STUDIO: AIR

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SHENIA LAY 3 9 0 1 1 7

SUNFLOWER

CAGEBy SHENIA LAY

(During BEND Workshop organised by ExLab)

THIS cage was digitally designed in Rhinoceros and Grasshopper and fabricated manually with the aid of a wire-bending wooden platform. It was an introduc-tion to the world of digital design so although the tech-niques involved in the process were quite basic, their involvement provided a fast, effective and close to ac-curate method of delivering a design to physical form.

This type of digital design and fabrication can be seen adapted to far larger scales today, encompass-ing not only the field of Architecture but also Furni-ture Design, Fashion, Sculptural Designs et cetera.

One of the many existing discussions within the expand-ing employment of these techniques involve the endless posibilities that come with it in regard to the extent of complexity in design; alternative fabrication and instal-lation methods; and accuracy levels during construction. These possibilities, although alluring, has also led to many criticisms targetting the genuin-ity in designs of such digitally generated outcomes. To elaborate, digital design can be simple enough to grasp, however an application involving genuine understand-ing and control over your design can be harder to master.

RELEVANCE TO WESTERN GATEWAY PROJECT:Wyndham City is still a relatively new area, if the final design outcome was to be ob-tained through the employment of an (also) relatively new design and fabrication meth-od, I think the ‘statement’ that the Wynd-ham City is seeking for, will be achievable.

The use of a relatively new design pro-cess in the area will also generate in-terest not only with benefits to Wynd-ham ity but also the digital design world.

THE PINNACLE

By KOHN PEDERSEN FOX London, UK

THE process of optimising (anything), is the process of find-ing the best state under the restrictions of the field.

The design process for The Pinnacle begun with a simple geometric form that is pre-rationalised to meet a highly opti-mised surface in which it will be wrapped in at a later stage. Digital design here, has allowed the designers to use an opti-misation programme to accomplish both elegance and a high rate of performance in regards to:• Environmental• Programmatic• Structural and Constructional Simplicity• Maximum return of investment in terms of gross internal floor area The facade has two layers, both composed of rectilinear panels connected into a single, flexible module. Appearance wise, optimisation allowed for a tight packing of the pan-els resulting in the successful continually curved surface. I think that Optimisation is an important aspect of digi-tal design as it looks for ways to enhance a building to better fulfill it’s purpose and suit it’s surroundings.

LOUVRE ABU DHABI

By ATELIERS JEAN NOUVELSaadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Designed to resemble a ‘lost city recovered archaeologically from the sands’ this architecture (still in the planning) is composed of simple buildings that is united by a seemingly floating shallow dome of 180m (diameter) overhead. The done -a central feature- reflects the Islamic tradition of a per-forated screen with the use of fractal organisation of pattern-ing to create a special micro-climate for the micro-city below. Digital technology plays an important role in the development of the dome. Digital modelling, analysis and optimisation has allowed the architect to explore and develep the dome’s patterning and it’s relationship to the environment that it is surrounded by and the environment it creates. Responding mostly to the consideration of lighting, digital technology enables the patterning to be adjsuted according to five precisely controlled parameters; grid, base pattern, rotational orientation, scale, and member thickness. The exploration through these parameters gives the final outcome of an highly aesthetic and complex geometry which filters light in a very interesting way.

Dome structure, exploded into the many construction and design layers.

The five primary parameters within the circle grid; basic pattern, element, rotation, scale, and member width.