a hermit’s cabin table of contents
structural architectures 3 topic and methodology 6 a hermit’s cabin 8 maps and diagrams 12 folding structures 18 parametric design 21 avoid stereotypes, use archetypes, make prototypes 24 strata, codes, events – towards a parametric approach 26 procedural models 30 structures 34 Team 1 | gap in the net Team 2 | fold it yourself Team 3 | pent it Team 4 | helix house Team 5 | shel(l)ter
38 46 54 62 70
authors 78 partners 79 imprint 80
Aerial Shot of the Biosphere Tower by Sven Paustian
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structural architectures geometry, code and design II
The second international summer school of the Erasmus Intensive Programme “Structural Architectures - geometry, code and design� took place in Kaiserslautern from September 1st to 11th 2012 with eight professors, three guest lecturers and twenty students from the partner universities.The objective of the topic was the use of structural thinking as a method for designing architecture. Formulating rules on the basis of mathematical, geometric, physical, compositional and functional structures and their translations in spatial configurations and relationships between elements marked the starting point of the design project. The interaction of different disciplines in a structural approach is an important aspect of this Intensive Programme in the framework of the European Erasmus Programme. Left, Above, Next Page: Photos of the Biosphere Tower by Michael Heinrich
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topic and methodology erasmus intensive programme
While the focus of the workshop in the first year of the Intensive Programme in Milano was set on the analysis and recognition of structures in the scale of a city, the second year project in Kaiserslautern picked a small architectural design object as a central theme: a hermit’s cabin or minimal house for the Palatinate Forest. This cabin should be modular, foldable or decomposable, so that the shelter is reversible and can be set up at different locations. The principles should be simulated in models in order to be packed in a box and sent to the partner universities for exhibitions. Besides the model, the designed cabin had to be represented in concept diagrams, drawings, sketches, and images. All participants were introduced into the topic by input lectures, excursions and workshops.
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International teams with four students in each group worked out five different design projects. The students developed their design ideas under the supervision of the international teaching staff. Three excursions provided additional background information: the two exhibitions “From Primitive Hut to Skyscraper” and “Architectural Model – Tool, Fetish, Small Utopia” in DAM Frankfurt; a walking-tour in the Palatinate Forest with an ascent of the Biosphere Tower – a research tower to observe treetops; the Weissenhof-Siedlung, Mercedes Benz Museum, Killesberg Tower, New City Library, Main Station, Schlossplatz and Art Museum in Stuttgart.
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a hermit s cabin Andreas Kretzer “Men frequently say to me, ‘I should think you would feel lonesome down there, and want to be nearer to folks, rainy and snowy days and nights especially.’ I am tempted to reply to such – this whole earth which we inhabit is but a point in space. How far apart, think you, dwell the two most distant inhabitants of yonder star, the breadth of whose disk cannot be appreciated by our instruments? Why should I feel lonely? Is not our planet in the Milky Way? This which you put seems to me not to be the most important question. What sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary? I have found that no exertion of legs can bring two minds much nearer to one another ... but this is the place where a wise man will dig his cellar.” “Walden; or, Life in the Woods” Henry David Thoreau, 1854
“The Hermit“ by Patrick Caulfield, 1967 - Tate Modern, London
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Since the dawn of man, architecture is defining the sometimes ephemeral sometimes massive layer that parts the world into an exterior and an interior, the outside and the inside – thus, creating three-dimensional space. The choice for a hermit’s cabin as a design task for the second Erasmus Intensive Program in Kaiserslautern initiated from the approach of an architectural project located in the Palatinate forest with a special interest in the interpretation of this layer – its form, structure and materialisation in a specific context. The minimal house embodies architecture’s genuine and (allegedly) most prominent function: the creation of a living environment which is sheltering from the exposition to the elements. The Vitruvian “primitive hut” represented in the allegorical frontispiece engraving of Marc-Antoine Laugier’s “Essai sur l’architecture” is the iconic standard and archetypal reference for this. In addition to the vast legacy of architectural history with early tent and tensile lightweight constructions, the research on the subject encompasses precedents in nature: the eggshell, the nest, the lair, the cave, ... earth’s atmospheric layer to name but a few inspirational topics. “Primitive hut” by Charles Eisen, 1755
“Snoopy” by Charles M. Schulz, 1950
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Moreover, with “geometry, code and design” being the dedicated theme of the summer school, the contemplation and examination of an essential construction for life in the forest was thought to be felicitous: we are witnessing a contemporary preference for ‘expressionistic’ form in computational design. At times with the sole purpose of drawing attention. In the case of a small-scale, modular, foldable, reversible, mobile project, the inherent geometrical logic of natural forms as found in Ernst Häckel’s compilation “Art Forms in Nature” could be legitimately developped and applied to functional benefit of constructions. The setting in a natural space, spedifically the Palatinate forest, marks another prolific topos to be investigated during the design process. Beyond the identification of the user and the user’s needs, the context of a solitary site demands for a denomination of how to dwell in the wild. In cinema, the physical and psychological aspects of living in the forest have been explored in Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild” and Lars von Trier’s “Antichrist”. As a precedent in literature the students were invited to heed the advice and thoughts in “Walden; or, Life in the Woods” by Henry David Thoreau – a personal declaration of independent, self-sufficient and simple living. Palatinate Forest in summer 2012
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“Walden” Henry David Thoreau, 1854
walden Henry David Thoreau shelter “Formerly ... I used to see a large box by the railroad, six feet long by three wide, in which the laborers locked up their tools at night; and it suggested to me that every man who was hard pushed might get such a one for a dollar, and, having bored a few auger holes in it, to admit the air at least, get into it when it rained and at night, and hook down the lid, and so have freedom in his love, and in his soul be free.“ shrewdness “However, if one designs to construct a dwelling-house, it behooves him to exercise a little Yankee shrewdness, lest after all he find himself in a workhouse, a labyrinth without a clue, a museum, an almshouse, a prison, or a splendid mausoleum instead. Consider first how slight a shelter is absolutely necessary.” simplicity “The most interesting dwellings in this country, as the painter knows, are the most unpretending, humble log huts and cottages of the poor commonly; it is the life of the inhabitants whose shells they are, and not any peculiarity in their surfaces merely, which makes them picturesque; and equally interesting will be the citizen’s suburban box, when his life shall be as simple and as agreeable to the imagination, and there is as little straining after effect in the style of his dwelling.” settledness “And when the farmer has got his house, he may not be the richer but the poorer for it, and it be the house that has got him. As I understand it, that was a valid objection urged by Momus against the house which Minerva made, that she “had not made it movable, by which means a bad neighborhood might be avoided”; and it may still be urged, for our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed in them; and the bad neighborhood to be avoided is our own scurvy selves.” 11
