STUDIO:AIRALISTAIR JOHNSON [390031]

JOURNAL 2012

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CONTENTS

[2 3 4] - week one - 1 x personal project - 2 x state of the art projects

[5 6] - week two - computational design

[7 8] - week three - scripting cultures

[9 10] - week four - research project : CUT [11 12] - week five - case studies [ precedent] - voronio development - expression of interest

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PERSONAL PROJECT - ADS2

This is my personal project from the Architecture Design Studio: Water in 2011. The task was to recreate a ‘boathouse’ and restaurant building on the bank of the Yarra river in Melbourne in the style of a well known ‘master’ of architecture. I studied the architectural style of Richard Meier and attempted to recreate - but not copy- a building of his design influence. The architecture here does not excell the discourse of architecture in regard to the most contemporary design, it does however make an interesting point in regard to the advances of computational drafting. The building style here is mostly of modernist influence with pilotis and strip windows, drawing from the Modernist movement in the early to mid 1900’s. It is not a new fact to anyone, but the fact that I could design and draft up a somewhat comprehensive design in a matter of weeks using computer aided drafting and design is evidence of how fast the discourse around architecture is has changed and continues to change rapidly.

Designed by A. Johnsonin the style of R. Meier

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STATE OF THE ART NO. 1

One of the most admired works of contemporary architecture, the building has been hailed as a "signal mo-ment in the architectural culture", because it represents "one of those rare moments when critics, academics, and the general public were all completely united about something." - Matt Tyrnauer

The Guggenheim - for me - was a building that changed my perception of what architecture was capable of. I remember being shown a video of Frank Gehry concieved some of his prelininary designs though carboard models. The video also showed how his buildings were even-tually developed into finished designs using computer modelling and much more technological processes. The Guggenheim, clad in titanium panels is a perfect example of how computer modelling and organic freeform archietcture can change the standard architecture is per-cieved to have. I imagine this building would be seen by most people as the most contemporary piece of architecture they know.

GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM, Bilbao, Spain - Frank Gehry

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STATE OF THE ART NO. 2BEIJING NATIONAL AQUATICS CENTRE, Beijing - TTW Architects

The National Aquatics Centre in Beijing was designed specifically for the 2008 olympics. It was a project taken on by TTW architects of Austra-lia, whos design was chosen from a pool of 10 proposals. The Architects, from Sydney, had the main responsibility of designing the bubble like exterior cladding which is supposed to tie in with the theme of water. The bubbles are made from ETFE plastic, where each piece is specifically made to size and stretched over the steel frame.

Comprising a steel space frame, it is the largest ETFE clad structure in the world with over 100,000 m² of ETFE pillows that are only 0.2 mm in total thickness. The ETFE cladding allows more light and heat penetration than traditional glass, resulting in a 30% decrease in energy costs. EFTE is Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene, a fluorine based plastic, that is designed to have high corrosion resistance and strength. It is architects like TTW who are experi-menting with these new materials and getting the results, pushing the discourse around contempo-rary design.

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COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN NO. 1Michael Hansmeyer Computational Design

Michael Hansmeyer is an architect and programmer who explores the use of algorithms and computation to generate architectural form. He is currently based in the CAAD group at ETH’s architecture department in Zurich. The above form is generated by a process quite different to parametric design which can yeild much more er-radicate but also interesting designs. It is called Voxel-based geometry.This project continues the exploration of a procedural approach to generating form. Rather than work with sur-faces as in the subdivision experiments, this project uses volumetric cells - voxels - as its basic geometry.

These voxels contain data that can interact with data of proximate voxels according to pre-established sets of rules. By iteratively conducting these interactions, data can be propagated through the voxel space. Eventu-ally this data can be visualized, either as individual elements, or as a hull surrounding elements with specific values.

