The Yale ‘Assembly One’ pavilion is the younger, smaller, more carefree sister to Yale’s building project – a 40-year old tradition in which first-year students design and building a house. It is the product of a seminar and design studio in which students focused on alternative ways in which contemporary buildings can come together and the potential architectural effects computational and material techniques can offer. The ‘Assembly One’ pavilion is designed to act as an information center for New Haven’s summer International Festival of Arts and Ideas and therefore was developed with the following characteristics in mind: dynamism, visual transparency and visual density.
Dynamism:The structure is suited to a performance festival – solid and massive from one angle, lightweight and almost entirely porous from another, it alternately hides and reveals its contents.
Visual Transparency: Constructed from thin aluminum sheets, the pavilion opens up on two sides for ventilation and security, focusing views toward the festival’s main stage.
Visual Density: Over 1000 panels create shifting effects of reflection and color as visitors move around the pavilion, creating less of a timeless image of shelter than an unstable, engaging heart of the festival.
“We treated the tenets of digital fabrication as basic assumptions – our ability to efficiently produce variable and unique components and the cultural implications of moving beyond standardized manufacturing. But, we were less concerned with the uniqueness of the objects we created than on the novel types of tectonic expression they allowed.”The Festival Pavilion was designed and built byYale School of Architecturestudents.
Project Founders:David Bench, Zac Heaps, Jacqueline Ho, Eric Zahn
Project Managers:Jacqueline Ho, Amy Mielke
Design & Fabrication:John Taylor Bachman, Nicholas Hunt, Seema Kairam, John Lacy, Veer Nanavatty
Design:Rob Bundy, Raven Hardison, Matt Hettler
Faculty advisor:Brennan Buck
Assistant:Teoman Ayas
Consultant:Matthew Clark of Arup, New York
Generous support was provided by Assa Abloy, the Yale Graduate and Professional Student Senate, and the Yale School of Architecture. The Pavilion is on view on the New Haven Green until the end of June.
A stunning Catalan free-form vault has been designed and build by students during a one week workshop organised by Prof. Deplazes and Prof. Block from ETH Zurich. RhinoVAULT has been used for the design of the complex compression-only shape. For details, visit the homepage of the BLOCK Research Group.
By the time this is out, the next version of Caedium will be able to perform a CFD simulation of a tensile membrane structure and then export surface pressure coefficient (Cp) data for structural analysis in ixForten 4000. This exciting development will allow ixForten 4000 users to perform non-linear stress analysis to better determine membrane displacement with more precise wind pressure loads than previously available, leading to more cost efficient structures and supports.
As an example of the new capability, Gerry, first exported the original membrane, from ixForten 4000 using the Wavefront file format (.obj). Next Gerry imported the Wavefront geometry into Caedium, configured the flow volume and physics, and then ran the CFD simulation.
Next Gerry exported the Cp surface data and corresponding surface mesh from Caedium for import back into ixForten 4000.
Membrane Cp Displayed in ixForten 4000
As the final stage of the process, Gerry ran a non-linear structural analysis in ixForten 4000 using the Cp data as the boundary loads for the membrane. The results from the ixForten 4000 simulation are shown as displacement contours in the image at the top of this post.
The results have been quite encouraging and Now, the CFD module has slowly been integrated in the gold version of the software.
The book “Bamboo: From Green Design to Sustainable Design” by Rebecca Reubens is now on the market and available on Amazon, Flipkart and at stores in India and overseas.
The introduction for her book was written by Prof. Ranjan, which i am including below.
The book focuses on the links between design, craft and sustainability, expanding the scope of design and opportunities for designers. It inspires designers to move beyond ‘green’ or eco-design, into the realm of holistically sustainable design by focusing on bamboo – an ancient, renewable material – which has recently seen a resurgence in popularity, in both design and sustainability. The book highlights bamboo’s versatile applications and their impact on ecological, economic, social and cultural sustainability. The Sustainability Checklist included here will empower designers to guide and evaluate their designs – and move from green design towards sustainable design. The Princ e Claus Fund supports this publication for its treatment of sustainability’s many facets, unlike others that only recognize the ecological meaning. The Fund believes that culture is a basic need and the motor of development, and so actively seeks cultural collaborations founded on equality and trust, with partners of excellence, in spaces where resources and opportunities for cultural expression, creative production and research are limited and cultural heritage is threatened.
About the Author
Rebecca Reubens trained formally as an industrial designer. She now works at the intersection of design, craft and sustainability. A large part of her work has been for the development sector, with international bodies such as INBAR and UNIDO, in Europe, Asia and Africa.
She also has her independent practice, through her design firm Rhizome, which believes that renewable materials crafted into contemporary designs are the route to holistically sustainable products. Rebecca is currently pursuing her PhD at the Design for Sustainability subprogram at the Delft University of Technology on the links between sustainability, design and development, through the medium of bamboo.
