Part B

DESIGN JOURNALSUE WANG 542054

AIR

STUDIO JOURNAL

Contents

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

PART A: EOI 1: CASE FOR INNOVATION

PART B: EOI 2: DESIGN APPROACH

PART C: PROJECT PROPOSAL

REFERENCES

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Contents

WHO AM I?

I am Sue Wang, 3rd year environ-ments student majoring in Architecture.My hobbies include drawing, drawing and also reading. I have very little experince in regards to computer designing whether it be Photoshop or Rhino and I am keen to learn any new techniques that will help me in the future.

WHAT HAVE I DONE?

To the right you can see my lovely first year Virtual Environments project.

The brief was the create a working lanturn which could be worn and light up, and was to be based on the natural process.

INTRODUCTION

3Introduction

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS - 2011 SEMESTER 1

COMBUSTION

The lanturn was to be based on a natural process, and I chose to focus on combustion. Combustion I re-lated to fire, focusing me lanturn on flames, engulfing a person. The lanturn was to be located on the arm engulfing it in flames.

Fire, has the attributes of wild and uncotrollable. How-ever, in my project I explored flames/fire in a control-lable manner, making the flames spiral up in a sym-metrical and systematic manner.

COMBUSTION

Introduction4

Case for Innovation

EOI I: CASE FOR INNOVATION

CONTENTS

ARCHITECTURE AS A DISCOURSE- RHINO WEEK 1

COMPUATIONAL ARCHITECTURE.- RHINO WEEK 2

PARAMETRIC MODELLING- RHINO WEEK 3

CONCLUSION

LEARNING OUTCOMES

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Contents

BEIJING NATIONAL AQUATIC CENTREPTW ARCHITECTS, CSCEC, CCDI, ARUPBEIJING, CHINA2007

The structure of the Beijing Nation-al Aquatic Centre is based on the nat¬ural form of bubbles which was made possible through the use of the Weaire- Phelan structure. A complex 3-Diemen¬tional structure that represents ide¬alized form of equal sized bubbles.

Weaire-Phelan structure is a solution to create computer simulated foam struc-tures. The original problem was how can space be partitioned into cells of equal volume with the least area of sur-face between them, known as the Kel-vin problem. The original solution based on the bitruncated cubic honeycomb (Kelvin Structure) a convex uniform hon-eycomb formed through truncated oc-tahedron a fourteen sided polyhedron with six square faces and eight hexago-nal faces, which for the longest time was perceived as the only and best solution until the Weaire-Phelan structure was discovered. The Weaire-Phelan struc-ture used two finds of cells rather than the one cell type, the first an irregular dodecahedron with pentagonal faces with tetrahedral symmetry. The second is a tetrakaidecahedron, containing two hexagonal and twelve pentagonal faces being of antiprismatic symmetry. In both solutions all faces are curved to mimic the appearance of foam.

Over time we as humans have slowly started to discover new, better and more efficient solutions to problems which is this not what we are trying to achieve? Solutions to problems achieved in the most efficient manner.

This building could only have been made through the use of digital de¬signing tech-nologies. Digital fabrication allows for easy organization of each bubble segment and the precise mea-surement of each individu-al section which would not have been pos-sible through the use of traditional methods.

The precise measurement is also highly im-portant the sheer number and variety in bubble size means by tradi¬tional meth-ods would take a long time to calculate to perfection and also to make individu-alized in form, however, through digital fabrication it can be easily achieved.

The Aquatic Centre appears to be made from many individualized curved pan-els of glass, it however is made using Eth-ylene tet¬rafluoroethylene (EFTE) a type of plastic, a material rarely seen in Ar-chitecture even in modern times. The plastic allows for a light¬er alternative to glass and also has to extra benefit of easily being able to be fabricat¬ed to the precise dimension specifications.

Beijing National Aquatic Centre was originally conceived as a swimming com-petition ground for the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing, China. It has since been transformed to a water theme park, still retaining the theme of water.

“The project demonstrates in a stunning way, how the de-liberate morphing of molecular science, architecture and phenomenology can create an airy and misty atmosphere for a personal experience of water leisure”

— Quote from the Jury report of the Official Awards 9th International Architecture Exhibition – METAMORPH, Venice Biennale

Architecture as a Discourse6

READING BETWEEN THE LINESGIJS VAN VARENBERGHLIMBURG, BELGIUM2011While it is intended to be a sculpture rather than architecture it still employs a new way of thinking and causes one to think what defines architecture. Designed to be in the form of a church, emulating the church spire, dome, cross and arches as seen as common church elements. It borrows architec-tural ele¬ments in the form of scale and ground plan. However, it does not fulfil the ba¬sic requirements of architec-ture unable to provide a basic shelter, through the sculpture being completely transpar¬ent. Nor does it provide the ba-sic clas¬sical function of a church being too small in size for people to congregate under, and also the lack of solidity of the building. However, it does control how the light is shown through the building, similar to how traditional churches control light through the usage of stain glassed windows and positioning of windows, creating an atmospheric environment.

The sculpture is based on the idea to al¬ways be able to see the neighbour-ing sur¬rounding environment and seen through its transparency. In order to pro-vide a unique visual experience of ex-periment, reflec¬tion, a physical involve-ment with the end result and the input of the viewer; and also to provide a unique visual ex¬perience of experiment, re-flection, a physical involvement with the end result and the input of the viewer. Never before has there ever been some¬thing created to be transpar-ent in this manner, especially with-out glass. While not explicitly stated, the church must have some elements of digital fabrication spe¬cifically for each individual steel panel and column pre-emptively calculated to perfec-tion with the use of digital technol¬ogy and especially the exact placement of each steel layer, one wrong dimen¬sion could ruin the integrity of the piece.

