Design Studio

AIR

Charles Zhao

2

JournalDesign Studio Air

ABPL30048Charles Zhao

582125Tutors: Philip & Brad

2014 Semester 1

4

ContextIntroduction

Part A. Conceptualisation A.1. Design Futuring A.2. Design Computation A.3. Composition/Generation A.4. Conclusion A.5. Learning outcomes A.6. Appendix - Algorithmic Sketches

Part B. Criteria Design B.1. Research Field B.2. Case Study 1.0 B.3. Case Study 2.0B.4. Technique: DevelopmentB.5. Technique: Prototypes B.6. Technique: Proposal B.7. Learning Objectives and Outcomes B.8. Appendix - Algorithmic Sketches

Part C. Detailed Design C.1. Design Concept C.2. Tectonic Elements C.3. Final ModelC.4. Additional LAGI Brief Requirements C.5. Learning Objectives and Outcomes

References

6

Introduction

My name is Charles Zhao, 20 years old third year architecture student. I was born in China, this is my 5th year in Melbourne. My native language is Mandarin Chinese. A lot of people have asked me the same question: why am I doing architecture? The answers are very simple, I just want to design and build and perfect house for my parents to live and second reason is one day I hope I can design a hotel and run it by myself.

I love travelling. I really enjoy the experi-ence to explore a complete new environ-ments, different people, different culture and different histories. It’s one of the best ways to broaden my vision and enrich my experience. Also I love to do the activities that connected to the nature, such as hik-ing, kayaking, diving, surfing and the most exciting activity sky diving.

As the photo on the right, that was from my year one Virtual Environments subject, final exhibition. That was my first time experienced a full design process, from the step drawing simple sketches till fabricating. I found is it a very enjoyable and use-ful subject. Not only I can gain my skill on Rhino but also could encourage by the outcome I get by the end of each session. I’m not a talented designing student, but I do believe ‘practice makes perfect’ .

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Part AConceptualisation

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A1

Design Futuring - Precedent 1

The Solar Power Towers, located in the agricultural fields outside Seville, Spain, is the world’s first com-mercial solar power plant in the world. The plant is comprised of two high-rise concrete towers - PS10 and PS20, one about 50 stories tall, the other 35. Each sur-rounded by a huge array of mirrors reflecting sunlight to the top of tower. The compelling layout of the entire plant is paralleling to the surrounding natural landscape. There are more than 40 solar power plants in the country, Spain has been the world’s leader in concentrated solar power (CSP).

The 624 huge movable mirrors called heliostats can track the sun mostly through-out the year, reflecting sunlight to the top of the tower where a solar receiver and a steam turbine are located. The turbine then drives a generator, producing electricity.

The power station currently generates 11 Megawatts (MW) of electricity that is able to serve 60,000 homes. Two more plants are being built which will be able to power 180,000 homes in the future.

Solar power is one of the most efficient and limits less power on the earth. One of the main reason people start developing renewable resources is global warming and also the environmental impacts that we are facing. Global warming threat-ing the survival of human society and also countless species on the Earth. Years and years research proves that solar power is one of the most sustainable and harmless energy.

The Solar Power Towers- the first solar power tower worldwide

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A1

Design Futuring - Precedent 2

The 99 balloons project is inspired by lyrics from a song, ex-ploring various aspects of life in a very meaningful way. Red balloon was chosen because of their symbolic meaning of instilling joy in people. Visitors of the park where the balloons are located, may be surrounded by balloons that disappear and reappear depending on where the visitor is. This is a way of the architects wanting the visitors to understand the small aspects can affect the big picture. The design incorporates photovoltaic solar generators in the balloon design; these solar cells are operable in low and dif-fused light making them very efficient. The balloon also uses a technology called liquid crystal; this allows the balloons to go from opaque to transparent. Each of the 99 balloons is con-nected by 100 feet long poles extended to the sky to help with solar energy gathering. These balloons may also be vis-ible art night as there are LED’s installed within them. The site also have many boardwalks that navigates itself around the balloons allowing people to move freely around the space and as they move around the balloons may disappear and reappear adding interaction and interest in the area.

99 Red Balloons

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Design Concept:The architect is surprised by a phe-nomenon occur in most of the Chi-nese woman, they protect them-selves from the sun using umbrella and when actually rains, they don’t mind to get wet without any protec-tion. So when the client asked the architecture firm to design some-thing allow the people to open or close the shades so to protect the building and allow enough sunlight in during the winter season, and then the umbrella façade idea came up spontaneously.

A2

Design ComputationPrecedent 1

Umbrella Facade- For the Madrid Pavilion

Francesco Gatti

Architecture firm: 3GATTIChief architect: Francesco GattiLocation: UBPA , Shanghai Expo areaProgramme: Replace the old bam-boo-louvers façade with a new facade.Area: 1330 m²Design period: November 2012Construction period: Autumn 2014Materials: Corten, aluminum and stain-less steel

The Madrid pavilion was built for Shanghai World Expo 2010. The old façade was built in bamboo louvers mounted on folding steel frames around the building. Af-ter 2 years the bamboo façade got rotted and the steel frames getting rusted by the time. So the Shanghai Expo Bureau decide to rebuild the façade and create a new eye-catching construction and attract more people in the new commer-cial area.The performance of the new umbrella façade perfectly satisfy people’s need on the sunlight controlling by interact with it. When the umbrellas are fully opened, the façade become a rectangular metal box which can block most of the sun-light and wind. The mechanical parts are made of stainless steel, the frames are aluminum and the external surfaces are thin corten. Throughout computation testing, people could work out the size of each umbrella façade and the intensity of the gap on the umbrella façade which provide most comfortable shading for the people working inside of the building. Using compu-tation resources can avoid huge amount of time to calculate the area of the gap on the façade and the angle of the umbrella when it closed.

