Component 2

Component 2: Terraforming Mars Tayo Wilson

Brief & Specification The year is 2040 and humans have already successfully landed on Mars. This new planet for life has now shown the Earth via telecommunications and the media that the planet is inhabitable. This new lifestyle has attracted many people to be apart of SpaceX and NASAs research missions. It has come to the stage where a high influx of applicants wish to be a part of the ‘Mars One’ mission. This breakthrough now means that humans have become the first species to pioneer the planet and with this in mind, companies such as SpaceX and Nasa wish to collaborate and construct a training centre for Martian trainees. Living in isolation is a large factor that will be experienced on the red planet.

Simulating this experienced on Earth will play and important role in preparing the astronauts before they leave the green planet.

Making life multiplanetary will be the next biggest step for mankind. Replicating the architecture and facilities we need on Earth will demonstrate the similarities that will be maintained on a new planet.

However, living conditions will differ on the new planet and therefore this will introduce variations on the way humans live in a new environment.

I chose the Mojave Desert in California, United States of America. This was suitable location for my RFC (Research Facility Centre) because it experiences very cold temperatures during the night and high temperatures during the day.

This is great because this will give the trainees a taster of the tough temperatures on the Mars and most importantly test whether the architecture design is bested suited in the location.

Furthermore, connections to nearby universities such as Stanford will enable more collaborations in the future especially with scientists and professors.

The Research Facility Centre will feature wet lab and dry lab to conduct experiments, recreational areas, a gym, tall ceiling in most facilities, a farming zone with a greenhouse that uses hydroponics, a rover docking port, spaces hatches, communications area, sustainable design. There will also be small accommodation rooms for each person which will really test their ability to tolerate the small living environments.

Specification List • Recreation – Living rooms • A gym – to maintain muscle mass • Tall ceilings - due to gravity • Farming zone and greenhouse • Dry lab - computer generated models used for analysis of biological data • Wet lab - used in labs where microbes chemicals drugs or biological matter are tested • Rover docking port • Space Hatches • Communications area • Construct need to be resting upon a topography • Feature somewhat form of sustainable architectural design • Optimise natural lighting • Protection from UV radiation

Design Brief The style of architecture that will be focused on in this particular project will be Parametric Design in addition to other features of architecture that will be shown such as sustainable and contemporary design. Based on algorithmic thinking, parametric design is a useful process that allows the expression of new parameters. When this is achieved, together they define, clarify and encode the relationship between the intent of a design to how the design response. This type of design is not only used in architecture but has also been used in product design as complex mathematical equations can be produced on the computer which is far complex for a human to calculate within rational time. With the rise of more architects owning CAD software we have now entered an age where we can design more interesting architecture.

Water Cube by PTW Architects

Existing architecture such as; Bosjes Chapel in South Africa by Steyn Studio, Kaohsiung Port and Cruise Service Center by Reiser Umemoto and the Water Cube by PTW Architects have played an important role in gathering my decision to explore the opportunities in Parametric architecture.

Kaohsiung Port and Cruise Service Center

by Reiser Umemoto The Kaohsiung Port and Cruise Service Center is a beautiful structure which rests up a walking bridge. This feature makes the structure unique in addition to its rolling windows which slope gently from a vertical shape down to a horizontal shape nearest to the ground. This building is a great example of how it works with the environment as it has taken inspiration from the trees in the background and has worked with fading in with the environment by looking carefully at suitable material which make the structure appear sustainable.

The Water Cube is a great example in terms of simplistic architecture that works with parametric design. The form of the structure is a simple elongated cuboid that rests on a flat horizontal plane. In addition to this, the faรงade feature a nest type texture which is has been achieved by combining various polygon shapes such as a hexagon, triangle or pentagon. The building elegantly finished with a blue glue which stands out in the surrounding landscape.

Exploring a range of ideas for my project before my research was something I wanted to do in order to test how well I’d be able to think of suitable design concepts. Seeing as Mars is a vast planet, I gathered that they’d be little to no architecture existing there by the year 2040. Using a topography I thought at the time was most necessary as much of the landscape showcases hills and mountains. In terms of model design I appreciate the curve approach as it could easily resemble the contour lines that the model was rest upon.