While the building is classified as a sculp¬ture it quite clearly push-es the bound¬aries of how we de-fine architecture. Is it art? A habit-able living space? Or is even just the form able to classify Read¬ing Be-tween the Lines as architecture?

The church has be-come “an transparent

object of art"

- Architizer.com

CHURCH OF SAINT-PIERRELE CORBUSIERFIRMINY, FRANCE2006

The Church of Saint Pierre was the last major proj-ect made by Modernist Charles-Edouard Jean-neret (Le Corbusier), completed after his death in 2006. Corbusier is well known for his five points of architecture, the pilotis, free façade, open plan, roof top garden and horizontal windows, that marked a new age for architecture, Modernism.

The church uses some of Corbusier’s five points of architecture, mostly the usage of pilotis, free façade and an open floor plan; it also uses Cor-busier’s signatures of ramps as the main method of movement throughout the building. It was originally designed as church however due to the local political issues, decreed that state funded projects could not be used for religious purposes and was thus converted into a cultural venue.

While it’s outwards and inward appearance does not match that of a traditional church it does hold the key features used in traditional churches, the top two floors of the building is a large open plan that allows for mass congregation, which is necessary for churches to allow for large seating areas for people to hear the word of God. This large open plan can only have been achieved with the new technologies of the time of an open plan and a free facade; pilotis is used to support the building and the free façade is used in order to open up the space of the building, thus al-lowing for large open spaces. While the church seemingly does not hold the traditional dome and spire, it has actually been reinterpreted by Corbusier, the main building form seems to mimic that of a traditional spire and when look-ing inside the building, a dome like form appears inside similar to that of traditional churches. The church uses interesting technologies to control

external light into different forms inside the building, creating waves of light or holes of light creating an effect of a star lit night.

Controlling of light has been used throughout his-tory in churches as a manner of creating mystical atmosphere inside the church, using minimal light in order to darken the room and to feel the pres-ence of God himself or using stain glass windows as a manner of communicating to the masses. The Church of Saint-Pierre is the same, using minimal lighting to create atmosphere similar to that of tra-ditional churches darkening the room as to solely make the mass concentrate on the priest’s words.This thus brings up the issues of what is a church and should they all be the same? Most church-es of the baroque or gothic period all follow the same formula all following the same plan, and same key techniques, only slightly altering the stain glass windows or outside façade. Yet the Church of Saint-Pierre is clearly different to major-ity of churches, and if no one had told me it was originally a church I would not have believed to be so. Despite its appearance, however, it does hold all the key functional aspects of a church, making the Church of Saint-Pierre and interest-ing approach to the problem that is a church.

This building is a contrast to Reading Between the Lines, Reading between the Lines, holds the ap-pearance of a classical church yet cannot be used functionally like a church. In contrast the Church of Saint-Pierre in appearance does not seem like a traditional church but can function as a church allowing for a large space for people to congregate to. However, both can control light in a unique manner creating an atmospheric en-vironment to mimic that of a traditional church.

RHINO GRASSHOPPERORGANISED SPACES

13Case for Innovation

The first trial with Rhino Grasshopper was to form a line of cubes that arrayed around a centre point. The cubes also must go from larger to smaller, however an extra chanl-lenged was made to make it so the faces of the cubes were just touching, that is so there were no gaps between the cubes

The first step was to make the cubes and set it to a curve. Then array the curves unto line evenly spaced. Then to array the line into eight parts even spaced to form a circular formation. Then to make the cubes arrange into large to small from the centre to the ends of the lines.

The next and hardest step was to make the cubes to be “just“ touching, However, in the end I could not make the cube fac-es to just touch. I found many sources say-ing to try tessaltion, however that would

lead to an entirely different form and still didn’t make the cubes to be just touching. I find the cause for this is most likely due to the way the cubes were arranged on the line, making them evenly spaced, there-fore limiting the control of the placement of the cubes. A solutio may have been to removed the cubes on the line then setting points of the surface of the cubes to then making the points on the surface meet.

This experiment was an interesting trial of Rhino Grasshopper to test the capa-bilities of the program. Discovering the basics of the program, finding how to make the most basic shapes and how they can be arranged and ordered.

This can be useful in design-ing the Gateway, to make a de-sign through the ordering of shapes.

EXPERIMENT 1

14

Arrangement of arrayed cubes on a series of lines, all cubes and equal distance apart and same sized.

Top: Wireframe of cubes ar-rayed on a line

Bottom: Rendered with no lines

End result of the cubes fol-lowing the lines to form a vortex like appearance.

The cubes range from smaller to larger ex-tending out from the centre point. Each cube significantly smaller than the previous

Architecture as a Discourse

WEAVERBIRD

Convoluted InferencesAndrea Graziano, Alessio Erioli, Davide del

Giudice, Mirco Bianchini and Alessandro Zomparelli

MIGZ Festival, Moscow2011

“WeaverBird gives architects more geometric control and al-lows them to create complex surface structures that join in orderly ways, yet in arbitrary configurations.”

Convoluted Inferences, was formed through the experimental Rhino Plug-In, Weaver Bird. WeaverBird is a topologi¬cal editor, focusing on creating hard to draw shapes that go beyond the estab¬lished tilling patterns. The project itself was an experiment to test the realms of the pro-gram, testing morphology, organ¬isation and how patterns can have dy-namic behavioural effects and how the inter-act with their surrounding environ¬ment to create an “organic complexity.”

WeaverBird refers to the real life animal the Weaver Bird, where the male weaver bird creates intricate nests to attract a mate. WeaeverBird hopes to emulate the “or¬ganic complexity“of their nest, cre¬ating a repeating pattern that is hard to hand create and complex sur-face structures that join in an orderly way.


