journal part a

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13studio:air:journal:638982:whittle |2

part:a:conceptualisation2 introduction who am I? what have I done?

4 a0:design:futuring heydar:aliyev:center precident two

6 a1:design:computation benifitsofcontemporycomputation precident one precident two

8 a2:composition:generation generative approaches precident one precident two

12 a3:conclusion conceptualisation thoughts

14 a4:learning:outcomes what have I learnt?

16 bibliography

18 appendix algorithmic sketches

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12 contents:

studio:air:journal:638982:whittle | 3

Angus Whittle: I was born in Sydney but moved to Melbourne when I was a toddler. My father is a Geologist and my mother is a botanical artist and this was of great influence tome and my tastes. I’ve always had an interest with rocks and the study plant life on earth. Nature and de-sign have been imbedded in my upbringing and therefore, for me, Architecture was an obvious step-pingstonefromthis.Ifinishedhighschool in 2007 and began my ad-vanced diploma of Building design and technology at Holmesglen In-stitute in 2008 which I completed in 2010. Whilst I was there I learnt autoCAD, archiCAD and cinema4D and an example of such work can beseeninfigure:1.Mypassionhasbeen derived and encouraged by my parents; I feel blessed to have been able to witness their careers, both so varied but similar. I hope to feel as enthusiastic and inspired about architecture many years down the track as both my mother and father still feel about their ca-reers to this day.

I am in my third year of my Bachelor of Environments, my major being architecture. Thus far I have com-pleted both studio earth and water, examples of which can be seen in figures:2 and 3 across the page. Ihave really enjoyed the diversity each class has presented and I have thoroughly enjoyed reflectingon my work. Seeing the way my de-sign thinking process progress as I learn more in each class has been a huge learning curve, one I am in-credibly grateful for. I am really look-ing forward to the changes studio airclasswillbring.Iamspecificallyinterested in the introduction of Rhi-no. This is a program I am vaguely familiar with but have had little expe-rience with.

I was lucky enough to work in an architecturefirmoversummer.Theamount that I learnt and the work I produced instilled an invaluable amountofconfidenceinme.Havingbecome so used to the routine of it all and also the fact that I enjoyed myself immensely has made com-ingbacktouniversityabitdifficult.

During the summer I predominantly used archiCAD, a program that was quitenewtotheoffice.Itwasclearthat they had a particular way of designing and in many instances archiCAD was not a suitable sys-tem for the what the head architect desired. I think this comes down to me not knowing every facet of the program, which can be a hinder-ance as a student studying and not havingrealworldexperience.Ifindthis with many cases that the design of the building can be seen leaving hints to which program it was pro-duced by making it look a bit lazy in a sense; a common situation with parametric architecture.

When talking about parametric ar-chitecture there is one architect that will always stand out for me; Zaha Hadid. Hadid’s work has been in the public eye for many years now and I have chosen one of her works as a precedent.

angus:whittleba:environmentsarchitecture:major:third:year

studio:air:journal:638982:whittle |4

my:work

figure:1finalprojectatholmesglen

design new student accomodation includ-

ed full working drawing

documentation. this was completed in a

group of 4 . all design work

completed in archiCAD and renders in

cinema4D.

figure:2studio:earth

design a center for discovery and cultural

exchange on herring island.

all works completed in archiCAD.

figure:3studio:water

design a boat house with boat hiring facili-

ties, a restaurant and cafe. all works com-

pleted in archiCAD.


a0:design:futuringprecedent:oneheydar:aliyev:centerbaku:azerbaijan:2013The first precedent project I havechosen is the Heydar Aliyev center in Baku Azerbaijan which was part of an investment by the government in modernising and developing the capital since its independence in 1991. The investment was made to develop Baku’s infrastructure and architecture from its past Soviet styled monumental architecture to show a fresh outlook to the nations future. The plan was to design a buildingthathadafluidrelationshipbetween its surrounding and its inte-rior spaces. (1)

They contributed ideas to which shall be continued in the further de-velopment of the city. Any future de-signers will most likely see Hadid's workanduseitasaninfluenceinor-der to continue the momentum this building has created.

The Postmodernist era struck Baku in the early 2000’s with buildings such as the Flame Towers (2007) and the Baku Crystal Hall (2012.) The Baku Crystal Hall has only been recently completed however it was not overly radical even though there

is no other building with the same concepts and interconnectedness as Hadid’s building. The develop-ment continues with the recently completed SOCAR Tower (2014) and many other new, exciting proj-ects. These is a similar future plan-ning concept that Dunne was talk-ing about in this weeks reading.