Design Research In this project secondary images how been found from various sources. The following names are the places I have found these particular structure, buildings and conceptual designs; @parametric.architecture on Instagram, Dezeen, ArchDaily and Pinterest. I treated Instagram much like Pinterest where I found several pages that featured a list of similar projects. All of these sites gave me inspiration on how I could develop my own structures in the form of a parametric paradigm.

The top left is a sculpture created by @matthiaspliessnig at the Renwick Gallery in Washington D.C, United States of America. It is a parametric design that features a countless amount of lines to the extent where the structure no longer appears linearized and looks as though it has hidden geometry. The design is a hollow vessel that can facilitate many different activities. The top middle image is a restaurant called Nefertiti and the faรงade was designed by Sosuke Ueta who was in a collaboration with the Fearless company. The gaps in the structure appear as opening which allow the light to seep into the structure at certain times of the day. Penghu Qingwan Cactus Park is a geodesic dome created form a lattice of geodesics that intersect to cover the curved surfaced with triangles. The mathematician Buckminster Fuller was the founder of this design where he proposed that properties of this form would allow greater strength and large space for using minimum weight. Today many of these geodesic structures are used a greenhouses to accommodate tropical plant life as they can store large amounts of heat which simulates desert environments during the day.

Design Research Sketch Ideas

Bunjil Place I give great admiration for the structure of this building. Although this is one aspect of the building I believe this section finishes of the building beautifully. In my opinion it resembles the motion of an eagle spreading its wings as it about take flight. It is visually and programmatically engaging which therefore attracts many tourist to take photos in various perspectives. The large timber structure erupts straight out of the ground gently slopes upwards at a slight angle. The large wings gives it its presence and predominantly roof the interior spaces below. This is much like what I mentioned earlier with the two dimensional perpendicular shapes that piece together like a jigsaw to create a contour of expressions in a linearized format.

Design 1 - Contour Lines Parametric design techniques offer obvious advantages for product design and engineering processes. Today, architects emerge to apply these tools for their own creations of design. This tool can suggest a set of solutions at an earlier period of the time. The combination of architecture and parametrics enhances architects' contribution to building processes based on mathematical design creation. This allows a deeper understanding of the design objectives and aids designers in their decisions.

By using the breakdown process of a design by extracting each phase of development we can observe where parametrics can derive from. In this scenario I have a simple red curve which has been edited to create a parametric with multiple slices that dissect the red line. The picture on the left was found on Pinterest and I admire it because it complimented the simple structure as it was attached to the wall.

Contour Lines building Idea x^2

I have used my mathematical ability to determine the types of parametric slices that will be suitable for my design. In order for the parametric to successfully flow up and down, we need to change the resonant frequency to give the structure its individuality.

The continuous and infinite flow of the sin and cos wave work really well to create a parametric wall. The cos wave located to the right and the sin wave located next to it are really similar in character with the exception that the cos wave is in front to the sin wave. In my situation, this is perfect as we can achieve a varying resonant frequency.

x^3+2x^2

Here I have made a parametric type of structure which initially remined me of a louvre blind that has horizontal slats.

Interesting the horizontal parametrical was repositioned into a vertical parametric after I was inspired by a real life parametric which served as a chair and wall feature. It started from the ceiling and seamlessly moved its way into the floor.

Thomas Heatherwick’s Vessel Inspiration

Here I am experimenting with the scale and size of the hexagon shape.

Whilst I was doing this, it accidently created an arrow shape design as it was fitting hexagons next to one another. I noticed that the higher the period or frequency of the geometric pattern the more detailed it had become. This was respectable in terms of detail however, it had inconveniently taken the attention away from the main structure. The scale of the window design played an important role. It aided my thought process in terms of how repetitive the window illustration should be. The design idea with the arrows appeared visually pleasing but after some time I didn’t admire it as much. This was possibly down to the fact that it was too bold. I still wanted the window to serve as a window and not a complex form of art. Therefore, I wanted people to easily have the ability to see inside an outside the structure so I increased the scale and lowered the frequency of the window designs.

