Interstitual space - leading into exp 3

The volumetric massing studies are rigid box geometries of method-diven form.

The three-dimensional form is abstracted using two-dimensional linear geometry, to create a new three-dimensional representation of a skin.

These geometrical idealisations are guiding inspiration for experiment 3

illustration in illustrator of our initial shapes

Revit Parametric Modeling

To create a family component dimensions are either locked, forcing the lines to remain a set distance apart or made into type dimensions, uniquely labelled and set a numerical value related parametrically related to one another.

The Revit model lines rely on the establishment of parametric relationships, reference line are set up and dimensioned.

Once a working parametric relationship has been established mass modelling components may be introduced.

constraints tool bar

The constraints tool bar has been set to allow for the visibility of each individual mass to be turned on or off.

volumes are set for each mass;

This becomes the final result of the parametric equations. Being predetermined figures, in our case taken from precedent case studies a user can be confident that whatever resulting form-studies will equate to their original input.

Each uniquely labelled dimension is parametrically connected to its related labels, a few dimension modifications has a flow on affect within the model. These effects have been determined from the analysis of the pie-charts of experiment 1.

The mass is able to move and change shape in all six planes that constitute the rectilinear mass, subsequently each plane must be locked to the reference line that will govern its movement.

This enables a multitude of possibilities as the masses move and change updating from the entry data, easily modified by the user. A rapid massing tool is created allowing for the manipulation of unique form while maintaining a specified volume.

The volume of each shape is parametrically related using formulas to manipulate the 3 - dimensions of the mass.

MEANING of the MATRIX

What is the digital matrix and how does it differ to the standard grid? How come the matrix has so many different meanings?

Interpretations of the meanings and characteristics of the matrix

The idea of the system is also critical to understanding the matrix, and organisation and connection of data, particularly in an age of an astronomical amount of information.

