Air journal 1

- INTRODUCTION 01 - 02 PARTA - CONCEPTUALISATION - A1. DESIGN FUTURING 03 - 09 - A2. DESIGN COMPUTATION 10 - 16 - A3. COMPOSITION/GENERATION 17 - 23 - A4. CONCLUSION 24 - 25 - A5. LEARNING OUTCOME 26 - BIBLIOGRAPHY 27 - 28

Table Of Cotents

1

Introduction

My name is Siyu Chen. I was born in a

small and beautiful city in the Southern

part of China. I am a third year architec-

ture student. I chose architecture as my

major because I wanted to have a creative

and imaginative career. My second year

of architecture study at the University of

Melbourne was very exciting but challeng-

ing. I was confronted with a lot of drawing

and modelling exercises which came as

a big challenge. Although I experienced

a steep learning curve, I thoroughly en-

joyed the process of architectural thinking

and design. What I enjoyed the most was

the opportunity topresent my own design

to someone else that to me is a greatest

satisfaction. This is the first time that I am

exploring the world of parametric de-

sign and modelling. I have come across

digital design before through seeing

built digital design projects myself and

also on magazines. I understand that

although digital design differs great-

ly with traditional design, I believe the

underlying concepts and the think-

ing behind the designer would still be

the same. What I am looking forward

to in Studio Air is learning about digi-

tal design and how I can use software

to make complex shapers into reality.

2

Introduction

A 1 Design Futuring

3

By treating these vectors as fluid and dynamic presentations of contem-porary life, structures are no longer isolated objects as defined in archi-tectural modernity; they become natural and coherent components of human life and the urban environment.'2 --- MAD Design Philosophy

1: MAD Design Philosophy., At Chinese-architects Office Profiles Architects(2014),. Accessed by 18 Mar 2014 < http://www.chinese-architects.com/en/mad/>

Tony Fry, in his book ‘Design Futuring -

Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice’

discusses how digital parametric design

is a way to solve the problem of environ-

mental change and disaster. Fry discuss-

es the current approach to exploiting the

Earth’s natural resources for short term

economic gain and how this approach is

‘de-futuring’, i.e. designing for our own

doom and demise as a civilisation.

Instead what Fry suggests is ‘design

futuring’ which is designing and build-

ing with our future in mind so that as we

build the world for tomorrow, that world

would be one that is sustainable, green

and healthy for all generations to come.

In Fry’s words, “we now requires a new

type of practice which recognize design’s

importance in overcoming a world made

unsustainable”.

One aspect of the responsibility of design

and architecture that A good sustainable

design should have the ability to not only

perform sustainably but also be able to

educate the occupants and users of the

building to adopt sustainable practices.

As Fry emphasises, “the relations be-

tween creation and destruction are not

an issue when a resource is renewable

6 4

A 1 Design Futuring

but it is disaster when it is not”. There-

fore, design futuring is an approach to

design that moves from passive con-

sumption to active participation and

‘change-creation’. Architecture that

makes a sensitive and sustainable

connection between the urban and the

ecological. What I learn from Fry’s ar-

gument is that design futuring is about

achieving a sustainable life on Earth.

It is about changing attitudes and re-

directing our lives towards more sus-

tainable modes. Following this notion

I have selected a few precedents pro-

jects below for discussion. What I hope

to achieve this semester is to explore

the ideas of sustainability through digi-

tal parametric design.

THE TECHNOLOGY &ENTERTAINMENT AND KNOWLEDGE CENTER IN TAIPEI

TAIWANG

Fig 1

5

Fig 1 : Technology, Entertainment & Knowledge Center (TEK) at Architecture News Plus <http://www.architecturenewsplus.com/projects/1918>

The Technology, Entertainment and

Knowledge Centre (TEK) in Taiwan is

designed by BIG- Bijarke Ingels Group.

What this project offers is a unique ap-

proach to digital form making and sus-

tainable design that ultimately lead to

cultural change, in terms of how urban

spaces are used and conceived. The

unique form of the project is created by

a Boolean function in a digital software,

between a spiralling tube and a cube

volume. Moving beyond the typical 2D

design process of slab and post, what

digital design is able to offer is 3D form

making using complex geometries such

as Boolean cut-outs. Using the Boolean

function, the building design is composed

of the ‘positive’ habitable space and the

‘negative’ void spaces that becomes and

interesting warped surface that acts as

the ‘second-dimension’ façade of the

building. By connecting this additional

building surface created by the Boolean

to the street, what this design is able to

achieve is a connected walking plane

from the street level to the top of the

6Fig 2,3,: TEK building in Taipei, At Archiview, Accessed by 17Mar 2014 < http://wordlesstech.com/2011/02/09/tek-building-in-taipei/>

building, through the ‘face’ of the build-

ing. This unique building organisation,

essentially embeds a public function on

the face of the building, extending the

public space from the street to the face

of the building and to the green roof top.

