part a

STUDIO AIR JOURNALKAREN DIONISIO-SEE 613168ABPL30048 SEMESTER 1 2015

CONCEPTUALISATION

01 INTRODUCTIONKaren Dionisio-See 613168

At the present, many long running known companies have continued to design structures in the traditional and conventional way, and only a few starting firms have explored the digital world. It is the lack of time, learning and knowledge that hinders some of the architects to introduce themselves with these new technologies, when these could actually develop and enhance their designs and even their business in the long run.

In the first year of my university, I was able to get my first experience on a digital software, Rhino 3D. Honestly, as for many, it is not the easiest software to learn, but as you get the hang of it, you are able to produce out of the ordinary designs. For our class, I had to create a lantern, in which I am able to wear, using Rhino and the CNC machine. After being able to make this piece (even if it is a bit odd), I have become more open to learning digital-related designs and technologies.

The digital world, in my opinion, explores opportunities that would help us in producing designs that were once just part of our imagina-tions. These designs generates patterns taken from the compositions of nature, organisms and even workings of the past. With the new era of digital architecture, we are able to create different and unique experiences that were not applied in the past. The availability of digital tools and softwares makes the whole production processes in designing and constructing buildings faster, more accurate and complex. Moreover, the new technologies allow us to think of what else could be done to produce sustainable, efficient and beneficial to the society and the environment.

My name is Karen Dionisio-See, a third year student in Bachelor of Environments, majoring in Architecture. Before I came to study in Melbourne, I had no knowledge and understanding towards the existence and the ability of the digital world in architecture. In the Philippines, where I have lived for 21 years now, the building industry has not been practicing these technologies of fabricating and digitally modeling complex compositions not until the 21st century. When I was able to work during my summer breaks, the architects would only use AutoCad, SketchUp and Photoshop. Only some of the new graduates (especially those who studied abroad, are aware of other 3D modeling softwares such as Revit, Rhino and Maya.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Conceptualisation ----------------------- 1

• Design Futuring ----------------------- 2

• Design Computation --------------- 6

• Composition/ Generation -------- 12

• Conclusion ----------------------------- 16

• Learning Outcomes ----------------- 17

• Algorithmic Sketches --------------- 18

Bibliography --------------------------------- 20

VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS LANTERN PROJECT

DESIGN FUTURING

02DESIGN FUTURINGKaren Dionisio-See 613168 03DESIGN FUTURING

Karen Dionisio-See 613168

In the 2010 World Exposition in Shanghai, China, WWAA Architects designed a Pavilion for the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, and the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development.2 In this building WWAA used the tradition of folk-art paper cutting as the basis for the exterior panelling design, symbolizing the purpose of the building and the background of the clients. Through the use of CNC cutters, the art that was once produced only by Polish children on papers, has been fabricated and translated into a larger scale structure. With these external cladding, people from all over the world, not only see the beauty of the Polish culture, but they also get a glimpse or an experience of it. These plywood panels, mounted on steel construction. have been throughly thought of to allow sustainable and creative aesthetic outcomes, enabling natural light to enter the building during the day, and mutli-coloured lights to be flashed from the structure itself to its surroundings. Additionally, whether it is the natural or the coloured light, shadows from the patterned panels appear inside the pavilion. When thinking of the materials and structural processes of the building, WWAA thought of how it would be reconstructured once the exposition is over. This then demonstrates how the new technologies of the digital industry can help in designing efficient, communicative and more innovative architecture.

POLISH PAVILION // WWAA

POLISH PAVILION AT DAY1 POLISH PAVILION AT NIGHT

INTERIOR OF POLISH PAVILION2

1. WWAA, Polish Pavilion, 2010, photograph, http://wwaa.pl/projects/polish-pavilion-ex-po-2010/2. Polish Pavilion Expo 2010, WWAA, last modified 2010, http://wwaa.pl/projects/pol-ish-pavilion-expo-2010/.3. Catherine Warmann, Polish Pavilion, 2010, photograph, http://www.dezeen.com/

04DESIGN FUTURINGKaren Dionisio-See 613168 05DESIGN FUTURING


One good example of an architect who have further pushed the boundaries and utilisation of digital architecture and technologies is Zaha Hadid. Her style and buildings is well-known across the architecture industry due to her experimentative, imaginative and distinct way of designing with computer-generated tools and softwares. In Baku, Azerbaijan, 2012, Zaha Hadid produced the Heydar Aliyev Centre, incorporating a free-flowing and fluid yet sophisticated building. The structure would seem to be continuously moving like ocean waves, giving it a sense of an organic and light form. Functioning as the main cultural centre of the country, Hadid created this concept of moving away from the rigidity and massiveness of the Soviet Union’s architecture who onced took over their nation.5 With this, the strong presence of the culture of the Soviet Union has suddenly started to fade, putting the Heydar Aliyev Centre at the primary point of attraction where a new culture in Azerbaijan emerges. Hadid was able to generate the complexity and fluidity of the design through the availability of accurate computations and technological advances in architecture. The Heydar Aliyev Centre, exemplifies how the digital industry can help in producing new styles and futuristic structures, which steps away from the formality and regularity of the past.