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A2

Design ComputationPrecedent 2

Beijing National Stadium

Herzog & De Meuron

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The Beijing National Stadium was the main stadium of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, popularly described as a ‘Bird’s Nest’. The Stadium design-engineered by the fa-mous architecture firm –Arup, and the construction of it started on 24th of Decem-ber 2003 and finished on 28th of June 2008.

Among world’s sport facilities, the National Stadium has one of the largest spans in its steel structure. Its roof maintenance structure is a steel structure covered by two layers of membranes: the upper layer is a transparent ETFE membrane fastened between the upper chords of the steel structure; the lower layer is a translucent PTFE acoustic suspended ceiling fastened under the lower cords of the steel structure and to the side walls of the inner loop. To ensure a compact and optimum design, the seating bowl was established first, with the outer façade wrapping around it.

This is the first time Arup uses 3D CAD software CATIA in construction work, it suc-cessfully solved the complicated space structure, dimensional twist members and particular nodes model making problems without needing calculate the dimensions manually with the use of computational inputs. The long-span structure design and thoroughly developed software satisfied the need of National Stadium sophisticat-ed and long-span structure. Architectures and engineers using computer programs may thus increase efficiency. Computer aids designing by producing the opportu-nity to quickly calculate and modify designs in an efficient manner. In comparison to the hand drawing this, it may be viewed as more tedious and time consuming.I

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A3

Composition/GenerationPrecedent 1

Massimiliano Fuksas

Bao’an International Airport

Shenzhen Bao’an International airport is one of the largest para-metrically defined buildings in the world. It has 300000 square me-ters three dimensional folded façade. The idea of the airport was to have a free-flowing form structure with many different façade ele-ments. The structure is supported by a lightweight steel frame which will also help hold the facades in place. The frame is designed so it can distribute local earthquake loads evenly throughout the build-ing. Without the help of parametric designing tools, to generate such complex drawings by hand would probably be impossible. But since parametric modelling tools enables the opportunity to quickly generate the panels on the surface, the process in creating this dy-namic surface may be rendered possible. A similar fashion of gener-ating quick panels are often witnessed in three dimensional designs (such as Virtual Environments follows this method), and offers a pos-sibility that I may integrate in to proposal of the LAGI site.

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A3

Composition/GenerationPrecedent 2

Frank Gehry

Walt Disney Concert Hall

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Parametric Design

The Walt Disney Concert Hall is located at Downtown of Los Angeles, designed by Frank Gehry and it is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center. It opened on October 24, 2003. The original exterior façade design was stone material and got replaced with a less costly metal skin with stainless steel given a matte finish. The shape of the building consists of parametric elements as again to draw and design the structure by hand would be too time consuming and not ef-ficient.

Frank Gehry was one of the pioneers in parametric designing and from this building we can see the po-tential it has to create extremely complex buildings, buildings that may seem impossible can be calculat-ed to both be aesthetically pleasing and structurally viable. Frank Gehry most likely generated this form manually as a physical model, but then translated this form into the process of parametric tools. Thus, parametrically executing a design seemingly bring an highly organic form like this into reality, but later measuring the dimensions with digital tools, then be sent for fabrication. This in turn opens up the many different opportunities for parametric designing in the future.

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A4

Conclusion

The computation methods play an important role in this subject. Digital modeling software is shifting architecture from hand drawing to the algorithms in designs. It can create a lot of different patterns and shaped that people don’t expect. Most of the time the digital modeling results present different beauty of the project, so the architect/en-gineer can chose the best outcome to represent their own design concepts. And a lot of computation architectures can easily give people great visual impact and make a profound impression. Such as Bird’s Nest, Water Cube and BMW Welt.

Working with computers to aid in architecture design pro-cess becoming more and more common in recent years. Along with the development of the modern technology, people’s aesthetic changes by the time and pursue excite and reformation. Computational design might become the main way to deliver and demonstrate architectural/engi-neering ideas.

A5

Learning Outcomes

After 4 weeks of practices and exercises, I realize ‘Grass-hopper’ is a really convenient and well developed soft-ware for us to computation. After watch all the video on the LMS, I really enjoyed the process of building up my Rhi-no and Grasshopper knowledge. But I made a stupid which I think I will never do it again, I was planning to upload my work up to LMS after I finish all of it. In the beginning of this week, I lost my USB and I didn’t backup my homework, which means I lost all the homework I’ve done last 3 weeks, so I have to use 4 days to catch up all the 4 weeks of work-load. Except that careless accident, I really enjoyed last for weeks on doing Studio Air, obtained a lot of knowledge from the weekly reading. In future study, I should do more research for the weekly task instead of leave it till the end. Be an active learning student instead treat the reading and the homework as the assignments that I have to do.

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A6

Appendix - Algorithmic Sketches

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1)“The Solar Power Towers of Seville, Spain”, Amusing Planet, last modified 24 March 2014, http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/08/the-solar-power-towers-of-seville-spain.html.

2)“PS10, the first solar power tower worldwide”, Abengoa Solar, http://www.aben-goasolar.com/web/en/nuestras_plantas/plantas_en_operacion/espana/PS10_la_prim-era_torre_comercial_del_mundo.html

3) “Yinchuan Street View”, Nyfz, last modified 25 March 2014, http://tupian.baike.com/1116.

4) “Umbrella facade designed for Shanghai complex”, Donna Taylor, last modified 25 March 2014, http://www.gizmag.com/shanghai-complex-umbrella-facade/27262/pic-tures#3.

5) “Umbrella Facade for the Madrid Pavilion”, Amy Frearson, 3Gatti Architecture Stu-dio, last modified 25 March 2014, http://www.dezeen.com/2013/04/23/umbrella-fa-cade-madrid-pavilion-by-3gatti/.

