barcelona pavilion

JANUARY 2011Emergent Technologies and Design

Emergent Technologies & DesignCORE STUDIO - 0I : PAVILION - 06

Architectural Association - 2010 | 2011Zhenhang Hu

Nicolas Villegas Giorgi

Alkistis-Georgia Karakosta

Andrew Van Mater

GROUP 06 Zhenhang Hu Nicols Villegas Giorgi Alkistis-Georgia Karakosta Andrew Van Mater

CORE STUDIO - 0I : PAVILION - 06

GROUP 06Zhenhang HuNicolas Villegas GiorgiAlkistis-Georgia Karakosta

Andrew Van Mater

Emergent Technologies and Design group

JANUARY 2011


SUMMARY .........................................................................1

PREFACE .............................................................................2

SITE ANALYSIS ....................................................................3

EXTERIOR ...........................................................................7global geometry .....................................................................7climatic parameters ................................................................9

INTERIOR ...........................................................................15

STRUCTURE ........................................................................25material experimentation.......................................................25structural details .....................................................................27

CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................29

GROUP 06 Zhenhang Hu Nicols Villegas Giorgi Alkistis-Georgia Karakosta Andrew Van Mater1 SUMMARY

This pavi l ion shares i ts borders with the Barcelona Forum. There is a pair of peninsulas to the forums south that reach a hundred meters or so out into the sea . Poised at the fur thest ex treme of the southern peninsula , our des ign reaches i ts 42 meter length over the ocean.

The projec t consists of a ser ies of spaces that are ar ranged in a sequence and di f ferent iated by some of their per fomative qual i t ies. The f rames cur ving f lu id inter ior has a contrast ing dia logue with the rec tangular ex ter ior that encases i t . The projec t i s broken down into 140 f rames made from impac t grade - h igh densit y expanded polyst yrene. The l ightness of the f rames in addit ion to a cable struc ture ak in to the long span br idge construc t ion, a l lows us the abi l i t y to cant i lever the projec t 14 meters over the ocean waters. About hal f of the f rames are cut somewhere about their centers to a l low sunl ight and wind to penetrate the pavi l ion. The exac t form and arrangement of the cut f rames are determined by a set of parametr ical ly control led cur ves and sur faces that a l low us, the designers, a degree f reedom to explore the poss ibi l i t ies of per formative di f ferent iat ion within the pavi l ion.

JANUARY 2011Emergent Technologies and Design PREFACE 2

The study of anthropometrics has long been present in the study and practice of architecture. Many architects throughout the history of design have developed a set of standard measurements tailored to the human body and the social and cultural context of the time. Art and design uses these measurements to guage the way that the physical world interacts with the human body. Our group used the study of anthropometrics to create a system of standard heights seating - high and low, handrails, table tops, leaning bumps, and any other sur face type we could think of that humans interact with on a regular basis.

This catalogue was gathered rather than copied for the specific reason of ignoring it completely. While the standard measurements may be present somewhere in the pavilions interior, the sur faces are constantly and intentionally in-between standards. This type of design allows the user a spatial experience free of preconceptions about what a sur face is to be used for. There is a floor, and there are walls and a ceiling, but the point at which one stops and another begins is impossible to say. This blur of perception is a direct result of the curving section. Each frame of the pavilion has a continuous, closed b-spline curve. The sections lack of sharp turns or kinks reinforces the idea [to the user] that the space is left up to interpretation. While current designs in the built world are used by humans in numerous unintentional ways, such as the man sitting on the curb pictured (left), this pavilion builds in those dimensions which beckon users to give their own temporary and personalized use to.

Figure 01: People in the sun, Edward Hopper, 1960Smithsonian American Art Museum, USA

Figure 04: Le Modulor-Modulor2, Le Corbusier, 1948FLC, Paris|France

Figure 02: Summer Evening, Edward Hopper, 1947Private Collection

Figure 03: Sunday, Edward Hopper, 1926The Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.