maps and diagrams Mayka García Hípola He had bought a large map representing the sea, / Without the least vestige of land: / And the crew were much pleased when they found it to be / a map they could all understand. / “What’s the good of Mercator’s North Poles and Equators, / Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?“ / So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would reply / “They are merely conventional signs!“ “The Hunting of the Snark“ by Lewis Carroll, 1876
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Maps are sometimes difficult to interpret. In this workshop we have tried to move from Lewis Carroll’s “The Hunting of the Snark“ map, a blank map, to other more complex and specialized maps and diagrams, but that can be also legible. Structural thinking is associated to the use of data that in our case has to be translated in a graphic way. We have encouraged students to map the site, the problems and the project‘s potentiality. The map and the diagram have not been studied just as representative tool, but an operative one. After defining the differences between schemes, diagrams and maps, different typologies of maps from different disciplines are analyzed. Finally the application of these tools to the architectural context has been done thanks to the analysis of different authors. According to the dictionary a scheme is a graphic and symbolic representation that highlights only its more significant characteristics. It can reflect something immaterial; The map is more complicated and is more specialized according to a certain discipline. Finally the diagram gives an answer to a question, it solves a problem. When we think about the concept of map the first idea that comes to our mind are the ancient maps of cities as Rome (see Roma ampliata, e rinovata o sia nuova descrizione dell´antica, e moderna citta´di Roma, 1750), or Madrid (see P. Texeira, 1656 and C. Ibáñez de Ibero, 1872) but authors as David Rumsey and Edith M. Punt in their book Cartographica Extraordinaire: “The Historical Map Transformed“, 2004 show how other ways of representing maps are possible, combining aerial views with line drawings. In other maps as “The Neighborhoods of Manhattan“, the city is represented in a schematic and useful way, using abstraction and a correct balance between physical and conceptual scales, without the need to draw all the trees of Central Park. But besides being representative, maps can also be operative, as they were in the past, in the navigations carts or in ancient maps that draw the relations between different islands and not the island itself. The sailors of the Snark will probably like this kind of maps, much more diagrammatic, giving a solution to a question. 13
Maps can be of different types. They can be REAL OR CONVENTIONAL, as Alighiero Boetti´s, Peshawar-Pakistan by Afghan people, 1971, using the flags of the countries to identify them. They can be descriptive, showing data or materials, but they can also represent immaterial elements or facts (humidity, oxidation, point of fusion). Other maps can be more explicative, closer to diagrams and giving instructions as in origami projects. Maps and diagrams can also be DIFFERENT, showing the world in a different way as Buckminster Fuller´s Dymaxion World Map-unfolded, 1946 and Leonardo da Vinci´s Mappa mundi, 1514. Both of them show the physical world with different partitions than the two traditional circles. Fuller´s maps, versus the traditional map of Mercator, tries to use an unfolded shape in order to avoid deformations. It is also a statement map because it is inverted. South America appears in the middle instead of Europe. Other maps, as André Skupin´s, In Terms of Geography, 2005, show conceptual facts represented in valleys and mountains as in a geographic map. They are not physical territories but mental ones. Other maps are intentionally DEFORMED because they are not based in square meters but in other kind of parameters as ecological footprint or poverty as in The Chronic Poverty Centre, You are not here: A world poverty map, 2004. When compared to Fuller’s maps, Europe appears in the middle, but with a different size. Maps can also be CONCEPTUAL, as Keith V. Nesbitt, Ph.D. Thesis Map, 2004, that does not represent distances but relations between concepts that are represented as if they were an abstract map of the underground system. They do not represent distances but relations. TERRITORIAL maps are very important for architecture. Sometimes they can be just aerial views as in the Virunga Mountains, a volcano area whose texture shows the action that has produced that territory. Others maps represent a promenade, as Dian Fossey´s monthly gorilla movement map.
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Other maps can represent the movements of people or animals along the territory, densities of occupation, the topography under the sea or the dimension of the rivers as in J.Hutchins‘ Atlas, New York,1864, showing a compared chart of different rivers as we are used to do with high-rise buildings. Also the representation of constellations can be close to the maps of densities of people or animals. We can represent in maps aspects related to climatology, transportation, mobile covertures or nightscape landscapes. Even Louis Kahn used diagram techniques to reflect in his maps of Philadelphia the density and movement of traffic. Niijima‘s version of E.J. Marey‘s train schedule from Paris to Lyon work represents in the X-axis time, and in the Y-axis space. Horizontal red lines are stations. Diagonal red lines chart out individual trains. These map appears in the cover graphic of the book “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information“, by E. Tufte, a master in the visualization of information. The territory to be represented in these maps does not have to be very big, as in Diller and Scofidio maps of the different configuration of elements during a meal and how that changes. UHF, a Spanish group of young architects, play with maps that can be used together or independently conforming narratives when they are put together. The last part of this input has been devoted to study how different authors have used these methodologies in their architectural of theoretical work. Wittover analyzed the schemes of Palladios´s Villas and Colin Rowe did analytical diagrams of Malconta compared with Le Corbusier´s Garches. Both of them work with schemes because they represent the most significant lines of these buildings. Paul Rudolf analyses Mies Van der Rohe´s Barcelona Pavilion making maps and diagrams that analyse circulations, cones of vision, reflects in the architectural modified space, density and fluid space, circular fluxes in the points of the panels, transversal and longitudinal fluxes and modifications of light atmospheres. 15
Theo Van Doesburg in 1923 also worked with buildings that were expressed in a diagrammatic way as the Maison particulière, 1923 and as well as in his Contra-compositions, playing with colors, planes and analyzing architecture. Peter Eisenman, one of the maximum exponents of applying structural thinking to architecture, studied with Colin Rowe. In his book Diagram Diaries he says that the diagram does not only represent the building but how it works, as it can been see in the drawings of his doctoral thesis done in 1963. Eisenman, as Van Doesburg, uses axonometric projection to express the possibilities of his houses in a diagrammatic way: House I, 1967, House II-III, V, House IV, 1972, House VI, 1972, House X, 1975, House X, 1975, House 11a, 1978, House El Even Odd, 1980, named as different laboratory test, taking advantage of the potentiality of the series of diagrams as generators of other types. Archizoom in their “Non-Stop City“, 1970, use the technique of the zoom in abstract maps that work in a similar diagrammatic way at the different scales of approximation. Sejima in her project for Salerno uses photos as maps, as it was done by the artist Christo, drawing in the top of them. In her house Moriyama in Tokio, 2002-2005, she creates a clear scheme that explains the main idea of the house: dispersion versus concentration. Toyo Ito in his project for Sendai Mediatheque, plays with different constellations, densities, being the first diagrams or maps very similar to the final product. He worked with Cecil Balmond in the Serpentine Gallerie, working with different diagrams that explain the configuration of the pavilion from a playful superposition of geometries. MVRDV, in their projects for the Galaxia Madiática, New York, 2001, show in their schemes how the building works in terms of circulations. In their project for Ciudad Danubio, Vienna, 2002, they explain the project in terms of geometry and program.
