process/ product board

the board that i presented at the review was too much of a diagram and not enough of a final product board. this assignment was challenging. i've not had to make a board like this before and am really glad that this was part of the assignment. as a final presentation board and a process board, you had to figure out a way to synthesize all the work done (1), compose an overall graphic from various graphics (2) and reveal something about the process (3). this board is organized so that the projects build up from the bottom. the name of the project was used as a way to identify the organization and diagram of material on the board. the overall name of the project (constructed morphologies) is the largest text overlayed on text from my reading anayses, a key part of beginning to conceive the how and why of digital practices. text is called out, keying into this new (for me) digital design language. in red outline is "surficial manipulations" which aligns on the left of the board with process diagrams and wireframes calling to attention the interrogated lines and points in red. this is overlayed on a larger image of the final product, which is showed as a long strip and is revealed most clearly on the right side of the page, corresponding to the "constructed morphologies" project label. the overall composition reads at different levels, with the horizontal product images having the strongest read. within these bands, however, there is a homogeneity so as to not create a lot of hierarchy. this was my intention. there was value in each of the 5 major process phases of this project equally, and feel that this process will repeat itself as i continue to develop this methodology. perhaps eventually a breakthrough would be revealed by a larger, more dominant image.

tile pieces_physical constructs

these tile peices were created from a unit of geometry distilled from the car studies, morphological matrix and patterning exercizes. the first was "designed" in the sense that i conceived of an idea and carried that out, while the second resulted from a programming mentality.

tile 1_ the original geometry of this tile was woven together and skewed and then impacted into the a solid base at an angle so that the lines grew out of the solid piece. it was my intention to trim the edges to the 6" x 6" tiile unit. the resultant tile pattern could be repeated forever. i have not trimmed the edges, however, because i appreciate the way that the geometry emerges from the boundaries of the tile. it is less tile-like because of its irregularity, but beautiful and sophisticated. looking at the physical construct revealed a new relevance as i began imaginging myself walking along the smooth plane and into the spaces that emerge from the impacted geometries. to further explore the tile idea, however, i am going to try to trim the edges and re-print.

tile 2_ this was the result of a simple programming or scripting mentality where the peices were copied, offset and rotated by the same amount each time. this then shifted, was reversed, and the pieces continued to flow counter to the original motion. this pattern can be imagined to repeat infinitely. i like how there are different moments within the pattern. a clear, linear void, for example, emerges as the pieces part for a moment as they fold back around on themselves.

physical constructs

here are a few of the model pieces that were created from my digital modeling exploration. i think that the pieces themselves are rather boring. the pieces themselves became more interesting when they were fragmented for the patterns and matrix exercises. it was vaulable to work with the orthographic drawings to develop facility for digital modeling. i would like to explore digital constructs from a clean slate and see what sort of complex forms can be developed. and to have a specific reason/ purpose in mind when designing the geometry.

tile_final printed iteration

the process for this second tile was like a breath of fresh air. it was so much easier to conceive of a tile knowing what the process is like. it begins with a well formed piece of geometry, which i posted below. working in form z in orthographic view was so much easier than axon/ perspective. using graphic/ keyed transformations of position and angle of rotation was important. figuring out how to cut the geometries down to the approximate depth of the tile with the boolean intersection operation made things easier as well. like everything in these classes, its about learning the programs and .

this geometry could be made into not just one but three tiles. the different sides of the piece created unique and interesting patterns. each side could be trimmed with the intersection tool and exported for the 3d printer.

craziness

this craziness was created in photoshop by multiplication.

pattern_textile

this image yielded from the same study of pattern in the images below. using the screen capture of the top view of the geometries, and using the display setting, a basic criss-crossing pattern emerged. the ultimate image was generated with some photoshopping.

pattern interation from deconstructed matrix

with the interrogation of point and line of the surface geometry that i created, i then began to deconstruct the piece. once deconstructed, i began re-attaching pieces. this got messy and ugly. so i chose a piece from the new matrix to array and investigate with pattern in space. several spatial images were created.

new model piece_matrix

the geometry of this piece was by far the quickest and most well formed piece that i have made to date. for the morphology matrix of this piece, i wanted to get down to the basics to really interrogate a point and a line (hull) to reveal visible morphological changes in the geometry. this exercise was useful but did not yield very attractive results.

matrix morphology_3

for this next part of the exploration, i took the rotated matrix and by revealing the hulls, attempted to show the end hull in each of the 15 geometries through which the manipulations were created. this image reveals the morphology, the origin of that morphology, and leaves the piece incomplete in the hopes that the imagination will fill out the patterning that has emerged.

i should also mention that the selected hulls were stretched simultaneously to emphasize the cv's.

matrix morphology_2

to further investigate the relationship of line (hull) in the manipulations that were just created, i arrayed the pieces in a twisting fashion, rotating each piece along the same axis by 10 degrees each time. this was meant to create a perspective view through which the morphology can be observed.

matrix morphology

using this new piece, i transformed the geometry by moving the hulls one at a time (15 total) with each iteration. the hulls were moved up along the x axis and across the y axis to the same coordinates each time. this was an imprecise methodology, as i was not able to move the hulls to the exact same coordinate each time.

