D E S I G N S T U D I O

AIR Cheryl Looi | 376157

C O N T E N T S

Architecture as a Discourse

Computation in Architecture

Parametric Design

Expression of InterestResearch Project: CUT: Develop Argument

Precedents

Case Study

Criterias

Matrices

Amendments and Further Exploration

Conclusion

ARCHITECTURE as a DISCOURSE

WEEK 1

N O R D P A R K C A B L E R A I L W A Y zaha hadid architects Innsbruck, Austria

The architectural discourse of design technol-ogy and construction is seen in the Nordpark Cable Railway by Zaha Hadid Architects in Innsbruck, Austria. The design for the different stations along the railway feature an overall architectural language of fludity. Each station is an adaptation of the principle form, mim-icking the specific site conditions at various altitudes.

As stated by Zaha Hadid, the design portrays the articulation of form, spatial expression and shown through digital design and con-struction. Using the idea of two contrasting elements of “Shell and Shadow, the design for each station generates different spatial qualities with lightweight organic roof struc-tures of double-curvature glass that artificial-ly seem like it is floating, creating an artificial landscape that describes the movement and circulation within.

In this case, according to Patrik Schumach-er in his article, The Autopoiesis of Archi-tecture, it involves the discourse concern-ing architecture’s ability to innovatively utilize the most advanced construction technologies. Zaha Hadid stated that the design involved new production methods such as CNC milling and thermoforming. I believe with the advancement of these new technologies, it is possible to easily create state-of-the-art projects and manu-facture them to the specific requirements, in this case the curvalinear aspects of each station.

Thus, I believe that the focus on function as a concept to achieve an innovative de-sign with the aid for computation is a suit-able way to relate to the Wyndham Gate-way project.

As the Wyndham City Council is looking to find an innovative way to design an eye catching and inspirational project en-abling local residents to engage with it, I feel that adopting the concept of func-tionalism through the use of the different computational design techniques and materiality to create a notion of continuity is relevant to the discourse.

“The railway reflects the city’s con-tinued commitment to the highest standards of architecture and pushes the boundaries of design and con-struction technology. These stations are the global benchmark for the use of double-curvature glass in con-struction.” Zaha Hadid

Digital Technology & Construction

S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y

REFLECTIONS daniel libeskindKeppel Bay, Singapore Daniel Libeskind’s massive waterfront development is the ultra-green project on Singapore’s south coast. The curvy looking tower structure incorporates the notion of an artful composition that has shifting build-ing orientations, along with the differing building typologies, creating an airy, light-filled grouping of short and tall structures. The shifting forms create a unique experience as no two levels of the building are aligned with the floor above or below, hence allowing the living experience to be different.

As the notion of sustainability is becoming a hot topic in the ar-chitectural discourse, it is funda-mental to understand why many architectural firms are looking to-wards a greener solution to devel-op infratstructure. In this project, the lush green sky terraces on the sloping rooflines act as a meth-ods of providing open spaces and platforms with a 360 degree view of the surrounding landscape, al-lowing a contrast of living in an enclosed apartment but yet be-ing able to experience space at the same time.

Libeskind stated that the design of Reflections aims to express the identity of Singapore. I think this is a good way to promote the cityscape. By using this concept, I bellieve that showcasing various aspects of Wyndham’s identity as a municipality would achieve the goal of the Gateway project—to bring a sense of pride to the local residents.

I believe the idea of the interac-tion of space and sustainability is favourable for architecture. I think that buildings should incorporate the use of sustainable energy as it is also a way of looking towards the idea of futurism.

Therefore, the goal for the Wyn-dham Gateway project is looking towards the innovation, so incor-porating sustainability for the de-sign would be appropriate.