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But not only drawing can be diagrammatic. Models can also act as diagrams as it can be seen in David Chipperfield´s House in Manhattan, 2001, a glass box and a wooden stair. Also Rem Koolhaas uses the model as a diagram in his project for the new Whitney Museum, 2001. He shows different diagrammatic models, as well as different colorful diagrams that compare this project with other museum projects. In his building for the Netherlands Embassy in Berlin, 1997-2003 he unfolds the maps of the buildings, not showing a conventional plan but an unfolded promenade with concatenated spaces. In his project for Cordoba, he won the competition in 2002 breaking the rules thanks to a wise collection of different maps and diagrams that proposed the building at another site. Icons of money, opportunity and tourism are part of the proposed diagrams. The sections are also quite diagrammatic, showing the program, the maps of uses, the circulations. He also uses the axonometric projection. The promenades of the different users are also expressed in a diagrammatic way, showing the different packages of program. In his proposal for a transport node he expresses the different uses using icons instead of texts, but other times he uses texts that take the shape of the architectural space that is being referred to. Koolhaas and the other authors that have been studied in this workshop use these techniques as a devise to visualize the context and project data in an easy and diagrammatic way in different architectural maps.
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folding structures Cornelie Leopold Folding is an intuitive experimental way to develop spatial configurations out of a plane pattern. When we start with a piece of paper we have to develop the relations between a plane pattern and the spatial folded result. Josef Albers included folding exercises in his foundation course at Ulm School of Design in 1953/54, but also already at Bauhaus around 1930. The folding experiments had been important for him by stimulating constructive thinking. He focused on simple principles: „Remember that you often achieve more by doing less.“ Hannes Beckmann, Bauhaus student from 1928 to 1931 described the method of Albers as an important experiment studying relationships between material and design [Krampen, 2009]. Folding processes could be a way to develop structures usable for the design task a hermit’s cabin, which have to be easily removable and transportable. To start with such folding structures we explored the relationships between the basic folding types and the received spatial configurations. The folding types can be described by geometric transformations of the folding lines creating the crease pattern. We explore folded structures by series of folding experiments starting by subdividing a square in small squares. If we repeat the diagonals in parallel zig-zag lines we receive the zig-zag folding, remaining in a plane. This crease pattern is based on the geometric transformation translation. Developing the crease pattern by reflecting the folding lines a bent spatial object will be the result of the folding. Repeating the reflected folding lines in a dense crease pattern, a cylindrical folded structure will be received. Variations of the geometric transformations of the diagonal folding lines produce various flexible structures.
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By reflecting and translating the first diagonal folding line by half a unit we get a very flexible folded structure, which can produce finally the so-called „magic ball“. This referred geometric transformation can be described by glide reflection. Another variation of the diagonals by translations in two directions leads to the „water bomb“. The last folding example in the very right column is based on rotational symmetry of parallel folding lines. In this way we get a hyperbolic paraboloid, which is shown already by Josef Albers in his folding examples at Ulm School of Design. Eduardo Catalano made fascinating studies on structures of warped surfaces out of different plane patterns. His experiments show wide variations of the plane patterns and the resulted hyperbolic paraboloids. By working with regular structures in the first step we are able to perceive the consequences of the various geometric transformations in the crease pattern for the received spatial folded configuration. Then various structures can be specifically applied in the design processes. With folding techniques we use an experimental morphogenetic way designing structures related to spatial configurations. References Krampen, Martin: observation and formulation. Foundation course with exercises, based on a script by josef albers. DVD, Ostfildern-Ruit, 2009. Aicher, Otl: Die Hochschule für Gestaltung. Neun Stufen ihrer Entwicklung. archithese 15/1975. p.13. Jackson, Paul: Folding Techniques for Designers. Laurence King Publishing London 2011. German edition: Von der Fläche zur Form. Falttechniken im Papierdesign. Haupt Verlag Bern 2011. Gjerde, Eric: Water Bomb Folding. http://www.happyfolding.com/ instructionsgjerde-water_bomb. Catalano, Eduardo: La Constante. Buenos Aires 1996 and Structures of Warped Surfaces: Combinations of Units of Hyperbolic Paraboloids. 1960. http://aquavelvet.com/2011/08/structures-of-warped-surfaces-eduardo-f-catalano-1960 Bottom left: Curved folding object by Josef Albers [Krampen, 2009] and folding examples in the foundation course at Ulm School of Design [Aicher, 1975] Bottom: Warped Surfaces by Eduardo Catalano [Catalano, 1960 and 1996] Next Page: Developing variations of folding structures. Photos: Leopold / Voigt
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parametric design Covadonga Lorenzo Cueva Parametric design deals with the use of algorithms to define mathematical and geometric relations that allow generating not only a specific design but a whole range of possible solutions. The combination of this tool with the use of paper folding techniques during the workshop seems to be a fruitful field for creative inquiry, because thanks to the construction of parametric models it is possible to digitally simulate the transformational characteristic of the origami structures folded by the students. The aim is to explore design methods and tools, using origami as a vehicle to test their usefulness and demonstrating its potential for architectural application in different areas such as structural analysis, mathematical reasoning and space and form manipulation. Starting with a square sheet of paper, students fold some basic origami patterns selected by its simplicity and beauty. The goal is not to teach them how to make origami models, but instead, to show them how to fold, relating folding paper with model-making. In this process, elementary geometry is taught, as the idea of symmetry using translation, rotation, reflection or glide reflection. Besides, many different origamis are folded, so students imagine many possibilities, specifically for its application in designing an adaptable multifunctional temporary medium size hermit’s cabin, analyzing its crease pattern, exploring variations and their corresponding folded forms. Simultaneously, different material ideas for larger-scale structures are tested so its transformation from a flat sheet to a folded state under the lens of structural analysis is crucial to find the final configuration of the design. Only then students have been introduced into Rhinoceros, that allows them to draw one of the patterns, and Grasshopper, a plug-in that makes possible to control the model in real time, adapting a basic origami to many different situations as the values of the parameters change in shape, size or high, depending on the design. Besides, not only those parameters are flexible but it is possible to divide the basic form into a controllable number of foldable components, so that all of them can be changed. Using parametric design, students can generate series of models, manipulate them and even evolve the basic patterns as they improve their capabilities with the software and explore complex geometries. 21
