School of the Built Environment Semester 1
K14DS1-5 DESIGN SEMINAR (15 CREDITS)
Digital Architecture and Fabrication
TUTORS
Chantelle Niblock Chantelle.Niblock@nottingham.ac.uk
Sean Lu Chunxiao.Lu@nottingham.ac.uk
CRITICS/ADVSIORS
Professor Michael Stacey Michael.Stacey@nottingham.ac.uk
MODULE BRIEF (Objectives)
This module will provide an introduction to integrated digital and fabrication technology within the architectural design process. Seminars will focus on advanced skills, theoretical understanding and current research and practice.
BACKGROUND
Architecture is essentially about designing and making. Being able to create functionalised and performative geometry is a core element of the discipline. With the development and application of technology in various realms, digital design tools and computer software actually provide a platform for architectural design to be inspired, supported, implemented by and interchange information with various disciplines. These include molecular biology, complex theories, multimedia technologies, computational mechanics, analytic geometry, manufacturing engineering and advance materials. Transformations have influenced the design process far beyond the discipline of architecture - more research and developments are being conducted at cross-disciplinary levels around the globe with those following notions:• Digital morphogenesis architecture (Emtech master module AA School)
• Nonlinear (Informal) Architecture (Sabin+Jones LabStudio Upenn)
• Binary Large Object Architecture (BLOB TU Delft)
• Computational Adaptive Architecture (CAA master module UCL)
• Manufacture Aided Architecture (FDAB at ETH Zurich)
• Interactive Kinetic Architecture (Robotecture group MIT)
• Chromatophoric Architecture (Spatial Information Architecture Lab SIAL/RMIT Uni)
• Digital Naturalistic Architecture (DNA Digital tectonic & Fabrication Lab Nottingham Uni)
More specifically, the emergence of new digital processes and tools enable architectural design to evolve toward a more scientific and rational destination and use holistic and innovative design approaches - inspired by the aforementioned subjects. The range of digital technologies and digital processes that inform the design and making of architecture are varied. These include:
• Process Driven Design
• Performance orientated design
• Generative Design
• Parametric Design
• Computational Design
• Design for Manufacture
• Design by Natural Algorithm (DNA)
Nevertheless, digital technologies are engaged not only for exploring formal concepts but also, perhaps more significantly, for forming new concepts and making physical representations of them. Architecture has entered a reciprocal relationship in which design approaches and manufacturing processes both influence the discipline and are informed by it. A range of software is involved into this context and more or less has been implemented:
• For engineering design and manufacturing: Pro-engineer, Solid work, CATIA, UnitGraphic
• For Product design: Rhino Grasshopper, RhinoCAM, Micro Station Generative Component
• For computational application: Math Lab, MathCAD, Mathematica
• For structural/ environment analysis: ANSYS, ECOTECT, CFD, Fluent
• For digital artistic: Processing, Shape Grammar
• For computational biology/ botanic simulation: Genetic Algorithm, Xfrog
In parallel with the aforementioned digital formal finding concepts, the translation of computer-generated data to physical artefact should be not only the materialisation process to embody the form but also the enhancement and inspiration to achieve optimum performance. The process can be reversed from digital→physical to physical→digital using a digitiser or 3D scanner that is used to trace contours of physical objects directly into the computer for modification and replication. The variety of different digital and fabrication methods include:
• Rapid Prototyping (3D Printing)
• Laser/Water Cutting
• CNC Routing/ Milling
• Casting and Moulding
• 3D Scanning and Reverse Engineering
• Robotics
Furthermore, in line to the significant notion of design by computational manipulation emphasis a deepening understanding of digital manufacturing methods is necessary to inform and conceive the digital design process even in the early conceptual stage, rather than just playing the fabrication tools as speculative approaches to design problems. The various digitally-controlled manufacturing processes can be used as a design tool and applied to develop intelligent systems for the designer include: Contouring, Folding, Weaving, Forming, Sectioning, Tiling , Flocking, Extrusion and Bending
New theoretical paradigms sit alongside complex geometries generated by digital technology and contextualised by new tools. In particular the implications for the methods of visualising ideas as an integral part of the making process need to be discussed with reference to innovative examples. Following the important aspect of how to approach the fabrication of models, prototypes and other objects from a digital perspective, The role of contemporary and emergent computational processes in handling data and their characteristic features in terms of design intentions and material expression need to be analysed and discussed. Therefore the material culture and practices that are central to the discipline will be described in light of contemporary and emergent tools that have revitalised the way in which we design and make architecture.
ASSIGNMENT 1 – Research Case study
Students are required to select a building/research project and investigate the design methodology from which it was derived. The building/project must be an exemplar of its type and/or an exemplar of integrated digital and fabrication technology within the architectural design process. Each student will submit a detailed case study that adopts a critical approach and discusses the following:
• Research context (literature review)
• Building/Project typology
• Strategic design approach
• Integrated digital and fabrication tools
• Structure of the design process and collaboration with consultants
• Design parameters
• Architectural issues; scale, time, programme, context, social/economic etc...
• Facade design (structure and materiality)
Where possible you should visit the project/building. On the 11th Nov you will be required to submit the first draft and at a later date you will be required to present this case study in a ten minute presentation (a seminar date will be arranged to accommodate this).
ASSIGNMENT 2 - Facade Workshop
Based on your studio project select a facade that best represents your initial ideas and develop it in detail. Your primary design development method should be facade study models optimising digital and fabrication technology. You will work with a product designer to explore architectural issues and develop a design process and solution to best represent your ideas.
The facade workshop runs parallel with the conceptual stage of your studio project. The workshop aim is to learn new skills, understand how other designers process ideas and develop a design component at the early stage of your project. This investigation should inform your later design.
The facade workshop will be informed by your initial design ideas and/or any research of a facade exemplar of those ideas. The workshop/process should investigate the facade in terms of:
- Relationship between psychological and contextual needs (inside and outside)
- Transitory issues
- Functionality
- Structure and tectonics
- Technological advances
- Materiality
Your Facade workshop report should address the following aspects:
- Why your facade solution/investigation is grounds for architectural form finding. Hence, can it enhance function, structure, environmental control, architectural concept and aesthetics etc.
- A detailed representation of your component as a part of a larger architectural design frame, cladding and connections.
- Explanation of how your component is assembled three-dimensionally using a physical model and digital model.
- Manufacturing and materiality. Explore how digital media and fabrication techniques influenced your ideas on construction and materiality.
- A critical reflection of how you processed your ideas i.e. a design methodology diagram. Describe how the product designer's knowledge/approach influenced your design decisions and thinking process.
Outlined dates
• 14th Oct, 2-4pm, Introduction
• 21st Oct, 2-4pm, Design development
• 28th Oct, 2-4pm, Presentation and reflective discussion
• 11th Nov - Submit Facade Workshop Report
FINAL REPORT
Submission on the 10th Jan will be a critical synthesis to conclude both Assignment 1 and Assignment 2. The research will report on how the case study and workshop informed the design development of your studio project.
KEY DATES FOR SEMINAR SUBMISSION:
• 7th Oct – Submit 500 word research proposal
• 28th Oct – Present facade workshop
• 11th Nov – Submit Research Case Study (first draft) and facade workshop report
•10th Jan – Submit Report
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
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