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JOURNAL 390136_LYDIA GINN

BWM WELT by COOP HIMMELB(L) AU Munich, Germany

BMW Welt is a prime example of parametric modelling, a method that allowed for a precise repetition of pan-elled glass shapes, abstract, fluid forms and a design that works to reduce overall environmental impact.

BWM Welt was designed as a showroom for current BMW models, as well as an engaging space to hold events and forums. Architect Wolf Prix’ design intent was made clear when he announced at its opening that, “the building does not have the boredom of a hall, it is not only a temple, but also a market place and a com-munication center and meeting place for knowledge transfer”. This complex twisted torque structure advances architectural discourse by redefining the notion of a car showroom and dealer, with all design concepts geared toward enhancing the experience of delivery. As well as being a visually stimulating environment, the structure is conducive to prolonged viewing with a well considered ventilation plan to eliminate exhaust gasses and a clever interrelation of daylight and artificial light with ambient climate and acoustics, which aims to enhance people’s feelings of well-being.

BMW have linked the structure to their product as, through this grand and sophisticated showroom, they re-affirm their high status amongst other car brands.

The Yas Hotel is composed of two twelve story towers linked by a 217-meter expanse of sweeping, curvilinear glass and steel, made up of 5,800 pivoting diamond-shaped glass panels. The exterior surface is spectacularly innovative, designed as an environmentally responsive skin that by day reflects the sky and surroundings and by night is lit by a full colour changing LED lighting system that incorporates video feeds that are transmitted over the entire surface of the building.

Asymptote contributed to architectural discourse by creating a dazzling architectural landmark that utilizes cutting edge optical and technical systems in professional lighting. Also incorporated in the design was the artistry and geometries that form the basis of ancient Islamic art and craft traditions.

YAS HOTEL by ASYMPTOTEAbu Dhabi, UAE

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BOATHOUSE personal project Yarra Bend Park, Fairfeild

This design is a proposal for a new Yarra River Boathouse, in Fairfield. The project was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, who was an early pioneer of modern architecture and greatly changed the way designers thought about design. The development of the Prairie style in the early 1900’s is an example of how Wright advanced architectural discourse.

Like Wright, I incorporated elongated, geometric forms, hugely cantilevered balcony and roof elements and monu-mentality through scale. The design is heavily integrated into the gently sloping hillside through the use of partial walls and far reaching eaves, stretching out into the surrounding landscape.

This design can be described as contributing to architectural discourse in that it challenges conventional boathouse design. The elements, for instance (office, restaurant, café, boat hire and kiosk) are enormous and separate from each other, connected via grandiose staircases ascending the landscape. Rather than being located solely on the water’s edge the structure scales the landscape, far above the river. As well, the balconies and roofs cantilever up to 8 meters out over tree tops, requiring complex engineering.

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Parametric design, or compu-tational design, is a technique stemming from digital animation that has heavily developed over the last 15 years or so. There is a global convergence in recent avant-garde architecture towards this method, which has inspired a new movement with radi-cally new ambitions and values.

Parametric design uses a series of parameters to design rather than simply forming a shape. It is through assigning different values to these parameters that objects can be created. This approach al-lows designers to create a set of principles encoded as a sequence of parametric equations, rather than simply a shape, by which specific sections of the design can be generated and altered when necessary (Kolarevic, pp.18).

PARAMETRICISM

COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN

REFERENCEKolarevic, Branko, Architecture in the Digi-tal Age: Design and Manufacturing (New York; London: Spon Press, 2003), pp.8

Changes in the conventional architectural ap-proach to design have presented themselves in such ways as basing spatial investigations on topology, where properties of objects are preserved through deformation. An example is the Mobius House (1995), based on the mobius strip (left), a surface with only one side and only one boundary component.

The use of digital modeling has opened up a universe of complex forms that, prior to modern computation programs such as CAD, would have been diffi cult to represent and develop. These new formal explorations are not created in conventional ways, but instead by a generative process based on concepts such as topological space, isomorphic surfaces, dynamic sys-tems, key shape animation, parametric design and genetic algorithms.

