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AirStudioARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO

XIAODI ZHANG

2015

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AIR STUDIO #2

TUTOR: CHEN

STUDENT: XIAODI ZHANG

STUDENT NUMBER: 657695

SEMESTER TWO, 2015

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A

Table of Contents

4 Introduction

7 Design Futuring

11 Design Computation

15 Composition/Generation

18 Conclusion

19 Learning Outcome

21 Reference

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A

INTRODUCTION

My name is Xiaodi Zhang (Dora), I am 21 years old and a third year

student in Bachelor of Environments majoring architecture.

Born in Beijing, China, I have been studied in Melbourne since 2012. I used to study accounting in the foundation before the University. While accounting is boring for me, so I changed to study architecture be-cause I like drawing and designing.

Architecture is a comprehensive career which intergrades multidisci-plinary. The complexity of architec-ture itself is attracting for me because I found that architectural designing is related to plenty of precedent re-searches, science, landscape, etc. Also, using designing techniques, some architects create parks, furni-ture, products or even fashion de-sign. I am really interested in the de-signing process of challenging and exploring the conventions with mul-tidisciplinary.

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A

MY PROJECT

I learnt rhino skills and paneling tool skills in the subject of Digital Design and Fab-

rication. Digital technique allows me to expand the designing approach and design something that is extremely hard to produce by two dimensional drawing. It provides a quicker way to create and change the design for designers and it shows a shift from traditional design to computational design.

I also understood the digital fabrication procedure of CNC machine and 3D printing. The fabrication skills with fabri-cation machines and variable materials are useful for further model making.

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Part A

CONCEPTUALIZATION

Part B

CRITERIA DESIGN

Part C

DETAILED DESIGN

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A.1. DESIGN FUTURING

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BEIJING GARDEN EXPO PARK

Fig 1. Beijing Garden Expo Park

2013, Beijing, China

Fig 2. Diagram of Sun Hours per day for Wave Garden, Beijing Garden Expo Park

Beijing Garden Expo Park (Fig. 1) is locat-ed at the west bank of Yongding River.

The site used to be a construction rubbish landfill. However, the abundant environment has been reused and recreated as an eco-logical park with science and technology.Water recycling system is installed in the park and the vegetation as a filter amelio-rates the water quality of Yongding River. 1

With the concept of representing the

environment ecologically, the previous geography of rubbish landfill is remained and designed as a sunken valley with plenty of vegetation. The selection of vegetation species is related to scientific analysis such as digital diagraming of sun hours per day (Fig. 2).

The project as a “democratic design” focuses on the sustainability of environ-ments. 2 The park improves the regional ecological environments, and thus it leads to the direction of the city devel-opment which combines cultural inher-ence with ecology priority aiming to serve people’s livehood. It also has edu-cational functions not only for science popularization but also for the increased potential of sustainable design in the fu-ture. As the project is finished by the inte-gration of design and science, multidis-ciplinary is another emerging direction for design development in the future.

1. China International Garden Expo, About Beijing Garden Expo (2013), < http://www.gardenexpo-park.com/About/abge/162.html > [accessed 12 August 2015].

2. Tony Fry, Design Futuring: sustainability, ethics and new practice (Oxford: BERG, 2009), p. 1-16.

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UPPSALA POWER PLANTBIG, 2014, Uppsala, Sweden

Fig 3. Uppsala Power Plant

Fig 4. Diagrams of form generation

Uppsala Power Plant is a biomass cogeneration plant as a sup-

plement for the existing infrastruc-ture designed by BIG in Sweden.

The plant was proposed to be seasonal use as the peak loads happened in au-tumn, winter and spring. However, with transparent enclosure, the new build-ing is designed to invite people visiting in summer when the plant shut down. 3 Consequently, the plant will provide cultural and social life in summer. Also, BIG designed the building as an edu-cational centre in winter. Thus, the plant is fully functional in terms of energy, so-cial, cultural and educational aspects.

