air studio olivia potter final

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OLIVIA POTTER // ABPL30048

ARCHITECTURE

DESIGN STUDIO: AIR

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Olivia Potter 586562

The University of MelbourneBachelor of Environments

Architecture Design Studio: AIRABPL30048

Journal S1//2014

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I’m very relieved you’re reading this. It means I’ve somehow uploaded this document correctly.

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H O W C A N A F U T U R E A C T U A L L Y

B E S E C U R E D B Y D E S I G N ?

- T O N Y F R Y“ ”

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I’m Olivia. Studying the Bachelor of Environments with a Major in

Architecture combined with an Ital-ian Language Diploma. This is my third of a total of six years of study. If things do not work (case being I haven’t worked), I will become an illustrator for children’s literature.

I like that architecture is able to pith-ily digest a society. It demonstrates the political, social and economic en-vironment, embodying the climate of any human point in history. It is excit-ing to me that politics, the technology, the values of a people, their beliefs, customs and their culture are all able to be ‘read’ through architecture.

I also like that architecture in-fluences a person’s mood and their wellbeing. It can remove people from their natural environ-ment or force human interaction.

At heart, I am elderly. I spend weekends gardening, at church or reading. I am not a night owl at all and golf isn’t too far off the horizon. Like everyone, I love it when I get to travel. This summer, I Couchsurfed my way across Northern Italy and spent time in Morocco and Scotland. I like to travel to remind my-self that we’re all the same de-spite our outward differences.

It would be fair to say, that comput-ers are not my strength. Although I completed Virtual Environments in my first year, I am yet to unlock full creative flexibility that comes with confidence and being able to completely use computer aided designing and programming. The next few months, I will be trying to dispell my technological ambivilance.


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C o n c e p t u l i s a t i o n

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tony frydesign futur-ing; Sustain-ability, ethics and new prac-ticeOxford: Bergpp.1-162008

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Intrinsically connected to being human is an innate de-sire to create, it is afterall what seperates us from all

other creatures. Until twenty years ago, our inguenity was always thought of as being humanity’s blessing - an out of proportion brain size was too good to be true. It allowed us to design whatever made us comfortable.

Today, the story reads differently. Tony Fry in his writ-ing of Design Futuring asserts that humanity’s greatest assest is also our biggest downfall - we create without designing. He calls for desingers to facilitate a move-ment of re-directive design, whereby every design builds on the previous to become, each time an improvement and a progression.

However, Fry ignores another basic instinct, this time common to every animal - the need to look after one-self. This primitive instinct pre-dates any creative flair humanity may have. In westernised 21st century, look-ing after oneself requires money. The amount required is limitless and therefore there is always an internal dialogue to become richer, wealthier, greedier. Being ecnomoic or, maximum profit in the short term always takes precedence ahead of creating and designing an environmentally stable and sustainable planet.

There is little information is provided by Fry on how to combat this issue. People, who are not designers, but instead people interested in profit control too much of the creative market. How should we, as developing ar-chitects and designers ensure our futures? Fry doesn’t address this, but in my opinion, the answer is technol-ogy - designing using computers to make things more quickly, to a higher standard and, most importantly, more cost efficiently. The edge designers have is an un-derstanding of techonolgy and the capacity to control and manipulate it to produce incomparable work.

D e s i g n F u t u r i n g

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Trees are a symbol of renewal and the in-terconnectedness of all things. At Fresh

Kills Park, nature is literally being restored by manmade intervention. A large tree could provide shading for the visitors and serve as a symbol for the park. However, the landfill cap at Fresh Kills contains only enough soil for grasslands and is not deep enough to support the large roots of a wide canopy tree. However, if that tree were ar-tificial, it could generate electricity, provide lighting, provide shading, and not require the deep roots that a real tree would need. Our solution: a 90ft tall tree made of recycled industrial balloons and PVC pipes.

At night, the balloons are slightly reduced in size and produce a luminous glow while gen-erating energy. The tree should be placed on the north hill where it is visible and accessi-ble from West-Shore Expressway. The tree is many things: symbolic, literal, and sculp-tural. But it is also practical: providing shad-ing, generating electricity, educating visitors about the site’s man-made past. It is all those things simultaneously. It represents renewal and the interconnectedness of all things.

This artificial tree simultaneously alludes to the manmade past of the site and the role of the park as renewal of the natural while also providing shading for the visitors and harvesting energy through the swaying and bending of the branches. During the day, the sun heats up the balloons and the canopy size increases, providing more shading and bending the branches to generating energy. As the balloons sway in the wind, kinetic generators such as the M2E Power Kinetic Battery at the base of each balloon work like an automatic watch and produce elec-tricity through the swaying motion. Along the branches, spaced every 3 ft, are more kinetic generators, piezoelectric generators, and LEDs. This combination creates elec-tricity from the bending of the translucent PVCs with piezoelectric ceramic plates, captures energy from the movement with the kinetic generators, and lights up to indicate

electricity harvesting.

Yijie Dang and Tom TangYJBLLJSLNew York City, USA

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l a g i c o m p e t i t i o n e n t r y

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Tree by YJBKKJSL Architects ex-ploits and explores kinetic energy as

a solution to the design brief. At its most basic level, the tree is a form of wind power generation, capturing the sway-ing motion of recycled balloons as they drift in the breeze.

It promotes the idea that energy is able to be generated from anywhere - like how a balloon captures and stores air, energy too can be engendered. Renwe-able energy is abundant, the difficultly is in the transformation of energy.

This Pandora inspired design is at a re-solve in its surronds. It is an organic and peaceful installation. Like staring at our moon from earth, one becomes almost spiritually shifted by its mesmorising glow. It decends from the sky rather than

ascending from earth.

However, it does little to artistically chal-lenge its audience. The form and colour is entirely resolved. It is regular and neu-tral. Nothing is unsettling or unsettled. The idea is basic sophistication but re-quires complex technology as specified in the presentation write-up. Dialogue between its audience and its form is minimal. To interact is to look. It’s energy generation doesn’t extend into human kinetics - instead it is about aethetics. An extension to make the design more interactive would have taken the design further.

No indication of energy output is ex-pressed in the design response. How much energy will the tree generate on a

windy night or a windless day?

< < a . 1 p r e c -e d e n t s > >l a g i c o m p e t i t i o n e n t r y

Yijie Dang and Tom TangYJBLLJSL

New York City, USA2012

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Algae Biofuel is carbon neutral and is therefore sustainable technology.

Waste water (which every city produces) is mixed with a culture of algae. For best results, use in a protect bay. The tidal movement of the turbulant water, mixes the algae in their plastic modular system.

As the algae grow, they replace the car-bon dioxide from the waste water, lead-ing to an accumulation of oxygen. This oxygen is then pumped into a column which also coincidently traps a mass of the al-gae which can then be used as biofuel.

The OMEGA system is placed in the water in order to control the temperature of the al-gae and to employ the tides to continuously mix the algae with introduced carbon dioxide. Additionally, aqcuaculture, such as fish-ing or oyster bed farming could be con-sidered as means to make the OME-GA (offshore membrane enclosures for growing algae) economically sustainable.

There’s even the possibility of training ma-rine life to clean the algae biofuel system.

Interestingly, the system would only work economically if a combined ac-tivity approach were to be adopted. Tidal power, solar power and wind power would have to be used to make it economically viable. This systems approach is more

about intergration than ingenuity.

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// 6 C19H36O2 + 27O2 reacts to form 19CO2 + 18H2O

D I S C L A I M E R !Perpetual Motion does not exist! Energy must first be expended to form electricity.

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Theory

Induced change in magnetic field causes current which is electrical energy i.e. mechanical input is con-verted to electrical output.

I n practice

A turbine is fitted with magnets. A magnet is then moved into proximity of this turbine. This movement causes a current which, if connected to a generator causes an electrical output. This can be used as a form of power.