6) “Architurcture Construction Problems”, Hui Zhou Software, last modified 25 March 2014, http://www.danda.com.cn/cn/plmaviation_mod3.html.

7) “Journal of Building Structures”, China Architecture Design and Research Group, last modified 25 March 2014, http://www.xiaonianduan.com/media/Design_and_reserach_of_large-span_steel_structure_for_the_National_Stadium.pdf.

8)“National Stadium (Bird’s Nest)”, last modified 27 March 2014, http://www.arup.com/projects/chinese_national_stadium.aspx.

9)“National Stadium (Bird’s Nest)”, Travel China Guide, last modified 27 March 2014, http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/beijing/national-stadium.htm.

10)“National Stadium – Bird’s Nest”, National Stadium Information. last modified 27 March 2014, http://www.n-s.cn/cn/.

11)“Parametric Engineering Everything is Possible”, Florian Scheible & Milos Dimcic, last modified 28 March 2014 http://www.programmingarchitecture.com/publications/ScheibleDimcic_IASS_2011.pdf.

References

12)“Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport / Studio Fuksas”, ArchDaily, last modified 28 March 2014 http://www.archdaily.com/472197/shenzhen-bao-an-international-air-port-studio-fuksas/.

13)“Architecture designed from the inside out ”, Rennie Jones, ArchDaily, last modi-fied 28 March 2014, http://www.laphil.com/wdch10/wdch/architecture.html.

14)“99 Red Balloons”, Land Art Generator Initiative, last modified 28 March 2014, http://landartgenerator.org/LAGI-2012/99009900/.

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Part BCriteria Design

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B1

Research FieldPrecedents

Art615 Digital Design MiniprojectFaculty of Architecture and Design at Aalborg UniversityAalborg, Denmark

Art615 is meant as an art pavilion for a crime-related park in Denmark, to draw attention from the unsafe surface park, assure the feel-ing of a safer environment for the visitors.

The whole structure of the Art615 is a Waffle-system, the surface break down into 32 verti-cal and 4 horizontal struts. It implicates tessel-lation to give a poetic gesture of movement in the pavilion. Furthermore, it uses consistent panels that warp around skeleton structure, opposed to the more dynamic approach in Cloud. Tessellation is highlighted here as visual impact, and utilises the tessellated panels on a structural support.

[2] Internal waffle structure of Art 615

[1] Front view of Art 615 Project, Denmark.

Voussoir Cloud SCIArc GAllery, Los Angeles, 2008Principals: Lisa Iwamoto & Craig ScottProject Leader: Stephanie LinProject Tram: Manuel Diaz, John Kim, Alan Lu, Tiffany Mok

When observing the Voussoir Cloud by Inwan-moto Scot, we can see how tessellation played an integral part of the concept and its fabrica-tion process. The structure is formed by thin wood laminates folding along scored-seams to one an-other and within compression holds itself together as a solid structure.

Computational models and other finding pro-gram are utilized to optimize the geometric forms of each wedge, so the structure can be folded in such a way that it reaches an optimum equilib-rium of tesselations.

With this as an precedent, maybe there can be similar algorithms that can be explored that would perhaps fit the brief for the LAGI site. By fol-lowing the tesselation of folded panels to create a efficient self-standing structure.

[3] The Voussoir Cloud, Los Angeles,CA.

[4] Different mesh patterns.

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B2

Case Study 1.0

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30 Iterations

[5A] 15 of 30 Iterations from Grasshopper

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16 17 18

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Cull Pattern: True, False, False, True, True

Cull Pattern: False, False, False, True, False

Cull Pattern: True, False, True, True, False, False

Cull Pattern: True, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False

Cull Pattern: True, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False, False

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24

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[5B] 15 of 30 Iterations from Grasshopper

Cull Pattern: True, False, True, True, False, False

Cull Pattern: False, True, True, False, True, True, False

Cull Pattern: False, False, False, False, False True, False

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4 Best Outcomes

These are the top four iterations that we selected from the 30 iterations. These are all considered very good outcomes by my group because of their conceiv-able nature, they are the most buildable iterations we have from most of the outcomes we have explored.These forms were inspired by the pattern of the seashell. The “golden ratio” in the nature-, helps makes the design seem more organic and curvy. All these patterns also show a clear pattern , which is another example of tesselation designs. We decided to develope our design on the spiral shaped mesh. Which is more organic and aesthetic pleasing, and will nor seem as abstract as others.

[6] Top 4 outcomes from 30 iterations

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B3

Case Study 2.0

Shellstar is a small pavilion located in Wan Chai, Hong Kong that uses parametric tools within its design in order to maximize its spatial performance whilst minimizing structure and material uses. The form of the structure is based on a digital form-finding process where the cate-nary like structure can be created and aligned with the structural vectors to create a minimal surface mesh.

In regards to tessellation, the surface optimization of the pavilion is very interesting as it composes of around 1500 individual cells that are all slightly non-planar however, the cells cannot be too non-planar, or else it would be difficult to fabricate from flat sheet materials. Using Python scripts, the cells are fabricated to eliminate all interior seam so they are as planar as possible in order to smoothen the fabrication process. After fabrication each cell is then bent slightly to achieve the overall curvy shape of the pavilion.

Shellstar PavilionWan Chai, Hong KongDetour 2012Schematic Design: Andrew Kudless/ MatsysDesign Development and prototyping: Andrew Kudless and Riyad JouckaFabrication and Assembly: Art Lab

[8]Underside of The Shellstar Pavilion.

[7] The Shellstar Pavilion, Wan Chai, Hong Kong.

[8]Underside of The Shellstar Pavilion.

[9]Night view of The Shellstar Pavilion with lights effect.

