J O U R N A LA D S - A I RK AT H L E E N K O P I E T Z3 9 1 0 5 4

PERSONAL PROJECTSTUDLEY PARK BOATHOUSE

The development of this project was conceived with reference to the architects Alvar Aalto and Daniel Libeskind. These two very different architects inspired my creation of a building that could integrate well with its surrounding natural identity and enhance the clientele’s experience of the surrounding environment. I learnt that there can be many alternative ways in which to fulfil this aim and it depended most ardently on all manner of aspects associated with the site in which the building would eventually reside.

My understanding of the brief for this project highlighted the requirement for the Gateway to connect with its natural surroundings, social surroundings and the built elements in the Wyndham municipality but with a inspiring thread involved as well. The Gateway structure I don’t want to meld into the surroundings, it will need to grab attention and spark an interest in the viewer, a curiosity that will encourage a visit.

With the Boathouse project I was primarily concerned with the connection to the natural surrounds and drew inference on how to deal with that from Aalto. To deal with the social connection and also inspiration on aesthetics I looked at the work of Daniel Libeskind.

Libeskind’s Jewish Museum in Berlin is an interesting example of a strong social construction that drives the design and has inspired other architects to build with a strong emotional input. In his statement Libeskind explained how the built form is based on three integral conceptions that were concerned with the momentous historical events that took place in Germany regarding the Jewish community. “ first, the impossibility of understanding the history of Berlin without understanding the enormous intellectual, economic and cultural contribution made by the Jewish citizens of Berlin, second, the necessity to integrate physically and spiritually the meaning of the Holocaust into the consciousness and memory of the city of Berlin. Third, that only through the acknowledgement and incorporation of this erasure and void of Jewish life in Berlin, can the history of Berlin and Europe have a human future.”

The museum is able to imbue the stark facts of the past, and also convey emotional and physical cues to enhance the experience for the visitor. Although not a Gateway or public artwork this building holds some interesting possibilities for me to learn from. I went to the building in the holidays and found for myself that the built form was sincere and not overtly “literal or didactic”, as was cited for the Gateway not to be. It juxtaposes yet integrates with the existing building the Baroque Kollegienhaus. The museum exemplified to me how architecture can be used to create and icon for a social occurrence, a historical past through new innovative design techniques.

This talk (http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_libeskind_s_17_words_of_architectural_inspiration.html) given by Daniel Libeskind, corny as it may seem, has reiterated some of the ingredients I should employ that are vital for designing. His talk is focussed on 17 words that he designs by and I have found this talk helpful because I know that I have been quite easily bogged down in words that flap about but fail to really reach the crux of what I am trying to say.There were quite a few concepts that he covered that I found quite applicable;

Firstly my apprehension within this course lies squarely with the computer. It is a useful tool, but a tool that I know am not entirely in control of. Libeskind broaches this topic in his talk, “how can we make the computer respond to the hand rather than the hand responding to the computer…?”

STATE OF THE ART PROJECTDANIEL LIBESKIND - JEWISH MUSEUM

He reiterates the strength and inherent invention that the hand possesses and unlike some practitioners believes in the importance of understanding from hand drawings on paper not just ones made on the screen. It is definitely for me a must, to draw to understand and then translate and hopefully enhance via computational means. It was somewhat a warning to make sure that in order to reduce the whole bumbling around until a happy accident comes my way, I must draw, draw and draw some more on paper before just trying to come up with something on screen.

Secondly Libeskind brought up the concept of “wonder”. This element of wonder is an interesting idea that is after a little consideration something that I feel is needed in the development of a really effective proposal for this Gateway project. In his Museum the visitor is encapsulated in/on an emotional journey within the depths of a historical occurrence. It is highly important that the Gateway design somehow invokes an emotional response. It is this emotional reception that gives architecture a whole new richness. It needs to draw the people zooming past in their cars away from their direct route into the city and get them to wonder about what actually is in the Wyndham shire? Encourage them to explore. It has to really act as a billboard an advertisement that grabs the viewer and ENGAGES them (while of course being safe drivers).

It ties in quite strongly with this weeks reading particularly the exploration of architecture as sign. The article by Richard Williams, ‘Architecture and Visual Culture’ explores how architecture in some instances acts as sign, embodying a message about the cultural context it is associated with. He talks of how the Eiffel Tower is a “symbol of Paris” it has marked the engineering and science of the nineteenth century, not to forget the aesthetic as well, it now acts as an immediate icon one recognisable to all. I feel as though the brief is asking for a work that will somehow be able to grab the drivers’ attention, emotionally excite them while expressing enough to coerce their conception of Wyndham into that of a place they must visit and spend some time in.