The main usage of digital techniques is to fab-ricate designs that are hard or near impossible to create through traditional means. This proj-ect highlights one of the key results that can be achieved through digital design, and that is the ability to create precise infinite and continuous surface from any mesh. Through traditional tech-niques it’s hard to draw a constant and precise repeating pattern especially that of the com-plexity Convoluted Inferences exhibits, therefore demonstrating the ability of computation design, in its ease of helpfulness in regards to people.

A new advantage WeaverBird brings to digi-tal design is the ability to create com¬plex til-ing patterns that had were hard to achieve even by digital techniques and also the ability to be able to control the position of the tiling on the surface, allowing for greater interaction with the piece while during its conceptual phase. While through digital design we can create pre-cise uniform patterns and achieve complex forms not available through traditional methods. Pro-grams still cannot cal¬culate human error and the environment surrounding the project. While it may seem ridiculous to consider human error, the trans-fer over from digital to physical will have drastic changes, we as humans cannot make things as precise as a computer can, therefore the transfer over will not work as exact as the digital design. While there are ways of prefabricating materials it is still not perfect, but closer to in situ construction.

Also digital design creates designs in perfect condi-ons and do not con¬sider the local climate and sur-rounding environments, and is something we our-selves must consider when designing using digital methods, especial¬ly since the surrounding envi-ronment can have a large impact on the de¬sign. Therefore while digital computation is great at creating uniform com¬plex designs, it still cannot take calculate external factors into the designs.

18Computational Architecture

GECO

Case for Innovation

Shenzhen Border StationSPAN (Matias Del Campo and San-

dra Manninger with Federico La Piccirella and Filippo Nassetti)

HongKong, China2011

The HongKong Shenzhen Border Station is an en¬try to a competition regarding the new design of the Hong-Kong Shenzhen Border Station. The Entry to the contest uses new computing technique and program known as GECO, a prototype plug-in for Rhino. GECO is a com-puting device that allows us¬ers to “export complex geometries to evaluate the design performance of the project.” In using the GECO program, the architects were able to cre¬ate a building that interacted with its surrounding elements. Especially concerning itself with sunlight, how to maximize sunlight and how to control it.

Computation design is a new tool in which Archi¬tects have in expressing their art. Digital design is able to test the parameters on a digital medium without wasting resources, also able to create a re¬peating pattern along a surface, creating a uniform and pre-cise pattern that otherwise cannot be repro¬duced by hand or produced less precise. There are, how-ever, limitations to digital design, in using de¬sign we thus further limit ourselves in analysing and un-derstanding both the site and the design itself.

The main issue concerned with digital design is that the programs are making our lives easier, making it so that we think less about our design choices and rely more on the programs to do our work for us. This is not nec¬essarily true; we still put a lot of cognitive effort into our designs through digital design. We are still aware of what we are doing, how each element affects and in¬teracts with another element and we still place a high impor-tance on thoughtful/conscious design (planning each and every move we make) however, we no lon¬ger start considering the surrounding environment and how our design might interact with the surrounding site.

GECO is a program devised to combat this prob¬lem, we can now analyse our site through the use of digital technologies, making this a huge leap for-ward for digital design. But this still raises the ques-tion of how much cognitive effort we place in our designs and if we are just relying too heav¬ily on digital computation to do the work for us.

“GECO allows the user to export com-plex geometries, eval-uate the design’s per-formance in Ecotect, and import the re-sults back into Grass-hopper, without re-working the modelr e p e a t e d l y . ”


RHINO GRASSHOPPER

An exploration on the lofting capabilities of Rhino Grasshopper. Creating a pavillion con-sisting of interweaving and interjoing pipes.

The first one was a basic lofting of three semi circle curves in a straight line.

The end result was a basic pavillion in which the vertical and horizontal pipes interracted at straight angles, forming evenly spaced quadranal shapes between the veritcal and horizontal pipes.

The second was a more experimental to see how the interjoining pipes would interact if the pavillion was curved and in a circular or spiral formation.

The end result formed a less evenly spaced product, the pipes were more irregular and and more curvy, formatng a topological map sort of formation.

This was trialled twice, once just one arc and one spines, the other was trialled wiht two arcs at 90 degree angles from each other.

The singular arc had a lot less pipes than the pavillion with two arcs, which resulted in more pipes in the seconds creating a more uniform organisation of pipes, and less empy space.

PAVILLION - PATTERNING


EXPERIMENT 2

End result of the experimentation, ending with a form that seems silimar to the Beijing Bird’s Nest. I would have preferred to end up with a result that was similar to the first being more unified, however, the way the surface loops around causes much of the pframe pipes to intersect forming this end result.

First trial The first trial had only one arc spine which left some spaces lack-ing horizontal lines result-ing in just vertical pipes.

Issues appeared in loft-ing, where the curves were selected incorrectly causing the surface to intersct at some points.


Also nearing the top of the pavillion the pipes start to mimic the topogra-pical lines on a map.

MERCEDES-BENZ MUSEUMUN STUDIO’SSTUTTGARD, GERMANY2006The Mercedes-Benz Museum is recently built parametric building designed for the Mercedes-Benz company in order to show case their cars. The main form of the building is three overlapping circles layers over eight floors in a twisting spiral, the main bulk of the building forming a double helix. This double helix formation is based on the “Mobius Strip” and is an ab-stract design on the Mercedes-Benz Logo. The “Mobius Strip” is a 180 degree loop forming a continuous closed surface, the main concept behind the Mobius strip

"The only solution was to control the geometry of the building as completely as possible using the latest computer technology...... Digitally controlling the geometry made it possible to incorporate any kind of change quickly and efficiently, immediately knowing the effects of that change on all other aspects of the building." - Ben van Berkel, UN Studio's co-founder and director.

is to traverse both sides of the strip with-out ever having to cross over the edge. The concept of the Mobius strip fits the concept of a museum perfectly, a muse-um is made for viewing, and the Mobius strip’s base concept is maximising space allowing for easy movement. Movement naturally plays a large role in museums, as it is required for people to move around the building looking at the sights. It’s also necessary to control the flow of move-ment in order to prevent customers from walking in the same area multiple times.