“Preamble
Rebecca Reubens has asked me to write an Introduction for her new book that attempts to bridge three fields that I am deeply interested in and in which I too have been working for a very long time now. The three fields are Design, Bamboo and Sustainability, all of which are extremely complex in their own right and there is little real understanding of the issues and approaches within each of them in the modern world due to a paucity of published research here. Modern design has been around for some time having evolved from its roots in the industrial revolution but it has unfortunately become a form of consumerist expression by industry and the profession and the real human development angle is all but forgotten and we need to rediscover this aspect as a fresh approach. Bamboo is still quite unknown tomodern industry and the design profession although it is a grand old material of traditional societies across Asia and Latin America. Finally, Sustainability has arrived with a bang at the policy level since we are faced with the excesses of industry and governence that has caused both global warming and climate change as well as social unrest which is a product of our selfish ways, all needing a serious rethink and I am happy to see these three issues being addressed here in this book.
In the world of traditional societies in Asia, Africa and Latin America there exists a demonstrated deep understanding of all three subjects since these have been used in an evolutionary manner by local communities for many centuries. These continue to exist as a living culture in their rural communities and lifestyles even today but I must say that modern communication and changing aspirations is affecting these towards rapid extinction. Just as our plant and animal species are being depleted by massive modern exploitation of resources these pearls of traditional wisdom are being lost just as rapidly by human neglect. Here I must draw particular attention to the Apa Tani tribes of Arunachal Pradesh who have over many centuries of development in their niche valley in the Eastern Himalayas demonstrated a sustainable lifestyle that is based on the careful cultivation and utilisation of bamboo, timber and an integrated water management system for agriculture that is as yet an unknown value in modern life around the world.
Design, on the other hand, is a natural human activity that evolved with man over the ages but it has now has been relegated to the precincts of a professional marketing priesthood that manages the activity in the marketplace of our global economy. Design as it was deeply understood by traditional societies as a broad based human imaginative activity has been relegated to the back burner since we have chosen to follow the specialized path of science and the trained manager since they provide rational answers for everything and modern man and their society can only decide based on explicit knowledge while design in most cases is felt or tacit knowledge and is based on instincts that are better judged by sensitive interpretation rather than by the application of cold logic. This is why I felt compelled to set up my blog titled “Design for India” where I could debate the other dmensions of design that are much needed in India today.
Bamboo, has been nurtured by traditional societies across Asia and Latin America and its varied species provide a natural material that had wide spread use in thousands of traditional applications in many parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America where it was abundantly grown but with the arrival of industrial revolution and the spread of Western know-how the dominant materials of our economies started depending on minerals like stone, limestone and cement, metals like steel and copper, synthetics such as plastics and petrochemicals and some economic agricultural commodities such as cotton and jute. Bamboo was therefore neglected by the colonial leaders as the spread of technology and formalized knowledge also meant the reduction of local knowledge in materials that were already in wide and sophisticated use in Asia and Latin America, particularly bamboo which was considered the ‘poor mans timber’ while the emphasis and official attention of the Government in India shifted to timber and wood during the heydays of the British Raj.
Sustainability is the hallmark of most settled societies that evolved slowly over thousands of years and gradually built up their lessons of stable and predictable agriculture and lifestyles that were quite in sync with the beat of natures’ processes. However with the arrival of power assisted technologies and communication man could do a lot more and much faster and the race for the dominance of nature commenced in real earnest and each nation tried to outdo the other in their race for global dominance in economy, power and social well being, all measured by growth and growth alone. However, the destruction of pristine rain forests in search for minerals and material wealth and the release of toxic gasses into the atmosphere has had its natural consequences and we are on the threshold of rediscovering the concept of sustainability in the face of the threat of human extinction, a threat that is imminent, if corrective strategies are not adopted by the worlds citizens and their political leaders on a most urgent basis. Sustainability is then a call for a return to a steady-state economy that echoes nature in all its involved and intertwined processes.
This impending crisis places this particular manuscript at the centre of the debate where all three subjects can play a meaningful role and in trying to address and bridge these three difficult but critical fields that promise to bring long term benefits that can counter the problems of our uncontrolled developments of the past few hundred years. Design strategies will need to be explored and design itself will need to be understood and applied by political leadership across the world along with the subjects of science, technology and management and design at a deep level will play a huge role in the reversal of global warming and the move towards sustainability in the days ahead. Bamboo is the fastest growing plant material known to man and we will need to learn to use it in new and improved ways to supplement our vast needs for materials across many areas of application and much research would be needed to fill the gaps in our knowledge along with an urgent attempt to codify and garner the traditional wisdom that still exists across the bamboo culture zones of the world, particularly in Asia and Latin America. Sustainability too is a subject of current scientific and political interest and there is much that we need to understand about the symbiotic processes that live and work in nature and then be able to use this understanding back into our own ways of living and doing things in the future.
This manuscript, “Bamboo: From Green Design to Sustainable Design” by Rebecca Reubens stands as a brave attempt to bridge the huge gap and I am sure it will encourage others to follow in the much needed integrative research and design actions that is needed in the days ahead. Rebecca studied design at National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) and then joined National Institute of Design (NID) in the Furniture Design discipline where I used to trach teach till I retired in 2010. She started her own journey into bamboo when she took on the subject as her Diploma Project as a student of Furniture Design at NID. We had a challenging project handy as part of the Bamboo & Cane Development Institute (BCDI)project that I was heading in 2001 and she has stayed with the subject and journeyed far as a member of the International Network of Bamboo & Rattan (INBAR) field team and now she has taken it on as her subject for her PhD Thesis at TU Delft in Design and Sustainability through the medium of Bamboo. She also went on to set up her own enterprise to work with local communities in Gujarat and from this to learn the significance of human effort at the grassroots using Design, Bamboo and Sustainability as her driving principles and to learn from this experience that which is not yet stated in any book so far, lessons from real life experiences from the field. All three much needed today and I wish her success.”