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< < a . 1 p r e c -e d e n t s > >m a g n e t i c e n t r y

Kalay, Yehuda E. (2004). Architecture’s New Media: Principles, Theories, and Methods

of Computer-Aided De-sign (Cambridge, MA:

MIT Press), pp. 5-25

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Within the last two decades, digital design has emerged as a synthesis of science, technology

and architectural culture (Oxman and Oxman, pp.1). Analog design has been sped up and bought into the 21st century thorugh replacing it with the digital.

In brief, the digital design history is as follows:

The 2000s were a decade of digital adoption. Geh-ry’s Guggenheim in Bilbao can be viewed as a turning point. It was ‘analog’ in design yet ‘digital’ in production. (Oxman and Oxman, pp.2). During the 00s digital design also became more intricate. Parametric design allowed a complexity of form that never before been realised.

Conversely, this decade is transpiring into a digital chapter where nature and its morphology is dictating the direction of design. There’s this idea of Design Mor-phogenesis, which combines the tectonics of digital ma-terial to mimic natural processes (Oxman and Oxman, pp.6). In this context, nature is not solely an aesthetic inspiration but more so, a source of developing efficient design by investigating and imitating nautral principles.

This decade is also becoming a period of digital fab-rication. We can already seei the beginnings of this in three dimensional printing, a step up from flat pack construction.

In essence, at a most basic level, the differecne be-tween these decades can be seen as Compositional

Digital Design of the 00s vs. Generative. Algorthmic design of the 10s.

The definition of Generative Design can be found using nature as a metaphor. When a sapling is first planted, the end result, the mature tree, is not yet there. its grow-ing is redirected by external forces of wind, rain, soil and sun. The end result, ie the tree, is perfect because it is a product of its environment, which is fully adapted to its surroundings. Generative design is a series of reactions to external factors.

Computer aided design is one method of achieving Generative outputs. However, as addressed by Kalay in Architecture’s New Media, computers are not cre-ative, they are purely analytical. Therefore to design generatively, people must be involved in the process.

Oxman, Rivka and Rob-ert Oxman, eds (2014). Theories of the Digital in Architecture (London; New York: Routledge), pp. 1–10

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d e s i g n & c o m p u t a t i o n

Peter EisenmanBerlin, Germany

2005

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p a r a m e t r i c c o m -p u t a t i n a l d e s i g nh o l y h o a x m e m o r i a l

Interestingly, Peter Eisenman didn’t use parametric computational design to

design his Berlin Holyhoax Memorial.

However, despite this, it can be mod-elled using algorithms. This illstrates the point that all design is simply al-gorithmic equations; this example is just incredibly restrained. If it was to have been designed in Grasshopper or Rhino, Eisenman would have clearly dictated the form. This is different to much contemporary use of Grasshop-per and Rhino whereby the parametric modelling appears used for the sake of experimentation.

To really understand the parametric al-

gorithms behind Eisenman’s Holyhoax Memorial, I modelled the Memorial in Grasshopper using a tutorial that I found on youtube.

Doing this, proved to me that anything and everyhing can be produced digital-ly and algorithmically. Parametric think-ing is just another method of thinking

about design.

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Metabolic Architecture is being devel-oped by a multi-displinary team from

the US, headed by Rachel Armstrong. The idea is that a responsive and living system, made possible by protocells, is able to be-come an architecture that uses less energy to produce a dynamic and communicative system. This is in contrast to our current building technologies whereby we use ‘Victorian technologies’, that every time, produce an inert object. Mechanical labour is inef-ficient, the process is costly and material waste is consumeristic and overall extreme-ly unsustainable. This same idea is explored in Oxman’s and Oxman’s Theories of the Digital in Architecture where they define the differences between analog and digital techonologies. This technology would go one step further than our current standard of contemporary design. Instead of the ar-chitecture being designed digitally and built using ‘analog’ technology, this new research could perhaps generate an architecture that is both digital in its conception and digital in its fabrication.Armstrong asserts that through having responsive, “living” matter that connects with nature, many of these problems of inef-ficiency could be resolved.

This architecture uses a basic building block called a Protocell, a genetically engi-neered cell unit that can be programmed to react in accordance with its environment. One particular application could be using the chemically engineered Protocells to protect Venice from sinking further into its lagoon.Currently, Venice is supported by wooden pylons. Protocells engineered to move to-wards the dark could react with the wood and in a way petrify the wood to form an ‘artificial’ scaffold that over time could even create marine habitats.

This technology offers a new direction for architecture which is incredibly ex-

citing. As Armstrong stresses, this is how sustainability could be achieved. No waste, no extra energy input - these cells, like the human body could one day be genetically coded with a blueprint for an entire struc-ture that could build itself. Being responsive to its environment, this system could also re-pair, extend and rebuild itself leading to the cessation of replacement. This is still just theory however, if it can be imagined, time

will make certain it is developed.


c h e m i c a l a r c h i t e c t u r e - m e t a b o l i c p r o t o c e l l s


Veronica Arcos, Andrea Von Chrismar, Sebastián

Yrarrazabal Costanera Norte 3736, Vitacura, Santiago Met-

ropolitan Region, Chile2012

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Here, in this project is a deformation of space realized through the removal

of edges and disruption of the Cartesian plane. Walls, ceilings and floors are or-ganised to enhance the experience for the occupant. There’s a collision of an el-lipsoid and a Fibonacci layout, mimicking eruptions in the universe. This complexity of mathematical form has been realised and inhanced thorugh the use of com-puter aided design. As Oxman and Oxman assert in their essay, Theories of the Digital in Archi-tecture, ‘the continuum in perpetual evo-lution’ (pp.2) facilitated thorugh comput-erisation, has accelerated pur ability to create complex and intricate forms. The digitally fabricated cells create spaces of intimacy. However, they are not spaces of claustrophobia. There are gaps for light to enter and also glass from which to peer. Digital fabrication has pro-duced a new wall type, with new qualities.

Instead of a solid concrete or wood di-vider, digital fabrication has allowed the same aesthetic quality however the inter-ruption of material produces windows.

An essence of floating space is present in this project. There’s the white spot light-ing, contrasting the black, stillness and a concentration of human imprints in spe-cific areas. The surfaces are surreal and alien caused by the perfection of digital fabrication and the computer modelling. The interplay of light and form heightens the theatricality of the displayed objects. The effects of shadow casting and the drama that ensues is something that I would like to explore in my own design. Differences in light strength render each surface a distinct aesthetic quality, giving the interior space depth. By offsetting fins of surfaces to play with the depth of objects,

s p a c e f a / s e b a s - t i n y r a r r z a b a l + v e r o n i c a a r c o s + a n d r e a v o n c h r i s - m a r


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Definition of ‘Algorithm’ in Wilson, Robert A.

and Frank C. Keil, eds (1999). The MIT Ency-

clopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (London: MIT

Press), pp. 11, 12

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Peters, Brady. (2013) ‘Computation Works: The Building of Algorith-mic Thought’, Architec-tural Design, 83, 2, pp. 08-15

At its most basic level, a computer is a machine with the capacity provide an output for an

input, or, in other words, provide a solution to an algorithmic equation. It equates calculations in ac-cordance to parameters (or limitis).They are virtual machines which do what an algorithm specifies. In fact, their name derives from their function - to ‘com-pute’.

However, because they are restricted by and to these algorithms, they lack “creativity”. Despite this, computers are able to produce algorithmic solutions that generate inspiration beyond our immaginative capacity. Computation, is, afterall, still a method of representation.

Today, as previously mentioned, architects are using computers to design. They are not just replacing pen and paper but are replacing how the pen drew; al-gorithms are not the ‘what’ but the ’how’.

