Thesis // Work in Progress

Splatter Fold

Marius Laurinkus

M.Arch 2 Advisor: Ramiro Diaz-Granados

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Table of Contents

-Towards a Thesis: A precedent Study

-Baroque............................................................................4-5

-Problem with Infinity.....................................................6-7

-The Jackson Pollock Input

-Analysis and Reinterpretation of data......................8-15 -Testing Techniques

-The Butterfly form..........................................................16-19

-The Single Surface form................................................20-21

-Connecting to Pollock’s Technique

-The Vertical Canvas.......................................................22-33

-The Solid Wrap...............................................................34-39

-The Splash.......................................................................40-43

-The Volumetric Enclosure............................................44-49

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-The Collision Boundary................................................50-65

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Towards a Thesis Precedent Study A Unified Calculation

The Baroque movement is a giant leap forward in complexity and dynamism of architecture. It is structured on main principles of movement, infinity, effect of light, and lack of distinction between different forms of art.

While incredible works of architecture were produced, the lack in technology and construction techniques have limited such principles to only be implied, suggestive, or decorative.

Baroque period has left a long lasting imprint on modern architecture, many of the concepts can be seen in numerous projects today. The draw to a single unified exterior shape, is evidenced by works of many influential architects, especially with the advent of computer and parametric aided design. A suggestion of movement and infinity is also prevalent in the works dealing with fractal geometry and digital space.

While many architectural projects today embody some of Baroque’s intriguing principles, there is not a push to fully realize and intensify all of the characteristics at once. We are seeing some of them play out as a main feature of a project, yet none of them fully realize the entire definition of this style of almost two hundred years ago.

With the currently available technology, I propose to fully realize this movement’s achievements in complexity and theory, of what a truly Baroque building would look like today.

A building, that embodies: movement, infinity, effect of light, single mass, carved out interior space, complex interior patterns, thus fully realizing and intensifying the Baroque principles of architecture, using newly available modeling and construction techniques.

Movement

: either actual or implied

Infinity

: attempt to represent or suggest

Light

: importance of it’s effect on architecture

Mix of Art Forms : forms mixed together

[As defined by Swiss critic: Heinrich Wolfflin]

-Baroque architects understood architecture as a single mass to be shaped according to programmatic requirement.

-Ground Plans: Complex, rich, dynamic, hallowed out from a singe mass, rather than created by a union of various parts.

-All previous traditional rules were disregarded as more complex geometrical equations merged various forms of arts together, from sculpture to architecture became integrated.

-A unified mathematical calculation was attempted to express the ultimate beauty found mathematically in nature.

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Defining the Problem with Infinity

The thesis project was developed by first examining the characteristics of Baroque architecture.

The suggestion of movement, infinity, unity, were all intriguing concepts that I wanted to develop Into a modern interpretation. The difficulty arose with the question of infinity and how to represent it architecturally. Questions of how to capture an infinite in a subset, have lead me to examining philosophical works of Deleuze and Leibniz. They describe Baroque’s infinity problem as a fold.

This became my philosophy crutch, using philosophical theories to imagine and reinterpret them architecturally. It gave me visual clues of how to begin approaching this problem and a guide of how architects are supposed to represent the fold in a built environment.

The second way I used philosophy as my crutch, is by extracting an idea from a lecture given by Andrew Benjamin. In a lecture on Deleuze and the fold, Benjamin states, that to him, a work that perfectly captured the fold for the first time in art was Jackson Pollack. This became my foundation of the thesis project. I wanted to know how he accomplished that, what was his technique and more importantly how can this be applied to architecture. Transferring ideas from philosophy to art to architecture, lead me to the crutch of Art.

My thesis examines a subset of the infinite fold, represented by a work of art by Jackson Pollack, and attempts to first extract three-dimensional data, in order to transform the informal, and potential to formal and actual.

According to Gilles Deleuze in The Fold, the infinite fold is an operative function of Baroque architecture and it is architect’s responsibility to derive form and materiality from it. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz also states, that the fold has an absence of parts, and is fluid with infinite potential.

During Baroque period in architecture, this problem was solved by simply using marble as material. Within marble’s texture one could see the infinite potential, and limitless possibility, that is frozen into a solid form. In more modern times this kind of infinite potential, according to Andrew Benjamin, can be expressed by the works of Jackson Pollack, which contain no central focus and are made up of infinite number of possibilities captured in a plane.

Art as my crutch, opened a way to connect Pollack’s art technique and his medium to my technique and my architectural medium. If Pollack was so successful and capturing the infinite fold on his canvas, laid on the ground, what would happen if my canvas became three dimensional.

Defining programmatic spaces, envelope and site canvasses, I splattered paint onto it in a digital environment.

Art technique and medium, were key transition and unification points of my thesis. They allowed me to take philosophical ideas, and use a piece of art, to transform it to architectural spaces. By changing the medium but keeping the technique there is a clear relation and logic in my thesis.