The spiralling negative volume of the

building becomes the new bridge that

funnels the public on the street to the

top of the building. By creating such an

interesting design, the project is able to

reconceive the idea of public and pri-

vate urban space, the ‘pubic’ respon-

sibility for ‘private’ buildings and how

private building can give more back to

the public. In this scheme, even when

the building is ‘closed’ the public can

still walk from the face of the building

up to the roof terrace. Therefore what

this design is able to achieve is give a

green space back to the city, in the same

time of creating a walkway for exercise.

Functionally the spiral volume also works

as a ventilation shaft, allowing more in-

ternal spaces to have cross ventilation

which will lead to reduced energy con-

sumptions as people will be able to rely

less on air conditioning. As the visitors

work their way up the top of the build-

ing, there roof top is planted with trees

– a sky deck, allowing people to enjoy

both the view as well as the greenery.

Fig 2 Fig 3

Fig 5

7Fig 1 : Technology, Entertainment & Knowledge Center (TEK) at Architecture News Plus <http://www.ar-chitecturenewsplus.com/projects/1918>

Fig 5: TEK building, At Archiview, < http://wordlesstech.com/2011/02/09/tek-building-in-taipei/>

As a feature of the sustainable design,

the roof garden also acts as insulation

layer to cool the building during the sum-

mer months and keep the warmth of the

building during winter, as the soil and the

trees will act as a buffer for temperature

swings. In this scheme we see an amal-

gamation of aesthetics, function, sus-

tainable design, public interest design

and digital design all wrapped into one.

Urban Forest Skyscraper in Chong-qin China.

Design By MAD Architects

T he skyscraper has a central cy-

lindrical structure with each concrete

floor plate of a different elliptical ge-

ometry, creating an overall effect of

undulation in the building form. Each

level is enclosed in structural glazing

that allows full transparency in and out

of the building. The glazing also max-

imises the view towards the sky and

the rest of the urban landscape.What

is also unique about this skyscraperFig 6

Fig 7

8Fig 6,7 : Urban Forest bt MAD at Dezzen (2014) <http://www.dezeen.com/2009/12/10/urban-forest-by-mad/>

is the reinterpretation of the divide between the urban and

the rural. Following the idea of ‘green skyscrapers’ started by

Eastern architects such as Ken Yeung, MAD also incorporates

the ideas of urban forest in decorating edges of the floor plate

with tree as if they are trees on a steep cliff face. Pocket of air

and ventilation are also punctured in the skyscraper, capitalis-

ing on the needed sunlight for the areas of green.This vertical

organisation logic is also seen in the internal spatial designs,

as commercial and office spaces are intertwined vertically to

create spaces of intrigue and views to the green and the sky.

Fig 9

Fig 8

9

Fig 8,9 : Urban Forest bt MAD at Dezzen (2014) <http://www.dezeen.com/2009/12/10/urban-forest-by-mad/>

Natural design is more than imitat-

ing the appearance of the organ-

ic. it is learning from natural prin-

ciples. of design how to produce

form in response to the condi-

tions of the environmental context.

According to MAD, what they tried

to achieve in this project is to search

for a Chinese skyscraper typology,

which unlike the western typology is

not about industrialising and clear zon-

ing of activities and functions. Instead,

the vertical organisation of the build-

ing adopts a blurring of activities and

programs as the forest comes into the

working space and vice versa. The ul-

timate idea is to reconceived the city as

not only a place of concrete and steel,

but rather a place also ‘built’ with green-

ery; melding the natural and the man-

made into one dense material for living.

10

A 2 Design Futuring

Computers are the drawings boards

of today. With the advancement of

technology, computers have become

a necessary tool in all architectur-

al studios. Apart from digital model-

ling and representation, computers

are also able to help designers cal-

culate the performance of different

building designs, resolve complex

geometries, as well as fabricate de-

sign components directly by 3D print-

ing, CNC milling, laser cutting etc.

