Final Process Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Q0DDya8ds&feature=plcp

Final Presentation Images

FINAL PRESENTATION PANELS

Week 12 - Tectonic Considerations

Week 11 - Building Fabric

The building

Week 10 - Program

Old Program:

The program of the building for the interim crit was a cop out, and didn't have the substance required to truly activate the Howard Smith Wharves Site.

New Program:

The building will house a state of the art photometric laboratory, too which the current QUT photometric lab staff will migrate. The building will also serve a duel purpose as a function space with bar and kitchen attached.

GROUND FLOOR

LEVEL 1

Week 9 - Folie to Building Presentation Panels

PANEL 1 - LOCATION

PANEL 2 - FORM GENERATION

PANEL 3 - FORM GENERATION

PANEL 4 - FORM GENERATION

PANEL 5 - DESIGN PROPOSAL

PANEL 6 - NATURAL LIGHTING PROPOSAL

PANEL 7 - PROPOSAL PLAN & SECTION

PANEL 8 - CIRCULATION

PANEL 9 - INITIAL PROGRAM LAYOUT

Week 9 - Folie to Building Crit

Folie to Building

Week 8 - Design Development

Folie

Week 6 & 7 - 4D Concept Development

Reading Reflections and Thoughts

Towards an Animated Architecture against Architectural Animation.

Animation when used to conceptualise  architecture can have an obvious and expected influence on the form. Neil Spiller puts forward the notion that "the medium has become the message". I believe any medium architects use will have an influence on the outcome of a design. Whether conceptualised from pen, charcoal, pencil, Autocad, foam core model, paper model, wire mesh model or 3D animated. It is the architects choice what medium to use. The only limiting factor with 3D animation is that everyone has the same tools, whereas our hands and minds are our physical tools, and no two are the same.

Project 5: Migrating Coastlines

The use of particle systems with various space warps makes sense to me if the variables used to affect the particles are reflective of the actual element they represent. In the text, pressure systems are added to correlate to the ocean and desert views. But later it explains that the "structure and intensity of the pressures were modulated". What value or architectural merit do these elements have if they are free to be changed. The architect is merely changing variable to get a form that he/she wants. This devalues the purpose of using these animated techniques in the first place.

Temporality and Time

This reading discusses the method of a few select architects, these of which are all experimenting in similar ways to our tutorial during this semester.

Staring with a site parameter, then representing this with a space warp or pressure field, then making this affect an object or particle system. This method ins't a normal design process, and it leads to the creation of forms and relationships that are previously unknown. My key concern with this type of generative form finding is that it seems to be an exercise in post justification. ????? States "the architectural envelope becomes entwined with the exhibition surfaces, challenging the traditional concept of the exhibition space as a simple white box.". To me this is saying the form got really twisted up, and we then decided the interior space was going to be an exhibition space. But then some of the exterior surfaces merged to interior surfaces. So all of a sudden we are testing tradition concepts of the exhibition space. All of this was thought of, after the form had been found.

Techniques and Technologies

This reading basically tried to hammer home the idea that using generative or multidisciplinary design software can allow designers to push the technology and culture development cycle.

Realistically not many small firms would be able to implement avante guard designs in everyday life. So there is a very small market for this type of architectural exploration. Architecture is very market driven, and if there is not much construction or competition going on. There will be no experimental architecture.

Concept 

Adaptitecture

The Brisbane city, and commercial architecture in general does not adapt to the site or context. Often there are very small adaptions to do with daylighting, or orientation of views, but never an appreciation of the form of the site.

Concept 50 aims to experiment with the way a form can engage with the context, by appreciating and complementing the form of the site primarily. The architecture will also be an integration of greater contextual elements influencing the form, causing the architecture to evolve and adapt depending on site conditions.  

SITE HAS CONTROL

Concept Development

Week 5 - Intro to 4-Dimensional Diagramming

Tutor: Florian Heise

Design Aims.


"A place where people learn and experience bodily sensations"


The aims set by Florian leaves the students open to experiment with a large range of concepts. By doing this, the student can concentrate on the architectural experimentation of form and fully engage in the learning experience of 4D Diagramming.


Class Description.


Examine, emulate, and interrogate various approaches to the application of animation software to architectural design. This will develop a series of concept designs for our project. 


Tutorial.


The tutorial set the scene for the rest of the semester. Florian showed us his work regarding the use of animations to influence the building fabric. One of the experiments was quite interesting; through the use of particle tracing he was able to create a building form. This type of experiment visually seems to lends itself towards a design which expresses structure for aesthetic purposes.  This is shown below.