Experiment 2 - Explorations in Revit

Experiment 2 - Parametrics/Parametricism

PARAMETRIC EQUATIONS DEFINE A RELATIONSHIP USING PARAMETERS. A PARAMETER IS A QUANTITY THAT SERVICES TO RELATE FUNCTIONS AND VARIABLES USING A COMMON VARIABLE, WHEN SUCH A RELATIOSHIP WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO EXPLICATE WITH AN EQUATION. PARAMETERS ARE PRESENT IN NATURE, FOR EXAMPLE HERODUTUS DESCRIBES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PREDATOR AND PREY AS A PARAMETRIC RELATIONSHIP. SOME SMALL CHANGE IN A PARTICULAR PARAMETER, FOR EXAMPLE POPULATION, WILL BE CORRECTED BY ‘NEGATIVE FEEDBACK’ THAT ENSURES THE PARAMETRIC EQUATION IS ALWAYS IN BALANCE, OR STATE OF EQUILIBRIUM. HENCE THE NUMBER OF PREDATORS NEVER EXCESSIVELY OUTNUMBERS THEIR PREY. THIS LED TO THE ‘BALANCE OF NATURE’ THEORY. THERE ARE OTHER EXAMPLES IN NATURE FOR EXAMPLE HERBIVORES AND THEIR FOOD SOURCE. PARAMETERS PROVIDE A SENSE OF ORDER IN THE COMPLEX WORLD, THEY ARE A WORKING SYSTEM. LE CORBUSIER BEGAN ‘THE CITY OF TOMORROW’ WITH THE EULOGY, “MAN WALKS IN A STRAIGHT LINE BECAUSE HE HAS A GOAL AND KNOWS WHERE HE IS GOING; HE HAS MADE UP HIS MIND TO REACH SOME PARTICULAR PLACE AND HE GOES STRAIGHT TO IT. THE PACK-DONKEY MEANDERS ALONG, MEDITATES A LITTLE IN HIS SCATTER-BRAINED AND DISTRACTED FASHION, HE ZIG-ZAGS IN ORDER TO AVOID LARGER STONES, OR TO EASE THE CLIMB, OR TO GAIN A LITTLE SHADE; HE TAKES THE LINE OF LEAST RESISTANCE.” LE CORBUSIER ARGUED THAT MAN CONQUERED NATURE BY INVENTING THE STRAIGHT LINE AND THE RIGHT ANGLE. THIS WAS A CONCEPT OF ORDER AS BLACK AND WHITE, A CLASSICAL VIEW THAT ALL NATURE CAN BE REFERENCED BY CLASSICAL GEOMETRY AND STRAIGHTFORWARD RELATIONSHIPS. LE CORBUSIER BEGAN TO RECOGNISE THE SPIRIT OF ORDER IN CHAOS, AND THAT THE DONKEY’S PATH COULD NOT BE DEFINED BY THE SCIENCE OF HIS DAY, BUT THAT THERE WAS SOME LOGICAL PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING IT. IT WAS NOT UNTIL FREI OTTO’S EXPERIMENTATION WITH SETTLEMENT PATTERNS, USING MAGNETS FLOATING IN WATER AND POLYSTYRENE CHIPS. HE WAS ABLE TO RECOGNISE AND MEASURE THE ‘DISTANCE AND ATTRACTIVE OCCUPATIONS’ AROUND THE FLOATING MAGNETIC NEEDLE, THAT IS, THE CHIPS MAINTAINED A CERTAIN DISTANCE AMONG THEMSELVES. THIS IS NOT DISSIMILAR FROM TYPICAL URBAN SETTLEMENT PATTERNS FOUND IN REAL URBAN LANDSCAPES. FREI OTTO’S RESEARCH HAS SINCE TAUGHT US TO RECOGNISE, MEASURE AND SIMULATE THE COMPLEX PATTERNS OF SELF-ORGANISATION, THAT IS, THE DONKEY’S PATH. TODAY’S PARAMETRIC EXPLORATIONS GIVE MORE CREDIT TO THE DONKEY’S PATH, AS A WAY OF UNDERSTANDING THE COMPLEX RATIONALITY IT HOLDS, ITS UNDERLYING PATTERN, THAT COULD NOT PREVIOUSLY BE UNDERSTOOD USING CLEAR, SIMPLE GEOMETRIES.INSPIRED BY OTTO & LE CORBUSIER’S EARLY WORK, WE WANT TO UNDERSTAND THE ‘PATTERNS’ BEHIND SEEMINGLY RANDOM, CHAOTIC ARRANGEMENTS. ARCHITECTURE AT PRESENT IS MARKED BY A PROLIFERATION OF CONTENT AND COMSUMPTION. PRESENTLY WE ARE IN AN ERA OF POST-FORDISM; NEW DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES & ECONOMIES.“ARCHITECTURE IS CALLED UPON TO ORGANISE AND ARTICULATE THE INCREASED COMPLEXITY OF POST-FORDIST SOCIETY.”PARAMETRICISM IS FAST BECOMING THE DOMINANT STYLE IN ARCHITECTURAL PRACTICE TODAY, PARTICULARLY AVANTE-GARDE PRACTICE, AS A WAY OF ORGANISING INCREASINGLY COMPLEX DATA. PATRIK SCHUMACHER EXPLORES PARAMETRICISM AND THESE IDEAS IN, ‘PARAMETRICISM, A NEW GLOBAL STYLE FOR ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN.’HE WRITES OF ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS WHO USE PARAMETRICISM TO COMPOSE URBAN FABRICS, OF TOWER AND PERIMETER BLOCK FORMS. AT CERTAIN NETWORK CROSSING POINTS, THE QUADRANT BLOCK SYSTEM ASSIMILATES WITH THE TOWER SYSTEM, TO FORM A TOWER FORM.THE IDEA THAT AT CERTAIN POINTS > SOMETHING IS TRIGGERED TO OCCUR. AN EXAMPLE OF THIS IS KARTAL-PENDIK MASTERPLAN, INSTANBUL, TURKEY, 2006.INSPIRED BY THIS TEXT WE SEEK TO CONTROL THE BEHAVIOUR OF ARCHITECTURAL SPATIAL PROGRAMMES THROUGH PARAMETRIC EQUATIONS. THESE MATHEMATICAL EQUATIONS ARE DEFINED BY THEIR OVERALL GROSS VOLUME, AS A CONSTRAINT, WHICH ALLOWS THE INTERNAL VOLUMES TO ACCOMMODATE ANY USER CHANGES. OUR GROSS VOLUMES AND RATIOS ARE DEFINED BY THE SUCCESSFUL BUILDING TYPOLOGIES WE MEASURED AND DEFINED. THIS PROVIDES A FRAMEWORK FOR EXPLORATION, OR AN INSTRUMENT FOR MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SPACES.SUCCESSFUL BUILDING TYPOLOGIES BECOME CATALYSTS FOR FORM GENERATION.YET, A USER, OR ARCHITECT, IS STILL REQUIRED TO COMPLETE THE PROCESS…