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Sketch Iterations

[10]Sketch iterations of the week

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Reverse-engineer

Simple reverse engineering steps:1) Made flat hexagonal grids2) Added points on grid for anchor points to be connected to kan-garoo 3) A mesh was formed when the kangaroo definition was activated

The force diagram is an additional definition that shows the tensile forces being resulted from the stretching of the mesh.

[13] Final results of Reverse-engineer

From Finding Compression Structure

[11] Reverse-engineer meshes of The Shellstar Pavilion from Grasshopper

[12] Reverse-engineer Grasshopper tabs of the Shellstar Pavilion

[13] Final results of Reverse-engineer

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B4

Technique: Development

[14A] 50 iterations from Grasshopper

50 Interations

50 [14B ] 50 iterations from Grasshopper

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Final Outcomes of Paneling Prototype

As you can see from the top view of the paneling prototype, it keeps the “golden ratio” spiral pattern as we designed in the earlier stage of our de-sign progress. The final outcome (red mesh on the right corner) from be-fore is simplified, it has more than one thousand unique surfaces. It is really hard to fabricate, so we used an external software MeshLab to reduce the amount of surfaces without losing it overall content.

[15] Final outcomes of paneling prototype

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B5

Technique: Prototypes

In the beginning of the design progress, we enrolled one single element of our final digital prototypes in Grasshopper and laser cut it. We are satisfied with this prototype, the joints and the shaped is exactly what we expected.

Prototype 1

[16] Photograph of prototype 1

[17] Photograph of prototype 1

The whole prototype consists of 400 different surfaces. After stick all the tabs together, the failure of the structure can be seen. The gaps has been created during the pro-cess of reducing the surfaces, this would be the most crucial reason that caused the failure. And also the selection of material could effect the toughness of the prototype, and which would change the result of the test.

Prototype 2

[18] Photograph of prototype 2

[20] Photograph of prototype 2[19] Photograph of prototype 2

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[21] Photoshoped image of prototype 2

Conceptual Proposal

[22] Photoshoped image of prototype 2

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The above images shows the “CargoGuitar” this is a simula-tion inside a trailer to let people see what it feels like to be inside a guitar. The wires are connected to generators that would harvest kinetic energy from the vibrations of the wire and can store the energy to be later used in lighting the wires in the night.

We plan to install this in the prototype 3 that is about to be discussed, but because without much information about this technology at the moment, further possibilities regarding this will be discussed at a later time.

As you can see from the name of the this project “CargoGui-tar”, the lighting cables are made of guitar strings so people can pluck the strings and make different sound of it. Wihile people can enjoy within the space, with the vibration it also creates more energy the same as what wind does.This is a great way to combine both mechanic technics and entertainment together and the interaction between the pa-vilion and the visitors.

Cargo Guitar Installation

[23] Photograph of CargoGuitar [24] Photograph of CargoGuitar

Artists: Marcelo Ertorteguy, Takahiro Fu-juda and Sara ValenteKobe, Japan

[25] Design precess of prototype 3

[26] Structure ribs of prototype 3

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[27] Photograph of prototype 3

[28] Photograph of prototype 3

There were structural issues with the pan-eling prototype, as it didn’t hold itself. In order to respond to this issue, we ap-proached this by abstracting ribs form the initial prototype(shown on the previous page). However, we approached this in an innovative manner by cutting gaps out of the ribs and using wires to weave throughout the gaps of the ribs. The wires will also follow the tessellated panels to maintain the conceptual integrity we have achieved.

Despite the random lines the wires may have created, as the gaps are cut at specific joints based on a parametric al-gorithm, there is also a sequence, a form of tesselation that is in the pattern of the wires.

Perspex are used to create the ribs be-cause I envisioned that when visitors come to the pavilion, the main focus will be on the wires rather than on the struc-tural ribs, that would be transparent.

Prototype 3

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B6

Technique: Proposal

[29] Photoshopped image of prototype 3 on the site.

Our design is very strongly tied to the environment, especially with the wind element, it will provide a visual and interactive experience for its visitors as the string that make the pavilion can be flicked to create sound and also gener-ate electricity. The wires used to make the pavilion is specially connected to generators so that whenever there are movement whether it is by wind or by hand, the kinetic energy is then stored away for later uses such as lighting dur-ing the night.

During the night, the energy stored by the vibration made during the day, is then used to light up the wires, creating a very visually pleasing and calm envi-ronment for those that choose to visit the site at night.

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B7

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

After presentation, we realize our energy generation are very post-rationalised and unclear, there are still many more things that require deeper research and exploration in order to finally be utilized in an efficient way on out final design.

At the beginning of this studio, I had zero confidence in my Rhino and grass-hopper skills but with the help of the weekly tasks and my tutors I have gradu-ally grown more comfortable to these sort of designing tools. After weeks of studying computerization and computation, I realized that to design something like the Bird’s Nest, Water Cube isn’t as complicated and unconceivable as it seems by the untrained eye. There are special rules and regulations that regu-late the patterns that may at first seem random, but with tools like grasshopper and kangaroo, these seemingly random design actually is working together to achieve equilibrium for the design to be finally conceived.

As you can see on the site image, the size of our pavilion is currently very small and it is located in the center of the site. it might not be attractive enough in the scale size that can convince visitors to walk all the way to the middle of the park, so in future studies, we are aiming to increase the scale to fit the project into the site better. According to the design feature of our latest prototype(prototype 3), we might lose the mechanics and the design feature while we enlarge the scale of the pavilion. For instance, the thickness of the guitar strings will increase by the increasing size of the pavilion. the sound ef-fects might changed and the toughness of the strings would be challenged. this concern can be solved by adding more strength to the strings, but the thickness of the strings after reaching a certain level, it is very difficult and inefficient to create energy by using the wind to vibrate the string and create energy/elec-tricity.

