ARCHITECTURE DESIGN STUDIO: A IR

Contents1.0 The Case for Innovation1.1 Architecture as Discourse1.2 Computational Architecture1.3 Parametric Modelling

2.0 Case Studies 2.1.1 Group Research and Argument2.1.2 Case Study 0.0: Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo2.1.3 Case Study 1.0: OMA McCormack Tribune Campus Centre2.2.1 Case Study 2.1: King’s Cross2.2.2 Case Study 2.2: Shigeru Ban’s Japan Pavilion2.3 Matrix2.4 Physical and Digital Models

3.0 Expression of Interest: Gateway to Wyndham

4.0 After the EOI4.1 Week 9 Progress4.2 Week 10 Progress4.3 Week 1 Progress

5.0 After the Final Presentation

1.0 THE CASE FOR INNOVAT ION

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

- Buckminster Fuller

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

- Buckminster Fuller

1.1 A rchi tec ture as DiscourseMy name is Michael McLoughlin. I’m twenty-six years old and moved to Melbourne

from Adelaide this year. I’ve tried science, arts and business degrees, never getting

any further than first semester, and ran a small business for 4 years before settling

on architecture, which is something I am truly passionate about. I like to read widely

and understand everything I encounter in the world. I’m a bit of a geek with interests

spanning, but not limited to, economics, political philosophy, moral philosophy,

biology, cosmology and trans-humanism. For me, architecture and design begins

with books. I look to theory for my inspiration.

My previous studio was restricted to hand drawings. We were required to

create an intervention in Hall Court, a service lane in the business centre of Adelaide.

We had four typologies to choose from, of which I chose a viewing platform. We

Above right: hand-rendered elevation

Below, left to right: A materiality exploration photomontage and shadow study of my intervention; hand-rendered perspective; section and plan of intervention; exploded axonometric.

were to focus the intervention on a group of readings we were required to do related to the hermeneutics and

phenomenology of architecture. With this in mind, my viewing platform does not view any vistas, but rather forces

the person experiencing the intervention into direct contact with the oft neglected surrounding buildings. Through

a series of partition walls and cuts through the main room of the structure, the elevations of the surrounding

buildings are divided into fragments. This division breaks up the experience of the elevation of the building as a

whole, and instead encourages the contemplation and appreciation of materials which may have been neglected

if the elevation were presented as a whole. Users are encouraged to interact with the structure and surrounding

elevations through a series of platforms that reveal parcels of the elevations to sight and touch. Hand-rails on the

platforms leading to the centre building abut into the concrete partitions, once again encouraging the touch of

the materials in the intervention. The partition walls on the platform also frame intimate views of other users of the

intervention. The overall intention was to illicit a return of the body to sight-dominated contemporary architecture.

Above right: hand-rendered elevation

Below, left to right: A materiality exploration photomontage and shadow study of my intervention; hand-rendered perspective; section and plan of intervention; exploded axonometric.

So far in my architectural education, I’ve considered digital drawing and modeling something of a crutch for some people. I’ve seen students in my year have their designs constrained to what they could put together in SketchUp, or at the other end of the spectrum design things in Rhino that have no hope of resisting the forces of gravity. I take a very holistic approach to architecture. I think digital drawing and modelling is important, but no more so than manual drawing and model making, knowledge of structures and construction, and architectural theory and history. I firmly believe that architecture involves a healthy dose of appreciation for materials, and that if you can’t accurately cut and glue boxboard into a beautiful model by hand, then you shouldn’t be entrusted to design a building. I tend to design with pen and paper. Once I develop the parti into some semblance of a building, I move to digital modeling in SketchUp. Once the design is finalised, my presentations tend to be hand drawn with hand made models. As for technical knowledge of digital architecture, I’m pretty decent at SketchUp and AutoCAD, and I’m learning Rhino as we speak. I can make a nice render with SketchUp and Photoshop and I’m more than capable of making complete construction documentation in AutoCAD. I haven’t read much theory on digital architecture however. I’ve been absorbing the whole of architectural discourse in a mainly chronological order. I currently find myself stuck in nineteenth century theory, mostly because that is the period this semester’s architecture history course is focussing on. I’d be happy to read more on digital architecture theory, but unfortunately I’m the kind of person that starts with Hegel in an attempt to get to Sartre.

From left to right: An experiential shot of a 1:20 scale model of a pavilion designed to sit on the Barr Smith lawns at the University of Adelaide as an exploration of tectonic culture; Section of pavilion; interior shot of Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals; Louis Kahn’s Fisher House

From left to right: An experiential shot of a 1:20 scale model of a pavilion designed to sit on the Barr Smith lawns at the University of Adelaide as an exploration of tectonic culture; Section of pavilion; interior shot of Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals; Louis Kahn’s Fisher House

http://minimalissimo.com/2009/07/therme-vals/ Architecture and Urbanism, Issue 461

My favourite piece of (built) architecture is Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals spa. The spa has a sensitivity to material, place and body that I think few buildings can match. The raw materials used; stone, chrome and brass, have distinct evocative sensory qualities, which combined with the ritual of bathing makes for a visceral sensory experience that celebrates the body’s place in architecture. I am also love Louis Kahn’s work, especially his residential projects, and especially Fisher House. Once again, this has a lot to do with sensitivity to site and materials. Like Zumthor’s spa, Fisher house uses locally quarried stone, on top of which sit two beautifully detailed cypress cubes. Both works are fairly minimalist compositions with a sense of monumentality that sits at ease with the surrounding landscape. I think both buildings reflect a certain level of quality that I would desire in my future work, and that I desire in architecture in general. In material and detailing, they are exacting monuments to precision, respect for materials and quality building.