Examples of origami patterns developed by Erik Gjerde
That process, where a basic model turn into more complex patterns have similarities with the idea of traditional origami in Japan, where models are passed down from hand to hand and original patterns changes in shape frequently or appear as a new creation, as a result of the experimentation and the properly trained. In fact, this creativity was one of the reasons that the German pedagogue Friedrich Frรถbel included origami in his occupations. He was responsible for the greatest contribution to the development of paper folding in Europe during the 19th century, thanks to a method that included three different categories: the folds of truth, elementary geometrical folding intended to learn the principles of Euclidean geometry; the folds of life, traditional folds to introduce children to paper folding and finally, the folds of beauty, intended to inculcate a sense of creativity and of artistic beauty experimenting with symmetric folding patterns, so an infinite number of variations was possible.
Ron Resch working on origami tessellations during the 1960s. Photo: E. Gjerde 22
A different approach can be found in the work of Joseph Albers as a professor of the preliminary course Werklehre of the Bauhaus Department of Design, where he introduced newcomers to the principles of paper folding. His material exercises were concerned with exploring features of the materials, such as stability, load-bearing, capacity or strength using purely paper constructions. In the 1960s and 1970s, the mathematician and designer Ron Resch was one of the first to explore the architectural potential of 3D tessellated structures. He introduced the use of computers and new software to experiment with many different kinds of origami folding techniques and tessellating units together to create overall forms, not too far from the principles of current computer-aided parametric design. Resch’s work showed a great possibility to parametric design to have kinetic structures with dual purposes rather than remain in one fixed configuration, demonstrating that it could be possible to simulate the contraction and expansion of a triangulated unitgrid into several configurations and orientations to respond to different factors. Nowadays, the field of computational origami has exploded and there are many computational tools and theoretical explorations in the field, as the specific software to design origami tessellations developed by Robert Lang or Alex Bateman and the research carried out by Erik Demaine or Erik Gjerde, among others. But this is just the beginning; they have only begun to scratch the surface of what is made possible by applying parametric modeling processes to the design of spatial structures. References How to fold it: the mathematics of linkages origami and polyhedral. Joseph O’Rourke. Cambridge University Press, 2011 Folding paper: the Infinite Possibilities of Origami. Robert J. Lang, Meher McArthur, New York, 2012 Origamis: Fifth International Meeting of Origami, Science, Math & Education. Wang Iverson, Robert J. Lang and Mark Yim, CRC Press, 2011 Formative Years: Bauhaus and Bauhaus People. Ed. Eckland Newmann, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1970 Structural Packaging, Design your own boxes and 3D Forms, Paul Jackson, Paperback, 2012 Origami Tessellations: Ave-Inspiring Geometric Designs. Eric Gjerde. Paperback, 2008 23
avoid stereotypes use archetypes make prototypes Luigi Cocchiarella Given the wide spectrum of meaning concerning the words “perception” and “representation”, not infrequently misleadings occur about them. While the first is often connected with an emotional and sensitive status, the latter is sometimes adopted as a synonimous of communication, or, worse and simply, of the presentation of something that is already done. In both cases, they lay out of the range of (or at least beside) the design process. Thus, trying to dispel this misconception has become even more important in a workshop devoted to the structuralist approach to architectural processes, where one of the most insidious risks for the students is to believe that everything could be processed by mere automation. Therefore, the perceptual activity has been considered as a substantial part of the project development. Either in approaching the place (the forest), or in modelling the project (the hermit’s cabin), students have been invited to mind that not only a sensory but also an intellectual perception is involved and that both of them should be approached critically. On the other hand, the translation of the abovementioned aspects in terms of graphic language, namely the representation, would have been another challenging task. How to convert the great amount of qualitative and non visual inputs into an operative parametric system of signs and numbers? As a result, several geometric and graphic strategies have been used either in the analog or in the digital processes, always interlaced. The connection and sometimes the hybridization among these representative languages ended up producing rich semantic networks, special hyper-text based images (hyper-images), fostering the identification of parameters, structures and prospective architectural design processes, in order to envision the most appropriate spatial configuration for the project. In this context, the assigned task, the hermit’s cabin, made the work particularly interesting, calling into question since the beginning the profound roots of the architecture, in 24
conclusion the “archetypes of nature” and the “archetypes of construction”. Namely, according to the taxonomy proposed by Vittorio Ugo, the “forest”, the “clearing”, the “garden” for the nature, and the “hut”, the “bridge”, the “labyrinth” for the construction, provided the first ideas to be processed, and besides these, even the classical basic components, “earth”, “water”, “air” and “fire” have been considered. But the question was: is it possible to process the pure archetypes? It was at this point that the biological and the theoretical perception began to influence one another, generating the project. And just at this stage the actor, the main protagonist, the real catalyst of the architectural space to be built, came into play: the hermit. Entering this living presence marked the transition from the Eden to the History, in this case, the history of the project in question. But, first and foremost, it was necessary to understand who she or he was: woman, man, couple, family, age, motivation etc. with each option producing a specific result. Secondly, it was required to focus on the hermit‘s way of living in the middle of the forest: religious, secular, wild, high-tech equipped. Also these aspects could have been decisive. Therefore, if on the one hand an updated “identikit” of the hermit(s) was to be traced, on the other hand an updated “technology of hermitage(s)” was to be figured out. It is clear that from this point on, perception and representation, already used as “analytical” tools, have extended to “design“ tools supporting the core of the design process. But the most intriguing thing was the fact that dealing with such an “archetypal” design issue, it seemed that every iconographic reference (i.e. images from other projects) would have “disturbed” the required purity of the intellectual approach and the possibility to find out new or unexpectedly updated symbolisms during the project development. This is why, instead of showing images and drawings or giving formal suggestions, the input was aimed to lead further away from the idea of a perception intended as a mere symptom and from the idea of a representation intended as mere display, proposing the slogan in the epigraph: avoid stereotypes – use archetypes – make prototypes References Vittorio Ugo, I luoghi di Dedalo: elementi teorici dell’architettura, Dedalo Bari 1991 Luigi Cocchiarella, Eine Bestätigung: Geometrische Ansätze des aktuellen Strukturalismusdiskurses in der Architektur, in Joaquín Medina Warmburg, Cornelie Leopold (editors), Strukturelle Architektur. Zur Aktualität eines Denkens zwischen Technik und Ästhetik, transcript, Bielefeld 2012, pp.103-117 25
strata – codes – events towards a parametric approach Fabrizio Leoni Many modes coexist today in the debate on the architectural project. Landscapes, social issues, environmental and energy sensitivity, investigation on the tectonic and material nature of the artifact. In other circumstances, increasingly frequent operations of coinage or borrowing of concepts from other disciplines, more or less close to the architectural design, seem to search for emerging needs or hidden and potential qualities. Sometimes these transfers are nomadic keywords, which change their meaning and effect in the transition from one discipline to another. Sometimes they open to changes of scenery, act as powerful metaphors deviating from a conventional use of a given label towards a re-figuration of the real, and revealing potential areas of research. Among these practices, which examine and feed the project from adjacent territories, we observe a large emergence or reemergence, as such an approach has already entered several other times in the foreground of architecture – of taxonomic attitude, especially in its geometric side, like indices, iterations, classifications, procedures, often derived from a vocabulary operated by the natural sciences and physics or enhanced by the augmented reality generated by automatic and parametric calculation softwares. The concepts of aggregation of disparate elements in Smithsons’ idea of cluster and that of inter-changeability and hierarchy in that of mat building along the 1970s are resumed nowadays with renewed attention to the contextual characteristics of the intervention site by those architects interested in more and more hybrid and inclusive programs and morphologies; to the use of grids, meshes, networks, layouts, from Eisenman’s work on, less relevants as ordinatory and compositional principles than as inspirational basic elements to be undermined, through systematic geometrical operations of distortion, noise, alteration, in search of a degree of complexity, 26
uncertainty and turbulence that, in their opinion, could be an appropriate mask of contemporary architecture. Nothing like the logic of the strata induced through the massive use of layers in the computer aided design in the 1980s, not even the analogy with the machine introduced by the Modern Movement back in the 1920s, had ever been applied to observe and to manipulate a physical reality as sectioned in themes, modules, self-containing realities to be treated separately. Indeed, overcoming and transforming the traditional tectonic unity of a building, piece of urban fabric, landscape or any other single monolith-objectproduct, into an archive of parts differently combined and replaceable or into a sandwich of tangible elements and functions that can be updated just like successive versions of a software (a software being quite a ground-breaking metaphor of the project as a process). A fascination with the codes, the lists, the mosaics of the constituent elements behind the architectural, urban, technological project, channeled by contemporary mathematics and philosophies, referenced by an increasingly computational design, finds a natural result in a resolving and performing practice, well represented by the application of parametric software procedures. At the base there is no desire to reduce complexity or to control the many elements of a design scheme via computer. But to introduce a matrix approach, highly combinatorial and recombinatorial, where the object of interest does not relate more to the harmony of form and matter but to that of form and parameter, a synthesis recognizable in the concept of the “objetévénement” by French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. A new level of meaning which introduces the so-called objectile, a baroque figure corresponding to a conception today very close to us: “Elle ne renvoie plus aux debuts de l’ère industrielle où l’idée du standard maintenait encore un semblant d’essence et imposait une loi de constance, mais à notre situation actuelle, quand la fluctuation de la norme remplace la permanence d’une loi, quand l’objet prend place dans un continuum par variation, quand la productique ou la machine à commande numerique se substituent à l’emboutissage.” Gilles Deleuze, Le Pli, Paris 1988 27
Cocoa Cluster Milan Expo 2015 – Preliminary Scheme 2012 Fabrizio Leoni, Mauricio Cardenas, Cesare Ventura, architects Images by Daniele Cremaschi, Luca De Stasio, Ivan Pavlovic
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Capo Ceraso Hub 2012 – Skin Studies Fabrizio Leoni, architect
Images by Matteo Aimini, Enrico Campus, Daniele Cremaschi, Luca De Stasio
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procedural models Benjamin Dillenburger Hua Hao The Processing IDE provides a light platform to play the abstract (the mathematical model) together with the physical (the form of the cabin in our case). Architects are luckier than philosophers since architects don’t struggle with metaphysical questions such as “does the mathematical presentation tell the TRUTH of the reality?”. Architects are also much freer than scientists because they don’t need to verify the proposed model with empirical data. In an architectural design task, we can simply focus on the relationship between the model (either conceptual or mathematical) and its physical outputs. With the help of the Processing platform, the task becomes simpler and even superficial: set the parameters and see the outcome. The figure below shows a series of forms produced by the same mathematical model with different configurations of parameters. The tool is efficient and convincing, and it turns out that a lazy designer can easily drag the slider and produce nice-looking designs. However, the architects should have a deep insight into the abstract machine beneath the software: the model. And skillful manipulation of the model leads to innovations in design.