“Reflections at Keppel Bay is truly an expression of the wonderful collabo-ration with Keppel and exemplifies the ongoing and future success of Singapore.” Daniel Libeskind

COMPUTATION in ARCHITECTURE

WEEK 2

Computer-aided technology has been for the last decade, impacted greatly on architecture and design. the experimental use of digital tools and parametric modelling was invloved in the designing of the Birnbeck Pier project landmark in Birnbeck is-land, England. This proposed project would offer an out of proportion and differentiated structure that stands out from both the existing historic fabric as well as the delicate natural background. The parametric computing technique allows for dif-ferent variations for the formwork of the design. The complex structure here is the combination of curves and orienting it in different ways to produce the cur-rent design. According to Branco, new shapes and forms are can be created from generative processes based on concepts such as topological space, iso-morphic surfaces, dynamic systems, keyshape ani-mations, parametric design and genetic algorithms.

B I R N B E C K P I E R moh architects Birnbeck Island, England

I believe that the proposed design of the Birnbeck Pier expresses crisp, geo-metrical and curvalinear structures and is contrasted again the soft, fluid and extensive features of the landscape. This creates a well balanced architectural de-sign, that with computater aided tech-nology, easily manipulated.

I feel that computational design not only makes designing more complex structures more simply but also making manufacturing simpler too.

“The new approaches to design open up a formal universe in which essentially curvilinear forms are not stable but may undergo variations, giving rise to new possibilities...”

Branco Kolarevic

The Voussoir Cloud by Iwamotoscott Architects explore the use of computational design in creat-ing the structure, form and fabricating technique for the production of the sculpture.

According to the designers, the sculpture is made up of a series of vaults that can be experienced internally and from above. The design is defined structurally through the compression of three main walls that the vaults rely on to stay structur-ally stable.

The use of computational hanging chain models allowed the designers to modify and to further im-prove on the profile lines as pure catenaries. Form finding programs were also used to establish the purely compressive vault shapes.

V O U S S O I R C L O U D iwamotoscott architects Los Angeles, CA

I believe that in order to create such a complex and intricate design, a specific computer aided software is needed to install tabs into each in-dividual petal of the structure so that it can be joint together neatly and systematically. More-over, computer design programs assist design-ers in calculating the amount of compression that the structure is able to withstand solely by using the petal patterns.

I feel that this project was a good example in illustrating why digital computation is funda-mental to architecture in today’s society. With-out these programs, it would take a longer time and much more effort to produce something to the very detail, that may not even be half as good as the ones that are generated from the designing programs.

In relation to the Wyndham Gateway project, needing it to be an innovative design would re-quire the use of digital programming to create a design that is complex and detailed enough to catch the attention of the public.

Hence, using computational design tools are vital to today’s world of architecture.

PA R A M E T R I C | A R C H I T E C T U R E

WEEK 3

“This dynamic effect en-courages visual interaction and connectivity between the cinema and Pushkin Square...” Lidija Grozdanic

The design for the Pushkinsky Cinema is a competition entitled ‘Changing the Face 2011-Moscow’, which involved rethinking about Moscow’s classic local landmark cinema and creating a new façade for the Pushkinsky theatre. Although this particular design did not win the competition, it showed certain quali-ties that closely relates to my personal expres-sion of Interest for the gateway project for the Wyndham municipality.

I believe that the ideas for the gateway project could be inspired from the idea of showcasing the change of Wyndham from the current na-turistic landscape of the city to a more mod-ernistic one. Having this in mind, I thought that this precedence was applicable to mention. The façade is a gentle morphing of a geometric diagrid pattern into a warped undulating lattics structure that reveals and hides the contents behind the matrix of hexagonal modules.

How this project applies to my expression of interest is the ability to create a still structure that has the ability to appear to have the notion of movement. The combination of integrating the varied orientations of hexagonal screen components creates a rich and dramatic moiré effect which dissolves from opaque to transpar-ent and back again as one moves around. With this, the visual background becomes visible as one sees through the hexagonal grid.

