zhang bingqing 683559 parta

STUDIO AIR2016, SEMESTER 1, BRADBINGQING ZHANG

Table of Contents

1 Introduction

2 Part A

A.1 Design Futuring

A.2 Design Computation

A.3 Composition/Generation

A.4 Conclusion

A.5 Learning Outcomes

A.6 Appendix - Algorithmic Sketchbook

3 Reference

4

Bingqing Zhang

Third-year Architecture Student of Melbourne University

For me, the way to express and explore people’s emotions and feelings is fascinat-ing. Design, such as film, photography, advertisement, and especially architecture, is a beautiful path between arts and human emotions. Not only designers join in the pro-cess of experiencing emotions and expressing them, audiences also have their own ide-as on each piece of work which gives the designing product new concept and sense.

The atmosphere spaces created could easily lead visitors to come up with a certain feeling while they are exploring in architectures, which largely decided what visitors feel about each archi-tecture. Thus not only creative design elements and concepts are important, the architectural emotion is also a significant aspect. Before studying architecture, I had one-year experience of learning Psychology. With what I’ve learnt in Psychology, I always try to make the most of site experience as an important part of my designs. The use of light, patterns, dark and narrow space, and large empty space is part of my characters that always appears in my designing.

As time goes on, designing is getting more and more complexed and varied. Dur-ing past studies of architecture, I’ve used plenty of hand drawing and model making skills to finish almost all drawings and models. What I found through my internship experi-ence and others’ design is that digital designing skills and using different kinds of tools is a vital method that I should master. This journal will record what I learned from Studio Air in this semester and how digital tools helped with my designing process and products.

Introduction

Model by Bingqing Zhang, 2015


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1.0 THREE RELATIONSHIPS

Point, line and plane are basic elements that form architecture structure. Frame and infill work together to fill in structure and highlight important parts of a architecture. Finally, mass is a idea that to use daylight, different materials, earth and surrounding natural environments to shape a space, which could produce unique users experiences, rather than creating shapes and artificial light for a architecture to achieve these destinations. These three ideas are linked with each other and need to be considered from the beginning of designing conception to the end of model construction.

Model by Bingqing Zhang, 2015Hand drawing by Bingqing Zhang, 2015

Hand drawing by Bingqing Zhang, 2015 Hand drawing by Bingqing Zhang, 2015

Hand drawing by Bingqing Zhang, 2015



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PROKECT: Redesign of A Boat House in Studley ParkLEARNING FROM MASTERS: Ram Koolhaas

Section AA 1:100

Site Plan1:400N

Building Accessing Methods

Building Site Location and Accessing Methods

User Characteristics Qualities Activities

Passersby People who are doing exercisessuch as running and cycling inStudley Park. This kind of peoplewill not stay here for long.

Weekday - approx. 5/hour

Weekend - approx. 10/hour

1. Buying coffee from cafe in boathouse.2. Having a rest and enjoying the river view.

Students Students who live around this parkand want a quiet space for studying.Students who do site visit here.

Weekday - approx. 5/day

Weekend - approx. 10/day

1. Reading and doing homework.2. Discussing / chatting.3. Rehearsing presentations or drama.4. Eating.5. Playing sports.

Leisure people People who live around this park. Weekday - approx. 10/hour


1. Walking dogs.2. Eating.3. Reading4. Relaxing.5. Sketching sights here.6. Playing sports.

Public activities People who have a boating trainingspending a half-day here.Children taken by teachers to havea natural visit.

Approx. 2/month 1. Selling.2. Appealing for somethings.3. Playing games.4. Recording a drama or TV show or film.5. Conduct propaganda.

families Families with children / couples ofold people Weekday - approx. 2/day


1. Strolling.2. Having a BBQ or a picnic.3. Playing sports.

Lovers Age 15 - 40 Weekday - approx. 2/hour


1. Dating and having supper in boathouse.2. Relaxing / chatting.

User Characteristics Qualities Activities

Passersby People who are doing exercisessuch as running and cycling inStudley Park. This kind of peoplewill not stay here for long.

