MID-TERM AIR JOURNAL

VERSION 2012

YIMU HE

CONTENTS 01.

02.

03.

04.

AIR JOURNAL 1

WEEK ONE Metropol Parasol ---------- 5 BMW Kinetic Sculpture ----- 7 Personal Project ---------- 9

WEEK TWO Water Cube -------------- 13

WEEK THREE Boolean Series 001&002 ---- 17

WEEK FOUR Matrix of ‘Cut’ ------------ 21

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WEEK FIVE Case Study ------------- 27

WEEK SIX Research develop --------- 31

WEEK SEVEN Conclusion and further development -------- 37 WEEK EIGHT Fabrication -------------- 43

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WK 01

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‘ Architecture is a art when one consciously or unconsciously creates aesthetic emotion in the atmosphere and when this environment produces well being., Luis Barragan

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01 Metropol Parasol The new built Metropol Parasol in Seville, Spain is designed by the German architect JĂźrgen Mayer H. The gaint sculputre looking architecture gives people the instant attraction while visiting Seville and has becoming an icon of the city.

Metropal Parasol is a practice of parametric design in large scale architecture. The architect used a series of digital modeling tools like Maya and Rhino in help of the design process.

In construction, none of the other buildings in the world so far has used this large amount of timber structures holding together by majorly glue (Interiordesign, 2011).

As located in an old city with over 3000 year’s history, Metropal Parasol has nothing like the buildings surrounding it. Besides from its primary function of providing shade for its large empty site, Metropol Parasol is also a representation of the architect’s wild imagination and superior design thinking.

It is probably one of the most convincing examples in saying that architecture is art. The free floating shapes with the waffle-like grid gave Metropal Parasol an artistic look and a spiritual feeling, very much like an eye catching modern art project that could be seen in art museums but rather in a big scale and in an unexpected location.

Some people may claim that this project destroyed the harmony of Seville; however, I believe that the organic form of Metropal Parasol gives the old Spanish city a new force of passion and a new expression of life.

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BMW BMW KINETIC SCULPTURE The BMW kinetic sculpture designed by ART+COM studio is unlike any of the sculptures in traditional meanings. It is a computer programmed performance machine that can arrange metal balls into various shapes including some of the classical BMW car forms. It provided a very different concept of art which involved high accurate technology.

The engines hided above the ceiling control the 714 metal balls moving up and downs based on a central computer’s commands. Every metal balls move independently in this sculpture but perform as a group (Ducan 2009).

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By focusing on the word ‘kinetic’, BMW kinetic sculpture as an art project is very different from Metropol Parasol, even though both of the designs are based on computer programming.

BMW kinetic sculpture has a changeable shape and gives viewer a visual shock with its accurate movement. It provides pleasure with movement. By using metal as a basic material, the sculpture showed a sense of future which responded to the high technology used in it as well as the product it is promoting.

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PERSONAL PROJECT

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01 PERSONAL PROJECT This is the headpiece design I did in Virtual Environment. The design is inspired by helix form which has been largely used in architecture designs. The basic design is a helix form banded by lines in order to make it self-support. However, after digitizing the sketch model into Sketchup, the model has become like a totally different style of design. It is enclosed rather than a simple open helix form, more like a hat that can perform actual hat functions.

As I searched what happened in digitizing the sketch model, I found that the problem is detail loosing. It was my first time doing computer modeling and although the final result didn’t turn out to be the same as my original design, I was satisfied with the outcome because loosing details made the design more art-like.

It certainly can’t compare with the designs I have discussed above, nevertheless, the rigid form along with the remaining curves of the helix made the headpiece one step closer to a good art work. The shortage of the design besides the immature computer skills is that the design is lack of thoughts. An art work needs thoughts, needs to be able to tell people the thinking of the designer without words. Both Metropol Parasol and BMW Kinetic sculpture show the unique thinking of their designers, which is what I need to learn to do in future designs. Computer softwares are good tools in helping achieve the goal, but the more important thing about making a good art work, or Architecture () which is a type of art) is having unique thoughts and show them in the designs.