Relating this back to the gateway project, this concept would be great as it plays with move-ment and speed to be able to visualize some-thing when one comes from a certain direction.This is possible to recreate with 2 layers of pat-terns that are focused in 2 directions, arranged one behind the other to create the the moiré effect. Hence, the overlapping layers would seem as though it is moving when viewed at

P A R A M E T R I C F A Ç A D E F O R P U S H K I N S K Y C I N E M A synthesis design + architecture Moscow, Russia

RESEARCH PROJECT | CUT | DEVELOP

WEEK 4

Expression Of Interest

A R G U M E N T

EOI

INBOUND GEELONG TRAFFIC

SITE ANALYSIS

WYNDHAM CITY WESTERN EXCHANGE

INBOUND MELBOURNE TRAFFIC

SITE A

SITE B

SITE C

Privilege means having the ability to enjoy a special advantage of being unique, individualistic and benefiting from special rights. With the richness of their natural landscape, Wyndham has the advantage to provide many new experiences. Thus, we would like our Gateway project to feature a symbolic representation of how privilege the Wyndham municipality is. We would like to approach this Gate-way project to convey two main ideas. Firstly, by highlighting the privileges that Wyndham can provide to people, such as their many leisure attractions. The anal-ogy of using multiple privilege points is mainly to showcase these aspects of Wyn-dham. Through this, we want to engage with the motorists who are traveling at high speeds. Secondly, as they are working towards improving their environment aesthetically, we would like to take this opportunity to create a design that points local residents towards a common goal. Therefore, our design for the Wyndham City Gateway Project seeks to harness the innovative and inspiring qualities that digital design techniques contribute to explore ways of achieving the notion of dif-ferent viewpoints, to create an eye catching piece that engages with motorists as

they pass by Wyndham City on the Freeway.

P R E C E D E N T S

M O C A @ L B Cthom faulders Sonoma, California

This Museum of Contemporary Arts building proposal by Thom Faulders features a similar concept to the expression of interest, which is to create a façade that gives users of the free-way an opportunity to engage with a visual icon for the institution.

With this precedent, the individual metal tubes are parametrically angled in such a way that it portrays a different view of the image behind the façade when one sees it from a different an-gle. Hence, this gives viewers travelling in the freeway at different speeds a chance to see the image appear and disappear as they pass by it. Through this, the views seen are unique from one side of the façade to the other.

By incorporating this, I believe that incorpo-rating this idea is well suited and is possible to recreate it to suit the argument of using a privi-ledged viewpoint to signify something impor-tant to Wyndham such as showing Wyndham’s logo as their unique identifier.

P R E C E D E N T S

S U G A M O S H I N K I N B A N K emmanuelle moureaux Tokiwadai, Tokyo

Similar to the MOCA façade, the Sugamo Shinkin Bank by Emmanuelle Moureaux Architecture & Design emphasizes the concept of the viewpoints to view the design of the building. Emmanuelle Moureaux Architecture & Design explained that this façade features a tree motif depicted in the perforations of the cladding. Hence, if one stands at a certain point, only the coloured side of the windows can be seen whereas if one stands in front of the building, both the windows and the colours are visible.

Therefore, I think that showing this precedent is relevant to the overall argument to showcase different aspects to the featured view.

P R E C E D E N T S P R E C E D E N T S

C O R A Lstudio aisslinger Milan, Italy

Here in this project by Berlin designers Studio Aisslinger, the Coral lamp is a spherical shaped object with a hexago-nal grid surface extruded to a certain thickness. One can only be able to see into the centre of the lamp by looking straight ahead at any point around the object.

Thus, this design could be in-tegrated into the development of the design for the Wyndham Gateway project.

Studio Aisslinger designers also branched out from the Coral lamp and created the Coral seating mod-ules that use the same technique of the heagonal mesh to create the

form.