Weekday - approx. 5/hour


1. Buying coffee from cafe in boathouse.2. Having a rest and enjoying the river view.

Students Students who live around this parkand want a quiet space for studying.Students who do site visit here.

Weekday - approx. 5/day


1. Reading and doing homework.2. Discussing / chatting.3. Rehearsing presentations or drama.4. Eating.5. Playing sports.

Leisure people People who live around this park. Weekday - approx. 10/hour


1. Walking dogs.2. Eating.3. Reading4. Relaxing.5. Sketching sights here.6. Playing sports.

Public activities People who have a boating trainingspending a half-day here.Children taken by teachers to havea natural visit.

Approx. 2/month 1. Selling.2. Appealing for somethings.3. Playing games.4. Recording a drama or TV show or film.5. Conduct propaganda.

families Families with children / couples ofold people Weekday - approx. 2/day


1. Strolling.2. Having a BBQ or a picnic.3. Playing sports.

Lovers Age 15 - 40 Weekday - approx. 2/hour


1. Dating and having supper in boathouse.2. Relaxing / chatting.

Users Analysis

1) View of staircases from a ramp2) A triangle glass sec-tion on floor with it dark atmosphere below can lead visitors to move for-ward. (So that visitors will not go into the office at ledt turn.)3) View of the Kiosk

STUDENT NAME: Bingqing Zhang (Vini)STUDENT NUMBER: 683559DATE: 18/10/2015

Section BB 1:100

Section CC 1:100

Floor Plan: Level 3 / Level 4Cafe / Restaurant, Kitchen, Bathroom1:100N

Floor Plan: Ground FloorHire Counter, Boat Storage, Kiosk / Workshop1:100N

Floor Plan: Level 1 / Level 2Office, Resting Zone / Cafe, Bathroom, Shower1:100N

Roof Plan1:100N

North-East Elevation1:100

North-West Elevation1:100

Central Staircases

Function and Space

(a)

(b) (c)

(d)

(e)

(i)

(a)

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

(v)

(vi)

(iv)

(a) Boat Storage(b) Hire Counter(c) Workshop(d) Office(e) Kitchen

(i) Kiosk(ii) Resting Zone(iii) Cafe(iv) Bathroom(v) Shower Room(vi) Restaurant

(iii)

Section BB 1:100

Section CC 1:100

Floor Plan: Level 3 / Level 4Cafe / Restaurant, Kitchen, Bathroom1:100N

Floor Plan: Ground FloorHire Counter, Boat Storage, Kiosk / Workshop1:100N

Floor Plan: Level 1 / Level 2Office, Resting Zone / Cafe, Bathroom, Shower1:100N

Roof Plan1:100N

North-East Elevation1:100

North-West Elevation1:100

Central Staircases

Function and Space

(a)

(b) (c)

(d)

(e)

(i)

(a)

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

(v)

(vi)

(iv)

(a) Boat Storage(b) Hire Counter(c) Workshop(d) Office(e) Kitchen

(i) Kiosk(ii) Resting Zone(iii) Cafe(iv) Bathroom(v) Shower Room(vi) Restaurant

(iii)

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Part A

A.1 Design Futuring

As Dunne and Raby1 pointed out, design is questioning things that may have been accepted as the way it is and exploring new forms of things that can be strived through time. We use design to find a way out of current situation and provide people with a new thinking. And Fry2 also in-dicated that future is sustainability. But sustainability dose not have a specific range of definition. Sustainability is varied between disciplines and standards that it bases on. Therefore, future is not a destination, it is more like a state that those who mention it give a description ac-cording to their own judgement of value and expect.

Thus design futuring is not with settled methods and target, it is more like a process that different designers are leading people to go to a new stage. The impor-tant change design brings to us is shown in technology, thinking ways and culture which are different from the past and whether design gives positive influence to us or not is very flexible to discuss. Design gives people a new world that people never knew it. Once people accept the idea design expresses, they will naturally act in the same way later. But these change are tested by time and sometimes they are negative and people get to know this after suffering from its result years later.

For me, design is a tool to lead people to consider new angles and millions of experiences that could influence many small things which may eventual-ly influence on the whole process of social progress. Architecture design also dose this by using its lan-guage, concept, improving technology and so on to.