BIG also challenged the conventional industry layout and building geometry. They replaced the linear layout with compact layout and created the dome structure combining maxi-mum enclosure with minimum envelope. The colored photovoltaic panels allow the dome structure to express thermal exposure by dif-ferent color ranging from red to blue. 4

The project is considered as a “critical de-sign” which beyond “radical design”. For the designing process, BIG identified the short-coming of precedents and provides a bet-ter design with exploration and innovation. Moreover, the consideration of how to in-tegrate the site with the project both func-tionally and visually is always important.

3. Karissa Rosenfield, BIG’s “Unconventional” Uppsala Power Plant Designed to Host Summer Festivals (2015) <http://www.archdaily.com/603259/big-s-unconventional-uppsala-power-plant-to-host-summer-festivals> [accessed 12 August 2015].

4. BIG, Uppsala Power Plant (2014) <http://www.big.dk/#projects-upp> [accessed 12 August 2015].

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A.2. DESIGN COMPUTATION

5. Rita Margarida Serra Fernandes, Generative Design: a new stage in the design process (2013) <https://fenix.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/downloadFile/395145541718/Generative%20Design%20a%20new%20stage%20in%20the%20design%20process%20-%20Rita%20Fernandes-%20n%C2%BA%2058759.pdf> [accessed 12 Au-gust 2015].

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THE WATER CUBE2007, Beijing, China

Fig 5. The Water Cube Fig 6. Framework of the Water Cube

The National Swimming Centre, also kown as the Water Cube, was constructed for

the Olympic Games in Beijing.

The structure derives from the form of ag-gregated water bubbles in foam. ARUP designers represented the idea by dividing the space into cells of equal volume with the least number of surfaces and without gaps. As a result, the geometry is com-posed of repetitive units which makes the building to be easily built. Meanwhile, ran-dom appearance is generated from arbi-trary angles as well. Thus, the facade and the structure are continuous element that works together, representing the water bubbles in aggregation through architec-tural expression.

Computational techniques are used in both designing process and construction process. The geometry of the building was designed in computer directly as the form

is impossible to be represented by two-di-mensional drawings accurately. Thus, com-putational design provides much more po-tential possibilities for architects and allows designers to experiment a variety of solu-tions as fast as possible.

For construction process, ARUP relied on the algorithmic system to test the structural performance of different design configura-tion and easily make changes to the struc-tural system. 5

As the architectural design has been shift-ing from the traditional design methods to the computational design, designers are required to have computational abilities which can utilize software expertly. How-ever, software is just a designing tool which cannot replace appropriate decision mak-ing. Thus, designers should always focus on the idea itself and the functions and ame-nities of architecture.

Fig 7. ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2010 Fig 8. Diagram for construction

6. Stuttgart University, ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2010 (2010) <http://www.achimmenges.net/?p=4443> [accessed 12 August 2015].

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ICD/ITKE RESEARCH PAVILION 2010ICD/ITKE, 2010, Stuttgart University

The project was a temporary research pa-vilion designed by ICD and ITKE in 2010.

The project was a material-oriented com-putational development and the final out-come turned out to be a bending-active light- weight structure made by plywood strips.

The project started with the material research of the elastic bending ability of plywood strips. Physical experiments were made to test the bending property of the material and the forces of the whole structure. Based on the material behaviors, the computation-al model contained with all the measure-ment of plywood deflections under bending and geometric information, and generated the required structural analysis model.

The final physical model was made by 80 ply-wood strips after accurate detailed structur-al calculation generated by the computer. 6

Computational technology is not only helpful for design and construction, but also important for experiments. The proj-ect indicates a new tendency of the inte-gration of algorithms skills with researched-based experimental design. 7

For younger generation of architects, “research by design” is regard as an emergence of architecture field. Multi-disciplinary research now is becoming a fundamental approach for experiments and exploration of computational geom-etry. In this case, the material research is predominant in the designing process as it directly influenced on the geometry. With computational techniques, material de-sign is shifted to be a significant part in ar-chitectural design since it may provide po-tential possibilities for structure and form.

7. Rivka Oxman & Rovert Oxman, Theories of the Digital in Architecture (New York: Routledge, 2014), p. 1-10.

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A.3. COMPOSITION/GENERATION

Fig 9. Emergent Architectural System

Fig 10. Iterations of Multi-Agent Behavior in 2D

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SWARM INTELLIGENCETyler Julian Johnson, 2010

The project is a generative de-sign using computational tech-

niques based on the research of swarm intelligence.