Bottom and Right: a series of forms produced by the same mathematical model with different configurations of parameters
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During the workshop, the authors made an example of making a parametric facade with Processing in order to clarify the relationship between the underlying mathematical model and the visible outputs (as well as the data for CNC cutting). The form of facade is represented by the trigonometric function sinθ applied in horizontal and vertical direction. There are a set of parameters for the facade model as follows (Processing codes): int segment_x=24; // number of vertical segments int segment_y=20; // number of horizontal segments float dx=20; // spacing between vertical segments float dy=18; // spacing between horizontal segments float thickness=12; //thickness of the facade float thick_material=2; float scale_z=50; //amplitude of the sinθ function float shape_scale_x=0.018f; // period of the sinθ function in horizontal direction float shape_scale_y=0.012; // period of the sinθ function in vertical direction
The correspondence between the configuration of the parameters and the form of the facade is explicit and immediate in Processing. Nevertheless, the most interesting part for designers is constructing the model instead of playing with the parameters of model. The model servers as an abstraction of a family of objects, and any particular member of the family is a particular rendering of the model. Besides the visible form, the precise data (dxf format) for producing the physical model of facade (with cardboard and laser cutting ) can be also produced by Processing. We can perceive a continuous data flow from the abstract model to the concrete objects through this procedure.
DXF file for laser cutting 32
Correspondence between the parameters and the form of the faรงade 33
structures Benjamin Dillenburger Hua Hao A structure is commonly defined as a pattern of elements and their relations. In architecture, structures appear in different levels of abstractions. The concepts of architects define the relations between abstract elements of the design, the program and the context. Those relations don’t need to be purely geometric (for example symmetries) but could also be metaphysical, for instance analogies. On the physical level, the architectural elements are assembled and organized together in patterns that we call buildings. In computational design, the architects need to formulate explicitly the model of the structures in a computer readable code. Once the elements and relations are defined, they can easily be parameterized. The ideas of the design are „compressed“ in an algorithmic model representing a whole family or class of objects. Individual objects can now easily be instantiated by adjusting the parameters. Popular design tools allow the definition of such a family of objects in a convenient way. In those models, the parameters are directly connected to the geometry of the objects, for example in constraints or proportions. While those instruments are useful for complex repetitive design tasks, they are not suitable as an explorative design tool. The results are highly predictable, due to the direct relationship between form and parameter. An ideal process to explore form would strike a balance between the expected and the unexpected, between control and relinquishment.
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In the workshop, the authors investigated the potential of computational design beyond parametric design tools, by developing examples of procedural design. In procedural design, parameters do not control the geometry directly, but rather they control operations of a pre-defined process that transforms or generates geometry. Those operations can be executed in iterations, and can be influenced by the previous generations. Hence, time and sequence is becoming an important dimension in algorithmic design. Even if the processes are determinant without any randomness, the results are not predictable. They can surprise the designer in the best case with outcomes that are hard to imagine and impossible to draw. Architecture is discovering new territories. The advances in both computation as well as fabrication technologies offer us the possibility to design and construct hitherto unseen forms and structures. Procedural design can help to fully explore those latent possibilities. The authors demonstrated this with a minimal example code for the procedural generation of a vertical parquetry.
Vertical Parquetry: algorithmic wood piles Input a grid of vertices, wave function Repeat for n-iterations Push each vertex along the local normal with the local amplitude as magnitude Refine the wave function Output connect each vertex with its upper, right-upper and right neighbour with a stick 37
T1 Raphael Joo Gabriella Milo Tatiana Nemova Victoria Retana
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gap in the net
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concept 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10
light structure easy to transport natural material effective material ecological approach transformable space adaptable to the site temporary summer use simple structure and form multiple levels above ground
Proportion As a measuring and spacing device spiders are using their own body. The space between each spiral of a spiderweb is directly proportional to the distance from the tip of the animal‘s hindlimb to its spinnerets. Human beings interact with environments based on their physical dimensions, capabilities and limits. Thus, a habitable space of 4 x 4 x 4 meters of the hermit‘s cabin was assumed for the design. “I wish that man will try to build houses for themselves and future generations, not much bigger than his body, which can catch all his imagination and thoughts, that he devotes his genius to a work of adaptation, not exaggeration - or at least that he acknowledges the limits of the body that supports him.“ Francis Ponge in “Notes pour un Coquillage“, 1932
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procedures Triangulation networks were developped in the work of Willebrord van Roijen Snell in 1615 who showed how a point in space could be located from two subtending points of known position and distance by intersecting two lines intersecting at specific angles originating from these points. In trigonometry and geometry, triangulation is the process of determining the location of the point by measuring angles to it from known points at either end of a fixed baseline, rather than measuring distances to the point directly (trilateration). The third point can be defined as the third point of a triangle with one known side and two known angles. Treebelt The suggested structure consists of a flexible band with periodically attached shekels and an adjustable belt with a carabiner at its end. The “treebelt� is rigged around the corresponding tree, fastened with the carabiner, tightened and continuously spun through rings and shekels around the trees. At each of the shekels a carabiner with a deflecting roller can be fixed. Ropes can also be fixed directly to the shekels.
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result The project is situated in the Palatinate Forest, in a lowmountain region in South-Western Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. This region is designated as a the „Naturpark Pfälzerwald“ and covering more than 1.700 km² with its highest elevation Mount Kalmit (673 m). For an exemplary application of this project a small area with a randomn array of trees was chosen, contemplating the hermit‘s cabin as a minimal house in the forest. This cabin was conceived to be modular, foldable, and decomposable with a reversible structure, easily to be set up on site. A system of ropes, which are creating a fabric based on the structure of spiderwebs and spiralling triangles, is shaping an intertwining network by connecting the trees with light and reversible materials. Grids that are aligned alongside each tree are defining a framework of anchorpoints for the resulting web.