After the interim presentation on Friday, we will develope our energy resource on sound. Like what we did with prototype 3, the sound produced by the gui-tar string. we could use acoustics as one of our main focus, and develope our design revolving on that. Placing some small windmill next to the string and use the windmill to create sound might be a good solution. There are a lot more research on acoustics that needs to be done in the future study. Also, not many group are using this as their resource, so if we do more deep-seated research, we could come up with a very unique and novel ideas in creating a sustainable yet aesthetically pleasing pavilion.

[30] Photograph of prototype 3

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B8

Appendix - Algorithmic Sketches

[31] Graphing Extend

[32] Grasshopper screen grab

[33] Outcomes of Kangaroo plug in by spiral mesh.

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References

1) MATSYS, Shellstar Pavilion (February 27th, 2013) <http://matsysdesign.com/2013/02/27/shellstar-pavilion/> [accessed 23 April 2014].

2) Iwamotoscott Architecture, Voussoir Cloud <http://www.iwamotoscott.com/VOUS-SOIR-CLOUD> [accessed 25 April 2014].

3) Sebastian Jordana, Art615, a pavilion by Aalborg University students (13 May 2010) <http://www.archdaily.com/59960/art615-a-pavilion-by-aalborg-university-students/> [accessed 25 April 2014].

4) Mads Brath, Sune Petersen & Esben Skouboe Poulsen, Art615 project [GH3D] (2010) <http://designplaygrounds.com/deviants/art615-project-gh3d/> [accessed 3 April 2014].

5) Marcelo Ertorteguy, Takahiro Fujuda and Sara Valente, CargoGuitar (2011) <http://cargoguitar.carbonmade.com/> [accessed 2 May 2014].

Figures

Figure [1] Front view of Art 615 Project, Denmark.Figure [2] Internal waffle structure of Art 615Figure [3] Underside shot of the Voussoir Cloud, Los Angeles,CA. Figure [4] Different mesh patterns.Figure [5] 30 Iterations from GrasshopperFigure [6] Top 4 outcomes from 30 iterationsFigure [7] The Shellstar Pavilion, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Figure [8] Underside of The Shellstar Pavilion. Patterning details.Figure [9] Photograph of The Shellstar Pavilion night view with lights effect.Figure [10] Sketch iterations of the week, design processFigure [11] Reverse-engineer meshes of The Shellstar Pavilion from GrasshopperFigure [12] Reverse-engineer Grasshopper tabs of the Shellstar PavilionFigure [13] Final results of Reverse-engineer Figure [14] 50 iterations from GrasshopperFigure [15] Final outcomes of paneling prototypeFigure [16] Photograph of prototype 1Figure [17] Photograph of prototype 1Figure [18] Overview photograph of prototype 2Figure [19] backside connections of prototype 2, tabs.Figure [20] Photograph of prototype 2Figure [21] Photoshoped image of prototype 2Figure [22] Photoshoped image of prototype 2Figure [23] Photograph of CargoGuitar when it lights up during in the darkFigure [24] Photograph of CargoGuitar, vibration detail shot.Figure [25] Design precess of prototype 3Figure [26] Structure ribs of prototype 3Figure [27] Photograph of prototype 3Figure [28] Photograph of prototype 3, lining details.Figure [29] Photoshopped image of prototype 3 on the site.Figure [30] Photograph of prototype 3Figure [31] Graphing Extend Figure [32] Grasshopper screen grab Figure [33] Outcomes of Kangaroo plug in by spiral mesh.

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Part CDetailed Design

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C1

Design Concept

The Venture Grant Aeolian Harp is an remarkable sculpture created by public art sculptor Rodney Carroll. It is located at Vaucluse, South California.

This instrument sculpture is played by the wind. This amazing instrument is built so that even at wind speeds as low as 5 miles per hour it would still operate. This is drastically better then any similar harps designed previously. At these low wind speeds the vibration or “music” caused by the strings is at a constant 40 cycles per second, this is the same as playing the lowest note on a very large pipe organ. Reversely at higher wind speeds, the Venture Harp makes progressively higher (frequency) sounds which sound more typically similar to the Aeolian Harps.

The Harp strings are clamped down tightly at both ends, the basic action/vibration from the strings generate sound, this is because the transverse vibrations of standing waves along the string caused by the vibration in turn causes longitudinal vibrations in the air of the same frequency, therefore creating sound.

During the research process, we also got convinced by a lot of video records or auto records of successful wind harp projects, so we decide to explore our design on top of that.

Precedent

The Venture Grant Aeolian HarpPublic Art Sculptor: Rodney Carroll

Vaucluse, SC, USA

[1] Perspective view of the Venture Grant Aeolian Harp

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According to the weather re-ports and local geology research journal, most of the wind goes from West (31% daily average) and South West (23% daily aver-age). the proportion of the wind can change our form, we haven’t decide it on this stage, we will do further research about how the wind interrupts the site.

[2] Site Analysis

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[3] Wind Analysis - Perspective View

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As you can see from the diagram, the transparent green areas are the high rise building suburbs. The dis-ruption caused by the building will cause air to sweep up and down the surface of the building. At the bottom of the architecture, it gets rapidly moving air currents as result, which creates wind tunnels between them.

[4] Wind Analysis - Plan

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Daily Average Over Year

Wind Velocity Average

After we looked at the broad in-formation of the site, we did more research on the velocity of the wind and it’s average and activity over various sources.The curve chart as shown above, it is a daily average wind velocity dia-gram over the year. As you can see, the highest average wind speed over the year is in the beginning (3rd) of the January, with daily max of 21 miles per hour and mean of 14 mph. (Moderate/Fresh Breeze)The lowest average wind speed over the year is in the beginning (1st) of August. 10mph dailu mean and 15mph daily max. (Gentle/Moderate breeze)

[5] Wind velocity diagram - Daily Average Over Year

Wind Direction Over Year

The line chart indicated that average 24% of the wind from the west direction and 17% from south west direction.The degree of the strings can be changed by the wind direction so that the strings can create most efficient sound. We made our curvature of the form was gen-erated by the wind, this gives more aes-thetic appeal.the structure’s form was explored and de-veloped in order to reach a more dynam-ic and complex realisation that appears to me moulded and shaped by the wind flows of the site itself.

