinking the rela-tionship with in the building, forms, geometry, and also environmental context. Human creativity and intuition together with computation, I believe we could generate the designs that allow us living sustain and thrive in the world.

I found the Air Studio is different from other studio as it’s a heavily precedents based sub-ject, and where I enjoy most in the learning process is looking for other master pieces. it’s an exciting process as I was deeply im-pressed by the work of architects around the world. It’s interesting to look at how different other people consider a question from me and how they gonna solve it. And the algo-rithmic thinking is also new to me, that I’ve never considered before! I’m excited to learn these stuff!

[A] CONCEPTUALISATION .5 LEARNING OUTCOME

[A] CONCEPTUALISATION .6 APPENDIX

REFERENCE

1. Toyo Ito. Hiroshi Wanatabi, Trans. Lessons of the Sendai Mediatheque. Ja-pan Architect, 41 (2001): 72. Melbourne School of Design, Australia, 3 (2014)3. Frazer, John H. (2006). ‘The Generation of Virtual Prototypes for Perfor-mance Optimization’, in GameSetAndMatch II: The Architecture Co-Labora-tory on Computer Games, Advanced Geometries and Digital Technologies, ed. by Kas Oosterhuis and Lukas Feireiss (Rotterdam: Episode Publishers), pp. 208-2124. Terzidis, Kostas (2006). Algorithmic Architecture (Boston, MA: Elsevier), p. xi5. Partick Shumacher (2009). Architectural Design, pp 7-146. Terzidis, Kostas (2006). 7. Brady Peters (2013) ‘Computation Works: The Building of Algorithmic Thought’, Architectural Design, 83,2,pp 08-158. Peters(2013), pp 159. Peters,( 2013), pp 1410 Daniel Davis and Brady Peters(2013), ‘Design Ecosystems‘, Architecutral Design, pp1-811. Daniel et al (2013), pp1-812. Daniel et al (2013), pp1-813. Infinity Tower, http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/04/twisted-skyscrap-ers-around-world.html14. Peters( 2013), pp 1415. peters(2013), pp14

Image sources

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/460704236853591957/http://faculty.samfox.wustl.edu/Donnelly/Donnelly/347-F05/sendai/structure_board_2.gifhttps://moreaedesign.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/light.jpg?w=700https://www.pinterest.com/pin/248472104414388852/https://msd.unimelb.edu.au/sites/default/files/new-building-NE-view_1.jpghttp://media2.architecturemedia.net/site_media/media/cache/11/53/11537e-f87a3a86105add35a16478d6cd.jpghttp://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/55382307e58ece9fb6000058_melbourne-school-of-design-university-of-melbourne-john-wardle-archi-tects-nadaaa_msd_-15-.jpghttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BHJaQ-j8fSo/UacL1lJxsrI/AAAAAAAAiHQ/4nIpm-fyvRA/s1600/University+of+Melbourne+by+JWA+and+NADAAA11.jpghttps://msd.unimelb.edu.au/sites/default/files/South-East-View-John-Gollings-670x339.jpghttp://www.arcspace.com/CropUp/-/media/305443/gehry_sketches_8.jpghttp://media.guggenheim.org/content/Affiliates/Bilbao/homepage/bilbaoabout.jpghttp://www.archello.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/media_image/story/me-dia/1245_karta_rend_04.jpghttp://www.bigprojectme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Infinity-Tower.jpeghttp://www.archiscene.net/wp-content/gallery/archiscene/fake-hills-mad01.jpghttp://www.marthal.com/China/Thumbnails/701.jpg

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.1 RESEARCH FIELD

.2 CASE STUDY 1.0

.3 CASE STUDY 2.0

.4 TECHNIQUE: DEVELOPMENT

.5 TECHNIQUE: PROTOTYPE

.6 TECHNIQUE: PROPOSAL

.7 LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES

.8 APPENDIX- ALGORITHMIC SKETCHES

[B]. CRITERIA DESIGN

[B] CRITERIA DESIGN .1 RESEARCH FIELD

‘Geometric patterns have fascinated mankind since ancient times’ --- Helmut Pottmann

Fig 1.0Ningxia Exhibition Centre inspired by Isalamic pattern

Patterns in architecture are a vast subject, it is a potent device for architectural articulation. It is not only a matter of aesthetics, but also heavily influenced by current tech-nologies. Patterning in the architecture today is no longer just aiming for the decorative but also for it’s functional purpose. Functional approach to ornamentation is typical in many parametric designs, as Patrik Schumacher claimed that parametric modeling tool today is being able to shift patterning from adaptive compensation to the amplifica-tion of difference.