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T2 Sofía Domínguez Garzón Pavlina Malinova Víctor Rubio Matilla Mateo Álvarez Ríos
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fold it yourself
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concept The project is situated in the Palatinate Forest, in a lowmountain region in South-Western Germany. This forest is a nature park and located close to one of the ancient routes of Camino de Santiago – a large network of ancient pilgrim routes stretching across Europe and joinging at the tomb of St. James in Santiago de Compostela in North-Western Spain. By contemplating about the contemporary hermit’s home a place in a natural context emerged in which the hermit is experiencing all of the natural elements in an immediate manner and in direct vicinity of the woods. The cabin is to offer a temporary shelter from the atmospheric forces and at the same time comply with the needs of the user. In close proximity to the Way of St. James, the cabin is designed with relation to the pilgrims‘ needs serving as a one- or twoday refuge and featuring basic characteristics: it depends on its natural surroundings, it is easily movable, allows to be composed depending on the preferences of the user, it is highly flexible and it provides a space where the hermit / pilgrim feels safe. Paper origami folding was used as an inspiration and incorporated in the design of the hermit‘s cabin with a light structure covered by a transparent skin.
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procedures Perpetuating the concept ideas different possibilities in relation to the composition of the cabin elements were researched. On-site analysis conducted in the forest confirmed the diverse geometrical position of the trees as well as the overall situation. With flexibility and easy composition of the cabin in different locations being major requirements of the cabin a structure which was independent from specific tree positions was designed while simultaneously seeking to establish a close relation with the environment and natural elements such as grass, trees, leaves, branches etc. As a geometric means, the triangulation process was applied to find the most suitable positions for the cabin. By simulation and experiment with varying dimensions of the triangles a solution that incorporates and reflects the parameters in the natural setting was sought with the goal of creating an easily foldable structure that would offer both comfort and safety for the user. Trees are serving as poles for the cabin by defining some of the configurations that can be formed.
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result In coordination with the workshop‘s topic “Geometry, Code and Design” multiple variations for the design of the hermit‘s cabin had to be explored. Thus focusing on the most important features proposed by the design task: flexibility and foldability. The suggested solution is a multifunctional space that can be used as a shelter from rain, a place for short-term recovery or as a one- or two-night sleeping cabin. The skin covering the structure is a plastic membrane attached to the light metal structure which allows for quick and easy transformation of the cabin through 1800 and 3600 rotation. Transparent triangles can serve as windows diffusing daylight directly into the interior space. The cabin is adaptable to differences in the terrain and the user is free to choose the desired location.
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T3 Blerta Copa Bahaa El Awar Martina Bonilla Hollyman Enrique Josè Sànchez Vazquez
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pent it
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concept The Palatinate Forest – a low-mountain region covering more than 1.700 km² in South-Western Germany and located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate – is the given site for a hermit’s cabin or minimal house. The characteristic natural elements composing the landscape of the Palatinate were triggering the decisions for this project. The first impressions of a calm and serene, sublime ambiance were supplemented with the sense of a daunting and overpowering environment. This ambivalence of sensations perceived by the supposed user was to be reflected in the formal, technical and aesthetic solution of the design task: a modular, foldable and decomposable cabin; a reversible structure which can be easily deployed in many different places. The shelter was designed for short-term use by the suggested client, a landscape artist, with a sojourn time from a few days up to a month. The minimal house is refuge of the artist‘s essential and primary activities, providing a place for creative work, a recreational area and a space of contemplation at the same time.
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Corresponding and opposing concepts of duality and contrast, were shaping the main theme of the project: monochrome - polychromous abundance - vacuum intimate - dispersive geometric - arty light - shadow closed - open order - chaos light - heavy
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procedures The weathering actions corroding the natural elements of the forest marked the starting point of the initial concept: just like leaves, branches, grass and flowers are responding to the effects of sunshine, wind, rain and snow, the climate defined the ever-changing and constant transformation to the cabin. The addition of the smallest element of the leaf is shaping both the forest floor as a natural carpet and the surrounding foliage of trees modified by atmospheric conditions. Accordingly, internal and external environments were relevant to the design. While the movement of the leaves creates exterior changes of light and shadow, there is a constant controlled light inside the shelter characterizing its different spaces. The conversion of the natural shape of the leaf into a geometrical and abstract shape allowed for a diverse range of pure forms such as square, triangle and circle. The pentagon was selected for its reminiscence of the shape of a leaf. Associating the landscape artist‘s work, the spread of the sheltering cover is undisturbed. The continuous network of geometric elements created by assembling the various pentagons is creating smooth transitions from one living space to another.
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result The dwelling is composed by geometrical wooden elements, standardized and reproducible in series, which enable the fast assembly and dismantling, transportation and control of the environments as well as the continuous modification and creation of spaces by its user. The pentagon tiles are available in three sizes (large, medium and small) with each edge providing a flap with pin and hole for connection with its adjacent panel.
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T4 Isabel Ramos Violeta Popova Sara Maani Cristina Schilke
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helix house
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concept The pine cone was the inspiring natural element for this design project in the Palatinate forest. Fibonacci curves were studied as a natural geometric shape and reference. The geometry followed by the pine cone is based on several combined and intertwined Fibonacci curves. Accordingly, a system of intersecting helixes defining the main structure was chosen for the helix house project.
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The Tatlin Tower served as a reference building.
During the first formfinding attempts Fibonacci curves were applied to both geometry and structure.
A system of primary and secondary structures is establishing the wooden construction. The tertiary structure is providing a weatherproof but aerated cover of the cabin.
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procedures shape evolution sequence
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shadow sequence of the main structure
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result The designed cabin can be a movable shelter for a hermit in the Palatinate forest. In order to achieve a better camouflaging with the environment, the materials used are wood, for the three main structures, and a transparent, breathable and water-repellent membrane. This material covers the entire cabin, ensuring a comfortable temperature and level of humidity inside the cabin.