RELATING TO GATEWAY PROJECT The Wyndham council’s Gateway Project brief asks the design to be inspiring. The idea of Architecture as art happens to be able to help satisfy this requirement. Art is something that contains not just aesthetic values, but also social, religious or philosophical meanings. In comparison, architecture contains the basic function of accommodating people. Considering architecture as art gives architecture a meaning more than simply satisfying people’s physical needs.

Architecture should be given social, religious or philosophical meanings that makes it able to communicate with people spiritually in this sense. When the design is able to communicate, it will be able to satisfy the requirement of ‘inspiring’.

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WK 02

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‘ Architecture in general is frozen music. , Friedrich von Schelling

WATER CUBE

NATIONAL SWIMMING CEN

WATER CUBE The National Swimming Center located in Beijing is designed by PTW Architects. It is a cubic form building filled with bubble shape patterns. The bubble shape patterns are designed by using parametric skills and constructed by steel skeleton and ETFE (ethyl tetra fluoro ethylene), a light, strong and recyclable new material (Gonchar, 2008).

It is an example of how computation made design easier and how parametric design made buildings like Water Cube become practicable. First of all, as drawings are important for architects to present their ideas to clients and also essential for actual construction of a building , a big project like Water Cubic

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requires a very large amount of architectural drawings. With such a massive steel skeleton forming irregular bubble shapes, a massive amount of calculation will be needed in the drawing process. Therefore, using completely hand drawings without making any mistake will be an almost impossible job. However, unlike humans who are easily bored and tend to make mistakes when dealing with large and complex problems, computers that do not have creative mind simply follows programmed commands and would seldom make mistakes in dealing problems. By using computer-aided drawing and parametric technics, the impossible job

become possible and much easier in practice (Kalay, 2004). It can be seen that parametric design is an important innovation. It combined the creative mind of human and zero mistake problem solving skill of the computer and made the complex large scale projects become easy. Moreover, with the use of digital technology, architects can easily change the drawings and models which avoided time wasting in redoing drawings or models over and over again. Like in Water Cubic, with changes done only in some equations that used for computer processing, the shape of bubbles, number of bubbles can all be very easier modified.

02

NTER

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WK 03

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‘

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Architecture is a visual art, and the buildings speak for themselves.

Julia Morgan

BOOLEAN SERIES 001&002

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03 MARC FORNES This is a series of digital sculptures done by Marc Fornes in his design research. Boolean series 001& 002 are basically done by boolean spheres of random picked points in different closed surfaces or polysurfaces with its neighbours (Fornes, 2008). It is done by rhinoscripting.

As descripted by Burry (2011), since scripting technology is ‘effectively a computing program overlay’, it helps the designer to become the new tool developer rather than simply a tool user. This theory can be proven by Fornes’ Boolean series showed here. By using computer scripting in design, it is easy to simply change the design into a totally different looking proposal.

As in the Boolean series, all different digital scupltures follows the same rule of ‘Boolean’. Fornes wrote the script for one design, tells the computer how to generate the form and then for making the other designs in these series, he only need to change the some settings like the shape of the original surfaces or the amount of choosen points or where to choose these points.

Thinking about this in the Gateway project that we will design, using scripting will save large amount of time for improving the design. If we can come up with an initial concept and program it into script, multiple designs of the same concept will be able to be generated very easily by following the script.

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WK 04

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‘

I loved logic, math, computer programming.

I loved systems and logic approaches. And so I just figured architecture is this perfect combination.

,

Maya Lin

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04 Matrix of ‘Cut’ By connecting different inputs, associations and outputs provided, I created this matrix of different patterns in grasshopper. In this process, I found some of the definitions particularly interests me.

For instance, ‘math function’ that is able to use different math equations to create various rational effects on patterns, or the output named ‘data driven rotation’, which generates very complex and different patterns by following the rotate angle. The thing they interests me is that they create patterns seemly irrelevant, but actually following a certain logic. The most interesting definition I found is the input called ‘curve intersections’. There are many ways to create intersected curves. In this Matrix, I used contours of a surface to provide intersected curves. Moreover, it can be seen that almost in all the patterns in the matrix, there are curves intersected. ‘Curve intersections’ gives a broad opportunity for these patterns to develop further and create something more interesting.