[B] CRITERIA DESIGN .2 CASE STUDY 1.0

Fig1.1 close up view of the facade

The Spanish Pavilion, designed by Foreign Office Architects in 2005 World Expo in Japan for Spain has become my first case study building in part B. The most distin-guish feature of the pavilion might be its outer facade. The facade is consisted of six different tiles, which are based in a hexagonal grids and all coded with differ-ent colors. When these tiles are assembled, they never repeat themselves and thus producing a continuously varying pattern of geometry and color.

Fig1.2 construction details of the hexagon grids, demon-strating how they are con-necting to each other

[B] CRITERIA DESIGN .2.1 MATRIX EXPLORATION

SPECIES 1FORM-FINDING

DELAUNAY TRANSFORMATIONHERE I EXPLORE THE FORM FIND-ING PROCESS USING DELAUNAY STRANGULATION. AND LATER CULL PATTERN FROM THE LIST TO CREATE A DIFFERENT RESULT

VOROINOR TRANSFORMATIONI USED SIMILAR TYPOLOGY AS THE DELAUNAY TRANSFORMATION FOR THE FORM FINDING PROCESS

SPECIES 1FORM-FINDING

SPECIES 2INTERACTWITH CURVES

SPECIES 33DVARIATION

SPECIES 33DVARIATION

SPECIES 4POINT/LINEATTRACTOR

LEARNINGOUTCOME

The explorations of Spanish Pavilion showing above, start from the very beginning by changing the parameters and base geometry shapes I’ve got the first species which is playing around with the form finding process. I then continue explor-ing with 2D transformation with the original pat-terns, cull pattern the pattern by points, curves, letters and other different geometries. And then I moved on to 3D exploration and I got more un-expected outcomes.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Regards to the requirements of the ‘Living Architecture’, I’ve listed few selection crite-ria in response to the given brief1 Keep the environmental footprint on the site as less as possible. (considerations could be drawn from material selection, size of the design outcome)2 The form of the design should be coher-ent to the site but not landmark making. 3 Indication of setting up a tangible/intan-gible boundary between human and the nature.

LEARNINGOUTCOME

The first iteration chosen because of the cell’s organic outlook and the variation. The cell boundaries vary accordingly to the curve I set in the grasshopper. It could be used as the patterning for the plan-tation, more cell boundaries represent dense plantation where plants scattered at the single cell boundary.

This free form iteration is chosen because of it’s looks more dif-ferent from all other variations in the species and meets the selection criteria best. Points scattered on the base geom-etry leading to the irregular cell boundary iteration which I think it’s pretty cool. This pattern could possibly design as the walking track within the site. It could also be used as the base geometry for urban planning in the site.

DESIRABLEOUTCOMES

This is an interesting outcome of the shuffled extrusion. The different height of the extrusions could be used as planta-tion flowerpots for the urban garden around the Merri Creek. Height difference may create interesting mass distribution among the flowers.

I like the last iteration over than the others in the last species, I like how the line flows along the bumps in the pattern, the pattern is lifted up by the guiding lines and creating this visually interesting effect. It could be used as the pavilion canopy or other sculpture forms constructed on the site.

