ADS 3344434 Christopher Lam

Week 1: Architecture as a discourse

This project involved designing a boathouse in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright. It was designed in a traditional manner- Sketching, transferring into line drawwings and then translated into a 3D design through the use of Sketch-up, and other rendering programs to visually represent its form and idea.

Computational architecture allows us to develop our design from the very start, rather than just being a tool used to render or represent an already established form.

It is fundamental to consider it in terms of the Gateway project. Con-temporary computational design with programs such as “Grasshop-per”, allows us to generate and manipulate our design which direct-ly impacts its function, rather than being just a representational tool.

State of Art ProjectSerpentine Gallery

“The project may or may not get realised, but we see it as something that raises a con-versation in the realm of ar-chitecture”. ”, Ronaldo Rael and Virginial San Fratello

The Serpentine Gallery is prob-ably one of the most important contributions in the discourse on inflatable architecture. What is interesting is the pavilion’s ovoid which interacts with the weather and floats during sun-ny time and seal off the struc-ture during winter. Traditional materials and forms in archi-tecture have created such chal-lenges. The function of the Serpentine Pavilion demon-strates the lightness and flex-ibility of the material used.

State of Art Project 2

From the point of view of ATK/p. art’s, softwares tend to alter an architect’s perception of material and structure. Design can be seen as an utterance of solid elements within an empty space or manipulation of clear-cut boundaries in terms of surfaces. I plan to explore dif-ferent textures and how it can define a structure in relation to its environment. For example looking at the Honeycomb Skyscraper,it emphasize with its en-vironment, creating a beautiful visu-al texture with its biomimetric form.

Week 2: Computation in Architecture

What is contemporary scripting? Scripting is a relatively new technique for the exploration of architectural designs and design-ers are still figuring out new potentials for using scripting as a design tool (Brady Peters). Script-ing is learnt through the practice of sharing code through web based platforms and open source.

Project ZEDLondon, UK

Future System1996

Project ZED is an example of Performative Ar-chitecture where computational design and programming are used to the form of a build-ing based on its environmental performance. The focus was on creating a very sustaina-ble form with the aim being to achieve mini-mal carbon emission hence the name of the project being “Zero Emission Development”.

Through computational architecture, the building design is optimized for environmental performance by seamlessly interacting with its environment.

By using the principle of performative archi-tecture would improve the image of Wyndham council by showing its and Melbourne residents in general that it cares about the environment.

Antoni Gaudi is probably one of the masters I admire the most. Casa Batllo, one of his projects, is probably one of the great-est feat of architecture design and innovation. The Casa Batl-lo is probably one of his pro-ject that advances discours-es on architecture. Through Gaudi’s we can see the exten-sive use of symbolism, how his buildings has a combina-tion of Gothic, and curvilinear forms, geometric shapes and design through rotation. Our last few weeks discussing in lectures and tutes, I think that Gaudi’s projects relates well to the discussion of architec-tural discourse. How Gaudi’s shapes and design created through contemporary com-putational design techniques.

Such architecture during that time, was time consuming. The only technique that was available to create such a piece of ar-chitecture was calculated, to visualize it, and to create the flow-ing form. Nowadays in the world of architecture, designing is much faster and accurate using computational techniques.

Performa Pavilion New York US

Scripting provides huge opportunities to shift design prac-tive in new directions. One project that expresses scripting culture is the Performa Pavilion created by Labdora Studi-os. The director and founder of the Labdora studio is Peter Macapia. His projects focuses on the geometry and topol-ogy of matter/ energy relations and the advent of algo-rithm. Nowadays there is a wide arrage of computers and software available for cheap, scripting has made its place in a cosy graphic environment. There is huge to explore with scripting and hence it would be appropriate and use-ful to integrate it into the Gateway project as it allows new explorations for architectural designs and there is a vast array of potential for using scripting as a design tool.

In my opinion, its geometry and form it demonstrates the computation rather than the architectural design and it is also built. It is relevant to the Wyndham water Council Gateway project as it is eye-catching and it creates a dia-logue between the buildings around it and form a sculp-ture on the landscape.

The main challenge of the scripting generation is the move of the creaation of inventive articulated patterns, and the small-scale architectural projects where scripting can un-leash an entire universe of opportunities for architectural space.

Week 4: Research Project Cut: Develop

Gateway Project

Brief

“Wyndham City is seeking re-sponses from design profession-als for the design of an exciting and eye-catching installation at Wyndham’s Western Gateway.

Brief:

The installation of the gateway will enhance the physical environ-ment through the introduction of a visual arts component.

The Western Gateway installation should provide an entry state-ment and arrival experience and to be able to identify the Wyndham Council. It should propose new and inspriring ideas so as to gen-erate a new discourse.

Research Project: Cut

Case Study: Gantenbein Vineyard

Facade

The Gantenbein Vineyard is a small winery located in Switzerland. The fa-cade design was designed by Zurich-Based design office of Gramazio & Kohler, who proposed a strategy for masonry infill between the concrete skeleton which could serve as both temperature buffer and sunlight filter.

Further research have been done and this video actually shows the construc-tion of the Ganteinbein Vineyard Facade.

h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m /w a t c h ? v = k D W 6 X C B 7 H P E

20,000 bricks were placed into 72 sub-panels that constitute the en-velope according to specific pre-programmed parameters, such as orientation and spacing. WEach brick laid an offset that lets light to penetrate through the masonry wall, backed up with polucarbonate panels to stop wind and rain from entering the interior spaces.

(Ben Pell, 2010)

The surface of each brick reflects sunlight differently accord-ing to its angle relative to the facade, the building surfaces ap-pear from a distance as a pixelated composition.

Reverse Engineering Matrix

The visual effect of rotation is characterised more by natural light

Experiment on how light penetrates through model