The Coca-Cola Beatbox, designed by Asif Khan and Pernilla Ohrstedt is an experimental fusion? of architecture, sport, music and technology that creates a stunning sensory experience. The visionary structure acts as a musical instrument, allowing visitors to remix Mark Ronson and Katy B’s ‘Move to the Beat’ Coca-Cola anthem ‘Anywhere in the World’ – as they pass through the building.
The Coca-Cola Beatbox forms part of Coca-Cola’s Future Flames campaign which aims to shine a spotlight on Britain’s brightest stars and inspire other young people to pursue their passions.
Coca-Cola has spent two years working with partners including The Architecture Foundation, the Royal College of Art and experimental theatre company London Quest. Together, these organisations have helped Coca-Cola bring together the best in emerging talent across design, performance and technology as part of its commitment to using its sponsorship to shine a light on inspirational young people – its Future Flames. The result is a pavilion that is created by, embodies and celebrates the passions of thousands of Coca-Cola Future Flames who make a positive contribution to their local communities every day.
Emerging London-based architecture collaborators Asif Khan, 32, and Pernilla Ohrstedt, 31, were given creative control by Coca-Cola following a formal commissioning process administered by The Architecture Foundation. The dynamic pair have designed a pavilion that aims to connect young people to the Games by bringing together their passions for music and sport. Inspired by Coca-Cola’s global platform for London 2012 – Move to the Beat – the pavilion has been designed to function just like a musical instrument.
Its giant crystalline facade structure is made up of over 200 red and white inflated ETFE cushions, each gravity-defying panel connected like a house of cards. Integrated within these panels is proprietary audio, illumination and interactive sensor technology, enabling the architecture to be embedded with rhythmical sport sounds from GRAMMY award winning Mark Ronson and Mercury Prize nominee Katy B’s Coca-Cola anthem ‘Anywhere in the world’ for London 2012. His recordings from Olympic athletes’ heartbeats, shoes squeaking, arrows hitting a target, amongst many others, are triggered, played and musically remixed by an estimated 200,000 visitors’ gestures and proximity as they ascend the external spiral ramp on a 200m journey to the pavilion’s rooftop where they will enjoy spectacular views of the Olympic Park. The ramp then plunges down into the heart of the pavilion which will feature an interactive light installation created by Jason Bruges Studio.
Jason Bruge Studio’s Aerial Dynamics installation is a living, breathing light show that has been designed to emulate the effervescent energy released when a bottle of Coca-Cola is served and shared. 180 bespoke mechatronic ‘bubbles’ glow rhythmically in time with Mark Ronson’s track. Controlled with individual code, each bubble has eight polypropylene blades that fold intricately in on themselves. Special sensors embedded in the three ‘cheers in celebration’ kiosks at the base of the Beatbox detect when Coca-Cola bottles are clinked together, triggering the blades and bubbles to glow with red and white LED lighting. These light patterns become increasingly intricate as the number of participants grow.
With the London Summer Olympic Games rapidly approaching, there has been much talk about either the games are in fact economically good for a city. At its best, hosting an Olympics can help revitalize a city, and at its worst, playing host can leave the host-country drowning in debt.
There are a lot of reasons for this, but one is simply the cost of building new venues, all with a price tag to match their state-of-the-art design. When the athletes and fans pack up and go, the new stadiums and event-specific venues–for example, the Athens Olympics had a venue just for taekwondo– are often left empty, and unused far before the bill is settled.
In London, there has been a little of everything, from big name high-priced venues to littler, temporary structures. But how do you make a temporary building that still has an architectural impact? Perhaps in an effort to answer this question, London and Berlin-based Magma architecture came up with a design for the Olympic Shooting Gallery that could be dismantled, but that you won’t soon forget.
The shooting galleries for the London 2012 Olympic games are covered in spots that look the suckers of an octopus’ tentacles.
Designed by Magma Architecture of London and Berlin, the Olympic Shooting Venue comprises three PVC tents that have been erected at London’s historic Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich.
The extruded red, blue and pink circles draw ventilation inside each of the venues and also create tension nodes for the steel structure beneath the white skin.
Some natural light permeates this PVC membrane, while entrances are contained inside all the spots that meet the ground.
As the structures are only temporary, they will be dismantled immediately after the Olympics and reassembled in Glasgow for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Photography is by J.L. Diehl unless otherwise stated.
The text below is from Magma Architecture:
?London Shooting Venue
The London Shooting Venue will accommodate the events in 10, 25 and 50 m Sport Shooting at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in the southeast London district of Woolwich.
The first Gold Medal of the London Olympic Games will be awarded at the venue for Women’s 10 m Air Pistol on the 28th July 2012. After the event the three temporary and mobile buildings will be dismantled and rebuilt in Glasgow for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Shooting is a sport in which the results and progress of the competition are hardly visible to the eye of the spectator.
The design of the shooting venue was driven by the desire to evoke an experience of flow and precision inherent in the shooting sport through the dynamically curving space.