HEYDAR ALIYEV CENTRE // ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS

HEYDAR ALIYEV CENTRE4

HEYDAR ALIYEV CENTRE ON SITE6

4. Iwan Baan, Heydar Aliyev Centre, 2012, photograph, http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/heydar-aliyev-centre/5. Architecture: Heydar Aliyev Centre, Zaha Hadid Architects, last modified 2012, http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architec-ture/heydar-aliyev-centre/.6. Iwan Baan, Heydar Aliyev Centre, 2012, photograph, http://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/heydar-aliyev-centre/

DESIGN COMPUTATION

06DESIGN COMPUTATIONKaren Dionisio-See 613168 07DESIGN COMPUTATION


From the early years of the ancient Greeks and Romans to the architects of today, a sequential method or process is still being practiced in designing architecture. However, as people developed their way of thinking and technological advances occurred, these design processes have continued to evolve, considering various tools and elements to gain the best design for a project. This allowed architects to look at buildings, not only in its design features, but also its construction and sustainability characteristics. In the past, only the craftsmen were able to understand and build structures, using only their personal experience and knowledge from their training.7 This, however, resulted to a long construction process and a limited design output. As computer technology developed in the recent years, construction and design processes have become easier, faster, more innovative, pushing boundaries and possibilities in the industry. Architects and designers have started to consider structural components in the way they design, ensuring strength and efficiency in the whole structure, using minimum materials and precise forms, aided by the computer softwares and machines that made this achievable.

Recently, my friend, who studies BioMed as her bachelor degree, showed me these two muscle cell patterns found in our body. For her, the patterns portrayed biological distinctions between the two cells, but for me, they were patterns that could one day be imported to the computer and then later be used as the main concept for a design in architecture, whether it could be for a house or a city. This made me realise how technology in the architecture industry can create imaginative and unique achiev-able designs. Adding parametrics and algorithms in the method of designing, more outputs are made with a similar concept, which means there are more options for choosing the best design for a certain project. It is with computations that designing in architec-ture and even in other objects became more creative, distinct, organic and more futuristic than the flat, simple and rectalinear structures that were modern in the 20th cen-tury like the Schroder House by Gerrit Rietveld.

SCHRODER HOUSE8 7. Yehuda E. Kalay, Architecture’s New Media: Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004), 7.8. Alice Friedman, Women and the Making of Modern House: Schroder House, last accessed 18 March 2015, http://www.tinadhillon.com/the-schroder-house-utrecht-the-netherlands/

09DESIGN COMPUTATIONKaren Dionisio-See 61316808DESIGN COMPUTATION


BEAST // NERI OXMAN

In design computations, designers can take into consideration the aesthetics and structural side of the object. They can think of a more sustainable and efficient ways of designing structures that could perform both its functional and workability properties. With the popularity and good feedback of designing with architec-ture, other artists and desginers have included this technique in creating their own objects, such as The Beast by Neri Oxman. The Beast is a prototype made for a Chaise Lounge, using acrylic materials as its main material and digital-generated softwares to produce an organic form.10 Although it may seem light, fluid and fragile, its curvature and choice of materials made the object rigid and durable. This means that its form, with the use of computers and parametric softwares, and the thickness of the stones, enable the structure to support itself without the leg components found in a traditional chair. Therefore, with computation in the designing process of architecture or even furnitures like this one, we can see how it contributes in merging designing and constructing aspects of creating structures.

Moreover, with the use of a single continuous surface and fabrication technologies, the structure can be made faster and more accurately to the designer and the client’s standards. In terms of aesthetics, the translucent stones allow the chair to have texture, dynamism and colour once light shines on it.

BEAST9

9. Neri Oxman, Beast, last modified 2011, http://web.media.mit.edu/~neri/site/proj-ects/beast/beast.html.10.”Beast”, Neri Oxman, last modified 2011, http://web.media.mit.edu/~neri/site/proj-ects/beast/beast.html.