1 Dunne, A. and Raby, F. 2013. ‘Beyond Radical Design?.’ Speculative Every-thing: Design Fiction, and Social Dreaming (MIT Press) , pp 2-32 Fry, T. 2008. Design Futuring: Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice (Oxford: Berg), pp. 1-163 Floater. 2008. Wave Garden, Yusuke Obuchi interviewed by Chrysostomos Tsimourdagkas (http://floatermagazine.com/issue01/pdfs/Wave_Garden.pdf)

Good architecture dose contribute ideas to the on-going disciplinary discourse and culture at stage as a design practice. Constant progress of architecture de-sign practice are often introducing people with new forms and what developing direction of technology should achieve to hold it up. Architecture was part of technology. What’s the relationship between infor-mation and architecture, how you materialize infor-mation. This process will radically change the way in which we understand materials, how to manage ma-terials, how to use material in different ways so we can actually generate highly intelligent environments.3

Moreover, people value architecture designs not only focusing on what they exactly felt but also fol-lowing the way of thinking that design tells them. Compared architectures this days with past works, I found the strong visual effect produced by com-puter and a huge range of different forms become a significant judgement standard that people now try to value architecture. Here are two examples.

Greenland’s National Museum of Art is now opened to public. The architecture itself holds new struc-tural approach and ability to adapt to ocean-ic environments. Technology today supports it. Today, people appreciate it because its pure and simple, but visually strong sense of form, which is with many possibilities. The courtyard connected sea view and closed interior space express the sense of connec-tion between nature and human. This concept will be appreciated as time goes by since the relationship be-tween human and nature is existing for millions of year.

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Figure A.1.1 - Greenland’s National Museum of Art

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Figure A.1.2.1 - Lilypad City Design

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Lilypad City is designed by Vincent Callebaut for facing global warming and designing a suitable habitat for living lives. The main motto behind making this is to create a pleasant environment, a harmonious society which would help to sustain and maintain a friendly human nature bond.1 Commonly, when we design a city, we think of how to expand it in one plane. Lilypad City offers us a new way of thinking which is to consider all the systems as a whole in both vertical and horizontal dimension. As technology developed, people become easily imaginable about underwater space. Thus when we see this kind of four di-mensional design, we feel familiar with the idea it want to express and also are attracted by its achieving methods.

Social conditions and cultural change at a typical time influences design. The water-based site and mixture of nature and humans in one closed space is based on the situation that people have more awareness about nature and there is decreasing habitat land on earth. But his design is abstract and has not been built. It is limited by technology and also gives the society challenges and motivation to improve material, technology and con-structing approaches at different levels. Just as Lilypad City faced, today we are troubled with waterproof material, structure that suit plants root to grow inside as well. Archi-tecture design that are not be able to be built now also give us some new angle of how the world could like and how we can translate the dimensional relationship between human and surrounding environments into a new form.

1 Amarnath. 2010. Lilypad City Design is the City Of Future (http://walyou.com/lilypad-city-design/)

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Figure A. 2.1 - Adaptive Respiration, Facade Addition on Apartment Building

In lecture, Elias stated that “the second that we get to know outcomes and the character when we use computer to test is the start of computation works”. When we are creating things, we get to know what is needed and seek help from computer. This is like what Alberti used grid as a tool to accurate drawings. Computation offers possibilities to designers when complicated and heavy information are needed in one project, and when repeating actions are required to be done. It does not only means people use computer, but the process of analysis, acting immediately and offering accuracy that computer can make.

To make buildings sustainable, designers try to use scientific principles to design facade, ventilation system, even the whole form. Besides, the pattern and form when natural principles are expressed by visual ways can also be used as agenda of designs. However, these designing methods can be very complicated. In this case, computation gives designers an easy way to translate abstract theory into objective forms.

For instance, the design at left, which is to add a facade to an apartment building, greatly relied on computation design. Creating irregular shapes and form them together without disconnection needs a huge amount of calculation and accurate drawing. While by using computer, designers quickly set each pattern at right position and see the whole structure. It is also convenient to test stability which only needs setting physical principle routes into computer in advance.