From my previous work and choices of favourite pieces of architecture, you can see I have an appreciation for materiality and quality of construction. I am also very concerned with a phenomenology of architecture, which may be somewhat at odds with a computational architecture. That is not to say that I am not accepting of new technologies. I was amazed by the Water Cube after Chris Bosse gave a lecture at UniSA last year.It does mean however that I am incredibly critical of computational architecture as a form-finding exercise. Architecture is more than just challenging conventions with curves. The baroque did that already.

1.2 Comput ing in A rchi tec tureThe use of computers in the architectural design process presents the architectural discourse with a myriad of new opportunities. Traditionally only used to assist in the drawing and modelling processes, new technologies have allowed the computer to become part of the design process, rather than just a tool for representation. Able to sort through vast amounts of data, computer systems can assist the designer by providing powerful analytical tools that can inform designers of the efficacy of their proposals. Moreover, architects can now be assisted in the design phase by programs that help optimise and create solutions to architectural problems which can then be selected or modified by the designer. This two way communication between analysis, synthesis and evaluation, which has always been intrinsic to the design process, only stands to be made more effective and efficient with the use of computers in the architectural design process. Architects have always been constrained by how they both draw and build. Early Greek stone architecture shows vestiges of its wooden precedents, as do early iron bridges. The communication between representation (drawing, modelling) and building is necessarily a process that constrains both the design and its product. As William Mitchell has commented, architects tend to “draw what they can build, and build what they can draw”. The

Above: Roland Snooks, Negotiations in the Emergent Field

proliferation of straight lines throughout most of the history of architecture is due to the straight-edge. Even the widespread use of the French-curve did not allow designers much more room than a slightly modified Platonic geometry. It has only been with advanced computational drawing and modelling that architects have been able to design more than the circle, arc and straight line. With computational architecture the designer is only limited by their ability with the programs at hand. Importantly, as digital modelling techniques become more advanced and the ability for manufacturers to realise these designs aligns with these advances, the constraints that traditional building methods and techniques exhibit over the architectural discourse will be lifted. Much like the modernists tried to create an architecture devoid of sentiment to the past, computational architecture allows for architectures that are almost wholly divergent from traditional architectural discourses. Not just an architecture of curves, architectures of the digital age are highly adaptable, problem-solving solutions to the contemporary demands placed on architecture. Digital design programs allow for perfect application of statics in complex structures with the ability to make changes to the design and have the structure react automatically without time and labour intensive recalculations. Analytical tools allow external and internal environmental qualities to be precisely mapped, which can then be used to directly influence the design allowing for sustainable designs. Agent-based systems allow complex, interrelated emergent systems to be mapped and thus influence the design of the building; enabling buildings that are perfectly adapted to their uses. Again, like the steel skeleton frame and the curtain wall freed up architecture to allow for a new industrial-commercial age, digital architectures provide the adaptability and flexibility architecture requires in the digital age. It is precisely the combination of agency and environmental stimulus that creates a healthy ecology. Indeed, architecture can be thought of as a living, evolving thing: a carapace for the human, a third skin beyond our clothes. Beyond just a shell, our buildings carry symbolic value that is both part of and emergent from those who inhabit it. Much like an organism that is unable to make sense of and react to its environment, our built environment has been slow to adapt to the real, persistent and changing physical and psychic needs humans place on architecture. Through the use of computational modelling systems we can create an emergent architecture that truly reacts to and realises place, and a built environment which as a whole represents the unity and diversity of a living ecosystem.

Above: Roland Snooks, Negotiations in the Emergent Field

http://www.presidentsmedals.com/Project_Details.aspx?id=1299&dop=True

1.3 Paramet r ic ModellingParametricism in architecture has the possibility of providing architects with invaluable tools with which to design buildings that satisfy public and private needs, both social and economic, like never before. The discourse is on the verge of creating wholly new ways to conceptualise and realise the built form. The advantages of parametric architecture are manifold: from structural and material optimisation, to systems of data management that truly allow human needs and actions to be part of the design process. The reason why I believe parametricism will only possibly allow architecture to achieve a great leap forward, so to speak, is that it seems to be getting bogged down in the quagmire of a stylistic movement. The claimed parametricism of firms such as Gehry Partners and Zaha Hadid Architects is merely parametricism on the surface. To create a truly parametric architecture, the approach needs to be holistic. Rather than using parametric tools to create a form which has been designed without parametric tools, such as many of Gehry Partners and ZHA’s works, parametric tools need to be part of the design process from the ground up. Roland Snook’s Negotiations of the Emergent Field appropriately integrates parametric tools into the design process. By using agent based systems, Snook has bridged the gap of the leap of faith that architects

Above left: Water Cube by LAVA isometric detail. Above right; Water Cube.

Bottom left and centre; Roland Snooks, Negotiations in the Emergent Field. Bottom right; Water Cube.

http://www.presidentsmedals.com/Project_Details.aspx?id=1299&dop=True

take when describing human behaviours in and around their designed buildings. Rather than using rules of thumb and abstraction, Negotiations allows the users of the building to become part of the architecture, defining it by their actions. This desire to challenge relationships between the architect and the public in light of digital technologies can only serve the betterment of architectural theory, design processes and the public’s interaction with architecture at large. A realised project that also demonstrates the holistic use of parametric tools in the design process is the Beijing National Aquatics Centre. By using generative design tools to create a structurally optimised Wearie-Phelan frame, PTW Architects, Arup and CSCEC were able to not only create a structure with few mechanical redundancies, they also built a parametric system which was capable of reacting to changes in the needs of the design without having to “go back to the drawing board”. On top of this, the Water Cube was also able to combine the client’s wishes for a square structure, while presenting the bubble as a leitmotif for the activities which take place inside. This allusion to the program of the building on the facade has taken a positive step towards creating a sensitive and delicate symbolism in architecture, unlike the gimmicky symbolism of the postmoderns.