U N I D U F O U R Geneva, Switzerland

The Uni Dufour in Geneva, incorpo-rates the post-Corbusier movement of Brutalism, whereby it shows the rawness of the concrete skeleton. The concept of the priveledge viewpoint is seen in this building. The windows are slanted to a cer-tain angle on one side and on the other side it is concrete panels with LED displays.

Looking at the building, the two façades are facing two different points or direction, hence enabling the design to seem like it has two seperate walls.

I think that the aesthetic percep-tion of two different façades on the same wall intrigues me. Hence, I feel that if this was used as the de-sign for the Gateway project, it will definitely stir a sense of curiousity to viewers travelling from both di-rections.

P R E C E D E N T S P R E C E D E N T S

T H E Y O R K S H I R E D I A M O N D P A V I L I O Nvarious architects Yorkshire & Humberside, UK

Y U F U T O K U R E S T A U R A N Tissho architects co. ltd. Tokyo, JapanThe Yorkshire Diamond Pavilion takes the design af-

ter the atomic structure of diamonds. Formed with inflatable tubing and the use of the diamond grid, it is similar to the Coral designs by Studio Asslinger in creating an innovative and unique exterior that involves repeated shapes and a lattice structure.

The building façade enables one to see right through into the interior space with the clarity of the diamond shape. However, looking at it in anoth-er direction such as the top right view, one can only see the multiple configurations.

I believe the design focuses on the the sustainable part of architecture but it also provides better in-sides into the manipulation the concept of the priv-eledged viewpoint.

The Yufutoku Restaurant in Tokyo features a Machiya-style wooden louvers that show-case a traditional Japanese townhouse. The depth of each louver varies sequen-tially throught the façade.

The pattern creates light and shadows dur-ing the night when light from the interior of the building illuminates out onto the streets. The gradual change of the light spill creates an interesting view from dif-ferent angles as well, hence, things can be seen when the louvers appear to not over-lap.

I think that this design is interesting as it plays with several concepts such as pat-terning, light and shadowing, and different points of view, which can be all integrated into the design for the Gateway project.

P R E C E D E N T S C R I T E R I A S

P A R A M E T R I C D E S I G N E X P E R I M E N Trodrigo medina

This parametric design experiment is similar to the Yufutoku Restaurant. Here, the study shows exploring the opening of apertures that parametrically links to the surrounding of the landscape of the building. Thus, understanding the locations of what is around the building and distance will affect how the apertures respond in amplitude. This means that if the build-ing its near to a landscape the apertures go wider and if it is the opposite, the apertures go narrower.

I think this concept also creates the sense of visual illusion not only from the different landscapes but also it can be applied to viewer moving around the building.

Therefore, it correlates with the arguement of directing view-ers to certain aspects of a sculpture for the intention of com-munication.

1. Perceiving from different angles

2. Attracting viewers

3. Exploration of matrix to create movement

4. Combinations

C A S E S T U D Y: airspace tokyo C A S E S T U D Y: model

During the initial stages of developing the Expression of Interest, my group decided to focus on the Airspace Tokyo as our case study. We started out by looking at the concept of patterns and why it was a good idea to develope for the design of the Gateway project for Wyndham. Our original arguement stated that since patterns were used throughout human history to portray Wyndham’s culture. We incorporated the idea of overlapping patterns to generate an outcome that would show a different view from looking at it at different angles. Therefore, we decided to achieve this outcome by using voronoi patterning and later on fabricating a model.

We created the digi-tal model through the use of computer-aided technology, specifically Rhinoceros and Grasshopper.

As seen from Model 1, we overlapped three layers of voronoi patterns and placed them 3cm apart. However, the result that we got was not what we aimed to achieve--which was getting different views from different aspects.

