AIR Architecture Design Studio

JUN LI 526496

CONTENT

Part A. EOI: Case for Innovation

01 Introduction: Architecture as a Discourse

02 Computational Architecture

03 Parametric Modeling

04 Algorithmic Explorations

05 Conclusion and Learning Outcome

PART A. EOICASE FOR INNOVATION

I am a third year architecture student of

Melbourne University. I am from China and

this is my third year in Melbourne.

Obtaining of my first-hand experience about

computational design from learning Virtual

Environments in my first year. By using the

software, Rhinoceros, I became to acquire

knowlege about NURBS, which had further

impacts on my design concepts and percep-

tions about forms and repetitive patterns.

I basically focused on the golden ratio and

iteration of geometry in the project and

used Rhino and Paneling tool to generate

some interesting forms. The program helped

me to establish the basic knowledge about

computational design and ligh effects.

In Air studio, I expected to accumulate

more knowledge about tessellation and pat-

terns by using Grasshopper, hence, have

further understanding about heterogeneity

and homogeneity.

INTRODUCTION: ARCHITECTURE 0 1Architecture is not just about building. It is ubiquitous as it has become our ‘third skin’ and we spend most part of our life within it. Besides, Schumacher argues that the inclusive books, m a g a z i n e s , p h o t o g r a p h s o f b u i l d i n g s , d r a w i n g s , d i s c u s s i o n a b o u t d e s i g n and all that communication associated with architecture should be regarded as part of architectural discipline.1 Architecture is complicated, and hence it stands in need of different theories and cooperation and criticism from multidiscipline to engage with constantly changing world.

Among the discourse of what architecture is, the topic

that is most accepted by the public and the discipline is architecture as a form of art.2

However, simply classifying architecture as art can limit the latent possibilities and ignore opportunities f o r a r c h i t e c t u r e t o w o r k e f f e c t i v e l y u n d e r urban context. Regarding architecture as a form of art or as a solely personal work of architects can exaggerate the power of architects, i g n o r e t h e c o m p l i c a t e d socioeconomic factors and limit the later understandings and interpretations about projects and its impacts on society as art historian interpreters only focus on architects’ visions rather

than studying the actual space.

T h e d i s t a n c e b e t w e e n architects’ illusion and the reality can diminish the role of architecture in today’s constantly shifting urban environment. Ito argues that “modernist architecture was intended to change society, i t c o n s i s t e n t l y t o o k a negative stance towards social realities. Moreover, being rejected by society was always seen as a virtue.”3One example is Modernist’s antagonistic v i e w a g a i n s t u r b a n i s m . They kept concentrating on criticizing city’s lack of forms and seeking the order in the city while ignored the fast-changing environment

AS A DISCOURSE

1. Patrik Schumacher, 'Introduction : Architecture as Autopoietic System', in The Autopoiesis of Architecture (Chichester: J. Wiley, 2011),1 - 28.

2. Richard Williams, 'Architecture and Visual Culture', in Exploring Visual Culture : Definitions, Concepts, Contexts, ed. by Matthew Rampley (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005), pp. 102 - 116.

of the city. 4 They were

influenced by Georg Simmel’s

phenomenological depiction of

city life that was filled with

strangeness, oppression and

avoidance of contact while the

nowadays reality is that we

spend most of time with ‘masses

of strangers in public space

has not necessarily resulted

in a proportional increase in

urban angst’.5 The mentality

and society may have some

differences from the past

and thus it appeals that

architecture should learn more

about the way of thinking the

‘real’ rather than holding

authoritarian view to the

city.

T h e r e f o r e , r e g a r d i n g

architecture as a discourse

that the public and people

from other disciplines can

p a r t i c i p a t e i s p i v o t a l

t o c r e a t e o p e n n e s s t o

the constantly changing

environment and think about

the impacts of projects

from the lens of users. In

this way, it strengthens

architecture’s engagement

to the urban environment,

engagement to technology,

a n d i m p o r t a n t l y , t h e

engagement to the users. This

engagement will also assist in

rationalizing decision-making

during design process and

shorten architects’ vision to

the built environment. It will

also help to create dynamic

urban space for people so that

their everyday life experience

and visual perception can be

stimulated.

In Western Gateway Design

Project, the Wyndham City

C o u n c i l a s k e d f o r t h e

innovative design that has

eye-catching form and can

create significant impacts. The

high speed movement of traffic

is another crucial factor to

think about. To achieve these

requirements, the visual

perception, the movement of

users and engagement between

projects and users in visual

and spacial relationship

should be studied at the early

stage of design process to

enhance the visual impacts and

create latent possibilities.