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DEVELOPMENT

1. Place the pattern created by the combination of ‘Explicit Grid’, ‘At-

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1

In a further development, I decided to use some of the definitions produced in the matrix as inputs to do some more complex definitions: tractor Point’ and ‘Data Driven Rotation’ in a 3D curved surface and applying ‘Using Surface Normals’

2. Add ‘3D Rotation’ at the end of a combination of ‘Using Surface Normals’, ‘‘Math Functions’ and ‘Data Driven Rotation’, use ‘Image Sampler’ to control the rotation angle as well as the Radius of the rotated circles.

3.The original definition combination is the same with 2, but instead of ‘Image Sampler’, I used ‘Attractor Point’ to control ‘3D Rotation’ and Radius of circles.

The most interesting one I did is number 4 patterns.

4: The original definition is a combination of ‘Overlapping patterns’,

‘Math Function’ and ‘Data Driven Rotation’. I deleted the output part of the definition (‘Data Driven Rotation’) and used ‘Curve Intersections’ to find the intersected points generated by two overlapping patterns,. Then, I used a very simple way to make these points lines.

2

The interesting part of 4 is that there are so many number sliders effect on the final outcome, it can literally generate thousands of different patterns. Straight lines, which are probably the most simple element in drawings, produced various of complex geometries include circles in this definition.

INNOVATION FOR GATEWAY PROJECT The interesting outcomes from development process give an innovation that simple element can become complex with a process of reproduction. The design approach for the Gateway project will be much broader if a completed production can be used as base material to develop again and again.

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‘

Architecture, of all the arts, is the one which acts the most slowly, but the most surely, on the soul.

,

Ernest Dimnet

CASE STUDY

AIRSPACE TOKYO ARCHITECTS : Faulders Studio BUILDING DESIGN: Studio M. Tokyo FACADE DESIGN: Faulders Studio

AIRSPACE TOKYO

LOCATION: Tokyo Airspace Tokyo designed by Studio M. Tokyo is a four-story residential and commercial mix-use building. In the development of the building, one of the most attractive parts is the double-screen facade designed by Faulders Studio. The facade uses two layers of voronoi pattern with different level of complexity. It is a protective airspace that reflects the unique, pre-existing landscape of the site (Pell, 2010).

The facade makes the atmosphere transfer naturally from the exterior to the interior and provides essential privacy protect to the residential part of the building. The overlapping of patterns created a special effect as

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the designers mentioned in an interview that people from inside can enjoy the view of the street, while people from outside would not able to see the interior of the building. When people walk closer to the building, the patterns become denser and therefore protect the privacy of the residents.

The site was previously occupied by a family house surrounded by multiple layers of vegetation. The cellar design of the pattern is in reference to biomorphic density of the original vegetation. The design is generated by computation technology by the help of design technologist Proces2 (Pell, 2010).

COMPLETED: 2007

05 LEARNING FROM NATURE Architecture has been learning from nature from the very beginning of history. The structure of a tree, the pattern of a flower and even micro organisms have all been studied and made reference in buildings. But the learning are usually limited in physical imitation. In Airspace Tokyo, the design reference the biomorphic density of vegetation gives another definition of learning from nature, which is to learn from an abstract aspect of nature. Nature is an inspiring mysterious exist that contains not just visible but also invisible elements. To learn from an abstract aspect of nature can give a design much meaningful background which may lead to some unimaginable outcomes and which may able to satisfy the aesthetic and spiritual needs of human. This idea can be applied to the Gateway Project to satisfy the requirement of ‘inspiring’.

2D to 3D Airspace Tokyo is an example of how to create 3D effect with 2D patterns. The design itself contains two simple layers of 2D patterns, however, with overlapping the patterns, a more stereoscopic feeling has been generated through the interact of the patterns as well as the gap between them. It becomes more like several layers of vegetation mixed together that the designer wants to achieve.