This idea that computers are not solely there for computerisation but can also compute gives us an ability to extend our human aptitude. Algorithms are generative responses to questions. They can produce infinite solutions to infinite functions.

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The Silkworm Pavilion by MIT Media Group uses a hybrid of generative

and compositional design to produce a dome of silk that explores the interaction between digital and biological fabrication techniques.

6500 live silk worms were placed on a digitally fabricated structure, programmed to mimick the deposisiton of silkworm fibres as the worms weave their cocoons.

This interaction, between the natural and the man-made. the generative and the compositional as well as their intersection is, in essence, a crude example of computer intellegence versus human creativity. It is possible to see the silkworms as algorithms. As a rule, they always head towards the darkest sections of the web. They build on already deposisted layers of silk, creating light, shadow and depth. They are an em-press of algorithmic rules.

The Silkworm Pavilion is an example of how inspiration can be found in nature - the very simplest of creatures can create great com-plexity based purely on simple algorithm equations. What then, with humanity’s large brains are we able to generate?

The possbility of combining natural algo-rithms with more complex human equations is an exciting concept with the opportunity to create new intricate structures.

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The young German artist Eno Henze uses Al-gorithmic design combined with a good dose

of imagination to create wall murals.

With the philosophy “teach a computer to draw and see what happens”, Henze is able to generate limitless illustrations that have balance, hierarchy and form produed by the computer. As explored in this week’s readings, generative design is becoming a competitor in the marker for its speed, efficiency and ability to provide mass customisation. Providing only one solution suddenly seems strange. Algorith-mic solutions are infinite and therefore generative design solutions too are limitless. This idea can be seen in Henze’s work.

Common to many designers is the idea that, with the involvement of algorithms, an artist’s work sud-denly goes beyond the scope of their own imagina-tion. Henze says of his work “the machine returns something that is beyond what I had conceived before and beyond what I can make with my bare hands”.

This is both an exhilarating and precarious line to walk - designers become exposed to the risk of com-puters controlling their design rather them dicating a project.

This work, if taken as an example, controls its use of parametric design yet is liberal in its execution. While Henze laments about computers going be-yond the scope of the imagination, he is in control of his work, he is able to manipulate and extrapolate forms and colour.

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Eno HenzeNetherlands2008

c o m p o s i t i o n a l v s . g e n e r a t i v e d e s i g n

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The age where the designer, pencil in hand, glasses sliding along nose as

head bows to greet paper is a closing book.

Today we very clearly see the replacement of the analog design world with the shiny, clean and sophistocated digital age of computers.The architect has replaced their drawing board with this invaluable tool - the math-ematical, practical, expedious yet somehow humble engine. (Ironically me thinks the exact opposite of a stereotypical archi-tect’s demeanour). Opposites ignite and today we are seeing the evolution of de-sign that 50 years ago was unimaginable.

It’s 2014 and I’m swamped with the power of the computer. I’ve reached the existentialistic question of whether there is any longer any-thing a computer cannot do that a human can? Has the computer exterminated the need for humans to use their intellect and creativity?

The answer seems to be that yes , hu-mans still do have an edge over their in-vention. We hold a creativity that a com-puter never could - for a computer to be creative, it would have to go against what it is.

The computer is a number crucher - it equates algorithms. It sits there perched, spitting out

understandable representations of digits from its programmed cavernous interior. It does what it is told. It does not contain creativity - the reaction to emotions that causes a re-sponse.

Our creativity therefore limits and restricts the power of the computer. Learning how to program then, is instrumental is creating ar-chitecture for the future.

This learning process of all human/computer design interactions can be quickly summaried by the last four decades, whereby computers have become mainstream tools for dictating design. Design is no longer purely computer-ised but computed.

The 80s and 90s saw the introduction of the oddly shaped box on workbench, slowly and steadily punching out computed sums, drawing lines and shapes, changing the de-sign process from analog design, analog build to digital design, analog construction.

In the 00s, an era of streamline renders and g-force speed began. Three dimen-sional printing began and by the 10s, the decade in which we are presently reside-ing, the humble computer has redefined the work of the 21st century architect.

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Exhilaratingly, if not slightly terrifyingly, the designer of today is able to write programs for the computer, coding algorithms to cre-ate parametric and à la moda of today, emergent design. This holds great poten-tial that I am extremely excited to explore.

As explored in the readings for Studio Ai,r this has the opportunity to go much further than purely being another way to generate aesthetically pleasing buildings. It allows the architect to better adapt a structure to inter-grate within the landscape - to become org-naically part of its surroundings. By using al-gorithms, dictated by natural laws, structures adopt the principles of natural system, making the design proficient. Design need not be a pre-conceived and clumsyily fitting solution to fit an environment. Instead, it can be dynamic, interactive and emergent to fully intergrate into its environment. This has the capac-ity to save materials and energy, rendering a construction process that is today extremely wasteful and consumeristic, into a sustainable craft.

For me, this is causing a shift in my paradigm and way of thinking about design and archi-tecture. The idea that parametric design can create generative design to mimick the prop-erties of nature, the most efficient and aes-

thetically pleasing designer of all is incredibly exciting.

From here, I intend to further explore how emergent and generative design can be in-tergrated in an energy generation system to produce a more efficient and therefore sus-tainable outcome. I’m excited to combine the technological with the scientific and theoreti-cal.

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Grasshopper and Rhino are slowly becoming words in my vocabulary

that no longer fill me with quite the same amount of dread that they did when I sheepishly enrolled in Air. This in itself is big for me.

I am enjoying learning from the tutori-als and slowly becoming more adapt at moving around Grasshopper. Learning new skills is never easy for me, I define my learning style as slow.

Ignoring this for the minute, I have, most of all, enjoyed learning about the theory behind conceptual design - I like that we are almost becoming the computer itself by peeling back a layer and writing the algorithms, something that is normally behind the scenes.

Additionally, I have found the readings engaging and insightfull. It is refreshing to read something that is directly rel-evant to our study - as stressed before, never has digital design been more rel-evant and therefore, the readings have been constructive.

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Pp. 10-11 Fry, Tony (2008). Design Futuring: Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice (Oxford: Berg), pp. 1–16

Pp. 12-13“LAGI Design Competition Tree”, Dang, Yijie and Tang, Tom, 2012, http://landartgenerator.org/LAGI-2012/yjblljsl/#.

Pp. 14-15“LAGI Design Competition Tree”, Dang, Yijie and Tang, Tom, 2012, http://landartgenerator.org/LAGI-2012/yjblljsl/#.

Pp. 16-17Trent, Jonathon (2012). Energy from Floating Algae Pods, TedTalk, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-HE4Hfa-OY.

Pp. 22-23Oxman, Rivka and Robert Oxman, eds (2014). Theories of the Digital in Ar-chitecture (London; New York: Routledge), pp. 1–10

Kalay, Yehuda E. (2004). Architecture’s New Media: Principles, Theories, and Methods of Computer-Aided Design (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), pp. 5-25

Pp. 26-27Armstrong, Rachel (2009). Architecture that repairs itself? TedTalk, http://www.ted.com/talks/rachel_armstrong_architecture_that_repairs_itself.

Pp. 28-29Yrarrázabal, Sebastián, Arcos , Veronica et Von Chrismar, Andrea (2014), Space FA, http://www.archdaily.com/486097/space-fa-sebastian-yrarraza-bal-veronica-arcos-andrea-von-chrismar/.

Pp. 32-33Peters, Brady. (2013) ‘Computation Works: The Building of Algorithmic Thought’, Architectural Design, 83, 2, pp. 08-15.Definition of ‘Algorithm’ in Wilson, Robert A. and Frank C. Keil, eds (1999). The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (London: MIT Press), pp. 11, 12.