[B] CRITERIA DESIGN .3 CASE STUDY 2.0

ART 615PAVILION

Fig1.3 lighting and shadow effect of the Pavilion

Art 615 Pavilion is a student project form the Faculty of Archi-tecture and Design at Aalborg University Denmark. The Art615 is originally meant as an art pavilion for a crime-related park in Aalborg, Denmark, which the design concept mainly fo-cused on drawing attention from the unsafe park and ensur-ing the felling of a safer environment for the visitors. In order to achieve the design concept, digital design tool such as Rhino and Grasshopper have been used through out the project. The parametric modeling helps to monitor size and spatial ar-rangement of each panels

Fig1.4 closed up shoot of the panel details.

Fig Structure of the Pavilion, each panel is fixed on to the waffle grid behind in delicate angle and thus it appears to be floating from the front.

REVERSEENGINEERING

The reverse-engineering of Art 615 is divided into two parts, which are the structural frame and decorative panels.structural frameThe waffle grid is the main structure system that holds up the entire pavilion. The panels on the Art615 Pavilion are not closely connect to each other, but all of them are properly fixed onto the waffle grid structure and that’s how the pavilion is constructed. Numbers of ribs could varied in turns of changing parameters in the Grasshopper script to best represent the structure skele-ton of the Art615 Pavilion.

Step 5Extruded up until it interest with the base geometry, and then apply brep/brep intersect to find out the intersecting sur-face.

Step 1construct the base shape in Rhino. This step could be done by using Grasshopper, but here I created the basic structure manually in Rhino for time sav-ing purpose,

Step 2Reference the base shape into Grasshopper as a brep. Then create a bounding box defined by the base geom

Step 3Divided the bounding box by UV values

Step 6Here the very basic waffle structure is created accordingly to the surface.

PanelsThe reverse-engineering for constructing the surface panels of the pavilion is achieved by morphing one surface panel onto the constructed base geometry in Grasshopper. My very first approach to the reverse-en-gineering was creating the base geometry that similar to the overall shape of Art 615 Pavilion in Rhino, refer-encing into the Grasshopper and then playing around with different possibilities of creating the surface panels.

Step 1Reference the base shape into Grasshopper

Step 2Box morph the base surface

Step 3create a panel and apply it to the morph surface

REVERSEENGINEERING

By comparing my reverse engineering outcome to the original pa-vilion, the waffle grid structures look similar, however, the panels we created are very different. The most important part for the pavilion to be successfully constructed needs to make sure the panels are sitting in line with the waffle grid, so that the panel could be prop-erly fixed onto the waffle system, otherwise the structure is going to fail, also, before the fabrication need to make sure the panels are planar, or it could not be successfully fabricated.

VECTORDIAGRAM

Base surface describes from Rhino

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Rhino

Grasshopper/Rhinoscripting

Tweak

parameters

Satisfied structural abilities

Satisfied overall aesthetic

32 vertical studes 4 horizontal studs

Grasshopper structural waffle system connection/interlocking

CNC milling machine

constrains 2.4*1.2m

Dissected 6.5m studs into shorter fragments

Grasshopper puzzle-joint

Metal plate bolted+screwed around joints

Base surface describes from Rhino

Iteration

Iteration

Iteration

Rhino

Grasshopper/Rhinoscripting

Tweak

parameters

Satisfied structural abilities

Satisfied overall aesthetic

32 vertical studes 4 horizontal studs

Grasshopper structural waffle system connection/interlocking

CNC milling machine

constrains 2.4*1.2m

Dissected 6.5m studs into shorter fragments

Grasshopper puzzle-joint

Metal plate bolted+screwed around joints

[B] CRITERIA DESIGN .4 TECHNIQUE: DEVELOPMENT

DESIRABLEOUTCOMES

an interesting design outcome generated in the technique develop-ment, it maintains the similar form of the precedent architecture and by changing the base geometry input into the script, the panels var-ied from linear lines into dynamic moving structure. The surface struc-ture panels are more dynamic in the forms and I think this could be an interesting design outcome.

This is an un-expecting design outcome from the script. I like how the cull patterned blocks creating the form and how the light and shadow acting onto it, and actually the result come out form the grasshopper script is far more be-yond what I expecting to see. It’s a surprise!

