Studio air part a journal issuu

STUDIO AIR 2017 SEMESTER 1, JULIAN RUTTEN CHRIS SUN

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 04 A. CONCEPTUALISATION 06 A.1 DESIGN FUTURING 07 A.2 DESIGN COMPUTATION 12 A.3 COMPOSITION/ GENERATION 18 A.4 CONCLUSION 22 A.5 LEARNING OUTCOME 24 A.6 APPENDIX 26 REFERENCES 28

INTRODUCTION

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INTRODUCTION

Growing up as a kid in the early 2000’s in Nanjing, China, an ancient city rich in both culture and history, I had the privilege of seeing and experience the mixture of old and new, the mixture of ancient Chinese architecture, modern Chinese architecture from the Nationlist China period and architecture from the Chinese economic boom period. The detailing from ancient Chinese architecture, the well-balanced mixture of western and eastern elements from the Nationalist China period architecture and the fast urbanization from the Chinese economic boom period always fascinated me as a kid. It was under these influences, I developed an interest in architecture.

Now, as a third year student in architecture, the main ‘push’ for me to pursuit architecture is no longer the fascinations that I once had as a young boy. Rather, it is the emotional relationship that people have with architectural pieces that interests me. Architecture in my understanding represents the culture and philosophy of an era,

a romantic and poetic way to understand the cosmos. And so, without having much knowledge in digital fabrication, my understanding of it previously has been somewhat of a superficial, life-less way to please the aesthetic standards of the general public as digital media often seem to be a less intimate way to communicate with one another and a culture that seem to only value results rather than enjoying the process as well.

However, this subject has offered a new perspective of digital fabrication to me, as mentioned in the first lecture that, digital fabrication can be a way of thinking which can be seen as a type of mentality. I am very keen to learn more about this mentality as it will improve my understanding of architecture and ultimately help me pursuit architecture even further.

Studio Earth Semester 1 Studio Water, Semester 2, 2016

2016

INTRODUCTION 5

A CONCEPTUALISATION

A.1. DESIGN FUTURING

PRECEDENT 1 NINGBO MUSEUM WANG SHU 2008

Urban expansion in China often means th new. Same thing happened in this project w to make way for the museum as we

The museum, intended to represent th the contradiction in razing ‘history history. However, Wang Shu could not reb to exist [2]. And so, he aimed to crea respond to the natural environme

To do so, Wang Shu reused the bricks and tile around the site, with a combination of bamb of old and new. Answering to the natural envir that limits the use of newly produced m achieving his aims in delivering the em

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CONCEPTUALISATION

FIGURE 1: a contrast and a mix of old and new

This project challenged and brought new perspectives to the field of architecture in China. Grand, new, modern buildings are Chinese people’s perception of what modernisation means, they often forget about the traditions. And so, Wang challenges that idea by presenting the oldest elements of Ningbo in the most modernised part of the city [3], as well as embedding sustainable values in the design that Chinese people often ignores.

Ningbo museum serves perhaps the first step for a distinct Chinese approach to architecture in the modern society, to break the outdated Chinese institutionalised practices. A gateway for Chinese people to realise and to find their lost traditions and culture.

he demolition of old and the creation of where dozens of old villages were razed ell as two new government buildings [1].

he history of Ningbo, Wang Shu realised y’ (old) to create a space that preserves build the old village as it simply ceased ate a piece of architecture that aims to ent and the local history and traditions.

es from the razed villages that scattered boo casted concrete, creating a blend ronment with architectural cannibolism materials, a sustainable approach whilst motions that he intended for the public.

FIGURE 2: detail of the facade (architectural cannibolism)

CONCEPTUALISATION 9

FIGURE 3: construction of cardboard cathedral

After the earthquake that took the lives of 185 people in Christchurch in 2011. The city was in a bad shape, in the ruins of the aftermath of Christchuch lies the Christchurch cathedral.

The carboard cathedral designed by Shigeru Ban was then built to act as a temporary worshipping place and event venue.

Known for creating ‘emergency architecture’, Ban succefully achieved a lightweight structure that is easy to build (use of cardboard) and an efficient piece of architecture that limits its waste products as the cardboard involved in its construction can be recycled and reused after the building has served its purpose. [4] Being an emergency building, it is also focused on not to waste any money that is used in the project. [5] The project is siginificant in the sense that it explores the revitalisation role that architecture has. As one of the first few buildings that’s been a part of the rebuilding process, the cardboard cathedral has became a symbol of Christchurch’s ‘revival’.

The use of material was also influencial in the way that it tests out the limitations in cardboard as a building material, and to achieve the best possible strength that this cheap, widely available material can do. [6] Shigeru Ban also challenged the idea of permanance in architecture by suggesting’temporary’ structures made with seemingly unstable materials. This also led to redefining ‘quality’ in architecture by the choice of materiality in the structure to emphasis the importance of the relationship between space and quality.

