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Mob-ile Parliament by Andrew Maynard Architects This conceptual idea of a publicly manipulable parliament house (complete with integrated opinion polls) gives us the ability to literally ‘shape’ the space in which our elected officials practice their craft. Mob-ile Parliament Puts pressure on politicians to interact with the general populous and me-dia through what AMA calls ‘The Gauntlet’, a long walkway from the structure to the escape of an awaiting car that gives a reporter plenty of time to question the politician about their day’s activities and the public’s reaction to these also. What lies at the core of AMA’s interpretation of a more open democracy that encourages public participation is the public’s ability to increase or decrease the inside views and the actual size of the building itself. A favourable decision in parliament would lead to a possible increase in floor space and sunlight for those inside whilst an unfavourable decision would lead to a decrease. This carrot and stick encouragement system certainly let’s those in power know what the coun-try thinks of them (or at least those who occupy the outside space anyway) . Would this building lead to better governance? I don’t know. Would it lead to some increase in populist politics in order for parliamentarians to gain a better view? Possibly. Whether or not this system would lead to better governance isn’t the main motive behind AMA’s design. It is meant to add to the architectural discourse. Specifically how the public views buildings of power and the disconnect between the public and their elected officials inside.

Architectural Discourse

The National Art Center by Kisho Kurokawa, Toyko, Japan

Designed by one of the world leaders of the Metabolist movement, Kurokawa has used many different design and fabrication tech-niques to create a space that by it's very definition is constantly changing to meet the needs of exhibitions held within. All while maintaining an orchestrated flow of efficient and practical move-ment.

Kurokawa has made use of parametric design revolving around Madelbrot's fractal geometry to come up with a glass facade that wraps around the bulging truncated cone shapes that make up part of the structure that sits on an incredible 1.5m thick 'super slab'.

Visitors move through the entry cone and are greeted by a smart umbrella storage system before making their way into the complex. Skylights illuminate the seven large galleries that have the ability to be divided into several smaller ones by large, bulky internal partitions that despite their size, can be easily manipulated using two people.

The cone shape is used throughout the building to draw attention to restaurants and coffee shops that also provide views of the en-tire complex, especially the many concrete panels that have been used in the construction of the different forms of the Centre.

I think this building brings a lot to the architectural discourse. Kurokawa's way of creating paths for people to follow and small additions of doing this more efficiently create a good precedent for future designers to look at.His use of certain geometry algorithms in the design also shows that architects are quite capable of using computational math-ematical design successfully and showing that it definitely more

Boathouse Design, Darcy Zelenko

My design for a boathouse complex was heavily influenced by the works of Mario Botta. I used design elements and principles that have been evident in many projects that he has completed over the course of his career. Symmetry along a major axis, his approach at bridging gaps and the use of skylight were major parts of my design.

While my design might not contribute towards the architec-tural discourse I think it could have benefitted greatly from some of the positives that computational architecture brings to a project. One of the major ways that this could have happened would be through parametric modeling. The ability to generate many rapid prototypes would have helped me experiment with different forms that might be too compli-cated to express on paper in such a short time.I would use a process such as this at the beginning of my design stage while I was generating ideas.

In her interview with digital design guru Greg Lynn, Ingeborg M Rocker gives a good overview specifically in regards to parametrics, but i think it also gives an excellent synopsis of the unique innovations presented by contemporay computational design techniques.

“...The most interesting thing about parametrics [...] is the ability to fuse the hierarchy of parts and whole to produce a deeply modulated whole as well as infinitesimal variation among parts.”

This statement illustrates three key points that really sum up some of the ways that computational design techniques can have a positive effect on architecture.

The Ability to Fuse the Hierarchy of Parts and the WholeComputational design techniques allow us to establish an inter-connectedness among many aspects of a design. An example of this is the Integrated Project Deiivery (IPD) concept by the AIA Californica Council. This approach re-aranges the traditional timeline of prjoect delivery putiing more emphasis on efficiency through all stages of design, fabrication and construction.Parametrics can help aid this process...

Produce a Deeply Modulated WholeThrough paremetric modelling one is able to blend together the parts with the whole to create something that is more open to customisation as it greatly increases the ability to see these changes in action and how they relate to other aspects of a design

Infinitesmal Variation Among PartsWith paramentric comes the new benefit of being able to create rapid prototypes of a design. This opens up many opportunities for designers and fabricators alike. The ability to make slight changes to one aspect of a degin and see them replicated sometimes instnataneously provides incredible possibilities for architects.

Computing in Architecture

Greg Lynn has long been an inovator in computational architecture. He explores different approaches that com-putational dsign can take advantage of.Lynn took the invention of calculus and applied it in his design of the Alessi Tea & Coffee Towers (2003). This ap-proach to design containers for various substances used in making the hot beverages that the towers are named after is quite radical because calculus-based design systms were used in the creation of their forms.

Parametric design is a useful problem solving approach to design. It was used successfuly in the design of the outer ‘shell’ of the Beijing National Aquatics Centre colloquially knows as the Water Cube. The form was inspired by the collection of soap bubbles and parametric modelling was used to generate 34 different prototypes before the final one was chosen.

“I could do in a morning what used to take me a month”- J parrish, director of Arup