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T5 Shaharam Abdollahi Daniele Cremaschi Mehdi Shogi Theresa Voigt
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shel(l)ter
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concept “People with these ideals are content with a simple life, but you do need to have a place to live, and that can be hard to pay.” Edward Lewine in „My Life as a Hermit“, 2007 A hermit’s home is first and foremost a place, a center in a natural environment without a center. As the hermit is changing his place of stay, his / her home should be able to change correspondingly. Depending on the given environment it should be able to fit and be functional, while at the same time it has to be easily transportable and safe. The cabin must be built up quickly and the shape could be easily changed according to the existing natural environment with its main function of providing a covering shelter, a safe place, a home for the hermit. Concentrating on research of natural flexible and responsive structures and existing adaptable systems the shape was examined. A cellular system with absolute flexibility would be the best solution. But how can a system like that be stable and used as a cover? The membrane, which is soft, needs a supporting structure. A semi-flexible structure, similar to the Chinese fan with folded paper and tight endings, was selected to approach the design task. The circular folding mechanism opening in a single step marked the starting point for the process of setting up the cabin. A strong shell with a light and thin cover complying with the demand for portability and lightness. At the same time it is suggesting a centered structure radially rotating along a circular circumference. This reference provided the structural basis of a small flexible building, a shel(l)ter.
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Cellular System
Foldable System
Flexibility of the Cabin
Generative Process 73
procedures With the circular shape as a basis for the design, load-bearing structures in domes as well as the scope of possibilities for changing their geometries were researched. The dome-shaped cabin is assembled with modular curved elements which are thin, light and flexible. An analysis of the forest educed various situations like areas with dense trees, spread trees and open spaces, flat planes and steep slopes. The form of the cabin should be applicable to all these different settings enabling the hermit for an independent choice of location. Thus, the design allows for multiple configurations in order to achieve the best adaptation to each site. Height, base radius, top radius and opening of every segments were defined as variables. However, their relations in the entire system is constant. There is a series of direct and inverse proportions inside the parametrical complex that determines the cabin‘s structure. These parameters enable the shel(l)ter react and correspond with the forest. Adaptable Vertical Folding System, Explanation of Parametric Design
Base Circles
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Subdivision
Spatial Translation
List Culling
Rotational Folding System
Variables: Height, Base, Top Radius, Segments Openings
Connection Details
L - heavy furniture (180mm)
M - light furniture (120mm) Element used as table or door
Element used as hammrock
Integrated Furniture
Base Arcs
Extrusion
S - structure (90mm)
Structural Variations
Extrusion
Mambrane Lofting
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result The interior space is based on human scale and proportions. Spatial actions performed by the user were integrated in anthropomorphized configurations ranging from depressed ground to tree-suspended positions. A circle, maybe used as a fireplace, marks the center. Fire transforms chaos, defines a place. Natural daylight is passing through a diaphragm on the roof top. The larger circle around the center delimitates the cabinspace which contains a hammock, incorporated seats and tables. Structural tension is generated by the shape of double curved wooden elements which set the framework for tightening the flexible protective membrane. The hull can be opened for ventilation in the upper spacings between the segments. Structural elements can adapt to the terrain creating various configurations with three different thicknesses and different opening segments. Ribs can rotate around the ring to respond to specific needs and conditions making the shel(l)ter parametrically responsive to its environment.
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St.Paul the Hermit Mattia Preti, 1656-1660
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authors Cornelie Leopold studied philosophy and mathematics. She is academic director at University of Kaiserslautern, Faculty of Architecture, Descriptive Geometry. Her research focuses on geometry and design. >> www.architektur.uni-kl.de/geometrie Andreas Kretzer is a freelance architect and production designer. Since 2011, he is teaching digital tools for architects and design as a junior professor at the University of Kaiserslautern. >> www.architektur.uni-kl.de/digitalewerkzeuge Mayka García-Hípola is associate professor of Architectural Design at San Pablo CEU University, Madrid. Her research focuses on mapping and the interaction between Architecture & LandsPaCes. >> gipaisajecultural.dpa-etsam.com/node/49 Covadonga Lorenzo Cueva is professor of architectural drawing at San Pablo CEU University, Madrid. Her research focuses on graphic representation: digital tools, data visualization, digital fabrication and virtual prototyping. >> http://www.uspceu.com Luigi Cocchiarella is researcher at Politecnico di Milano with focus on the history and techniques of geometry and graphics in connection with the architectural design processes. He teaches in the field of visual representation. >> www.polimi.it Fabrizio Leoni is an architect based in Milan and Barcelona, currently teaching and researching on the interactions between architecture, landscape and infrastructures at the Scuola di Architettura e Società, Politecnico di Milano. >> www.polimi.it Benjamin Dillenburger is an architect specialized in computational design. He currently works as researcher at the chair for computer aided architectural design, ETH Zürich. >> wiki.caad.arch.ethz.ch Hua Hao Hua Hao studied architecture and focused on computational design. He is currently doing his PhD in the chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design at the ETH Zürich. >> www.whitegreen.org 78
partners
professors | guest lecturers | participants Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Germany Cornelie Leopold (project coordinator); Andreas Kretzer Universidad CEU San Pablo Madrid, Spain Mayka García-Hípola; Covadonga Lorenzo Cueva Politecnico di Milano, Italy Luigi Cocchiarella; Fabrizio Leoni Eidgenöss. Technische Hochschule Zürich, Switzerland Benjamin Dillenburger; Hua Huo Guest Lecturers Dipl.-Ing. Peter Spitzley, TU Kaiserslautern | Biosphere Tower Dr. des. Ulrike Weber | Project Rhineland-Palatinate Dipl.-Ing. Herrmann Edel, Darmstadt | Baravalle-Kino Participants Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Germany Raphael Joo Theresa Voigt Politecnico di Milano, Italy Shahram Abdollahi Blerta Copa Daniele Cremaschi Bahaa El Awar Sara Maani Pavlina Malinova Gabriella Milo Tatiana Nemova Violeta Popova Mehdi Shoghi Universidad CEU San Pablo Madrid, Spain Mateo Álvarez Ríos Martina Bonilla Hollyman Sofía Domínguez Garzón Isabel Ramos Suarez Maria Victoria Retana Diaz Victor Rubio Matilla Enrique José Sánchez Vazquez Cristina Schilke Diaz 79
imprint
erasmus intensive programme kaiserslautern Structural Architectures - Geometry, Code and Design II Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Germany 2013 ISBN 978-3-943995-18-3 Editors Cornelie Leopold Andreas Kretzer Mayka García-Hípola Covadonga Lorenzo Cueva Luigi Cocchiarella Fabrizio Leoni Benjamin Dillenburger Hua Hao
This project was funded with support from the European Commission. The publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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