Above left: Water Cube by LAVA isometric detail. Above right; Water Cube.

Bottom left and centre; Roland Snooks, Negotiations in the Emergent Field. Bottom right; Water Cube.

http://www.architectureweek.com/2011/0413/images_/13842_image_7.jpg http://www.l-a-v-a.net/assets/Uploads/watercube2.jpg

http://www.l-a-v-a.net/assets/Uploads/0802-watercube-2-24212-copy.jpghttp://www.presidentsmedals.com/Project_Details.aspx?id=1299&dop=True

2.0 CASE STUDIES

“The monument does not actualise the virtual event but incorporates or embodies it: it gives it a body, a life, a universe.”

- Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari

“If spiritual and emotional quality is a noble attribute when it resides in the mass of a building, it must, when applied to a virile and synthetic

scheme of ornamentation, raise this at once from the level of triviality to the heights of dramatic expression.”

- Louis Sullivan

“The monument does not actualise the virtual event but incorporates or embodies it: it gives it a body, a life, a universe.”

- Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari

“If spiritual and emotional quality is a noble attribute when it resides in the mass of a building, it must, when applied to a virile and synthetic

scheme of ornamentation, raise this at once from the level of triviality to the heights of dramatic expression.”

- Louis Sullivan

2.1.1 Group Research & A rgumentI am beginning to see the power of digital architecture and parametricism. While it takes a massive investment of

time at the start of the design process to get a usable definition working, once it is completed it allows for almost

complete control of the design, if your understanding of the programs at hand is sufficient. I will work on a definition

for hours to no avail, and then by a stroke of inspiration after I have walked away from it, I will fit the pieces together

and understand how to make the program work the way I want it to work, to deliver the design I need. It is an

incredibly liberating feeling. At this point, I still can’t see myself honestly being able to create anything in Rhino and

Grasshopper that I would actually want to realise in the world; but that may be due to my fledgeling skills in the

programs. Regardless, I find myself wishing that the other programs I use for design, drawing and modelling were

parametric also.

As a group, Sophie, Nick and I have decided to focus on structural parametric design. We chose this

area due to the current trend in digital architecture to focus on form making, neglecting structural, functional and

performance considerations. As a group, we are concerned with a marriage of structure and ornament, as Louis

Sullivan has suggested in Ornament in Architecture. Through this union, we intend to span the (false) dichotomy

Left: The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered, Louis Sullivan, Gage Building ornament from facade. Centre: The Engineer Exalted, Gustave Eiffel, Eiffel Tower. Right: Monument to Movement, Grimshaw Architects, Southern Cross Station.

http://www.curatedobject.us/.a/6a00e54f9f8f8c88340134878dd66c970c-pihttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/

American_soldiers_Eiffel_Tower.gif

between architecture and engineering; between sculptural art and construction.

Moreover, we want to explore the unique position Werribee has in the broader industrial, urban and non-

human environment. While exploring the broader geographies of the area, our intention is to create a beautiful,

ornamental, sculptural piece of architecture that maximises scale and visual and experiential impact, while

minimising the size of the ‘kit of parts’ used to construct the structure. This approach will create a structure on a

monumental scale, but will also minimise both material and construction costs. The placement of the intervention

near a highway is a call to arms for a monumentalisation of movement and allows an expression of the deep

relationship Werribee and the highway share with urbanism, industry and nature. Railway stations and airports have

often been the subject of architectural interventions: spaces for the monumentalisation of high-speed movement in

the digital age. The highway is an oft neglected space for architectural monumentalisation and we intend to remedy

that. This approach is apt for the Wyndham City gateway project because through the optimisation of structure with

a holistic integration of ornament, we will be able to create an exciting, eye-catching monumental structure that will

act as a beacon for the city of Wyndham that is sensitive to, and sits at ease with, the surrounding geographies.

Left: The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered, Louis Sullivan, Gage Building ornament from facade. Centre: The Engineer Exalted, Gustave Eiffel, Eiffel Tower. Right: Monument to Movement, Grimshaw Architects, Southern Cross Station.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Southern-cross-station-melbourne-morning.jpg

2.1.2 Case S tudy 0.0: Na ture BoardwalkRegardless of being unable to recreate Studio Gang Architects’ Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo in Grasshopper with my skill set at the time, I was nonetheless taken by its design, intention and execution. The project is structural ornament in the Sullivanesque sense of the term; in that the ornament, or that which makes the design beautiful, is inseparable from the mass of the structure. While the structure sits at ease in its picturesque site, it is a building which is to be experienced through movement, rather than just through its image in the landscape. The building invites ambulation through its space; indeed, it is not fully experienced unless the observer passes through the object. This experience-through-movement has implications for the design intention for our Wyndham gateway project. We will create the same kind of structure for Wyndham: one which sits beautifully in its picturesque surroundings, but also invites movement through the structure; movement at 100km/h rather than walking speed.

http://www.studiogang.net/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/lpz6.jpg

2.1.2 Case S tudy 0.0: Na ture Boardwalk

http://www.studiogang.net/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/lpz2.jpg

2.1.3 Case S tudy 1.0: OMA McCormick Tr ibune Campus Cent re

1. Original definition

2. Experimenting with different reference geometry

I imported my own line drawings. I then decided to

use a lofted surface using the RevSft component

instead. This added geometry in the Z direction,

making it a more complex surface, rather than just

an image.