The layers created a space illusion that makes 2D into 3D. Moreover, with people’s movement which changes the angle of view, the overlap part of the patterns changes and thus produces an illusion of movement inside the patterns.

This can be learned in the design for the Gateway Project.

As the viewers of the Gateway design are usually people in moving vehicles, the illusion of movement will be very attractive. As 3D illusion technique becomes popular in the movies and many visual medias, it will be interesting to apply it architectural design. However, because of the large amount of budget needed in doing screen 3D illusion, it is not very possible to make one 3D design with digital screen. This is when the overlapping technique become useful. It can make 2D patterns have 3D effect without any actual screen and that provides an approach to the Gateway design.

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‘ ,

You’ve got to bumble forward into the unknown.

Frank Gehry

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RESEARCH DEVELOP The first thing my group did in the further study of the research project is to recreate the patterns of Airspace Tokyo. This pattern we did is produced by using the Voronoi function in grasshopper. We managed to make the rigid voronoi pattern curvy and more like the round cells in the case study.

Then the final definition used a ‘Attractor Curve’ function to control the density of cells in the pattern.

After we cut this pattern by using laser cuter with different materials, we found the shadows generated by overlapping two patterns are particularly interesting. Two materials we used are HIPS (High Impact Polystyrene) and transparent poly sheet.

HIPS will change form when it meets heat while transparent poly sheet has a level of transparency that will allow the shadow generated to have different level of darkness. The pattern cut with transparent poly creates better effects than the other one since the overlay can be shown by different level of darkness in its shadow. The 3D effect it creates is therefore more obvious.

While under the influnce of air flow, the patterns will move and make the shadow move along. The space between two patterns then changes and made different shadows.

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RESEARCH DEVELOP

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06 RESEARCH DEVELOP The other model we made used the definition from the previous practice of the ‘CUT’ matrix. We used definition 4 generated a series of different patterns and printed them in transparent sheets. By overlapping these transparent sheet with the printed patterns, many interesting and complex patterns has been generated. As displayed in the Matrix, one single pattern generated by this definition looks very symmetrical and a bit too regular. Nevertheless, with overlapping these patterns in different ways, the result becomes more unpredictable. It looks random but not too random, seems still have a certain logic in side. This can be related to nature, which is unpredictable but actually works under some kind of invisible rule.

Under the air flow condition, this model works similar to the first one. But because it contains more layers, the result it generated is more unpredictable.

One limit of this definition is that the patterns created by it cannot be cut like the voronoi one, because there are too many intersections in the pattern.

However, a shallow etch that doesn’t go through the material may able to solve the problem.

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‘

Nature is my manifestation of God. I go to nature every day for inspiration in the day’s work. I follow in building the principles which nature has used in its domain.

,

Frank Lloyd Wright

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CONCLUSION AND FURTHER DEVELOP COMPUTATION As all the precedents above proves, computation is a very useful approach to architectural design. It provides more opportunities for the design outcomes and made the design and construction process more convience.Using computation in the Gateway Project has obvious advantages.

IN RELATION TO NATURE As innovated by the case study, our group find that our project can be related to nature as well. One of the most interesting theory about nature I can think of is the theory of evolution. . As one of the most interesting and important theory relates to nature, evolution

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tells thatcomplex life forms as human ourselves are originally developed from very simple Single-celled microorganisms. In the second research model we did, the generation process of the final outcome is very similar to the evolution process. The simple element we used in the design is straight line since it is probably the simplest component in any designs. By mathematically adding more end points (controlled by intersection points of a series of circles made with math functions) which define straight lines, we generate more lines. And with all these lines intersected together, more complex geometries like triangles, squares and even circles are produced. And with all the new geometries accumulated, the pattern that used for our design is then created.We use math functions because they give the generating process logic to follow,

rather than just randomly accumulate. it is like the invisible order behind nature that gives complex life forms certain appearances to define them.