Pp. 34-35MIT Media Lab (2013), Detail of Silk Pavilion, http://www.dezeen.com/2013/06/03/silkworms-and-robot-work-together-to-weave-silk-pavil-

ion/. Pp. 38-39Henze, Eno (2008), Ambushes, http://enohenze.de/ambush/.

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ion/. Pp. 38-39Henze, Eno (2008), Ambushes, http://enohenze.de/ambush/.

Cover Illustration. MIT Media Lab, Detail of Silk Pavilion, 2013, photograph, www.archdaily.com/384271/silk-pavilion-mit-media-lab/.Pp. 4-5 1. MIT Media Lab, Detail of Silk Pavilion, 2013, photograph, www.archdaily.com/384271/silk-pavilion-mit-media-lab/. 2. Potter, Olivia, Self Portrait, 2014, photograph.Pp. 8-93. Van Herpen, Iris van et Van der Wiel, Jólan, Magnetic Dresses, 2013, photograph, http://www.dezeen.com/2013/07/30/magnetic-grown-dresses-by-iris-van-herpen-and-jolan-van-der-wiel/.Pp. 12-134. Dang, Yijie et Tang, Tom (YJBLLJSL), Tree, 2012, digital render-ing, http://landartgenerator.org/LAGI-2012/yjblljsl/#. Pp. 14-155. Dang, Yijie et Tang, Tom (YJBLLJSL), Tree, 2012, digital render-ing, http://landartgenerator.org/LAGI-2012/yjblljsl/#. Pp. 16-176. Trent, Jonathon, Energy from Floating Algae Pods, 2012, digital rendering, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-HE4Hfa-OY.Pp. 187. US Government Printing Office, Induction, Electricity from Mag-netism, 1949, etching, http://www.rfcafe.com/references/Electricians-Mate-3-NAVPERS-10548/navy-training-electricians-mate-3-NAVPERS-10548-chapter-4.htmPp. 198. Van Herpen, Iris van et Van der Wiel, Jólan, Magnetic Dresses, 2013, photograh, http://www.dezeen.com/2013/07/30/magnetic-grown-dresses-by-iris-van-herpen-and-jolan-van-der-wiel/.Pp. 249. Eisenman, Peter, Holyhoax Berlin War Memorial, 2005, photo-graph by Daniel Clements, http://www.dezeen.com/2008/01/20/memori-al-blocks-berlin-by-daniel-clements/. Pp. 2510. Eisenman, Peter, Holyhoax Berlin War Memorial, 2005, photo-graph by Daniel Clements, http://www.dezeen.com/2008/01/20/memori-al-blocks-berlin-by-daniel-clements/. Pp 26 – 2711. Armstrong, Rachel, Digital Fabrication of Protocells, 2009, Photograph, https://www.raic.org/honours_and_awards/awards_raic_awards/2011recipients/images/beesley02.jpg. Pp. 2912. Yrarrázabal, Sebastián, Arcos , Veronica et Von Chrismar, Andrea, Space FA Interior Rings High Plan, 2014, Digital Image, http://www.archdaily.

com/486097/space-fa-sebastian-yrarrazabal-veronica-arcos-andrea-von-chrismar/. 13. Yrarrázabal, Sebastián, Arcos , Veronica et Von Chrismar, Andrea, Space FA Section, 2014, Digital Image, http://www.archdaily.com/486097/space-fa-sebastian-yrarrazabal-veronica-arcos-andrea-von-chrismar/. 14. Yrarrázabal, Sebastián, Arcos , Veronica et Von Chrismar, An-drea, Space Section Pieces, 2014, Digital Image, http://www.archdaily.com/486097/space-fa-sebastian-yrarrazabal-veronica-arcos-andrea-von-chrismar/. Pp. 2815. Yrarrázabal, Sebastián, Arcos , Veronica et Von Chrismar, An-drea, Space FA, 2014, Photograph by Aryeh Kornfeld, http://www.archdaily.com/486097/space-fa-sebastian-yrarrazabal-veronica-arcos-andrea-von-chrismar/. pp. 34 (clockwise from top left)16. MIT Media Lab, Placing silkworms on frame, 2013, photograph, www.archdaily.com/384271/silk-pavilion-mit-media-lab/. 17. MIT Media Lab, Rendering of digital fabrication process, 2013, digital image, www.archdaily.com/384271/silk-pavilion-mit-media-lab/. 18. MIT Media Lab, Rendering of silkworm experiments, 2013, digital image, www.archdaily.com/384271/silk-pavilion-mit-media-lab/. 19. MIT Media Lab, Detail of digitally produced silk frame, 2013, pho-tograph, www.archdaily.com/384271/silk-pavilion-mit-media-lab/. pp. 35 (background Image)20. MIT Media Lab, detail of silkworm pavilion, 2013, photograph, www.archdaily.com/384271/silk-pavilion-mit-media-lab/. Pp. 36 – 3721. MIT Media Lab, detail of silkworm pavilion, 2013, photograph, www.archdaily.com/384271/silk-pavilion-mit-media-lab/. pp. 3822. Henze, Eno, Digital Illustrative Art, 2006, photograph, http://www.enohenze.de/current/wirklichkeitsschaum/4kl.jpg. 23. Henze, Eno, Digital Illustrative Art, 2006, photograph, http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2016/2221692693_fe987da3e1_m.jpg. Pp. 3924. Henze, Eno, Ambushes, 2008, Digital Illustration, http://eno-

henze.de/ambush/.

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Tesselation, is the tiling of geometrical sur-faces without space inbetween shapes or

overlapping planes. Normally, it occurs in two dimensions however, with computer aided de-sign, tesselation is becoming increasingly able to be pushed into the third dimension. This creates problems as suddenly the even grid surfaces become less able to host a two dimen-sional surface. The Voussoir Cloud installation by Iwamoto Scott, designed in association with Buro Happold is an example of this. Built uses flat surfaces of lazer cut wood, every element is in pure compression. With its ultra light mate-rial system, the design tesselates and produces only deliberate gaps however, each panellised surface is selected from 14 triangular shapes. There is not one single shape. The curvature of each petal is dependant and reactionary to the surrounding voids In this way, the design becomes more adaptive - it is dynamic due to its end points and set tangents. It is algorithmic and completely parametric.

Tesselation is interesting, particularly as pro-grams such as Grasshopper and Rhino en-able ever increasingly complex relationships between mathematics and objects in space. With this relationship emerges the challenge of trying to produce something that tesselates while is curving.

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Scale Slider: 0.588Z-Direction Slider: -2.20X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9

Scale Slider: 0.588Z-Direction Slider: -2.20X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo reset

Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: -2.20X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo reset

Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo reset to falsetimer set to 1 sec

Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo reset to falsetimer set to 1 secWeaverbird’s Sierpinski Triangles

Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo reset to falsetimer set to 1 secWeaverbird’s Sierpinski Triangles

Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo reset to trueMoving original points

Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo reset to trueMoving original points along z-axis

Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo reset to falseDelaunay EdgesShifting original curve

Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo reset to trueDelaunay EdgesMoving original points

Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Delaunay EdgesMoving original points

Scale Slider: -3.70Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Delaunay EdgesMoving original pointsCircle Radius: 5.127Kangaroo Stiffness: 245

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Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: 10.0X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo reset to true

Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo reset to falseDelaunay Edges

Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo reset to trueDelaunay Edges

Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo reset to trueDelaunay Mesh

Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo reset to falseDelaunay EdgesShifting original curve

Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo reset to falseDelaunay EdgesShifting original curveMoving original points


Scale Slider: -3.70Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Delaunay EdgesMoving original pointsWeaverbird Triangles

Scale Slider: -3.70Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo Stiffness: 45Delaunay EdgesMoving original pointsWeaverbird TrianglesKangaroo Physics: False

Scale Slider: -3.70Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo Stiffness: 245Delaunay EdgesMoving original pointsDelaunay EdgesKangaroo Physics: False

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Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo reset to trueWeaverbird TrianglesMoving original curve

Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo reset to trueWeaverbird TrianglesMoving original curveChanging radius of original Voronoi cells

Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: 10.0X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo reset to false

Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo reset to trueDelaunay EdgesMoving original points


Scale Slider: 0.794Z-Direction Slider: 5.40X-Vector Slider: 0Y-Vector Slider: 0Z-Vector Slider: 67.9Kangaroo Stiffness: 245Delaunay EdgesAddition of PointsWeaverbird TrianglesKangaroo Physics: False

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Double Agent White by Marc Fornes was a project in a series displaying Prototypical

Architectures. It features a continuous surface where 9 different spheres intersect to create freedom from minimal components. It “uses Object Oriented computing to generate developable parts for fabrication of double curved surfaces”. The Double Agent White employs sheet metal with air brushed white paint to enable its self-supporting structure.