with a different view of the piece, we can see how the moves effected the geometry from a different perspective. there's a few layers of information in this image. first, the model. second, the bounding boxes of the individual geometries are visible (highlighted with pink boxes, that become more dense as the geometries build up on top of each other. third, the image is overlayed with points that reveal the wireframe geometry. finally, a wireframe of the original piece is shown in white.

new model piece

i thought i'd post a new piece that i modeled. it got 3d printed recently and looks pretty cool. the flatter side (rear of the car) really flattened out in the print though, perhaps because of resting it on that side for fixing.

tile woes

there will be no model of this exact tile. there is something wrong with the geometry. it will not let me triangulate. it will not let export it to an .stl. i cannot cut/ difference/ subtract/ trim/ section. [why are there all these terms anyway?] so, it will live on for now only in the digital realm and as printed 2d images.

tile mission_progress 2

the tile start that i posted below has been abandoned for now, not to say i won't go back to it. here is a process shot of the new one. i've got it all lined up and will trim the edges tomorrow before the print. the model pieces will be turned on their side in the tile, so that a curvy, linear pattern emerges. the pattern is skewed on the diagonal, leaving one corner revealed to the flat surface of the tile. this is so that the tiles could be arranged in various ways to form different looking overal patterns from the same tile unit. more visuals to come...

new geometry_pattern

i built a new piece of the car, the back fender, trunk and part of the roof of the cab. the geometry is not the smoothest. but i had to figure out how to make the geometry by building surfaces, rebuilding surfaces, and detaching pieces before attaching various components. it is not hard, but there is a level of precision that is needed so that the pieces don't have weird puckers when everything is finally merged.

i broke the piece apart in maya to something that i though could make an interesting pattern and tile. i originally decided to build a new piece because i was sick of the old piece that i had been working with and wanted to see more of the car. so, as i look at this image it is interesting that itis very similar to that original one even though it is a very different part.

a pattern was created with the model piece by offsetting evenly vertically and then copying the whole row and flipping it over and aligning the two rows together so that they are interacting with each other. the overlaying geometries create a suprisingly organic and architectural array. various photoshoped versions become more architectural (as in the "syscraper-esque" image) or less so (as in the "escher-esque" image). however both can be considered architecturally relevant.

tile_progress

inchote: an experiment in architectural education_marc angelil

inchoate: undeveloped

architecture has traditionally been a domineering practice with three “primacy’s”: visual appearance (formal presence, aesthetic order); authorship (a creator architect, creative genius, the architect as sole creator which internalizes the process of design, therefore negating the possibilities for collective processes); and the primacy of the object (architecture as artifact). angelil seeks to dispel these primacies and explores the idea of inchoate as a way to teach design.

inchoate design work is process-oriented. “praxis”, or established practices, pertains to technical, intellectual, or intuitive work. the technical praxis is the raw form of making. emphasis is placed on how something is made, as this affects the outcome of the design. established ways of making in the profession are implemented and the process is interrogated. the intellectual praxis is based on the notion that architectural design is a theoretical exploration. here, a conceptual framework is stressed as a foundation for the work. lastly, there is the intuitive praxis, which I find most interesting. this approach recognizes the importance of gut-feelings as relevant participants in the creation of design work. “intuition as a form of practice accelerates investigation, due to its immediacy and directness. associative thinking constructs unpredictable connections.”

versioning: connubial reciprocities of surface and space_monica ponce de leon and nader tehrani

this article explores geometry and patterning as a means of reconciling space and surface. in the work of herzog and de meuron and gehry, there is a divorce of space and surface. (gehry's skins have no meaningful relationship with the spaces inside.) office dA’s work seeks to create architecture where surface and space are “organically linked, with geometry and patterning as the agencies for their precise resolution.”

the terms for surface qualities of buildings have evolved from “facades” to “elevations” to now “skins.” causation can be traced to theoretical shifts and technological advancements. in san carlo alle quattro fontane, the façade bulges as a result of the interior spatial qualities, yet has autonomy due to its strength and objectification. renaissance and baroque structures, being bearing wall construction, are subjected to the inevitable element of poche. corbu’s free plan opened up the possibilities of the façade to define new spatial qualities. space became defined by shifting planes within a column grid.

office dA's work is focused on the tectonics of a building skin. they feel that the “surface of architecture is the arena of primacy... it is in this surface that architecture has found its most potent form of expression...” their work seeks to produce multiple effects, where the effects have primacy, not correctness. [primacy, not correctness. there is no singular way of doing something.] through material manipulations, buildings take on unfamiliar qualities that challenge the semantic readings of the architecture.

geometry and patterning are the means by which the designers create space. examples of built work include the hookah den at mantra, where a wooden slotted intervention creates a surface at the center of the restaurant that simultaneously defines the circular space within and residual space around, and an installation at the museum of modern art constructed using folded metal plates that challenges notions of stairs and surface.

transitioning from these interior interventions to architecture, the author’s offer that yokohama port terminal by foreign office architects may be the only example of the successful integration of program, structure and building envelope. FOA achieves this through the formal operation of folding. office dA’s tongxian art center project and its use of brick exemplify their integration of surface and space. this project uses brick as the formwork and the finish of the building. “spatial construction and surficial manipulation are construed as part and parcel of the same interdependent set of determinants. without surface, there is no space.”