11DESIGN COMPUTATIONKaren Dionisio-See 61316810DESIGN COMPUTATION


KARTAL MASTERPLAN // ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS

The era of computer-related architecture paved way for the fast-paced production of designing and constructing from small-scale objects such as furniture, to large-scale areas like districts and urban spaces. These allowed architects to design more possible solutions and responses for their problems and to test their capabilities.12 The Kartal Masterplan, for instance, by Zaha Hadid Architects have used parametric softwares to produce this mixed-use development area, creating blocks and buildings with various heights, forms and angles.13 Although it may be similar to the grid layout of traditional cities in the past, its overall design formation and concept has made the urban space unique from others. Each of its blocks have a single high point, emphasized by the forms of the four buildings,14 creating a sand dune effect on the whole site. Designing with computation allowed the architects to easily divide these blocks and experiment on the different forms and angles of these buildings. It helped them to generate various design options that could resolve the brief in making a mixed-use space that integrates efficiency and interaction between the structures and the users. This would also reduce the resources and expenses in the whole project since architects are able to virtually imagine and test the product of the project, thus predicting the energy and budget that is to be used.

KARTAL MASTERPLAN11

11. Zaha Hadid Architects, Masterplan: Kartal Master-plan, last modified 2006, http://www.zaha-hadid.com/masterplans/kartal-pendik-masterplan/.12. “Masterplan: Kartal Masterplan”, Zaha Hadid Archi-tects, last modified 2006, http://www.zaha-hadid.com/masterplans/kartal-pendik-masterplan/.13. Brady Peters, “Computation Works: The Building of Al-gorithmic Thought”, Architectural Design, 83,2 (2013): 13.14. Patrik Schumacher,”Parametricism - A New Global Style for Architecture and Urban Design”, Architectural Design - Digital Cities, 79 (2009).

COMPOSITION/ GENERATION

COMPOSITION/ GENERATIONKaren Dionisio-See 613168 13COMPOSITION/ GENERATION


WATERCUBE // PTW ARCHITECTS

The architectural industry in literature and in practice have begun to utilise and take advantage of the capabilities and power that computer technologies and computations bring. In analyzing the brief of a project, architects used to think about the basic form of the structure and the general impact of the building in the environment, whether this would be suitable for the clients or not. However, as the industry advances, architects have used more digital tools and softwares, not just for drafting and better and faster communication tools, but also for incorporating computations into their designing processes to be able to evaluate possible solutions accurately.16 This act of generation allows designers to absorb and interpret various information on the project such as environmental, social, economical and structural issues, which results to the exploration of several iterations and solutions for their brief through algorithmic thinking and paramatric modelling.17 This then produces a structure that not only becomes the basis of the concept and design, but also one that achieves different goals in the brief and integrates the needs of clients to engineers. The Watercube in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, for instance, has solved the social, economical and environmental problems of the design, using computer softwares and fabrication.18 PTW Architects has produced a commercial centre that would have a low energy and water consumption, new construction materials and an association with Chinese culture.19 With computer technology, architects were able to conduct tests and experiments, most especially on the material, to ensure durability, good thermal and acoustic performance20, making this one of the most sustainable and efficient buildings in China.

WATERCUBE-NATIONAL SWIMMING CENTRE15

15. PTW, Watercube-National Swimming Centre, last modified 2015, http://www.ptw.com.au/ptw_project/watercube-na-tional-swimming-centre/.16. Peters, “Computation Works”, 13.17. Peters, “Computation Works”, 10.18. ”Watercube-National Swimming Cen-tre”, PTW, last modified 2015, http://www.ptw.com.au/ptw_project/watercube-na-tional-swimming-centre/.19. “Watercube-National Aquatics Centre, China”, Designbuild-network.com, last ac-cessed 19 March 2015, http://www.design-build-network.com/projects/watercube/.20. “Watercube-National Aquatics Centre, China”, Designbuild-network.com, last ac-cessed 19 March 2015, http://www.design-build-network.com/projects/watercube/.

15COMPOSITION/ GENERATIONKaren Dionisio-See 61316814COMPOSITION/ GENERATION


URBAN LOBBY // MRGD ARCHITECTS

Although computer technology may seem inifinite and purely advantageous, some theorists and architects argue that using computations and algorithms can have limitations and may instigate imitations of style from other designers. The definition of algorithms itself implies that they are set of rules input in the computer, which results in specific actions in which some architects are not able to think of.22 This shows how computers can have a mind of their own, limiting the way designers can creatively solve problems on their own. It is with our own thoughts, imagination and mind that we are able to fully utilise and comprehend the purpose and functions of these algorithms and computer tech-nologies, in order to integrate the true power and capacity of the digital world.23 Nevertheless, with computations, the production and process of designing, as explained previously, would still be faster, more efficient and more experimental, while being able to analyze several options and aspects of a project. Another examples of the use of generation in the design process of architec-ture is the unbuilt research project of the Urban Lobby in London by the MRGD Architects. The main purpose of the project is to explore with computational tools in creating a space that allows interaction, flexibility, adaptability and exploration in the environment it is in.24 The architects have experimented, using algorithms and digital softwares to test and generate different diagrams and solutions based on their understanding of the city. After choosing the diagram that follows their concept and goals for the project, they then used this as the basis for their design in creating pathways and structures in the building. This then demonstrates how generation was used in this design process to produce various solutions to the problems, and how it impacts the final composition of a structure.