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CONCEPTUALISATION

PRECEDENT 2 CARDBOARD CATHEDRAL

SHIGERU BAN 2013

CONCEPTUALISATION 11

A.2. DESIGN COMPUATION

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CONCEPTUALISATION

As digital technology increasingly affect our lives, design is also affected with modeling softwares such as Rhino 3D, grasshopper etc. These softwares propose a challenge to the traditional architecture in terms of how we think and how we approach the subject of design. On one hand, these softwares allow quick generation of architectural drawings or 3D modeling, but on the other hand, it is also a dangerous ground as ‘fake creativity’ can exist due to the ‘formfinding’ possiblities that these softwares have if used uncorrectly. These possiblities can often be misused when the designer engages with form-finding exercises and totally disregard the design concept, spatial organisation and the context as they find something pleasing to the eye and decide to use the form they find for their design. This leads to not only failing the brief as well as the emotional connection of people and the design, generating ‘shallow’ designs. However, if used correctly, these softwares can serve the same way as parametric methods [7] in terms of exploring topological possiblities. And so, it ultimately comes down to the designers’ own skill level, understanding of the brief and the meaning of design to not misuse these softwares and therefore, these softwares can be seen as a medium of design, just like paper and pen.

Even though that these softwares act as paper and pen, but it also differs from the traditional design medium in terms of their properties. Digital softwares that are algorithmic based such as grasshopper allows the designer to manipulate form in a mathematical sense which opens up a new design process frontier to designers, allowing a new perspective in the understanding of form. However, this may also lead to ‘dry’ designs as we are all exposed to the same restrains and functions these softwares have, and even though mathematically speaking, the amount of different designs is infinite, but the designs they create are all similar in tectonic, resulting in similar architectural designs. These architecture often seem to lack emotional connection with the designers and the users.

CONCEPTUALISATION 13

PRECEDENT 1 BRITISH PAVILION SHANGHAI EXPO 2010 HEATHERWICK STUDIO 2010

However, again like the ‘fake creativity’ issue, the repetition of designs that are similar in tectonic structure can be avoid through by having an innovating concept and a detailed study in exploring the concept, connecting the designer and the users to the building by delivering an emotional connection rather than cold calculated architecture that feels ‘souless’. An example of this is the UK pavilion (seed cathedral) in Shanghai Expo 2010.

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CONCEPTUALISATION

The main concept of this project is focused on the Expo theme (better city, better life). To explore this theme, the studio focused on the relationships between cities and nature and the sigificance of plants to human health, economic success and social changes [8]. In order to bring this concept into the design, the studio decided to create a seed cathedral.

Digital tools were used throughout the design process. In the early stages, digital tools were used to observe and discuss the properties and problems of different distribution methods of the seed rods [9], to understand the the rods’ logic and how these rods will react with ligh in order to find solutions to their design objective and the actual positioning of the structure.

Therefore, in this project, the digital tools helped with form-finding in terms of understanding the logic of material, to find solutions of how the form should be according to the properties of the material rather than just playing around with geometries in software to find forms. And so, this building was able to connect with its users.

FIGURE 4: interior of the pavilion CONCEPTUALISATION 15

PRECEDENT 2 TAICHUNG OPERA HOUSE TOYO ITO 2016

“I aimed to create the architecture of this opera house in such a way that the inside and outside are continuous in a like manner to how bodies are connected to nature through organs such as the mouth, nose, and ears,” - Toyo Ito.

Taichung Opera House by Toyo Ito in Taiwan is another example. According to Toyo Ito, the structure is meant to represent the connecting nature of our body. Exploring the relationships of music, body and architecture [10]. For any opera house, the acoustic properties of the building has to be extremely well managed, one way of managing it is through the form of its theatres. Toyo Ito managed to manipulate the form into a well balanced mixture of science of the building (acoustics) and the concept of the building (the relationship between music, body and architecture).

With the help from digital tools and digital fabrication, Toyo Ito was able to find the structural properties of the design, enabling the analysis of how nature can be manipulated by us (in this case, the sound). This ultimately helps the designers to solve problems in the most effective way [11].

FIGURE 5: digital process in developing the building

CONCEPTUALISATION 17

A.3. COMPOSITION/ GENERATION

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CONCEPTUALISATION

Computation provides a framework for negotiating and influencing the interrelation of datasets of information, with the capacity to generate complex order, form, and structure [12]. It is indeed correct to say that computation provides the capacity to generate complex order, form and structure, however, as mentioned in A.2. softwares allow an infinite amount of possible design outcomes but at the same time, limits our design outcomes because we all face the same restrictions that these softwares have which can result in architecture that are similar in its design properties even though they may be complex etc, creating big monumental structures that are repetitive.