Theverymany is known for his “extensive body of experimental, highly organic, large scale and self-supported structures, between art and architectures” which becomes obvious when examining this project of his. Its thin yet strudy shell allows select beams of light to enter the interior, creating a soft, light infused cavity.

The construction of the form is reliant upon computational and generative design. The pattern overlaid hugs the geometrical structure beneath. There is a connection between structure and ornament which creates a dynamic design. This combination interests me as I find the design appealing in its contrasts

between simplicity and complexity.


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Our first step in reverseengineering Double Agent White was to join 9 circes of varying radius’ together. We trialled one method before arriving at another whereby we used a bounding box and attractor points in order to produce the basic form of the overall pavilion.

Once our spheres were connected, we joined then, turning them into a single brep. Using a bounding box, we trimmed the solid to produce the image as above.

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Next, we altered the composition of the interlocking spheres to cre-ate a form that more closely resembled the original Double Agent White. To do this, we played with the placement of the attractor points by altering them in Rhino.

The biggest challenge that wenever were actually able to resolve was how to place an image on the surface of the Brep Mesh. We spent many hour deliberating, before deciding to attend a tech help session in which we were told Marc Fornes had not actually used Grasshopper to produce his pavilion, rather complex Python Scripting which, to be honest, was so far out of our capablitiy and therefore provided us with a convenient endpoint.

The final form, we simply panellised with triangles, exploring the

capabilities of Grasshopper’s surface division inputs.

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This installation in MoMA in New York was an interactive space whereby the room inundated everything aside from the room’s occupants. In terms of my installation on the LAGI site, the use of water and steam could be employed to produce an experience that is not just visual but also aural and sensory. Water is highly relevant to the site, as the location is bounded by water on three of its four sides. Copenhagen is also famous for its harbour and its extremely pure water. Recently, an expansion of the harbour has caused an increase in activity around the water’s edge. This culture of being by the water side, therefore should be included or at least considered in my final design.

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This design was chosen for its point of difference in rela-tion to our other examples in the matrix. Using a cone in-put we were able to move away from a spherical shape. A dynamic design was created through the intersection of these different cones. With further exploration of this design we believe that it has potential to be an interac-tive and sculptural from as dictated by the brief. We could perhaps make use of its pointed form when con-necting it to our energy renewing. Many of the past years examples used a portion of the energy created to allow the structure to do something, usually in relation to light. We could make the tips of the cones light up when a certain amount of energy has been created. Another idea to explore is the possibility of the sides of the cone flattening and then rising throughout the day due to the magnetic force somehow created by site users. This will be further explored through prototyping.

A funky design created through the lofting of circles between the two offset layers of our Brep shape. The circles intersect creating a nice pattern on the sur-face. We have yet to decide how this could potentially renew energy, however it is extremely sculptural. Its sculptural nature is defined by the delicateness which the circles create.

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Here, a feathering of layering is created. This design was selected for its delicacy and flexiblity. A possible direction would be using the petal-le layers to blow in the wind and create wind-energy. Another option would be to use magnetism to create a field as move-able parts draw near to each other.

Using contours with an attractor input for the distance between them an interesting form was created. It is ex-tremely spherical, however the patterns created by the contour is of interest to us. Perhaps we could have disks on an axis, shaped like each contour, which move. As they move and bang into one another they could help to create the magnetic energy which we are trying to create.

An explosive design with lines protruding from a central sphere was created through a map-to-surface input. The shape created is unique and different; we find it extremely interesting and see lots of potential for further interpola-tion. The central sphere could be a gathering area for the site, the protruding elements a sculptural design. This would allow users to contemplate the design from within it. Possibly the design could be even more user friendly by allowing it to be climbed. A design such as this one would also allow us to cover a large amount of the site, which itself is actually quite large. The design could be turned on its side or created upright. This flexibility is appealing

as it promotes further exploration.

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< > This prototype explores the basic form that we have created in Grass-

hopper and Rhino. It also tests the interaction between spheres and how it would be possible to change the number of components in the over-all form. This iteratative prototype is organic, which creates a soft and relaxed form. It would be an interesting paradigm change have an energy source that is delicate in form as opposed to a machine with harsh edges. Here we employed flexible twigs to wrap around a central spherical space. This natural material would be easily available at the LAGI site in Den-

mark, as Scandanavia is famous for its timber.

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This physical prototype was created based on the digital model which we created. The aim of this was to see how the arched

pipes which were made in rhino will fare once being created with paper. Straight away issues were run into with the creation of the pipe. It was not a smooth curve, as grasshopper had modelled, rather the paper bended at odd angles creating a pointed form. In order to create a smoother curve different folds and papers were experimented with. This twisted form created by folding the paper around itself was the best suited as it curved but still maintained a pipe-like form.

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Two different materials were tested in the cre-ation of this prototype. Firstly a normal paper

one, followed by a thicker card. Whilst the thicker card was a more durable and better looking out-come, with the thinner paper I was able to weave the strands into one another to create the form at the top. Both were made in the same fashion, by strips of paper being cut from the edge to the out-line of a circle. Due to the issue with sticking the strips together at the top of cone we began think about incorporating the renewing of energy and making the design more user friendly. Perhaps we could design a moving structure where the strips folded down and up during the day dependant on certain factors.

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P R O T O T Y P E 3 > > In order to emulate the softness and delicacy of the

form obtained in our explorations, we used black tis-sue paper. If this option were to be further explored however, other possibilities would have to be explored. Thin slices of wood could be used to construct an in-credibly beautiful piece. Other options could include using canvas or another waterproof material. An ex-citing possibility could be to use rubbish and junk from the surrounding waterways to create a space that pro-duces energy and awareness of litter in the sea. This installation could be added to by people who use the site - in a way, a type of community art project.

The central sphere in this design, we imagine, would be a gathering area for the site. The area

would most likely need to be enlarged. With a rough site cut out (not to scale) we randomly created a nest pattern around the sphere roughly copying the grass-hopper prototype we created. However, we turned the grasshopper design on its side when creating this pro-totype as we felt it would fit the brief better. The point of interest in this prototype is the large footprint of it. By using a random scattered pattern and perhaps in-creasing the number of domes around the site, most of the site could be incorporated into the design.

P R O T O T Y P E 5 > >

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Here, we have used conoturs, like in the tutorial on the Driftwood Pavilion to push our definition as far as possible.

This prototype uses a culling of points to produce a form that loops and extends over a central sphere.

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< >w e r e s t a r t s , d e c i d i n g t o -f r e e o u r s e l v e s f r o m t h e b o n d s o f d o u b l e a g e n t w h i t e

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n o w , n o t b a s e d o n D o u b l e A g e n t W h i t e b y M a r c F o r n e s


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T his digital model was created in grasshopper by using field attractors which made a series

of lines over a sphere form. Once the lines were piped, an elegant form with a number of intercon-

necting and intertwined arcs was created.