GROUP 06 Zhenhang Hu Nicols Villegas Giorgi Alkistis-Georgia Karakosta Andrew Van Mater3 SITE ANALYSIS

Buildings

Inland water

Soft areas

Ocean

Figure 05: The Site Figure 06a: Site layers


Since the 1992 Olympics, the city of Barcelona has undergone an important transformation from a former industrial city into a cosmopolite metropolis. The regional Catalonian government has concentrated their efforts on specific urban interventions in an attempt to have a significant effect on the development of the surrounding areas and subsequently, on the development of the city it self. An example of this strategic operation is the area now known as the Parc del Forum.

This complex is located on the old industrial port area and is part of a series of interventions along the coast line of the city that include the Villa Olímpica, theRonda del Litoral and the rehabilitation of some of the beaches as leisure areas. The general area of the Parc del Forum, is a new urban structure in the landscape of the city. The Forum was mainly conceived as the epicentre for the 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures. The project includes a convention centre, a central plaza, parks, auditoriums, a new port and the triangular Forum Building. After the construction of the Forum (as it is commonly known), the surrounding areas rapidly turned into housing utilising a particular singular building typology radically different from the 120 meters by 120 meters tight urban block of the rest of Barcelona. As a response to this rapid development, and in order to fulfil the needs of the city, the coastline was extended in specific places, creating new public beach areas that are to some extent dislocated from its their immediate surroundings because of the state of development today. The proposed site is one of these areas, just next to the Forum and ever looking the ocean.

Morphology

Connections

Urban tisue

Ocean

SITE ANALYSIS 4

Figure 06b: Site layers

GROUP 06 Zhenhang Hu Nicols Villegas Giorgi Alkistis-Georgia Karakosta Andrew Van Mater5 SITE ANALYSIS

Figure 07


The proposed area of intervention has seven identifiable layers relevant to our analysis (Fig. 06a and Fig. 06b):Buildings: Because the Forum and its surroundings differ from the traditional urban tissue of Barcelona, the buildings found around the area are mostly singular buildings surrounded by a series of public spaces. On the designated site, there are no immediately adjacent buildings, however, there is a clear view of some of the most iconic structures of the Parc del Forum, including the triangular forum building, the solar canopy and the observation deck that comes from the park and overlooks the proposed site and the ocean.In-land water: Some of the public spaces of the Forum area include a series of artificial lakes and flooded rooftops however, they do not have a significant influence on the designated area because of the overwhelming presence of the ocean.Soft Areas: Although the Forum area seams to have a sufficient amount of green and soft areas, they do not appear to be interconnected. This dislocation is worse as it gets closer to the coastline.Morphology: I rregular mega blocks comprise the area with individual projects sharing a network of smaller scale pedestrian walkways. The syste l ine, however the dislocation between these two urban systems persist in the designated area.Urban Tissue: The scale of both the buildings and the public space surrounding them make this area a particular place in a city like Barcelona. At the point of development of the area today it is difficult to understand the connection between the traditional morphology of the city and the new water front.Ocean: The Balearic Sea is the main feature and attraction of the site. There are a series of

outings and peninsulas that could accentuate the relation between the users and the ocean.

The temperature in Barcelona oscillates from 0°C to 15°C during the winter, and from 20°C to 35°C during the summer period. The mean irradiance of global direct radiation horizontal is 80 W/M2 in winter and 200 W/M2 in summer (METEONORM Version 6.1.0.6, temperature and radiation period 1996-2008). This means that the proposed project most control the direct radiation providing some kind of shadow for the interior space. The majority of the wind incidence (65%) comes from the northwest with average speeds of 10 and 15 Km/h.

The first reaction was to try to make an intervention that could serve as a connection between the Parc del Forum and the designated site (Fig.08 and Fig.09). In that sense, the pavilion started as a depression of the topography that would act as a collector of the expected fluxes of people from the park, the nearby beach and the Avenida Diagonal. However, the most significant feature of the proposed site is the presence of the sea and the experience it represents. By taking a closer look to the characteristics of the site, it became evident that the peninsula provided a more significant experience of the ocean because by being surrounded by water could create the sensation of actually walking into the ocean (Fig.09 and Fig.10). Our intention was to re-create that idea by placing an elongated structure that would cantilever over the water. The project provides a space that responds to the feeling of wonder that most people experience when contemplating the immensity of the ocean.