* I feel this is awfully ironic since here we are sitting here discussing/reading architecture instead of engaging in it…

control of the building, able to con-trol the design of the building at every point. And if there were any problems it was able to be easily rectified or if any changes were made it can be shown in relation to its surrounding elements and how it affects the design as a whole.

Essentially parametric designing prevents “talkitecture” where people just discuss architecture* its theories and how we should approach problems, never actu-ally picking up a pen and paper and de-signing. Never actually engaging in the problem, finding or working a way to the solution, therefore we as designers must always engage in the problem. Paramet-ric designing allows for a deeper engage-ment than some computational and traditional designs allow for, able to con-tinually rectify the problem without just adding new things and erasing the old.

Architecture was created as a means to resolve a problem and parametric mod-elling is just another method we use to solve the problem. Traditional designs and some computational designs are rigid and are mostly based on just add-ing and erasing, however, with paramet-ric design it isn’t about adding or eras-ing elements but also about relating and repairing; making it much more flexible than previous design methods, allowing for more control over the design of the building. The design of the Mercedes-Benz Museum was parametrically de-signed and according to the head ar-chitect of the building would not have been possible without the use paramet-ric techniques. In using parametric mod-elling allowed for the reduction of the "labyrinth" into a single diagram or map, showing the capacities of parametric modelling which allowed for the easy

The Carpenter Centre Puppet Theatre was created in honour of Le Corbus-ier, whose only North American con-tribution was the Carpenter Centre at Harvard, where the puppet theatre is located inside of. As a reflection of Cor-busier's work the naturally corresponds

CARPENTER CENTREPIERRE HUYGHECAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTSDATE: UNKNOWN

The main feature of the theatre is the ramp, a corresponding theme in all of Corbusier’s work. This project was para-metrically designed in order to highlight how parametric design can be used to solve problems regarding limitation in space and the surrounding environment.

Parametric Modelling

PUPPET THEATRE

26

Using parametric design in this project demonstrates the flexibility of parametric design as it can relate and consider its surrounding environment; in order to cre-ate a design that does not conflict with the existing surroundings but rather inter-acts and compliments it. This was heavily important for the theatre since it was to be placed under a existing structure, that was not allowed touch the existing struc-ture either (so as to not damage the ex-isting,) thus need to find a way to be self supporting, fit precisely under the existing building and not distract from the existing.

Therefore using parametric design was able to figure out how it was able to sit under the building precisely without damaging the existing and for it to be self supporting. This was achieved through the patterning of elongated diamond patterns, parametric design helped to formulate exactly how the panels would fit together and to make sure they would not separate (unless needed to.) The tight fit of the diamonds allowed for structural integrity and this was achieved through parametric design in order to create a design most efficiently and effectively.

The parametric design allows for an in-teresting computational take on Cor-busier’s key ideas, making something of this time using the ideas of the old.

The main issue concerned with para-metric design is that there is no unifica-tion of style seen in the past where if one person developed a style it would be quickly adopted by all and replicated. However this has changed and there is no longer a unification in style, this is the cause of globalisation and new tech-nologies. While globalisation may make it seem that it would be easier for a uni-fied style to appear this is not the case, as globalisation allows for seeing another’s work and altering it making it their own and more innovative and everything dif-fers based on our own personal experi-ential and the cultural that influences us, each time creating something new. New technologies allows for the abilities to try new things and the alternation of the old. While there is no unity in appearance we do hold the same sentimental values of striving towards innovation to always try to make new things to be innovative and this is expressed through our work.

RHINO GRASSHOPPERORIGAMIThis week’s task was to form an object that is defined purely by trian-gles that is inspired by the Japanese art of paper folding “origami.”

Triangles are used being the only shape that no matter how much is modified always makes a surface completely flat. Any more points or curves on the surface and the form can be bended slightly; therefore using triangles on grasshopper it can simulate the appearance of origami. Triangles are also used in most computational designs as a means to create the clos-est appearance of a circular or smooth surface; this due to triangles being the only shape with the least amount of sides.

An example of this is the Aami Park in Melbourne Asutralia, as triangle panels are used form the appearnce of a round-ed shape. For better smoothness of the shape much smaller triangle panels would be used, however this park was built to demonstrate the capabilities of computational designs.

MELBOURNE RECTNGULAR STADIUM

(AAMI PARK)Cox Architects and PlannersMelbourne, Australia2010

EXPERIMENT 3

28Parametric Modelling

Revisitng week 2 computation design and using the set curves changed the surface from a pipped surface to that of a rigid, origami like surface.

Since the original pavillion was made up of eight curves it allowed me to play around with the length of the pavillion and how long each triangle panel is.The left demonstartes an elongated triangles, the points chosen at polar ends and a middle arc to add more depth to the pavillion. The right shows a slightly shorter but also highlights the triangular patterns on the pavillion.

This final origami was actually made on mistake I ac-cidently reselected the second arc as the third arc resulting in the jagged line ending in sharp triangles.

This was then joined with a shorter version of the two above pavilions, this could lead to an in-teresting design of repeating patterns altering between jagged and smooth ever repeating.

The final end result it through the combination of two different baked experiments that were positioned together through the sharing of a similar arc to create this interesting experiment.

In designing for the Wyndham City Gateway Project, the design will be formed through the usage of parametric modelling from Rhi-no Grasshopper. Parametric Design is about innovation, change and flexibility, which naturally should be a reflection of us as a so-ciety, and open minded society, open to change and search-ing for new and improved solutions, constantly moving forward.

All the research up until now has been to allow for the freedom of the mind and to understand the fundamentals of parametric design. It is necessary to understand the fundamentals and theories behind para-metric design in order to make conscious designs and to not just do whatever looks good. The design shall always be evolving and chang-ing until the final design to demonstrate how necessary change is to find the best possible solution to the problem and to always try new things.