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Due to the small nature of the pipes we decided that prototyping this using the card cutter or manual

prototyping would be difficult and almost impossible to replicate properly. It was therefore decided to look into 3D printing. We aimed to test the model outside of the virtual world of Rhino where there was no gravity. We wanted to know if the model would perform well in a real life situation. Due to the fine members, in some areas

the model failed, however we now know that if we were to continue with this design we would need to take this factor into further consideration.

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n o w , n o t b a s e d o n D o u b l e A g e n t

< < b . 5P r o t o t y p i n g

< < C O P E N H A G E N > >


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Copenharbour Harbour contains some of the cleanest and most

pure water in the world. It therefore makes sense to exploit this resource and introduce a water element into our design and onto the LAGI site. In addition, the Copenhagen Harbour is currently under-going development to increase the use of its esteries. By adding to this by using the harbour’s water, our design will be better suited to the overall masterplan for its de-velopment.

Communal bathing is already a part of the culture in Denmark.By

creating a design that plays with this to produce electricity too, the site becomes multi-use. Situated near the scupture of the Little Mermaid, the site has the poten-tial to become a tourist hot-spot, helping to educate people on the benefits of sus-tainable and renewable power. From this brainstorming, we aim to include visitors in the success of the site’s renewal.

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Part B, honestly has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. For me, I found

it really difficult to get past the Grasshopper stage. Being confronted with the prospect that if I couldn’t understand the program, I wouldn’t pass was quite daunting. I strongly dislike the subject in that I don’t have a choice in program selection. However, I feel this module, I extended my knowledge by a long way. The mental block that originally existed when I openned a Grasshopper file is slowly decreasing in size.

Digital fabrication was another originally daunting task. This module culminated in a 3D printing job, which none of us had ever attempted before. It was exciting to find the employees at fablab were very helpful and equally excited as us to produce something tangible (finally). Although it was another struggle, I feel my next printing job will be more straightforward. From the process, we learnt that for our final, we will have to be careful in providing enough support to weaker members of the design and think critically about where best to plae our at-tractor points if we are to create a model that is self-supporting. This is a challenge that I both fear and am excited about. To push a model from “File to Factory” is a very rewarding activity. It is exciting that this is the same process architects such as Frank Gehry go through to produce their master-

pieces. The readings from Part B pushed this understanding of digital fabrication and deepened my basic understanding.

Through the completion of all of B1-6 and indepth examination of tesselating forms, my Grasshopper skills are becoming more refined. I still don’t understand lists and as-sociated flattening etc., however I am slowly getting there! I am better able to now pin-point what I don’t understand and act ac-cordingly.

This module, I feel I have become a more responsible learner. When I don’t under-stand something I ask for help straight away rather than avoiding the question. I’ve never emailed a tutor asking for help before but this module, I had little other choice, so it was a nice surprise to find a helpful re-sponse the next day.

After stop-starting constantly through this module, I feel I am now better equiped with having pushing through challenges and knowing that, eventually, I will get where I want to be.


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l e a r n i n g t o d e a l w i t h c o n s t a n t l yb e i n g s t u c k .

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1. Voussoir Cloud, Iwamoto Scott and Buro Happold, 2008, photograph, http://www.iwamotoscott.com/VOUSSOIR-CLOUD/.




5. Double Agent White, Marc Fornes, 2012, photograph, http://www.evolo.us/architecture/double-agent-white-in-series-of-prototypical-architectures-theverymany/


7. Double Agent White, Marc Fornes, 2012, photograph, http://strabic.fr/IMG/jpg/DSC_0507.jpg.


9. Rain Room, MoMA, 2012, photograph, http://www.electru.de/wp-content/uploads/RR-home-img2.jpeg.

10. Copenhagen Harbour Renewal, BIG + JD Architects, 2003, http://afasiaarq.blogspot.com/2012/09/big.html.

11. Copenhagen Harbour Renewal, BIG + JD Architects, 2003, http://afasiaarq.blogspot.com/2012/09/big.html.

t h i s t o o kf o r e v e r

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C o p e n h a g e n H a r b o u r /R e f s h a l e ø e n H o l d i n g

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89

Refshaleøen is a reclaimed island constructed predominately in the

1870s in Copenhagen Harbour when the port’s waterways were dredged to al-low an expansion for shipping. Upon completion of the man-made is-land, B&W constructed a shipping yard 1871 that operated for nearly 200 years and employed almost 8000 workers. Bankruptcy in 1996, led to significant changes in the shipyard’s functionality converting it from an industrial strong-hold to an artistic hub. Today, it is a cauldron of creativity, the abandoned buildings housing flea markets, artists and other entrepreneurs. Refshaleøen is used frequently as a venue for musical festivals, hosting the Copenhell festival in 2013.

In 2014, the site was used to host Euro-vision’s song contest, with the main stage in the middle of B&W Hallern.

Linking its past with the present, is the imagery of metal - the heavy sheet metal of ship-building and the current heavy metal rock from music festivals.

91

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Copenhagen area sur-rounding the LAGI site

< < C . 1 S I T E M A P > >

Copenhagen area sur-round the LAGI site B u i l d i n g s

Copenhagen area sur-round the LAGI site B u i l d i n g sR o a d s

Copenhagen area sur-round the LAGI site B u i l d i n g sR o a d sCurrent area for power generation

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In addition to this, the system provides a free source of hot water. This water can reach up to 120°C. We plan on using this free hot water for our public

baths which will be incorporated into the design, situated amongst each col-lection of tubes producing energy. 120°C is clearly too hot for people to be able to bathe in comfortably so we plan on having a mixer regulating the temperature of the baths. The final aspect of the design will be to have the panels glow in the dark at night by using carbon nanotubes photonic crystals that collect photons from a broader spectrum of light wavelengths than com-mon photovoltaic cells.

Our design started out as an assembly of spheres with holes punctured in them, however we quickly moved away from this idea in order to make a more sculptural and free structure. The result was a large mess of pipes curling up, over and around the site as if they had a life of their own. Although we enjoyed the fluidity present in this design, it was not structurally viable. We therefore continued to push our algorithm until we got to the design we have now. It is now a collection of 51 steel hoops set up to 5¬¬m into the air located randomly over the site. It is from these hoops that the tubes containing the photovoltaic panels and water tubes spring out like waterfalls, hitting the stone base into which the baths are carved. There are 9 tubes per hoop, however 2 of these are structural and therefore made of steel. It is through these 2 pillars that the energy will be collected and directed to the grid.

< < V I E W F R O M O U T S I D E S I T E > >

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Introducing ‘Sol Lagune’’, our response to the LAGI brief.

We wanted to create a design that would not only generate readily available energy to be used by the city of Copenhagen but also provide a place of community and opulence that could be used by everyone.

What is it? It’s a communal bathing landscape that uses re-newable energy to cycle and heat water around the bath sys-tem. Additional energy from photovoltaic panels is fed to the grid. WWe started by deciding that the design should have an organic, emotive form. We also wanted to make us of the sites location by using the bay water. We were able to combine those two desires once we discovered an interesting break-through tech-nology called tubular-photovoltaic panels. The concept of the

technology is a cogeneration system. This means there are two interacting systems. Firstly there are glass tubes of 120mm in diameter. These house silicon photovoltaic panels that curve around the inside of the tube. Secondly, situated behind the solar panels, are 50mm diameter glass pipes with water run-ning through them. This whole system optimises the energy production due to four factors: (1) the curved surface focuses the light onto the photovoltaic panel. (2) The fact it is curved means that the panels are always perpendicular to the sun and therefore are always able to collect photons. (3) The curved shape permits the panels to collect diffuse and reflected light to create energy. (4) Cooling down the panels by having the wa-ter run behind them collecting excess heat. Indeed, it is normal for photovoltaic panels to heat up during the day, however this diminishes their efficiency.

