ABPL30048 Architectural Design

Studio Air

2013 SM1

Yii Wei HOU526685

INTRODUCTION

My name is Yii Wei Hou. I am a third year environments student majoring in architecture. I am from Malaysia and I came to Melbourne 2 years ago when I first started my course here in Uni-versity of Melbourne. I took Virtual Environments in Year 1 which exposed me to digital design technique that will be useful for Air Studio.

PREVIOUS WORKVirtual Environments 2011 SM1

Design with digital media is different in many ways and it is indeed something new and foreign which can take time for people to recognise, accept and practise broadly.

Digital design is about conceptualising opportunities, testing them and bring-ing them to reality. Studying the prod-uct of design and the way it is con-ceived, generated and materialised in the digital media will be one step closer to fully understand the digital design process.

Past concept models like representa-tion, precedent-based design and ty-pologies are being replaced by new advanced concepts related to mod-els of generation, animation, perfor-mance-baseddesign.

Digital design is an important aspect for the fundamental of architectural education due to the fact that tech-nologies are constantly changing as we change the way we think and communicate, creating new de-mands of requisite knowledge and skills. This leads to reconsideration of the theoretical basis, its design meth-ods and related knowledge in relation to the ever-changing digital technolo-gies.

Architectural communications are composed of a wide range of items, including non-built and built, for example published mass commu-nications (magazines, books, blogs and web-sites), drawings, photographs, sketches, render-ings, CAD drawings and buildings; buildings are merely one of many types of architectural com-munications.Built architectural works are exposed to the out-er network of autopoiesis of architecture and they are also within the architectural discourse as points of critical reference. 1

Every architectural communication is seen as a contribution to the architectural discourse, re-gardless of the influence it has on the discourse, it changes the discourse. And, a change of dis-course is considered an achievement in any ar-chitectural work. Architecture discourse is ever-changing as new challenges/problems present themselves, re-quiring attention for new ideas and turns of ar-gument.

ARCHITECTURE AS A DISCOURSE

Reference:1 Schumacher, The Autopoiesis of Architecture, A New Framework for Architecture, 2011, p. 1-282 Humberto R Maturana&Francisco, Varela, Autopoiesis and Cognition, The Realization o f the Livings D Reidel Publish-ing Company (Dordrecht, Holland), 1980

Architecture is often seen as buildings but it is more than that, architecture is a system of communications; a system of communi-cations that consist of knowledge, profes-sional practice and artefacts which are interlinked. 1

This system of communications is intro-duced by the concept of autopoie-siswhichmeans self-production. 2

Thus, architecture as a system of commu-nications is a progressive process that con-tinues to innovate over time, constantly searching for better solutions for the prob-lems encountered.

Kokkugia’s interest in wetForm geometry has extended from the previous work of Parachute Pavilion project to the current iSaw project. The wetForm geometry mimics the form of bubbles as they en-large and multiply towards the surface; this is used to create two mutually exclu-sive spaces that coexist but unaware of one another’s presence, which is done through the thickening of the lattice of the walls to form a second inhabitable space. The concept redefines dense space-filling architecture and it subse-quently contributes to architectural dis-course one way or another.

PRECEDENTiSaw

Location: Warsaw, PolandBuilding Type: Art Gallery

Architect: KokkugiaBuilding status: Unbuilt

Image source:www.kokkugia.com

PRECEDENTBeijing National Stadium

Location: Beijing, ChinaBuilding type: StadiumDesign team:Herzog & de Meuron, CAG Design Institute Beijing, ARUP, Beijing Urban Construction Group, Bou-ygues France

Image source:http://crowneplazaparkview.com/beijing-national-stadium/

Beijing National Stadium, commonly known as “Bird’s Nest” has a rather traditional concept of Chinese ceramics, which later evolved to bird’s nest appearance in its façade design. The combination of the concept and innovative materials used sets new definition of modern architecture.

Steel structural members are concealed within a network of steel lattice exoskeleton enclosing a concrete core. The steel structure may appear to be random but every element is carefully integrated. According to Herzog & de Mueron, the combination of the elements creates a “spatial effect... (that) is novel and radical and yet simple and of almost archaic im-mediacy. Its appearance is pure structure. Façade and struc-ture are identical.”

Design of the stadium takes into account of the seismic activ-ity, resulting in the concrete core to be constructed in eight separate zones. Each zone acts like its own building with its own stability system, yet at the same time, all zones act as a body in resisting seismic loads.

Sustainable features are integrated into the design of the sta-dium through environment-friendly features like use of solar power, harvesting rainwater and natural ventilation and light-ing to create a sustainable powerhouse.