In conclusion, the Baroque approach to my thesis ran into roadblocks, and the crutches of philosophy and art allowed me to navigate towards a logical narrative. The translation of philosophical theories laid the foundation of my thesis and the art crutch provided for ways of solving the medium problem. Combining art and philosophy opens up many possibilities approaching architectural problems, and allows for greater creativity in finding solutions.

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Freezing the field in place to derive materiality The Jackson Pollack Input My thesis attempts to extract data from this two-dimensional plane of art, that represents a subset of the infinite fold. First by unifying the information as a cohesive whole, while examining different relationships within the painting. The color intensity, balance, and the splatter of paint, provide information that can be used architecturally.

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Reinterpretation using geometric shapes and color intensity values.

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Reinterpretation using different geometric shapes for color and direction.

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Reinterpretation using density values to assign color, revealing initial splatters.

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Reinterpretation using connective lines between color values, showing how each color splatter is connected to others of the same color.

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Test 2 Sub-Set is removed from the field of information.

Sub-Set is removed from theSub-Set field ofisinformation. removed from the field ofare information.

Color values separated intoColor different layers, to values are separated intoeach different layers, to show colors connection show each colors connection andandsplatter splattereffect effectininvector vector form. form.

Color values are separated into different layers, to show each colors connection and is splatter effect Sub-Set removed from in vector form. of information. the field

Color values are separated into different layers, to show each colors connection and splatter effect in vector form.

The vectors are developed into 3D objects, connecting them in a similar fashion as the original art work, to representing a cohesive unified object derived from the splatters of the painting

The vectors are developed into 3D objects, connecting them in a similar fashion as the original art work, to representing a cohesive unified object derived from the splatters of the painting.

The vectors are developed into 3D objects, connecting them in a similar fashion as the original art work, to representing a cohesive unified object derived from the splatters of the painting.

The vectors are developed into 3D objects, connecting them in a similar fashion as the original art work, to representing a cohesive unified object derived from the splatter of the painting.

A single surface that folds unto itself creates the building form, and the 3D layers are wrapped around it, and offset. It is representative of the 2D field the information comes from, that due to continuous folding creates a 3 dimensional field.

A single surface that folds unto itself creates the building form, and the 3D layers are wrapped around it, and offset. It is representative of the 2D field the information comes from, that due to continuous folding creates a 3 dimensional field.

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A single surface that folds unto itself creates the building form, and the 3D layers are wrapped around it, and offset. It is representative of the 2D field the information comes from, that due to continuous folding creates a 3 dimensional field.

A single surface that folds unto itself creates the building form, and the 3D layers are wrapped around it, and offset. It is representative of the 2D field the information comes that due to continuous folding creates 3 dimensional field.

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Test 1 Extracting the line work from color connections and reconstituting them into a three dimensional object. Then wrapping the layers of each color from the painting around an extruded form.

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Test 2 Possible technique of data extraction from a work of art and creation of an exterior form.

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Connecting to Technique The medium that Jackson Pollack uses is his canvas, and his technique is action painting, directing splatter of paint onto the canvas with unpredictable results. My thesis incorporates a similar technique of splatter paint, to produce architectural form, while using programmatic spaces as my medium.

By defining spaces onto which the paint can splatter, and a boundary envelope surrounding it, my canvas becomes three-dimensional and defined by architectural and site requirements.

The paint is then splattered in a semi-controlled manner, just like Jackson Pollack’s technique, and the resulting form is allowed to play out. This creates an architectural interpretation of his work, that captures the infinite fold as a subset in a 3d environment. The limitless potential of informal paint splatter onto a medium, is now defining programmatic spaces and exterior form.

Type1: Vertical Canvas As my Type1 canvas arrangement, I chose a vertical approach first. In order to examine how the splashes of paint will perform, both in structural and spacial requirements.

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Splash Progression in Time The shape of the particle emitter affects greatly the resulting form, just as the boundary envelope and the medium does as well. Here, the shape is vertical and narrow to serve as a structural element. The boundary allows for the particles to wrap only one side of the building, and the medium pulls in the particles to make sure a tight fit.

[0 sec]

Particle Emitter shape is chosen carefully to produce the required results, just as in Pollack’s technique 24

[5 sec]

The impact with the three dimensional canvas begins to produce unique results [5 sec ]

[20 sec]

the process continues...

[40 sec]

The splash is stopped and final form is derived.

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Structural Transformation The technique of converting a solid splash, that would not be practical in architectural application, is transforming the liquid export into a Delaunay mesh. This allows to keep the characteristics of the splash, while maintaining structural integrity.

Vertical Structure 2

Vertical Structure 1

Original splash as a mesh

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Conversion to Delaunay Mesh / Structure

Original splash as a mesh

Conversion to Delaunay Mesh / Structure

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Interior Spaces Transformation Interior space requires clearly defined spaces, in order to accommodate programmatic requirements. For the interior spaces, the envelope containing the splash is defined very sharply, allowing for minimal passage of the paint. This allows the splash to spread out while maintaining a very clearly defined space.

