Assignment 8 - Folding Forms

Folding Form Design//

SHoP-Material Practice

“The act of building is not the physical production of an idea but a social and cultural process as well.” This seems as an accepted conventional perception of architectural view from built environment, but the very professional way that SHoP interprets this sentence in its projects makes it unique.
This approach contains different problem solving procedures which involve a broad collaboration ranging from social interaction with fabricators to high-tech collaboration with engineers in software integration. For the project to benefit from these huge interactions it’s crucial to efficiently manage and share information, and SHoP proved to be successful in this career.  The other interesting thing about their problem solving approach is that they show open arms to technology and complicated engineering collaborations, they integrate design and engineering as much as possible, and they welcome new technologies as far as it economically makes sense. The pedestrian bridge project was a great example of software integration, information management, and technology infusion. The Clubhouse was a good proof of social interaction role in problem solving and the Carousel House was an example of unconventional construction method in which the model was the construction guide for the project.
It seems that the outdated chronology of design, engineering, construction is practically abolished, and this is not only because of inefficiency but also because of inconsistency with design requirements. In fact, in the era of technology as the complexity of the projects increases continuously the integrative design approaches are not architectural trends anymore but they are becoming necessities.

Goals //

1// Investigation of folding patterns through geometric modelling
2// Generating a folding mechanism out of a fold-able element and controlling the parent child relationships.

Paper Model //

Fold Plan and parts//

Main Fold//

Here are three different main folds, the last one was used due to creat a more stable form. 

The first assembly//

Element fold Mechanism//

The only movement controlling parameter is the middle angle.

Second Assembly//

Aggregated assemblies//In this part the assemblies are aggregated to investigate the movement mechanism in a bigger system.

Assignment 7 - Emergent Form

Assembly Design//

Goals //

Assignment 6 - Powercopy Knowledgeware

Rule Based Design//

 Turtles, Termites, and Traffic Jams

The comprehensive idea of decentralization which has emerged in every domain of human activity is not an abstract concept. Flock patterns, Immune system reactions, Traffic patterns, are not instances of abstract world, but “simple” activities of the real world creatures. In a sense, decentralization is a real world driven explanation of phenomena.

The author elaborates upon this idea and explains the emergence of decentralization in different aspects of human life including organization, technology, scientific models, and even theories of self and mind. It seems the more we learn about the self-organizing world, the better we are able to describe it and this just the proof of its originality. But this “proof of originality” is not always legitimate. The author goes toward this fact in a more conservative way, while it becomes more complex when we see that some phenomena are described better by the centralized theories or sometimes with a mixture of these two theories. one good example is the brain, the centralized processing unit of the body. Although we know that the brain is a cluster of small simple processing units called neurons but still the role of brain as the processing unit is unique and centralized in body. One might call the brain as the decentralized central processing unit, to give enough credit to both aspects of its role.
However, understanding the adaptability of decentralized thinking in comprehension of rules of the universe enables us to create more efficient systems, systems which does not control the components in an imposed top down hierarchy, but which evolves through frame work of rules on scattered components.

Goals //

 
1// Developing an adaptive design which can implement rules in the process of form generation.
2// Using design table feature and control design parameters and also using random number generation.
3// Integrating different rules in power copies.

Frame work//

The Frame work is created in a way that it controls the height and width of each level by 6 global parameters.

Power copies//

Each power copy contains two main rules

1// Variable thickness of parts, mimicking the structural column capacity. The thickness of parts decreases based on the height of the power copy.
2// Variable midpart thickness, mimicking the branching of trees. The midpart thickness of parts decreases based on the height of the power copy.

 Random Generation//

In this project design table was used to control the variation of two parameters which control the overall shape of the power copy. Two points which move along the two parallel lines in the middle of the shape geometry. Variations of these two parameters were controlled by a random number generator in excel.

 

Variations//

Assignment 5 - Flat Form

DP & Fabrication //


Even in the era of CAD/CAM Constructability is not an issue to be taken for granted. Moreover, constructability is not just possibility of being constructed, but in a more general sense it refers to facility and economic issues which sometime even determines the feasibility of the design.
Regarding the process of fabrication the understanding of geometry of forms and their relations to their flattened surfaces gives us a more profound understanding of possible fabrication methods.
I gained valuable information from reading about different developable surfaces in pottman's book. it would be fascinating if we are able to design our desired free form out of tangent surfaces of space curves since they can easily be flattened and fabricated using digital fabrication, but, it’s not possible for most of the cases to produce a complex form out of developable surfaces. But, understanding the rules of unfolding brings about ideas for innovative fabrication methods. Understanding the "unfold-ability" of polyhedrons can be the idea behind approximation and rationalization of complex free forms by polyhedrons.
In this work we experienced a complete process from design through to fabrication by designing and manufacturing a frame work.



Goals //

1// Working with local and global parameters for power copies
2// Using Unfolding commands in DP and producing the unfolded pattern
3// Fabrication of the designed frame work

Variations//

 

Symetrical form

Introducing rotation to power copies

Nonsymetrical Translation

Assignment 4 - Powerful Replication

DP & replication //

Does design by "replication" make sense? 
the sentence literally conveys a sense of spiritless repetition.  So before going through different features of Power Copies and explaining the experience of modeling with them we need to understand how does this procedure of replication will contribute to design.The answer lies in the magic of "variable modulation" and "parametric relations". We use replication, but not a dead spiritless identical copy, we "generate" a "module" which carries the rules of reconfiguration as its soul. The overall form of the model is controlled by the intelligent configuration of individual modules.

Goals //

The aim of this  project was studying the role of replication in design by using the Power Copy feature in the modular framework. I used a conical frame work to accommodate the modular membrane structures. knowing that power Copy will be there to fill the frame work I dared creating a detailed module of membrane structure.

Variations//

Findings //

1// Be careful with the INPUTs it would be best if you put the in a separate GS so you can check        that you are not using any other geometry in creating the module.
2// Pwer Copies may just crash in some of the framework parts based on the high curvature or distortion, one just need to modify that module separately.
  

Assignment 2 - From Flat To Form

In-formal //
Using the so called "randomly" generated plans from Assignment 1 and connecting the geometry with the spacial elements we try to produce "randomly generated" free forms. With the intention of Investigating the "hierarchy of design" and "parent child relationships" as well as creating close parametric connection of 3D forms and 2D sketches I tried to demonstrate different parametric connections both in plan and elevation. I used both membranes and set of boxes to illustrate the distortion and curvature .   

parameters of design//

#1 Node positions in the plan based on the circular movements of vertexes
#2 the elevation of the nodes on the surface is controlled by the average length of the members intersecting in the vertexes of the plan.

Animations of Variations//

Variations//

Findings //

1) Better understanding of parent child relationship which plays a critical role as the design space enlarges. 

2) Creating relationship between 2D sketches and 3D forms.
3) Exercising the "ruled-randomness" in 3D space.