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Contents

A look at Parametric Design

EOI:

State of the art/Case for innovationComputation in architectureScripting architectureMatrix cut experimentationModel studyResearch project: Case studyOther relevant input

Expression of Interest

A look at Parametric DesignIn the last ten to twenty years, architecture has emerged with a new variety of shapes and intricate forms, smooth surfaces and new structures that can only be attributed to the development of new computational technology. The complexity of these new projects is defined by the involvement in the design process of new software, parametric software specifically. New outcomes can be generated by computers that might not have been thought of with paper and pen-cil alone. The physical limitations of materials and structures will be pushed further with the help of computer calculation and 3d model-ing. The new fabrication possibilities and difficulty of design patterns, the relationship between the project and the surrounding environ-ments, and the physical integration of it are now available on-screen, meaning that the number of trial and error possibilities becomes unlimited, as nothing will happen if a mistake is made digitally. As a result, the design becomes more reasonable as an option for a real project.Which brings me to the Wyndham Gateway project: what they are looking for is a big impact: to refresh its aesthetic by bringing forth the newest and most innovative of designs, something that will be achieved, in this Studio, with the help of parametric software. The proposal will involve the exploration of movement, air currents and the vibrations that will make the structure everchanging.

ITESM ChapelProject location: Monterrey, MexicoDesign: 2009Function: Multipurpose areaCurrent status: Unbuilt

This small chapel was created in my first Studio subject. What it basically involves is the repetition of the triangle, tessel-lated to form a dome. The same figure appears as openings in several of the dome’s faces, providing a light entry to-wards the underground, non-denomi-national space. The user can access this space by descending a set of stairs, di-vided into two sections by an antecham-ber halfway through. The dome itself is settled in a water mirror that, rather than being flat, is an extension of the triangle form, giving the chapel an underwater ambiance.

Metropol ParasolJ. Mayer H. ArchitectsProject location: Seville, SpainDesign: 2005Function: Multipurpose areaCurrent status: Built

“A highly devel-oped infrastructure helps to activate the

square...” - J Mayer H Architects

Week1

Metropol Parasol, inaugurated in 2011, is deemed the big-gest wooden structure in the world. The Parasols were all digitally modeled, stretching the physical limits to an unimaginable and new edge that wouldn’t have been possible without recent technology. In conjugation with ARUP Engineering, J Mayer H proposes this timber and polyurethane composition as a way to promote the city of Seville as a main tourist destination in the world. What the Wyndham council’s Gateway Project is looking for is something very similar. Aiming towards a positive recog-nition of both location and innovation, the Australian city needs it’s own Metropol Parasol. The idea is clearly there; how can architecture provide a change and impact people all over the world? Seville is a perfect example of how this can easily be achieved, provided a good idea, that, with the right tools, will be executed into success.

Resources:http://www.jmayerh.de/19-0-Metropol-Parasol.html

Heydar Aliyev CentreZaha Hadid ArchitectsProject location: Baku, Azer-baijanDesign: 2007Function: Cultural venueCurrent status: In progress

Zaha Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev Centre is an excellent example of digital design in a greater scale. Her parametric models exceed regular boundaries such as materials, physics and con-struction technologies. The project is well underway and is the beginning of a new neighborhood designated to of-fice and residential buildings, bringing a new perspective to the city of Baku. Again, the Wyndham Gateway project is looking for a similar impact: to re-fresh it’s aesthetic by bringing forth the newest and most innovative of designs, something that will be achieved, in this Studio, with the help of parametric software.

“...This most fluid of structures provides a major new venue, land-mark and source of re-generation for the city of

Baku.” - Zaha Hadid Architects

Computation in Architecture

Computers are now part of our every-day lives. It can be said, controver-sially, that architecture cannot function without them. Specially in today’s de-sign, parametricism and scripting are emerging as a new movement, giving technology a chance to show it’s new-est innovations in design software, the greatest tool for today’s architects.

ICD/ITKE PavilionStuttgart University studentsProject location: Stuttgart, GermanyDesign: 2011Function: Multipurpose areaCurrent status: BuiltResources:

http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/heydar-aliyev-cultural-centre/

Week2

The Kent State University Graduate School of Architecture designed and constructed this piece completely by themselves. Using Rhino3D and the Grasshopper component, they mod-elled the shape as a waffle structure. Then they cut each individual piece and assembled them to create the passage. To make the pieces fit into each other, the struts had to be segmented into smaller components by creating joints in the ribs assembly. This is a great example for Studio because it further supports the fact that parametric de-sign is everywhere, and universities all over the world are integrating this method of design into their everyday courses and lives.

