Week 2 Journal Entry

Biology has been perfecting its systems for billions of years. Designers today would do well with the aid of

parametric generators to mimic nature and its components. That is one of many interesting aspects of such

complex software like grasshopper that will benefit architecture in this generation. Times are changing, a lot of

design professions are a notch higher than a lot of architects today distorting the ways of the past and bringing

about more complex and exciting innovations to the table. We as architects need to do the same to keep in

par in this age of technology.

The most difficult challenges often hold the potential for the most inventive solutions. The Eden Project

designed by Grimshaw architects is one of the world’s largest greenhouses and is greatly inspired by the form

and nature of soap bubbles dealing with the project’s main obstacle; to construct a huge structure spanning

across uneven land. To resolve the challenges of the irregularity on site, the team proposed an idea to create a

string of bubbles, the diameter of which could be varied to provide the right growing heights in the different

parts of the building. The team explored a variety of different iterations of this bubble string and set them into

3D terrain models of the site. By overlaying the desired parametric modelling of the string of bubbles onto the

3D site terrain, adjustments to its design can be easily done through grasshopper perhaps to achieve the

appropriate outlook in regards to terrain.

The next challenge was to strive for the lightest possible structure. Studying a whole series of natural examples

like carbon molecules and pollen grain, an analytical data is revealed that the most efficient way of structuring

a spherical form is through geodesic arrangements of pentagons, hexagons or triangles.

This method of superimposing geometry into surface intrigues me to think more about the panelling system in

curved surfaces using triangles/ hexagons – Geodesic.

Another significant move in this process came in trying to maximise the size of the hexagons so that light

penetration could be increased. Glass would have been a constraint because of it weight and size, so an

alternative material was used an that is ETFE; a high-strength polymer that can be formed into an ultra-

lightweight cladding element by welding the edges of three layers together and then inflating it for its

stiffness.

Biomimicry has definitely changed the definition of beauty; a parametric computation of data from the natural

world. It is the yin and yang of beauty where organism meets technology. Architect Tonkin Liu together with

structural engineer Ed Clark, designed the Shi Ling bridge which was inspired by the forms of various seashells

and techniques from tailoring to develop a new form of construction derived from planar surfaces, which they

refer to as a ‘shell-lace structure’. Just like the shells, the structure derives its strength from a combination of

curves, folds and ribs so that large forms can be created using extremely thin sheet material. Software

programmes like grasshopper allows a high degree of refinement, and identifies low-stress locations where

perforations can be made to further reduce the amount of material. The end product is an extremely elegant

structure, constructed with a minimum of materials that derives its strength from its form rather than mass.