S o lL a g u n e

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S o lL a g u n e

< < c . 1 p r o -p o s l a > >

< < T H E M A L B A T H S > >W I T H R E N E W A B L E H E A T I N G

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< < D A Y T I M E R E N D E R I N G > >

Our design will light up at night from energy produced during the day. The PV tubular system will glow, powered by LED lights, allowing the site to be

used at night as well as during the day. This will increase tourism and use of the site. In the future, there is the possbility of using the steam to show films and other the-atrical shows at night. Projectors could be used, again to increase use of the site.

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S o lL a g u n e

< < c . 1 p r o -p o s l a > >

< < N I G H T T I M E R E N D E R I N G > >

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p l a n s

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< >

The baths sit directly underneath the snaked pip-ing, creating a bird cage of sorts for the user.

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N

W a t e r C i r c u l a t i o nS y s t e m

< < c . 1 p r o -p o s l a > >

The tide rises and falls by 0.1 m approxi-mately every 10 hours. It would there-

fore be imperative that the water intake be about 0.2 m under sea level.

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heated water

concrete

soil

water from harbour

water direction

Scale 1:10

Water Entry into Baths

bath

steel support

Pump

Scale 1:10

Ground Level Connection

cold water

heated water

steel

concrete

ground

bath

mixer

bath rock

water direction

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Water Circulation through Solar PVs

cold water

welded joints

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Scale 1:10

Ground Level Connection

cold water

heated water

steel

concrete

ground

bath

mixer

bath rock

water direction

w a t e r f l o w s

< < c . 2 T e c -t o n i c s > >

cold water

heated water

Scale 1:10

heated water

Scale 1:5

Single Cell MergingPod

steel

Water Heating through Circulation

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1207 0 50Scale 1:10

All measurements in millimetres

Dimensions of Pipes

50

70

120

Scale 1:10


Dimensions of Pipes

1700

15001001 00 100

1700

15001001 00 101207 0 50

Water Circulation through Solar PVs

Dimensions of Structure

welded joints

148.55

222.75

343.70

60.475 60.475

Dimensions of Intersection Pod

Hub Connections

free movement of water

tube system

rubber connection ring

rubber connection

Scale 1:10

Single Cell

Scale 1:10

water piping

steel support tubing

solar PV

rubber seal

glass casing

Exploded Diagram of Single Cell

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D i a g r a m s

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1207050Scale 1:10

o p t i m i s a t i o n

< < c . 2 T e c -t o n i c s > >

The feedback from the final presentations made us feel as though the tutors felt our design was too simplistic. We

decided to try to find a more dynamic and emotive form.

Through manipulating the graph in grasshopper the domes became different shapes, however still very close to

the original form. For this reason we continued optimising

< < o n e > >

This design was definately more emotive. By enlarging the multiplication of the graph dramatically i achieved a new

and extreemly ore emotive forms. Now the lines were flowing around the site all unique rather than the previous repetitive

formation.

The lines, however were not always stable. For printing reasons we were unable to go ahead with this. Some of the

tubes looped around themselves making printing impossible.

< < t w o > >

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Through reducing this multiplication and playing around with the graph some more this design was achieved.

While it still has some of the loops which the prior design had, they are no where near as dramatic and therefore

more achievable.

We decided to go ahead with this design,

< < t h r e e > >

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Copenhagen has on average 18 hours of sunlight in the summer and 7hours in the winter. This gives an annual solar resource of 975kWh

per sq m according to Gasmia9

In comparison to Melbourne the sunlight seems quite similar. As does the cloud cover and clearness, both places averaging at 04.3 clearness. The temperature in Melbourne averages at 5 degrees higher than Copenhagen.

London’s sun pattern is extreemly similar to Copenhagen. The cloud cover 38% It’s temperature on a yearly average is 3 degree’s higher than Copenha-gen at 11 degrees. Temperature however has little impact on the tubes perfor-mance. Due to the similarity between London and Copenhagen we feel that information about the panels energy output in London will be similar to that of Copenhagen.

The system we propose combines the production of electricity and hot water. The electricity created by the solar panels will all be sent to the grid as there

is enough energy absorbed by the tubes to heat the water without impacting the electricity production. Indeed, this can be seen through evacuated tube so-lar hot water. These tubes are also well suited to extremely cold temperatures and work in low-light

The average monthly output of 20 tubes (47mm diameter, 1.5m long) in the UK are seen in the chart above12.Therefore the annual average is 44.9 kWh13. This system has a positive output of energy.“Solar Panels - Solar Hot Water” Navitron, http://www.navitron.org.uk/page. php?id=26&catId=71On site, the energy will be used for three purposes: - pumping water from the bay into the design (the tubes the- selves are self pumping. - filtering the water of salt (if this becomes an issue) - Cooling the water down; however this could also be achieved through using water from the mains supply.

< < e n e r g y o u t p u t > >

3 D m o d e l

< < c . 3 f i -n a l m o d e l > >

< < s i t e m o d e l > >

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Hybrid Tubular Solar Panels are a new age technology. They are

still experimental however they were chosen as they are able to produce energy from solar power more effi-ciently due to its ability to heat water. Regular PV’s operate at a 20% efficiency rate and tend to stop pro-ducing energy efficiently after they have reached a certain temperature, typically 77degrees Celsius1. The advantage of using the hybrid tubular system is its ability to cool itself down to continue to produce peak amounts of electricity. The water which flows through the vacuum tubes within the larger tube cools the tube down through transferring the heat to the water2. This water will then heat the water of our spa’s. The ideal temperature of a hot spring ac-cording to Peninsular Hot springs is 50 degrees3. The panels however can achieve temperature of 1204 degree’s so the hot water will have to be continually mixed with cold water from the bay or mains. The water running through the tubes will be drawn from the bay and then released back into the bay. There could also be an issue with the salt in the water in the bay. For this reason it may need to be filtered.

In Denmark the optimal positioning for solar panel is at an angle of 45 to 60 degree’s5. Due to the curved nature of our design, some areas will fit into this perfectly while otherswill not fit. Particularly the areas which will be covered by the bath bowl will not perform. These areas will not be made of the product, instead only glass tubes

In Denmark the average Photovol-taic outputs 100 to 120 per kWh per m2 of solar PV. Naked Energy, one of the few companies who have a hybrid solar tube claims that their tubes are 45% more energy efficient than normal solar panels. This is due to three reasons. Firstly this was due to the water cooling aspect. Secondly the tubes have advanced Solar Paneltechnologies within them undertaken by Imperial College London. Thirdly, they work very well in cold, cloudy or otherwise unfavourable conditions. Even if this became an issue the tech-nology could be further advanced through the implementation of in-frared or ultraviolet panels as these lights are accessible almost 24hours of the day.


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Copenhagen has on average 18 hours of sunlight in the summer and 7hours in the winter. This gives an annual solar resource of 975kWh per sq m according to Gasmia9

In comparison to Melbourne the sunlight seems quite similar. As does the cloud cover and clearness, both places averaging at 04.3 clearness. The temperature in Melbourne aver-ages at 5 degrees higher than Co-penhagen.

London’s sun pattern is extreemly sim-ilar to Copenhagen. The cloud cover 38% It’s temperature on a yearly av-erage is 3 degree’s higher than Co-penhagen at 11 degrees. Temperature however has little impact on the tubes performance. Due to the similarity be-tween London and Copenhagen we feel that information about the panels energy output in London will be simi-lar to that of Copenhagen.