The swarm system in this project relates to the swarm behavior of people with an attractor. Attrac-tion agents and people’s move-ment is recorded and inputted into the computer to generate diagrams of patterns (Fig. 8). Us-ing the research as a basis, the architectural design is developed according to the geometry of the pattern. 8

Using the generative design method, designers are able to create the a generative logic, which provides a range of possi-bilities and automatic fashion for further development. 9 This meth-odology contributes to the cre-ativity and exploration from the nature and surroundings.

However, for most of the time, generative design only creates a dramatic geometry without func-tioning. Designers should use gen-erative design as an approach for finding a creative form and put efforts to design the functions and amenities as well.

8. Tyler Julian Johnson, Swarm Intelligence (2010) <http://www.tyler-johnson.com/Swarm-Intelligence> [accessed 13 August 2015].

9. Branko Kolarevic, Architecture in the Digital Age: Design and Manufacturing (New York: Taylor & Francis, 2003), p. 3-62.

Fig 11. Research Pavilion 2011

Fig 12. Diagram of form generation

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ICD/ITKE RESEARCH PAVILION 2011ICD/ITKE,2011

The project uses computational technique to explore the performa-

tive capacity of sand dollar’s biologi-cal structure and express it in architec-tural form. Manufacturing processes are also under the computer control which automatically calculate the ef-fectiveness of a range of geometries. The pavilion is finally built by thin sheets of plywood with CNC machines cut-ting the material piece by piece in the particular angle.

As shown in Fig. 10, the form of the pa-vilion is consist of a series of modular and the form is developed by mak-ing geometric variation of the com-ponents. Since the modular are linked together at edges, the change of a single unit relates to the difference of the whole structure. 10

Generative and parametric design methods allow a form transforming consistently and continually under changes of parameters, which pro-vides harmony and unity to the geom-etry. Unlike the conventional design, the emphasis of generation shifts to the designing process because the form keeps changing through the process, as well as the performance of structure and material. With com-putational techniques, designer can change any step of process efficiently and effectively.

10. Institute for Computational design, ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2011 (2011) <http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/?p=6553> [accessed 13 August 2015].

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A

A.4. CONCLUSION

In Part A, I learnt that how design can be used for nature and how computation influences on design process and outcome.

Design Futuring introduces how design serve for nature and people. From ethical aspect, design is not an isolated artificial product. Rather it should be considered holistically as a project contributes to the sustainability of the environment and people’s lifestyle. In addition, good architectural design can relate to the context and broaden the functions for people. Potential possi-bilities and innovation are key values that designers should to ex-plore.

Design Computation and Composition/Generation illustrate how computational methodology applies to and influence on design. Shifting from conventional design to computational design, de-signers are able to create and test more possibilities and change the designing step quickly and easily by using computers. Re-search-oriented design and generative design are emerging and developing through digital technology. Under this background, designers for younger generation are required to have computa-tional skills and multidisciplinary knowledge.

Parametric design is my intended design approach. Instead of a specific shape, designers create a sequence of parametric equations to generate the geometry. It brings infinitely potentiali-ties for designers, which attracts me by the algorithmic logic and variable possibilities.

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A

A.5. LEARNING OUTCOME

Before I study this subject, I categorized all the projects made by computers as digital design. After the reading and lecture,

I understand the categories of digital design, and how computa-tional design benefit to design process and bring possibilities for design and developing directions.

Furthermore, I also realize that there is ceratin risk for design com-putation. Although parametric design and generative design could generate fantastic geometry, a good project could not be created without plenty of analysis for functionality and ame-nity. Focusing too much on poetry aspect will result in less deci-sion making for designers.

My previous design were all carried out by rhino with composition-al designing method. By learning the theories of computational design, I found that my previous design could be represented by algorithmic logic and hence the form could be changed and improved with a variety of possibilities quickly and efficiently.

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A

BIG, Uppsala Power Plant (2014) <http://www.big.dk/#projects-upp> [accessed 12 August 2015].

China International Garden Expo, About Beijing Garden Expo (2013), < http://www.garden-expo-park.com/About/abge/162.html > [accessed 12 August 2015].

