EOI

MARK ONG ARCHITECTURE DESIGN STUDIO: AIR 2012

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

Many critics raised argument that the pyramid made reference to ancient Egypt thus attracting accusations that his work was regressive as it borrowed forms from history which did not hold strong relations with Paris. However upon a deeper analysis Pei’s style and acute design thinking was the main reason I believe The Grand Louvre contributes strongly to architectural discourse. By adhering to his love of simple geometry and the its adaptation to architecture, the pyramid “assumes the function of a symbolic entry to a huge complex of meandering interconnected buildings which had no centre”. With reference to his accusations of plagiarising Egyptian architecture, Pei simply believed through experimentation that if the Pyramid was steeper it would be too prominent and should have been shallower it would have simply disappeared.

1993 - Paris

THE GRAND LOUVRE I.M. PEI The expansion and restoration of The Louvre by the great designer I.M Pei was a brave, eloquent and sophisticated piece of architecture, set in a context unlike any other. Faced with the task of envisaging an addition to original structure which already had a strong identity with infuences from the French renaissance, Pei spent much time pondering and researching the solution to the design needs while facing political pressure and harsh critics.

Pei immediately understood that his additions would not merely be a structure but rather sought a deeper meaning which would allow his design to compliment the strong historical nature of the Louvre. Pei believed that the eye would reject any addition to the structure thus adjusting his mindset to work as a landscape designer rather than as an architect. His solution came in the form of a glass pyramid which in his words “ refects the Louvre and the sky”, returning an answer which made a strong statement that modern architecture had the capability to stand along side the traditional while beautifying yet assimilating into its context.

The Grand Louvre was a hallmark of its era as it bounded the past and present together. According to Pei the use of glass and steel signifed a break with traditions of the past, while acknowledging and amplifying the identity of what was already there.

This has infuenced the usage of new materials and technology in their applications to traditional contexts all around the world and challenged the world’s ideas with regards to architectural massing.

2012 - SINGAPORE

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS RSP ARCHITECTS Raglan Squire & Partners design for the Holiday Inn Express draws from the infuence of a diamond, which informs the angling, and positioning of its windows and form. This allows it to optimise light entry into the rooms of guests, while avoiding the direct heat gain from the sun.

The Holiday Inn Express’s focus on optimising it’s efciency in energy usage through its form and façade as well it’s integration of green area in facade and roof, contributes to architectural discourse, as it furthers the argument for sustainability in commercial buildings. This idea contributes to a growing sense of design usage, particularly in Asia where private establishments build open roof gardens which the public has access to. This allows multiple usages of occupied land, while allowing a better interaction of public and private spaces.

The hotel’s conception however was not parametric, as the form and function were determined initially by architects, who then went on to rationalise it’s execution in Rhino. Having personally worked on the job, I found the fabrication of the building’s façade in terms of ascertaining angles and measurements challenging, due to human limitation with regards to visualising complex geometry.

I believe parametric design would have enhanced and aided the conceptualising of the design, as it would frstly allow for quick changes to the designs would not require the adjustment of the rest of the model. A computer aided design process would also allow the generation of an infnite number of design possibilities, which adhere to the initial concept.

The understanding and experience from working with a project with complex geometries without parametric aid, will greatly inform the design process of the Western Gateway Design Project, as countless hours will be saved when generating design possibilities, while countless variants from a concept can explored.

2009 – VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS SURVIVAL HEADPIECE MARK ONG The Headpiece design, conceptualised in the Virtual Environments course, involved the development of design concepts using digital mediums. The project encapsulates the elements of simple geometric frames, which are formed from a mesh of dodecahedrons.

The project played a large role in infuencing the way the role of computation is perceived in the design process. Design possibilities and ideas were explored on both in the model making and in computation, early on in the design process. The ideals of the design intention of the project, which focused on the ability of designs informed and aided by digital means to be greatly amplifed in quality from the conceptual through to the construction phase.

