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STUDIO AIR:JOURNAL2016, SEMESTER 1, CHENGLEN THAI-CHAN 698558

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CONTENTSABOUT ME 4

PART A: CONCEPTUALISATION 5 A.1. DESIGNING FUTURING Sneakers X Ocean Plastic 6 - 7 A Liter of Light 8 - 9

A.2. DESIGN COMPUTATION Roland Snooks 10 - 11 Voronoi Morphologies 12 - 13

A.3. COMPOSITION/GENERATION 14 Shukov’s Tower 15 Chysalis III 16 - 17

A.4. CONCLUSION 18

A.5. LEARNING OUTCOMES 20

A.6. APPENDIX - ALGORITHMIC SKETCHES 22 - 25

BIBLIOGRAPHY 26

FIGURES 28 - 30

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ABOUT ME

PART A: CONCEPTUALISATION

Welcome to my design journal for design studio air, where I will hopefully be taking you through a journey of my own design explorations through-out the semester, sharing with you my experi-ence of not only the subject, but the experience of maturing as a designer and aspiring architect. I am currently a third year university student studying the Bachelor of Environments Under-graduate degree at the University of Melbourne, aiming to hopefully major in Architecture. It’s been a quick but tiring two years so far, with pos-sibly only one year left.

At first when enrolling into this degree straight after high school, I was never entirely certain and slightly unsure about what I was getting myself into. Having barely done anything related to design, art, or even history in the last few years of my high school, I had a slight concern that architecture may turn out to be the wrong career choice. I however stuck to it and chose the degree because I had a feeling that my early childhood interests and passions in drawing, painting and exploring creative concepts was still in me, and that hopefully architecture can help me in exploring my creative mind; changing my perspective and appreciation of the world in an open sense.

Some other reasons behind my decision was also influenced by my opinion that the career is potentially quite open to travelling; which is what I love doing when I get the opportunity, and hope-fully if I am successful enough in my future, I can contribute and influence parts of the world we live in through architecture and design; whether it be big or small.

Throughout the years of this course however, I am glad to say that I have personally grown to not only appreciate and understand architec-ture in a deeper and passionate sense, but also gradually expose myself to exploring art, paint-ing, sculpting, design, music, fashion and much more. I am glad to have taken this course, and excited to see what more I can learn and take on board not only at university, but outside of it, in the bigger picture of the world.

Glen Thai-Chan

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A.1. DESIGNING FUTURINGSNEAKERS X OCEAN PLASTIC

In my eyes and opinion, the exploration of re-using ocean plastic waste in the production of sneakers is a strong example of ‘design futuring’; modeling a way in which our society can rethink and consider ‘design’.

As mentioned in ‘Designing Futuring’ by Fry, our society is facing problems such as ‘sustaining’, affect-ing our chances of having a ‘future’. We need to begin to see and engage with design in a new way not focussing on just the aesthtics of design, but how our designs can continue to design, and therefore design for ourselves a ‘future’.

We as a society are continually advancing, such as by innovating new forms of technology. This can be as damaging as it can be beneficial, for not only can we create more, but we can destroy more with our creations e.g. with new technology we are able to attain and consume more of the Earth’s resources readily, at a rate that where our resources are depleting. This is an alarming focus for society, and in this project and concept of shoes, innovation and technology in a way is able to ammend its wrongs and help in redesigning not only the sneaker game, but the future of using resources and materials.

German born sneaker giants Adidas have not only beeen able to design a concept sneaker that reuses waste plastic filtered out from the ocean for its upper, but with the aid of new age 3-D printing, a sole made out of recycled fishing nets. This concept is truly a beginning of many new ideas and products, interestingly showing us how we must consider the affects of our designs in a broader picture, for one design can lead onto and affect other designs.

For further interest in how technology and science has now aided in creating a self-repairing sneaker 3-D printed from biological cells. Click the following link Self-repairing Sneaker

Figure 1. 3-D printed sole| Adidas Figure 3. Side view of sneaker| Adidas Figure 4. Front view of sneakers| Adidas

Figure 2. 3-D Printed sole on sneaker| Adidas

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A LITER OF LIGHT

Part of the idea and concept of ‘Design Futuring’ was to think outside of purely aesthetic design, and to really consider the impact of ours designs, considering the changes that can be brought about, how they can not only influence new designs and concepts, but help shape and design for humanity a ‘fu-ture’. Why do we need to design a ‘future’ when the future is simply what lies ahead of the present? This is due to the concern that we as humans have designed an un-sustaining present, which can lead to a ...... (refer to reading for term. term is asscoaited to the flipping point of the worl, at destruction)...

The ‘Liter of Light Project’ is a current world example where one particular design (wasted plastic bottles) can be used to design another (solar powered light bulb), altering the intial design’s purpose and outcome to something totally new and different. Owing to the research and studies conductued by the students of MIT working with ‘My Shelter Foundation’, they discovered that by simply filling recycled plastic bottles with water and 10 ml of bleach, the defraction of natural light within the bottle is capable of mimicing the abilities and functions of a light bulb. The use and function of the water bottle has now not only changed, but it has also changed the lives of the millions of Filipinos who go about their daily lives without any kind of indoor light.

Those affected can now not only function and study more effectively indoors; increasing the productivi-ty of their day to day lives, but they are now brightening the future of the world by discovering new ways of encouraging ‘sustain’.