The system we propose combines the production of electricity and hot water. The electricity created by the

solar panels will all be sent to the grid as there is enough energy absorbed by the tubes to heat the water without impacting the electricity production. Indeed, this can be seen through evacuated tube solar hot water. These tubes are also well suited to extremely cold tempera-tures and work in low-light

The average monthly output of 20 tubes (47mm diameter, 1.5m long) in the UK are seen in the chart above12.Therefore the annual average is 44.9 kWh13. This system has a positive output of energy.“Solar Panels - Solar Hot Water” Navitron, http://www.navitron.org.uk/page. php?id=26&catId=71On site, the energy will be used for three purposes: - pumping water from the bay into the design (the tubes the- selves are self pumping. - filtering the water of salt (if this becomes an issue) - Cooling the water down; however this could also be achieved through using water from the mains supply.

h y b r i d t u b u -l a r s o l a r p a n e l s

< < c . 4 t e c h -n o l o -g y r e s e a r c h> >

Sol Lagune is an exciting new project that we are passionate about and would like to present to you for submission to the LAGI competition. We wanted to create a design that would not only generate energy readily available to be used by the city of Copen-hagen but also provide a place of community and opulence that could be used by every-one. We decided the design should have an organic, emotive form. We discovered an interesting new, break-through technology called tubular-photovoltaic panels which fit perfectly with our design. The concept is that you have glass tubes of 120mm in diameter. (Cogeneration system) These house two main parts: silicon photovoltaic panels that curve around the inside of the tube and then situated behind them are 50mm rubber pipes with water running through them. This whole system optimises the energy produc-tion due to multiple factors: the curved sur-face focuses the light onto the photovoltaic panel, the fact it is curved also means that the panels are always perpendicular to the sun and therefore are always able to collect pho-tons, another advantage of the curved shape is that the panels can collect diffuse and reflected light to create energy. It is normal for photovoltaic panels to heat up during the day, and this diminishes their efficiency. Hav-ing a tube of water running behind them col-lects that excess heat which has two benefits: cooling down the panels, permitting them to optimise the energy production and also pro-

duces hot water. This water can reach up to 120°C. We plan on using this free hot water for our public baths. 120°C is clearly too hot for people to be able to bathe in comfortably so we plan on having a mixer regulating the temperature of the baths. Another aspect of the design will be to have the panels glow in the dark at night by using carbon nanotubes photonic crystals that collect photons from a broader spectrum of light wavelengths than the photovoltaic cells.Our design started out as an assembly of spheres with holes punctured in them, how-ever we quickly moved away from this idea in order to make a more sculptural and free structure. The result was a large mess of pipes curling up, over and around the site as if they had a life of their own. Although we enjoyed the fluidity present in this design, it was not structurally viable. We therefore continued to push our design. It is now a collection of 37 steel hoops set 9m into the air located ran-domly over the site. It is from these hoops that the tubes containing the photovoltaic panels and water tubes spring out like waterfalls, hit-ting the stone base into which the baths are carved. There are 9 tubes per hoop, however 2 of these are structural and therefore made of steel. It is through these 2 pillars that the energy will be collected and directed to the grid.

h y b r i d t u b u -l a r s o l a r p a n e l s

< < c . 4 o p t i -m i s a t i o n > >

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Annual energy production:Solar panel: In Denmark on average: 100kWh/m² for normal panel, tubular produces 45% more which is 145kWh/m² (annually). Size of panel: 1.5m long, 120mm diameter circle -> perimeter of circle is 377mm or 3.77m therefore panel is 5.66m².Each panel produces 145*5.66 = 820kWh per year.

Our design: 37 hoops with seven tubes. Each tube is nine meter long divided into 1.5m long sections of solar panels, so there are 6 panels per tube. There is therefore a total of 1554 panels over the site.Each panel produces 820kWh, so the site produces 1274280kWh per year.

Optimisation:20 hoops - total panels: 840 -> 688800kWh per year.60 hoops - total panels: 2520 -> 2066400kWh per year.

However, although more panels technically produces more energy, they also create more shade and will therefore block neighbouring

panels reducing the amount of energy being produced. We decided to go with the middle option as it did not over-crowd the site, per-mitted easy access to the site and did not feel like we were locking the bath users into bird cages.

Technologies: tubular solar panels, pumped water, generator, baths, glow in the dark pho-tonic crystals

d e s c r i p t i o n s

< < c . 5 L e a r n -i n g o u t c o m e s

Here is a subject that has tested every frontier of the brain (and at times, physical strength and stamina...). Few sub-

jects have the capacity to stretch the mind of all knowledge. But ‘Studio Air’ has. And, in essence, this is how creative output should evolve. Knowledge should push the designer to deliver a response that has never been. The imagination should meet with reason to produce a cacophony of carefully considered elements. Studio Air was this knowledge – the realisation that design doesn’t necessarily have to arise from having an ending in sight nor does it have to stem from a hu-man brain – the computer has enormous power and potential. This was why I found the subject so stimulating. It bamboo-zled me at every front. In Part A, we were asked to look at design process backwards (at first glance, backwardly) and not design to a brief, instead, interpret the world generatively. Then, we were asked to use Grasshopper and Rhino to produce a form. This mathematical and somewhat uncontrol-lable approach was challenging for me and my group mem-bers however, I now feel more comfortable in the world of virtuality. It is satisfying being a step closer to understanding how computers operate and the technology controlling them.

Through the completion of this subject, my skills in computa-tional geometry, parametric modelling, analytic diagramming and digital fabrication have been increased to a level where I now feel comfortable to self-teach and further increase my aptitude. It is also liberating to have the skill-set to quickly produce iterations for optimising designs. My future work will accelerate with this knowledge and allow me to donate more time to other aspects of the brief and accompanying design. I am grateful for the having had this introduction to visual programming, algorithmic design and parametric modelling. This course has forced me to interrogate a brief somewhat backwardly – the careful balancing act of matching a design to a brief was turned on its head in the generation of our response to LAGI.

After many months of this subject I have also just uncovered the link between the name of the subject and its meaning. Air, I believe is named such due to the translation between the computer and reality – the addition of gravity and weight when a concept is driven into the real world. This aspect was also challenging – how to adapt our design to mould with the technology’s current level of ability. The 3D printer is still un-able to print material suspended in the air (surprisingly), such as loops and cantilevered sections.

Thinking critically about to adapt the Grasshopper definition to the site and the specifications of the brief was the most fun part. Creating a program was when our creative and non-technical nor mathematical brains came back into use and were able to free-spiral into creative thinking. I really like our proposal and think that our design successfully matches the brief by bringing together a community of people – from tourists to citizens of Copenhagen and is inclusive of people of all walks of life – from little kids to the elderly. Wellbeing is something that I am very passionate about and our design cleverly encourages being outdoors, socialising, recuperation and increased awareness of alternative energy generation. Looking into the future, computers are only going to become more prevalent. With this subject’s introduction to digital architecture, its potential and current state, I feel as though I will one day, be able to completely unlock the computer’s capacity and use this invaluable tool as driver of my architec-

tural design in future practice.

At the beginning of the course, I wrote on the contents page a quotation from Tony Fry. He asked how a “future can actu-ally be secured by deisgn...”One answer it seems, lies within computer science, ready to be unlocked by the mind.

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i m a g e s

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0-7 Munkeboe, Claudia, Photos of LAGI site, 2014, photography, Photos by Claudia Munkeboe, http://landartgenerator.org/ (11/06/2014).

8-13 Jones, R, Potter, O and Santomartino, Renders of Sol Lagune for LAGI, Studio Air, 2014, collage.

14-18 Jones, R, Potter, O and Santomartino, Photographs of Final Model for LAGI, Studio Air, 2014, photography.

19-23 Deep Design, Virtu PVT, 2014, photography, Naked Energy, http://www.nakedenergy.co.uk/product/how-it-works/, (11/06/14).

24-26 Potter, Olivia, Sketches of Sol Lagune, fine liner and ink, Studio Air, 2014.

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< < E N D > >j o u r n a l h a s b e e n c o m p l e t e d .

air studio olivia potter final

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