Therefore the Wyndham City Gateway Project will be a re-flection of our present like so much architecture before us has been; to reflect us as a society of innovation, cutting edge, con-nectivity and technology. So that when people of the future look back at the project, I want them to see how it is we were as a society and this project shall be a symbol of our present.


CONCLUSION

At the beginning of the semester I held a negative view towards compu-tational design not from a bad experience with Virtual but just to me it al-ways felt lazy, that people were using it as a quick solution to their home-work. Especially since many of those people don’t know how to draw (which I always felt was a fundamental skill needed for architecture.)

However, through these past few weeks I have learned that compu-tational design is also another tool we can use to further improve our designs able to accomplish things we can’t do. Some people think computational design may limit our designing capabilities; however, it can also make our designs more flexible and fluid. Giving us an-other means to express our creativity, and through computation de-signs create buildings that previously could not been done so. While yes I do sometimes feel people use computational design as a lazy method for designing, (arguable as there are many people I know who last minute their designs by using CAD or Rhino.) I now have a better appreciation for computational and parametric designs.

For virtual environments it was more about developing the basics of Rhino, making a form transferring it to Rhino and applying a pattern and texture to the form then finally creating the end result. However, through these past few weeks Rhino and Grasshopper has shown far more capabilities than what was demonstrated during Virtual Envi-ronments. Grasshopper allows you to control every aspect of the de-sign, and thus see it in relation to other aspects of the design. This knowledge if I had earlier would have made my old work not so rig-id and would most likely be more fluid and free in form, creating a patterned work that was not so predictable and more interesting.


LEARNING OUTCOMES

EOI II: DESIGN APPROACH

Design Approach

CONTENTS

DESIGN FOCUS- TESSELLATION

CASE STUDY 1.0- VOLTADOM

CASE STUDY 2.0- TESSELION

TECHNIQUE- DEVELOPMENT- PROTOTYPES

TECHNIQUE PROPOSAL

LEARNING OBJECTIVES | OUTCOMES

Contents

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TESSELATIONPanelisation, Repetitive Elements (Heterogenous) defining the whole (Homogenous), breaking up of complex surfaces by repeating elements.

Studio Air | LMS: Case Study 1.0

33Design Approach

Fig. 2.1: Ceramic Tiling Tessellation

My chosen area of interest for the rest of semester is tesselation. Tessella-tion is generally regarded as the tiling of planes, using one or more different geometric shapes, that just touch (as in they have no gaps or do not overlap.)

Tessellation, can be found everywhere, whether it be in artworks, like that of M. C. Escher, in architecture (as a form of in-spiration) or even in everyday floor tiling.

Below, is an example of a flat (2D) tes-sellation, it folows the rules stated ear-lier, of different geometric shapes that do not overlap or have gaps. The dif-ferent geometries allow for a variety of forms to be shown on the tessellation.

The cernamic tiling demonstatres how tesselation can be used in differ-ent ways , the tilies or all differently co-loured to form an extra layer of complex-ity in patterning to the tessellating form.

34Design Focus

Fig 2.2: Polyp. Lux, SOFTlab

Polyp. Lux is an installation hung at St. Pat-rick’s Catholic school in New York City de-signed by SOFTlab. Ployp. Lux plays with light, each panel has LED lights attached to it, giving a spatial experience to those who walk under it. The form was created through gravitational forces, pulling the original surface with panels down, making the ones as the bottom larger and tighter packed while those at the top thinner and more spaced out. The panels were con-structed through the use of Mylar panels,

these give the installation its flexibility and complement the usage of gravita-tional fields, pulling the form down. The shapes are all tessellating only touch-ing at the points, these points connect-ed through the usage of little joints. The tessellation of these panels is interesting since they morph, closer to the vault they’re larger and nearer to the ceil-ing they are smaller, lighter and thin-ner. This plays with people as thinner should be hung not the one that hangs.

POLYP. LUXSOFTLAB

ST PATRICK’S CATHOLIC SCHOOL2011

VOUSSOIR CLOUDIWAMOTO SCOTTSOUTHERN CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE GALLERY, LOS ANGELES2008The Voussoir Cloud iuses tessellation as part of its surface expression. Gaps between the petals of the ‘cloud’ create sensorial effects of light and shadows. Tessellation is also incorporated as an important part of the structure as petals are packed tighter together at the base of the vaults, in or-der to act as members of compression.

Voussoir Cloud explores the structural paradigm of pure compression cou-pled with an ultra-light material system. The design fills the gallery with a system of vaults to be experienced both from within and from above. The edges of the vaults are delimited by the entry soffit and the two long gallery walls. Spatial-ly, they migrate to form greater density at these edges. Structurally, the vaults rely on each other and the three walls to retain their pure compressive form. The fourteen segmented pieces also re-solve to make a series of five columns that support the interior and back edge.

Voussoir Cloud attempts to defamiliar-ize both structure and the wood ma-terial to create conflicted readings of normative architectural typologies. It is a light, porous surface made of com-pressive elements that creates atmo-sphere with these luminous wood pieces, and uses this to gain sensorial effects.

VOLTADOMSKYLAR TIBBITSMIT CAMPUS, MASSACHUSETTS2011

37Design Approach

Fig 2.4: VoltaDom, Skylar Tibbits

[1] <http://www.evolo.us/architecture/voltadom-installation-skylar-tibbits-sjet/>[2]<http://designplaygrounds.com/deviants/voltadom-by-skylar-tibbits/>

VoltaDom‘s by Skylar Tibbits is an installa-tion for MIT 150th Anniversary Celebration and FAST Arts Festival, installed at between the corridor of MIT’s building 56 & 66.