STATE OF THE ART PROJECTASYMPTOTE ARCHITECTS - THE YAS HOTEL

The YAS Hotel by Asymptote Architects diverges from the work I previously completed and the work of the Architect Daniel Libeskind. Asymptote’s method of designing is rooted in experimentation with advanced and innovative approaches (computational and otherwise) to solve their architectural quandaries.

The hotel was conceived as a architectural landmark that would embody various key influences and inspirations ranging from the aesthetics and forms associated with speed, movement and spectacle to the artistry and geometries forming the basis of ancient Islamic art and craft traditions. It is an interesting precedent because it deals both with clients that will experience the building as hotel guests but works also as a iconic landmark that is experienced in a vehicle. These two links are similar in essence to the themes we must address in this proposal high speed viewing and a design that is influenced by the culture that it resides within.

This very different designing method I find very interesting their design precedents I feel can be seen parallel to the precedents we are required to fulfil in our own designs for the Gateway. It is also extremely interesting to see how they are using new computational technologies to develop their designs, “blurring the lines between the virtual and the real world”.

I N N O V A T I V E D I G I T A L P R E C E D E N T SS T U D I O G A N G A R C H I T E C T S - LINCOLN PARK NATURE BOARDWALK

This week I focussed on discovering more architectural projects and designs that were created with computational techniques. The architectural firm I ended up most interested in was Studio Gang Architects, a group based in America with work all over the world. In the reading for this week the author states that “unique innovations presented by computers and computational techniques are instrumental in design methods today.” SG state on their website this school of thought is integral in their approach to designing.

Computers can allow for repetition, consistency and precision, they can speed up processes and extend others.

SG’s projects showed that they had capitalised on these criteria and utilised computation to push these mechanisms further to develop interesting designs. The Lincoln Park Nature Boardwalk project in Chicago, 2010 included this pavilion that provided shelter and a sculptural addition to the park, a gateway? on a larger scale?

T H E A Q U A T O W E RBY STUDIO GANG ARCHITECTURE

Another project by the Studio Gang group that I found interesting was their Aqua Tower, again in Chicago. Here they have used a natural phenomenon very pertinent to the site. The building overlooks the sea and is cleverly constructed so that it assumes the eddies and flows that one sees in the water. This building was modeled with parametric inputs to create the facade and could then be manipulated to emulate more of the wave, swell and eddie formations that give the facade its interesting form.

S C R I P T I N G P R E C E D E N T SP R O J E C T X - H A R E S H L A L V A N I

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For most architects today some form of their practice, if not all of it, is informed by or dependent on computers. The software one uses for design has its limitations and these limitations are often the reasons why design is hampered, unoriginal or physically inconceivable.

For American based designer Dr Haresh Lalvani scripting is a means to annihilate this inherent problem with software and manipulate it in such a way that suits his requirements. By using scripting techniques designers can transcend the factory set limitations imposed by their 3D software. They can take charge of the tool that they are employing and harness it to breed new and innovative responses to design problems.

Working in collaboration with Milgo/Bufkin Fabricating Group for less than 10 years, Lalvani has concentrated on morphing and fabricating his conceptions simultaneously thus creating a seamless whole. He believes that ‘straight lines and flat planes are a minority throughout the universe’, so he has devoted his skills to produce complex algorithmically curved products. Lalvani’s AlgoRythmn columns discount the need for harsh folds and edges common in typical algorithmic designs, instead they organically and smoothly articulate the surface that is clad in glass also scripted into the design process.

To conceive this interesting form Lalvani looked at the Morphological Genome a universal code for mapping and manipulating all form: natural, man made and artificial. He came across it on the search for a “shape gene” in nature, one such gene does not exist so in its absence a shape genome needed to be designed.

In laymans terms what resulted was a composition of families of morphological genes that specified a host of related parameters. This was all scripted by Lalvani and gave rise to his AlgoRythmn columns the basis for this Project X, apartment building in Manhattan that was designed for Stanley Perelman.

To create these structures, a procedure was developed so that single, continuous metal sheets are shaped by computer-driven equipment according to the algorithmically generated geometries. This approach permits the structures to be modeled and easily fabricated translating into a reasonable cost.