Voronoi has always attracts my attention in the grasshopper explo-ration, in this case I applied Voronoi into the surface’s bounding box and cull pattern in accordingly, and the outcome from the script is quite different from the other variations. I later on smooth mesh the surface and get this rounded edge cubes.

This is one of my most favorite outcomes from the exploration. I do like how the tubes are twisting to form the shape and how many variation I can do onto it, and I will take it into further develop-ment later in the design process.

[B] CRITERIA DESIGN .5 PROTOTYPE

Plasticine modelling

[B] CRITERIA DESIGN .6 TECHNIQUE: PROPOSAL

I revisit the technique development previously and I wish to further develop in what I’ve got from grasshopper. I’m especially interested in the voronoi form and there are some interesting outcomes generated in B4 that I wish to further explorre. So I took the tube structure (the last iteration in B4) and combined with the voronoi transformation to see what other outcomes it can generate.

Continuing on the development from B4, I decrease the points on the surface so that eliminating the ‘folded’ sections in the tube. The tubes laying below show the final elimination of the points so that can create a smooth curve. Later on I applied weaverbird plugin to play around with different surface meshing pattern.

Once I got bored with the meshes, I again pop the points onto the surface, but this time I used an interpolate curve to draw a line by these points, and then testing the outcome of the new design species.

2 curves are drawn in order to compare the different results from different point selection.

I then testing out the voronoi curved surface variations (voro-noi surface, cull vornoi surface, framed voronoi surface)

And then going in to voronoi 3D

RENDEREFFECTS

SITEPROPOSAL

[B] CRITERIA DESIGN .7 LEARNING OUTCOME

the learning process is tough but interesting, I’m kind of enjoying the learning process and I thinks it’s always good to learn somethin new when I am still a student, which it eailser to do so and I also have many time to actually learning fulll time. Exploring grasshopper reminds me of solv-ing math problem in high school, and I do enjoy the process!

[B] CRITERIA DESIGN .8 APPENDIX

REFERENCE

Image sources

art 615 referencehttp://www.archdaily.com/59960/art615-a-pavilion-by-aalborg-university-stu-dents/http://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1ycxbFwlc1r6cinno7_r1_1280.jpghttp://ad009cdnb.archdaily.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/1273777187-dsc-1511-528x350.jpghttps://www.google.com.au/search?q=art615+pavilion&espv=2&bi-w=1920&bih=1055&site=webhp&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=XlR-BVYvjG8GBmQXigYGgAQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg#imgrc=WBQ2uWGb-n_6RyM%253A%3B2-s-49BgqfGdmM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcubeme.com%252Fblog%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2010%252F05%252FArt615_Pavil-ion_Aalborg_University_students_02.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcubeme.com%252F-blog%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2010%252F05%252F%3B594%3B430http://meresschoolblog.blogspot.com.au/http://www.stylepark.com/db-images/cms/ceramica_cumella/img/p299004_2200_1515-2.jpghttp://divisare.com/projects/272168-FOA-Alejandro-Zaera-Polo-Farshid-Moussavi-Spanish-Pa-vilion/images/4752656http://divisare.com/projects/272168-FOA-Alejandro-Zaera-Polo-Farshid-Moussavi-Spanish-Pa-vilion

PART BFIN.

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.1 DESIGN CONCEPT

.2 TECTONIC ELEMENTS & PROTOTYPES

.3 FINAL DETAIL MODEL

.4 LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES

[C]. DETAILED DESIGN

As far as I’ve observed, human activities is very high on the site, which means the wild life ac-tivity zoom has been significantly shrunk and limited. In response to this, I think it’s the time human to step a step back, giving back some of the habitat to the nature, keeping this un-derstanding in mind, and with iterations and the development I’ve been play around with, I would like to construct a structure across the water that only small animals to pass through. I want to bridge a connection between human and the nature on site where human do not predominantly involve, but holding back and being respect to the nature.