 

'PARAMETRICISM, A NEW GLOBAL STYLE FOR ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN', PATRICK SCHUMACKER, IN ARCHITECTURE DESIGN, 'DIGITIAL CITIES', Vol 79, No 4, July/August 2009

Experimental Synopsis

Our current thoughts...

Skyscrapers are by-products of the urban parameters subjected on them; both physical in terms of providing maximum density within a limited footprint and symbolically as they represent the phallic, prestige and capitalist success. Typically, this constitutes a homogenous building experience.

Diversity and richness within the Sydney city landscape is not signified by the corporate tower buildings, but rather by the population and their interaction with, and use of the urban landscape. These pockets of art, culture and activity, become a springboard for new tower design.

The environmental constraints on the Barrangaroo tower are very different to the Sydney city framework; there is no existing typology or maximum footprint constraint but rather a provision of vast open space, a unique threshold and competing user groups. However, the current proposed tower design conforms to present-day skyscraper typology. The building seeks recognition through the use of the syntax of height competing with the Centre point Tower as the spire of the urban skyline, however this is not encompassing the inherent qualities of the site, and does not provide a diverse, unique experience that could revolutionise this precinct.

The Barrangaroo precinct provides the opportunity for a new building typology, relating to the parameters of the unique site; horizontality, threshold and user group. The user group or client consists of tourists and professionals using the area for recreation. The tourist looks for the destination, observing the environment rather than engaging with it on the same level or frequency as the professional.

Question: How does the new tower engage with each user group successfully and provide the situation for diversity and dynamism usually not associated with skyscrapers but rather with the urban fabric and its inhabitants? (tower as micro-city/organism/self-sufficient object)

Homogeneity – current building typology/verticality
User – Journey, destination, linear, purposeful / non-linear, social/photographic journey
Opportunity (Site) – Barangaroo Precinct
Stimulation – all prior experimentation (Sketch up/Laser cutting)

Experiment 1 – precedent studies

Study of successful floor plans through the diagramming of their spatial programs to determine meaningful ratios

Spatial Programming – methodology -Scholarship – flexible architecture/OMA’s Seattle Library

Diagram – plan

Experiment 2 – constrained parameters

Creating a rigid instrument for design in Revit using spatial programming volumetric ratios as parameters to create compositions that can be referenced to an original architectural diagram

Volume = Length x Height x Width allowing us t work in 3 Dimensions

Evolution = predator and prey, Le Corbusier, parameter, parametricism

Experiment 3 – free parameters

Using the free, exploratory nature of 3D Studio Max to investigate form, particularly skins, to clad the geometry compositions identified in experiment 2.

Skin = Juhani Pallasma’s haptic understanding of skin

Enclosure = container, resolution, gesamtkunstwerk

Experiment Cycle

Experiment Two - flexible tower

Using Revit, we massed the concept of the Boom-o-ring in 3D form...