[6] Wind direction diagram - Wind direction Over Year

[8] Wind Impact on the surface of sculpture 2

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Form Development

Developed Form

After we think about the wind form, we need to make it more re-alistic and we want make it more organic looking and stable. We tried to find some grasshopper definitions that works in this area and can express our ideas, so we found Milipede.

Milipede is an extra component on grasshopper that manipulates the tensile stresses, tests various materials/dimensions while adding stress to it, thus it allows us to “visualise” what it’ll look like in a real life situation if it was constructed. It ultimately enabled an idea of how our final structural form will be - as the force of the wind will affect the form itself, the pulling of the strings that are attached to the frames etc. We were able to try various materials/dimensions and see if they’d deflect with Millipede.

The definition on the right hand side shows we playing around with materials, sizes, newton forces. We realize that the timber with steel strings would work and changes by the shape.

We also connected the average wind velocity to the components, until everything reaches an equilibrium with no deflection, we used this as our final form.

[10] Design developed form

Dominant winds on south west, so the lengths of strings facing that direction are longer, to represent the wind dominance over that side. The Long strings create louder and lower tones. North east has least amount of wind so the shorter strings are represented. Short strings create softer and higher tones. This nevertheless gives a dy-namic “mood” to the tones in the overall structure.

[9]Milipede

[10] Design developed form

84[11] String angle diagram

Various degrees are implemented through-out the structure. The wind should be rough-ly perpendicular to the plane of the strings for best effects. At which 70 degrees the Aeolian Harp becomes inactive and the sound result would get effected.

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Sound Generation

[12] Photograph of harp prototype

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Prototypes

Using the Taylor String Formula by Brook Taylor (1685-1731), we were able to estimate the fundamental behavior of the strings vibration and calculate the structure’s average generation of sound pitches, and thus, prove that it can generate acoustic energy, if at all.

The pitch of a note is almost entirely determined by the fre-quency: the higher the frequency, the higher the pitch. For example, 110 cycles or vibrations per second (110 Hz) is the frequency of vibration of the A string on a standard guitar, with the A above that as 220 Hz, and the following that as 440 Hz, and so on. We are able to hear sounds from 15 Hz to 20 kHz, where the lowest note on the ordinary guitar is 41 Hz. We started by exploring how different string lengths and ten-sions would produce notes of different pitch using the Taylor Tension Theory:

T = M (2LF)2Where T is the tension of the string in lbs (pound force)M is the linear mass appliedF is the frequency of vibration, and L is the length of the string in inches

[13] Photograph of harp prototype [14] Photograph of harp prototype

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Shorter String: Higher Note

Greater Tention: Higher Note

Calculation results

It was found that the higher/tighter the tension of the strings – the higher the notes. E.g. tension of 5.6 N on 30cm string produc-es C3 note, whereas tension of 22.9 N on same length string produces a C4.

The shorter the string – the higher the note. E.g. Same tension on different length strings produced higher note when string was shorter.

We first calculated the linear mass applied, where

We then used the calculated linear mass applied to each string, or more simply, the wind force, to determine the stretch/ten-sion of the string required to produce the note of A4 (vibration frequency/cycles per second of roughly 440Hz):

T = M (2LF)2 = 1.254 x 10-7 (2 x 12 inches x 440 Hz)2 = 13.98 lbs = 13.98 x 4.45 Newtons = 62.227 N

Hence, the tension needed for a nylon string of 12 inches to produce a note of A4 and 440Hz is 62.27 N.

[15] Photograph of harp prototype

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5.6N - C3 132Hz

10.07N - F3 177Hz

Wave Diagrams

[16] Wave Diagrams - different sound different wavelength

22.91N - C4 267Hz

38.92N - F4 348Hz

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Pitch Production

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[17] Form analysis

98[18] Front entrance elevation

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[19] South West end perspective view

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[20] Tectonic detail - timber fixing and connection

[21] Tectonic detail - sound board

C2

Tectonic Elements

Tectonic PrecedentThe Earth HarpWilliam Close

Steamboat Springs, Colorado, USA

The whole design is consisted by three main tim-ber structures. 15 meters high, 150 meters long supported by 15 main steel columns.

Top bridge, center bridge and timber sound board are braked up into 90 different pieces for construction and transportation purposes. Each of them is 5 meters long, 100mm thick and 500mm wide.

The string structure works the same as normal harps but its orientation is upside down. Up on evaluation of the construction process, we did a lot of research and compared a lot of scientific experiment and real world examples. The timber fixing is the most efficient and economical system to hold one end of the Aeolian string and it does not affect the string to produce the sound by the wind. For example, The Earth Harp created by William Close is the largest string instrument on the planet, the body of the instrument rests on the stage and the strings travel out over the audience attaching to the back of the theater, they used timber fixing to tie up the strings. The length of the string on the stage is a lot longer than our sculpture, this means that the strings in our design should work perfectly. The 250x200x50mm timber fixing is on the top of the structure attached to the top bridge, 6 M30 bolts are placed on the timber to hold it in place.

There are two of 210x150x18mm steel plate with 4 M30 bolts of 50mm con-nect between each independent top bridge pieces. There is a sealant been installed at the bottom of the string. It is made out of rubber, which prevents vapour penetration; it acts as an environmental bar-rier that stops the water going inside of the gap ruining the structure.

[20] Tectonic detail - timber fixing and connection

[22] Timber fixing of The Earth Harp

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[23] Tectonic detail - Main steel structure

The tuner of each string is placed inside of the center bridge, after a long pe-riod of weathering, the string may become out of pitch. Because the tuner is placed at the bottom, this allows workers to fix the pitch periodically. The tuner gap covered by a removable timber.