All three ranges were configured in a crisp, white double curved membrane façade studded with vibrantly colored openings.
As well as animating the façade these dots operate as tensioning nodes.
The 18.000 m2 of phthalate-free pvc membrane functions best in this stretched format as it prevents the façade from flapping in the windt.
Photograph by Steve Bates
The openings also act as ventilation intake and doorways at ground level.
Photograph by Steve Bates
The fresh and light appearance of the buildings enhances the festive and celebrative character of the Olympic event.
With the buildings being dismantled after the event an additional aim was to create a remarkable design which will be remembered by visitors and the local community thereby leaving a mental imprint the Olympic of shooting sport competition in Woolwich.
The shooting venue is not situated in the Olympic Park, but has its own location in Woolwich on the grounds of the historic Royal Artillery Barracks.
Photograph by Steve Bates
It is estimated that more than 104.000 spectators will watch the competitions.
Photograph by Steve Bates
The three buildings comprise 3.800 seats divided between two partially enclosed ranges for the 25 and 10/50 m qualifying rounds and a fully enclosed finals range. Together they form a campus on the green field.
Photograph by Steve Bates
Their up to 107 m long facades refer to the structured length of the Royal Artillery Barracks building, but have their own contemporary architectural expression.
Guided by the high requirements from the client, the Olympic Delivery Authority, sustainability was a key factor in shaping the design. All materials will be reused or recycled.
All three of the venues are fully mobile, every joint has been designed so it can be reassembled; and no composite materials or adhesives were used. In addition, the semitransparent facades on two of the three ranges reduce the need for artificial lighting and the ventilation is fully natural.
The tensioning detail was achieved through an efficient configuration of modular steel components commonly used in temporary buildings market. The double-curvature geometry is a result of the optimal use of the membrane material, which magma architecture has been experimenting with for a number of years, amongst others in the award winning head in I im kopf exhibition at the Berlinische Galerie in Germany.
Magma archtitecture was founded in 2003 by the architect Martin Ostermann and the exhibition designer Lena Kleinheinz. Central to our work is the use of complex geometric modeling as a way of creating a more spatially dynamic vocabulary. This is essential to better articulate and reflect the heterogenieity of our cities and global culture.
We seek to be part of a new paradigm within architecture – one that is expressionistic, rooted in non-linear form-making and facilitated by new materiality and cutting edge technologies.
Neri Oxmanis an architect and founder ofMATERIALECOLOGY with the MIT Media Lab. Her work focuses on computational strategies for form finding; she chooses to define and design processes that generate form. She has published numerous papers and has contributed to various texts. Her work has also been featured at the MOMA for the exhibit “Design and the Elastic Mind“, which she designed four systems of processes. In this lecture posted by PopTech, Oxman discusses what the processes of nature can teach designers and how computational strategies defined by materials and the environment can expand the possibilities of the generation of form through algorithms and analysis.
Here is an excerpt of some of her thoughts in the video:
“Emergence can be defined by a spontaneous order, a self-organization, that appears in nature and natural processes. It can be studied on multiple scales; in the cells of plants and animals and in the traffic patterns of developed cities. Oxman points to processes in nature that are defined by the rules of biological functions and from which form are generated. Without a notion of the end result, the processes are based on their functionality, for example, how structural and efficient the stem of a plant is at supporting its weight and creating energy.
Oxman’s work is inspired by the quest for the origin of form and form finders of the 1970s that were led by material and environmental properties. Form, in this case, is an optimization of the function of a material in its environment – “what it wants to be”. Technology can and often is the guide that informs the exploration and eventually evolves from it. Oxman takes these notions many steps further with her work in “computationally enabled form finding”. The equation that she presents so simple that takes the variables of material properties and environmental constraints to generate form.
The inquisitiveness of Buckminster Fuller‘s designs for efficient structures was guided by the optimization of materials in form – such as a the geodesic dome. But his explorations of the Dymaxion automobile and house inpired ideas that pushed beyond what the materials wanted to be and into what the environment wanted to be, what society wanted to be – ideas that we are now reviving in our quest for sustainable architectural solutions. In the meantime, technology is taking nature many steps forward, rushing beyond the limits of what nature can do and defining a different existence that humans enjoy, setting us apart from the lifestyles of our ancestors.
And the tragedy that we have come upon is that our technological ambitions are destroying the earth and the natural processes that it relies upon. Somewhere in between the runaway advancements and the devastating effects they cause to our ecosystems is something Oxman calls “nature 2.0?. This is a considerable idea, involved with embracing the natural organizations of materials as well as their natural functions – so not just form, but also very explicitly function. She praises nature for being so efficient at multi-tasking: analysis, modelling and fabrication in one process.
In this model of “nature 2.0? and technology, the designer is an experimenter of generating options for forms under a variety of circumstances. Technology offers the tools to analyze, map and build upon observations and designers can use these tools in a variety of ways, some of which Oxman touches upon in her lecture.
The talk can get a bit heavy at times, but bear with it… it is an interesting thought and we wonder what it brings for us… especially the part of 3D printing parts of buildings and the part which she says – no separate wall no separate roof.. and that design exists because of
One Ocean, Thematic Pavilion EXPO 2012 Yeosu, South Korea
The Thematic Pavilion for the EXPO 2012 planned by the Austrian architecture office soma will be opened in Yeosu on 12th of May. soma’s design proposal One Ocean was selected as the first prize winner in an open international competition in 2009 – one which Katayun and I had participated in. We did come reasonably close for our means, and surprisingly ahead than some architectural firms.
