.1 DESIGN CONCEPT

.2 TECTONIC ELEMENTS & PROTOTYPES

.3 FINAL DETAIL MODEL

.4 LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES

[C]. DETAILED DESIGN

As far as I’ve observed, human activities is very high on the site, which means the wild life ac-tivity zoom has been significantly shrunk and limited. In response to this, I think it’s the time human to step a step back, giving back some of the habitat to the nature, keeping this un-derstanding in mind, and with iterations and the development I’ve been play around with, I would like to construct a structure across the water that only small animals to pass through. I want to bridge a connection between human and the nature on site where human do not predominantly involve, but holding back and being respect to the nature.

The design proposal I came up with is a con-nection across the river, which the connection is designed to function as a bridge for small size animals on site (eg. Possum, thumbnails, frogs etc.) The connection arches across the water and connecting the two sides of the Merri Creek. It’s hollowed structured which provides more that one pathway the animals could go. The material I’m considering to use is the timber, for it’s natural appearance and it fits the design concept well. Besides, it’s more friendly to the animals due to the natural tex-ture of timber and thus inviting the animals to use the structure and interact with the design.

C.1Design Concept

C.1Design Concept ‘Finally I FIGURED

SOMETHING OUT!’

CODE#POSSUM PASS#

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7SITE LOCATION

SITE ANALYSIS

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TARGET AUDIENCE

DESIGN IDEA WHAT I WANT TO ACHIEVE?

POSSUM PASS MERRI CREEK

PROJECT

VISUAL DYNAMIC SENSE OF

NATURE

ORGANIC FORM

MULTI-PATHWAYS

DESIGN IDEA WHAT I WANT TO ACHIEVE?

POSSUM PASS MERRI CREEK

PROJECT

VISUAL DYNAMIC SENSE OF

NATURE

ORGANIC FORM

MULTI-PATHWAYS

Reviewing back the design process, the proposal of ‘Possum Pass’ is basically generating from the extensive use of Voronoi pattern. The Voronoi in created within a designed 3D spaces, a tube extruded from series of points in my case, and by grass-hopper it self-generating the Voronoi structure within the given tubed space.

The points selected to generate the tube is the very basic pa-rameter in the parametric design process. These parameters became the basic constrains in the entire process and trigger the formation of forms that responsive towards its surrounding site and condition.

How do I incorporate all these factors into the design so it is site responsive? This brings me back to what I want to achieve. The main elements of my design are the visual dynamic form, the selection of Voroinoi to start the development satisfied both the requirements of being visual dynamic and also pro-viding an organic structure. The nature of Voroinoi produces a hollowed structure within the tubes which could both satisfied the function the function requirement that allow animals to pass through and also provides a sense of fun in the design with multiple pathways.

Reviewing back the design process, the proposal of ‘Possum Pass’ is basically generating from the extensive use of Voronoi pattern. The Voronoi in created within a designed 3D spaces, a tube extruded from series of points in my case, and by grass-hopper it self-generating the Voronoi structure within the given tubed space.

The points selected to generate the tube is the very basic pa-rameter in the parametric design process. These parameters became the basic constrains in the entire process and trigger the formation of forms that responsive towards its surrounding site and condition.

How do I incorporate all these factors into the design so it is site responsive? This brings me back to what I want to achieve. The main elements of my design are the visual dynamic form, the selection of Voroinoi to start the development satisfied both the requirements of being visual dynamic and also pro-viding an organic structure. The nature of Voroinoi produces a hollowed structure within the tubes which could both satisfied the function the function requirement that allow animals to pass through and also provides a sense of fun in the design with multiple pathways.

PHASE 1LINE WORKS

DESIGN PROCESS#POSSUM PASS

PHASE1I applied Voroinoi in the space created by the base shape tube, and from here I outline the basic outlook of the struc-ture, also providing a foundation for later exploration

Phase 2The line work converted into the struc-ture form with certain thickness. I also twisted the Voroinoi pattern a litter for more design opportunity.

Phase 3Here generated the final form of the Possum Pass. The Voroinoi pattern is exaggerated for more drama.

