architecturedesign studioA I R

alexander mckenzie 538617

introduction

I’m Alex. I’m currently undertaking my third year of Bachelor of Environments at The University of Melbourne - and planning to major in Architecture. I was born in Melbourne, but I grew up in Singapore from 1994 to 2007. This early exposure to Asian culture has given me a huge interest in Asian architectural styles.

My ideal house would be a black and white colonial house, like many of the ones that surrounded me as I grew up. I haven’t had much digital design experience in the past, and im looking forward to developing my skills and my understanding of the theory this semester.

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Figure 1: British colonial black and white house.

“Design is a process we engage in when the current situation is different from some desired situation”1

Figure 2: Form by Zaha Hadid.

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There are a number of lenses through which one can view architecture. Viewing it through the lens of art allows one to value its aesthetic appeal, however, it can be limiting in appreciating how a building serves a purpose within a town or city; or even globally. Viewing architecture as a discourse is a way of looking at it as more than just aesthetics. It allows for design theories and methods to be challenged. This can have a great influence on, not only future building

designs, but even the planning of towns and cities, where perhaps there are better methods than those currently standard. It allows for architecture to be seen as a medium to question convention and current social norms. It allows for certain works to change the way society operates. The use of digital tools has had a large impact on the way we do go about architectural design and discourse - but to what extent can digital design influence the architecture of today?

Figure 3: Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier challenged classical architectural styles by creating a plain square house with a flat roof - a stark disimilarity to the traditional French Beaux-Arts style buildings that populated France where there was much emphasis on the roofline of a building.

architecture as a discourse

Digital tools allow an architect to work with both two and three dimensional geometries to create interesting and memorable shapes and patterns that may not be possible otherwise. 30 St Mary Axe (aka. The Gherkin) in London - winner of Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stirling Prize - designed by GMW Architects (U.K.), features a diamond motif which wraps around the entire building This is unique in that the very geometric diamond pattern is stretched over the rounded, curved, organic shaped structure of the building - sort of juxtaposing geometric form with a curve. This building challenges the idea that buildings should be recto-linear, like many of the other buildings in London. So the aid of digital design tools allows for the architect to accurately model more complex ideas.

digital architecture

Figure 4: 30 St Mary Axe (The Gherkin) juxtaposed with

London’s other buildings, all with much less provocative shapes.

Figure 5: Panels of The Esplanade Theatre change angle depending on a number of

weather conditions.

digital architecture To me, The Esplanade Theatre,

Singapore, designed by DP Architects (Singapore) and Michael Wilford and Partners (London), is a

brilliant example of ‘Digital Architecture’ - being a winner of the President’s Design Award 2006. In

the design stage of the building, a digital system was created to workout a reasonable angle for the

panels which cover the façade, taking into account many natural factors including temperature and

amount of sunlight - greatly reducing the need for air-conditioning in the building. This use of digital technology exemplifies how computers can really aid the design of a building on more than just an aesthetic level - being able to analyse a natural

system and apply it to a physical structure. So digital design tools are

handy in the design of a building, but how are computers used to do this?

Computerised architecture is the digitalisation of an architects ideas, physical drawings and models. Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim (Bilbao, Spain) is an example of a computerised design where the architect, Gehry, computerised his drawings and sculputes in order to finalise the design and commence construction. Computers aid in this as the architect can show much more detail in computerised drawings. So computers can be very useful in modeling and finalising a design, however, can they be used earlier in the design process? Can computers be used to synthesise a design, both provocative and workable? Rather than to take over from the architect, I believe computers should be used as a tool to explore, and make the most of, as many potential design pathways that can be explored within the biggest design space possible to create an organic whole. That is where computational architcture comes in.

computerisedarchitecture

Figure 6: Exterior curves of the Guggenheim are clad in titanium

panels, giving it a unique and memorable finish.