The main design intent was to embody the Expo’s theme The Living Ocean and Coast and transform it into a multi-layered architectural experience. Therefore the Expo’s agenda, namely the responsible use of natural resources was not only visually represented, but actually embedded into the building, e.g. through the sustainable climate design or the biomimetic approach of the kinetic façade. The cutting-edge façade system was developed together with Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineering and supports the aim of the world exhibition to introduce forward-looking innovations to the public. Below is a video of the architects rendering that was submitted for the competition. Pretty much cutting edge for 2009.
The pavilion inhabits the thematic exhibition that gives visitors an introduction to the EXPO’s agenda. The permanent building is constructed in a former industrial harbor along a new promenade.
Below are some other design explorations by other companies which were runnersup to the competition…
This one’s by Shigeru Ban
Design Concept
Continuous surfaces twist from vertical to horizontal orientation and define all significant interior spaces. The vertical cones invite the visitor to immerse into the Thematic Exhibition. They evolve into horizontal levels that cover the foyer and become a flexible stage for the Best Practice Area.
Continuous transitions between contrasting experiences also form the outer appearance of the Pavilion. Towards the sea the conglomeration of solid concrete cones define a new meandering coastline, a soft edge that is in constant negotiation between water and land. Opposite side the pavilion develops out of the ground into an artificial landscape with plateaus and scenic paths. The topographic lines of the roof turn into lamellas of the kinetic media façade that faces the Expo’s entrance and draws attention to the pavilion after sunset.
Biomimetic kinetic facade
As a counterpart to the virtual multimedia shows of the thematic exhibition taking place in its interior spaces, the kinetic façade like the overall building emphasizes the manifold potentials of analogue architectural effects. Although movement is intrinsic to any media facade, architecture is usually considered as the stable, immobile background for it. By involving real movement the kinetic facade aims to unify those usually isolated layers of architecture and media and define it as an interrelated and inseparable three-dimensional experience. The elegant opening movement of the lamella is based on elastic deformation properties of fiber reinforced plastics and was deduced from biological moving mechanisms.
The facade covers a total length of about 140 m, and is between 3 m and 13 m high. It consists of 108 kinetic lamellas, which are supported at the top and the bottom edge of the façade. The lamellas are made of glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP), which combine high tensile strength with low bending stiffness, allowing for large reversible elastic deformations. The lamellas are moved by actuators on both the upper and lower edge of the GFRP blade, which induce compression forces to create the complex elastic deformation. They reduce the distance between the two bearings and in this way induce a bending which results in a side rotation of the lamella. The actuator of the lamellas is a screw spindle driven by a servomotor. A computer controlled bus-system allows the synchronization of the actuators. Each lamella can be addressed individually within a specific logic of movement to show different choreographies and operation modes. Upper and lower motors often work with opposite power requirements (driving – braking). Therefore generated energy can be fed back into the local system to save energy.
Beside their function to control light conditions in the foyer and the Best Practice Area the moving lamellas create animated patterns on the façade. The choreography spans from subtle local movements to waves running over the whole length of the building.
After sunset the analogue visual effect of the moving lamellas is intensified by linear LED bars, which are located at the inner side of the front edge of the lamella. In opened position the LED can light the neighboring lamella depending on the opening angle. The material performance of the biomimetic lamellas produces an interrelated effect of geometry, movement and light: The longer the single lamella – the wider the angle of opening – the bigger the area affected by light.
The seamlessly moving façade that is continuously integrated into the building’s skin was already proposed in the competition and developed together with Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineering during the planning phases. To achieve the architectural intention a mechanical solution that applies hinges and joints seemed inappropriate, therefore a biomimetic approach was chosen. The technical solution was furthermore inspired by a research project at the ITKE University Stuttgart that investigates how biological moving mechanisms can be applied in an architectural scale. As a moving, emotional experience the kinetic façade combines sensations with the sensational, while communicating the Expo’s theme in an innovative and investigative way.
Fig. 1.1 A superimposition of the previous pavilions.
As announced back in February, Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and their Chinese collaborator Ai Weiwei will be designing this year’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion at Hyde Park in London, a special edition that will be part of the London 2012 Festival, the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad. This will be the trio’s first collaborative built structure in the UK. If you do not know who weiwei is – you definitely know the “bird’s nest” which was designed for the last Olympics… They are the same guys…
For those who don’t know what the whole brouhaha is about… Have a look at the info-graphic which covers all previous pavilions done by world famous architects.
Back when, it was announced, they had said that their design will explore the hidden history of the previous installations, with eleven columns under the lawn of the Serpentine, representing the past pavilions and a twelfth column supporting a floating platform roof 1.4 metres above ground, which looks like a reflecting water-like surface in the renderings. The plan of the pavilion is based on a mix of the 11 previous pavilions’ layouts, pavilions that are represented as excavated foundations from which a new cork cladded landscape appears, as an archeological operation.