As an instrument sculpture, people would not be able to hear the sound if the string is the only element producing sound or only enough sound for a single person with their ear held in the end of the string. So a very effective and effi-cient “sound board/ sound box” is required. Soundboards are vibration energy “transducers”: They move the vibration energy from one system to another. After the research, sound board is more efficient than sound box as it would not destroy the form of the sculpture. The vibration energy in the strings causes the relatively thing soundboard to shake, and this energy is transferred from one string to another, subsequently causing a resonance of which melodic outputs are generated.

[24] Tectonic detail -Top Bridge

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SCREW PILE

POLE BEARING PLATE

[25] Tectonic detail - Underground support

[26] Tectonic detail - sound board connection [27] Tectonic detail - Footing

The main structure support are steel columns with diame-ter of 300mm. After the research, screw piles are the best underground structure for our design. Screw piles will support structures in both tension and compression pro-viding an ideal solution where overturning moments are significant. They are made of galvanised steel – relevant-ly low cost, high durability. Suitable for both tension and compression loads. The screw piles goes 5 meters un-derground, 20mm thick and with a diameter of 100mm. Durable enough to hold large amount of loads and the shearing force caused from the wind. Screw pile is a very efficient system to install as footing for the sculpture. • Quick to install – saving time & money • No concrete or curing time – enables speedier commissioning of sites • Small footprint – enables smaller bases in restricted areas • Flexible design - frames can be designed to bridge services allowing areas with congested services to built on. • Sustainable solution – they are removable & re-useable. • Installation in low temperatures – no down time, unlike concrete

Underground Support

108[28] Site Proposal

C3

Final Model

Site Proposal

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[29] Site render - North Elevation

North Elevation

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[30] Site render - North Elevation

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[31] Site render - perspective view

[31] Site render - perspective view

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Final Model

Scale: 1:500

[31] Photograph of final model

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[32] Photograph of final model - detail A [33] Photograph of final model - detail B

[33] Photograph of final model - detail B [34] Photograph of final model - detail C

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[35] Photograph of final model - detail D [36] Photograph of final model - detail E

[37] Photograph of final model - detail F [38] Photograph of final model - detail F

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C4

Additional LAGI Brief Requirements

DESIGN DESCRIPTION:The use of acoustic engineering in combination with natural environmental forces to create architecture is an old science. With a love for this area of multidisciplinary and powerful conceptual approaches and as a product of physics, natural processes and architecture, an Aeolian harp-like structure was formed. The design is highly effective and environmentally sound due to the fact that it doesn’t require additional energy or forms of amplifica-tion in the creation of its melodious outputs. Instead, using simple laws of aerodynamic physics, a form is created whose conceptual, structural and visual characteristics are all more or so direct derivatives of the site’s wind processes---an interconnectedness in concept, design and contextual forces. The stretched strings on the structure are of 10mm tensioned steel wires, all designed to a uniform force across the form. However, with varia-tions in lengths and hence pitch, different notes would be produced and along with the dynamic ever-changing characteristics of the wind present, the generated acoustic energy will artistically reflect aerial movements of the site in real time.

ENERGY GENERATION :The designs utilises the wind forces of the site to create an Aeolian harp-like structure innovative and economical in its generation of acoustic energy using the simple concept of the van Von Karman Vortex Effect. The aero-dynamic effect creates alternating shedding of vortices along the lengths of the tensioned steel wires, causing it to vibrate. As a result of this rhythmic collapse, the strings are able to generate outputs of melodic energy.The structure extends and branches out as it reaches the west and south west areas of the site, allowing the predominant harvested wind activities in the respective areas to be captured, thereby enhancing the acoustic generation of the structure.The following are the basic calculations and projected statistics of the de-sign:LOWEST WIND SPEED IN COPENHAGEN 4mph or 1.8m/sWEAKEST ACOUSTIC GENERATION InaudibleHIGHEST WIND SPEED IN COPENHAGEN 21 mPh or 1.8m/sSTRONGEST ACOUSTIC GENERATION Notes between that of C5 and D5YEARLY ACOUSTIC ENERGY GENERATION WIND VELOCITIES OF 7.1mPh Notes between that of D4 and E4.

WIND AS TECHNOLOGY: The primary source that drives the concept and aesthetic of our design is the dynamic composition of the wind. As our sculpture performs on the principles of Aeolian tones, it relies on the velocity of the wind in order to produce and illustrate the ever changing patterns of the wind. The wind is thus used as the prime technology to give acoustic functionality to our de-sign. Moreover, the characteristics of the wind has also been utilised in the organic form of the structure. As winds are predominant on the south west side, our lengths of the Aeolian strings are maximised in vertically on the south west end as to present the wind’s distributed dominance. In contrast, shorter strings are situated on the entrance of the sculpture to represent the inactivity of wind on the north east. As a result, there is a gradual and dy-namic changing form that evolves from soft, higher tones (short strings) to loud, lower tones (long strings). The wind’s behaviour dictates itself on our form, as it imprints itself through the form of acoustics as it passes the string, and stimulates our design like a monumental musical instrument for observ-ers to experience.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: The major construction of our design comprises of structural timber frames and the tensioned steel strings. As our design is cantilevered on steel posts, the posts will need to be prefabricated prior to the installation of it on the site. Additionally, due the height of the structure reaching 15m, the steel posts will require to go into a deep suitable length into the ground, as the stability relies on these structural beams and there is a need to evenly dis-tribute the loading capacity of this large structure. The execution of driving the posts into the ground will evoke some form of environmental impact to the soil, however, the impact will be momentary as no further refinements are needed after the constructive installation.