This technology generates complexity from simple elements, and is like a stimulation of the evloution process that brings wisdom, emotion and all sorts of high abilities to life forms. In this way, an architecture project is no longer something that simply satisfies human’s physical needs (e.g. accommodates people or indicates a region change like the gateway project), but also something that brings higher meanings for satisfying human’s psychological needs. It is a design that ‘talks’, has opinions of itself and also communicates with people in its own way. The architecture evolves from a functional tool to a life form.

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FURTHER DEVELOPMENT ln a further development, our group decided to use the definition to make the final pattern relate to nature in a more direct way. Firstly, we used Galapagos generated all possible outcomes of the definition under a certain limitation. Then like people categorize living species on earth we categorized the outcomes into four categories: 1. A species that tend towards round shapes.

2. A species that has mostly rigid shapes.

3. A species that has numbers of internal spaces.

4. A species that has many intersections.

With this category system, we found the four patterns listed on the right.

They are (from top to bottom): 1. the pattern contains most round shapes; 2. the pattern contains most rigid shapes; 3. the pattern contains most internal spaces; 4. the pattern that has the most intersection points.

The problem with this category system is that there are many patterns exist in two or more categories. However, this doesn’t affect we generate the four possible choices on the right for further development. But there is still one problem that these patterns are too dense, if we apply overlapping to these patterns, it is very likely that viewers see nothing but black. Therefore we limited the complexity of the patterns and made a new pattern fro further development. The pattern is categorized as the pattern contains most types of basic geometries (Shown in the next page).

We managed to use this pattern to create a series of patterns that relates to this pattern but different in order to make the overlapping able to create a 3D effect. We added a ‘Data Driven Rotation’ process (driven by an image sampler that provides random points) in the definition to play with the regular patterns it produces. As the rotation process begins, the original pattern slightly goes into chaos and produced an effect of unpredictable as we hopped.

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FURTHER DEVELOPMENT The transformation process of the pattern is a process of decomposition. It is a dying process of the fictional organism we created. It is also like a movement of population, form ordered to massive. With more single element moves, the original pattern structure crashes more.

By overlapping all the patterns generated in this process, we generated a pattern shown on the right side. It accomplished the mission we give it before we started the process: The layers includes some very chaotic patterns, therefore, when overlapping these patterns, a seemly random chaotic pattern created by straight lines appears. However, because these chaotic patterns are all generated from the original regular pattern, when overlapping them, some of the similarities overlaps and created some kind of visible regulation inside the pattern (e.g. in the final pattern, there are some shadows left by the original pattern).

It successfully become a metaphor of nature which has an unpredictable appearance but works under regulation and rules. Moreover, the 3D effect becomes visible with the different density in the pattern. We hope that the effect will be more obvious in a physical model.

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I believe that the way people live can be directed a little by architecture.

Tadao Ando

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FABRICATION

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FABRICATION- HISTORY OF A FICTIONAL ORGANISM The model is established by using layers of transparent sheet, bolts and nuts. The transparent sheets with the print of the patterns are holded by nuts and supported by bolts. Because of the gaps between layers, the 3D illusion is more visibly created. There are tweleve layers in the model. And by each layer, a process of how a pattern exploded and reunited as a new patter (chosen as the second pattern that has the most types of basic geometries) is displayed clearly. This seems like a record of time, the time of how the fictional organism we created ‘die’ and ‘reborn’.

1

PRECEDENT The most related precedent of our project is probably Daniel Crooks’ art work. He did a series of videos that uses a different concept of time to record the movements of people or objects. In this way , one’s positions during a period of time can be seen at the same time in one frame, like in ‘Everywhere instantly’ (Picture 1) or ‘Static No.12’ (Picture 2).

2

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08 ADVANTAGES TO GATEWAY PROJECT It is a good fit for the gateway project because it can not only indicate a change of region, but also refer to society and history, as well as raise respects to life. The metaphor of evolution can also apply to the development of human society: as more and more cooperation going on between people, a better society is created. Rules (math function) and cooperation (intersection) makes Werribe city (pattern)a proper functioning society. The city has a significant immigration history. The place was originally occupied by aboriginal people.

They formed a nice social network themselves (first pattern).

