Week 13

Week 13 was the last official week that tutorials were held in order to get feedback from the tutor. I went over the diagrams and graphics I was going to produce for the final presentation.

Week 12

Experimenting with models.

This week saw the tweaking of the model in order to resolve the issues such as space for the functions and accommodating the lift shafts. A few different programs were used such as Rhino and Revit.

Rhino was experimented with in order to achieve an organic shape.

Week 11

This week saw the creation of a model that could be tweaked in order to act as a base for experimentation with form and function. As discussed last week the metaphor from nature that was guiding the design was that of an eco-system or a closed loop biological system. I tried to make the model as organic as possible with free flowing shapes and morphing undulations. The Model was created as a mass using a series of sweeps in Revit. A few issues resulted with the form as for many attempts I was not able to add profiles to the sweep. In the end the profiles of the arced sweeps were able to be changed but not for the vertical pathways.

3D View

Plan View

Front Elevation

                      

Back Elevation

                                    

Side Elevation

There are still some issues with the design that will be have to worked out. For example more space is needed in the lower portion of the arc shape as this will be the area that houses the main functional spaces of the building. Secondly the vertical portions need to be tweaked to be able to accommodate a vertical lift shaft. Currently they come too far out from the cliff and would not work housing a lift. The issues that were encountered with modelling on Revit could be resolved maybe by modelling in Rhino 3d. Some experimentation into different programs will be done.

Week 10

Searching For a metaphor.

After the submission last week a stronger metaphor was needed for the Howard Smith Wharves proposal so I began researching into new areas. A few issues with the project were that the concept of the building, having chambers with differing climates inside, could be placed anywhere, it was not tied closely enough with the Howard Smith Wharves. Another issue was how was the top of the cliffs to be connected with the bottom - one of the most important issues I feel for a successful Building. After having trouble with trying to find a metaphor in nature that was linked with the site and that was a function of a specific plant or animal I decided an "ecosystem" rather than an individual organism would be sufficient to 1; be a suitable metaphor to incorporate into a building form, 2; be a suitable catalyst and topic for learning and 3; be a way of connecting the top of the cliff to the bottom.

Some research into "Closed Loop" systems found a company in Chicago called "The Plant" which uses a industrial building in the middle of the city to house a farm that is a net-zero energy and zero waste system. They grow plants, fish, tea and brew beer all with zero waste. They use a special an anaerobic generator to produce electricity that runs on human, food and fish waste. this in turn powers the grow lights for the plants and heats the building. here is a diagram of their system.

http://www.plantchicago.com/about-the-plant/

How can these aspects be incorporated into a building. A building that was in the shape of a loop where people learnt about closed loop zero-waste systems that had a restaurant attached that used the food produced in the farm.

A few concepts were drawn up:

The first concept focused on a loop that wound across the cliff face which joined up to a series of chambers that each housed one aspect of the closed loop system, such as plant room, fish room, tea room etc.

The second concept I wanted to encapsulate the idea of a loop more strongly without breaking it up with separated buildings or an obvious lift shaft.

Plan View

South Elevation

Isometric View

This is a base concept where I will continue to resolve in order to accommodate space for the room with the separated room and restaurant. her issues to consider is how to successfully implement the learning aspects to the building.

Week 09

Project 2 Submission:

Week 08

This week saw the development of ideas and parameters to add on to the analysis that had already been undertaken. In addition to the analysis done last week exemplar projects were researched in order to form a decent concept and direction for the proposal.

Firstly the function of the proposal was contemplated. Recently a design competition was held for the St. Petersburg Pier in florida U.S.A. There were many proposals that were worthy of mention, in particular the entry by the firm BIG titled The Wave.

The form of this building is interesting but what was most interesting was the program that they proposed for it. As the building is water based BIG broke up the functions of the separate rooms to each house a different state of water.

This diagram shows how the building was broken up into the separate functions. This would be interesting to play with this concept of divided programs.

Another project that was studied was the eden project, which uses sustainable methods to control the climate that is inside the geodesic domes. The eden project also has differing climatic conditions separated into different areas. 

Fro the examination of these exemplar projects and the analysis already completed I came up with a rough idea for what the program of the future learning centre was to be. I wanted the centre to be somewhere where people could learn about different the climates of australia and their conservation. This would call for separated rooms or zones that each contained a different climate perhaps resembling this in some way. 

As the concept for the Folie project I worked on was based upon the framing of views as well as the metaphor of a bunker this was important to also be incorporated into the design. In the folie the group used the positioning of concrete walls in order to prompt users to view a certain aperture that would tell a story of the history of the site, this can be replicated with the newer design as well as incorporating the heavy, industrial feel that the bunker had. As we are designing in the group learning from nature i feel that it would be a great contrast to have the solidness of the concrete and bunker metaphor juxta-posed against a fluid and organic form.

When looking for inspiration for the form of the separated climate rooms i came across the work of Renzo Piano and his Tjibaou Cultural Centre.

The organic shape of the centre is a beautiful inspiration as well as being an environmentally sustainable design. When thinking about all the things that I would like to achieve with the function and the form of the building it could potentially look something like this, incorporating the bunker, framed views, the climactic rooms and the organic forms;

Again as the design group that I am in is specifically dealing with the concept of learning from nature it is important that I have a metaphor that is inspired by nature that is present in the design. After researching on www.asknature.org I came across some technologies and organisms that have functions that could potentially allow me to control the climates of the particular rooms using natural mechanisms for example;

These two animals the Buprestid beetle and the Bobtail squid (these are not the only animals with this function) are able to use special cells in heir bodies to reflect light of various wavelengths over the spectrum. The ability to reflect light could be harnessed in a building so that harmful rays could be kept out. If some visible light was desired harmful ultraviolet or infrared rays could be targeted to keep out. This could be used to keep the inside of a climactic room cool and would be appropriate for a temperate climate where you are trying to keep heat out.

Desert plants have evolved a function, due to the lack of water in their environment, to inhibit the evaporation of water as well as assist the condensation of moisture from the air by the use of tiny hairs that protrude from their appendages. This could be useful in the reduction of water usage and collection. this could be utilised to keep the interior of a climactic room humid to accommodate a tropical climate.

As we all know plants are inherently green and are so for a very good reason. Plants have a pigment in them that allows them to absorb the energy from the sun. As most people are aware the darker something is the more light energy and therefore heat it will absorb. This could be utilised as a function to absorb heat energy and contain it within a climactic room that was designated as an arid climate, trapping heat to be appropriate for desert plants.

From this point the ideas I have begun to research will be refined in order to present next week. The presentation has an allowance of 5 minutes, is to be diagram based and will be marked against how well each of these criteria have been addressed;

- Folie

- Concept

- Context

- Function

- Tectonics

- Contributory

- Presentation