SITE ANALYSIS 6

Figure 08

Figure 09

Figure 10

GROUP 06 Zhenhang Hu Nicols Villegas Giorgi Alkistis-Georgia Karakosta Andrew Van Mater7 EXTERIOR| global geometry

Figure 11: the cantilevered structurelifts up over the ocean


Poised at the fur thest ex treme of the southern peninsula , our des ign reaches i ts 42 meter length over the ocean. Trying to adapt to the geometry of the site, the design ends up to be a rectangle, with general dimensions 42,00m x 8,00 and 5,00m high. Moreover, the idea of giving another viewing experience of the site to the user is translated by designing the rectangle as a continuous 7% slope that lifts up over the ocean. In order to achieve that, one third of the structure [that is over the ocean] must be a cantilever (Fig.11).

The structural approach consists of a series of frames compressed together by pre-stressed ca-bles.

The system has three main components: frames, spacers and cables that allow an almost endless number of possibilities. We started experiment-ing with the position of the spacers in relation to the frames in order to generate different densities, l ighting conditions and curvatures of the global geometry. Figure 12 shows an even distribution of frames and spacers that create a straight section with a density of fifty per cent openings on the side and

closed floor and ceiling. This situation result in an even distribution of shadows and direct light, however, it does not allow too much diversity in the interior conditions of the space other than the actual shape of each individual frame.

Figure 13 has the spacer changing sides after each frame. This particular organization allows some diversity in the interior space because it changes the way the way the light penetrates the interior. However the system creates an uneven condition in the floor and in the ceiling. The other problem with this type of organization is that the spacers change the plane of each frame making the behaviour of the overall geometry unnecessarily complicated. Figure 14 has three spacers, two in the ceiling, and one in the floor of each frame. This system generates a uniform curvature of the global geometry wile maintaining a uniform distribution of openings on the sides. After these small scale tests, we tried to combine them in a one model (Fig.15). However, the magnitude of the force applied to cable and the amount of force necessary to hold the entire model together, grew exponentially. Also, the stress in the corners of the first and last frames tends to deform the frames and ultimately break them. To solve this situation we introduce a joint component to tense and hold the cable after each frame. In this system the force applied to the cable is distributed along the geometry and its magnitude is divided in the number of joints introduced to the model. The system then allows the combination of straight and curve sections and is easier to build.

EXTERIOR| global geometry 8

Figure 12

Figure 13

Figure 14

Figure 15


In a configuration in which every other frame is missing the analysis (Fig.15) shows a specific shad-ow pattern that is a direct result of the suns light entering the voids in the global form as it moves across the sky. Notice in the center how there is a large splash of direct sunlight that penetrates the pavilion completely. This is represented by the white streaks that reach from edge to edge of the circle which encompasses them.

9 EXTERIOR| climatic parameters

Figure 15


In a configuration that removes frames at irregular intervals (Fig.16) the results are similar to the pre-vious example. The percentage of l ight is lower but the shape and effect that the light has as it enters the pavilion is negligible. The only time that the interval becomes relevant is when a large number of frames are present in sequence.

The addition of supporting geometry such as hand-rails, curved sections, dropped ceilings, and raised floors seem to have a much smaller effect than we assumed they would on the overall volume of light. As shown in Fig.17, the light and shadow image is much more similar to the first example than it is to the second.

The analysis is taken from only one point of view so in reality the light would have a similar appearance at any vantage point in-between solid frames. The fin-like shape of the central white space (Fig.15, Fig.16, Fig.17) indicates a similar theory. The interior space would therefore receive a large amount of l ight where only one frame is present in-between voids, and in turn would hardly be discernable from the exterior as far as the volume of light. However, the streaks of shadow would create a very distinct lighting condition quite separate from the outside. Differences in the lighting conditions become much more noticeable once the frames start to arrive back to back. The light quantity is almost entirely based on the presence (or not) of the frame in sequence, and seems to operate independently from the geometry of the frame. Keeping this in mind the previous exercise of curving the pavilion based on using equal frames with unequal spacing would result in a very low amount of controllable lighting qualities, as the spacing of the frames would be dependent upon the global geometry. Based on this study, our group made the decision to move away from curves in the global form so that the lighting qualities, and other environmental factors, could be controlled without compromising the clarity of the global forms relationship to the surrounding landscape.