PRIMARY MATERIALSThere’s the aspect of steel columns that comes in the heights of 15 metres. These columns spans over our design, which extends 150 metres and in the intervals of 15 times with a diameter of 300mm. In order to support the loads of the structure, galvanised screw piles are connected to the steel posts to enable support. It additionally stabilises the structure under both tension and compression.

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The screw piles goes 5 meters underground, 20mm thick with a diameter of 100mm. The screw pile is a very efficient system to install, as its:• Quick to install – saving time & money • No concrete or curing time – enables speedier commissioning of sites • Small footprint – enables smaller bases in restricted areas • Flexible design - frames can be designed to bridge services allowing areas with congested services to build on. • Sustainable solution – they are removable & re-useable. • Installation in low temperatures – no down time, unlike concrete.

The structural timber frames (the top bridge and the soundboard) are divid-ed into 90 pieces for the purpose of construction and transportation. These pieces will be 5 metres long for the ease of constructability. In order to con-nect the divided pieces of the top bridge, a steel plate is oriented on each side of the timber frame, with 4 M30 bolts, with dimensions of 210x150x-18mm.

Timber fixings at the dimensions of 250x200x50mm are attached to the top bridge in order to hold the tensioned steel strings. 6 M30 bolts are fixed onto this in order to hold it in place.A soundboard is the bottom ridge of the structure, and behaves as a cru-cial element to allow the effect of vibrating strings to produce sounds, as it acts as a base for melodic outputs to be generated. The provision of a rub-ber sealant is installed at the bottom end of the string, this prevents moisture penetration and thus helps preserves the longevity of the steel material. The tuner of each string is located inside the soundboard, this allows the ability for workers to tighten the pitch periodically. This is then covered by a remov-able timber plane.

C5

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

I would say this subject is such a big challenge for me, it is a lot harder than I expected. Eventually I still managed to made it. This is the hardest subject I’ve ever done, it challenged me in a lot of different aspects. Time management, team collaboration, software technology, operational ability all been tested. Honestly, I could not keep up with work load without the support from my group members. After the whole semester of study in Design Studio Air, my skills on paramet-ric design and modelling changed from nothing to a level that I can build a presentable model. From the algorithmic explorations in Grasshopper, i have gained an appreciation of the various definitions and how to use them in dif-ferent ways to produce a different outcome. For example, we used Waiver-birds, Kangaroo and Millipede as our main plug in, We also used different - ‘frame visualisation’ was plugged at the end to see the deflection - ‘point load’ was added to represent the wind velocity adding on it - ‘material’ was used to test out the variety of materials. Thus, but having Millipede in our definition we managed to visualise how our model will appear if it was under tensile stresses and lateral loads.

After everything, I’m really satisfied with the outcomes we’ve got. The design may not be as good as other groups, but we did our best. If we got more time, I would put more effort on tectonic research and development. The tectonic prototypes we made are relevantly small and lacks details, we did not have enough time to make a physical prototype on underground sup-port systems which was a very important part of our design. As previously explained, our tectonic connectors needs improvement and extra devel-opment. However, the process in achieving the stage we had got to, had allowed me to better understand and how I may execute computational design in my future projects. Although as mentioned, even though techni-cal aspects may not be my strongest area, after completing Studio Air I have been able to grasp more insight on how I may practice this, and utilise this in my designs.

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References

1) Henry S Gurr, 2000. “The Harp in Interature”. <http://www.usca.edu/math/~mathdept/hsg/aeolian.html/> [Last accessed May 17th, 2014]

2) Weather Spark, “Wind Forecast of Copenhagen Capital Region”. URL: (http://weatherspark.com/aver-ages/28823/Kastrup-near-Copenhagen-Capital-Region-of-Denmark). [accessed at 28th May, 2014]

3) EMD, 2012. “Copenhagen Case Study of Wind”. URL: www.emd.uk. [accessed at 20th May 2014]

4) Marine Weather, “Wind and Wave Charts”. URL: http://www.myweather2.com/Marine/Coastal-Areas/Denmark/Off-Copenhagen-Baltic/wind-wave-chart.aspx. [accessed 19th May, 2014]

FiguresFigure [1] Perspective view of the Venture Grant Aeolian HarpFigure [2] [2] Site AnalysisFigure [3] Wind Analysis - Perspective ViewFigure [4]. Wind Analysis - PlanFigure [5] Wind velocity diafram - Daily Average Over YearFigure [6] Wind direction diagram - Wind direction Over YearFigure [7] Wind Impact on the surface of sculpture 1Figure [8] Wind Impact on the surface of sculpture 2Figure [9] Milipede Figure [10] Design developed formFigure [11] ] String angle diagramFigure [12] Photograph of harp prototype Figure [13] Photograph of harp prototype Figure [14] Photograph of harp prototype Figure [15] Photograph of harp prototype Figure [16] Wave Diagrams - different sound different wavelengthFigure [17] Form analysisFigure [18] Front entrance elevationFigure [19] South West end perspective viewFigure [20] Tectonic detail - timber fixing and connectionFigure [21] Tectonic detail - sound board Figure [22] Timber fixing of The Earth HarpFigure [23] Tectonic detail - Main steel structureFigure [24] Tectonic detail -Top BridgeFigure [25] Tectonic detail - Underground supportFigure [26] Tectonic detail - sound board connectionFigure [27] Tectonic detail - FootingFigure [28] Site ProposalFigure [29] Site render - North ElevationFigure [30] Site render - North ElevationFigure [31] Site render - perspective view Figure [32] Photograph of final model – detail AFigure [33] Photograph of final model – detail BFigure [34] Photograph of final model – detail CFigure [35] Photograph of final model - detail DFigure [36] Photograph of final model - detail EFigure [37] Photograph of final model - detail FFigure [38] Photograph of final model - detail G

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THE ENDFor now