A.2 Design Computation

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Like most architectures do, Beijing International Airport was designed to have a shading system on roof that allows direct light inside during winter and blocks direct light during summer without any moving parts. Using computer to analysis the radiant rate and path and to calculate the angle and size of shadings is a common process now appearing in architectural design. Other computation designs settled for common need during design processes are also invented and become parts of architecture design. For instance, natural ventilation through facade as shown in figure A.2.3. Computation offers us speed and convenience computation. Not only in architecture design, computation also plays an important part in industrial design, aircraft design and more, by helping with four stages of design, namely problem analysis, synthesis, evaluation and communication.1

1 Kalay. 2004. Architecture’s New Media: Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), 10

Figure A. 2.2 - Beijing International Airport Figure A. 2.3 - Shark Skin Smart Skin

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Although computation makes plenty of advantages to architecture design, it could mislead the core meaning of design. Wave Garden by Yusuke Obuchi is a designed city which use the principle of hydrodynamics to produce electricity from ocean and underground water’s wave. Using renewable energy is good. But for the aim of it, computation is used to design a form for the city that connects land with energy. The form computation design calculate and set leaves little space for the designer to have his own thinking of urban planning. Everything is settled. Computation takes place of human design.

People invented various software to help with different parts in design process. Design is not only a physical subject, it also obtains feelings and emotions. Computation cannot join in this part. Sometimes it is easy for us to forget the significance that emotions work in designs. We try crazy forms and make dramatic models by computation design, and then we try to give them a concept or a sense.

How deep should computation be involved in design?

Figure A. 2.4 - Wave Garden

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A.3 Composition/Generation

that empowers designers to take control of their tools at the intersection of design and programming. This new form of culture technology arrives at new and unexpected results by employing variations of algorithms or rules to generate innovative outputs. Generation architecture design combined algorithmic thinking, parametric modelling and scripting cultures together to achieve digital architectural design.

Algorithmic thinking is to use mathematics principles and computation functions to consider the link between natural rules and design concepts. When there is no separation between design intent and computational technique, and computation is used in a natural or unconscious way, designers can do parametric modelling and use it for advancing design but not control the core of design.

The parametric model made by 3dMatrica is a good example of how architecture design has developed till now at a generation stage. Physiochemical form of crystal is stable and with naturally good form. The triangle shape on crystal of each piece that form the structure is also known in architecture structure as most stable structure. Thus to analysis the forming process of crystal and produce a outcome in computer software, designers can get a model that follow the rule of crystal. The Boulder Pavilion also referenced the rules from nature, which is the structure of plant stem.

We discussed whether all architectures are “architecture“ in studio this week. As Brad mentioned, architects originally means the master of work. This reminded me of how we call designers in architecture company in China. Rather than architect, most of them are called engineer. Those who are called engineer design buildings but not architectures. They use computer software to draw and model similar forms for every projects, because it is easy to copy from the previous work and draw similar lines. This is not computation design but kind of computerization. Real architects use computation design as tool to explore things over self expression skill. At this digital century, computational designers are more than just creators of complex 3-D models or the developers of digital tools – they distil the underlying logic of architecture and create new environments in which to explore designs and simulate performance, both physical and experiential.1 Computation augments the intellect of the designer and increases capability to solve complex problems.2

Architecture developed from composition design to generative design with bringing in digital routes, which are referenced to natural rules, and programming. Referencing the nature is returning back to the original meaning of life. As my personal opinion, I like generative design, since it makes architecture link with nature. Generative design is an incredibly versatile and productive method of enhancing the design process

1 Peter, B. 2013. ‘Computation Works: The Building of Algorithimc Thought.’, Architecture Design, 152 Engelbart, DC. 1962. Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Frame-work, Summary Report, Stanford Research Institute (Menlo Park, CA)., 1

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Figure A. 3.1 - Parametric Architecture Modelling

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Figure A. 3.2 - Boulder Pavilion

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Figure A. 3.3 - Loophole

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A.4 Conclusion

A.5 Learning outcomes

What makes revolution and development is the change of ways of thinking. Design as an externalization of concepts and a way of thinking influences various aspects around the whole world and go with large time scale. Architecture can be in different ways to approach and what happens today is the progress of computational application which brings architectural design into a new stage of communication and transformation. The transformation of nature, sustainable principle, and cultural brief is a big concentrating point on architecture that never happen before.