EXTERIOR| climatic parameters 10

Figure 16 Figure 17


The grasshopper definition (above) uses a series of user inputs to determine the per formative criteria. This screen capture from rhino (above) shows the curve used to determine the frames presence. A user generated rhino curve is referenced inside of a code within the definition. Depending on the location of the curve within the lines, every frame, every other, every two, every three, or every fourth frame is present. The frames which are selected are put into a list within the code that is returned to grasshopper in order to modify with an interior. The frames not selected to be full and present are sent to a second list that can have further modifications based on separate environmental criteria. Using this method of modification allows a user to completely control the levels of l ight at any given point within the pavilion. Using this as a tool, any user can clearly articulate their opinion of the suns influence on the pavilion.

11 EXTERIOR| climatic parameters

Figure 18

If the curve is within the first two lines, every other frame is present.

If the curve is within the first and the third line, every other or every two frames are

present, depedning on the position of the curve.

The final number of frames present in the design derived from the sun curve

which is flowing within the lines.


The grasshopper definition (above) uses a set of 3 curves similar to the way that the sun curve was used in the previous example. These curves, however, are responsible for the modifications done to the rejects of the previous sun curve exercise. This set of frames is responsible for allowing light into the pavilion. While the sun curve determined which frames will be a part of this l ist, these frames are dependent on a sur face which slices the top off of the frame. The sur face used to slice the frames is a loft between three curves. There is one curve to the left of the pavilion, another through its centre, and a third curve on its right. The three curves are determined by a user, in rhino, and their shape should depend on the amount of wind coming into the pavilion as well as the view from the inside looking out. Once the three curves are determined by the user they are lofted and used to cut the top off of the frames in the appropriate list. This process results in a flowing curve that undulates across the facade creating the primary visual reading of a sliced solid from the exterior.

EXTERIOR| climatic parameters 12

Figure 19

The surface affects the frames that were not present after the application of the sun grasshopper definition (Fig.18).

GROUP 06 Zhenhang Hu Nicols Villegas Giorgi Alkistis-Georgia Karakosta Andrew Van Mater13 EXTERIOR

JANUARY 2011Emergent Technologies and Design EXTERIOR 14

IMAGE OF THE EXTERIOR FROM THE PHYSICAL MODEL


Figure 20: sketch of the initial intentions of the interior space

15 INTERIOR


The first rule, concerning the plan, was that every path that we design will be followed/accompanied by a seating area. Depending on the number of paths we have in a certain area of the interior, we can either have the same number of seating places or one less or one more. For example, if we have two paths, we can either have one seating place between these paths, or two seating places at the sides of the paths, or even three, two at the sides and one in-between the paths.

The second rule, concerning the section of the space, was that while the path could be at any possible height inside the dimensions of the frames, the seating areas would either be a maximum of one meter higher than the path or a minimum of one meter lower than the path. In the case where two paths of different heights share a seating area, the maximum height of the seating area cannot be higher than one meter above the lower path. Simultaneously the minimum height of the seating cannot be lower than one meter below the higher path (Fig.23).

The idea of having a range of heights for the seating, within a minimum and a maximum value, combines the initial idea of designing different experiences in a continuous space and not designing actual seats. In this way, people are free to express their own way of sitting, depending on the height of the sur face in a specific position or the varying heights in adjacent areas. For example, a seating place for an adult can be a leaning place for a child or a playground for another. People will have the opportunity to enjoy different experiences of seating ways by using all the seating areas (Fig.22).

For the interior space, the primary aspect of the design was to create a fluid linear space that promotes movement from the entrance of the pavilion to the last frame. Some other goals were to provide people with some seating areas and also give them different opportunities of experiencing their movement throughout the pavilion. The circulation areas have a direct relationship with the seating areas, so that one can find a seating place anytime he wants when walking through the various paths of the pavilion (Fig.20).The way we achieved this goal was to introduce some simple rules to the design of the interior space.