There are two major approaches to

working with computers– computerisa-

tion and computation. While computer-

isation is when the designer draws the

design in the computer, computation is

when the computer is used to ‘extend

the designer’s intellect’ by assisting the

designer make design decision based

on calculations or design options create

through generation. As Brady explains,

“computational design... captures

not only the complexity of build-

ing a project, but also the multi-

tude of parameters that play a crit-

ical role in a building’s formation”.

Through computation, the design-

er is able to explore more innova-

tive designs, open up new terri-

tories for formal exploration. The

designer is also able to expand the

boundaries of possibilities in archi-

tectural design as the computers

A 2 Design Futuring

9

are able to resolve evermore com-

plex geometries and detailing. and

steel, but rathera place also ‘built’

with greenery; melding the natural

and the manmade into one dense

material for living. Through com-

putation, smarter and more accu-

rate designs can be generated.

These designs can also be generated

very quickly through the use of script-

ed algorithms that can calculate and

produce variations of the same design

logic through the inputting of different

compositional parameters. With the

computer, the designer is able to con-

ceive of, represent and translate these

new geometries.the designer is able

to conceive of, represent and trans-

late these new geometries. As Majidi

Said, “this hasn’t simply transformed

what we can design- it’s had a huge

impact on how we build”. 2The abil-

ity of computers to capture an entire

design on digital file means that the

design can be fabricated through the

‘printing’ of the file. In another words,

through computation, the designer is

once again able to ‘build’ the design

rather than just produce the drawing.

The ability to materialise designs has

transformed the way designers work

and also how the construction indus-

try approach the delivery and fabrica-

tion of building parts and components.

12

ZAHA HADID'S DONGDAEMUN DESIGN PLAZA

OPENS IN SEOUL

Fig 10

Fig 11

Fig 10, 11 : Zaha Hadid’s Dongdaemun Design Plaza Opens in Seoul at Dezeen Magazine 2014, <http://www.dezeen.com/2014/03/23/zaha-hadid-dongdaemun-design-plaza-seoul/>

The Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP)

is a futuristic public space for the city of

Seoul. The design reinterprets the city,

landscape and spaces space for work-

ing and exploring. The DDP has exhibi-

tion centres, convention centres, seminar

rooms, a design museum and a library. As

a design plaza, the building also serves

as a cultural hub where people can get

together to share ideas and aspirations.

As a hill-like objective the DDP is

brings ‘nature’ back into the city. Vis-

itors can ‘climb’ up to the top of the

building like they can get up a hill.

There are parts of the building that

look like a cliff or a cave and others that

resemble a hill. The organic geometries

are built by complicated steel fram-

ing, clad with over 45,000 aluminium

13

Fig 12

Fig 13

Fig 14

Fig 12 - 14 : Zaha Hadid’s Dongdaemun Design Plaza Opens in Seoul at Dezeen Magazine 2014, <http://www.dezeen.com/2014/03/23/zaha-hadid-dongdaemun-design-plaza-seoul/>

panels of varying sizes and curvature

directions. During the day the build-

ing has a monumental presence over

the city, however, according to Hadid,

at night the back lit aluminium panels

with perforations transforms into “a field

of pixilation and perforation patterns”.

What the DDP project demonstrates in

terms of computation design is the abili-

ty for designers to conceive of and build

irregular and organic building forms.

Each of the panels adopt a unique ge-

ometry that has to be calculated by the

computer software and fabricated off

site. Without the computer such forms

would be near impossible to think of

and even more difficult for translate for

construction. The computer has trans-

formed the way designers think and

draw, and also changed the way the

design is translated into fabrication.

14

Fig 15

Fig 16

Fig 15: Towards a Design-City (POST-Design Capital) At Failed Archietcture < http://failedarchitec-ture.com/towards-a-design-city-post-design-capital/>Fig 16 : Zaha Hadid’s Dongdaemun Design Plaza Opens in Seoul at Dezeen Magazine 2014, <http://www.dezeen.com/2014/03/23/zaha-hadid-dongdaemun-design-plaza-seoul/>

15

ENERGY ROOF PERUGIA BY COOP HIMMELB(L)

INSHARE1

Fig 17 Fig 18

Fig 17 , 18: Energy Roof Perugia By Coop Himmelb(I,) at Dezzen (2014), <http://www.dezeen.com/2010/01/21/energy-roof-perugia-by-coop-himmelblau/>

The Energy Roof project captures the

essence of computation design and

sustainability. The design aims to gener-

ate energy for the city of Perugia, Italy.

