cfi_539452_jie ren

ARCHITECTURE STUDIO AIR

1.1 CASE OF INNOVATION

Jie Ren (Jessica) 539452_Studio Air

ARCHITECTURE STUDIO AIR 1.1 CASE OF INNOVATION

ARCHITECTURE STUDIO AIR _ INTRODUCTION

Hi all,

my name is Jie Ren. You can call me Jess. I am from China. I am a third year student in Bachelor Of Environ-ments, majoring in Architecture. I did virtual Environment on my first year, found Rhino program quite hard but interesting. I am looking forward to exploring more about rhino and grasshopper.

My life statue at the moment is: FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE!


Understanding the course

ARCHITECTURE AS DISCOURSE

“Architecture is a product of the desire on the part of social and political authorIity to update the pub-lic realm in the context of unprecedented prosper-ity”.

Richard Williams, 2005


Understanding the courseArchitecture as discourse

How do we define architecture?

Since the late 19th, architecture always has a dominant social statue in history. Compare to poetry, painting and sculpture, architecture defines itself as unique, more professional and more sophisticated. This is due to its variation to different perspectives, which maintains artistic innovation, geometry, mathematics, techni-cal drawing, material use, and now-days digitalization. As a discourse, there are always unlimited contexts adding on to architecture theory.

Richard Willians stated that “archi-tecture needs to be thought of less as a set of special material products and rather more as range of social and professional practices that some-times, but by no means always, lead to buildings.”(Richard Williams, 2005)Whether in my understanding of ar-chitecture, architecture in discourse is always renewing and changing due to different aspects of impacts around it. Apart from social and visual context, architects also need to consider their design referring to economic, moral, religious environments and so much more.

Therefore architecture is in-tegrated into different aspects and varieties of representa-tions in the society. It could be a Greek or a Roman temple, it could be a monument gather-ing all the remembrance of the World War 2, or it could be a millionaire’s villa residence showing luxury and richness. “Buildings with no capacity to change can only become slums or ancient monuments”. ( bbc Productions, 1966)Thus, architecture is no longer just a building, but has to be flexible with vary aspects of context.



The Beijing national aquatic center tbuilt: 2004 - 2007Architects: PTW Architects, CSCEC, CCDI and Arup



The Beijing national aquatic center is located in Beijing Olympic Green for the use of the 2008 summer Olympic swimming competition. This piece of work is also nicknamed as ‘water cube’, in terms of its overall cubic form. This building is designed to compromise a variety of purposes, functional, sustainable and specially, it achieved the sense of ‘visual cul-ture’. (Richard Williams, 2005)

In terms of ‘visual culture’, in or-der to highlight Beijing’s culture and identity, it formed itself a perfect cuboid box in relation to the traditional Beijing quadran-gle courtyard. Then the designers create ‘bubbles’ to symbolize wa-ter flowing.

In terms of functionality and sus-tainability, it is using a steel space frame, and it also involved ETFE clad structure. This ETFE clad structure is the ‘bubbles’ system, which was covering the whole cubic surface. The “bubble’ skin functions as not only a simple façade. But also enables the struc-ture to gather more light and heat penetration than traditional glass, resulting 30% decrease in energy costs.

Thus, Architecture in discourse in this case will be the engage-ment of the environment, the Chinese culture, Olympic game, art and sustainability.


Richard Williams men-tioned “architecture is as much a philosophical, so-cial or professional realm as it is a material one, and it is through the consid-eration of architecture as discourse that one can en-gage with it as visual cul-ture”. (Richard Williams, 2005)

Each bubble includes a filter in-side it that can also control the temperature, when it gets really hot and releases heat when it needs to dissipate from build-ing. It also gathers rainfall on the roof of the building and pushes in within the building.

BMW Welt, Munich, Germany, 2003-2007Architect: Coop Himmelb


BMW Welt is situated in Munich Germany. Similar to the water cube, it successfully achieved its purpose of a unique, geometrical functional and sustainable structure. More importantly, it is con-structed on the purpose of respecting and engaging more with the environment and landscape.

In terms of its visual cul-ture, BWM Welt has an eye-catching irregular shape of the architecture is a ‘torque’, achieved by triangular geom-etry. It is actually inspirited by the Acropolis in Athens. “We translated the geometry of constantly changing cloud into architecture” says wolf D. Prix. T The BMW Welt could be an example of a modernist archi-tecture, according to its plain shape, use of large amount of glass, and the lack of orna-mentation.