2.1.3 Case S tudy 1.0: OMA McCormick Tr ibune Campus Cent re

3. Attempting to make something derivative of Future Systems’s Selfridge’s Building

As the base geometry, rather than a flat surface, I used a RevSrf component to make a revolved lofted curve to

place my items on. I experimented with a few different reference images, but decided it looked better plain, so

I went about removing those components. I could not figure out how to move the items closer to the reference

surface without rebuilding the entire definition, so I decided to stop there.

2.2.1 Case S tudy 2.1: K ing’s Cross

McAslan + Partner’s King’s Cross western concourse spans the massive circulation space between King’s Cross and St Pancras stations with a diagrid pattern, creating a dialogue between the architectures of the 19th and the 21st centuries. Its intention was to create a greater connection between these stations and the London Underground, as well as creating a centerpiece for the transport hub. Beyond achieving these goals, this project monumentalises movement through the circulation space, while at the same time creating a monument to rail travel. This monumentalisation of movement is something we will explore with our proposal for the Wyndham gateway project: rail stations and airports monumentalise those methods of travel; why should the highway be missing this kind of monumentalisation?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/King’s_Cross_Western_Concourse_-_central_position.jpg

2.2.1 Case S tudy 2.1: K ing’s Cross

McAslan + Partner’s King’s Cross western concourse spans the massive circulation space between King’s Cross and St Pancras stations with a diagrid pattern, creating a dialogue between the architectures of the 19th and the 21st centuries. Its intention was to create a greater connection between these stations and the London Underground, as well as creating a centerpiece for the transport hub. Beyond achieving these goals, this project monumentalises movement through the circulation space, while at the same time creating a monument to rail travel. This monumentalisation of movement is something we will explore with our proposal for the Wyndham gateway project: rail stations and airports monumentalise those methods of travel; why should the highway be missing this kind of monumentalisation?

While I was able to make a close approximation of the King’s Cross western concourse in Grasshopper, I was not able to get the fine tune control to make different size and type diagrids like on the image left. With a greater understanding of data management, I imagine I will be able to create this effect. This project has taught me the ease of adapting Grasshopper definitions to different situations, and has also given me the skills I need to develop my own definitions. Unconstrained by the original form, and with a better understanding of data management, I would like to create a diagid structure that reacts to the local environment and embodies the kind of monumentality I have been discussing earlier, while exploring concepts of movement and affect.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/King’s_Cross_Western_Concourse_-_central_position.jpg

2.2.1 Case S tudy 2.2: Shigeru Ban’s Japan Pav il ion

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2weabHoOO1r904b7o1_1280.jpg

Shigeru Ban’s Japan Pavilion exemplifies the strength of a gridshell structure. Utilising only cardboard tubes for structural members and tape for joints, this work shows that grand structures can be achieved through use of simple repeating units. This use of simple cardboard and tape also allows quick assembly and disassembly with a minimum of industrial waste. Once again, this structure is something to be experienced through movement. The axiality of the structure draws those inside into circulation. Indeed, it seems that diagrids and gridshell structures lend themselves to movement.

2.2.1 Case S tudy 2.2: Shigeru Ban’s Japan Pav il ion

I made this structure in Grasshopper as a diagrid, because I was more familiar with it than a gridshell. Since I created it, I have become more familiar with data management and have been able to create a space-frame like structure on top of a diagrid using surface normals. With this new knowledge, I believe I would be able to more accurately recreate the Japan Pavilion’s gridshell structure. Moreover, this knowledge has allowed me to really hit stride with my Grasshopper definitions, and I now feel I am more than capable of designing a definition that will be able to create any design we wish according to our needs, rather than according to familiarity to an already existing design.

2.3 Mat r i xHaving decided on the diagrid as our technique; due to its ability to form patterns and its almost unique application to monumental movement spaces, we began to experiment with the capabilities of the pattern. In column one, I have varied the amount of divisions in the grid, as well as the patterns of the grid by using a Dispatch component. In the second column, I have changed the base geometry that the grid is stretched across. Throughout this process I have defined geometries in Grasshopper rather than in Rhino. I find it very easy to visualise functions, having a decent background in math. It also allows us to change the base geometries dynamically in Grasshopper with ease. Having decided that some form of barrel vault for highway users to drive through would be apt for the Wyndham gateway project, column 3 experiments with changed patterns and base geometries along the barrel vault, creating an undulating surface. In column 4 we have adjusted the location of the barrel vault’s arches along the short axis, allowing for a structure that curves along its long axis. At the bottom we have experimented with splitting the grid into multiple sections, or placing two grids on top of each other. Having decided that a long, snake-like structure would allow for a longer and more profound experience while travelling along the highway, we moved the start and finish points further along the long axis, while still experimenting with movement across its short axis.

1 2 3 4 5

1 2 3 4 5

As our project aim is to create a monument to movement through a structure that integrates ornament, we decided to use the truss-like pattern for the overall structure (step 1). This pattern reduces statical redundancies and overall number of members; reducing construction costs. This pattern also embodies movement; the emphasis created by the slanting members suggests movement and draws the eyes along its arrowed pattern. Much like South Pond at Lincoln Zoo, our structure will not only be a beautiful object in the landscape, it will also be something to be experienced by movement through the structure. As such, a barrel-vault was the obvious choice (step 2). After testing the different patterns on the vault, we increased the adaptability of the vault by allowing it to taper inwards and outwards (step 3). Wanting to explore the relationships between urbanism, industry and the non-human environment, ideas of compression, efficiency and openness came to mind respectively. While we feel these concepts should be explored through materiality, we wanted to allow for the exploration of these relationships through the form of the structure. With this in mind we allowed for the structure to not only compress and expand (as in step 3), but to also be unconstrained from a linear path (step 4). This lack of constraint will allow the structure to be designed to be placed anywhere on the site. As mentioned on the previous page, we increased the length of the structure to allow a longer processional time along its length (step 5). The adaptability and scalability of the structure shows the feasibility of placing the structure in any one of its iterations on the site within budget constraints. The structure itself explores concepts of monumentalisation of movement, and further refinement of the design will allow us to explore the relationship the structure has with the surrounding geographic environments.