Fundamentally, architecture should remain as a piece of art and architecture is for people, and what softwares allow is the increasing capacity to explore building systems and building environments [13]. When focusing too much on these things, people often ignore or forget the connections that people much have with the architecture they are interacting with, making architecture no longer a form of expression and synthesis, but purely a space that performs well or visually impressive.

In the traditional analogue composition and generation, paper and pen did not contribute into the design concept as they were purely a medium to record what the designers have come up with.

However, digital tools act not only as a medium to record but also a tool to transform data to form which were done by the designers in the analogue period.

Data in this sense should not only be algarithms, but evaluations of the circumstances and situations as well as the concept of the space you are trying to design.

Only when designers can properly recognize the ‘data’ input, then the ‘output’ will be no longer a souless, repetitive structure.

CONCEPTUALISATION 19

PRECEDENT 1 METROPOL PARASOL JÜRGEN MAYER 2011

The two projects, structural and visua is an example of architecture that This is very dange the ‘celebration o to obscure and di design objectives degenerates to be craft rather than d integerated art’ [14

When the focus on the level of focus people design for rather than design experience.

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CONCEPTUALISATION

PRECEDENT 2 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION FOSTER & ASSOCIATES 2007

have very similar al properties which big monumental t are repetitive. erous as to when of skills is allowed ivert from the real s, then scripting ecome an isolated developing into an 4].

n scripting surpass s on architecture, the sake of design n for meaning and

CONCEPTUALISATION 21

A.4. CONCLUSION

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CONCEPTUALISATION

Digitalisation in architecture have its pros and cons. The upcoming and existing softwares have the abilities to further our capablity to design, bringing new possiblities in architecture and builtenvironment that we have never experienced before. Sustainablity, building performances and design goals that we try to achieve can all be utilized through digital design if used correctly. This is how we should design in the future, design through data input and let the computers rationalise the information we put in.

Innovative ideas always recieve criticism, digitalisation in architecture is the same. Because the idea of computation is fairly new as we are still in the computerlisation period, the understanding of what computation actually means can be unclear to many and therefore, uninteresting designs or designs that drift away from true architecture can appear.

However, although computation in architecture offers many possiblities and open new design methods, we should not over use this useful tool.

Architects carry a great responsiblity as we are one of the few professions that have the ability to change how people live and interact with the world, we need to always keep in mind the relationship of the future that we design and the people that live in it.

Being overly rely on computation would mean we rely purely on algorithms to shape the future that we live in, rather than ‘design’ the future we live in.

CONCEPTUALISATION 23

A.5. LEARNING OUTCOME

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CONCEPTUALISATION

As I have mentioned in my introduction, I saw digital design as being too ‘form-centric’ and purely creating something that is pleasing to the eyes. The use of digital tools in my previous works have been purely transfering something that is on paper to the digital realm. However, after these few weeks of learning what computation and computerisation actually is, I have realised that it is much more than I have previous thought.

Digital tools and designers can work together to fill in each other’s weaknesses, it has also enabled architecture to be demonstrated in a more dynamic and interactive way through simulations such as the UK pavilion in Shanghai Expo. It can also help us to understand the materiality of architecture a lot better, and in return, we will be able to fully opitimise the space and user experiences through the use of material and the design composition.

CONCEPTUALISATION 25

A.5. APPENDIX

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CONCEPTUALISATION

WEEK 1

WEEK 2

CONCEPTUALISATION 27

REFERENCES

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CONCEPTUALISATION

[1],[3] Architectural-review.com,. ‘Ningbo Museum by Pritzker price winner Wang Shu’. N.p., 2010. Recieved on 5 Mar 2017 [2] Dezeen.com,. ‘Wang Shu on Amateur Architecture Studio’s Ningbo Musuem’. N.p., 2016. Recieved on 5 Mar 2017 [4],[5] Architectureau.com,. ‘Shigeru Ban and the Cardboard Cathedral’. N.p., 2013. Recieved on 6 Mar 2017 [6] Architectural-review.com,. ‘Cardboard Cathedral by Shigeru Ban in Christchurch, New Zealand’. N.p., 2014. Recieved on 6 Mar 2017 [7] Oxman, Rivka and Robert Oxman, eds (2014). Theories of the Digital in Architecture (London; New York: Routledge), pp. 1–10 [8] Heatherwick.com,. ‘UK pavilion’. N.p., 2010. Recieved on 11 Mar 2017 [9] Hanif Kara & Daniel Bosia. (2016), Design Engineering Refocused (John Wiley & Sons), pg 126-127 [10] Dezzen. com,. ‘Toyo Ito’s Taichung Metropolitan Opera House in Taiwan opens’. N.p., 2016. Recieved on 12 Mar 2017 [11] Kalay, Yehuda E. (2004). Architecture’s New Media: Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), pg 5-25 [12],[13],[14] Peters, Brady. (2013) ‘Computation Works: The Building of Algorithmic Thought’, Architectural Design, 83, 2, pp. 08-15

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CONCEPTUALISATION