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CONTENT DESIGNJOURNAL
01 ARCHITECTURE
AS MATERIAL DISCOURSE
Innovative materials and how they interact with internal spaces.
03 MATERIAL
INNOVATION IN COMUTATIONAL ARCHITECTURE
How Computational designs interact with the consumer through their selection of materials.
05 MATERIALLITY
IN SCRIPTING CULTURES
The implementation of technology integrated materials to create a visual and interactive spacial experience.
07 COMPUTATIONAL
MATRIX EXPERIMENTS
Using Grasshopper as a tool for experiementation in the articulation of the skin.
09 EXPRESSION
OF INTEREST
How the Gateway project will fulfill the needs of Wyndham City.
10 NED
KAHN ARTICULATED CLOUD
Analyzing the kinetic facade of the Articulated Cloud Project, and how it may be applied to the Gateway.
12 RE-ENGINEERING
THE ARTICULATED CLOUD
Re-building a workable model of the Articulated Cloud’s facade, in order to create a scripted basis for the skin of the design.
00 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
WATERCUBE One of the key features of architectural discourse throughout history has been materiality; structurally, aesthetically and the way in which materials can aid the building become more sustainable in terms of harvesting resources, power or water. One material that I find particularly spectacular is ethylene tetrafluoroethylene or EFTE. EFTE has in fact been around since the 1970’s but has only just began to surface for the versatile material it is within the architectural profession. Due to its thermal insulating properties,high transparency,high durability light weight compared to glass, EFTE is becoming a very suitable alternative to glass in many designs. EFTE is being used in two different ways in architecture, firstly as a single layer that is stretched between wire cables or a light aluminium or steel frame. In this way it becomes a very malleable and highly transparent architectural fabric skin capable of stretching and bending in a way that designers are able to create very fluid and organic forms.
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The single layer designs are more commonly used on a smaller scale; shelters, greenhouses and other similar projects. The second is as a double or triple layer which can be inflated between a steel or aluminium frame to create pillow, or balloon type forms. Not only is the application of this sort of skin structurally stable but it can also aid thermal insulation of a building. Probably the most renound project using this type of technology is the Beijing National Aquatics Cente, more commonly known as the Water Cube designed by Australian based design company PTW Architects in collaboration with several engineering firms. This building is the largest in the world to be clad using EFTE. Its bubble clad exterior not only sets it apart from other modern designs aesthetically but functionally as well. The cladding allows more light and heat penetration than glass and as a result the energy costs of the building are reduced by 30%.
Architecturey as Material Discourse
I can observe this application of double layered EFTE on my way home from university everyday as my train passes through Southern Cross Station. Being an open structure the EFTE offers little in terms of thermal insulation however it does provide considerable natural light which would reduce power costs.
The Eden Project The Eden Project designed by Nicholas Grimshaw and Anthony Hunt in Cornwall, United Kingdom, the world’s largest greenhouse uses a steel frame and EFTE balloons to create artificial biomes, using the thermal insulating properties and high transparency to grow plants from all over the world. Such a structure would be far more expensive to construct from glass, and it would be difficult to achieve a similar form.
During a heavy storm in 2010, hail managed to puncture the EFTE in the roof of the station, however this did display another advantage the material has over glass, If the hail had destroyed a glass ceiling glass shards would have fallen and possibly severely injured numerous commuters using the station. Scientific and engineering innovation is providing designers with new and exciting materials that can be manipulated in order to create more sustainable buildings and opportunities to conduct experiential qualities through systematic artistic expression. EFTE is just one of these materials,
Southern Cross
These kinds of innovative materials are what I am interested in incorporating into the Gateway project. Materials that have a direct influence on the interior space as well as the look of the facade. Although the internal environmental conditions are not a great concern with this particular project, the broader concept of materiallity that interacts with the space and the consumer could be very effective.
SOUTHERNCROSS
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Materialy GateInnovation int Computational Architecture
THEMANTLE
Sydney based design firm DRAW, utilized parametric design technologies to win the University of Technology Sydney’s (UTS) Great Hall Upgrade competition. The interior roof design, ‘The Mantle’, is a metallic skin that integrates ventilation, lighting and accoustic attenuation of the space. In this case the metallic surface of the space is mainly aesthetic, utilizing light refraction to effect the mood of the space. The surface will also create different spatial atmosphere depending on whether it is refracting natural or artificial light.