Computation enabled the design to come alive, as it facilitated the creation of a clean and monumental form, through it's execution of extruding shapes and based on geometry. The media allowed for a large amount of variants to be generated with ease, which solved the design objective of creating a sturdy design which would both functionally and symbolically represent ruggedness and reliance. This project makes a strong argument for the ability of computation, in solving design questions.

As the results from the design study were shared globally, I believe architectural ` discourse was furthered, in the areas of expanding the understanding of computation’s role in design. The focus on digital modelling being part of the means to which design solutions are reached, rather than being limited to the role of visual representation was furthered through this assignment.

The Headpiece project is a representation of how simple concepts such as creating a “Headpiece overlaid with a mesh”, can be enhanced and explored while utilising the capabilities of computers to explore mathematics and geometry.

This project informs the Western Gateway project, as it furthers the understanding and supports the role of computation in the design process.

CONCLUSION By studying and drawing from previous precedents, one can appreciate and understand how those who have come before, have contributed to architectural discourse. Whether in the fabrication, environmental or design process any project wishing to make a diference in society must consider how it can further what has already been established and push past the boundaries which have been laid. Through the careful study of processes and reasoning behind decisions and infuences, one can adapt many techniques and powerful reasonings into a design process, thus continuing architecture as a discourse.

The study of The Grand Louvre has a signifcant impact on the Wyndam City Gateway project, as it not only stands as a gateway and connector of places but stands as a sculpture and monument which garners a meaning of its own.

1994 – NEW YORK

PORT AUTHORITY TRIPLE BRIDGE GATEWAY GREG LYNN The Port Authority Triple Bridge Gateway project was a large stepping-stone in pushing the preconceived ideas of the form generation possible through animated software generation. The ideology behind this design fows from Lynn’s argument that a new approach to design with regards to the perception of nature and its ideal forms is emerging.

Designers in the past would search for the “perfect form” from nature, thus creating the habit where symmetry was employed whenever information was lacking. This habit however encourages a form of ordered chaos, which lead design away from it’s potential. He then goes on to argue that much of nature’s true features are in its imperfections and asymmetrical qualities, where it would bend and adapt as time progressed. An example natures asymmetry is seen in the Orange Dart Frog, who’s spots cover its body in a random way. Lynn describes this as “fnding beauty in the ugly things in nature”.

The Port Authority Triple Bridge Gateway project played a pivotal role in encouraging the search in nature for ideal form, to looking for a “combination of information and generic form”, to inform and infuence computational design. The bridge design is in line with Lynn’s ideology that design parametric modelling allows structures to veer away from a linear nature, producing forms which best expressed the nature of the space and movement. In the Gateway, a series of 'forces' representing trafc and pedestrian fow were modelled using "Wavefront" software. Points, or particles, rendered here as spheres were then modelled with velocity and their changing paths were an index of site 'forces'. The Bridge Gateway lends strong argument to the potential of computational design, as it facilitated a design narrative to a situation purely based on data and a starting concept. The Bridge’s infuence of sound waves and movement allows for nonstandard asymmetrical forms to take shape in large amounts. By engaging with animated software, the designers were enabled to rationalise each area of the bridge, as it allowed them to input data to break symmetry.

The project validates the utility and efciency of digital design as it created a variation of results and possibilities based on preset restrictions and measurements. This produced a large quantity of forms explored through the initial concept, which would have been impossible to do manually in an efcient way. This design project greatly supports the usage of parametric and computational design in the Gateway Design Project, as it highlights the possibilities and variation possible, when engaging a site. Designs produced parametrically have the capacity to “veer away from a linear nature, producing forms which best expressed the nature of the space and movement”. This would ensure that the Gateway project would assume a form that best describes the function, nature and identity of its context.

1999 - NEW YORK

KOREAN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH GREG LYNN The Korean Presbyterian Church is key example in the argument that parametric design facilitates the designing of buildings which have a common language throughout its diferent elements.