Onfirstinspectionmanywouldhavethe opinion that the building photo-graphs are merely renders but this is not fact. This building was com-pleted and that in itself is extremely important and notable. these sorts of projects are namely a precedent for the next stage of building and what is achievable for the future.

The centre will be appreciated he same way that Federation Square in Melbourne, Victoria will continue to be appreciated as both are used as a hub and a meeting place for its citizens while also being visu-ally appealing. Personally however I don’t think Hadid’s design is what will inspire people to follow suit and design similar buildings. This is because Hadid’s designs are

far too specific to her taste due toher use of the parametric modelling program which mimics the style of Grasshopper.Ifindissuewithpara-metric modelling as I believe they are based largely on algorithmic equations which are embedded in these modeling programs, making them too calculated thus eroding any possible creative flare. UsingFed Square as an example, when using these programs the design for Federation Square’s facade and the roof of Southern Cross station (two iconic landmarks in the Melbourne architectural landscape) are only a few clicks away. Therefore the skill that is involved in designing another possible future landmark will almost be impossible to generate.

1 ArchDaily, 'Heydar Aliyev Center / Zaha Hadid Architects', 2013 <http://

www.archdaily.com/448774/heydar-aliyev-center-zaha-hadid-architects/>


source: www.archdaily.com/448774/heydar-aliyev-center-zaha-hadid-architects/


a0:design:futuringprecedent:twosouthern:cross:stationmelbourne:australia:2006Being the center for not only Mel-bourne's regional transit but its con-nection with Melbourne international airport Southern Cross Station had to make a big statement. One of the few early parametrically designed buildings in Melbourne which be-gan a continued trend throughout the city and its suburbs of designs not directly influenced, but set aprecedence for what could be built in Melbourne after its completion. Nothing had been built to this scale with this design thinking before. The firmwhodesignedit,GrimshawAr-chitects is known as a pioneer in forwarding the use of digitally pro-duced architecture. The public re-action was evidence of how radical it was for the time. From my memory there was a great divide of opinions, many felt it did not suit the area and others thought the design showed great innovation to those traveling to Melbourne for the 2006 Common-wealth Games.

Its appreciation is noticeable in its modern appearance although the growth of Melbourne wasn’t taken largely into account as they have re-

cently had to at new platforms which haven’t been integrated as well as they should have. I think that shows a disregard both on the architects side in the case of short sighted ex-pansion and the planners side for just bolting on a few more sections. At nearly 10 years old the redevel-opment has hardly aged with nearly 17 million annual users the ideas are suretohaveinfluenced future build-ings in particular throughout the docklands precinct. (2)

Although in a modelling perspec-tive the designs are relatively easy to replicate the original idea would have needed to come from some-where.

2 Australiandesignreview.com, 'From The Archives: Southern Cross Station | Australian Design Review', 2015 <http://www.

australiandesignreview.com/architecture/833-from-the-archives-southern-cross-station> [accessed 20 March 2015].


Source:http://www.pentaxforums.com/gallery/images/49795/1_Untitled_Panorama2__1_.jpg

SourceL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Cross_railway_station#/media/File:New_spencer_st_station.jpg


a1:design:computationbenifits:of:contempory:computationSince the introduction of sketchpad in 1964 (3) computers have been positivelybenefitingthearchitectur-aldesignprocess.Itfirstbeganasa drawing board on your computer with the ability to undo and dupli-cate drawings at a much faster rate. Gone are the days of multiple draft-ers in an architecture firm tracingover plans, details and schedules as all of this has now been replaced with a computer. This ever evolving platform has transformed again from simply drawing lines on computerised plane to BIM (building information modelling) programs like archiCAD and revit. These programs benefitthe designer but also allow the en-tire building to be modelled down from the concrete in the slab to the plumbing whilst having all their own elements in a 3D world. This has helped to connect all the elements; window and door schedules are generated by the click of a button and all elements can be priced and therefore tendered exponentially more ease than before.My experience with the step from computer drafting to BIM was re-warding.When working in the firmover summer, being able to see my boss’s eyes light up upon comple-tion of a full redesign in 2 or 3 hours when he was used to it taking one of their best CAD technicians 5 or 6 hours was something that made my presence invaluable.I feel that the ease of sitting down