Fernandes Rita, Generative Design: a new stage in the design process (2013) <https://fenix.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/downloadFile/395145541718/Generative%20Design%20a%20new%20stage%20in%20the%20design%20process%20-%20Rita%20Fernandes-%20n%C2%BA%2058759.pdf> [accessed 12 August 2015].

Fry Tony, Design Futuring: sustainability, ethics and new practice (Oxford: BERG, 2009), p. 1-16.

Institute for Computational design, ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2011 (2011) <http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/?p=6553> [accessed 13 August 2015].

Johnson Tyler, Swarm Intelligence (2010) <http://www.tyler-johnson.com/Swarm-Intelli-gence> [accessed 13 August 2015].

Kolarevic Branko, Architecture in the Digital Age: Design and Manufacturing (New York: Taylor & Francis, 2003), p. 3-62.

Oxman Rivka & Oxman Rovert, Theories of the Digital in Architecture (New York: Rout-ledge, 2014), p. 1-10.

Rosenfield Karissa, BIG’s “Unconventional” Uppsala Power Plant Designed to Host Summer Festivals (2015) <http://www.archdaily.com/603259/big-s-unconventional-uppsala-power-plant-to-host-summer-festivals> [accessed 12 August 2015].

Stuttgart University, ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2010 (2010) <http://www.achimmenges.net/?p=4443> [accessed 12 August 2015].

REFERENCE

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A

1. Xinhua, “Explore Garden Expo Park in 360 degrees”, 2013 <http://www.bjd.com.cn/10beijingnews/photos/201308/05/t20130805_4278523.html>[accessed 12 August 2015].

2. Balmori Associates, “Wave garden”, 2012 <http://www.balmori.com/portfolio/sound-waves>[accessed 12 August 2015].

3. BIG, “Uppsala Power Plant”, 2014 <http://www.designboom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/bjarke-ingels-group-big-uppsala-power-plant-sweden-designboom-02.jpg> [accessed 12 August 2015].

4. BIG, “Diagram of Uppsala Power Plant”, 2014 <http://images.adsttc.com/media/images/54e7/a98c/e58e/ce7f/c300/0118/large_jpg/upp-9-16-5_original.jpg?1424468339> [accessed 12 August 2015].

5. ARUP , “The Water Cube”, 2007 <https://www.google.com.au/search?espv=2&tbm=isch&q=water+cube+beijing&revid=1383332959&sa=X&ved=0CBwQ1QIoAWoVChMI6Ya5gP-lxwIV5CSmCh0qcAwu&dpr=1&biw=1366&bih=643#imgrc=gIH4vCoAVQ4GMM%3A> [accessed 12 August 2015].

6. PSI, “The framework of the Water Cube”, 2007 <https://www.google.com.au/search?espv=2&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=water+cube+frame&oq=water+cube+frame&gs_l=img.3...29041.30342.0.30439.6.6.0.0.0.0.317.317.3-1.1.0....0...1c.1.64.img..5.1.316.-E g Aq 8 _ r NA E # i m g d i i = 9 BU L 3 d q h _ x v b c M % 3 A % 3 B 9 BU L 3 d q h _ x v b c M % 3 A % 3 B -o0fx1eex7R0YM%3A&imgrc=9BUL3dqh_xvbcM%3A> [accessed 12 August 2015].

7. ICD, “Research Pavilion 2010”, 2010 <http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/icd-imagedb/ICD_ITKE_Pavil-ion_web.jpg> [accessed 12 August 2015].

8. ICD, “Research Pavilion 2010”, 2010 <http://formsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/POS-Fig02+3.jpg> [accessed 12 August 2015].

9. Tyler Johnson, “Emergent architectural system”, 2010 <http://www.tyler-johnson.com/Swarm-Intelligence> [accessed 13 August 2015].

10. Tyler Johnson, “Swarm Intelligence”, 2010 <http://hisheji.qiniudn.com/qiniu/1550/image/0b7a1a3d7cc35de2f7444bcee9c8e166.jpg> [accessed 13 August 2015].

11. ICD, “Research Pavilion 2011”, 2011 <http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/?p=6553> [accessed 13 August 2015].