Greg Lynn (2009) explains in his speech on Algebra in Architecture that much like the technology used in the creation of cars within a series, the parametric design process allowed for an identity to be present in all areas and aspects of the building (i.e. Facade and interior). This is similar to how a car worth $30 000 has the same language as a car worth $70 000 in the same series, while clearly showing distinction in quality correlating to cost.

Through the use of computation and parametric exploration, the design was able to break free from conventional forms of buildings with social importance such as a church. The process allowed a concept or design idea of overlapping fllets, to be translated into a language and process in which the design was rationalised. This process of design was a large step away from the use of preconceived systems such as the Greek cross or standard worship hall as it derives a design, which suits the function of the church.

Lynn mentions that an example of this is seen in the sermon hall, where the digitally terraced roof gestures a form of movement, direction and importance towards the front, thus emphasising the focus and attention on the pulpit. The same identity is evident in the design of the facade and interior, where setting limitations and varying the algebraic formula allowed for the exploration of a variety of designs based on the design concept. The tessellation and exploration of angles of the facade were greatly aided by digital exploration, as human error limits the efciency in design conception. Another contribution brought forth by the project was in the merits it brought to the construction phase, as it allowed for builders to easily navigate and rationalise the form, which would have been difcult to communicate through orthographic drawings.

The project also illustrated that digital mediums paired with algorithmic calculations, reduces the need to think about dimension within design. A key example was with regards to the placement of lights and chairs which are able to move away from modular qualities, while computing lighting based on optimum efciency at varying intervals.

Similar advantages will be evident while designing the Western Gateway Design project as a language can be developed even within a single monumental form, which may stretch over a distance. Forms that follow a function or ideal can be generated algebraically to produce concise and numerous design possibilities. The use of parametric design ensures the efciency of reaching design outcomes while bypassing the human limitations with regards to conceptualising of complex form. By engaging with parametric design, we will be able to create forms which would be impossible to perceive through mediums such as paper and modelling

2011 – STUTTGARD

Research Pavilion ICD/ITKE The Research Pavilion engages heavily in scripting design culture and advanced robotic construction, which according to Mark Bury (2011) encourages scripting as a driving force for 21st- century architectural thinking. According to the ICD website, the designers of the project utilised “biological principles in design through the use of custom simulation software, which is further integrated with fnite element simulation and robotics control programs to produce the actual construction”.

Drawing their design infuence from the skeletal frame of a sea urchin, the team engaged heavily in scripting during the design process, which bore a large selection of variants. This allowed them to intricately engage their design, creating cell sizes which adapt to local curvature and discontinuities while causing them to orient themselves according to the areas which bore the weight load. According to Bury, the use of scripting allows for “a signifcantly deeper engagement between the computer and user by automating routine aspects and repetitive activities, thus facilitating a far greater range of potential outcomes for the same investment in time.” The ICD website states that “due to the complex geometry involved, close data integration was built between the model program and fnite element simulation in order to continuously analyse and modify the critical points of the model structure”, thus showing the capabilities of scripting to engage with mathematical and data related issues in the design phase, which would have proved challenging for human calculation.

The efciency in the distribution of load throughout the form and structure of the pavilion, allowed for thin polygonal plywood sheets as the main building material. The efciency in terms of time saved and material cost deserves a special mention, as it engages growing global issues of sustainability and economic downturn. Bury argues that despite a slow turn in the building sector, “a combination of 'design research' practices and highly innovative studio teaching is emerging as an unstoppable force”, that has the capability to infuence the architectural direction of the 21st century. The precise and intricate nature of the pavilion stands as a testament to the ability of scripting to resist standardization combined with the strong argument that it lowers cost, all of which will similarly beneft the Gateway Project.

The use of scripting aided the construction process, optimised further by its usage of mechanised fabrication. The efciency of the translation of design to construction was aided by translation routines to convert the working model into machine code. ICD argues that “the close integration of the programs used allowed the economical construction of a modular bionic structure despite the use of a complex geometric design consisting of free-form surfaces”.