I intend to express a communication with nature on my design. I will firstly use computational techniques to link the idea I seek from nature with modelling outcome. Through adjusting each data and remaking model, I will then find the final model that convinces

Before studying Studio Air, I mainly focus on using handwork for both drawing and model making. Without knowing grasshopper and V-ray, I found it is very hard to use software. However, the practice I did in past weeks gives me much confidence and shows me that computational design is beginning to play an important role in solving phase of problems with BIM and scripting tools for analysis. By using computational tool as main design approaches this semester, I am sure I will go into a new level of design thinking and expression.

The four stage of process of design as introduced by Kalay gives a specific leading of how to run the whole design system. As for me, it could be flexible that the order of each stage can be swapped and sometimes some of them happen together. I learnt design process in Design Workshop as well, and it is quite similar theory and gives me a good reminding when I was doing design and got mess in mind.

me with its sense and balance of structure. And I will also take sustainability as an important part.

Unlike previous design approach, by exploring artificial concept and making most of it, I can create the final concept, which starts from practice. The benefits of it include getting to know new direction and possibilities easily, getting to know problems and make different tries quickly, and offering a way to explore natural rules.

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A.6 Appendix - Algorithmic Sketches

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ReferenceAmarnath, ‘Lilypad City Design is the City Of Future’ <htt p://walyou.com/lilypad-city-design/>[accessed 17 March 2016]

Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby, ‘Beyond Radical Design?’ in Speculative Everything: Design Fiction, and Social Drea ming. MIT Press, 2013.

Brady Peters, ‘Computation Works: The Building of Algori thimc Thought’ in Architecture Design. 2013

Douglas C Engelbart, Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework, Summary Report, Stanford Research Institute (Menlo Park, CA, 1962) p1

Floater, ‘Wave Garden, Yusuke Obuchi interviewed by Chrysostomos Tsimourdagkas’ <http://floatermaga zine.com/issue01/pdfs/Wave_Garden.pdf>[accesse d 17 March 2016]

Tony Fry, Design Futuring: Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice (Oxford: Berg, 2008), pp. 1-16

Yuhuda E Kalay, Architecture’s New Media: Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004), pp 5-25

List of figures

Bjarke Ingels Group, Greenland National Gallery, <http://ww w.big.dk/#projects-nuuk>[accessed 17 March 2016]

Davide Speranza, Evelina Micono, Kate Lisi, and Kateri Knap p, Shark Skin Smart Skin, <http://winterlab.wikidot.com/g rasshopper-workshops:2011>[accessed 17 March 2016]

R&Sie(n), Loophole, <http://theverymany.com/2008/09/05/08 0905_colab-rsie-theverymany-003/>[accessed 17 Marc h 2016]

Ted Ngai, Cesare Griffa and Graziella Roccella, Adaptive Re spiration, <http://www.tedngai.net/?p=618>[accessed 1 7 March 2016]

Teh Kan Wee Wagen and AIA, Boulder Pavilion, <http://pra w-architects.com/projects/boulder-pavilion-2/>[ac cessed 17 March 2016]

Unknown, Beijing International Airport, <http://www.travel theworldfans.com/an-introduction-to-the-beijing-ca pital-international-airport/>[accessed 17 March 2016]

Vincent Callebaut, Lilypad, A Floating Ecopolis for Climate R efugees, <http://vincent.callebaut.org/page1-img-lilyp ad.html>[accessed 17 March 2016]

Yusuke Obuchi, Wave Garden, <http://pruned.blogspot.com .au/2005/06/wave-garden-by-yusuke-obuchi.html>[ac cessed 17 March 2016]

3dMetrica, Parametric Architecture, <http://www.cgarchitec t.com/content/portfolioitems/2012/03/48254c07_large.j pg>[accessed 17 March 2016]

zhang bingqing 683559 parta

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