12. ICD, “Structural joints”, 2011 <http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/?p=6553> [accessed 13 August 2015].

IMAGE REFERENCE

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Part B

CRITERIA DESIGN

Part A

CONCEPTUALIZATION

Part C

DETAILED DESIGN

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B.1. RESEARCH FIELD

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B

“Biomimicry is an approach to innovation that seeks sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies.”1

BIOMIMICRY

1. Biomimicry Institute, Solutions to global challenges are all around us (2015) <http://biomimicry.org/biomimicry-examples/#.VgMDGiGqqko> [accessed 23 September 2015].

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B

Biomimicry is a method for innovation which searches for sustainable solutions learning

from the nature. It has been applied to the fields of architecture, energy, transportation, agricul-ture, medicine and communication. For exam-ple, engineers reduced the noise of High speed train by creating many structural small vortices. This is similar to the way an owl’s primary feathers have serrations that create small vortices instead of a large one (Figure 1).2

In terms of architecture, biomimetic Architecture is usually based on computational technologies applied in biomimicry methodology.3 Abstrac-tion and integration of biological systems are used for forms, texture and construction. Learn-ing from nature, the largest laboratory which ever existed and ever will, there are more pos-sibilities of reinterpretation of materials and struc-ture, and generation of form and pattern. Merg-ing arts and culture with science and nature, Biomimicry methodology brings more creativ-ity and meanings to architecture. On the other hand, although the dynamic form generated through biomimicry methodology is more aes-thetic compared to traditional architecture and construction, it may not have the optimization of overall structural performance, which means it perhaps results in a loss of efficiency in resource and structure.

Fig 1. High Speed Train in Japan

2. The Biomimicry Institute , High speed train silently slices through air (2013) <http://www.asknature.org/product/6273d963ef015b98f641fc2b67992a5e> [accessed 23 September 2015].3. Biomimetic Architecture, What is Biomimicry? (2015) <http://www.biomimetic-architecture.com/what-is-biomimicry/> [accessed 23 September 2015].

Fig 2. Biomimetic structures of Sydney Opera House

Fig 3. Bark Lab 2013

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B.2. CASE STUDY 1.0

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B

MORNING LINE

-Aranda Lasch

Fig 1. Drawing of the Morning Line Project

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B

The Morning Line is a project which conceived as a collaborative

platform to explore the interplay of architecture, art, cosmology and music. The Morning Line is formed by intertwining lines connecting to each other. The structure has no single beginning or end, only movements around multiple cen-ters. Each bit of the structure is inter-changeable, demountable, por-table and recyclable which allows the piece to change over time. 4

Making the fractal structure by grasshopper, I scaled different shapes of geometry by a series of times in different order. The plug-in of Bullant was used for finding the geometry of joining fractal units. Patterns on the surfaces and patterns in the space were drew based on the geometry of fractals. The patterns replaced the original geometry and made the entire ge-ometry joinable.

4. Aranda Lasch, The Morning Line (n.d.) <http://arandalasch.com/works/the-morning-line/> [accessed 24 September 2015].

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B

SPECIE 01

SPECIE 02

SPECIE 03

SPECIE 04

ITERATION OF SINGLE FRACTAL UNITS

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B

ITERATION OF SINGLE FRACTAL UNITS

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B

ITERATION OF THE GEOMETRY

SPECIE 05

To join the units together, I used Bullant to create a series of different fractals joining together, and then I drew curves and surfaces to select the joining units

randomly. I also bake the Bullant fractals and delected parts of them in rhino to create the geometry.

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B

ITERATION OF THE PATTERN(on the surface)

SPECIE 06

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B

ITERATION OF THE PATTERN(in the space)

SPECIE 07

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B

ITERATION OF PATTERN & GEOMETRY

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B

Scaling the basic geometry for several times, the forms has been changed far away from the original shape and has became much more dynamic. The first two selections have scaling units joining to the original unit, which makes the fractal as a whole for further joining. The rest of the selections have more com-plex forms and achieve the aesthetic aspect by broken into pieces.

The pattern is drawn within the space of the single unit geometry. As it is a three-dimensional pattern without any opening, it could be a structure itself without the original geometry. The three-dimensional pattern pro-vides more possibilities of geometry variations.