PHASE 2STRUCTURE

PHASE 2STRUCTURE

PHASE 3DYNAMIC FORMATION

SITE PREPARATION

LASER CUT TIMBER INTO PIECE

GLUE UP THE COMPO-NENT AND VACUUM PRESSING

LEAVE THE COMPO-NENTS TO DRY AND ONCE ITS SOLIDFIED AND BE READY TO

MILL AND POLISH THE DRIED COMPONENTS

THE COMPONENTS ARE BOXED WITH LABELS WITH COULD BE CONSTRUCTED EASILY ON SITE

ASSEMBLY ACCORDINGLY ON SITE AND CLEAN UP AFTERWARDS

CONSTRUC-TIONPROCESS#POSSUM PASS

The overall size is relatively small as this structure is design just to span across the Merric Creek, where the maximum distance between the spans would be 6 meters. Because the structure is constructed by gluing together the timber components, the strength of the structure will decrease as the span increases. 6 meter across would be a reasonable distance for the structure to be constructed due to the limitation of the construction methodology.

C.2TECTONIC ELEMENTS & PROTOTYPES

FABRICATION SECTIONING APPROACH

The fabrication is a big headach to me. I want to use tim-ber as the material for the project for it’s natural appear-ance which meets the brief well, and I also want to keep the smooth surface of the structure. After discussion with my tutuor and found out that sectioning approach is an avaliable method for this case.

PHASE 1FIND IT!

Find the central axis of the bridge, which is the line that connect to the ground at both ends. This is the most important elements in the fabrication process as it’s the primary structure that takes the load of the bridge and transfers into ground. The image above shows the top view and the section view of the central axis, which demonstrates the idea of why it’s a being a load bearing element and where we could find it.

Next step of the fabrication process is to cut the entire model according to the central axis. The model is then sliced and numbered for later assemble purpose.

PHASE 2SLICE IT!

PHASE 3ADD ON TO IT!

The last step of the fabrication process is to add on all the cut pieces onto the central axis and assemble the full scale model. The timber I’m planning to use is the Ma-hogany, which is a light weight, plentiful and has been used for centuries to build boats and fine furniture.

FABRICATION GLUEGLUEGLUE

GLUELGUEGLUE

...

-CUT IT-GLUE IT-VACUUM IT

I’ve turned the selected sec-tion around for better angle demonstrates the section-ing approach to the project.

Individual panels curt by the laser cutter.

Preparations before applying the glue, and make sure the adjacent surfaces are even. Cold press veneer glue is used here for its thicker than yellow glue(PVA) which means less bleed-through. Also, cold press glues are tinted to a wood tone which incon-spicuously fills voids in the veneer much better than PVA glue. Finally, cold press glues dry to a hard film that does not allow as much “creep” or movement of the veneers on the sub-strate.

Place the glued component in vacuum sack and vacuum pressing it for better solidified outcome.

Mill the edges and polish the compo-nent.

PROTOTYPEFOAM

Here the foam has been cut to the section of the bridge.

Stack together the foam piece and create the base shape of the model.

Sand off the edges to cre-ate a smooth surface.

Two foam model prototype.

PROTOTYPELASER CUT MDF

The laser cut model is more accurate to the orig-inal model and the sharp edges are addressing to the milling issue, which needs to be smooth off.

C.3FINAL DETAIL MODEL

C.4LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES

It has been a long semester for me, learning parametric design does change my perspec-tive towards architecture. Grasshopper is really an eye opener for me, it introduces a new way of design language I’ve never seen before. In my past two years study of architecture, I am familiar with making physical model to express my ideas. However in Studio Air, with Grass-hopper, making physical model is never the first priority in the design process. The word I would used to describe parametric design will be SPECULATION. You never know what will happen after slightly change of a slider. The outcome is always surprising. I do enjoy the process of learning Grasshopper, though it might brought me with huge frustration, but it’s always an exciting experience. I like to learn new things, especially these ‘high-tech‘ stuff. I am very glad that I have the opportu-nity to experiment the parametric design for the entire semester, and this is one of my best learning experience in the studio. I’ve learnt a lot in these 12 weeks and learning Grasshop-per is a useful tool for me to further explore the parametric design possibilities in the next semester.Thank you.

REFERENCES

Image credit:

Fig.1 Cold press glue, http://www.titebond.com/content/images/ProductImages/WoodGlues_PP_TBColdPressVeneer.png

Fig.2 Vacuum press machine, http://www.ormamacchine.it/public/ormamacchine/products/images/vacuum-plus--.jpg

Fig.3 5-axis milling machine, http://upload.ecvv.com/upload/Product/20102/China_5_AXIS_VERTICAL_MILLING_MACHINE_VHP_8002010241658335.jpg