Mathematical Equations to create Parametric Shapes

Here I have illustrated the nature of these particular functions on a two dimension plane. These particular designs are appear to be different to each other with the exception that they all similarly curve and do not feature any vertices. The sin wave that I had created earlier made me realise that the Bosjes Chapel made by the Steyn Studio had derived from the mathematical sin wave which periodically flows up and down in the y axis on the same scale whilst periodically repeating in the x direction every three hundred and sixty degrees

Parametric designs are created using the endless capabilities and potential that mathematics has to offer. Precise measurements can be calculated through a computerised system which offer more accurate readings. In terms of the future we will be seeing a lot more parametric design as artificial intelligence enhances year on year. Computer will make construction for harder projects much simpler as the system will advise how the construct can be assembled in a sufficient manor.

Furthermore, architects will be able to input a set of constraints into BIM software and with the aid of parametrics and mathematics, it would take significantly less time in comparison to a human to solve these issues. In my case, I’d input the dimensions of the building into the system and explore the endless amount of designs the computer can generate within the constraint.

Mathematical Wave Ideas For my design I have shortened the frequency of the curve from 11 seconds to 5 seconds which will make the building appear taller.

For this design I had extracted a voice memo from my iPhone and analysed the project of my voice which was from the application. This experiment went well because I had the ability to approximate the frequency of my voice into a curve design. https://matadornetwork.com/read/denmark-apartment-wave/

I began to brainstorm on how these simple wave structures can be developed into various forms that could create multiple; openings, gaps and large proximities from the ceiling to the floor or from one end of a wall to another. I used a website named Desmos to generate a number of different graphs. Simultaneously, I projected two unique looking functions and made them intersect each other once. This can be seen where the two cubic graphs meet just below the x-axis. However, in my three dimensional design it is not apparent that the two intersect. This is due to the x-axis that was treat like a modulus where any value below y=0 was not counted and therefore not displayed on the diagram above. Furthermore, the structural form I had formulated reminded me of birds and how the flap their winging when taking flight.

Two waves have been physically produced with precision which represent two types of sinusoidal waves (that being sine and cosine). In the image to the left we can see that the physical model neatly fits the outline of my function produced on paper. After making my model I progressed on to seeing how I could manipulate the two dimension form to make it look more abstract. In addition I removed the cycles found in the model and kept the period to one cycle. Having more than one would be unnecessary because they’d be wasted space otherwise.

Front

I tried to manipulate Zaha Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev Centre window pattern by making each horizontal pane rise and fall like a bell curve. However I removed this as I thought it was pointless however due to the wide dimensions of the tower I created I decide to flip the Heydar Aliyev design by rotating it ninety degrees. This made the window pattern look like it was a brick structure. It was simplistic and not too detailed. My model which can be seen on the right displays troughs and crests. I produced the troughs by stapling the white material to a piece of card which held the two wire frames together.

Left

Back

Right

Mathematical Wave Building Fortunately, the plan to inverse the curves was successful which did seem daunting at first. After breaking down the two curves I wanted to use I then began to move on to creating a solid form on SketchUp. After that I used a SketchUp plugin called slicer which allowed me to slice the solid form into a more precise form like the one I had sketched.

Once I had the slices I was able to glue them together using a thin piece of card which is hidden. This was done to create the illusion that they are all standing in an upright position.

The bottom illustration is a combination of two curves which I produced on the previous slide. By using my voice memo and treating the image like a two dimensional face I was able to fuse it with a cosine wave. After this stage it was clearer for me to see that my voice memo was much taller in comparison to the periodic shape cosine wave. I like this because it mad my roof design look less symmetrical. Furthermore, scaled people give the construct a sense of scale in addition to the landscape.

This was important as I wanted to ensure the building was a suitable size to fit the need facilities into my specification.

Design 2 - Parametric Façade

I was inspired after I saw the Nefertiti Restaurant facade designed by Sosuke Ueta in a collaboration with the “Fearless� company in Tokyo Japan. I appreciate how the form domineered the majority of the structure whilst still enabling natural light the seep through the fins and enter the interior of the restaurant. So I gathered that this would be a useful properties to adopt into my building and show the similarity of the curved form and wooden fin structure.

Seeing as it elegantly climbs up two of the facades I gathered that if I wanted to make it a visible three dimension component I would need to convert the structure into individual cubed forms that would be fused together. Notice how the cube that are layered about one another are slightly tilted on the bottom face. This was done intentionally to show the similarity of the curves that alternate as it climbs vertically much like the Nefertiti Restaurant.