The design proposal I came up with is a con-nection across the river, which the connection is designed to function as a bridge for small size animals on site (eg. Possum, thumbnails, frogs etc.) The connection arches across the water and connecting the two sides of the Merri Creek. It’s hollowed structured which provides more that one pathway the animals could go. The material I’m considering to use is the timber, for it’s natural appearance and it fits the design concept well. Besides, it’s more friendly to the animals due to the natural tex-ture of timber and thus inviting the animals to use the structure and interact with the design.

C.1Design Concept

C.1Design Concept ‘Finally I FIGURED

SOMETHING OUT!’

CODE#POSSUM PASS#

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7SITE LOCATION

SITE ANALYSIS

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TARGET AUDIENCE

DESIGN IDEA WHAT I WANT TO ACHIEVE?

POSSUM PASS MERRI CREEK

PROJECT

VISUAL DYNAMIC SENSE OF

NATURE

ORGANIC FORM

MULTI-PATHWAYS

DESIGN IDEA WHAT I WANT TO ACHIEVE?

POSSUM PASS MERRI CREEK

PROJECT

VISUAL DYNAMIC SENSE OF

NATURE

ORGANIC FORM

MULTI-PATHWAYS

Reviewing back the design process, the proposal of ‘Possum Pass’ is basically generating from the extensive use of Voronoi pattern. The Voronoi in created within a designed 3D spaces, a tube extruded from series of points in my case, and by grass-hopper it self-generating the Voronoi structure within the given tubed space.

The points selected to generate the tube is the very basic pa-rameter in the parametric design process. These parameters became the basic constrains in the entire process and trigger the formation of forms that responsive towards its surrounding site and condition.

How do I incorporate all these factors into the design so it is site responsive? This brings me back to what I want to achieve. The main elements of my design are the visual dynamic form, the selection of Voroinoi to start the development satisfied both the requirements of being visual dynamic and also pro-viding an organic structure. The nature of Voroinoi produces a hollowed structure within the tubes which could both satisfied the function the function requirement that allow animals to pass through and also provides a sense of fun in the design with multiple pathways.

Reviewing back the design process, the proposal of ‘Possum Pass’ is basically generating from the extensive use of Voronoi pattern. The Voronoi in created within a designed 3D spaces, a tube extruded from series of points in my case, and by grass-hopper it self-generating the Voronoi structure within the given tubed space.

The points selected to generate the tube is the very basic pa-rameter in the parametric design process. These parameters became the basic constrains in the entire process and trigger the formation of forms that responsive towards its surrounding site and condition.

How do I incorporate all these factors into the design so it is site responsive? This brings me back to what I want to achieve. The main elements of my design are the visual dynamic form, the selection of Voroinoi to start the development satisfied both the requirements of being visual dynamic and also pro-viding an organic structure. The nature of Voroinoi produces a hollowed structure within the tubes which could both satisfied the function the function requirement that allow animals to pass through and also provides a sense of fun in the design with multiple pathways.

DESIGN CONCEPT#POSSUM PASS

PHASE 1LINE WORKS

DESIGN PROCESS#POSSUM PASS

PHASE1I applied Voroinoi in the space created by the base shape tube, and from here I outline the basic outlook of the struc-ture, also providing a foundation for later exploration

Phase 2The line work converted into the struc-ture form with certain thickness. I also twisted the Voroinoi pattern a litter for more design opportunity.

Phase 3Here generated the final form of the Possum Pass. The Voroinoi pattern is exaggerated for more drama.

PHASE 2STRUCTURE

PHASE 2STRUCTURE

PHASE 3DYNAMIC FORMATION

SITE PREPARATION

LASER CUT TIMBER INTO PIECE

GLUE UP THE COMPO-NENT AND VACUUM PRESSING

LEAVE THE COMPO-NENTS TO DRY AND ONCE ITS SOLIDFIED AND BE READY TO

MILL AND POLISH THE DRIED COMPONENTS

THE COMPONENTS ARE BOXED WITH LABELS WITH COULD BE CONSTRUCTED EASILY ON SITE

ASSEMBLY ACCORDINGLY ON SITE AND CLEAN UP AFTERWARDS

CONSTRUC-TIONPROCESS#POSSUM PASS

The overall size is relatively small as this structure is design just to span across the Merric Creek, where the maximum distance between the spans would be 6 meters. Because the structure is constructed by gluing together the timber components, the strength of the structure will decrease as the span increases. 6 meter across would be a reasonable distance for the structure to be constructed due to the limitation of the construction methodology.