With the use of digital modelling, describing and constructing designs is now a more direct process since information can be extracted, exchanged and utilized more effi ciently for construction purposes. This in some ways has given architects a greater level of control over their projects. The ultimate goal has become to construct a ‘four-dimensional model encoded with all quantitative dimensional information necessary for design, analysis, fabrication and construction, plus time-based information necessary for designing and producing a building’ (Kolarevic, pp.8).

Moebius House (1995) by Tony Owen Partners

SEROUSSI PAVILLION Design team: Blasetti / Wang / Evers / Raingsan / Eun / Bearak Paris 2007

Seroussi Pavilion was designed through self-modifying patterns of vectors based on electro-magnetic fi elds (EMF). Through logics of attraction and repul-sion trajectories were computed in plan and then lifted via series of structural micro arching sections through differ-ent frequencies of sine function. Addi-tional feature built into the script allows for local adaptation to the site in regards to the section. There are six geometrical systems used to design the pavilion, all steaming out of primary trajectories.

The plan of the pavilion is rather like a dynamic blueprint, closer to musical notation than traditional architectural drawing. Algorithmic and parametric relationships aid materialization pro-cedures and adaptations to the site conditions. Distribution of lighting and shading and programming of views is achieved through sine-wave func-tions driving parametric differentia-tion of angle, orientation and the size of the aperture as well as the relation-ship of metal and glass components within each cell. Another important feature is the fl oor’s micro-dunning that is developed through a complex attractor script operating between 2 sets of geometries (Biothing, 2010).

REFERENCESBiothing. 2010. Serouissi Pavilio. Accessed 22/03/12. < http://www.biothing.org/?p=24>

SEROUSSI PAVILLION Design team: Blasetti / Wang / Evers / Raingsan / Eun / Bearak Paris 2007

This project portrays the complexity and innovation of digital scripting and fab-rication and demonstrates how com-putational design practices have been assimilated into contemporary design practices. The design team have prac-ticed generative architecture to solve structural and functional problems re-lated to the design. I feel that scripting is a revolutionary paradigm that allows designers today to plan and fabricate forms that otherwise would have been immensely diffi cult, if not impossible.

The idea surrounding mechanized de-sign is intriguing. The act of designing is taken to a meta-level where, rather than identifying specifi c content, we identify frameworks and rules with-in which content happens. Through physical computation information can be exported digitally, simplifying the fabrication process. Above all, genera-tive design allows for immense com-plexities in design detailing and forms.

A competition was held to reconstruct the Eiffel Tower in celebration of the 120th an-niversary of its construction. Serero Archi-tects’s proposal was chosen, a design aiming to improve waiting conditions for visitors by introducing a temporary third level plat-form expansion that more than doubles the visitor’s area, to 580 square meters. Carbon kevlar would be the main structure.

RESTRUCTURATION THE EIFFEL TOWER By Serero Architects

The design for the reconstruction of the Eiffel Tower is based on a generative script, creating branch-es out of the primary structure of the tower. The script unfolds along curved lines and uses the exist-ing top structure to generate three structural weaves that interconnect. A woven complex is merged, based on the redundancy and the non-repetition of patterns, to increase the platform’s structural performance.

This project portrays the complexity and innovation of digital scripting and fabrication and demonstrates how computational design practices have been assimilated into contem-porary design practices. Serero Ar-chitects has practiced generative architecture to solve structural and functional problems related to the design. I feel that scripting is a revolu-tionary paradigm that allows design-ers today to plan and fabricate forms that otherwise would have been im-mensely difficult, if not impossible.

The idea surrounding mechanized design is intriguing. The act of de-signing is taken to a meta-level where, rather than identifying spe-cific content, we identify frameworks and rules within which content hap-pens. Through physical computa-tion information can be exported digitally, simplifying the fabrication process. Above all, generative de-sign allows for immense complexi-ties in design detailing and forms.