Closed tower

Partially Open Tower

Open Tower

We built a 2D version to first establish the mechanics behind the shifting plates...

Using ink and cotton tips we mapped the path of the pin trajectories...and ended up with some artistic ink patterns

We then took the plates and developed a sketch model of our interactive tower concept.

The sketch model to take to class...

The mapping of the movement path of the flexible tower was not successful in terms of accuracy however did become the inspiration for some art!! Using the scanner and photoshop we played around

Hoberman Arch

The Hoberman arch was constructed as the centerpiece of the Olympic medals Plaza for the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics.  It was commissioned by Hoberman Associations and is one of the worlds largest transforming structures of its kind.

In the book 'Flexible Architecture' this structure is classified as being a kinetic geometry, every individual panel is interconnected and move together to retract the screen.  The eloquence and marvel of this structure in action has been the inspiration for our own moving tower investigation.

Geometry Introduction

Gometry is a universal phenomena that has become the syntax of our three dimensional comprehension. Dating back to the renaissance period mathematic and geometry has been the basic principles behind architecture. Geometry has been translated into the digital world creating a space in which architectural creativity can take place without the limitations of the physical world.

It can be seen in the link above the complexity of geometry that is possible. Translated from the two dimensional to the three dimensional the digital form evokes spatial qualities similar to those of organic architecture. Curved, flued space seems seamlessly connected as if whittled from a block of wood.

Jo this might be of use to you in terms of you quest to transform dimensions!!!!

check out the link!!!

Experiment 2 Ideas - The 'Interactive'

The exploration of our first experiment in building precedent studies, and the resulting equations we pulled from these pie charts left us wondering how might these equations be of use to us in informing a new hybrid building typology?????

We were also left questioning how might we parametrically model these ratios, to create buildings that are based on those three precedent forms, and have enlisted the help of academics on campus to help us in answering these questions.

Our journey into equations and mathematics, got us thinking about how mathematics might be better able to inform our architecture, and a way to combat the obsolete or arbitrary. This led us to the idea of geometry, which has been an instrumental and fundamental to architecture since antiquity, as evidenced by the Egyptian pyramids, or Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. In fact, the notion of geometry defining spaces can also be seen heavily in the Renaissance period, when the circle and the square featured strongly in Church design, and the idea of divine ratios.

In addition, we began to think about geometry being used in the present, to create architecture, and were inspired by the works of Chuck Hoberman. Chuck's inventions explore transformable kinetic geometries, using deployable structures. His has an extensive website of different explorations he has made, but perhaps his most famous is the Hoberman Sphere, a folding globe that expands into a larger form, in one continuous action, because of its inter-locked geometrical components.


The video of this is absolutely captivating;
http://www.hoberman.com/portfolio/pompidou.php?myNum=7&mytext=Expanding+Fabric+Dome&myrollovertext=%3Cu%3EExpanding+Fabric+Dome%3C%2Fu%3E&category=&projectname=Expanding+Fabric+Dome

The important lesson in a geometric expanding structure is the arrangement of a network, where each member has the correct form and geometry. The critical factor is for the kinetic structure to keep its stability, which Hoberman identifies as a 'process' rather than a 'state'.


Hoberman has built several large scale constructions such as the mechanical curtains or arches, for architectural buildings. But he hasn't yet made a kinetically expanding building. However, we thought this could possibly be our new architectural tower form! We could take these ideas of geometry, flexibility and interactive architecture, and explore this in our second experiment. Taking the humble boom-o-ring design, this allows a circular ring to be transformed into a boomerang.




We believe we can transform it into a successful tower building... and will explore the concept of this 'rotating' geometrical tower in a laser-cut experiment. Firstly, we need to get hold of one of these boom-o-rings!!! A trip to toys-r-us is a must for us, how exciting!