BMW Welt, Munich, Germany, 2003-2007

It is described as a ‘dynamic construction of semitransparent glass structure with corrugated steel roof and one ending in a double twist in form of a cone’ in official website of designers. Its semi transparency unified itself as a visionary architecture, to gather maximum sunlight, and create maximum view to the surrounding.

In terms of sustainability, BMW Welt managed varies groups of 16,500 square meters of solar panels in-stalled on the roof, to receive nature solar energy for daily basis.


1.1 CASE OF INNOVATION ARCHITECTURE STUDIO AIR

1.1 CASE OF INNOVATION


SPIRAL EXERCISE

PYLLOTAXIS AND EXPRESSION


COMPUTATION

‘It is possible to claim that designer’s creativity is limited by the very program that are supposed to free their imagination’

Terzidis, Kostas, 2009.I disagree! Computation will not limit designers’s imagination, but absolutely in opposite, it pushed designers’ ideas into extreme, and create more opportunities.


COMPUTATION

What is the difference between computerization and computation?

Computerization helps to digitalize concepts in one’s mind, while manipulate and store this data into computer system. For example, scan a existing drawing into a computer, or putting an essay into a world document. Whereas, computation belongs to a more technical designing field, allows more opportunities, more imagination, and more efficiency, accuracy and sophistication. In other words, computation could be argued as an integrated design tool, which satisfies different designing desires and innovations.

Whereas,Computation could be used in different design fields, such as 3d model construction, design tool cre-ation, and generate and explore architecture and space.

In order of function,

Computational technique is accurate and sophisticated. It is not only smart in dealing with num-ber data, but also more importantly flexible enough to be able to adapt changing environment. It helps designers to stimulate building performance, including materials, tectonics, and parameter of production machinery. It is also good at dealing with the complex, which one dominating example would be digital fabrication. It involves great calculation, which the human would take forever to cal-culate.

In order of imagination, Computation create a free space for designers to develop and experiment their design in practice. It gives designers more opportunities to produce more response design, because it allow designers with more design options, and also helps them to analyse architecture decisions during design process.


COMPUTATION

Foster + Partners, National Bank of Kuwait Headquarters, Kuwait City, Kuwait, 2007–

The National Bank of Kuwait Headquarters is an ‘environmentally responsive’ building which involves complex geometry’. The ‘fin ‘of the architecture is not only a visual component, but also holding an important role in functionality.

In this example, designers achieved a complex building by starting with shape, and adding and refining details to form such a massive fluent shaped architecture. Computation is contributing to a great part of the structural process. Computation is in use to produce a parametric model, to show overall building in a 3d view and also extract all 59 floor plans and many sections. This purpose is to have multiple variations of the building shape for designers to explore and develop more ideas, in terms of aesthetic purpose and function-al component. Furthermore, this is also used to ‘prepare models for calculations such as solar, wind and acoustic analysis’. it was possible to extract all 59 floor plans and many sections that were used for further development such as space planning and details.


COMPUTATION

Foster + Partners, National Bank of Kuwait Headquarters, Kuwait City, Kuwait, 2007–

‘ “The major elements that drive the overall geometry of the design are the orientation of the fins, profile of the edge fins, saw-tooth cladding between the fins, and the arcs that form the north facade. The fins are oriented to provide shading for the east and west facades, as wellas structural support for the floor plates, and add to the experience of the internal space, dividing it and fram-ing views back over the city. ‘

- Computer works- the building of Agorithmical thoughts


COMPUTATION

SPAN (Matias del Campo and Sandra Manninger with Federico La Piccire-lla and Filippo Nassetti), Hong Kong Shenzhen Border station competition entry, Hong Kong, China, 2011

‘GECO allows the user to export complex geometries, evaluate the design’s performance in Ecotect, and import the results back into Grasshopper, without reworking the model repeatedly. ‘

- Computer works- the building of Agorithmical thoughts


COMPUTATION

In contrast with the previ-ous example, Span is also a architecture work benefit-ted by computation. In this example, GECO was used to help the designers with complex geometry, to create efficiency in exploring and analyse modelling.

As explained above, The program helped design-ers to evaluate a solution of vertex colour or watt-hours per square in a form of algo-rithm. This helps designers to de-velop a complex and sus-tainable geometry, which is the solar roof system with consideration to roof open-ings and landscape.

Basically what this Grass-hopper plug in does is, to create a link between 3-D modelling software and analysis platforms, while solve complex geometrical problems and giving per-forming feedbacks.


COMPUTATION


PARAMETRIC MODELING

“A set of equations that express a set of quantities as explicit functions of number of independent variables, known as ‘pa-rameters’.

Weisstein 2003, 2150


PARAMETRIC MODELING

What is parametric modeling?