C.2TECTONIC ELEMENTS & PROTOTYPES

FABRICATION SECTIONING APPROACH

The fabrication is a big headach to me. I want to use tim-ber as the material for the project for it’s natural appear-ance which meets the brief well, and I also want to keep the smooth surface of the structure. After discussion with my tutuor and found out that sectioning approach is an avaliable method for this case.

PHASE 1FIND IT!

Find the central axis of the bridge, which is the line that connect to the ground at both ends. This is the most important elements in the fabrication process as it’s the primary structure that takes the load of the bridge and transfers into ground. The image above shows the top view and the section view of the central axis, which demonstrates the idea of why it’s a being a load bearing element and where we could find it.

Next step of the fabrication process is to cut the entire model according to the central axis. The model is then sliced and numbered for later assemble purpose.

PHASE 2SLICE IT!

PHASE 3ADD ON TO IT!

The last step of the fabrication process is to add on all the cut pieces onto the central axis and assemble the full scale model. The timber I’m planning to use is the Ma-hogany, which is a light weight, plentiful and has been used for centuries to build boats and fine furniture.

FABRICATION GLUEGLUEGLUE

GLUELGUEGLUE

...

-CUT IT-GLUE IT-VACUUM IT

I’ve turned the selected sec-tion around for better angle demonstrates the section-ing approach to the project.

Individual panels curt by the laser cutter.

Preparations before applying the glue, and make sure the adjacent surfaces are even. Cold press veneer glue is used here for its thicker than yellow glue(PVA) which means less bleed-through. Also, cold press glues are tinted to a wood tone which incon-spicuously fills voids in the veneer much better than PVA glue. Finally, cold press glues dry to a hard film that does not allow as much “creep” or movement of the veneers on the sub-strate.

Place the glued component in vacuum sack and vacuum pressing it for better solidified outcome.

Mill the edges and polish the compo-nent.

PROTOTYPEFOAM

Here the foam has been cut to the section of the bridge.

Stack together the foam piece and create the base shape of the model.

Sand off the edges to cre-ate a smooth surface.

Two foam model prototype.

PROTOTYPELASER CUT MDF

The laser cut model is more accurate to the orig-inal model and the sharp edges are addressing to the milling issue, which needs to be smooth off.

C.3FINAL DETAIL MODEL

C.4LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES

It has been a long semester for me, learning parametric design does change my perspec-tive towards architecture. Grasshopper is really an eye opener for me, it introduces a new way of design language I’ve never seen before. In my past two years study of architecture, I am familiar with making physical model to express my ideas. However in Studio Air, with Grass-hopper, making physical model is never the first priority in the design process. The word I would used to describe parametric design will be SPECULATION. You never know what will happen after slightly change of a slider. The outcome is always surprising. I do enjoy the process of learning Grasshopper, though it might brought me with huge frustration, but it’s always an exciting experience. I like to learn new things, especially these ‘high-tech‘ stuff. I am very glad that I have the opportu-nity to experiment the parametric design for the entire semester, and this is one of my best learning experience in the studio. I’ve learnt a lot in these 12 weeks and learning Grasshop-per is a useful tool for me to further explore the parametric design possibilities in the next semester.Thank you.

Image credit:

Fig.1 Cold press glue, http://www.titebond.com/content/images/ProductImages/WoodGlues_PP_TBColdPressVeneer.png

Fig.2 Vacuum press machine, http://www.ormamacchine.it/public/ormamacchine/products/images/vacuum-plus--.jpg

Fig.3 5-axis milling machine, http://upload.ecvv.com/upload/Product/20102/China_5_AXIS_VERTICAL_MILLING_MACHINE_VHP_8002010241658335.jpg

REFERENCE

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