VoltaDom is lined on the concrete and glass hallway, allowing for the light to seep through the oculi of the “vaults” which when out with the thick-ened “coned” surface creates a dra-matic effect of shadows and light.

The aim of VoltaDom was to emulate historic cathedrals, inspired by their vaulted ceilings. The reason for revisit-ing vaulted cathedral ceilings was to find a contemporary equivalent[1] testing various assembly and fabrication tech-niques to find an innovative equivalent.

VoltaDom also hopes to expand the no-tion of architectural “surface panel,”[2] by not just panalising a surface with simple two dimensional shapes, but rather giv-ing it depth and volume. Demonstrated as the “panels” are all curved and meet at points rather than just stay linear.

This is achieved through the “intensify-ing” the depth of the double curved surface, making it more dramatic, how-ever limitations were placed in order to make the VoltaDom easy to construct and fabricate. This is done through turn-ing the curved vaults into strips and assembled through the simplicity of “rolling.” Seen above, they are held to-gether through the usage of bolts that keep the strips in theor intended form.

38Case Study 1.0

VOLTADOM | MATRIX

39Design Approach

Number of Points of Instertion Radius of Oculus Attractor Points [Cones]

TECHNIQUES

ITERA

TION

S

number = 6

number = 13

number = 20

number = 28

number = 35

v min = 0.0 bottom right

v min = 0.9

v min = 0.7

v min = 0.4

v min = 0.2 off centre

top left, bottom right

top left, bottom right, centre

left

40Case Study 1.0

centre

Polygons Attractor Points [Oculus] Attractor Points [Density]

squares

pentagons

nonagons

hexagons & sqaures

left

right

left centre

left centre

top left

middle top

top left

bottom right

bottom right

hexagons

The cones were placed on a regular grid, and through the usgae of attractor points, from the point lead-ing out the voronoi cones would become larger, this while aes-theticly pleasing, loses its tessellating form.

VOLTADOM | MATRIX

41Design Approach

Number of Points of Instertion Radius of Oculus Attractor Points [Cones]

Radius of oculus uniformly changes the radius of all the cones to equal sizes, the larger the radius the larger the occulus be-comes. Too large an oculus the integrity of the cones is lost and start overlapping.

VoltaDom is a originally constructed from tightly packed voronoi cones on a plane. The number of points inserted means the number of cones inserted is different as well, too small a number and there would be gaps, too large and they would be packed too tightly thus the most uniform collection was chosen.

42Case Study 1.0

The voroni’s were changed into polygons, differ-ing in the number of side.

The resulting form creat-ed interesting forms, how-ever were unuseable, due to the fact the shapes overlapped one another.

In this trial the oculus size was changed based on an atrractor point. The closer the voronoi was to the attractor point the smaller the oculus size was.

This lead to overlapping at the larger the oculus sizes are.

Polygons Attractor Points [Oculus] Attractor Points [Density]

The last trial was density in which attractors used to gather the cones closer together, while this was aesthetic in appearance, it lost it’s tesselating form and fo-cus was reverted back to the other iterations.

After trialling of the different forms the voronoi cones could take, they were given height so as to give the cones volume and shape.

Using same theories as before height can be altered using at-tractor points and the can grdu-ally become smaller or taller.

Height

Fig. 2.5: Tesseliom, skylarTibbits

43Design Approach

TESSELIONSKYLAR TIBBITS

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSLYVANIA2008

Fig. 2.5: Tesseliom, skylarTibbitsTesselion was an installation at the Phila-delphia University Architecture and De-sign building. A building that demon-strates a usage of planar quadrilateral meshes a growing interest in the archi-tectural community,[4] as they can make the construction of seemingly complex surfaces easier. Tesselion was built to demonstrate the capabilities of using quadrilateral meshes and their ease of construction, used to answer the prob-lems of creating flat panelisation of free form surfaces, thus making construction more efficient and economically friendly.

Tesselion sets out to create a form that is a solution to the problem that is construc-tion of complex forms that are derived from flat sheets of surface. Tibbits attempt is successful, creating a form that winds around and curves, pushing the materi-allity of the original material to it’s limits. The success of this project demonstatre how we can make the most of our materials. The usage of quadrilaterial pan-els also vastly complements this proj-ect, creating a form through cuts out of a planar surface and curving them into something much more complex.

44Case Study 2.0

"Tesselion is a full scale prototype installation showing the pos-sibilities for constructing doubly curved surfaces from flat sheet material"

- Skylar Tibbits[3]

[3]http://www.dezeen.com/2008/08/13/tesselion-by-skylar-tibbits/[4]http://www.dezeen.com/2008/08/13/tesselion-by-skylar-tibbits/

REVERSE ENGINEERING

45Design Approach

STEP 1: Curves Lofted

STEP 2: Panellisation

STEP 3: Fenestration Mapping

STEP 4: Culled using Repulsor Points

First step was to form the surface the panels would be based on, a simple curved surface was made, through three different curves that were then lofted.

Second step, was the panellisation of quadrangular shapes, that would fol-low along the surface. This was easily achieved through the use of Grasshop-per plug-in LunchBox which has preset panelling tools., using the Quad tool.

Next was to create the fenestrations (small holes) on the surface in each individual quadrant. This was the hardest task and was only achieved through the mapping of small rect-angles at the corners of each quad-rant. There are probably other meth-ods which we will try in the near future.

Lastly, the fenestrations were culled using repulsor points so as to mimic tessellation.

Similaities:- Curvature form of the grasshopper definition- Rectangluar panels follow the surface and are still touching- Panels are planar and can modified- Fenestration was successfully imple-mented onto the surface, mirrioring the original.

Differences:- Fenestration not an exact replica of the original, the original most likely fol-lows a rule while ours was relatively random.