and playing around with a program like grasshopper could be the sign of an end of most paper sketches even though there are architects like FrankGehrywhofind inspiration inother areas. The difference in these two styles is that there are no real limit to the bounds of an elite grass-hopper coder. In the case of Foster + Partners Khan Shatyr Entertain-ment Centre algorithmic computing was used to generate the design op-tions for its structure. (4) This would have speed up design development time and increased cost efficiencyimmensely.Practice will always be practice however whether it’s on a computer or not is a different story. Sketching by algorithm is a term brought up in the Peter’s reading; this is a very good term for describing what is go-ing on between the architects and their computer. From my experience working I have seen the need for ar-chitects to show more information on simple town planning application drawings. Although with the intro-duction of BIM the ability to show in 3D reduces any problems the plan-ners or builders may have and will in turn help to rectify those problems. This factor is incredibly valuable and an enormous time saver. The age of architects using programs is slowly dispersing and the age of architectural coders is becoming more evident. Fabrication is also an area which is in the midst of change. The ease

of 3D printing and laser cutting has revolutionised the speed in which a buildings details can be manu-factured. A good example of this is Bao’an International Airport terminal which had 60,000 different facade elements, all of which were con-trolled by a parametric model. This construction technique (4) has to be adapted to by builders and con-structionfirmsanotherareaofongo-ing change.Computation can allow all conceiv-able geometries. The only factor that would hold back what is achiev-able is whether it can be coded into the software and this is where the idea of a hybrid software engineer / architect becomes an intriguing realm of specialising. Being on the cusp of this algorithmic movement holds unique opportunities and discoveringademand infirms thatone can supply while being as up to date in current innovations is key. In the Peter’s reading it is clear there is a demand for internal specialised architectsfluentinalgorithmicarchi-tecture.

3 Daniel Davis, 'Chapter 1 – Introduction – Daniel Davis', Danieldavis.com, 2013 <http://www.danieldavis.com/thesis-ch1/>

[accessed 20 March 2015].

4 Brady Peters, 'Computation Works: The Building Of Algorithmic Thought', Architectural Design, 83 (2013), 8-15 <http://

dx.doi.org/10.1002/ad.1545>.


Source:http://www.architectureadmirers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Khan-Shatyr.jpg

Source: http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/portfolio/2014/03/images/Shenzhen-Bao-An-

International-Airport-Terminal-3-Studio-Fuksas-4.jpg


a2:composition:generationgenerative:approachesThe algorithmic sketch book is a prime example of generation, hav-ing the ability to play around with all the tools in grasshopper


a3:conclusionconceptualisation:thoughts

Thishasbeenalearningfilledcoupleofweekswhereopinionschangedhavebeenalteredconstantly.Ihavelearnta lot about aspects of modelling that I never thought I would enjoy. Every lecture I attend my thoughts change re-garding the direction of my degree as I am introduced to new ways of thinking. My thoughts have also changed in regards to computers and technology and where I think it should be headed and also if I think it should hold such a strong hold on the industry. My opinions on Parametric modelling are still not positive but if the next couple of weeks are anything to go by my opinion might be swayed again. The direction I want my learning to head in is to have a greaterstrengthinusingGrasshopperscript.Iwouldliketobecomefluentinthatprogram.Sofarithastaughtmeagreat deal about how easily architectural forms can be produced in such great scale and speed. I would also like to learnmoreabouttheprocessfirmsgothroughtofindtheirdesiredoutcomes,wheretheirinfluencescomefromandhowtheymovethroughtheworkflow.IameagertogetmyhandsonphysicalmodelsthatIhavecreatedusingthealgorithms deep inside grasshopper. Tessellation and biomimicry are the most interesting to me and that will be the direction I intend to focus my design on. The innovation for me is to be as integrated and yet meaningful to the area.

a4:learning:outcomes


bibliographyArchDaily, 'Heydar Aliyev Center / Zaha Hadid Architects', 2013 <http://www.archdaily.com/448774/heydar-aliyev-center-zaha-hadid-architects/> [accessed 20 March 2015]

Australiandesignreview.com, 'From The Archives: Southern Cross Station | Australian Design Review', 2015 <http://www.australiandesignreview.com/architecture/833-from-the-archives-southern-cross-station> [accessed 20 March 2015]

Davis, Daniel, 'Chapter 1 – Introduction – Daniel Davis', Danieldavis.com, 2013 <http://www.danieldavis.com/thesis-ch1/> [accessed 20 March 2015]

Peters, Brady, 'Computation Works: The Building Of Algorithmic Thought', Architectural Design, 83 (2013), 8-15 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ad.1545>


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