Computational design and

stimulation are important to

test and realize the desired

impacts effectively, which is

innovative in architectural

discourse and can further

encourage discourse about the

project.

3. Toyo Ito, shedding the modern body image: is a house without criticism possible? Jutaku Tokushu 149 (September 1998): 21.

4. Alexander Eisenschmidt, Stranger than Fiction: A Mission Statement,Architecture Design, 219 (2012), 14-15.

5. Caroline Bos, 'Phenomenology and Topography of the Megacity', Architecture Design, 2(2012), 139.

"The Modernist topography is one of straight lines

and limites perspectives. Unlike in a landsacpe,

people move through it as if their necks were

screwed in place and their eyes unable to roll."5

T h e r e s e e m s t o b e t h r e e

different modes of Japanese

architects’ responses to urban

context, to retreat and isolate

from the urban life, to reflect

the chaotic urban environments,

to blend architecture with

surroundings, which can also be

used to classify their different

views towards the relationship

between architecture and

nature.5

For Toyo Ito, setting out from

the natural forms and letting

architecture returning to the

nature is extremely important

to articulate his concept about

architecture and architectural

effects on the social and

cultural contexts, evidence can

be found in his work, Island

City Central Park,

This entirely artificial park

seems to reflect the site, an

artificial island, and Japanese

traditional culture, ‘harmony

with nature’. Ito chose the

image of circles radiating from

the park to the whole city,

reinforcing the relationship

between architecture and

urban space. The continuous

spiralling shapes merge with the

undulation of the topography,

manifested the complexity and

variations of the projects. The

interior sometimes scrolled and

became the exterior, which

"GRIN GRIN", ISLAN CITY CENTRAL PARK

FUKUOKA, JAPAN, 2005

TOYO ITO

6. Thomas Daniell, After the crash: Architecture in Post-Bubble Japan,Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2008

Top: Structure of the park

Middle: Undulating forms integrate into surrounding

Bottom: Roof Plan

blurs the boundary and creates

dynamic and instable feelings

about the forms. This also

generates various paths for

people to experience and they

can even walk on the exterior

to get interesting views of the

park. It can create spaces for

people walking through, sitting

and chatting with others, which

reinforce the connection of

people in the community.

Relied on the computerized

structural optimization method

developed by engineer, the

asymmetric concrete shells with

uniform stress distributions

can be generated and optimized.

Remodelling and testing about

the individual parts of the

concrete shell is crucial

during the modification of

the final form. Engineering

plays important parts in the

designing and construction

process. It provides new

prototype for architecture,

as it gets rid of the simply

using repetitive grid system

to arrange different spaces,

Cartesian axis and basic

static geometry. Ito advanced

the architectural discourse,

especially the discourse

on tectonics, in terms of

his ambition to explore the

new architectural order. He

declares that architects should

have a desire not to create

joint, beams, wall... and all

that universalized tectonics.

The generalized typologies of

structure and construction

always separate different

elements and set the rules for

architecture.6 In contrast,Ito

argues that the grid system

which is an order that was

s e t u p b y M o d e r n i s t f o r

architecture has degenerated

people’s sensation to the

heterogeneity and complexity

in natural forms, dulled their

everyday life and isolated

human beings from nature.

6.Lynn, Greg "Why Tectonics is Square and Topology is Groovy", in Fold, Bodies and Blobs: Collected Essays ed. by Greg Lynn (Bruxelles: La Lettre volée, 1998), 169-182.

"It is a park like a building as

well as a building like a park."

Top: Green house and cafe

Left: Roof has automatic window to control the temperature of interior

Designers can attain their new

order by using algorithm to

define the rule and externalize

it by using parameters of

external factors, such as

natural environment, history

and community thus using

‘bottom-up’ method to find

the unknown results within its

contexts. The project not only

has eye-catching in terms of

its scale and form but also

strengthens the community and

becomes a landmark of the

city, as it generates various

vaulted spaces below and above

the area and demonstrates

that architecture is not

just about building instead

the topography, vegetation,

light, roads, community and

multidimensional experiences.

The project definitely reshapes

the whole area and improves

the image of the city.

"STRANGE ATTRACTOR"

NAMBA PARKS

JERDE PARTNERSHIP

OSAKA, JAPAN

2005

Namba Parks designed by Jerde

Partnership in Osaka, Japan is

a mixed use of commercial area

and garden. The sinuous walls

and greenery on the sloping

roof of the mall quickly hit

the news and became a hot

topic among the public as

from the aerial photo, it

looks like a hanging garden,

w h i c h e v o k e s c i t i z e n s’

interests. It is successful

in terms of its important

natural intervention function

in the dense and harsh urban

condition. 8 Osaka is lack

of open space and parks in

that the land is extremely

expensive. Namba Parks is

a good solution for the

city as it has eye-catching

forms and high visibility

of water and trees on the

sloping roof that appeal to

residents and consumers,

which becomes a centre of the

city for community gathering

and further strengthens

communication, community

culture and interactions.

