AIRSTUD

IO

390117SHENIA LAY

SUNFLOWER

CAGEBy SHENIA LAY

(During BEND Workshop organised by ExLab)

THIS cage was digitally designed in Rhinoceros and Grasshopper and fabricated manually with the aid of a wire-bending wooden platform. It was an introduc-tion to the world of digital design so although the tech-niques involved in the process were quite basic, their involvement provided a fast, effective and close to ac-curate method of delivering a design to physical form.

This type of digital design and fabrication can be seen adapted to far larger scales today, encompass-ing not only the field of Architecture but also Furni-ture Design, Fashion, Sculptural Designs et cetera.

One of the many existing discussions within the expand-ing employment of these techniques involve the endless posibilities that come with it in regard to the extent of complexity in design; alternative fabrication and instal-lation methods; and accuracy levels during construction. These possibilities, although alluring, has also led to many criticisms targetting the genuin-ity in designs of such digitally generated outcomes. To elaborate, digital design can be simple enough to grasp, however an application involving genuine understand-ing and control over your design can be harder to master.

RELEVANCE TO WESTERN GATEWAY PROJECT:Wyndham City is still a relatively new area, if the final design outcome was to be ob-tained through the employment of an (also) relatively new design and fabrication meth-od, I think the ‘statement’ that the Wynd-ham City is seeking for, will be achievable.

The use of a relatively new design pro-cess in the area will also generate in-terest not only with benefits to Wynd-ham ity but also the digital design world.

THE PINNACLE

By KOHN PEDERSEN FOX London, UK

THE process of optimising (anything), is the process of find-ing the best state under the restrictions of the field.

The design process for The Pinnacle begun with a simple geometric form that is pre-rationalised to meet a highly opti-mised surface in which it will be wrapped in at a later stage. Digital design here, has allowed the designers to use an opti-misation programme to accomplish both elegance and a high rate of performance in regards to:• Environmental• Programmatic• Structural and Constructional Simplicity• Maximum return of investment in terms of gross internal floor area The facade has two layers, both composed of rectilinear panels connected into a single, flexible module. Appearance wise, optimisation allowed for a tight packing of the pan-els resulting in the successful continually curved surface. I think that Optimisation is an important aspect of digi-tal design as it looks for ways to enhance a building to better fulfill it’s purpose and suit it’s surroundings.

LOUVRE ABU DHABI

By ATELIERS JEAN NOUVELSaadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Designed to resemble a ‘lost city recovered archaeologically from the sands’ this architecture (still in the planning) is composed of simple buildings that is united by a seemingly floating shallow dome of 180m (diameter) overhead. The done -a central feature- reflects the Islamic tradition of a per-forated screen with the use of fractal organisation of pattern-ing to create a special micro-climate for the micro-city below. Digital technology plays an important role in the development of the dome. Digital modelling, analysis and optimisation has allowed the architect to explore and develep the dome’s patterning and it’s relationship to the environment that it is surrounded by and the environment it creates. Responding mostly to the consideration of lighting, digital technology enables the patterning to be adjsuted according to five precisely controlled parameters; grid, base pattern, rotational orientation, scale, and member thickness. The exploration through these parameters gives the final outcome of an highly aesthetic and complex geometry which filters light in a very interesting way.

Dome structure, exploded into the many construction and design layers.

The five primary parameters within the circle grid; basic pattern, element, rotation, scale, and member width.

P_WALLBy ANDREW KUDLESS

MATSYS

This is a project commissioned for the exhibition Sensate: Bodies and Design. Consisting of one hundred and fifty hexagonal tiles of undulating, bulbous forms, the P_Wall is a successful example where digital design in collab-oration with a well sought out fabrication method has brought forth an in-novative design that reflects clearly in the aesthetic values and materials.

The results that Andrew Kudless has arrived at was acheived with the aid of degital design, under the category of computational algorithm. Kud-less has fed the software a set of algorithms which in turn has generated points that will define the growth in bulbous forms to a certain degree.

Contradicting the complex appearance of the forms, the fab-rication process is rather simple. Involving Spandex Ly-cra (elastic fabric) stretched across a hexagonal framework, with dowels attached to points generated by the computer algorithm. With the formwork set, plaster is poured in, and left to set. The bulbous forms we see are a result of the weight of the plas-ter against the resistance of the Spandex and the dowels.

“THE approach is that there is an integra-tion between form, growth and behaviour.”

-Andrew Kudless

“THE average person doesn’t realise how fluid concrete is as a material”

-Andrew Kudless

What I find particarly interesting and I guess, clasified as innova-tive is process of shaping plaster into such an organic and seemingly soft form. Although I do not know the details in which Andrew Kud-less based his algorithm on, the entire process regarding the digital aspect of the design and fabrication is enough to convince me that in terms of a generating form, this computational algorithm is direction is where I’d like to head where the Wydnam Gateway project is concerned.

-More analysis to come in relation to Wydnam Gateway project-

This project explores the potential weather-ing of P_Wall. The idea is that, while alot of archi-tects of modern buildings aim to produce minimal and timeless buildings with “antiseptic materials”, they unintentionally forget that their work will take on a life of it’s own once established in context. The P_Wall once set up in it’s position in the exhibi-tion Senate Bodies and Design, is proof of this very notion. The nature of it’s form, alluring and allud-ing a soft touch, attracts hand contact from many of the exhibition visitors. As time progresses, fin-ger marks and scratchs can be seen on the surface.

This Weathering of the P Wall project takes this notion to the next level and sets the location outdoors, rather than in a gallery environment. Outdoors, the P_Wall is expose to other elements such as wind, rain, sun as well as other living forms, ie. Animals, insects, plants.Overtime, this is how the designers imagine the wall to appear; weathered and playing habitat to other life forms.

In addition to studying the P_Wall, I thought it’ll inter-esting to look into the Weathering and acknowledge the possibility of drastic changes in both aesthetics and forms once it settles in an outdoor environment. This project sets as a reminder that the design for the Wydnam Gateway project is to be located outdoors and thus, considerations and measures for such eniv-ronment should be taken during the design process.

WEATHERING OF THE P_WALL