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2.4 Physical and Digi t a l ModelsUltimately, we want to focus on creating a joint that we can use to connect the structural members of our design. It is all well and good for us to laser cut and score boxboard into a model, but it explores the tectonic relationship between members as little as 3-D printing does. Constrained by time (and ability) for our EOI presentation, we decided to make as many exploratory models as possible. Initially we simply connected a laser cut diagrid pattern over a wire mesh frame: the malleability of the frame showing the malleability of the diagrid. We felt that this was far too simple an expression of the possibilities of our design however. We decided to use a wire frame and Pinkysil to create a structure that could easily bend on all axes. While this was interesting and once again showed the adaptability of the structure, we wanted to create something that was a closer approximation of our Grasshopper model. We made multiple attempts to unroll the diagrid that we had chosen from our matrix, but it proved too complex to flatten into something that could easily be laser cut and scored. We made the decision to go with a simpler shape that undulated its width, but did not move its centres of its guide curves along its axis. This need to ‘dumb down’ our design to make it work in the laser cutter only reinforced out want to create a model of the structure that uses structural members and joints; something we will explore in future models. This harks back to Bill Mitchell saying “architects tend to draw what they can build, and build what they can draw”: we don’t want our design to be constrained by our drawings; or indeed our laser cuttings.

2.4 Physical and Digi t a l Models

E XPRESSION OF INTEREST: GATE WAY TO W YNDHAM

MICHAEL McLOUGHLIN | NICK BERGIN | SOPHIE BARDOEL

E XPRESSION OF INTEREST: GATE WAY TO W YNDHAM

MICHAEL McLOUGHLIN | NICK BERGIN | SOPHIE BARDOEL

Who a re we and what a re we in te res ted in?Our interest lies in bridging the gap between engineering and art through the marriage of structure and ornament in digital architecture. To unify structure and ornament, both must be considered in equal measure at the beginnings of a design. Digital architectures allow us to work with both, holistically, throughout the design process

Who a re we and what a re we in te res ted in?Our interest lies in bridging the gap between engineering and art through the marriage of structure and ornament in digital architecture. To unify structure and ornament, both must be considered in equal measure at the beginnings of a design. Digital architectures allow us to work with both, holistically, throughout the design process

Why is this relevant to f reeway a r t ?Places for movement; railway terminals, airports, and certain shipping ports; have become monuments to movement in the digital age. This kind of monumentalisation is missing in freeway art. Existing freeway art installations may celebrate the sensation and affect of movement at high speed, but they very rarely monumentalise it. Automotive transport and the highway form the backbone of the modern economy and the importance of the highway is lost on no one. Too often, however, is the highway presented as a lonely, desolate place, despite its necessity and convenience. We aim to create a gateway for Wyndham that not only celebrates Werribee and surrounds, but also creates a monument to the very thing that allows communities like Werribee to flourish: high-speed, personal automotive transport. Digital structural architectures allow us to create beautiful ornamental structures that can be modified and reshaped to fit the needs of the site with ease, while allowing us to reduce material costs and construction time, maximising presence and scale of the built form.

Why is this relevant to f reeway a r t ?Places for movement; railway terminals, airports, and certain shipping ports; have become monuments to movement in the digital age. This kind of monumentalisation is missing in freeway art. Existing freeway art installations may celebrate the sensation and affect of movement at high speed, but they very rarely monumentalise it. Automotive transport and the highway form the backbone of the modern economy and the importance of the highway is lost on no one. Too often, however, is the highway presented as a lonely, desolate place, despite its necessity and convenience. We aim to create a gateway for Wyndham that not only celebrates Werribee and surrounds, but also creates a monument to the very thing that allows communities like Werribee to flourish: high-speed, personal automotive transport. Digital structural architectures allow us to create beautiful ornamental structures that can be modified and reshaped to fit the needs of the site with ease, while allowing us to reduce material costs and construction time, maximising presence and scale of the built form.

Precedent : A AMI Park | Cox A rchi tec tsAAMI Park was developed using structural parametric design tools. This allowed an optimisation of structure allowing a minimum of steel tonnages used in the roof structure; creating material savings and thus cutting costs of construction materials. Moreover, the structure itself is a beautiful object, showing that a convergence of structure and ornament is possible.

Precedent : A AMI Park | Cox A rchi tec ts

http://images.mynikonlife.com.au/photos/10125/large/2010-05-08_122.jpg?1285065860

Precedent : Na ture Boardwalk a t L incoln Park Zoo | S tudio Gang A rchi tec tsThe Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo exemplifies the unification of ornament and structure in architecture: the ornament of the vault is integrated with the mass of the structure. More than being just a beautiful structure in a picturesque site, the building invites the observer to pass through the structure; indeed the space is not fully experienced without passing within it. This same experience-through-movement will be explored for the Wyndham gateway, albeit at high speed in an automobile, rather than on foot.