URBAN LOBBY21

21. MRGD, Urban Lobby, last modified 2012, http://www.archello.com/en/com-pany/mrgd.22. R. Wilson and F. Keil, “Definition of ‘Al-gorithm’“, in The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (London: MIT Press, 1999), 11.23. Rose Etherington, “Urban Lobby by MRGD Architects“, Dezeen Magazine (November 2007), http://www.dezeen.com/2007/11/01/urban-lobby-by-mrgd-architects/.

CONCLUSION/ LEARNING OUTCOMES

16CONCLUSIONKaren Dionisio-See 613168 17LEARNING OUTCOMES


In the past, I only used digital tools in my projects for drafting and presentating them in a clean and professional manner, without fully understanding how it could help me analyse and explore different design opportunities for the brief. In doing Virtual Environments in my first year, I only used Rhino as the design software to generate my design, not because I know it would create various forms, but because I had to. After the lectures, readings and algorithmic exercises that I have done these past few weeks, I now understand their purpose and capabilities, allowing me to explore ideas and forms that I would not have thought of without computations and softwares such as Rhino and Grasshopper.

Through out this chapter, I was also able to distinguish and realise the different terms that are linked to digital theory, such as computerisation and computation. Computerisation is the act of drafting, presenting and editing drawings and models24, where the design completely depends on the architect’s knowledge. Computation, on the other hand, is the utilisation of computers to gain information about a certain model in terms of its environmental, economical, social and structural impacts, through a series of algorithms.25 By using both practices of computerisation and computation in design processes, architects are able to generate buildings precisely, economically and adequately.

In this chapter, the theory of digital architecture and computation were discussed through a series of precedents that illustrates the power and the use of computer technologies in producing these structures. With these advances come the practice of algorithmic thinking and parametric modelling, which results to in depth analysis of how architects can respond and design projects that integrate sustainability, efficiency, economic and social issues within the brief. Architects and other designers are able to understand and take advantage of this new practice and technology, allowing them to not just work with the aesthetic side of architecture, but also its structural side. This then brings the architecture and construction industries to emerge and share their knowledge with each other, producing contemporary and futuristic structures.

By comprehending the potential of digital softwares and computations, I intend to include this practice in my design processes in the future of my career. By starting to learn and use computer tools, I am able to look through various aspects, strengths, opportunities and weakness that can be linked to a certain brief. This then allows me to produce various design iterations where I can choose and analyse the design that would strongly fit my concept and the problems of the brief. This also leads to faster and more precise production of a structure. When I start working back in my home country, I may be able to share my knowledge of computer technologies, which can help in generating new structures that are less costly, fast produced and sustainable, benefitting the building industry, the environment and the society.

24. Peters, “Computation Works”, 10. 25. Peters, “Computation Works”, 10.

ALGORITHMIC SKETCHES

19ALGORITHMIC SKETCHESKaren Dionisio-See 61316818ALGORITHMIC SKETCHES


The following images are a few of the algorthmic exercises that I have done using Rhino and Grasshopper. With Grasshopper, I was able to create various iterations in a model by using just one algorithm such as the loft, box morph, and triangulation tools. When doing these exercise, I am able to experience the theory of computation in how it helps you generate different options for a design and how they can be produced faster and more freely than other deisgning tools. These models encpasulates the capabilities of algorithms, allowing architects to transform rectalinear objects to organic ones and vice versa, and to create undulating surfaces similar to those found in nature.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Kalay, Yehuda E. Architecture’s New Media: Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004.

Peters, Brady. “Computation Works: The Building Algorithmic Thought.“ Architectural Design 83, 2 (2013): 08-15.

Schumacher, Patrik. “Parametricism - A New Global Style for Archi-tecture and Urban Design.” Architectural Design - Digital Cities, 79 (2009).

Wilson, Robert A. and Keil, Frank C. “Definition of ‘Algorithm’.” In The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. London: MIT Press, 1999.

20BIBLIOGRAPHYKaren Dionisio-See 613168

part a

Documents