Its greenery is also pivotal

to relieve extremely high

temperature during summer.

However, the project seems to

be monotone inside in that

visitors realized that it was

just a mall with gardens on

roof top rather than what they

expected from the photos.9

Jerde’s analogy is ‘canyon’

and the interior and curved

wall that encapsulates paths

8.Rocket News, 'Namba Parks Gets Rave Reviews from Overseas',<http://en.rocketnews24.com/2012/09/08/namba-parks-gets-rave-reviews-from-overseas/> [accessed 3 April].

9.Rocket News, 'Namba Parks Gets Rave Reviews from Overseas',<http://en.rocketnews24.com/2012/09/08/namba-parks-gets-rave-reviews-from-overseas/> [accessed 3 April].

a r e a t o t a l l y d e c o r a t e d

with different ‘canyon-

like’ colour to symbolize.

Why would he choose canyon

as analogy and what is the

relationship between canyon

and Osaka’s gateway and

city image? Some visitors

think that they felt that

the ‘American-canyon’ like

design gave them this kind

of image that Japan used to

copy western culture and

its westernization.10 The

public always perceives some

different ideas from the one

that designers intended to

impart. The park seems to

be a strange attractor in

Osaka, which isolates itself

from surrounding community

with curved walls. It is

unusual that as shopping

mall, the shops are lack

of visibility and even

windows. The circulation does

not work quite well from

residents’ point view that

they spend a lot time to

find a store. The area mixed

with different functions

should always be designed

carefully with circulation

and the arrangement of space.

Simply focusing on the

garden feature and raise up

a topic among the public but

to ignore the function and

users’ views cannot be an

innovative project. Hanging

garden may be an attractive

title for the mall, but the

design is lack of diversity

of special experience for

people so that visitors

feel the space is simply a

shopping mall.

For Wyndham city gateway

project, it is important

to consider the project

not only in architectural

scale but also to establish

the relationship between

the project and the whole

c o m m u n i t y . I t o’s p a r k

project is an innovative

one that can be learned in

the gateway project. The

simple geometry and its

variations link the park, the

topography, the surrounding

environment and the whole

island. For gate project,

it is crucial to consider

the symbol meaning that

architecture can carry on

so that it can create and

articulate the new image of

the Wyndham city. It is also

important to think about the

effects of the project on the

public. Rather than a park

that can be experienced and

observed slowly, the strong

visual effects of project

should be highlighted and

even exaggerated so that it

can be eye-catching in forms.

Interior of shopping mall, http://www.pics-site.com/wp-content/uploads/Namba-Parks-Lifestyle-Commercial-Center-Japan-11.jpg

10.Rocket News, 'Namba Parks Gets Rave Reviews from Overseas',<http://en.rocketnews24.com/2012/09/08/namba-parks-gets-rave-reviews-from-overseas/> [accessed 3 April].

References:

Alexander Eisenschmidt, Stranger than Fiction: A Mission Statement,Architecture Design, 219 (2012), 14-15.

Caroline Bos, 'Phenomenology and Topography of the Megacity', Architecture Design, 2(2012), 139.

Lynn, Greg, "Why Tectonics is Square and Topology is Groovy", in Fold, Bodies and Blobs: Collected Essays ed. by Greg Lynn (Bruxelles: La Lettre volée, 1998), 169-182.

Patrik Schumacher, 'Introduction : Architecture as Autopoietic System', in The Autopoiesis of Architecture (Chichester: J. Wiley, 2011),1 - 28.

Richard Williams, 'Architecture and Visual Culture', in Exploring Visual Culture : Definitions, Concepts, Contexts,, ed. by Matthew Rampley (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005), pp. 102 - 116.

Rocket News, 'Namba Parks Gets Rave Reviews from Overseas',<http://en.rocketnews24.com/2012/09/08/namba-parks-gets-rave-reviews-from-overseas/> [accessed 3 April].

Thomas Daniell, After the crash: Architecture in Post-Bubble Japan,Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2008

Toyo Ito, 'Shedding the modern body image: is a house without criticism possible?' Jutaku Tokushu, 149(1998), 21.