This year’s Pavilion will take visitors beneath the Serpentine’s lawn to explore the hidden history of its previous Pavilions. Eleven columns characterising each past Pavilion and a twelfth column representing the current structure will support a floating platform roof 1.4 metres above ground. The Pavilion’s interior will be clad in cork, a sustainable building material chosen for its unique qualities and to echo the excavated earth (i guess the “echo” would not be heard if they use cork, and its a clever use at a metaphor. Taking an archaeological approach, the architects have created a design that will inspire visitors to look beneath the surface of the park as well as back in time across the ghosts of the earlier structures. (maybe they wanted to say – we couldn’t really do better, so might as well mish-mash old designs put one extra column – and say – hell we DID do something!!!)
Julia Peyton-Jones, Director, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director, Serpentine Gallery, said: “It is a great honour to be working with Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei, the design team behind Beijing’s superb Bird’s Nest Stadium. In this exciting year for London we are proud to be creating a connection between the Beijing 2008 and the London 2012 Games. We are enormously grateful for the help of everyone involved, especially Usha and Lakshmi N. Mittal, whose incredible support has made this project possible.”
The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion will operate as a public space and as a venue for Park Nights, the Gallery’s high-profile programme of public talks and events. Connecting to the archaeological focus of the Pavilion design, Park Nights will culminate in October with the Serpentine Gallery Memory Marathon, the latest edition of the annual Serpentine Marathon series conceived by Hans Ulrich Obrist, now in its seventh year. The Marathon series began in 2006 with the 24-hour Serpentine Gallery Interview Marathon; followed by the Experiment Marathon in 2007; the Manifesto Marathon in 2008; the Poetry Marathon in 2009, the Map Marathon in 2010 and the Garden Marathon in 2011.
The 2012 Pavilion has been purchased by Usha and Lakshmi N. Mittal and will enter their private collection after it closes to the public in October 2012.
The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012 designed by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei will take place from 1 June to 14 October 2012. Those lucky to be in the neighborhood – do visit – the rest – rely on low res internet downloaded images…
Filmed back in 2009, this TED Talk by Daniel Libeskind has yet to diminish in popularity. Once a free-verse poet, an opera set designer and a virtuoso musician, Libeskind has evolved into an internationally-renowned architect with an illustrious style that has been praised and criticized by many. In just seventeen words, Libeskind describes what inspires his unique approach to architecture. Believing that optimism is what drives architecture forward, he begins by stating, “Architecture is not based on concrete and steel and the elements of the soil. It’s based on wonder.”
Enjoy the talk and continue after the break to review Libeskind’s seventeen words of architectural inspiration.
Libeskind’s seventeen words of architectural inspiration:
Optimism vs. Pessimism
Expressive vs. Neutral
Radical vs. Conservative
Emotional vs. Cool
Inexplicable vs. Understood
Hand vs. Computer
Complex vs. Simple
Political vs. Evasive
Real vs. Stimulated
Unexpected vs. Habitual
Raw vs. Refined
Pointed vs. Blunt
Memorable vs. Forgettable
Communicative vs. Mute
Risky vs. Safe
Space vs. Fashion
Democratic vs. Authoritarian
It is evident that many will form a variety of opinions about Libeskind’s philosophy; however, it is always interesting to learn about different ideologies and inspirations. Tell us, what inspires you?
A hydraulic drive designed specifically for supporting structures, which can automatically compensate loads, has been developed by researchers at the University of Stuttgart in conjunction with Bosch Rexroth.
A wooden shell much thinner than considered possible before was constructed for the project. With a thickness of only four centimetres, the shell covers an area of over 100 m². The extreme slenderness of the shell is attributable to the fact that this is an adaptive structure. The prototype on the campus in Vaihingen was first presented on April 16th 2012 .
Photo: Bosch Rexroth
Photo: Bosch Rexroth
Buildings have generally always been planned for a certain maximum load. Such a maximum load however usually occurs very rarely and is limited to a short period of time. A large proportion of the building material used nowadays therefore serves to bear these extremely rare maximum loads, but is in fact hardly ever really made use of. The aim of the ultra-lightweight design developed at the University of Stuttgart is to achieve a drastic saving in material and an improved reaction to dynamic loads, through active manipulation of the structure.
In the case of the wooden shell in Stuttgart, this manipulation is achieved via hydraulic drives: these drives are positioned at the support points of the shell and produce movements, which specifically compensate deformations and material strains caused by wind, snow and other loads.
Photo: Bosch Rexroth
In this project, Bosch Rexroth joined forces with ILEK (Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design) and ISYS (Institute for System Dynamics) at the University of Stuttgart to be the first in realising a large-scale adaptive building. The wooden shell is mounted on four points. Three of the support points can be moved individually and positioned freely using hydraulic cylinders. Sensors register the load measurements at various points of the structure.
Specific support point movements counteract changing loads (such as through snow or wind) thereby reducing deformation and material tension. Much less material is therefore required for the shell construction compared to conventional, passive construction methods. The load balance is achieved using a Rexroth control system, which has been specially developed for hydraulic drives. The control system is mainly responsible for the complex hydraulic regulation of the shell structure. In this way, the structure is able to react to changes in the load within milliseconds.