Parametric modelling is a design tool to manipulate design objects with com-puter techniques, and en-able designers to see the re-lationships and interactions between varies components in a design.

This is specialized in par-ticularly mechanical de-signs and building designs, in terms of maintaining the constant changes in design feathers digitally, to gain more efficiency for design-ers.

Programs like catia, genera-tive components and grass-hopper are considered as parametric designing tools.


PARAMETRIC MODELLING

The Taichung Metropoli-tan opera house is still in construction located in Taiwan. It is designed by a Japanese Architect Toyo Ito. What Toyo Ito tries to achieve, is distinguish this metropolitan with its own significant identity with its unique parametric struc-ture and in merge with Taichung’s own culture.

Impossible?

‘But we are making the impossible possible’.

- wu chun-shan, president of lee ming construction

Because ito’s work has been highly concerned with the notions of an all-encompassing, ever expanding space. This de-sign is very much a open system. The construction is overwhelmed by con-tinuous curved walls and inlaid floors. This large amount of opening creates more opportunities to cus-tomers, for them to have a better connection with the surrounding.



In order to manage such a complex geometrical struc-ture, a large amount of steel bar reinforcement and steel trusses will be needed to stabilize the whole system.

Because this is such an irregular shape, paramet-ric modelling tools has to be used for sure, to help to explore and evaluate suitable amount of ma-terials to support such a complex system. In re-sulting, large amount of steel frame and trusses together with shotcrete to achieve a free form struc-ture as this.



Various Architects' project "Yorkshire Diamond


Various Architects’ project “York-shire Diamond” was a finalist in the open international compe-tition for a mobile pavilion for Yorkshire Forward. It is special-ised in its unique atomic dia-mond style and also its flexibility.

The Yorkshire’s Diamond Pavil-ion has a ‘diamond’, with 20 x 26 x 10 meter diamond grid. It is light weighted, and could change its form if wished. Therefore, custom-ers could use it for different pur-poses in different seasons.

“At night the translucent shafts and outer skin radiate light in all colours and directions like a diamond twinkling in the sunlight.”

Dezeen magazine 2009





The complex repeating in-flatable tubes will not be achieved without polarimet-ric modelling tool. Each ac-curate tubes were made and cut by CNC.

Different sustainable tool were installed within the system, such as solar panels and wind turbine to achieve maximum environmental friendly.

The structure is tested and analysed with computation tools. This involves exami-nation of appropriate grids, light gathering and mini-mum structure weight.


PARAMETRIC MODELING


Referring to history, Architecture developed from carpentry to profession-al practise of art and craft. It is constantly upgrading its social statue and formed itself a stable position in the society.

Just as leach stated, architect has moved away from only a building construc-tion, but more about art and social practise. (Leach, 1997) Nowadays, ar-chitecture is constantly reshaping and refining itself, in relations to visual, social, religious, moral and so much more. Until today, Architecture as dis-course has become more flexible and comprising since computation was in-troduced. It also shows itself in more variety of aspects of forms and shapes.

Move to the stage of digitalization enable designers to think more freelSy and madly than ever before. Computation could create more complex and free structure that human could not achieve as it used to be, which creates much more response to innovation and more possibility.

“ traditionally, architectural discourse has been largely a discourse of form. in general it has been dominated by debates that revolve around questions of style. these debates have tended to be grounded on little more than moralis-tic arguments that seek their authority in terms such as ‘sincerity’ and ‘appro-priateness’. such debates have been trapped within the realm of symptoms. “

-Leach, neil , 1997


Footing:

Richard Williams, ‘Architecture and Visual Culture’, in Exploring Visual Culture : Defi-nitions, Concepts, Contexts, ed. by Matthew Rampley (Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univer-sity Press, 2005), pp. 102 - 116.

Leach, neil, ed., (1997). Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory (Lon-don: routledge), p. xiii

Williams, richard (2005). ‘architecture and Visual Culture’, in Exploring Visual Cul-ture: Definitions, Concepts, Contexts, ed. by Matthew rampley (edinburgh: edinburgh University Press), pp. 102-116, p. 108

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

Computation Works - The Building of Algorithmic Thought, p19-20, p 136- 137

Woodbury, Robert (2010). Elements of Parametric Design (London: Routledge) pp. 7-48

Designboom architecture: http://www.designboom.com/architecture/toyo-ito-tai-chung-metropolitan-opera/

Dezeen Magzine: http://www.dezeen.com/2009/02/28/the-yorkshire-diamond-pavil-ion-by-various-architects/

cfi_539452_jie ren

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