COMPUTATIONAL

ARCHITECTURE

Computation is different

to computerization that

h a s b e e n a p p l i e d i n

architectural representation

to increase efficiency

of drawing and share of

d r a w i n g c o m p o n e n t s i n

the last decades, which

has been integrated into

the architectural design

processes. Even if some

people are suspicious about

its impacts on architects’

designing methods and the

creations of some ‘uncanny

forms’ that were driven

by ‘fake creativity’,

I s t i l l b e l i e v e w h e n

computation encountered

architecture, creativity

c a n b e a r o u s e d , 1 t h e

rationalization of design

process can be articulated

and the distance between

architects’ own views and

reality can be shortened.

Computational architecture

can be a method to combine

architects’ sensitivity

and subjectivity with the

objectivity. As design is

filled with uncertainties

and can be determined

b y p e r s o n a l h e u r i s t i c

decisions, it is a ‘puzzle-

solving’ process rather

than ‘problem-solving’

process.2 Personal influences

play an important role in

the process and hence it is

prone to generate errors and

limitations particularly

when requirements from

clients, society and the

public are complex.Complex

projects, including large

scale, mutable environments

and designers’ desire

to create dynamic built

environment for users,

necessitate the integration

of computation into design

processes. One example

is UNStudio’s project,

Arnhem Central Station,

t h e i n t e g r a t e d p u b l i c

transportation area. It

combines different functions

and different stops for

different vehicles into one

area. It is a place where a

lot of people pass through

and keeps changing as the

increase of travelers.

Therefore, it is pivotal

t o o r g a n i z e d i f f e r e n t

information as input to be

considered into the project.

0 2

1. Kolarevic, Branko, Architecture in the Digital Age: Design and Manufacturing (New York; London: Spon Press, 2003), pp. 3 - 28.

2.Yehuda E. Kalay, Architecture's New Media : Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2004), pp. 5 - 25

However, computers and tools can definitely not dominate the whole process as they lack the ability to decode sensibility and inspirations of human’ mind. Architects are still important designers as their discerning about non-geometric parameters: social, economic, political and material, which is hard to transform into quantitative data to be used as the input of the algorithmic design but these factors impact the design idea and designers set out their processes based on them.3Architects use software to set up the criteria to optimize their projects. Computation play important role to stimulate the real situations and set constraints such as wind, solar path, circulation and other environmental factors in the designing process to assist in decision-making of architects.

The Knowlege Centre of Masdar institute of Science and Technology has semi-circluar shape roof to regulate and shade the sunlight. The designers are familiar with computer-programming and can create programs by themselves so that the design process was efficient and generated more variety. Computation also generates innovation in construction process and breaks away from traditional building methods.As designing in computation can directly caculate the precise positions and materials for the building.

F i g u r e 1 . T h e Knowledge Centre, Foster + Partners’ SpecialistM o d e l l i n g G r o u p ( S M G ) , M a s d a r Institute Campus, Abu

Figure 2. The Knowledge Centre, Foster + Partners’ SpecialistModelling Group (SMG),Masdar Institute Campus, Abu Dhabi(2010)

Rather than concerning about the details in modernism and the time during art and craft movement, computation focuses on the relations between different parts.

Figure. 4 Andrew O Payne/L I F T a r c h i t e c t s , A i r Flow(er) facade prototype, 2009

Computation also allows architects to test and stimulate their design under different circumstances. From Greg Lynn's concept about 'motion-form' that it is important to participate in the flow and forces that shape the built envionment to liquefy the Cartesian space.4 Computation provides opportunities to conncet ideas with real and let real factors to shape the

design. In the facade prototype designed by A n d r e w O P a y n e / L I F T

architects, computation is critical to realise the idea to create direct interconnection between building and surrounding environments. By using Rhino and Grasshopper, the facade can react to the heat that generated by pedestrian from them, which is directly transformed into the variet of the forms.5The architects focus on the design of prototyping tools for designers to stimulate their design and shorten the distance between real world and architects'

views about design. It is a more integrative approach of using prototype t o h e l p c o m m u n i c a t e a r c h i t e c t s ' i d e a s .

3.Xavier De Kestelier,Recent Development in Fosters+Partners' Specialist Modeling Group, Architectural Design, vol.83, p. 23.

4.Michael Meredith,After after geometry,Architectural Design, vol.83, p. 92-94.

5.Andrew O Payne and Jason Kelly Johnson,Firefly Interacting Prototype for Architects, Architectural Design,

vol.83, p. 140.

Figure. 3 Andrew O Payne/LIFT architects, Air Flow(er) facade prototype, 2009

References:

Andrew O Payne and Jason Kelly Johnson,'Firefly Interacting Prototype for Architects', Architectural Design, 83 (2013), 140.