Active vibration damping and adaptation to changing loads is useful in many parts of the building industry, such as for stadium roofs, high-rise buildings, wide-spanning façade constructions or bridges. The results of the research project at the University of Stuttgart therefore allow a completely new style of construction: a style that remarkably increases the efficiency of supporting structures as well as being resource-friendly. The active damping of dynamic loads (for example due to effects of wind, earthquakes or explosions) permits a drastic weight reduction, as well as reducing material fatigue and structural damage.
In order to actively compensate loads and vibrations, it is first necessary to record or predict these influencing factors precisely. A second step involves calculation and realisation of the required counter-movements in real time. Researchers at the University of Stuttgart have developed simulation models which allow an exact prediction of the behaviour of the structure for this purpose. These take into account material stress as well as vibration behaviour under the influence of static and dynamic loads. The simulation models serve as a basis for development of control concepts, which calculate the required counter-movements for compensation of load and vibration effects according to the recorded measurements. These movements are then implemented precisely by the hydraulic system.
Photo: Bosch Rexroth
ILEK and ISYS jointly developed the scientific basis of the project over the past years, while Bosch Rexroth supplied the active elements of the prototype. In close collaboration with the University of Stuttgart, the company managed the project work, selection and design of the hydraulic system and its initial operation.
ILEK is a pioneer in research in the field of adaptive systems in the building industry; a first, small-scale prototype was already constructed with the sponsor from Stuttgart some years ago. The core competence of ISYS includes the analysis and specific influence of dynamic systems. For this purpose, the institute develops regulatory structures that create coordinated movements of the supporting structure. Bosch Rexroth is one of the world’s leading specialists in the field of drive and control technologies.
The project is integrated as a functional model in the Research Unit ‘Hybrid Intelligent Construction Elements’ supported by the DGF (German Research Foundation). This Research Unit brings together experts in the fields of mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, civil engineering and process engineering.
Project participants
ILEK – Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design, University of Stuttgart: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr.-Ing. E.h. Werner Sobek, M. Eng. Stefan Neuhäuser, Dipl.-Ing. Christoph Witte, Dr.-Ing. Walter Haase
ISYS – Institute for System Dynamics, University of Stuttgart: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Oliver Sawodny, Dipl.-Ing. Martin Weickgenannt, Dr.-Ing. Eckhard Arnold
IBK – Institute for Construction Materials and Building Construction at the University of Applied Sciences RheinMain Wiesbaden: Prof. Leander Bathon
IfW – Institute for Machine Tools at University of Stuttgart: Prof. Uwe Heisel
Bosch Rexroth AG, Lohr a. Main: Dr. Johannes Grobe, André Fella
Asia’s economic boom is reflected by the development of modern temples of consumerism. Nine out of ten of the biggest shopping centres in the world are now located in Asia. Much more than simply being opportunities for shopping, these centres are increasingly turning into amusement parks and lifestyle centres with shops attached. In February 2012, Emporis generated a ranking of the world’s largest shopping malls (by gross leasable area) and analysed current developments. The original idea of the shopping mall was developed in the USA – the first one was built in Minneapolis in 1956. The economic boom in Asia resulted in increasing consumption the construction of mega malls. Nowadays, Asia has more shopping malls than the US; the two largest can be found in China.
The following comparison might help to illustrate the astounding dimension of these shopping centres: the second in the Top 10 list, the Golden Resources Mall, offers 557,419 m², which is about the size of 75 football pitches. But it’s not all rosy for all mega malls in Asia: the South China Mall, the world’s largest mall with a commercial area of 600,153 m², reports a high vacancy rate due to decreased customer frequency. It is known as a dead mall.
The Golden Resources Mall in Peking is lacking customers. Photograph: Esko Kippo / Emporis
Except for McDonald’s, there’s not much going on in the New South China Mall in Dongguan, Photograph: Yu Mei / Emporis
Bad planning for 1.1 billion: the New South China Mall in Dongguan, Photograph: Vernon Martin / Emporis
Successful mega malls are increasingly turning into lifestyle centres, serving as commercial space for a variety of businesses and but also as tourist attractions. Dubai Mall for example offers an ice rink and an aquarium on its area of 350,244 m². The Persian Gulf Complex will have an indoor amusement park, a prayer room and a helicopter landing pad.
About 54 million visitors came to Dubai Mall in 2011. Photograph: M. Merola / Emporis
The aquarium at Dubai Mall is home to around 33,000 water animals, the tunnel underneath makes a bend of 270°. Photograph: The Dubai Mall / Emporis
Once completed, the Persian Gulf Complex in the Sadra Mountains will contain 2,500 commercial retail units. Photograph: Hamrah Ghashghaei / Emporis
Another strategy strives to unite architecture and environment. The 1 Utama Mall in Malaysia offers an indoor rainforest with koi basins for example and Southeast Asia’s largest roof garden can be found here. At CentralWorld in Thailand, you can watch sea lions swimming in the indoor salt water lake. In order to survive as a mega mall it has become popular to integrate offices and residential space in the centres, as can be seen in Cehavir Mall in Turkey.
1 Utama Mall in Umata, Photograph: Nadia Shazrin Asari / Emporis
Apart from 500 shops and 100 restaurants, CentralWorld in Bangkok provides Thailand’s only outdoor ice rink. Photograph: CentralWorld / Emporis
Cehavir Mall in Istanbul, Photograph: St Martins Property Corporation / Emporis
Cehavir Mall in Istanbul, Photograph: St Martins Property Corporation / Emporis
Cehavir Mall in Istanbul, Photograph: St Martins Property Corporation / Emporis
The discovery that consumer behaviour can be animated by social measures has changed the architecture of shopping malls. Especially the new lifestyle centres represent an effective way to motivate customers to buy and guarantee profits.