46Case Study 2.0

M. C. ESCHER SKY AND WATER IMC ESCHER1938

47Design Approach

M. C. Escher is an artist well know for his tessellating works. Sky and Water I is one such work and is a large ba-sis for our parametic design in cre-ating a morhping tesselating form.

The main focus of the wood cut is the bird and the fish representing the sky and the water, slowly combing together and con-trasting through imagery and colour usage.

This work shows clear tesselation as the fish and bird while ever nearing nev-er overlap each other, however they slowly do not touch and their gaps be-tween each other become larger, yet the shape of the fish or bird is still visible between the spacing of the shapes.

Escher’s work depicts the morhping, of a bird (the sky) into a fish (the wa-ter) and vice versa. Not only the bird and the fish slowly morph into each other they slowly change from detailed to more abstract, the abstract fitting in closer to the neighbouring shapes.

Positive and negeative space is used cre-ating a large contrast. between the two figures. The empty space between the fish or the bird demonstrate how shapes not used can also add a layer of com-plexity to a work, demonstrating to not focus on just the positive space to to consider the negative as well, combing together to bring harmony in the work.

14Technique: DevelopmentFig 2.6 Sky and Water I, M.C. Escher

MORPHING TESSELLATION

49Design Approach

Our emphasis during the semes-ter was “morhping tessellation”, to form a structure whose geometery would gradually alter into anoth-er form. This inspiration came from M.C Escher’s tessellating latterns.

On the net we found an example of one titled “Islamic Stars,“ which appropriate-ly demonstrated the formation of circlu-ar polygons into stars. Using this definition we gathered a basic understanding of how to create a morphing tessellation and played with the controls, altering the rate in which the shapes changed and the shapes they themselves turned into.

MORPHING TESSELLATION

50Technique: Development

Different Iterations of Graph Mapper

51Design Approach

After experimenting with the pla-nar definition it was time to make the definition have volume and we experimented with extrusion.

We used two types of extrusion, straight extrusion and a extrude to point, the extrude to point cre-ated a interesting pattern from the top view, however would be very complicated to fabricate and the straight extrusion, while easier to fabricate would be very plain.

EXTRUSION

SURFACE DEFORMATION


surface relatively uniform, stars evenly places, stars also follow the curves of the surface, bending along with the surface,

Large deforma-tion at neck, making it narrow, the curves are closer and thus the stars are de-formed with the surface, making then elongated.

One curved rised higher than the rest, causing the stars to expand and stretch.

Not as obvious but surfce made wider, causing stars to be-come larger and ex-panded into compa-rision to the previous.

conversely the further apart the curves were the wider and larger they became.

Through testing of the curves and surface, it is concluded that when two curves a near the star definition becomes more squashed, conversely the further the two curves are the wider and larger a star panel becomes. Using this we can form an interesting surface for the star to be on that deforms the stars which can add an extra layer of diversity to the deifintion.

After the experimentation with the mor-phing tessellating pattern the next step was to transfer it unto a surface. Us-ing the Map to Surface tool. A surface was created through three different curves that were lofted on grasshopper.Control points on the curves where kept one as the changing of the curves changed the surface shape and consequently also changed the shape of the tesselation. The closer the curves were the shapes were more squished and elongated,

MATRIX | FABRICATIONTECHNIQUES

ITERA

TION

S Number of Panels Graph Mapper Rib Structure

53Design Approach

Rib Structure Notches

The basis of this matrix was to experiment the limits of our definition and what we can do to fabricate our tessellating pattern.

The first demonstrates the number of panels used, too many and there wouldn’t be a large differentia-tion between the shapes.

Graph Mapper is used to control the number of panels and the rate in which they morph.

Rib structure is used through the extrusion of the edges of the surface. Those capped give an extra finish to the design.

Underneath rib structure, in which the shapes would be bolted onto. Viewed from above the structure can’t be seen however for motorist travelling under the rib support would be highly visible, this may add aesthetic appeal to some.

Notching, can also be used, however, these may potentially ruin the integrity of the tessellating structure, but may be one of the cleanest method.


TESSELLATING STRUCTUREEventual model that is to be fabricated, in the form of a tunnel. This demonstrates the form of the strcuture, how it will be places and shows how the shapes alter ever so slightly in the next shape.

55Design Approach

TESSELLATING STRUCTURE


FABRICATION

57Design Approach

1. Extrude the surface and create tabs connecting them2. A rib structure in which the tessellating shapes would be bolted unto them3. A notch system, where they would be connected using different types of clips.

Our model was fabricated through the usage of paper; the choice for this was so we could have tabs that would join the tessellation together. The definition was un-rolled into multiple long strigs (so as to prevent individually making each shape) connected to each other through tabs the hexagon surfaces holding them together

The hardest decision we had to make concerning fabrication was deciding how we were to fabri-cate the model in real life, since if they were cut planar then the pieces would all fall out and would no longer be tessellating. We there-fore came up with three solutions:

58Technique: Prototypes

fo the tessellating pattern, we needed to place wedges between each shape in order from them to keep their patter.

In the future we would like to replace the paper hexagon plates with plastic ones as a means to experiment further with light and shadows, and also to see how a notched system would par against the tab system.

For simplicity’s sake we eventually de-cided to fabricate a tab system model, which was to be constructed from pa-per (similar to our virtual models.) The extra advantage of a extruded model with tabs was that it gave our tessellat-ing pattern an extra depth and the use of paper made our model surprising stiff and solid. In order to keep the integrity

MODEL MAKING

59Design Approach

FABRICATIONAn unexpected result from our model that was a result of fabricating with tabs was the continuous nature of each tes-sellation strip. This was caused as a result of making the tessellation explode into long strips. Thus making the final result to be long and continuous, causing the connections between each shape to be quite delicate and thin, whilst also main-taining structural integrity.