The project is conceived of in three lay-

ers, the top layer is the transparent pho-

tovoltaic cells, the second layer is the

structure which also holds five wind tur-

bines and the bottom layer is composed

of laminated glazing and translucent

cushions. Powered by both the wind

and the sun, the project is an artwork

that works hard to also generate energy.

The unique role of computation on this

project is the scripted programs that cal-

culates the optimal position of the solar

cells in order to harness maximum solar

energy gains. “During the design pro-

cess of the energy roof a special focus

has been put on using photovoltaic cells

as functional and aesthetic elements”.

16

Fig 19

Fig 20

Fig 19-20: Energy Roof Perugia, at Coophimmelb (L) Au, <http://www.coop-himmelblau.at/architec-ture/projects/energy-roof-perugia/>

Therefore through computation, the de-

signers have been able to make better de-

cisions on what looks intriguing as well as

performs well as a solar energy collector.

The complex structure for the project is also

resolved by computation design. The main

geometries are composed of longitudinal

planes that also work as the bearing structure.

The project is daring and imaginative, combining complex geomet-

ric forms and components with a difficult brief for renewable energy gen-

eration. What computation has been able to assist with is the calculations

needed resolve both the functional and aesthetic ambitions of the project.

17

A 3composition / Generation

'the material shift and fabrication design were among the dominant contributions of the evolution of digital architecture in the first dec-ade of' 5 --- Rivaka, Oxman and Robert Oxman

Oxman, Rivka,, Robert, Rovka., Eds (2014),. Theories of the digital in architecture., pp.6

Composition, the logic of piecing to-

gether objects in order to create an

artwork has been the tradition way of

design for centuries. Architects used

to design through composition, based

on a series of different and related log-

ics such as proportioning, patterns,

ratios and rhythms. The design would

be communicated through a series

of physical models and 2D drawings

such as plans, sections and elections.

What is central to the process of com-

position design is that the designer is

at the centre of the design decision

making process, thus composition de-

sign can be a very subjective process.

Compared to composition, digital gen-

erative design removes the designer a

step away from the production of de-

sign itself and instead asks the design-

er to be input design data / information

and make design output selections.

Design data on a project could include

the orientation of the site, the internal

spaces and volumes needed or the

heating and ventilation requirements,

then letting the computer generate de-

sign options that satisfies the require-

ments for the designer to select from.

What the generative process is able to

18

achieve is precision in calculation and

the rapid production of design options

for study, selection or design devel-

opment. As Brady explained “we are

moving from an era where architects

use software to one where they create

the software”. The generative process

allows designers to consider a wider

range of design solutions as well as

potentially create forms previously un-

thinkable. By altering the input data, the

computer is able to regenerate designs

and offer a different set of solutions.

Such generative design approaches of-

fer several advantages, first, there is a

level of rigour in approaching the design

problem through tests, trials and perfor-

mance calculations. Second, computa-

tion increases speed in the creation of

design solutions which also speeds up

the process of reviewing more options.

Third, there is a greater precision in

calculations so the produced solutions

would be accurate. Fourth, by having

an algorithm for the design, future mod-

ifications are easier to make as input

data can be changed to create differ-

ent solutions and lastly the potential to

create designs previously unimaginable

by human mind. Such a design process

is also known as parametric model-

ling and has now become indispensa-

ble especially on large and complex

project where there are complex func-

tional and aesthetic briefs to resolve.

A 3composition / Generation

SUBDIVIDED PAVIL-IONS

MICHAEL HANSMEYER

Fig 21

Fig 22

19Fig 21 Pavilion 2 (Catmull-Clark subdivision), at Michael Hansmeyer- computational architecture 2014, <http://www.michael-hansmeyer.com/projects/initial_subdivision_studies.html?screen-Size=1&color=1#2 >

The explorations of

Hansmeyer in the

Subdivided Pavilions

is a process of cap-

turing the variability of

a similar design logic.

Based on a base unit of 2 intersecting cu-

bic frames, Hansmeyer applied the ‘subdi-

vision’ logic to create formal explorations

and variations. Subdivisions have tradi-

tionally been applied in the field of com-

puter graphics to create a smoother form

by refining the edges. Instead the subdi-

vision algorithm is applied in this project

to test the evolving curvature and impli-

cated structure and surface of the forms.