Parametric Warped Walkway I am experimenting with Matthias Pliessnig a furniture designer and sculptor as he has shown me an interesting walkway design that could be developed into a large scaled greenhouse structure. I like the way it twist and drifts on to new directions. I plan to create a Revit render of this structure at a large scale. This will enable me to fit plants inside and visualise how the space will be occupied.

I’ve noticed the significant similarity in the Nefertiti Restaurant and Matthias Pliessnig’s wooden texture. Both show similar wood structure that when extracted, can form a type of ladder.

Here I have attempted to recreate the wooden design located on the previous slide. I started off designing in Revit two parallel tubes which varied in circumference. From then I add the contour lines which gave me an idea of the flow of the structure. Lastly I added the thick mullions with glass filled inside.

In this section we can visualise what the facility would look like if we planted trees and added scientists collecting data from the plants inside the greenhouse. This facility is essential for analysing data for when scientist return to the dry lab process the recordings on a computer to enable it to be back home (Earth). The large windows enable large volumes of light to seep into the structure which is beneficial for plant growth and photosynthesis. In terms of the parametric design, there is a consistent parallel flow that starts from one end to the other.

This area is vital for the trainees to teach themselves how to survive by farming and monitoring there own crops. With the aid of hydroponics, plant growth will be much easier and the interior space will have the capabilities to control the environment. This can help optimise yield production for those living in isolation.

This image was created by using Revit 2020 and scaled objects such as the people and the plants. Overall, I believe the structure is more than suitable to house a biodiversity of plants and insects. In terms of design for Martians, I think that the exposure to light is brilliant as this makes the interior space less claustrophobic and more connected to the environment. Its scale is perfect as I was able to fit tall plant life such as palm trees into the vessel.

Design 3 - Geodesic Ideas Geodesic structures have been made for many years to serve as greenhouses for plant life and wild insects. A structure like this is vital for providing and maintaining life. Complex geodesic form are often created using multiple tetrahedron forms fused together. On the other hand, those that want a small geodesic structure to serve as a home will use either a icosahedron or octahedron form. These structures are great because from a distance they appear to look like a semi sphere but as you get closer your perception changes as you see the outlines of all the duplicated forms fixed together as one. To the right is a geodesic secondary image that have been formed using a multiple tetrahedron forms. The mullions are small which allow more light to enter and the material used is recycled timber which is a more sustainable approach.

A basic sphere was generated using CAD software and I noticed that as I increased the complexity of the ball the more triangles that would make an appearance.

Behind the sphere we can see the texture produced when we create this geodesic shape.

The dome structure was inspired by the form of a cactus. An integrated teak in the shape of the cactus wraps around the faรงade and the large sized windows retains the ventilation. I like this style because we can maintain the heat produced in the interior and reduce the speed at which the heat escapes into the -61 degrees Celsius environment.

Penghu Qingwan Cactus Park

It got to the stage where I was ready to add an incline to the geodesic structure. This was not an issue as the two dimension face readjusted easily when I was designing it.

However the interior space didn’t move parallel to the terrain which was intentional. If the interior flooring was parallel to the terrain then the building would not be suitable for people to casually walk around on a horizontal plane. Here I am looking at a stairway design that spirals vertically around the centralised tree. I works really well and looks simplistic without a safety hand rail. This was inspired by AI SpaceFactory's Vision for 3D Printed Huts on Mars. The has a zone between the two shells functions as a light well and a space for stairs to gentle spiral from level to level.

Inspiration comes from Baharash architecture a self-sustaining biodome wildlife conservation Center in UAE which is a conceptual design and has not been created at this moment in time.

Above I have created domes on Sketchup that are wide but not tall. This was done intentionally because the aim for this model is to be minimalistic whilst hiding a large interior space underground.

Design 4 - Modern Architecture

@vogue_designs

The model in the top left was created by Andrew Donaldson.

He fused multiple cuboid vessels together to create his architectural piece. The ‘North Curl Curl House’ was created with various levels and natural elements such as a sandstone cliff, cave and special wall features. I like how he used his design to work with the topography of the landscape which looks impressive and natural to the eye although the structure is made of non-natural forms. I have made my own building using multiple cuboid prisms. I believe structures like this can work very well with a touch of wall parametric designs. It is appreciated when there is a small parametric to elegantly finish the design but the aim is avoid using too many parametrics otherwise it distracts us away from focusing on the main form.