Kolarevic, Branko, Architecture in the Digital Age: Design and Manufacturing (New York; London: Spon Press, 2003), 3 - 28.

Michael Meredith,After after geometry,Architectural Design, 83 (2013), 92-94.

Xavier De Kestelier,Recent Development in Fosters+Partners' Specialist Modeling Group, Architectural Design, 83(2013), p. 23.

Yehuda E. Kalay, Architecture's New Media : Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2004), 5 - 25

PARAMETRIC

MODELING

Sketching is regarded as a basic skill that architects

should acquire so that they can express their ideas quickly

and effectively, provide problem-solving methods and even

obtain inspirations from sketching. Through sketching, the

projects can be personal and carry architects’ visions

of the final project from which may have distance to the

reality.1 Even in nowadays, architects still have dreams

to design ‘a pure space that is created within oneself and

extremely personal’, which is like painting and other forms

of art, abstractly and conceptually.2

However,architectural design should be propagated not only

from ‘top-down’ process that is conceptually driven but

also from ‘bottom-up’ method to consider different factors.

It is a way to minimise the errors when the projects have

become more and more complex and the requirements for

the diversity and dynamic environment are more and more

important. During the fast changing world, architects can

learn from nature and use 'algorithm' to optimize their

design and increase adapability of architecture.

0 3

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

2. Riken Yamamoto, The Discovery of Process, Toyo Ito, (New York: Phaidon, 2005), 28.

The 2011 Pavilion at the University of Stuttgart, designed by the Institute for Computational Design (ICD) and the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE), was inspired by the bionic principle of sea urchins’ skeleton morphology and emerged through the parametric modeling.

The pavilion is formed by repetitive plywood hexagon panels that were connected by using finger joints, representing the method in which urchin’s shell links with each other. The two interlocking domes create openings and blur the boundary between interior and exterior. The small dome allows people to have a look at its logic joints and structure. Even if it is a small project through using extreme light ‘paper-like’ material,it represents the idea of the wholeness of designing,

manufacturing, fabrication a n d i n s t a l l a t i o n . T h e folding and joining of plywood cells blur the d i s t i n c t i o n b e t w e e n s t r u c t u r e a n d s k i n .The hexagonal geometries provide rigidity and every three cell edges always join together to transform forces, which further strengthens the form and avoid deformable shape.

Figure 1.

Figure 2.Finger joints

Figure 3.Sea urchin's hexangular pattern.

Moreover, the dynamic s i z e o f h e x a g o n a n d perforations on cells create variations of light effects and diversity. Parametric modeling plays an important role here, a s i t o p t i m i z e s t h e pattern sizes and their positions by considering transferring of loads and curvature in different parts that determines the heterogeneity of individual cells.

The bionic principle sets out the initial ideas and the requirements of

structural rigidity and high load bearing capacity set the tone of constraints of the design, which translates into input of the parametric modeling process.

Therefore, the form finding and structural design were combined together during the early process by using computational design. The final project is different from the normative tectonic a r t i c u l a t i o n s , w h i c h embodies the wholeness and complexity of the form.The relationship among

d i f f e r e n t i n d i v i d u a l cells and the integration between individuals and the whole are interesting in this project, which highlights the important role of parametric design that defines and analyzes the heterogeneity and complexity logically by optimizing the individual characteristic and their relations with others.

"Parametricism aims to organize and articulate the increasing diversity and complexity of social institutions and life processes within the most

advanced centre of postFordist network society." The Meaning of MAXXI – Concepts, Ambitions, Achievements P a t r i k S c h u m a c h e r 3

Through parametric design,

dependencies and connections

between different parts in

the project are captured,

articulated and communicated

with other designers and

builders, which is critical

for precision and efficiency of

fabrication and construction.

UNStudio’s work, Galleria in Cheonan, South Korea is a mixture of different functional areas, which combines commercial stores and public space for social and cultural aspects. Based on their research about Asian users in commercial departments, architects consider the project as a highly social area, hence, the project should address its role to provide platform for the communication between users and also the interaction between building and the public. The change of skin of the building becomes the most straightforward way to communicate with the public. Parametric design provides more opportunities to approach the diversity in terms of function and interwoven spaces, which is different from the way in which Post-modernism or deconstruction uses fragile and chaotic elements to communicate with the public. The project sets the start

the research of pluralism which can be addressed by the parametric modeling. As parametric design concentrates on the relationship and constraints between different parts rather than separation, it is more than a style from aesthetic view. Parametric design provides different ways for architects to think about the process and relationship between different parts. The skin of project has double layers to create dynamic effects.

Figure 4. Silk screen

Another interesting approach in this project is the study of nowaday's human motion and their ambulatory vision to connect the spacial design directly to the users.