The experimentation is set up as a 3D

subdivision process, with the algorithm

altered through gradual modification in

the ‘weighting’ of the subdivision. What

the algorithm does is formalise the ex-

perimentation process, as different forms

and attributes are able to be mapped

back to different sets of parameter vari-

ables. Through this project it is easy to

see how the parameters are interlinked

to the generation and formal manipula-

tion of the entire project. By making small

parameter adjustments entire forms and

be modified. Therefore, the power of the

generative process is the ability to refine

a project through parametric adjustments.

Fig 23

20Fig 22 - 23 Pavilion 2 (Catmull-Clark subdivision), at Michael Hansmeyer- computational archi-tecture 2014, <http://www.michael-hansmeyer.com/projects/initial_subdivision_studies.htm-l?screenSize=1&color=1#2 >

ECO-PHYSIOLOGI-CAL ARCHIECTURE BY SHIMA MIABADI

Fig 24

21

Fig 24-: FIG 25-30Eco-physiological Architecture at Shima Miabadi 2014

<http://shima-miabadi.com/ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL-ARCHITECTURE>

Eco-physiological architecture presents

a very different approach to sustainable

design and architecture. Taking inspira-

tion from how the blood flow system of

penguins works, the project adopts the

same strategy of heat exchange so that

the he¬at energy of the building is recy-

cled and not wasted. The project adopts

computation design to come up with

the geometries of a web-ad, two-lay-

er façade that allows both heating and

cooling to exchange when needed.By

connecting the webs of the facade that

generates the most heat energy, to area

where it is colder, the heat is able to be

transferred to other part of the building to

heat up different sections of the building.

Fig 25

Fig 26

22

Fig 25-26: FIG 25-30Eco-physiological Architecture at Shima Miabadi 2014 <http://shima-miaba-

di.com/ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL-ARCHITECTURE>

In the words of Miabadi, the system

“counters current heat exchange,

thermal inertia and the retention of

metabolic heat”. The exchange of

heat is facilitated by the flow of water

which is pumped across the façade

in a web of pipes. Like the intertwin-

ing of the incoming and outgoing

blood vessels of penguins for heat

exchange, the webs of the façade

also acts in a similar way to push hot

and cold water over each other to ex-

change the heat that would otherwise

be lost to the external atmosphere.

Fig 28

Fig 27

Fig 29

23

Fig 27 -29 : FIG 25-30Eco-physiological Architecture at Shima Miabadi 2014

<http://shima-miabadi.com/ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL-ARCHITECTURE>

A 4 conclusionsion

24

A rchitectural now have to be updated

on the new computation technologies that

are reshaping the approach to design. In

this industry which is currently undergo-

ing significant transformation, computers

are playing a central role in reconceptu-

alising the boundaries of architecture.

Through the precedent projects present-

ed above it can be said that architecture,

through computation, have moved into a

world of system generation and perfor-

mance monitoring. Sustainability is no

only a passive design approach where

the designer selects materials that

would have less environmental impact,

rather through computation, sustainable

design is now where the architecture is

a machine for generating energy and

actively becoming a contributor to solv-

ing the problems of the environment.

In this transforming attitude to

sustainability and sustainable design,

the role of computation becomes

significant. Designers would have to

rely to computation to come up with

more logical and rigorous design

systems that doesn’t just ‘look pretty’

but also performs hard like a machine.

Designs need to stand up to the test of

performance, whether it is the heating

and ventilation performances, or the

energy generation objectives. The

‘beautiful machine’ is now the new

standard, as architecture works hard to

satisfy an ever evolving complex brief.

Combating the issues of environmental

damage and loss of resources,

architecture of the future needs to be

more responsible to the betterment of

our living and working environment of

the brief.Adopting nature as the source

of inspiration, I look forward to using

computation design to explore these

new edges of sustainable design.

Computation design, sits at the centre

of this new direction for architecture,

as a more ‘scientific’ approach to

design needs to be adopted in order to

create buildings that are going to work.

The LAGI design proposal is a good

opportunity to test some of these ideas

where the brief requests the creation of

a public sculpture that also generates

energy for the city of Copenhagen. Such

a ‘dual’ brief requires interdisciplinary

research, and a deep understanding of

the issues, opportunities and restraints

embodied in the different aspects

A 4 conclusionsion

25