The Mantle Materialtiy is being experimented with along with computational and parametric design in order to manipulate spaces. In some instances these technologies manipulate atmospherical conditions, lighting, sound reverberation and others, climactic conditions and ventilation. Many theatres and halls are using parametric design techniques in combination with specific material choices and surface treatments to create atmospheric lighting effects and also as accoustic filters.
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Designs such as this can be used in interior spaces and also exterior. The atmospherical conditioning properties can be applied to halls and theatres like at UTS, or to exterior pavillions. In this way the application of this kind of design technology is quite versitile and when produced for much larger projects and as building skins create exciting aesthetic possibilities, bringing rationized structure to organic forms.
Interactive Designs Computational design technologies and innovative materials are also being used to manipulate climactic conditions in buildings and are revolutionizing the way that we perceive buildings. Buildings are often spoken metaphorically as organisms, however this metaphor seems to have become a goal for some architects, making the building a thinking organism by aiming to give buildings artificial intelligence. Designers are experimenting with facade systems and the integration of microscopic sensors, motes, that allow the facade to react to humidity, carbon dioxide levels and air temperature by transmitting electrical signals through the buildings control system and manipulating structural elements. Such technologies are being mainly in smaller scale experimental projects, critics are sceptical that such technology is not advanced enough to transmit the necessary signals through heavy structural elements. New York based designer company The Living, produced a project known as Living Glass. The project is a modular space utilizing a clear cast silicone membrane with slits lined with wires that contract with electrical current causing the gill system, allowing the ‘building to breath’ adding to this idea of buildings as organisms. This sort of information transferral technology could revolutionize the way that architects control ventilation in buildings.
Siemens has created sensor technology that could be embeded in glass to read mean radiant temperature and heat flux. By applying a voltage to a coating in the glass the glass will lighten or darken depending on solar gain measured in real time. These sorts of facade embeded technologies are also paving the way for aesthetic design innovation. The Cloud project conceptualized for the London olympics, uses LED integration into inflated spheres which will broadcast timetables, weather forecasts, transport patterns and real time footage. These technologies take aesthetic possibilities as well as the ability of the facade to shelter and mediate exterior and interior conditions to a whole new level.
CLOUDPROJECT
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“The challenge I am setting for the design is that I want the space to interact with the consumer through its use of materials.�
The Cloud Project Through observation of other computational projects, what appeals most to my design sensibility is an interaction between materials and the consumer. The gateway project provides a very unique design problem in that the path of movement through the space is very limited and a very short window of opportunity is given to make an impression. The challenge I am setting for my design is that I want the space to interact with the consumer through its use of materials. Originally I looked at how materials could mediate external conditions and hence effect the environmental conditions of the internal. This is still something that interests me however the restraint on this is that the mediation will be purely visual as the consumer will be experiencing the space through another space. The main design precendent selected to influence the design is the Cloud project for the London Olympics. Similarly to the goal of the Gateway design, it uses technologically innovative materials to create a visual interaction with the consumer.
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Materiallityy in ScriptingroCultures
The main aims of the Cloud project is to address the short term desires for information and stimulation of those viewing and experiencing the project as well as stimulating our long term conciousness of our impact on the future. The Cloud project, uses scripted design techniques and innovative materials to represent London as not only a city with history but as a city with a cutting edge future it displays the engineering and design feats of London designers and of to ultimately represent the nation. In this way, the next step for the gateway project is to move from thinking about just its physical presence to thinking about what this design means for the city of Wyndham and for the wider Melbourne community. The Gateway should reflect Wyndham and by extension, Melbourne, as a growing, cultured and innovative place to live and to visit.
CLOUDPROJECT PROJECT
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SKINARTICULATION These experiementations were conducted on the basis of trying to create a grid and warping it. For the design in mind at this stage we are looking at creating a skin from a distorted grid of components that vary in size. To achieve this, the experimentations we found were most relevant were the ones conducted using grid inputs and associations that would distort the grid. We experimented with using mathematical functions to create a kind of predetermined distortion that changes uniformly across the surface, turning or rotating, as well as using an image sampler association as a way of experimenting with defining the distortion from any kind of rationalization of experiements we may want to incorporate, the image sampler provides a more, manual way of changing the distortion rather than changing too many complex parameters.