This sort of experiment has been done on a site with a very small footprint. This means Florian's variables would have to have been very tightly controlled to keep the particles within the boundaries. If we bring a similar technique to the howard smith wharves site, there is a far greater opportunity to create a much more expressive form that could react to the river along with other elements and disperse along the site.


Due to the complexity of the systems being used, it was hard to get a grasp of what Florian was actually doing. But after completing the readings, it became clear what systems Florian was using and what other possibilities we have at hand.


Readings.

The readings discussed the use of computer simulation to aid the design process, rather than using them just to extrude a form from a plan. The Architecture in the Digital Age reading comments “The plan no longer ‘generates’ the design; sections attain a purely analytical role”. By this, Kolarevic refers to the power of designing through digital mediums to create architectural that doesn’t conform to a plan but has an infinite number of possible outcomes. After using the computer to create from, the plan and section is used to analyse and understand the form.

The various ways to generate form through polysurfaces, morphing, keyframing, inverse kinematics, particle systems, space warps and so on, brings a whole new dimension to design. The way you can create objects that respond and relate to each other has a very large integration into architecture.

Before architects used to design a building to respond to a site or nearby elements, by assuming some sort of relationship. Now an architect can actually set up the strengths of relationships in space and get a visual representation of the pure responses of elements next to each other. This medium of design is very abstract and peels the context back to its most basic level. 

Experimentation.

Week 4 - Presentation Panels

1st Presentation Panel

2nd Presentation Panel

3rd Presentation Panel

Week 4 - Design Documentation

Context.

SITE PLAN

The central location of the site used for adapt. was chosen because it offered the most in regards to exposure from people moving near the site, as well as setting up great views from the site down the river and towards the CBD.

Concept.

PARTii DIAGRAM

The proposal of an architectural folie rises from the meeting point of two converging paths, which employs the familiar sight of paths lifted and broken from tree roots and amplifies this in scale.  By taking the concept that learning is the acquisition of knowledge through experiences, the folie is aiming to activate within people a sense of curiosity. 

adapt. seeks to enter a dialogue which questions the impact that the built environment has on the lives of humans and how this effects  the environment. In turn, the folie becomes a metaphor for the natural destruction caused by the environment which is amplified due to human involvement.

Rather than the traditional approach of creating spaces which are prescribed, ergonomically and programmatically designed for the user, the design invites users to adapt to the spaces, challenging peoples understanding of their interaction with built structures in general.  

Though the site is dominated by two prominent features, the Storey Bridge and the cliffs, it could be argued that the boardwalk is a comparably important aspect of the experience of using the site.  Instead of ones involvement with a boardwalk being a subconscious act, the path folie generates an interesting encounter, bringing its  presence into the consciousness of those which travel along it. This creates an opportunity for contemplation and reflection through the process observing ones reaction to the intervention.

Function.

DIAGRAMS SHOWING THE MULTIPLICITY OF USES

adapt. is designed to allow for a multiplicity of uses. The architecture does not prescribe a particular program to the form, instead the form creates spaces, divisions, and points of interest so the users themselves create the program.

Tectonic.

TEXTURES THE USER WILL EXPERIENCE WHILE USING THE SPACE

The walkway is constructed to sit flush with the surface of the adjacent ground plane. To do this, the structure was completely recessed which allowed for footings and baseplate construction to be hidden beneath the boardwalk. Parallel flange channels (PFC) were chosen, for its aesthetics and structural ability. The PFC has great strength, and still allows for an aesthetic that is light and elegant.  All steel used is constructed from cor-ten steel, which weathers creating a rusted look but remains structurally stable.

Experience.

SUN STUDY OF THE FINAL FOLIE PROPOSAL

WALKTHROUGH OF THE FINAL FOLIE PROPOSAL

Week 3 - Design Development

Context

The group has i identified  that Brisbane is defined by its river, but a element that is just as important as the river, is the pathways that link people to the river. 

SITE LOCATION MAP

The highlighted section of the river in this location map represent to edges of the river that is lined with footpaths. The path is an often unnoticed element of city infrastructure, but adapt folie aims to bring the path into the eyes of the users.

                                     *****pivot around specific SITE RENDER.....................

Concept

Adapt.
Using the path as the key element , the group aimed to make the everyday, subconscious act of adapting to your environment a very conscious effort. 


In doing this, group 35 defined the need for the form to not fit any paradigm of conventional park furniture, equipment, or shelters. This lead the group to test different abstract forms generated from the idea/form of the path.