In addition to the previous idea, and concerning the second rule, the height relationship between the paths and the seating areas, allow people to blur the boundaries of occupation by using a part of the path as seating, where the path is higher than the other seating area (Fig.22).

The next step after defining the rules, is to apply them in a general plan. For this we used a plan with two flows, each one of them related to a different view or spatial strategy. The main path is following the elevation of the pavilion, having a 7% slope that can also be used by people with physical disabilities, while the second one does not have a smooth slope, in order to provide people with different views and separate subspaces (Fig.21).

Figure 22: sketch of the initial sections of the interior space

Figure 21: initial sketch of the plan with the two paths and seating places in between them

INTERIOR 16

GROUP 06 Zhenhang Hu Nicols Villegas Giorgi Alkistis-Georgia Karakosta Andrew Van Mater17 INTERIOR

In addition to the lower interior curves, a minimum and maximum height was designed for the ceiling. For example, the minimum height of the path area is 2.20m while the seating area used 1.8m as a minimum. Different interior fluid spaces (breps) can emerge by using other ceiling points that are higher than the minimum point, achieving differentiation in the ceiling and ultimately the interior space (Fig.24). This possibility allows us to introduce other factors in the design, l ike minimizing material for a lighter structure or cost efficiency. As a final step, we created a brep from the curves of the ramp, seating, minimum heights and ceiling which was used to model the interior.

Figure 23

The black curves show the bottom and ceiling of the

paths while the red curves show the seating area.

The red line can either be a maximum of one meter

higher than the path or a minimum of one meter

lower than the path.

After the seating grasshopper definition (Fig.23) the points that

indicate the ceating and walking areas are udes

to design the interpolate curve of each frame. These curves will be

lofted to give the final brep of the interior space

JANUARY 2011Emergent Technologies and Design INTERIOR 18

Figure 23

Brep 1

Brep 2

Brep 3

Frames designed in detail after the seating grasshopper definition (Fig.23) to create Brep 1.

By altering the position of the ceiling points of the above frames, another Brep emerges (Brep 2).

Further alteration of the above frames, according to a reason, can provoque the emergence of another brep (Brep 3).


GROUP 06 Zhenhang Hu Nicols Villegas Giorgi Alkistis-Georgia Karakosta Andrew Van Mater19

JANUARY 2011Emergent Technologies and DesignJANUARY 2011Emergent Technologies and Design 20

GENERAL PLAN VIEW

JANUARY 2011Emergent Technologies and Design 22

GENERAL SECTION VIEW


IMAGES OF THE INTERIOR SAPCE FROM THEPHYSICAL MODELS

JANUARY 2011Emergent Technologies and Design 24

IMAGE OF THE INTERIOR SAPCE FROM THEPHYSICAL MODEL

GROUP 06 Zhenhang Hu Nicols Villegas Giorgi Alkistis-Georgia Karakosta Andrew Van Mater25 STRUCTURE| material experimentation

Concrete

Compresion resistance

Weight

Tension resistance

Duravility

Fabrication ease

High density expanded polysterene

Compresion resistance

Weight

Tension resistance

Duravility

Fabrication ease

Timber

Compresion resistance(depends on the angle of the fiber and the direction of the applied force)

Weight

Tension resistance(depends on the angle of the fiber and the direction of the applied force)

Duravility

Fabrication ease

JANUARY 2011Emergent Technologies and Design STRUCTURE| material experimentation 26

Structural strength Load bearing support from high strength to weight ratio

Light weight Material mass reduction and minimised component decrease weight

Structural strength Unaffected when exposed to oil,grease,petroleum and most chemicals

Chemically inert Heat flow is restricted from passing through

Energy absorpion Closed-cell structure delivers controlled return-to-shape after stress

100% Recyclable (-CHC6H5-CH2-)n

GROUP 06 Zhenhang Hu Nicols Villegas Giorgi Alkistis-Georgia Karakosta Andrew Van Mater27 STRUCTURE| structural details