The pattern of the geometry makes the form more complex and also makes it possible to be assembled piece by piece.

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B

The Tessellation of the fractals could be used for different shapes as dif-ferent functions. The fractals have faces orienting to several directions, which makes more potentials for joining the fractals together to create dynamic geometries.

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B.3. CASE STUDY 2.0

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B

DEEP SURFACE MORPHOLOGIES

ICD: Prof. A. Menges, S. Ahlquist ITKE: Prof. J. Knippers, J. Lienhard

Summer Semester, 2012

“Negotiating form, performance, and context in form-active material systems.”

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B

This project pursues the study of a micro tensioned element that is highly flexible in its form, easily connectable and geometrical

aligned but at the same time appears organically arranged. A system is developed consisting of an easy geometrical principle, which becomes more complex through minor deformation of the single unit, and can be materialized as a membrane tensile ele-ment or a stiffened fibre-composite cell. Through this process the single element can be highly differentiated by several ways of manipulation and reaction to different parameters. 5

5. ICD, Deep Surface Morphologies (2012) <http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/?p=6947> [accessed 24 September 2015].

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B

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3

REVERSE ENGINEERING

STEP 1: Generate and offset Voronoi grid. Move the Voronoi grid to create a proper height and then graft and loft the curves.

STEP 2: Convert the loft surface into Mesh. Use Mesh Surface to generate the numbers of U, V values. Set the mesh edges as Spring and the rest length. Set the Mesh vertices on the Voronoi edges to be the Anchor points. Use Kangaroo to create the tensile structure.

STEP 3: Select the discontinuity points of the Voronoi edges to be the Anchor point, so that the units are only connected by the common points.

STEP 4: Change the shape of Voronoi grid to make the base geometry more dynamic.

STEP 5: Extrude the new grid and draw a surface, then find the interaction of the surface and brep by BREP|BREP definition. Use polyline to redraw the grid between vertices as lines. Repeat STEP 2.

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B

STEP 3

REVERSE ENGINEERING

STEP 4 STEP 5

STEP 1: Generate and offset Voronoi grid. Move the Voronoi grid to create a proper height and then graft and loft the curves.

STEP 2: Convert the loft surface into Mesh. Use Mesh Surface to generate the numbers of U, V values. Set the mesh edges as Spring and the rest length. Set the Mesh vertices on the Voronoi edges to be the Anchor points. Use Kangaroo to create the tensile structure.

STEP 3: Select the discontinuity points of the Voronoi edges to be the Anchor point, so that the units are only connected by the common points.

STEP 4: Change the shape of Voronoi grid to make the base geometry more dynamic.

STEP 5: Extrude the new grid and draw a surface, then find the interaction of the surface and brep by BREP|BREP definition. Use polyline to redraw the grid between vertices as lines. Repeat STEP 2.

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B.4. TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT

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B

ITERATION OF BASE PATTERN

ITERATION OF BASE SURFACE

ITERATION OF TENSILE FRAME

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B

ITERATION OF BASE PATTERN

ITERATION OF BASE SURFACE

ITERATION OF TENSILE FRAME

ITERATION OF TENSILE REPRESENTATION

ITERATION OF TENSILE GEOMETRY

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B

ITERATION OF TENSILE REPRESENTATION

ITERATION OF TENSILE GEOMETRY

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B

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B

The first four selected iterations are made by the Kangaroo plug-in. They are different forms of tensile structures which provides more opportunities for the further design development.

The last iteration is made by shifting lines of two layers of geometry. The previous tensile structures I made are consisted of single elements. The shifting line process represents the units by lines, which makes the result more interesting.

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B

The first four selected iterations are made by the Kangaroo plug-in. They are different forms of tensile structures which provides more opportunities for the further design development.

The last iteration is made by shifting lines of two layers of geometry. The previous tensile structures I made are consisted of single elements. The shifting line process represents the units by lines, which makes the result more interesting.

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B.5. Technique: Prototypes

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B

Materialisation

The material of the prototype is the fabric that is tensile in two dimen-sions so that it could be stretched vertically and horizontally.