SKETCHES OF THE PATH CONCEPT

Reoccurring sketches of paths emerging from the ground to create structures of sort were informing the design process but were not helping to develop the spatial and experiential nature of the folie. The group then turned to some paper models to test ideas.

CONCEPT MODEL TESTING A METHOD OF CREATING SPACES

Through the use of models the group was able to better visualise the space that had to be created, working to a scale to keep outcomes realistic. The models progressed throughout a long night until the group was happy with the outcome of the spatial and aesthetic design of the folie.

PROGRESSION OF MODELS

The models changed from originally being made of paper then put onto a surface, to models that camera from the paper that they were sitting on. There was something really symbolic about not only taking materials from the path, but actually removing the piece of path that the folie element was derived  from. There was much discussion around each model and group 35 exchanged these ideas by sketching on the model. The group then came to a final layout and decided to keep the form that was created and test it with materials, structure, and additional folie elements.

THE FINAL FOLIE LAYOUT DECIDED BY THE GROUP.

GOOD COPY OF PHYSICAL MODEL MADE FOR WEEK 4 PRESENTATION

Function

To add an organising element to the adapt folie design, group 35 decided to recognise and account for two distinct program types. Bypassing users and/or Staying users.


By doing this adapt folie will be divided to allow users to bypass the folie, but still experience the essence of it. But adapt folie will also allow for users to actually stop and use parts of the space.

TYPES OF MOVEMENT THROUGH THE SPACE.

The diagram above shows the two types of movement. The green arrow representing the intended movement path, and the red arrow showing the area designed to be experienced by staying for a period of time. 


Tectonic

At this stage the team was testing different structural elements for the folie. It was decided to use 200mm SHS as the main structural elements but after testing the design with a quick 3D model, the team realised that this was a far too thick member.

EARLY ITERATION OF FOLIE DESIGN. 

Experience

SUN STUDY OF THE PROPOSED FOLIE

WALKTHROUGH OF THE PROPOSED FOLIE

Week 2 - Concept Design

Concept
Learning through adaption.

CYCLIST FAILS TO ADAPT TO THE CHANGING ROAD SURFACE. HE LEARNT.

Group 35 decided to define 'learning' as an adaptive process. Through adaption we learn, therefore the folie design should challenge the users to adapt and therefore learn about their physical surrounds. People adapt to their surroundings everyday, most of the time subconsciously. But bringing adaption to the forefront of someones mind, by forcing them to adapt to unusual surroundings will make this concept strong.

A USER IN A SPACE, HAVING TO ADAPT.

We started with the idea of having walls that are not straight. Moving from open space to having walls either side of you that are tilted would become quite disorienting. Adapting to this would be a conscious effort. 

DIFFERENT WAYS IN WHICH A USERS NEEDS TO ADAPT TO CHANGING SPACES.

Context


The wharves site is a particularly challenging site. In response to the site team 35 has set some parameters to how the folie should behave.
The folie should:
    - Not compete or take away from the aesthetic of the story bridge.
    - Keep a low(ish) profile to make the form more personal. (the maximum height of 5m, would still be insignificant next to the bridge and cliff.)
    - Give space to the Heritage buildings on the site, and utilise some of the vast free space on the site.
    - Be positioned where the folie will have a large amount of visual contact to people passing the site, but not entering. 

FLYOVER OF THE HOWARD SMITH WHARVES SITE

Function.


The concept has described that group 35 wants the folie to make people adapt and use the space in a number of ways, depending on how they see it. To do this the elements the folie is made up of, need to be visually nondescript. That way, the user may see a physical folie element positioned at roughly horizontal as some sort of seating, or a bench, of a shade structure.


This nondescript nature should program the space with multiple programs. As Bure says in the reading 'Paris / La Villette' describing Tschumi's vision for the folies, "they resisted a precise architectural meaning and, instead, implied multiple meanings". The Howard Smith Wharves folie by Group 35 aims to replicate a similar functional paradigm as Tschumi's redevelopment of La Villette.


Tectonic


At this stage of the design process little thought has gone into the specific materials of the structure. 


The primary goal tectonically is to not take away from the site as much as possible. The site has a wonderful rawness that we seek to compound through the use of non processed materials. 


Materials such as Cor-ten steel, sandstone and other naturals stone, and weathered wood are all being considered for the design proposal.

1. COR-TEN STEEL, 2. WEATHERED WOOD, 3. SANDSTONE BLOCKS, 4. VARIOUS STONE USE.

Experience


The folie is meant to be experienced with a slight amount of wonder at first, but then the user will eventually create a program specific to themselves.