The structure of the pavilion is very straight for-ward: run a cable through all of the frames then pull very hard. The entire pavilion cantilevers over the ocean but it is a very standard cantilever that breaks no boundaries either technological or oth-erwise. Two thirds of the pavilion is on a solid foundation of cast in place concrete, while only a third of the pavilion is unsupported from below. Nearly any cantilever with these proportions will be successful, especially if the density and geom-etry of the lever in question is constant as it is it our design. The part that makes the structure unconvention-al is that our ‘ lever ’ is not made of a solid mate-rial or joined with brackets or fasteners to make it per form as if it were. Each Frame is independent from every other frame and is held together by a tension cable running from the end of the pavil-ion to a foundation in the ground over 160 meters away. This tension causes a high level of friction in-between frames which results in the assembly per forming as if it were solid The cable system that we used was taken from a bridge construction method known as “successive cantilever”. In a traditional tension system each member is strung onto a cable(s) and the cable is tensioned after all of the members are present. A successive cantilever system uses tension in the cable in-between each and every member it passes through. This causes each joint to be in a state of equilibrium instead of having a force vector push-ing or pulling it in any direction.

In order to achieve this equilibrium, the force that it takes to hold the entire system must be calcu-lated and distributed to each member, then locked in so the force doesn’t change (breaking equilib-rium). We designed a simple geometric lock that uses a male and female cone to prevent movement when force is applied. As the tension of the sys-tem increases the clamping cone only gets tighter which prevents the cable from slipping. The force of the cable is therefore never transferred into the expanded polystyrene frame.



Figure 26a: exampples of cantilever constructions

Figure 26b: exampples of cantilever constructions

Figure 27: structural detail of the cable connection

JANUARY 2011Emergent Technologies and Design STRUCTURE| structural details 28

Figure 28a: structural detail of the cable connection

Figure 28b: structural detail of the cable connection


GROUP 06 Zhenhang Hu Nicols Villegas Giorgi Alkistis-Georgia Karakosta Andrew Van Mater29 CONCLUSIONS

Af ter some of the comments we received in our review there are a couple of st ruc tural th ings to reconsider in addit ion to an edit to our approach on creat ing the inter ior.

A cr i t ica l force in our projec t i s the shear stress bet ween adjacent f rames. Whi le we have a lways had i t in our mind that the stress bet ween f rames would be suff ic ient to provide the needed f r ic t ion for our assembly, some of the comments we received suggested designing the f rames to account for the f r ic t ion rather than s imply re ly ing on the f r ic t ion bet ween the f lat sur faces.

Our group had long discussed cutt ing a wave pattern into the sur face that would ac t as inter lock ing teeth but we were concerned about i ts appearance damaging the s impl ic i t y of the form and idea. Perhaps tak ing a lesson f rom biomimetics, we could do something on a much smal ler (microscopic even) scale that wouldn’t a l ter the image of the pavi l ion in any way. An a l ternat ive to that would be to redesign the way the f rames connec t to the cable in order to incorporate something that handles the shear stress.

The second struc tural concern is a mater ia l proper t y of the polyst yrene that we could never seem to get a stat ist ic for, which was the bending strength a lso k nown as the Young’s Modulus. I f the ent i re pavi l ion were to bounce or t wist , which would cause uneven stress on the opposing cables, the f rame would have to handle the temporar y distor t ion without reaching a cr i t ica l threshold. Based on the other per formative charac ter ist ics of the mater ia l we assumed the strength would be there, but a few of the cr i t ics quest ioned the mater ia ls abi l i t y to handle that t ype of st ress. I t would be nice to have this k ind of data (or test for i t ) so that we could not only proceed with this des ign idea, but use the data to get the most ex treme poss ibi l i t ies.

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The in i t ia l goal for the inter ior was to house a var iet y of exper iences in a cont inuous path and space. Whi le we feel that we did achieve this goal , the inter ior that we developed re l ied on whether or not the f rame was cut ( to a l low l ight in) to di f ferent iate spaces. An a l ternat ive solut ion would be to use the geometr y of the space, rather than the l ight , to our advantage much more than we presented. This poss ibi l i t y would a l low more drast ic d i f ferences in l ight , sound, and s ize di f ferences which would create a much stronger hierarchy and in turn a stronger projec t .

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