The main advantage of our design is its morphing tessellating shapes, and the altering use of surface and holes, that allows for interesting shadows to be formed. After the fabrication of our model, we experiment with light-ing and shadows to see what shad-ows could be formed from our model.

Shadows

FABRICATION

60Technique: Prototypes

Example of shadows at differ-ent times of day, emulated through the use of flash lights.DEpending on where the light source is the shad-ows are deformed or show clear tessellation.

Sun Movement

TECHNIQUE PROTOTYPESMODELSTessellating StructureStephanie Choy 540190, John Duong 540254, Sue Wang 542054Melbourne, Australia2013

TECHNIQUE PROTOTYPESMODELS

This form of tessellation proposed for Wyndham is advantageous due to the nature in which it is to be constructed.

The design is to be constructed from long thin strips, these strips thus make it easier to transport to location, and due to the length of the strips little joinery will be needed for construction cutting costs.

The delicate nature of the connects between each panel is also advanta-geous as an aesthetic appeal, as it will inspire awe in those that past as they wonder how such a delicate structure is able to hold its own on the ground. The delicate connections if seen at a dis-tance will also seem to make the struc-ture to be floating and lightweight.

63

TECHNIQUE PROPOSAL

Technique: Proposal

“The installation will enhance the physical environment through the introduction of a visual arts component. It will have longevity in its appeal, encouraging ongoing interest in the Western Interchange by encouraging further reflection about the installation beyond a first glance.”

- Western Gateway Design Project[5]

LEARNING OUTCOMESThrough the past few weeks I have new found respect for parametric modeling in specific to those who use Grasshopper.

Over the past few weeks through try-ing to create an original design in grass-hopper and failing miserably multiple times, wishing we could “just do this on Rhino” instead. However this only rein-forced the idea that parametric design is a new tool for architects to use in de-signing,.Creating innovative and com-plex forms that often times can only be created through parametic deisgning.

The main influencer of this belief was through the reverse engineering where we had to recreate an already established design. Our own reverse engineer while aestheticallty close, does not still have the complexity found in the original, and we could not get closer than what we had.

While through the past few weeks I have learnt many grasshopper techniques and can control many parameters, and am much for familiar with Grasshop-per. However there is still much to learn in Grasshopper and I feel as though I have only scratched the surface.

The main criticism towards our design dur-ing the mid-semester presentation was that our model was too simple and need-ed to be more complex and needed to play with the tessellating shapes more, what we would do with it the shapes.

Reflection on the comments the panel made, our team has decided to further push the shapes we could potentially cre-ate through the tessellating pattern. Using an image sampler to make the morphing more random, changing the extrusion heights so some are thicker than others, making the shapes not all similar in size, making them go small to large or vice vera. Changing the surface the tessella-tion lies on, rather than just a simple arch or tunnel and as demonstrated earlier; how the deformation of a surface from a tra-ditional arch can simultaneously deform the tessellating shapes and what sort of shadow effect that can create. Over the next few weeks our team hopes to create a better, more innovative and complex model than what was shown in week 8.

64Learning Outcomes

Tessellating StructureStephanie Choy 540190,

John Duong 540254, Sue Wang 542054

Melbourne, Australia2013

REFERENCES

RESOURCES:

N/AReferences

EOI I: CASE FOR INNOVATION

Title: Ceramic Tiling Tessellation Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Ce-ramic_Tile_Tessellations_in_Marrakech.jpg

Fig. 1.1: Polyp. Lux, SOFTlabSource: http://www.designboom.com/design/softlab-polyplux/

Fig. 1.2: Voussoir Cloud, Iwamoto ScottSource: http://www.archivenue.com/voussoir-cloud-by-iwamotoscott-with-buro-happold/

Fig. 1.3: VoltaDom, skylarTIBBITSSource: http://designplaygrounds.com/deviants/voltadom-by-skylar-tibbits/

Fig. 1.4: Tesselion, skylarTIBBITSSource: http://www.suckerpunchdaily.com/wp-content/up-loads/2009/12/skylar.jpg

Fig. 1.5: Sky and Water I, M. C. EscherSource: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pNMjAkWtCuc/UOfwifyYZ0I/AAAAAAAAo2Q/MZqkJLUxzns/s1600/Escher.gif

Fig. 1.6: Polyp. Lux: Lights, SOFTlabSource: http://www10.aeccafe.com/blogs/arch-showcase/files/2011/06/softlab-13.jpg

IMAGES:

ReferencesN/A

REFERENCES

[1]http://www.evolo.us/architecture/voltadom-installation-skylar-tibbits-sjet/

[2]http://designplaygrounds.com/deviants/voltadom-by-skylar-tibbits/

[3]http://www.dezeen.com/2008/08/13/tesselion-by-skylar-tibbits/

[4] Wyndham Gateway Proposal

RESOURCES:

N/AReferences

EOI II: DESIGN FOCUS

Fig. 2.1: Ceramic Tiling Tessellation Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Ce-ramic_Tile_Tessellations_in_Marrakech.jpg

IMAGES:

ReferencesN/A

Fig. 2.2: Polyp. Lux, SOFTlabSource: http://www.designboom.com/design/softlab-polyplux/

Fig. 2.3: Voussoir Cloud, Iwamoto ScottSource: http://www.archivenue.com/voussoir-cloud-by-iwamotoscott-with-buro-happold/

Fig. 2.5: Tesselion, skylarTIBBITSSource: http://www.suckerpunchdaily.com/wp-content/up-loads/2009/12/skylar.jpg

Fig. 2.6: Sky and Water I, M. C. EscherSource: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pNMjAkWtCuc/UOfwifyYZ0I/AAAAAAAAo2Q/MZqkJLUxzns/s1600/Escher.gif

Fig. 2.4: VoltaDom, skylarTIBBITSSource: http://designplaygrounds.com/deviants/voltadom-by-skylar-tibbits/

Part B

Documents

Transcript of Part B