Nevertheless, the arrival of immigrates broke the harmony of their society and a conflict happened between aboriginal people and immigrates that destroyed the original social network (explosion). But with time goes on, the conflict reduced.

With efforts from both aboriginals and immigrates, the social network grows and finally become the current Werribe city (reposition the lines to become the new pattern). What’s more, this design can help raising respects to life. People should always respect for life especially in highways. With mistakes from careless drivers, numbers of life have lost under car wheels. With the metaphor relates to the evolution process, as well as the life circle in nature, the design shows that life is admirable and should be respected.

Overall, the project communicates to people. It shows a relation to ornamentation of architecture history in whichpatterns and decorations of a building are created to have historical, religious or philosophical meanings. By using digital technology, e.g. grasshopper, the generation process of the design becomes much easier. Repeating jobs such as adding points by math functions, accumulating lines and basic geometries can be accurately done by the computer calculation and processing. We can easily produce various patterns according to our intension and choose the better ones from them to develop further. Furthermore, it is much easier to change the design in computer as we can simply change input data or processing rules for the computer to generate new designs.

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REFERENCES 03.

01.

WEEK ONE

IMAGE SOURCE:

WEEK THREE

IMAGE SOURCE:

Metropol Parasol, 2004-2011, Jürgen Mayer H. Source: http://urbanpeek.com/2011/08/04/metropol-parasol/

Boolean series 001&002, 2008, Marc Fornes, source: http://theverymany.com/2008/01/, viewed: 22nd March, 2012

BMW kinetic sculpture, 2008, ART+COM, Source: http:// theinspirationroom.com/daily/2009/bmw-kineticsculpture/;http://archdezart.com/2011/09/12/kinetic-

TEXT:

sculpture-by-bmw/

TEXT:

Interiordesign, 2011, ‘Made in the shade: J. Mayer H.’s Metropol Parasol brings futuristic flair to the medieval heart of Seville, Spain., ‘ Vol. 82, no. 8, pp. 137-139.

Ducan, 2009, BMW Kinetic Sculpture, The Inspiration Room, Viewed 8th March 2012.

02.

WEEK TWO

IMAGE SOURCE:

Water Cube, 2003, PTW Architects, source: http://www. panoramio.com/photo/15556157; http://olympic-water-cube.seebyseeing.net/

TEXT:

Gonchar, 2008, ‘Inside Beijing’s Big Box of Blue Bubbles’, in Architectural Record, Vol. 196, no. 7, p150-150.

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

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Burry, M., 2011, Scripting Cultures: Architectural Design and Programming, Wiley, Chichester, pp. 8 - 71.

Fornes, M., 2008, ‘080114_Boolean_Series002’, MARC FORNES & THEVERYMANY, viewed: 22nd March 2012, <http://theverymany.com/2008/01/>.

04.

N/A

WEEK FOUR

05.

WEEK FIVE

IMAGE SOURCE:

Airspace Tokyo, 2007, Faulders Studio, source: http:// www.edilportale.com/progetti/hajime-masubuchi/tokyo/airspace-tokyo_5397.html

TEXT:

Ben Pell, ‘Airspace Tokyo’, 2010,in The Articulate Surface : Ornament and Technology in Contemporary Architecture, Basel, London: Birkhäuser ; Springer distributor, pp. 86 - 89

06.

WEEK SIX

IMAGE COPYRIGHT: Bryan Chung

TEXT: N/A

07.

WEEK SEVEN

IMAGE SOURCE:

Microorganisms, source: http://howtobecomeaparamedic.com/2011/04/microorganisms/ Uomo Vitruviano, source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/ wikipedia/commons/1/11/Uomo_Vitruviano.jpg

TEXT: N/A

08.

WEEK EIGHT

IMAGE SOURCE:

Physical model, source: Bryan Chung.

Everywhere instantly, Daniel Crook, source: http:// christchurchartgallery.org.nz/shop/books/gallerypublications/daniel-crooks-everywhere-instantly/ Static No. 12, Daniel Crook, source: http://www.mca. com.au/exhibition/marking-time/

TEXT: N/A

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