Construction

The structural frame was made firstly. Pin connection was used between balsa pieces so that they could have rotation movements. Then the fab-ric was sewed together and tied to the corners of the frame by fish lines.

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B

Test

Because of the rotation movements of the frame, the form of the fabric could be easily changed, which shows the tensile capacity of the fabric.

Learning Outcome

The form of the element is shaped by the frame. As a result, for the de-sign project, the design of the frame is as important as the fabric ele-ment. Instead of a flexible frame, the frame for the design project should be rigid so that the model is possible to be stable.

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B.6. Technique: PROPOSALMERRI CREEK

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B

Topology & Hydrology Flora Distribution Planning Overlay&Localities

SITE ANALYSIS

Merri Creek is located in the inner city surrounding with residential suburbs. The creek connects the Great Divid-ing Range to the Yarra river flowing through the Northern suburbs of Melbourne. It contains a fragile ecosys-

tem which includes reserves and wetlands for Australia’s threatened flora and fauna.

However, the pollution of the environment for Merri Creek is severe. Waste water from the surrounding suburbs is discharged to the creek, which makes the water polluted. Daily litters thrown by residents and tourists are harmful to water quality and aquatic animals. According to the diagram of flora distribution, most reserves and tree areas are located around the river. Thus, the bad water quality has a negative influence on the whole ecosystem.

Property Allocation

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B

Planning Overlay&Localities

SITE ANALYSIS

Merri Creek is located in the inner city surrounding with residential suburbs. The creek connects the Great Divid-ing Range to the Yarra river flowing through the Northern suburbs of Melbourne. It contains a fragile ecosys-

tem which includes reserves and wetlands for Australia’s threatened flora and fauna.

However, the pollution of the environment for Merri Creek is severe. Waste water from the surrounding suburbs is discharged to the creek, which makes the water polluted. Daily litters thrown by residents and tourists are harmful to water quality and aquatic animals. According to the diagram of flora distribution, most reserves and tree areas are located around the river. Thus, the bad water quality has a negative influence on the whole ecosystem.

Property Allocation Rail & Railway Station Road & Road Facilities

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SITE SELECTION

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B

SITE SELECTION

Design Site

Topology & Flora area

George Knott Reserve

Surrounding Regions

The design site I selected is the most polluted area based on my observation. The landmark of the site is the Heidelberg Road Bridge. The site located on the turning point of the river, where

the litters are accumulated by the water flow. There is a waste water discharge nearby, so the water condition is really bad at this spot. Plastic bags are the main litters lying or tangled with tree branches on the riverbank. Dead tree roots and falling leaves also lying on the riverbank or floating on the river surface.

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B

SITE SELECTION

George Knott Reserve

Design Site

Heidelberg Road Bridge

Northcote Park

Surrounding Regions Litter Distribution

Litter Density

The design site I selected is the most polluted area based on my observation. The landmark of the site is the Heidelberg Road Bridge. The site located on the turning point of the river, where

the litters are accumulated by the water flow. There is a waste water discharge nearby, so the water condition is really bad at this spot. Plastic bags are the main litters lying or tangled with tree branches on the riverbank. Dead tree roots and falling leaves also lying on the riverbank or floating on the river surface.

Litters along the riverbank Site View

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Site View LandmarkHeidelberg Road Bridge

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DESIGN CONCEPT

“Litter Trap”

Precedent Study: Bandalong Litter Trap

The Bandalong Litter Trap is a floating device that installed along wa-terways to collect floating litter, vegetation and other debris. The sys-tem does not have any mechanical assistance so that it operates silently to capture litter ready for removal and disposal. 6

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The Bandalong Litter Trap floats on waterways, given buoyancy by polyethylene pipes. The element is held in place by galvanized chains attached to the ground anchors or fitted to rider poles for canal in-stallations. Outspread collection booms direct floating litter through a one-way mesh gate into trap which is ready for removal. A 150mm polyethylene side skirt beneath the river surface prevents debris from escaping from under the main floats. 7

7. Bandalong International, How The Bandalong Litter Trap Works (2010) <http://www.bandalong.com.au/prod-ucts-and-services/how-a-bandalong-litter-trap-works/> [accessed 24 September 2015].