Precedent : Na ture Boardwalk a t L incoln Park Zoo | S tudio Gang A rchi tec ts

http://www.peoplesgasdelivery.com/news/images/photo_gallery_pglzoo_hires.jpg

Precedent : Br i t ish Museum Grea t Cour tFos ter + Par tnersThe diagrid pattern used for the span of the Great Court of the British Museum creates a light-filled internal space for circulation. The relationship between diagrid patterns, light, and circulation space is explored in our proposal for the Wyndham gateway.

http://www.dac.dk/media/11561/british_museum_Nigel_Young_Foster_Partners_RGB.jpg

Precedent : Br i t ish Museum Grea t Cour tFos ter + Par tners

Precedent : 30 S t Mar y A xe (Formally Swiss Re Building) | Fos ter + Par tnersThe Gherkin shows the adaptability of the diagrid pattern in creating a vertical monumental structure, rather than a massive span. Our proposal for the Wyndham gateway intends to flip this; creating a monument to horizontally, rather than verticality.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2114/2316671109_2caa4d375d_o.jpg

Precedent : 30 S t Mar y A xe (Formally Swiss Re Building) | Fos ter + Par tners

Precedent : K ing’s Cross Western Concourse | John McAslan + Par tnersKing’s Cross western concourse once again shows the ability for the diagrid pattern to create a large internal span for circulation. Moreover, the structure monumentalises movement both on foot and by rail. This monumentalisation of high-speed movement will be explored with our proposal.

Precedent : K ing’s Cross Western Concourse | John McAslan + Par tners

Precedent : Japan Pav il ionShigeru BanShigeru Ban’s Japan Pavilion shows the strength of the gridshell structure and the versatility of materiality in these structures. Using only cardboard tubes for structural members and tape for joints, this work shows that grand structures can be made easily and quickly from simple repeating units. Once again, this is a structure to be experienced through movement within.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2weabHoOO1r904b7o1_1280.jpg

Precedent : Japan Pav il ionShigeru Ban

Precedent : Chiddings tone Cas t le Oranger yPeter Hulber t A rchi tec tsThe Chiddingstone Castle Orangery gridshell structure not only shows the strength and lightness of the gridshell, but it also explores the notion of a universal joint which fits all structural connections. Developing a universal joint for the Wyndham gateway project would drastically reduce material costs and minimise construction costs.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_4A0lKIgx9U4/Sf50Qhs94vI/AAAAAAAADC8/GiVnDXzVJgw/s1600-h/Node_close_up9_ready%5B4%5D.jpg

Precedent : Chiddings tone Cas t le Oranger yPeter Hulber t A rchi tec ts

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_4A0lKIgx9U4/Sf5z_nScemI/AAAAAAAADBk/eQnrkME6wO4/s1600-h/Chidd_33_ready%5B4%5D.jpg

AAMI ParkCox Architects

Nature BoardwalkStudio Gang

British MuseumFoster + Partners

30 St Mary AxeFoster + Partners

King’s CrossMcAslan + Partners

Japan PavilionShigeru Ban

Chiddingstone Castle OrangeryPeter Hulbert Architects

Structural optimisation

Structure as ornament

Monumentalisation of movement

Diagrid

Paramet r ic Diagram

Paramet r ic Diagram

Mat r i x

Mat r i x

Protot yping

Protot yping

Parametric structural architecture allows us the flexibility to explore the relationships between movement and monumentality, while celebrating Werribee’s position within the urban, industrial and non-human environments. Our holistic approach to structure and ornament allows us to create beautiful structures that sit picturesquely within Werribee and surrounds, while engaging with the viewer as they pass within the space. The result is that our project for the Wyndham Gateway is a monument to the experience of movement in the digital age. Indeed, this sense of movement is something that Werribee embodies, with population growth far above the national average and its location near a major highway. Our proposal is a paean to the sensation of movement, a celebration of ornament and structure, and a monument to Werribee’s unique position in the wider urban-geographical context.

Parametric structural architecture allows us the flexibility to explore the relationships between movement and monumentality, while celebrating Werribee’s position within the urban, industrial and non-human environments. Our holistic approach to structure and ornament allows us to create beautiful structures that sit picturesquely within Werribee and surrounds, while engaging with the viewer as they pass within the space. The result is that our project for the Wyndham Gateway is a monument to the experience of movement in the digital age. Indeed, this sense of movement is something that Werribee embodies, with population growth far above the national average and its location near a major highway. Our proposal is a paean to the sensation of movement, a celebration of ornament and structure, and a monument to Werribee’s unique position in the wider urban-geographical context.

4.0 A f te r the EOII found the mid semester crit to be an overwhelmingly

positive experience. The criticism I received made me

critically re-engage with aspects of the design that I may

have neglected or allowed to fall by the wayside. Our

initial focus was far too much on structural optimisation:

For what purpose? Whereas we had left out our ideas

about the monumentalisation of movement, which really

was our strongest point. Overall, I think the idea that

stuck with me the most is that we simply weren’t being

critical enough of ourselves. I left the crit feeling that no

matter what was asked of us at the final review, we would

have a solid justification for our design choices.

We are currently working on a model of the

site, while exploring further the urban-geographic

relationships of Werribee and surrounds. I am hard at

work generating a wholly new Grasshopper definition

which will allow us the flexibility and fine tune control

we need to place a complex structure on a complex

site that needs to satisfice a multitude of stakeholders.

I am looking at using Kangaroo in Grasshopper so we

can have a statically determinate structure. We have

decided on the type of joint we are going to use for

certain mechanical connections and are in the process

of prototyping one. I am also trying my hardest to read

and integrate theories of monumentality, structure and

ornamentation set forth by Sullivan, Gombrich, Kracauer

and Deleuze and Guattari. I believe an understanding of

these ideas will add a theoretical basis to our designs. All

together, I think as a group we work fantastically together

and I’m glad we are all equally passionate about our

design.

I’m incredibly glad I’ve had the opportunity to

explore parametric architecture. While I still feel like it is

most probably something I will not use in my designs in

the near future, it has nonetheless opened up my mind

as to what parametric architecture is. Before I began this

subject, I used to write parametric architecture off as

a useless form finding technique. Now I am more than

aware that it is a legitimate tool used by serious architects

to explore a multitude of design potentialities, and indeed

has the capability of revolutionising the design process,

and by extension, architecture as we know it.

