Lara Mahmoud- AUC - ARCH 473/3522

Student Portfolio

The American University in Cairo (AUC)

School of Sciences and Engineering - Department of Architecture ARCH 473/3522 - Digital Design Studio and Workshop (Spring 2019)

Student portfolio documenting samples of work submitted along the course, including research, experimentation, 3D modeling, digital fabrication, parametric design and modeling, physical model realisation and analysis.

Student name: Lara Mahmoud Student ID: 900181877

© The American University in Cairo (AUC), Fall 2022

Lara Mahmoud Architecture Student

I am a 4th year architecture student, and throughout my educational experience within this major, I have never thought of exploring the field of computational architecture because I was not aware of the opportunities it presents in terms of parametricism and adaptation to environmental conditions and other opportunities that it presents that are not possible with more traditional methods of design.

Grasshopper as a tool of computational architecture seems intimidating at first, but as one learns how to approach it, the possibilities start to seem endless. This course ispired my interest in using other tools like dynamo since I rely mainly on Revit.

Transformation of physical experimentation to parametric design.

The Blank Facade Canvas Portfolio

01 Material exploration

In this experimental project, the objective is to physically explore with different materials and fabrication techniques to devise a unit prototype for a building façade. Several physical/digital techniques and material explorations should be investigated, which can support the process of experimentation with your ideas, including fabric forming & casting.

Experiment 1

Final result: The fabric took several rounds to be able to wrap it around the whole composition. It came out looking rough due to the gypsum drying while working and also due to the fabric edges.

The Blank Facade Canvas

Formwork: Form and staple 2 peices of aluminum mesh into desired shape and composition.

Cut fabric into various sizes.

Mix the gypsum powder and water with a ratio of 2:1.

Soak fabric pieces then mold them onto the aluminium mesh composition.

Experiment 11

Form mesh into desired shape and staple it to the back of the wooden canvas

Cut off back of the canvas and pour the gypsum mixture in (ratio 2:1).

Remove the canvas wooden frame and cut off excess aluminium mesh to reveal the finished shape.

The Blank Facade Canvas Portfolio

Experiment 111

Cut 4 pieces of aluminum mesh into desired shape

Staples pieces together at the corners and cover with one big piece of fabric.

The tubes create perforations in the final result but the final form did not really take the shape of the aluminum mesh it was placed in, but the tubes were able to create some subtractions in the form.

The Blank Facade Canvas

The Blank Facade Canvas Portfolio

02 Parametric Building Block

The requirement is to use lessons learned from the material exploration to inform the generative rules of a parametric unit or building block. A parametric design strategy needs to be developed, including the derived parameters, rules and relationships from your material experimentation, and to use Grasshopper to develop the initial building block. The inspiration for this building block should follow a specific logic, related to an inspiration from nature, abstract rule, or otherwise.

Parametric Building Block: Workflow diagram

Curvature of the form Points locating perforations

Radius of perforations Thickness of the form

Connect edges to create curvature Points in space

Parametrize the perforation radius Use inner points as anchors for perforations

Perforation size is inversley proportional to the form thickness. Larger perforation - Smaller thickness

Parametric Building Block: Grasshopper Translation

Objective & Strategy

The main objective is to translate the physical parameters of the material exploration model into digital parameters, this is done by analyzing the geometrical components of the model in order to have to most efficient digital parameters that could result in infinite variations of the panel.

Population of boundary with points & turning them into segments Breaking the created segments creating used for voxel data

creating clusters of points Building isosurface using voxel data Smoothing isosurface & giving surface material

Population of boundary with points & turning them into segments

Breaking the created segments creating points used for voxel data

The Blank Facade Canvas

Decreasing Sample ValueIncreasing Perforation Size

Perforation size is decreased by increasing sample value - this allows less sunlight to enter the building

Increasing Sample ValueDecreasing Perforation Size

Perforation size is decreased by increasing sample value - this allowing more sunlight to enter the building and decreasing the solid to void ratio

The Blank Facade Canvas

Increasing pointsIncreasing perforations

Solid to void ratio decreases by increasing the number of points in the boundary lead to having more perforations and thiner form thickness

Increasing line segmentsincreasing perforation radius

Increasing the number of line segments allowed for bigger holes in some areas while still maintiaining decent form thickness in others

The Blank Facade Canvas Portfolio

03 Parametric System/Cluster

In this stage, the requirement is to develop a logic of propagation for the building block into a network, cluster or system, demonstrating the main driver and logic for such propagation, the global parameters involved in the process of propagation, the propagation rules, and how these are tied to the local building block parameters. Documentation of the process, ruleset logic, all possible iterations generated using your propagation logic, and the native Grasshopper model should be included.

Parametric System/Cluster

Objective & Strategy

The objective is to create a cluster that can function as building facade that helps with environmental issues such as such exposure and sunlight intensity withing a building. The cluster can help with self shading and controling the light entering the building. This can be done by extrusions, scaling rotations, and controlling perforation size

Global Parameters Global Parameters

Panel Height Panel Position Panel Scale Panel Rotation

Panel Dimensions Panel Height # of panel perforations

Attractor Point Scaling

Array + Random Rotation

Option 1: Controlling Cluster Extrusion Using Attractor Points

Creating voronoi cells within a rectangular boundary Scale cells inward to define area of extrusion attractor points

extrusion & extrude cells with Populate extruded masses with points in order to create isosurface

Option 1: Variations

Increased panel height to allow self shading & interior shadow in the building due to the multiple perforations

Minimal perforations and panel height lead to heavily shaded

The Blank Facade Canvas

and large shaded building

Moderate number of perforations to allow a good amount of sunlight while still self shading due to panel height

Option 2: Controlling Cluster Scale Using Attractor Points

Rectangular Array & Random Rotation

Scale Using Attractor Points

The Blank Facade Canvas

Option 2: Variations

Distance between panels is controled by attractor points. large distance allows for more sun exposure. panels are clear within the cluster. cluster feels lightweight compared to other variations, which will affect the user experience.