The usage of Grasshopper in the Gateway Project will allow the design team to escape the strictures inherent in any software, as it allows endless variants and possibilities of designs which can be engaged in optimal timing. This combined with an increased speed in design team to construction transition, assures a design which makes economical usage of material and resource, while producing designs at a high calibre

MATRIX

MATRIX

VORONOI Voronoi’s were used to create a shattered crystal efect, breaking at a point with complex geometries then stretching outward in streaks. The efects were then ofset and adjusted in rhino to create the soft lines in the design.

A area of parametric design to be wary of, is the simple usage of generative tools such as the voronoi, particularly with randomly generated points. Meaning and purpose must be assimilated in design, in order to resist the simple notion that computation creates form without true representative meaning behind it.

2006 - Switzerland

GANTENBEIN VINEYARD FACADE GRAMAZIO & KOHLER ARCHITECTS/URBAN-ISM

According to Ben Pell (2010) the Gantenbein Vineyard was born from a proposed strategy “for masonry infll between the concrete skeleton [of an existing wall], which could serve as both temperature bufer and sunlight flter for the fermentation room”.

The design process saw the usage of parametric modelling, to create a façade with a see through efect which symbolically represented grapes falling into a basket. The computational process involved the data input of specifc conditions, such as the simulation of gravity acting on grapes and the rotation of individual bricks according to a set of principles ingrained into the parametric process.

The construction process of the vineyard façade was executed with a digitally guided technique developed by the design team, which worked in synergy with the parametric digital model according to Gramaziokohler.com, “the robotic production method" employed allowed them “ to lay each one of the 20,000 bricks precisely according to programmed parameters—at the desired angle and at the exact prescribed intervals”. This process “ allowed [the designers] to design and construct each wall to posses the desired light and air permeability, while creating a pattern that covers the entire building façades.

According to the angle at which they are set, the individual bricks each refect light diferently and thus take on diferent degrees of lightness”. This efcient and exact process makes a strong argument for the potential the Gateway project to engage in the efcient and concise method of computational design transitioning to machine fabrication.

The inspiration of “grapes falling into a basket” drew strong imagery from the context of the winery and facilitated a direction in the design process. The project contributes to architectural discourse, through it's primary usage of computation as a form of design exploration rather than execution. This allowed for the facade to meet the client's brief, while engaging in a process which enhances the design ideas of the team.

GRASSHOPPER REVERSE ENGINEERING The strength of the vineyard’s parametric process was It allowed for a general principal of components and functions to be repeated and adapted according to surface sizes and limitations. This feature lies within parametric design’s core strength in time efciency, as adjustments to features such as the size of individual brick; number of repeated patterns and size of wall could be done almost instantly executed. This is in stark opposition to standard CAD and digital modelling processes, which require large amounts of time to redraw. Elements such as the rotation, brick resolution, ofset and size had to essentially be parametrically controlled when remodelling the project. By having a closer control of such parameters, the design team has a stronger hold on the light and shadow play and overall design impact. When reverse engineering the digital model, a system was developed which controlled these variables, encompassing a basic set of components including “Unit Y” and “Move” integrated to a surface in Rhino. The surface is divided and developed into an array, with elements rotating based on the brightness of an associative image. The study undertaken of the digital model has brought the possibilities of a repeated pattern, which has the potential to be controlled on a small or large scale, with the potential to hold large amounts of design control from patterning to the overall design layout. This level of control of parametric design stands leagues ahead of standard forms of design processes.

Conclusion Scripting cultures and computation in architecture have the amazing ability to synergies and maximise the efciency of the design process. By scripting programs which execute a desired result from an infuence, which have the ability to link with mechanised fabrication, the results and possibility are endless. The main obstacle which stands in the way society from engaging technologies already available, would be the challenge of mastering such processes to an extent where results can be produced.