Rotate
Image Sampler
2 Maths Function
Maths Function
Explicit Grids
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Boolean Pattern
Computational Matrixoject Experiments
Surface Grid
Surface Normals
Extrude
Another parameter we were considering was the light filtering effects of the apertures on the consumer. One way we thought about achieving this was by creating light channels into the space. To experiment with creating these kinds of channels we looked at extruding the distorted grid that we had previously created. By only extruding towards the interior of the space, sunlight would be easier to capture from the exterior skin and direct into the space. However, we were beginning to feel that this is diverging from our core interests regarding the gateway design and will end up diluting a strong design intent.
Expression of Interest The Western Gateway Project is an opportunity to present an image of Wyndham City as an innovative and developing municipality. The Western Gateway will pick up where the ‘Seeds of Change’ Gateway left off by using parametric design to create an iconic and cutting edge design that demands attention be paid to Wyndham as a hub of rapid urban development. The Gateway will not only be a literal Gateway into Wyndham but also an introduction into the future urban developments occuring within the city. In particular inspiration will be drawn from the $440 million Wyndham Marina project planned for completion in 2015. The design will serve as an icon of modernity, a sample of cutting edge design that can be expected from the state of the art marina facilities. The utilization of innovative materials and parametric design sensibilities will create a uniquely experiential and sculptural architecture, that will evoke pride in the local community and inspire broader Melbourne. A group interest in materiality, kinetic interaction and structural resolution will drive an innovative and experiential design solution. Our design goal is to create an architecture that is unique in that the consumer can interact with it on a some what personal level. Unlike most architecture experienced from a vehicle, the Gateway will be a structure that the consumer can interact with the space and alter it in different ways depending on the vehicle they are experiencing it from and the frequency of traffic at different times in the day, thereby personalizing the experience of the architecture.
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Wyndham City Gateway Project
Case Study
Ned KahnCity Articulated Cloud
The Articulated Cloud by Ned Kahn was the project chosen as inspiration for the Gateway design. The form of this buildings facade system is determined by the patterns of the movement in the air around individual plastic flappers, that pivot around stainless steel rod pins. The Gateway design we are proposing utilizes this kind of kinetic facade system. By manipulating the size and placement of various panels on the structure, the movement of the facade can be controlled within reason. The resultant force determined by the size of the vehicle passing through the space as well as the speed they are travelling, will pull the panels, causing them to turn and hence determining the form of the facade. In this way, each vehicle will interact with this structure in a unique way, its form ever changing.
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Rhino Model
Re-engineering the Articulated Cloud
Grasshopper Script File
Grasshopper In order to form a better understanding of the building facade system we attempted to re-engineer it in Rhino using Grasshopper. From the detail drawing of the facade system it became clearer as to how the components interconnect and how the facade system connects to the structure. The wind is obviously the determining factor of the rotation of the plastic panels, so to re-engineer this, an attractor point was used to determine the rotation around evenly spaced lines that were used to represent the stainless steel rods around which the plastic panels pivot. The attractor point can be used to demonstrated localized wind pressures, and rotate the square surfaces accordingly. The re-engineered model was tested with different ranges, initially with 90 degrees, as this is the range of the actual project, however we began to test it at different ranges, 180, 270 and 360, to observe how much impact the attractor point would have given the different ranges.
This reconstruction model can be improved, by altering the attractor point association, to a series of vector components that will define the rotation of the panels. By using vectors to represent the size of the force applied and the height of the vehicle causing it, the spread of panels rotated can be observed. Given the impact of each particular vector, the size of the panels can be altered to better demonstrate the pulling force of each vehicle, and hence its impact on the form of the design.
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JOURNALACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
_Garvey, J. 2008, ‘Beijing’s Olympic Aquatic Centre: the eye-catching, eco-friendly Water Cube’ from Gizmag, accessed 7th March 2012 <http://www.gizmag.com/beijing-olympic-aquatic-centre-watercube/8767/> _Woyke, E. 2007, ‘Material for an Architectural Revolution’ from Bloomberg Business Week, accessed 6th Marchc 2012.<http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/apr2007/id20070424_903199.htm> _2010, ‘The Next Generation of Architecture EFTE Film Structure’ from MakMax.com, accessed 7th March 2012. <http://www.makmax.com/business/etfe_brochure.pdf> _Fortmeyer, R. 2010. ‘The Envelope’ Architectural Review Australia, June/July, pg 40-44 _2012, ‘Text’ from The Cloud accessed 21st March 2012. < http://www.raisethecloud.org/ > _2010, ‘UTS Great Hall Competition & Construction’ from DRAW: De Manincor Russell Architecture Workshop accessed 13th March 2012. <http://www.draw.net.au/projects/uts-great-hall-competitionconstruction/>
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