The linear forms that emphasizes the horizontality and verticality can restrict vision and focus. In contrast, the dynamic forms can stimulate visual perception of being moving around the object and differnt experiences. Based on the study of how people experience the visual and spacial relations when they are walking, a central space that including way-finding and orientation is created,which is a main attractor and connector of the building.

F i g u r e 5 . Atrium

References:

P a t r i k S c h u m a c h e r , ' T h e M e a n i n g o f M A X X I – C o n c e p t s , A m b i t i o n s ,

Achievements',<http://www.patrikschumacher.com/Texts/The%20Meaning%20of%20MAXXI.

html>, accessed on 3 April, 2013.

Riken Yamamoto, The Discovery of Process, Toyo Ito, (New York: Phaidon, 2005), 28.

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

ALGORITHMIC

EXPLORATIONS 0 4

Comparing with the Paneling tool plug in I used before, Grasshopper give me more control on the patterning. Contour and Box morph function are important to create modularity of the patter. Decomposing of vectors function is also critical to manipulate the direction of patterns and create more diversity in terms of changing their size and localising their conditions.

The example here is using point attractor to change the pattern positions. As I am interested in tessellation area. It is important for the each pattern to reflect the different conditions comparing to the whole so that the relations and diversity between each pattern can be enhanced.

CONCLUSION

Learning Outcomes

As architecture’s position in public realm is unique and the society keeps changing, the

discourse needs to be advanced and expanded. How architects can positively engage with the

fast changing world is crucial to generate more dynamic space for people within urban context.

To regard architecture as a discourse will definitely generate new ideas about designing,

tectonics and the communication and relationship between architecture and the public. To regard

architecture as a discourse also means that it can be participated by the public whose voice

should be heard and understood by architects. Even if the later interpretation about projects

are variable and architecture experienced is never constant, using new design method such as

parametric design may lead to more dynamic space for the citizens or at least it tries to enrich

the discourse with the public. Importantly, from the previous analysis of successful and well-

known projects, computational design shortens the distance from designers’ vision about the

project to the reality by using stimulating, prototype testing and rationalizing parameters to

control the project.

Toyo Ito’s park provides dynamic visual and spacial relations between people, people and the

built environment and people and city. It enrichs people’s sensory experience of being in

movement along the curvy paths to gain all-around views of the park. Therefore, it is important

for architects not to create projects only within their world and from their vision. Instead,

they should have responsibility for the public and society by considering external factors, in

Wyndham case to consider impacts on the users and the city at the start of the design process.

To achieve Wyndham City Council’s expectation about ‘creating a new identifier’ and ‘generating

a new discourse’, the computational design, especially parametric modeling is necessary to

rationalize the decision making during the design process and optimize the project. Using

computational design is within an architectural discourse and hence will create a new discourse

for the community.

0 5

By learning architectural computing and the projects designed

through parametric modeling, it provides a different way to

think about design process and the role of designer. The

important understanding about architectural computing is

the algorithm thinking that can rationalize design process

by considering the relations between different parts, which

makes design more reasonable and persuasive. However, it

still depends on designers’ perceptions to make decisions

on the final projects as parametric modeling always provide

large amount of different outcomes. I started to play around

different components in Grasshopper and find the different

relations between input and output. It is still hard for

me to understand some types of input due to the lack of

scripting and mathematic knowledge. I will try to acquire

some knowledge about these areas as they are important to

generate more diverse outcomes with logic relationship

between input and output.

PART B DESIGN FOCUS

Our group focused on tessellation and geometry areas, especially the interconnectedness of

individual parts and the integrity of the whole without sacrificing the heterogeneity of individuals.

The relation between heterogeneity and homogeneity is an interesting topic in architectural

discourse, which can be extended to ubiquitous questions in everyday life, the relation between

individuals and community. Under rapid urbanism, both individuals and community are undergo-

ing different changes in terms of social relations, life-style and propagation to the public.

We chose tessellation area as a start of our explorations of architectural computation because

tessellation stems from interconnectedness and generates diversity. The individual heterogeneity

is articulated by these repetitive patterns’ properties, their relations with surrounding patterns and

their orientation relative to the whole, which reflects the relation between residents and commu-

nity in the reality. Therefore, we think that, through using tessellation in our project, it can possess

the feeling of variety and change that can create positive image for Wyndham city. The proper-

ties of geometric shapes assist us in understanding the relationship between different parts and

obtaining more control of the result. We wanted to achieve three specific effects:

• effects of subtle change and drastic contrasts in patterns

• creating irregular shapes based on regular grids

• localising each individual parts to amplify the effects of change and motion, and articulate

complicated surfaces

The relatively identical patterns can impart sense of subtle change, which also provides great ef-

ficiency to produce individual parts and assemble them. This is the main reason that we choose

this area to study at the beginning. We are also interested in drastic change that is formal be-

cause it can create strong visual impacts and can be easily understood by people within a short

time, which is essential to achieve ‘eye-catching’ effect in the Wyndham city gateway project.