“analytical systems with enough ‘understanding’ of the data to be able to provide rational appraisal of human designers’ solutions”3

Figure 7: 3D CAD model of a staircase done on Rhinoceros 3D.

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Basically, the design space is the region of possible outcomes that can be discovered or created, and digital technology has the potential to greatly broaden that region. Thus, computational design emphasizes the design process with a focus on a collection of ideas in working toward a goal - rather than the pursuit of perfection of one single idea. That is both the theory behind computational architecture, and what separates it from computerised architecture.1

Computational architecture is the use of computers to explore infinite alternatives derived from the crux of an inspiration. It allows us to fully test, prototype and compile a number of options and paths to persue in the design process, which ultimately leads to a more well thought out and cohesive design - both aesthetically and functionally. It allows for a designer to work beyond “human cognitive limits”1. Designs can be created and easily changed, creating a

number of alternatives. Each stage in the developement of the design can be tracked and thus each stage of the design process is easily recoverable. Whilst being pursued, the architects understanding of the goal can be dramatically developed, and the architect can potentially uncover completely new shapes and geometries which allow for them to express ideas and pursue new and improved goals that are otherwise incomprehendible.1

computational architecture

Figure 8: Design spaces

computational architecture

Figure 9: Zaha Hadid’s BEKO concept.

Zaha Hadid has revolutionised architecture and design, opposing geometric shapes and common forms with dramatic curves and “fragmented geometry”2 which “evoke the chaos of modern life”2. It is an uprising against an architecture that has existed for centuries. Hadid’s use of digital design tools has allowed for such complexity, the complexity of nature, to be communicated in her many works. Hadid’s BEKO concept is a seamless transition between a humanmade structure and a chaotic representation of natural movement. The use of digital design tools have allowed for Hadid to synthesise the many curves and focal points of this exciting design - creating something which relates both back to itself, and its surroundings. The building seems to flow seamlessly - it is an organic whole rather than a collection of parts. This is the core of computational architecture - it allows for nature to be analysed, and then synthesised in the form of a building or structure.2 So what tools allow for computation to be employed?

In terms of physically using a computer for parametric design, parameters are set and linked to a CAD drawing (be it two or three dimentional) and then rather than erasing and redrawing, the parameter can be altered and the drawing will be updated in real-time. This allows for the designer to instantly compare a newer idea to a previous idea. It provides a much more exciting and ironically, a more organic design experience, as spur of the moment thoughts can instantly be modelled and visualised. Ideas can become very quickly become tangible, where perhaps they would be overlooked or forgotten about if a more limiting set of tools were the method of expression. So parametric modelling allows for the most expression in the design.4

The most basic design tool is the use of a pencil, paper and an eraser. The pencil ‘adds’ the eraser ‘subtracts’, whilst the paper is the medium in which the design takes place. Parametric modelling introduces another element to design; that each part of a design is related. So any change, significant or minor, affects the entire form. So parametric design puts an emphasis on the relationship between parts, not the individual parts themselves, thus the whole concept remains a coherent whole - obviously this requires the designer to picture the design as a whole rather than a collection of parts. So the process of computational design is as so: add, erase, relate, and repair. To ‘relate’ is to distinguish the relationship between parts and to ‘repair’ is to address the change in these affected parts, so that the whole design remains coherent. A basic way of looking at parametric design would be to describe it as the method of distinguishing ‘what is not’, while traditional design techniques (ie. pencil and paper) are limited to searching for ‘what is’. It is effectively a process of elimination. So naturally, parametric design allows for a design space immeasurably larger than one that a traditional design technique would allow for.4

parametric modelling

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“the designer establishes the relationships by which parts connect, builds up a design

using these relationships and edits the relationships”4

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Figure 10: Parametric design.

A basic way of using parametric modelling would be to create a two dimentional pattern. This is a very quick process. Rhinoceros 3D in conjunction with the Grasshopper plugin provide an instantaneous image that the designer or architect can explore.

parametric modelling

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At first, a parameter is set, which randomly plots points confined within a rectangle.