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In this pavilion by Metalab architects a complex developmental process involving scripted iterations was undertaken in order to develop the final form. The project was concerned with reinterpreting the avant garde architect Frederick Kielser’s Grotto for Meditation. The Lab utilised digital, parametric and scripting techniques in order to accurately re construct a new take on the old master’s design.

With the computer enacting all of the tedious drawing and form building the lab members were free to experiment with more complex scripts. The result was a quicker realisation of the project to a standard otherwise impossible in such a short time frame. Many iterations could be tested thus the end product was a highly considered tested option.

Learning from these innovative digitally driven projects it is clear that many old tedious processes can be eliminated with the utilisation of scripting techniques. With a greater understanding of scripting the architect can break free of constraint and truly push his or her designs in new and exciting directions. For the Wyndham City Gateway the council specified the want for ‘innovative’ design that would reflect well on their city. They also had a financial constraint and although we are not being hampered by it in our explorations the use of Rhino and Grasshopper to design if utilised correctly will be useful in minimising costs a common benefit spoken about by practitioners of parametric and scripted design procedures. This cost minimisation often comes about as a result of greater flexibility with time; the computer can develop many iterations without time consuming and laborious drawing. This can then lead to a higher quality of design, as there is more time to test more options.

R E S P O N S E T O T H E L E C T U R EW E E K 0 4

I just had to add this in because today’s lecture on performative design has thrown up some interesting questions for me. What struck me after Gerome’s talk was a very strange empty feeling. My initial comprehension of the ideas brought up in the lecture influenced the to wonder if we are to go down the lines of optimising all our buildings where does the architect cease to be important in the process? When will there be computer programs that are faster and more accurate at performing tasks we carry out now that don’t need our input? Will this time occur? Will the need for the architect’s involvement become redundant?

I thought it was an interesting angle looking at the task between the design and the optimisation as becoming a compromise aesthetics or functionality. I was forced to consider what the role of the architect is again in order to address this discouraging question. I went back to Stanislav’s first series of lectures and most particularly the discourse theme that architects act as the generators of. It is that idea of a connection, a hinge or bolt that interacts with several surfaces in order to join them. The presence of this element is vital to provide the correct inputs to drive the design and to add what is inherently missing in computation a human influence.

I don’t quite know why I felt so deflated by the lecture, I think it just was delivered in such a way that I couldn’t help thinking about how architecture can be so close to becoming a part of an entirely different field engineering for example depending on the needs and requirements of the zeitgeist, and instead of seeing this as a bad thing it is a means of evolving, becoming more applicable, more sustainable and more resourceful.

P R O J E C T C U TW E E K 4 - E X P E R I M E N T A T I O N

Using the very direct focussed sentence “DESIGN IS A PURPOSEFUL ACTIVITY AIMED AT ACHIEVING WELL DEFINED GOALS” this week we (Alexa, Mykel and I) set out on learning how to achieve the best outcomes possible with the input, association and outputs files for Grasshopper. We also wanted to better understand what drove the elements to developing forms, this ment quite a lot of time was spent sitting in font of the computer going “awwww,” “HuH”, “AHA”, “YESSS AH no”, “PERF”. It has been good tackling this beast together the project seemed quite daunting and I honestly had know idea where to start let alone the expertise to drive Grasshopper to do the things I wanted!

We all were in charge of scripting up a combination of different input/association/output elements and then playing around with them and understanding what we had done to be able to explain this to each other.

These are iterations by Mykel and Alexa and are a mixture of other files that I didn’t use and some that I did. We have yet to really bed down a design path to follow yet so our experimentation may seem different however we all had strong influence from our site visit last week.

I melded together the curve attractor scripts, the closest points, rotation operation and to finish it all off fiddled around with lofting and extruding bits of it. I found that I began to follow where things could go, what I could add to make components work and how to alter things so that I could get visibly different outcomes.

I felt successful in this researching/learning exercise it helped me begin to understand Grasshopper and Rhino better and I think that given a bit more time to experiment and develop some interesting designs will hopefully evolve.

My iterations were built from the original circle geometry, which I was sick of so I substituted in rectangles and saw what happened when I added number sliders to alter the configuration. Number sliders are my favourite things, they really make it all more tangible for me, I actually feel in control rather than stabbing around in the dark hoping the box wont turn red!

Thursday the 22 we went out to visit the site and have a look for ourselves at the character of Werribee and what could be experienced…….+

W E R R I B E ES I T E V I S I T