Litter Trap System

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ConceptThe concept of my design project is to create a litter trap capturing the debris on the river in order to solve the problem of pollution in the design site. It is also a warning sign for the public that the pollution of the Merri Creek is severe.

Client

The clients of the project are cleaners who have to clean the litter regularly and the aquatic animals living in the river.

Agenda

Learning from the precedent, the outer structure of the litter trap should be tied to the ground anchors so that it won’t flow away. The inner cage of the litter trap should be floating on the river surface and be easily removed for the conve-nience of cleaners.

Tensile structure learning from the Reverse Engineering is chosen to be the basic structure for the project, because the material (fabric) is flexible and porous, which is suitable to be a filter for the river while does not impede water flow.

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water flow Litter captured in the litter cage

Shape

The sphere form is selected as the basic shape for the inner cage because it is a closed surface which is easy for removal.

Drawback

The connection system for the litter trap still need to be clarified and test. How-ever, the project is related to the site and is benefitial to the public and environ-ment.

Inner Cage

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B.7. Learning Objectives and Outcomes

Part B makes me have better understanding of the computational theories I

read in Part A. In Part B, we are forced to understand each definition, each

possibility and each logic behind the script, which provides me with a deeper

understanding about grasshopper skills and parametric design. As I was using

Kangaroo for the Reverse Engineering and technical development, I learnt more

about the property of mesh, the difference between mesh and NURBS as well as

how the mesh could be divided or subdivided. Throughout the practice of Part

B, I not only learnt how to use definitions but also learnt the logic of Kangaroo,

Grasshopper and computational design.

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I also learnt the logical thinking of exploring a topic by listing species and making

iterations. Using Grasshopper as a technique, I found that it saves a lot of time

as most of the details are recorded by parameters and I do not need to redo all

the previous steps when I want to change a detail.

The model making process is harder than the computational designing. Design-

ers do not need to really think about the strucutre or construction method when

they generate a form by grasshopper. However, to make a physical model,

one need to fully understand the property of the material, the construction joint

and the load distribution. In order to show the tensile capacity of the structure,

I made a physical model manually. I found that I have better understanding of

how does the frame affect the fabric shape and how does the fabric and the

frame work as a whole.

Generally, parametric design is challenging but exciting for me. I like to chal-

lenge the thousands of possibilities generated by parametric design.

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REFERENCE

Aranda Lasch, The Morning Line (n.d.) <http://arandalasch.com/works/the-morning-line/> [accessed 24 Sep-tember 2015].

Bandalong International, How The Bandalong Litter Trap Works (2010) <http://www.bandalong.com.au/prod-ucts-and-services/how-a-bandalong-litter-trap-works/> [accessed 24 September 2015].

Bandalong International, Bandalong Litter Trap (2010) <http://www.bandalong.com.au/products-and-services/bandalong-litter-trap/> [accessed 24 September 2015].

Biomimetic Architecture, What is Biomimicry? (2015) <http://www.biomimetic-architecture.com/what-is-bio-mimicry/> [accessed 23 September 2015].

ICD, Deep Surface Morphologies (2012) <http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/?p=6947> [accessed 24 September 2015].

The Biomimicry Institute, Solutions to global challenges are all around us (2015) <http://biomimicry.org/biomim-icry-examples/#.VgMDGiGqqko> [accessed 23 September 2015].

The Biomimicry Institute , High speed train silently slices through air (2013) <http://www.asknature.org/product/6273d963ef015b98f641fc2b67992a5e> [accessed 23 September 2015].

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http://www.asknature.org/product/6273d963ef015b98f641fc2b67992a5e

http://www.asknature.org/strategy/3f2fb504a0cd000eae85d5dcc4915dd4#.VB51YC5dUa0

https://khuanmiao.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/project-sydney-opera-house-i-morphology-%E2%80%93-biomimicry/

http://www.barkdesign.com.au/news/bark-lab-will-present-growth-floating-land-2013

http://arandalasch.com/works/the-morning-line/

http://arandalasch.com/works/quasitable/

http://arandalasch.com/works/quasimirror/

http://arandalasch.com/works/fauteuil-chair/

http://arandalasch.com/works/quasi-series/

http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/?p=3968

http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/?p=6947

IMAGE REFERENCE

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