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COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN NO. 1Hong Kong Street Furniture Design by Rocker- Lange Architects

This prooposed street furniture design’s concept is based on the idea that a changing surface will accomodate for every person. Using parametric design this seat changes its geometry continuously. Instead of offering only one single static design, this scheme suggests multiple varying solutions that meet specific fitness criteria. The project “Urban Adapter” is based on a digital parametric model. At its core the model utilizes explicit site information and program-matic data to react and interact with its environment. That way the model’s DNA structure is capable of producing a variety of unique furniture results.

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SCRIPTING CULTURES

“For centuries architects have been inspired by nature's forms and geometries. Their designs have been influenced by her structures, by her proportions, colors, patterns, and textures. Architects have incorporated these influences in what has been primarily an empirical process.

It is only in the past decades that much of the underlying logic, mathematics and chemisty of nature's forms has been better understood. In the late 1960's, the bi-ologist Aristid Lindenmayer proposed a string-rewriting algorithm which can model simplified plants and their growth processes with an astounding ease. This theory is now known as L-Systems.” - Michael Hansyer 2003

SCRIPTING CULTURES

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L-SYSTEMS by Michael Hansmeyer

L-Systems are very interesting in their construction and I personally find the idea intriguing. The possiblility that plant growth processes can be modeled into architectual forms is very exciting as this could be seen as a form of organic architecture. Michael Hansmeyer has experimented with L-system designs, and intergrated them into parametric systems so they can respond to changing conditions. I hope to incorporate some of these ideas into the coming project. L-systems could potentially be used as a purely aesthetic aspect of design or it has been said that they could pos-sibly form structual systems as well.

SCRIPTING CULTURES

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RESEARCH : CUT matrix

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RESEARCH : CUT matrix

Airspace Tokyo was chosen as the main precedent for our Gateway Design project as it demonstrates the blending between the artificial and the natural environments in its layered façade. The façade of Airspace Tokyo aims to artificially mimic the abundant greenery that was once there. They opted for the voronoi patterning, which imitates the trees’ foliage, and layered it, so it functionally works as a screen that provides a sense of privacy for the occupants. Hence, the façade is not only decorative, yet it is also functional. The façade is made out of two layers of laser-cut 3mm thick aluminium and plastic composite, which are separated from one another by a 150mm air gap. Respecting the surrounding environment, as well as embracing the existing natural landscape, are two very important aspects of the developments of Wyndham City and its gateway. Keeping these issues in mind, we would like to simulate the patterns and the ideas behind the façade of Airspace Tokyo in our proposed design.

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CASE STUDIES : PRECEDENT Airspace Tokyo - Thom Faulders & Studio M/Hajime Masubuchi

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ADDITIONAL CASE STUDIES

The High Line in New York is a landscaping design project headed by Landscape Architect James Corner. The Park is situated on top of a disused freight railway line which sits above the busy streets of Manhattan’s West Side. We have chosen this design as a precedent for the Western Gateway Design Project as it has many applicable factors to our design. The landscape design incorporates a water feature and walking paths along the park and we would like to explore similar ideas for our installation into site ‘B’ as it is located directly adjacent to large service station which has rest areas which could be utilized by a landscaping/water feature as a part of our proposed design. The High Line park is located above city streets which relate to Gateway project as the site is also surrounded by the highway, and these are essentially very similar. This precent will be influential in that it explores ecology and the ideas associated with natural environments in an intensely busy and automotive orientated location.

The Green Wall encompasses the idea of mesh-ing and combining an architectural structure with nature and ecology - and this theory is what we would like to incorporate into our Gateway De-sign. The Drew School in California has an excel-lent example of a green wall designed by French contemporary artist/botanist Patrick Blanc. All of the green walls that Blanc designs use the same or very similar technology to create the amazing floral scenes; his plants are specifically chosen for their ability to grow without soil and therefore sit in a specifically designed felt mesh that receives water and nutrients several times a day. This combined with sunlight and a sup-ply of carbon dioxide results in the living walls flourishing in urban environments. Our proposed design for the Western Gateway Design Project will have a strong emphasis on ecology and the surrounding natural environment. We hope to not

Green Wall - Patrick Blanc

The High Line - James Corner

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VORONOI DEVELOPMENT

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EOI - EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

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