Although I doubt I will be using parametric

techniques any time soon; after reading the first few

chapters of Scripting Cultures, I am completely sold on

the possibility of opening up new avenues of design

through scripting. I’ve always had somewhat of an

asymmetric approach to problems I am presented with;

I tend to take the unused path in the hope that it will

at least show me something new, if not prove to be a

better way to reach a goal. To me, this is what scripting

exemplifies. Too often are we as designers constrained

by the tools we have at hand. If we all had the ability to

create new tools, then the possibilities are endless.

4.1 Week 9 ProgressHaving decided that the form finding gesture of our

final design should be the “collision” between the

“movement” of the human geographic forces of Geelong,

Melbourne, and Werribee, centered on Werribee, we

went about exploring this gesture through our parametric

models. This collision would be like the collision between

plates in a physical geography context. We found that

our original parametric models developed for the EOI

were too ‘rigid’ to emphasise a collision of forces in their

form, so I set about finding a toolset that would allow us

greater flexibility and less rigidity.

After experimenting with point attractors on a

grid in 3D space, I tried to work with points influencing

nearby points by an inverse square law, like gravity, once

again exploring the idea of the inter-relationship between

physical natural forces and human forces. I began

to find that the mathematics behind the model were

becoming increasingly complex; to the point that they

were getting beyond my ability to deal with. After doing

a little research once I hit a stumbling block, I came

across a package of components called JellyFish, which

is described by its creator as a magnetic displacement

definition in 3-dimensions. The real power that lies in the

component is that it tends not to force points to cross

over each other, which was an issue I was having with my

homebrew definition.

By inverting the magnetic attractor, I was able to

create a magnetic repulsor, which allowed us the ability

to experiment with peaks and troughs. This influenced

our idea of collision into the idea of waves of the coming

urbanism (peaks) crashing along the geographical

constant of the highway (the trough). This new definition

gave us a great deal of flexibility as a form finding

exercise and I was able to create forms that were very

organic and really emphasised the idea of a collision.

We ran into an problem, however, when we tried

to transpose our designs onto the site. While JellyFish’s

flexibility was what attracted me to it, when it came to

actually placing the form onto the site, its randomness

became its downfall. In attempting to create connections

between the design and the landscape, one slight

movement of a variable would push the design into the

middle of the road, or out of the boundaries of the site.

This lead to me attempting to reverse-engineer

the JellyFish component so I could add more control

into the mix, such as Kangaroo-like anchor points which

would keep certain parts of the surface that was being

manipulated in place, while others moved freely. This

proved to be quite a massive undertaking, and it is still

something that I am working on currently, through hours

of frustration and dead ends. I am beginning to think that

JellyFish and the idea of natural force attractors (and

repulsors) is simply too random to realise a design that

can actually be situated on site.

Current human geography of Greater Melbourne; growth of urbanism; collision of urban forces in at the site of Werribee

We want to push the boundary of what a diagrid pattern could be used for. We were inspired by MyZeil in Frankfurt, by

Massimiliano Fuksas, with its vortex in the facade that descends into the internal space of the building. This building

shows a diagrid pattern used as more than a structure to span an internal space, rather it can be an ornamental, gestural

piece of architecture. We believe this is relevant to a freeway art project because it creates a monumental form that

emphasises movement and embodies the colliding forces of the local human geography. This type of structure is often

used to monumentalise other places of movement, like Southern Cross Station; why not the highway?

4.2 Week 10 ProgressBeing unable to overcome the issues I was encountering

with the JellyFish component, I set about redesigning

the definition into one that allowed us to decompose one

shape into another along a rail curve. This would allow

us the rigidity of a pre-defined starting point, but with

the flexibility and randomness of interpolating between

varied shapes. While the definition did not have the

flexibility of JellyFish, and is entailing interesting forms,

it did allow us to create a form that we could actually

situate on the site.

We had, for a very long time, been very focused

as a group on creating a ‘universal’ joint that worked

throughout the structure. After a great deal of research

on what this universal joint could be, we came across the

ArcelorMittal Orbit in London by Anish Mapoor and Cecil

Balmond. In this structural sculpture, the bolted joint was

not at the node where individual members meet, but

rather half-way between the members. This allowed all

the nodes to be prefabricated and then simply delivered

to site, craned into position and bolted together. We

were very exited by the efficiencies created by this joint,

while allowing us the flexibility of not having a joint that

restricted how our nodes could fit together.

After having a discussion with Paul about

tectonics and materiality, we decided against using

steel for the structure (due to the sheer tonnage of steel

necessary and the environmental impacts of using the

material; even though I was extremely excited to be

working on a design similar to Louis Kahn’s proposal for

a welded tubular structure for Philadelphia in 1944); and

rather decided to use timber. We came to the conclusion

that we had somewhat neglected the non-human

environment in our proposal, and that timber and a native

planting scheme would do more to celebrate Werribee’s

unique position in it’s ecological context than tubular

steel.

With this in mind, we set about creating various

joints for our design that utilised timber. Initially, we

intended to secure our members in a method similar

to that of Chiddingstone Castle Orangery. This would

allow us to have two sets of members, which ran in

different directions, held in place by a vice-like joint. We

also considered simply bolting the members together

where they overlapped. Another idea we explored was

simply rebateing a groove into timber member at its end

and placing a prefabricated welded steel joint within

the members. This would allow us to somewhat deny

the joint visually, creating a more continuous structure,

without a bulky joint at every node.