Panels are more compacted, which might lead to dull areas in the building without sufficient light exposure.

Reflection Panel Level

ISSUES: could not parametrize panel - minimal parameters - approach had to be changed

The Blank Facade Canvas

Reflection

Cluster Level

Variations done by changing rotation angle & changing graph type in graph mapper

ISSUES: although scaling is parametric, but it was very difficult to control with graph mapper because the outcome is unknownapproach had to be changed

Explore and parametrically generate a prototype for a building façade skin

The Parametric Facelift

Double Skin Facade Research

Double skin facade consists of two layers, usually glass, wherein air flows through the intermediate cavity. This space acts as insulation against extreme temperatures, winds, and sound, improving the building’s thermal efficiency for both high and low temperatures

How does its mechanism change

from one season to the other?

In cold climates, the air buffer slows down heat from leaving the building. Sun-heated air contained in the cavity can heat spaces outside the glass

In hot climates, the cavity is open alowing hot air to leave and cool air to enter through the chimney effect. As the air temperature in the cavity rises, it brings a slight breeze to the surroundings while preventing heat gain

O-14 DUBAI, UAE | RUR

ARCHITECTURE DOHA

TOWER, QATAR ATELIERS JEAN NOUVEL

The exterior screen component is a fixed load bearing reinforced concrete wall with a pattern of perforations that range in size, lighten the self-weight of the wall and facilitate reduced solar radiation

The exterior skin of the Doha Tower is composed of four “butterfly” aluminum elements of different scales to evoke the geometric complexity of the Islamic mashrabiya while serving as protection from the sun

Site Opportunities & Constraints

The building facade is heavily exposed to sunlight expecially that its is mainly glass with no form of shading - the facade most exposed to harsh sunlight is made of glass

Parametric Facelift

Summer months, limit heat gain due to hot and arid climate

Summer to winter transitional months, need for heat gain increases - typically before afternoon

Winter months, building needs the most heat gain at almost all times of the day

Winter to summer transitional moths need sun early in the morning

Proposed Modifications & Approach

These are conceptual sketches that should be representing my approach of having the facade responds in functionality to the activity going on inside the building. Some area might require that the facade be pushed back allowing for breathing space, other areas can require more perforations, and some might need more shading.

The same logic of perforations and protrusions from project 1 will be f ollowed, but it will be implemented differently

NON-RESPONSIVE facade that is initially designed to take into account % of desired sun exposure in specific areas & function of that area in order to manipulate facade protrusions , perforations, and scale

Design Grasshopper Script

Attractor point scaling

Extrusion by attractor points Surface morph

Boundary surface between previous 2 steps

Create voronoi cells

Attractor point scaling Boundary surface between previous 2 steps

Cell scaling Merge Extrusion

Parametric Facelift

Cell

Cell filleting Filleting & boundary surface

Extrusion by attractor points

Merge previous 3 steps

Surface morph

Double Skin Facade Design - VR Experience

Going into the building using VR technology demonstrated the strengths and weaknesses of the project. One of the strengths is that there are multiple double height areas appearing in the project which creates interesting spaces and experiences inside the project.

One of weaknesses encountered was that the perforations in the facade ere too small that they did not let enough light into the building. This was an indication that the facade must be adjusted in order for it to function in the most ideal way possible.

Double Skin Facade Design - VR Experience Post Adjustments

As an adjustment, I have made the perforations larger, through the parameters of the grasshopper code in order to allow more sunmight into the buiding.

The Parametric Facelift Portfolio

Environmental approach

The requirement is to present the parametric design strategy, including (a) the derived parameters, rules and relationships from the previous experimentation, (b) the specific strategy that will be adopted for the parametric and generative exploration exercise, using iterations and/or combinations that include but are not limited to recursion, repetition, tiling, weaving, branching, force fields, subdivision, and packing, (c) how it is intended to address your conceptual goals and achieve variation and complexity through the selected strategies, and (d) a first attempt in Grasshopper to devise the logic of the façade.

Solar Analysis

I carried out the solar analysis first on the facade iitself in order to get an idea of which area has the greatest solar exposure. Then I carried it out on the slabs and saw that there is a floor that gets the highest solar exposure. In order to fix this, I created thicker extrusions in order to diffuse the amount of light entering the building.

Solar Analysis Grasshopper Script

Biblography

• Souza, E. (2019, August 20). How do double-skin façades work? ArchDaily. Retrieved December 17, 2022, from https://www.archdaily.com/922897/how-do-double-skin-facades-work

• 3. double-skin curtain walls/façades - elios-EC.EU. (n.d.). Retrieved December 17, 2022, from http://www.elios-ec.eu/sites/default/files/pdf/Case-Study-3-Double-skin-Curtain-Wall-facade.pdf

• Sánchez, D. (2012, September 18). O-14 / Reiser + Umemoto. ArchDaily. Retrieved December 17, 2022, from https://www.archdaily.com/273404/o-14-reiser-umemoto

• Doha Tower: Jean Nouvel. Arch2O.com. (2022, October 22). Retrieved December 17, 2022, from https://www.arch2o.com/doha-tower-jean-nouvel/

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