Interior Space 1

Interior space outline / Passage of the paint is very restricted

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Interior Space 2

Conversion to Delaunay Mesh / Structure

Original splash as a mesh

Conversion to Delaunay Mesh / Structure

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Vertical Tower: Combined Combining the free form structural members, with sharply defined interior spaces, creates a vertical tower, that exhibits great flexibility of this technique.

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Solid Wrap Horizontal arrangement of the medium allows for experimentation relevant to typical housing scale.

The emitter in this example is a sphere, it allows for a more varied form. The solid blocks are wrapped by the exploding paint that is transformed into structural support members.

[5 sec]

[20 sec] 34

Particle Emitter shape is chosen carefully to produce the required results, just as in Pollock’s technique

The impact with the three dimensional canvas begins to produce unique results [5 sec ]

The process continues...

The splash is stopped and final form is derived.

[40 sec] 35

Solid Wrap Final Form

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The Splash In this example the paint is allowed to intermix and overlap, and the meshes remain unchanged.

The addition of multiple colors, creates the closest resemblance to the original action painting technique.

This example however, is the furthest from an actual architectural application, as the colors are allowed, to splash freely. The emitter, is changed in scale and position to provide a similar splash, while maintaining other particle settings the same.

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Volumetric Enclosure

Emitters // Volumetric Boundary Formation

Particle System Particle Count: 500,000 Lifecyle: 30 sec Velocity: 20 Turbulence: 100 Vortex: 1 Flow force: 20

The splatter begins to develop strong interior spaces, while pressing up and forming a solid perimeter form derived from the volumetric enclosure.

This technique demonstrates a method of splatter that is contained by a volumetric shape. The emitters are placed inside and allowed to develop without exiting the volumetric enclosure.

[15 Seconds]

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Particle system explosion stop

The simulation is stopped once a clear boundary condition is reached. This allows for each splatter to define a part of the volumetric boundary. The continuation of this process using multitude of splatters will define the entirety of the volume, while creating very complex interiority.

Final Form // Multiple Splatters

The combination of multitude of splatters, formed the volumetric boundary of the original shape. It also forms complex, unpredictable interior spaces.

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The Collision Boundary

Particle System Explosion // Reconstruction to a Mesh

Particle System Particle Count: 8,000,000 Lifecyle: 60 sec Velocity: 40 Turbulence: 200 Vortex: 60 Flow force: 100

Reaction Force

Particles are responding to the velocity forces, to boundary conditions, and emitters are reacting to one another

The collision objects and boundaries will affect the splash forms and shape them.

Boundary

[0 Seconds] 50

Emitter

[15 Seconds] 51

Particle System Explosion stop // Final Form Created

All particles emitted, boundary conditions met, reactionary forms formed. The simulation is stopped.

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Emitter Shift and Scale // Sub-Layer 1

Emitter Shift and Scale // Sub-Layer 2

Particle System Particle Count: 8,000,000 Lifecyle: 60 sec Velocity: 40 Turbulence: 200 Vortex: 60 Flow force: 100

By shifting the position of the emitter and it’s scale slightly, and retaining same forces and boundaries, a sub layer is created, that still retains the qualities of the original. This adds additional complexity to the form without drastically altering it, and allows for material change to better show this separation.

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Emitter Shift and Scale // Totality

By adding the two additional layers to the original form, a more complex form is achieved without much change to the overall look.

This technique can allow for localized additions of form to serve for programmatic needs, or change in material.

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Emitter // Collision // Velocity Particle System Particle Count: 8,000,000 Lifecyle: 60 sec Velocity: 200 Turbulence: 2 Vortex: 5 Emitter is placed behind collision objects of desired shape, and the velocity is directed into the direction of collision objects.

[0 Seconds] 58

Collision boundaries are set up with this emitter, in order to shape the final form. The particles are forced into this collision by applying high velocity directional forces upon the emitter.

Particle system begins to interact with the collision objects, thus forming a desired shapes.

A boundary is placed in order to stop the particles from continuing on. They instead form a dense thin final form.

[30 Seconds] 59

Emitter // Collision // Velocity // No Boundary

Collision boundaries are set up with this emitter, in order to shape the final form.

The particles are forced into this collision by applying high velocity directional forces upon the emitter. In this example the outside boundary is removed and the splatter is allowed to continue outside the collision object boundary.

[15 Seconds] 60

Particle system explosion Stop // Final Form

Boundary is removed and the splatter continues to move past the collision objects, forming a very different final form.

Combination of multiple splatter Layers

By combining the splatter that was formed with a strict boundary with the one that was allowed to move past the collision objects, a juxtaposition is reached between highly defined forms and a more abstract. This technique allows for a mixing of highly defined with abstract.

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