VoltaDomSkylar Tibbits

CASE STUDY 1.0

Designed by Skylar Tibbits for MIT’s 150 year anniversary, the installation decorates the corridors of buildings in campus. By using parametric design, it is an successful example to achieve diversity of shapes, various depth of forms, interesting views to outside and inside and quick installation methods by using simple strips.

The project has strong visual impacts in terms of organic distribution of different individual parts and shad-ows that it creates. From the outside, the organic complicated vault like individual parts seem to be released from the bonds of controls and regu-lations. However, from the inside, the individual vaults are located relative-ly in order and can be connected easily.

‘Meshsplit’ component in grasshop-per program played an important role to reshape the individual cone by trimming the intersection parts, which we found inspiring and is rele-vant to our design concept.

Random

Regular

opening size

expression

polygon

input curve

box morph

input grid

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

ORDER

Random

Hex grid

Zig zag grid

Rectangular grid

CONCLUSION

The first one show the sense of motion as cones are located according to the curve and intersecting with each other. The repetitive patterns seem to have more strong visual im-pacts. The relations between each cones form the grid pat-terns. They can be used in the wall paper or as surface.

HARESH LALVANI STUDIOCASE STUDY 2.0

Lalvani’s design concept is based on understanding about natural force and material and analysis of its formal codes of geometry and generative principles from mathematics.

In his sculpture work, he used laser cutting to produce triangular shallow etches on steel plates. Then push the surface manually to create convex and concave form. Due to the difference of external

forces conveying to different parts of surfaces, interconnected parts can react to the external factors differently so that the gaps between different parts will be created. Interestingly, the patterns of gaps look regular and the subtle change between different parts in local scale can also be observed.We found this effect inspiring and relevant to our idea about the relation between heterogeneity and homogeneity.

His work is successful in terms of form-finding approach and the diversity and unexpectations that generates.

Then we began to transfer his idea into parametric design by using Kangaroo plug in to simulate the impacts of natural forces on the planar grid.

Flat Surface Set grids and orders

Surfaces react to external forcesExternal forces

Parameter Parameter Input Output:

Gaps (negative spaces)

New patterns

PROTOTYPE | SUBTLE CHANGE

ANALYSIS

At the beginning, we concentrated on his form-finding method as it provides great variety and direct interactions between external factors and our own systems, which can help us to further analyse the relationship between heterogeneity and the whole.

At start, we thought there were changes of connectivity between different individual parts as forces adding on the flat surface.

However, the grids and numbers of vertices are fixed and therefore the identical patterns can only be achieved by adding limited range of directions and quantity of

forces.

Some unexpected patterns were generated when the original grids are stretched and reoriented by the forces. Thus, we realised that the pursuing of identical patterns at the early age of design process can definitely limit other possibilities. What we learned from this process is the importance of grid and geometry that creates strong visual impacts and possibilities for diversity of patterns. The various positions of individual cells through ‘folding’ is also critical for us to think about how to create heterogeneous properties of single part.

I did prototype of the simple folding pattern. As in kangaroo plug in, we added forces on the surface quite randomly, during the model making process, the paper cannot follow the folding line in grasshopper.

The result is like ‘origami’. The pattern and subtle change of dark and light patterns look interesting, which extended our design space.

From this point, we thought we could focus on the patterning generation to explore other opportunities.

Techinique Development|Patterns

Local scale:grids test

Local scale:relative item

Regional scale: point attractor

Regional scale: line attractor

Regional scale: cull pattern

Characteristic of Voronoi Patterns

Voronoi diagram has certain stability and regulation with small change in the shape of Voronoi cells when it is distorted.

The end points of one cell shares three edges for a given set of points, which implies the connection method between different single cell.

The Voronoi cells can be optimised through the desired distribution of seeds to achieve more control of cell sizes and layout. Due to using of rectangular distribution of seeds, the Voronoi cells that we generated are mod-ular but not repetitive, which creates sense of subtle change and can be produced quickly.