We also created a simple steel pin joint for the

footing connection of our structure. This would allow one

mass-produced joint to be used throughout the structure,

thus allowing greater economic efficiencies in production

and construction.

4.3 Week 11 ProgressInterpolating and placing a series of curves along a

rail curve turned out being much harder that initially

assumed. Seemingly randomly, curves would rotate

themselves, and as such the lofted surface created from

them had massive kinks in it. With more time, I probably

could have worked out the issue, and we could have has

a more dynamic design. Unfortunately, however, with

the impending end of semester review, I opted to take

the easy way out. I simply drew the 6-8 curves in space

along the highway where desired, and interpolated and

lofted curves between them.

I went the extra mile when it came to detailing the

members in Grasshopper however. It was our intention

to opt for a design like Chiddingstone Orangery, with

two sets of members running in different directions

placed on top of each other. I was able to model this

in Grasshopper, and honestly by the end of semester,

I felt I could solve any problem I was presented with in

Grasshopper, given the time and opportunity.

Unfortunately, due to miscommunication, we

ended up running renders off a piped version of our

model, the model which was sent to the 3D-printer,

rather than the one with two sets of rectangular section

members. We had also sent a part of this version of

the model to the FabLab at 1:100 scale. Once again,

however, we ran into trouble with the FabLab taking far

too long to complete our model (read: we submitted it

too late; mostly my fault for working on the model for

so long), and it simply couldn’t be used for our final

presentation. So, regretfully, the only models we have to

take to the presentation were our 3D-printed model, and

the prototype joint for the circular section members.

I was really happy with how Sophie’s rendered

images and model turned out though, and I think if

anything they will be the real selling point for our design.

I’m also incredibly happy with Nick’s presentation.

Overall, we’ve had a really good division of labour,

and have fallen into and taken up our roles very well.

With me working on Grasshopper, Nick working on the

presentation, and Sophie doing research and models, we

have been able to achieve what none of us would have

been able to even get close to achieving alone.

I do regret that we somewhat abandoned our

philosophy of the monumentalisation of movement for

the idea of a collision. While I was aiming for the Faustian

idea of monumentalising development and endless

movement, we seem to have fallen into presenting

something slightly more palatable, and probably

something somewhat more understandable, to the

everyman. Regardless, I would have liked to have ended

up with something grander; a real statement in the

region. Something that spoke about the will to growth

and development, the inevitable change that growth

brings, and the vector for that growth; the highway.

5.0 A f te r the F inal Present a t ionAs you can probably tell from the change from being

optimistic about our design in earlier weeks, through to

becoming increasingly dejected in weeks 10 and 11, I

did have some doubts about our design leading into the

presentation. I came down with a pretty serious flu the

week before presentation and had to spend a few days in

bed, rather than working on the presentation, but Sophie

and Nick were more than ready and able to pick up the

slack. Regardless, I’m happy with where our design

ended up, all things considered.

As Alison stated, we kind of floundered in

defining and sticking to a real and solid design intent. I

was obsessed with having a philosophical underpinning

for our design intent which didn’t translate incredibly well

into groupwork, or indeed a freeway art project using

parametric design tools. That being said, I’m incredibly

happy with where my understanding of parametric

design tools are at currently; coming from a position at

the start of semester where I was dreading having to use

parametric software, and now being in a position where

I can see, and indeed use, the strengths of parametric

tools. I find myself wishing that the suite of programs I

use for design were all parametric.

I was more than willing to accept Paul’s criticism

that our planting pallet of native riparian species seemed

somewhat like an afterthought. I was the only member

of the group with any real knowledge or interest in native

planting (landscaping using native plants being a big

part of my architectural education in Adelaide), and

constrained for time due to being sick and working on

the parametric model, I didn’t spend as much time on

actually creating a planting scheme that I would have

liked to. I’m very concerned with ecology, and I would

have liked for it to be part of our design philosophy, rather

than simply an afterthought.

As I stated earlier, Sophie’s work on the renders

was fantastic, and was the real selling point of our

design. Also, Nick’s work on the presentation and his

delivery were of a very high calibre. I couldn’t have been

happier with the group I worked with, and I hope to

continue working with them in the future.

I regret incredibly that we had to go with using

the easy way out of simply lofting a series of curves

defined in Rhino, rather than building a parametric model

from the ground up in Grasshopper, or possibly realising

one of my more complicated, but possibly more effective

definitions. I think it would have been incredibly easy

for someone versed in Grasshopper to see that I took

the easy way out, and I’m disappointed in myself for

that fact. As per usual with my design projects, I am left

with the feeling that if I had the skills and understanding

I developed throughout the design process at the

beginning of that process, I would have been able to

create a much more articulate, sensible and effective

design. That is to say, though, that I am happy with where

my skillset is at currently, and I’d love to use these skills

further down the road.

Just like the guest critic, the group and I were

very concerned with the fact that our structure simply

might not stand up. We did feel, however, that these sort

of questions are somewhat out of the architect, or indeed

architecture student’s, scope. Having not been trained

in statics, I don’t think we are to blame for designing

something that may not work from an engineering

perspective. I’d like to think that if this were to be a real

design proposal, we would have consulting engineers

working with us from the beginning of the design

process. If this course has taught me anything, it is that

architectural design needs to be a holistic endeavor,

where people with many skillsets get together to work on

a problem, as I’d like to think the division of labour in our

group has emphasised.

With all things said and done, I’m glad I’ve had

the opportunity to teach myself the skills in parametric

design that this course has required me to use. I feel

like I now have a real understanding of parametric

architecture’s place in the architectural discourse,

rather than simply writing it off as a useless form-finding

activity. That being said, I can’t wait to draw some plans,

sections and elevations of a building again, but with an

understanding of how the new tools I have can assist.