473 Portfolio Parametric Design

Student Portfolio

ARCH 473/3522 - DIGITAL DESIGN STUDIO AND WORKSHOP Salma Ghanim Fall 2020

The American University in Cairo (AUC) School of Sciences and Engineering - Department of Architecture ARCH 473/3522 - Digital Design Studio and Workshop (Spring 2019) Student portfolio documenting samples of work submitted along the course, including research, experimentation, 3D modeling, digital fabrication, parametric design and modeling, physical model realisation and analysis.

Student name: Salma Ghanim Student ID: 900172161

© The American University in Cairo (AUC), December 2020

Salma Ghanim Architecture Student

I am Salma Ghanim, and I go with Salma G. I’m an active student who like to always join clubs, assosiations, and events, while trying to maintain my acadamic life.

I’m the co head of the External Affairs committe and I manage an initiative called ARCH-verse with my partner Abdelrahman Mohamed.

I used to live in UAE for 18 years. I was born and raised there and came to Egypt to complete my studies in Architectural Engineering at AUC. I enjoy doing what I do but it cost me a lot like my athletic life. I used to play fencing and won multiple meddles doing so. I hope I can manage doing more with my life while still enjoying architercture.

Coral reeefs

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Location: Suez, Egypt

Concept: Adabtability Coral Reefs generate half of earth’s oxegyn and absorb onethird of the carbon dioxide generated from burning fossile fuels. They adapt their shaps and their growth based on external factors like wave direction and protection from predetors. Corals are colorless but they get their color because of the plants living in them, they always seek sunlight to keep the plants alive.

Coral patterns Design Logic: The Golden Ratio

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Initial Sketches and Experementation

Design Logic Skylihgt to light up the building Wind flow sculpturing

Initial conceptual Sketch of the building

Trial 1: Trying to create a repetitive unit to represent the growth of the coral reef

Welcoming entrance

Concavity for protection from the south sun

Progress

Trial 2: Using the golden ratio, proportions were created with different trials of skin and color based on the colors of the reefs

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Trial 3: Using the golden ratio, proportions were created this time it considered more architectural features and started to create more zones.

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Glass Top

Tiles

Steel Skeleton

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Residential A

B

Commercial Social

A

A

A

B

B

B Residential

Ground Floor Plan

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First Floor Plan

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Sections

Fabrication

Section AA

Slicer Interlock Fabrication

Section BB Portfolio

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17 Casting: Gypsum and water

02 Material Exploration Portfolio

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What is Casting?

Invesment Casting (Lost wax)

Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process.

Creating a mold by covering a pattern of wax with a material then melting the wax using heat and losing it to get a one piece mold. Main Advantage is high geometrical accuracy.

Techniques: Sand Casting Most used in manufacturing due to the sand’s high resistance to heat which is ideal for metal casting.

Die Casting (Metal Casting Process) Molding materials under high pressure. The mold is reusable.

Advantages: 1. Uniform design 2. A reduced need for post-casting machining.

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Centrifugal Casting Used to produce long, cylindrical parts such as cast iron pipe by relying on the g-forces developed in a spinning mold.

Cast steel nodes for a 220 kV tubular overhead line tower

Precedents and use:

Roof for the 1972 Olympics in Munich, cast steel nodes for cable coupling. a) Roof; b) Foam model; c) Final installation of cable coupling.

Royal College of Art graduate James Thompson cast the spaces between objects in the college cafe and used the resulting shapes to make furniture-like sculptures.

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Experimentation Experiment 1: Model 1: Double texture

Shaped the mesh to desired shape

Cut wooden sticks and started sticking it to the mesh

Wood after the wood was placed to create texture

The model had a weak link which lead the thin part to break

Add plastic to be able to pour the gypsum on the mesh mold without it sticking to it.

Mixing the gypsum ration 1:1

Pour the gypsum in the mold

The wood created texture as the gypsum dried around it and created indents in the model

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The mesh was extremly thin and weak therefore it did not create a texture eventhough the gypsum was heavy. Mesh texture appeared in areas where the model was supported n the floor which means only when exposed to pressure from both sides.

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Experimentation Experiment 2: Model 2: Swirls

Shaped the mesh to desired shape

Mixing the gypsum ration 1:2 it was more watery

Pour the gypsum in the mold

Air voids appeared due to the watery gypsum and maybe also because of the placment of the plastic where is allowed for air bubbles

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Add plastic to be able to pour the gypsum on the mesh mold without it sticking to it.

Mobile Shelter for the Homeless

The plastic folding created fabric like effect

Attempted to create a swirl shape with the mesh to create texture

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The mesh was extremly thin and weak therefore it did not create a texture eventhough the gypsum was heavy. Mesh texture appeared in areas where the model was supported on the floor which means only when exposed to pressure from both sides.