Techinique Development|Voronoi

Through technique development process, we practiced different methods to acquire complete control of the patterns. We can localise them by using tree and list com-ponents in grasshopper to access group of points, which enriches the patterns and provides more possibilities. We finally chose Voronoi patterns to further develop for our project due to several rea-sons:

Edges: angles at different vertices are equal

Patterns and gaps

Symbols|Form-finding

The gateway project is like a link connect Melbourne city and Wyn-dham city area. Therefore, we use intersecting circles as symbols to combine them together.

In the program, one circle is locat-ed on the xy plane the other is on xz plane. When loft them, the un-expected shape was generated. It represents the connectivity between two areas.

Voronoi project-ing on surface

Bounding box &Box morph

Hexgonal grid

Trigular grid

Bounding box &Box morph

Prototypes

The prototype process made us realise the distance between real world construction and what we expected by modelling in pro-grams.

One issue is about the bending capacity of materials as our form is like Möbius loop that has double curved surface. The two different materials we used for prototypes are polypropylene sheet and ivory card. The two material cannot bend and twist as what we expected. Therefore, we should rethink about our form. To maintain the two inter-secting curve line from the section view, we can trim the bottom part to anchor it on the ground.

Another issue we should further develop is the ‘unroll’ method of our surface. Since form is complex, we should try to separate them into different parts then to unroll and assemble.

The polypropylene sheet is not complete opaque so that the shadows it creates are blurred. The ivory card model creates more contrasting shadows. Therefore, we may use opaque material in the future to create strong visual contrasts between light and dark.

As we imitated Lalvani’s concepts, Voronoi cells were cut through shallow etches. As a result, we can fold cells by hand and ad-just their angles. This created unexpected effects of rotation and de-materialisation, which extended our ideas to combine subtle change and formal elements together to create lightness and freedom of form.

Prototypes

Opening Sizes experiment

Then we reworked our model in the program to determine the opening siz-es of each flipping panel. The method I used is to use “rotation” component and use each short edge of the cell as axis. The angles are determined by the curvature of the surface.

We will further analyse the interaction between sun path and the opening sizes to optimise the project.

The seeds of Voronoi will be deter-mined more explicitly to maximise the visual impacts that Voronoi cells can create.

Connections & Joints

We tested several connection methods that can use the advantages of voronoi cells’ characteristics.

The tap connection takes the advantage of the equal angles of which three edges form, which is easy for mass production. However, the effects are not what we expected. The continuity of the edg-es is highlighted in our design concept while taps create visible circle nodes.

The other connection method learned from ‘strip morphology’ by using three intersecting edges as modular to join the different parts. It achieve some extent of the continuity of the voronoi edges.

Connections & Joints

Another precedent we were looking at is Beijing National Stadium. The steel strips that have structural func-tion and surface decoration inter-weave the stadium, which creates the smooth appearance and illusion of continuity due to the successful use of welded connection between steel lattice.

In our project, we can also use weld-ed connection to connect inter-secting Voronoi edges. The flipping panels can also be welded on the Voronoi edges.

We may further develop the Voronoi edges as both pattern and structure.

Algorithmic Sketches

Using “explode tree” to access each tree data and using “jitter” and “weave” components to obtain effects of continuity and weaving.

Using ‘section’ component to gen-erate different layers.

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

The learning objectives is to expand the knowledge of computational technique and practice them into the project, especially to use them to understand repetitive patterns and obtain more possibilities to generate diverse outcomes. I think through the technique development and design process, I really learned a lot about data flow and extract specific points, curves through using ‘list items’ ‘relative items’ and other methods, which realizes some extent of control in the program.

The precedent we found enriched our ideas about designing methods. The inspira-tion from nature and mathematics can quantify the parameters we used in design and provide some regulations that we can use to control our projects. The com-putational design also provides many unexpected design outcomes. Through our design process, we changed our ideas and found more opportunities by using the program to generate extensive range of models. At first, we stick to our precedent and wanted to realise it. Even if we did not success in reconstruct his work, we can imitate his concept and applied it in a different way, which also results in some un-expected patterns and effects.

Feedback

From the critic’s feedback, the realisation of our project in the real world will be critical challenge for us in the following approach. This reminds us to think about the real world construction methods and to be site-specific when we are exploring the 3D models.

For the opening of our project, we will quantify the sun path as an important pa-rameter to determine the angles of flipping panels so that interesting shadows can be created.

We should do more research about Voronoi diagram as it is sophisticated system that has been used to find the closet region based on the desired seeds. I think we can specify the seeds’ locations in the following design process.

Refereneces

Friedrich, E. (2008) ‘The Voronoi Diagrams in Structural Optimisation’, UCL.

Herber J. Gans (1961), ‘The Balanced Community: Homogeneity or Heterogeneity in Residential Areas?’, Journal of the American Insti-tute of Planners, vol 27, p. 176.