MODEL 1

MODEL 2

As Model 1 was not a successful outcome, we realilsed that the distance be-tween the voronoi layers were too close to each other and the material(1mm boxboard) we used was too thin to notice any difference in views. Hence, we thought that by placing them further apart and using a thicker ma-terial (3mmboxboard), the notion of the dif-ferent views could work better. We made the second model, but again this technique did not seem to be successful. The reason why it was not a favour-able techique in fulfilling our criterias was due to the fact that the voronoi patterning only gave a limited viewing aspect. One can only see a unique view from limited points such as the front of the design. Hence, we de-cided to modify our initial arguement from using patterns to achieving priveledged viewing. Thus relating to motorists travelling oat high speeds.

M A T R I X initial explorations

ArbitraryPts-AttractorPts-Rot ArbitraryPts-CurveAttractor-Rot ArbitraryPts-AttractorPts-Rot

BoolPattern-MultiFunction-Rot OverlapPattern-AttractPts-Rot OverlapPattern-MultiFunction-Rot

StreamTxt-OverlapPattern-Rot UsingSurfNorm-MultiFunction-Rot

M A T R I X initial explorations

ArbitraryPts-AttractorPts-Ext ArbitraryPts-ImgSamp-Ext ArbitraryPts-MultiFunction-Ext

BoolPattern-ImgSamp-Ext BoolPattern-UsingSets-Ext CurveIntersect-CurveAttract-Ext

CurveIntersect-ImgSamp-Ext ExplicitGrids-AttractorPts-Ext MultiFunction-MathsFunction-Ext

SurfaceGrid-ImgSamp-Ext SurfaceGrid-MathsFunction-Ext UsingSurfNorm-AttractPts-Ext

M A T R I X initial explorations

BoolPattern-AttractPts-Shaders BoolPattern-UsingSets-Shaders ImgSamp-CurveIntersect-Shaders

SurfaceGrid-MultiFunction-Shaders

ArbitrartPts-ImgSamp-UsingSets EcplicitGrids-AttractPts-OverlapPatt EcplicitGrids-ImgSamp-OverlapPatt

M A T R I X initial explorations

SurfGrid-CurveAttract-Comp

During this stage of exploring the matrix, I was a little confused as to what was expected from this results. I tried to fugure out which CUT definitions were the most logical to explore. Therefore, I focused on using two main outputs, specifically rotation and extrusion to gener-ate these designs. The outputs that I encountered difficulty in con-necting in Grasshopper were Components and Shaders.

1. P e r c e i v e f r o m D i f f e r e n t A n g l e s 2. A t t r a c t V i e w e r s

In these matrixes, we were aiming to achieve different views from different angles. Hence, we de-cided to explore using different shapes and sizes to achieve the different results as shown in the above matrices. We found that the best outcome for this criteria was using same sized shapes and positioning them differently. As changing the views from different angles is the main point in this exploration, we started out by moving it manually through grasshopper, and later on progressed to a setting specific point using the attractor point association and a vector to achieve the flowing results.

In these matrixes, we aimed to achieve the no-tion of depth, which is an important element of our criteria. As drivers would be passing by the freeway, we wanted to them to perceive the striking image structure directly instead of it just being a plain 2D surface. Therefore, we explored the use of extrusion in the ma-trices to produce varying heights to form the one image that would be attractive. After much consideration, we thought that direct-ing the viewer to a certain angle would be more significant than having different angles and making it more complicated so as to pre-

vent them from getting too distracted.

3. E x p l o r a t i o n o f M a t r i x t o C r e a t e M o v e m e n t

4. C o m b i n a t i o n s

The idea here was to achieve movement in the design. Therefore, to broaden our perspective on the gateway project, we came up with the use of repetitive shapes and the distortion of form to further develop for our design. We decided to combine these factors and the use of light to create shading in the structure. The matrices show that with repeated use of a certain shape and position them close together and adjusting the form, we were able to create various shaded surfaces when

viewed from different perspectives.