A second parameter is set which joins the points with

vectors, creating a triangular mesh pattern.

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Figure 11: Basic example of a parametric

design process.

A third parameter is set, creating cell-like geometries around the points, with each vector of this cell pattern, perpendicular to a vector of the triangluar pattern.

The parameter which created the triangular pattern is now removed, leaving the organic cell-like pattern.

An alternative pattern can be discovered by implementing another parameter which removes and adds vectors from the triangle pattern.

The Beijing National Aquatics Centre, also known as the Water Cube, designed by Australian firm PTW Architects, is a demonstation of a parametric system which exsists within its design. Its exterior, clad in hundreds of ETFE panels, follows a pattern inspired by the natural formation of bubbles in a liquid. In order to achieve this, the mathematical formula behind the pattern was input as a set of parameters into a software. The architects then had to edit the parameters until a continuous pattern that could be used was discovered. The alteration of one parameter would have an effect on the whole of the building. This pattern also extends within the building in its structural frame work - so basically the building is entirely inspired by this natural system.5 So parametric modelling allowed for this design to be discovered and altered as a whole, to create an organic and coherent entity.

parametricmodelling

Figure 12: Illustration of natural bubble formation.

Figure 13: 3D CAD drawing

of the adapted pattern for the design of the Water Cube.

Figure 14: The Beijing National Aquatics Centre.

space, which is maximised by parametric modelling, and create organic and emotive architecure - buildings that are much more coherent, with every part relating back to a single set of parameters. Therefore architecture is currently at its peak, where buildings are created and treated as whole entities during the entire design process. They are as close to nature as possible. In looking to the future, perhaps entire cities could be designed and planned using these revolutionary design tools, where each sector is linked, creating a truly coherent and functioning environment for society to thrive.

So it is evident that the process of design is a constantly changing field of radical ideas and and spur of the moment changes that allow for a design to be alive. Advancing technology has considerably helped the designer and the architect in meeting more and more ambitious goals. It is obvious that a computer can accurately map out a set of points, lines, and planes, however, can it do more than that? Yes - computational architecture and parametric modelling has enabled the architect to continually discover and develope. The perfection of one single idea is a dated goal as architects can now search the design

in conclusion

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references1 R.F. Woodbury and A.L. Burrow, Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing (2006), 20, 63 – 82. Printed in the USA. Copyright © 2006 Cambridge University Press 0890-0604006 $16.00DOI: 10.10170S0890060406060057

2 http://designmuseum.org/design/zaha-hadid

3 Pages 1-25 from Kalay - Architectures New Media (2004)

4 Woodbury, Robert (2010). Elements of Parametric Design (London: Routledge) pp. 7-48

5 http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/7069401.stm

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Figure 1: http://thestunzfamily.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/black-and-white-tour-singapore-april-2010-020.jpg

Figure 2: http://plusmood.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Zaha-Hadid_Form-In-Motion_04.jpg

Figure 3: http://contemporarypractice.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/villa-savoye.jpg

Figure 4: http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2114/2316671109_2caa4d375d_o.jpg

Figure 5: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Esplanade_theatre_dome.JPG

Figure 6: http://hqworld.net/gallery/data/media/130/louise_bourgeois_sculpture__guggenheim_museum__bilbao__spain.jpg

Figure 7: http://www10.aeccafe.com/blogs/arch-showcase/files/2013/03/vertebrae-staircase-base.jpg

Figure 8: www.journals.cambridge.org

Figure 9: http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/50b4d88c69beddf367000018/zaha-hadid-beko-building-belgrade.jpg

Figure 10: http://b-processor.dk/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/01_36_gmelin_title.jpg

Figures 11 & 12: http://www.architecturemedia.com/aa/aaissue.php?article=18&issueid=200607&typeon=3

Figure 13: http://www.terrywier.com/gallery/large/WaterCube.jpg

image sources