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Experimentation Experiment 3: Model 3: Perforation

Experiment 3: Model 4: Perforation

First trial to create a perforation with the mesh and plastic

The link at one side is very thin and weak it needs more thickness to be stronger

Mixing the gypsum ration 2:1 it was very think

Gypsum was hard to pour because of the thick texture

The plastic made it smooth with some folding texture

The gypsum poured was thin so the mesh texture barely appeared on the surface

Mediam distances between perforations the links between are strong and didn’t break

Air voids appeared due to the thick gypsum and maybe also because of the placment of the plastic where is allowed for air bubbles

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The texture is smooth because of the plastic but with so many folds because of the thick gypsum

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Experimentation

Conclusion

Experiment 3: Model 5: Perforation

Bigger distance between opening and a deeper mold

The spacings between the perforations are bigger and the model is thicker making it the strongest model out of the three

Best result out of all is model 5.

It had the most interesting mesh texture, perforations and links were all strong enough and didn’t break.

Air voids and plastic texture because of the thick gypsum mixture

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The mesh used for this model was stronger and thicker therefore when I used a fair amout of mixture the texture of the mesh started appearing

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Conclusion Experiment

Gypsum :water ratio

Drying time (short, medium long)

Mesh type

1:1

Medium

1:2

Long

1:1

2:1

1:1

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Medium

Short

Medium

Texture

Volume (m3)

Air Voids (some, a lot)

Weak

At pressure points

3136

Weak

At pressure points

2550

Strong

Slight texture

Weak

At pressure points

Strong

Yes

1950

1377

3450

Perforated?

Radius (cm)

Distance between openings (cm)

Strength of link of perforations

Grasshopper Parameters

Some

No

-

-

-

diminsions Boolean Difference

A lot

No

-

-

-

diminsions twist

Weak

diminsions/ Trim/ random/ scale /center distance

Medium strength

diminsions/ Trim/ random/ scale /center distance

Strong

diminsions/ Trim/ random/ scale /center distance

Some

A lot

Some

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Yes

Yes

Yes

3.5

2.5

1.5

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4-5

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33 Responsive parametric facade

03 The Parametric Facelift Portfolio

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Sun Shading

Site Conditions and Environmental Analysis

June 21st

9am

12pm

3pm

6pm

12pm

3pm

6pm

December 21st

9am Sun angles in summer

Sun angles in winter

Averge winde speed (3.7m/s)

Facade issues 1. Facade facing south leading to solar heat gain and unwanted direct sun rays 2. Capturing wind for ventelation 3. Control of sun penetration based on needs

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Responsive Parametric design Building skin systems that adapt to the dynamic environmental conditions to regulate the internal conditions in a habitable space over different periods of time by exhibiting a state of motion and dynamism.

Precedence KAFD Men’s and Women’s Portal Spas Proposal / WORKSBUREAU

The Screen is powered by small motors. The middle layers move back and forth creating both shades. The design is protected by glass on both sides of the metal parts. This design is created to ensure privacy of the users, to control sunlight and create a relaxing environment from within.

Method

Source: http://papers.cumincad.org/data/works/att/ecaade2013r_013.content.pdf Portfolio

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Derived Parameters

Design Strategy Attempt1 Stratey and Goals: 1. Control of sun penetration 2. Passive ventelation 3. Privacy Creating a double skin/ texture facade to be able to maximize sun penetration control based on season and time of day

Skin 1

Skin 1 First Attempt

Skin 2

Combined Tools Used Grasshopper: 1. Set curve 2. Surface 3. Population 4. Voronoi Rhino: 1. Pipe 2. Render

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Attempt 2 Skin1 (Static): Voronoi texture extruded using weavebird plugin

Skin2 (Dynamic): Transparent and responds to the position of the sun

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Facade on Building Attempts

Attempt 3

Attempt 2 The use of curved surface from phase1 that would help with self shading in addtion to the static and dynamic skin of the building

The use of a dynamic surface that responds to the sun position also the use of different extrusion hieghts for self shading

Extrusions are higher at the top and gets shorter at the bottom. They are also higher at the south and lower at the west.

Opennings are smaller at the west to prevent the direct rays perpindicular to the facade.

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Reidentifying Derived Parameters and Design Strategy

Veronoi Pattern

Stratey and Goals: 1. Control of sun penetration 2. Passive ventelation 3. Privacy 4. Self Sahding Grasshopper Parameters 1. Control points 2. Veronoi 3. Extrusion

Due to the use of plastic during modeling creasing happened and created veronoi like patters on almost all experiments.

4. Seed

Logic of Veronoi patterns Portfolio

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Final Grasshopper Definition

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Final Design Grasshopper Definition

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Final Design Grasshopper Definition

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Facade on Building The use of a dynamic surface that responds to the sun position also the use of different extrusion hieghts for self shading

Extruded pyramids for self shading at the west to eliminate direct sunlight

Concaved part of the skin for self shading on the south facade.

Becasue of the concavity there is no need to extrude the veronoi pattern as

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Elevations

Section

Concave and convex of the skin to allow self shading as a result it also creates dymacis interior experiences

Slab ending with the skin Terrace overlooking social space

Social space

Social space

Slab ending with the skin

West Elevation

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South Elevation

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Floor Plans

Ground Floor

Third Floor

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First Floor

Second Floor

Fourth Floor

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