SM City North EDSA in Quezon City, Philippines, Photograph: Clemzkie / Emporis
SM City North EDSA in Quezon City, Philippines, Photograph: Clemzkie / Emporis
»SM City North EDSA« in Quezon City, Philippinen, Foto: Pathfinder / Emporis
With 430 shops on five stories, Mid Valley Mega Mall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is number 7 in the world ranking. Photograph: Robert Tan / Emporis
After 23 years of being number 1, West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Canada, is now number 10. Photograph: West Edmonton Mall / Emporis
West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Canada, Photograph: West Edmonton Mall / Emporis
Emporis is a provider of building data and construction projects; an Emporis Skyscraper Award is presented annually.
I had the good fortune of teaching a semester of lightweight structures at HNGU, Patan. The students made models and explored various aspects of tensile structures, grid structures, geodesic and space frame structures. some of their explorations are in images below.
A two day workshop was organised by IPSA, Rajkot for introducing students to concepts and applications of tensile structures. This workshop though short on time, was able to cover basic design aspects as the form-finding of such anti-clastic shapes and take them through basic systems of tensile structure.
Poster for the workshop
Double cone structure
Bunching of fabric at the center. (it even has reinforcement sir!!!)
Teaching at KRVIA has been an excellent opportunity to interact with some very interested and inspired students. It was a three day workshop in which students learnt the basics, soap bubble modeling, stocking modelling, along with a healthy dose of tensile structures around the world and in India and how their detailing, engineering and conceptualization is done. There was a presentation by Ravi Mehta of Ferrari, who showed them the different types of fabrics and their applications around the world and in India. The Institute was also very interested in installing a prototype of a tensile structure and a special space was allocated near the canteen to install the same. Ferrari graciously supported the entire workshop.
The students got a HANDS – ON experience at not only modeling designs using various software but also could extend these experiences to tangible solutions by putting up a structure of decent size to understand the forces that play in developing the form of the structure and the detailing involved about them. Some photographs of the workshop.
Eager students await opening of the fabric
The “SMILEY” plate
And the other plate….
Students trying their hand at cut-outs.
Fixing details and laying out the cables in the fabric
I had the unique opportunity to study up close the Indo German pavillions which are touring India – here are certain photographs of their production.. gives a great insight as to the working of such structures.
Eye-lets on the edge
Fabrication errors
Fitting at the corner
How the designer thinks it should be…
Cargo Ratchets to tension the fabric
More Cargo ratchets
Facade with alternative panels
Flying mast with cables
Termination of the cable
The fabric over-shooting the system
Fixing details at the edge
Balloon-ing effect due to tensioning of the fabric
Some Models and explorations by students of the Fold ability workshop conducted at CEPT as a part of the foundation day celebration at School of interior design. First day was introducing concepts of folding structures, second day was devoted to making models… on the third day students made working prototypes.
One of the first workshops that we took on tensile structures at IPSA rajkot. This one was to show them how tensile structures work with soap bubble models and using stockings. Students were guided in making shapes to describe such structures. The final project was to work out structures for a helipad and to cover the offices around the helipad. A three day workshop.
For those who have been following this blog – and for those who haven’t been… firstly sorry, for the time since the last post. And doubly sorry, since in my anxiety to upload i deleted all my earlier post… Well it wouldn’t be my first experience at not backing up data and certainly not going to be my last experience at losing data… anyway, it is always new opportunity to start fresh – life gives us that each day…
Those who knew US, would know what i am talking of. It has been a glorious six years of working in Freitagmann from 2003 to 2010… But things have changed and have come to the level of bidding the heritage goodbye.
Among the happy memories there were of course Apollo hospital and the ganesh umbrella which reminds us of our naivete.. and our incredible capacity at working with our hands for long periods of time.
Then there was science city which we executed in 20 – 25 days, when we were just entering the world of computer aided tensile structures… and not really clear about all patterning and stuff…
There was IMS through which we made some great friends, and also along the way we have lost some dear ones…
There were immense number of times when we questioned where we stood and what we did and if we were moving in the right direction and if we were doing things that mattered… But principles drove us strong and long…
There were feeble attempts at discovery – and marvelous experiences at inventions.
All this and more that shall be a part of our memory. Thank you all those who have been in these… Miss you we shall.
Aideu.
Apollo Green – Canopy
Figuring out the Ganesh canopy
Cutting patterns the old-fashioned way…
Thats the way to do the cnc plotting – completely not controlled
Ranpur. Creaseless and taut..
Made some new friends…
And lost some …
And some more…
Design Experimentation
And some funky stuff…
some good rendering attempts (for that time)
and some explorations
And the struggle between the virtual and tactile…
Events where we didn’t sleep for nights in a row…
Some quick work… that fetched us results…
On the job and look out for problems..
Somethings that didn’t quite fit..
Sketch – before iPad and SketchUp and Samsung galaxy Tab
Even aesthetic inputs… the first Vibrant Gujarat at Science City..