Having begun the process of engaging and learning the ways of parametric design, I can see how one can get lost, however as I spend time refecting and learning, I slowly begin to understand the merit and accessibility of such innovations. Even a general understanding of the parametric process, allows one to circumvent many hassles with drawings, while allowing one to experiment simply, with the use of associations, inputs and outputs.

RESEARCH PROJECT CUT: DESIGN METHODS CITY TO URBAN SPRAWL RELATIONSHIP

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Grasshopper experimentation lead the concept of expressive dynamism in possible form for the Gateway project. Through the creation of a series of extruded curves which could be altered individually and sequenced in a row, an gesture of movement and transformation started to take form. These sequence of of curves could be infuenced by an unlimited range of infuences, in which we predominantly focused on image samplers and mathematical formulas.

The initial process involved lines, which were extruded of a plane at lengths dependant on image samples. These rows of lines were then lofted together to produce a series of cuts.

This process lead the design team to create a surface, which was then to be dived into points and extruded based on associative images. The points were then transformed into curves, by connecting them to columns.

The intent of the design direction, was to gradually lead an individual in and out of the Wyndham City creating a sense of arrival and motion. The infuence in the transformation will be drawn from Wyndham Cities fast growing and expanding nature, gesturing a change from the cities density to a wider open suburb.

The nature of the design draws a portion of it’s infuence from the motion of animated forms, drawing captures from changes and form from number slider values, similar to the Point Authority Gateway Bridge.

RESEARCH PROJECT CUT: FABRICATE

The design was then fattened and simplifed for fabrication, which was an efcient process due to the numbering and speed of fabrication. Upon receiving feedback, the form was reconsidered it didn’t quite hold any relationship to the Wyndham City Site and did not embody the initial design objectives of movement and journey. The fabrication process furthered the design ideas and concepts as the construction allowed us to consider the diferent methods employed when transitioning from digital to physical model.

RESEARCH PROJECT CUT: DEVELOPMENT

The design began to take a less linear form, as It drew infuences from motion intertwining in mid air. Hence the direction of form elevation on a suspended wireframe.

The former sections drawn from image associations were then translated into round forms, retaining the motif of expanding towards Wyndham City.

RESEARCH PROJECT CUT: FINAL The final design draws influence from the relationship between the Melbourne’s CBD and Wyndham City. The sculpture embodies the dynamism and evolution of Wyndam, through its fluidity of movement and transition of detail.

The sculpture captivates the attention of travellers through its employment of expressive dynamism, which in turn evokes a sense of journey, progress and modernism in their hearts.

The evolving shapes generate a sense of movement and excitement, while serving the purpose of a Gateway as it guides travellers in and out of Wyndam City. The sculpture also draws its influence from the Wyndam City Council logo, which expresses dynamism and fluidity of movement. The sculpture serves to evoke a sense of play and a visual engagement with the design as drivers pass by, similar to the sense of excitement when flipping through a flip book.

CONCLUSION Upon receiving feedback from the crit panel, a number of considerations must be considered to further the design. The main issue involves returning back to design principals and searching for a motif and infuence which has the power to inform the design. The exploration of literal, non literal symbolism must be pushed coinciding with the exploration of grasshopper's limits. Grasshopper may provide the means and tools to generate parametric modelling, however must not be allowed to limit the design process in terms of purpose and reason fnding.

REFERENCES Readings Burry, Mark (2011). Scripting Cultures: Architectural Design and Programming (Chichester: Wiley), pp. 8 - 71.

Yehuda E. Kalay, Architecture's New Media : Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2004), pp. 5 – 25 Ben Pell, ‘Gantenbein Vineyard Facade’, in The Articulate Surface : Ornament and Technology in Contemporary Architecture (Basel, London: Birkhäuser ; Springer distributor, 2010), pp. 178 - 183 Websites http://www.gramaziokohler.com www.Glform.com