Resources:http://www.archdaily.com/161894/2011-matr-project-the-passage/

“For many architects pro-gramming has become the new drawing.” (Silver, 2006)

Architecture scripting has become today a very in-fluential form of design. The lower-level computer programming that creates these structures makes way to a whole set of new and different forms that could otherwise be retained by the design soft-ware’s limits. As time passes, it becomes more and more evident that software development will play a big role in the contemporary building design pro-cess.

Such programming is shown in different build-ings, exhibitions, and displays all around the world. One example can be the Blobwall Pavillion, by Greg Lynn.

Week3

Blobwall PavilionGreg Lynn FormProject location: Los Angeles, California, USADesign: 2005Function: Installation

The Blobwall Pavilion represents the development of scripting and designing nurbs, then turning them into real forms in the physical world. It consists of hollow plastic rotomolded brick that is custom cut and molded by a robot. The trilobed bricks are then assembled to form the shape and bends of the wall. Greg Lynn is highly acclaimed for his experimental and break-through projects in the design world. His firm is widely known for using digital means as their main form of design. Altough his work is regarded as innovative and different, I believe it lacks depth and a profound meaning. Why a blob shape? It does turn out to be aesthetically pleasing to some point. It is impressive to watch how by typing codes and numbers you can create this sort of visual statement. Burry mentions in his book Scripting Cultures that parametric design today has been used in a merely superficial way in architecture, and I agree completely. Parametric design softwares should be a tool that aids us in modelling the designer’s idea. The Blobwall project is in itself not a “bad idea” but merely something that might reflect the architect’s purpose in a skin-deep level only.

Resources: Special Issue: Programming Cultures, Architectural Design,76,4,2006.Burry, Mark (2011). Scripting Cultures: Architectural Design and Programming (Chichester: Wiley)

Week4Geometric Patterns on Surfaces

The Research CUT Project was an experiment where we were given 7 input, 7 association and 7 output Grasshopper definitions. The point was to move them around and come up with different geometries that were a result of parametric design. Patrick Schumach-er defines in his article Patterns of Architecture, pub-lished on AD, the following about surface patterning:“Parametricism transforms this technique of paramet-ric pattern design into a new and powerful register of articulation. The crucial move that inaugurates para-metricist patterning is the move from adaptive com-pensation to the amplification of differences. The un-derlying surface variability is utilized as a data-set that can drive a much more radical pattern differentiation. The underlying surface differentiation is thus amplified and made much more conspicuous. A strong emphasis on conspicuous differentiation is one of the hallmarks of parametricism. Differentiation might also be intro-duced willfully, by ‘painting’ the surface with any pat-tern or image that then becomes the data-set to drive component differentiation.” (Schumaher, 2009)

Resources: Patterns on Architecture, vol.79 no.6 Architectural Design,11/12,2009.

Matrix Experimentation

Week5

The main exploration of this model is the study of a curvy and smooth body, as well as the shadow play. This is not necessarilly a prototype or a proposal for the Wyndham City Gateway Project, rather an effective observa-tion of the elements that we want to get into the design. Patterns of light (made with a cut definition), a curvy surface (modelled in Rhi-no), a sensation of flowing spaces and move-ment and the impression of change (shadow movements) are several of the factors that are observed and studied here.

Week6The Carabanchel Social Housing by Foreign Office Architects is an elongated rectangular body with a set of bamboo panelling as a cov-er. Each panel is controlled individually by the different inhabitants, making the bamboo skin dynamic and everchanging.

Theo Jansen

Theo Jansen is a dutch artist who since 1990 has been creating new “life” by means of pvc tubes. The crea-ture-like sculptures are completely mobile, the air controls their move-ments and it’s able to actually displace them. Jansen describes his animals with terms such as ‘muscles’, ‘legs’, and even compares from time to time the control centres with an ac-tual brain. He says: “Fifteen hundred legs with rods of random length were generated in the computer. It then as-sessed which of these approached the ideal walking curve. Out of the 1500, the computer selected the best 100.” (Jansen, 2000) This could be applied to architecture in many different ways. For the purpose of the Wyndham city Project, the literal movement of the sculptures is an event that could be translated into a viable design.

The material itself, in this case the bamboo, turns to be the major point of focus in the project. Also, the design, or at least the outcome of it, is practically given to each inhabitant.

Carabanchel Social HousingForeign Office ArchitectsProject location: Madrid, EspanaDesign: 2002Function: Residential building

Ned Kahn

Ned Kahn is famous for his mobile facades and different ex-hibitions. His works are divided into different elements such as: fog, water, fire/light, wind, and sand. Naturally the wind projects were the ones taken into account for this exploration. Using light materials such as chainmail, his installations be-come responsive to the wind, making the whole facade look animated and giving it a ripple effect from the air. This is the kind of movement that we are trying to concieve in our Gate-way Project, something that is simple kinetics but that is very much alive.

Technorama FacadeNed KahnProject location: Winterthur, SwitzerlandDesign: 2002Function: Facade