Floor Plan

I didn’t realise how in depth I could go in terms of the designing the exterior of my model. Along the way I simulated a desert environment and mimicked a building I saw from @vogue_designs on Instagram.

Moreover, I felt as though the structure gained its inspiration from the early modern building called Falling Water by Frank Lloyd Wright. I saw that both had commonly shared the overhang on their structures. I decided to be different and add columns in areas that would support the structure entirely. I believe it gives the building more authority as it stands above the ground like a pedestal. When I was adding detail to my design I though I’d structural bracing which can be seen on the right on the page.

This reinforced the building with support and reduced its femininity because there were now bold diagonal frames.

Design 5 - Creating Helixes

Inspiration for this model had derived from BIG’s Unzipped wall in Toronto, Canada. This development made by Westbank have made a Serpentine Pavilion which has become the areas iconic landmark.

At first trying to find new ideas to create a curved parametric was hard. I had trouble thinking of ways I could achieve a perfect physical model that was simple to construct. After I came across this I purchased balsa strips and experimented with the nature of the stacked wooden pieces. After a few moments I create this model that resembled BIG’s Unzipped wall.

As an adjustment to my design I moved where the walls met to the edges to create this pyramid type form. I believed that this was better as it look less awkward and displayed and smooth triangular pattern. In addition to this, the previous design felt as the it was too narrow and would therefore be harder to accommodate spaces near the vertices of the structure.

Design 6 - Overhang Design This is an example of how basic architecture can evolve into fascinating pieces of art. Here I have created a basic model using acrylic as windows and MDF wood as exterior walls. From this stage I have changed the appear of the structure by reducing the size of the bottom form and used it as two columns with a gap in the middle. This creates the illusion that the structure features a podium that supports the prism at the top portion. Here we can see in my design that the structure is cutting into the Mojave desert. This allows the non-natural looking form to blend in with the landscape.

Courtyard Design

Using this model enable me to create an intimate courtyard space which would protect the Martians from harmful weather conditions such as dust devil which wipe out landscape like a hurricane on Earth.

The Topography

Using a topography was an excellent idea to use for my project. It has enable me to place my design in an exact location in the Mojave desert. I did take some time to choose the right location that would share a similarity to a location on Mars. However after some time I found my location (Google Maps coordinates 35.011109, -115.473568) which provided me with the correct relief and proximity from the ground to the top of a hillside. I was considering adding a water feature to the location however this was not going to be truly representative to the location that I wanted to study.

To achieve a physical version of the model I thought it was necessary for me to firstly create architectural model first during the exam. From that point I was able to convert the design on to 2d designs which provided me with the components for the final piece. In terms of the topography, it did initially seem like a challenge to cut into the landscape using my design. With the help of Sketchup Pro and Sandbox tool I was able to cut into the landscape. At first I wanted to be able to slot my design horizontally however this was too hard for me to do. On a brighter note I was able to adapt and cut into the landscape vertically which worked really well with fading into the relief.

Visualising what it would look like to see the landscape of Mars during the night. The terrain shares a big similarity with the Mojave desert

Planning the final model

Here I have combined two models with the same dimensions. Once they were connected I experimented by wall designs such as St. Paul’s Peripheriques. This texture managed to widen certain areas of the windows and expose the structure to more light.

I also explored how I could place indents into the walls or even remove parts of a building to make it more angular. This way, it protect those inside the building from UV radiation.

Planning the final model

I chose this to be my final design because it gave me the opportunity to create modern structure that could add parametric wall designs in either the interior or exterior. I plan to experiment by adding a parametric roof in between the two top floor sections of the building.

Fitting the building inside the construct had shown to be safer for the trainees as it would protect them from the UV radiation and other harmful light rays. So to a certain extent, I can be treated as a health and safety feature. I made sure that the topography had relatively the same height as the building which would make the building appear to be blended in with the landscape whilst still showing its presence from plan or satellite view.

Sketchup model and elevations

Here I am showing the process of changing my linear form into a parametric form. It began when I connected two points that jutted out of the building and in between those two spaces was a line angled downwards. After this I used a SketchUp plugin called Curviloft which enabled my to change the nature of my design. As you can see in the last image I chose to go with the curve that featured smooth edges. This acted a stable roof for when heavy rainfall may occur.