From the whole exploration of the matrices and grasshopper definitions in Rhino, we believe that integrating all of the previous criterias further explores what we could achieve. Therefore, we explored the use of hexagonal shapes to offer a more sophisticated look to our design. We discovered that the hexagon shape could be multiplied using the hexagonal grid in grasshop-per to create a façade like structure. Therefore allowing for a combination of grids to be made and extruded, followed by adding attractor points so that the different set of grids could point to the directions of multiple points, hence, extruding in different directions. The hexagon is also a multi-faceted shape, giving us the opportunity to use shading.

We decided to put these definitions to the test by fabricating three experimental models.

Front Perspective

E X P E R I M E N T 1 square grid & attractor point

To create this model, we used a the overlap-ping patterns of square grids followed by insert-ing an attractor point to one of the grids.

As the grid follows the position of the attrac-tor point, we were able to create a spectific view point from the perspec-tive of the motorist trav-elling on the freeway.

Herethe model shows where the attractor point is located as there is a difference in the posi-tioning of the squares.

However, we felt that the concept of the priv-eledged view from lookinf at the model in perpective was not as desirable as what we had hoped to achieve.

E X P E R I M E N T 2 circle grid & attractor point

Front Perspective

Here, by using the circle gird with attrac-tor points, we were able to determine e more clearly how the viewer would get to see the Gateway design.. From the previous model, we realized that the squares were to too small, re-stricting the full viewing purpose. Therefore, we modified this design and widen the cuts for the circles so that the change is more obvious.

E X P E R I M E N T 3 extrude surfaces according to attractor point

For the final experiment, we explored using hexagonal grids with attractor points and extruding the surface so that the priveledge view is more vis-ible when passing the structure at high speeds. As the hexagonal shape is multi-faceted, it is easier to maipulate it to dif-ferent forms and to angle it accordingly.

C O N C L U S I O N

The Successful Technique: Using Hexagonal grid extruded to a point

The Reasons being firstly, extruded shapes allows focus on a point. Secondly, it looks different from different angles. Lastly, it engages with motorists without hav-

ing to stop.

Hence, I believe using the hexagonal grid shapes allos for more opportunities to create different forms of angled views encompassing all the criterias necessary

design for the Gateway project.

Week 1 Sourceshttp://www.arcspace.com/architects/hadid/nordpark/nordpark.htmlhttp://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/attachments.aspx?js=yes&height=auto&width=724fit&storycode=5217211&attype=P&atcode=1224246http://arq4design.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/loewenhaus_03-1.jpg

http://www.reflectionsatkeppelbay.com.sg/MA_22Mar12.asphttp://www.archicentral.com/wp-content/images/1868_5_reflections-6.jpghttp://www.ecofriend.com/entry/daniel-libeskind-s-reflections-promises-to-green-singa-pore-s-waterfront/

Week 2 Sourceshttp://www.moh-architecture.com/projects_p006.htmhttp://www.iwamotoscott.com/http://www.alanslu.com/#Voussoir-Cloud-IwamotoScotthttp://www.demagazine.co.uk/architecture/voussoir-cloud

Week 3 Sourceshttp://www.andreabella.it/GALLERIA/pro_info.asp?id_pro=71&Lang=&LIK=1http://www.urukia.com/pushkinsky-cinema-facade-renovation/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+urukia+%28Urukia+%29http://www.evolo.us/architecture/new-parametric-facade-for-pushkinsky-cinema-synthe-sis-design-architecture/

EOI Sourceshttp://www.dezeen.com/2010/08/29/sugamo-shinkin-bank-by-emmanuelle-moureaux/http://www.dezeen.com/2009/04/22/coral-by-studio-aisslinger/http://www.slab-mag.com/2010/06/05/no-parking-at-any-time/http://www.dezeen.com/2009/02/28/the-yorkshire-diamond-pavilion-by-various-archi-tects/http://www.architonic.com/aisht/yufutoku-restaurant-issho-architects-co-ltd-/5100203http://www.faulders-studio.com/proj_moca.htmlhttp://designplaygrounds.blogspot.com.au/2008/12/parametric-facade-experiment.html