For more information about this project, feel free to visit the following website: http://literoflight.org/

A.1. DESIGN FUTURING

Figure 4. ‘Liter of Light’ installed on roof

Figure 5. ‘Liter of Light’ Detail

Figure 6. Happiness and joy brought to the people

Figure 7. Providing light indoors for studying Figure 8. Emmition of light close up

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A.2. DESIGN COMPUTATIONAs much of society today is apparent to the continual fluxes present in our current everyday society, we simply cannot disregard the influences and impacts that technology has apparently brought into our lives. It is not only continuing to advance and become more sophisticated, but we have in a way embed-ded technology into the fabric of our everyday lives, for it is essentially now a part of us, playing a part in how we shape and can design our future.

With these advancements within technology, our present society is now at a stage where contemporary computational design techniques are used to further expand our abilities to explore design, changing the way we look at design, as well as the design process. It has led society to explore programming as a way of producing parametric algorithmic designs, digital fabrication, BIM, and much more. All these new explorations and findings altogether encourage design and thinking within a complex field of both real-ity and virtual reality; which may not have been efficiently possible without computational capabilities.

In current society, new designs and styles are continuing to appear, bringing innovative styled buildings across the world, capable of becoming the ‘signature’ of architecture firms and their architects. This can be seen for example in Roland Snooks projects, since he is not only an architect who uses computation-al design techniques to acquire and drive his design forms, but he consistently uses a pre-programmed script throughout all of his works. This consistent use of a pre-programmed scripts drives his genera-tive design forms in a particular style, creating and reflecting a ‘signature’ of his own styled work. Below and across the page are a few illustrations and examples of his completed projects, which show a very strong and unified relationship between one another. Computational design is now far more efficient and easier to create.

ROLAND SNOOKS

Figure 9. Meeting Pavilion| Roland Snooks

Figure 10. Malibu House| Roland Snooks

Figure 11. Fibrous Tower| Roland Snooks

Figure 12. Yeosu Pavilion| Roland Snooks

Figure 13. Flinders Street Station| Roland Snooks

Figure 14. Nine Elms Bridge| Roland Snooks Figure 15. Babiy Yar Memorial| Roland Snooks Figure 16. Kazakhstan Symbol| Roland Snooks

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VORONOI MORPHOLOGIES

Voronoi Morphologies is the latest development in an ongoing area of research into cellular aggregate structures, where voronoi algorithms can be used to facilitate the translation and materialization of data from particle-simulations and other point-based data, into volumetric forms. This is my opinion is very beneficial and interesting in exploring different regions of space, form, as well as structure.

The following is an example conducted by Matsys which explores this computational technique, by interestingly showing how this technique can be used to generate such a variety of designs. For myself personally, I would like to potentially use this technique

A.2. DESIGN COMPUTATIONA.2. DESIGN COMPUTATION

Figure 17. Prototype Testing| Matsys

Figure 18. 2.5-D Surface Voronoi Drawings| Matsys

Figure 19. 3-D Voronoi Drawings| Matsys

Figure 20. 3-D Paper Prototype| Matsys Figure 21. Plaster Prototype| Matsys

Figure 22. 2.5-D Surface Voronoi Model| Matsys

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A.3. COMPOSITION/GENERATION‘Composition’ and ‘Generation’ are two different but quintessential practices of designing, that can be easily confused in today’s modern society. Composition is generally associated with the practice of de-signing given that there is already an understanding and idea of what the final outcome is going to be, wheres as generation is the practice of designing a final outcome without knowing or understanding the potential outcome; generally generated from a recipe or formula of actions provided (as Antoni Gaudi achieved in Sagarada Familia, via the manipulation of Hyperboloids). Composition on the otherhand involves inputing and performing actions as required, to achieve the desired outcome.

So in today’s modern society of design, is there a shift from the practice of composition towards gen-eration? And is generation the new whilst composition’s the old? In my opinion there has certainly been a shift, however neither is the new or the old, for generation could possibly have been around as early as composition itself. This sensation of a shift however in the practice of generation shares a relationship with the evolution of technology, for technology is the reason behind the emergence of generation being practiced in today’s society.

Why’s this? Because with the advancement of technology such as computers and robotics, a far larger community of designers are now able to actually use and process complex algorithms with far greater ease and efficiency, to produce more generative designs.

This new approach is exciting, as we can now explore the possibilities of designs even futher, discover-ing things we at first could not have imagined or calculated; for some may have thought the physics were not possible or too complex for our abilities.

Simplicity and ease is such a strong reason and deciding factor behind the decisions people make, and this is simply the reason behind why there has now been a shift from composition to generative design processes. Generative design is now so much easier to achieve, with so many exciting possibilities waiting to be discovered. Some examples of generation include the early work of Shukov’s Tower by Vladamir Shukov, as well as Matysys exploration of cellular morphologies in the Chyrsalis III project.

SHUKOV’S TOWER

Constructed in 1922, Shukov’s Tower is an early example of generative design, since the design itself is derived from mathematics.

Valadamir was a russian engineer, mathema-tician and archtect who was curious with designing roof systems to use minimum material, time, and labor. With this curios-ity, Valadamir explored mathematically, and from a derivered family of equations, dis-covered a new constructional and structural system known as hyperbolic paraboloids. This system is not only the structural sys-tem of Shukov’s Tower, but the designer and reason behing its overal form of design.

Figure 23. Diagram of Shukov’s Tower| RIA Novosti

Figure 24. Internal view of Shukov’s Tower

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CHYRSALIS III

This project was completed in 2012 by Matsys, using computational tools of Grasshopper, Kangaroo, Python, Lunch-box and Rhinoscript.

The generation fo this design is derived from exploring cellular morphologies, and investigating the self-organisation of barnacle-like cells across an underly-ing substrate surface. The cells shift and slide across the surface as they attempt to find a more balanced packed state through the use of a relaxed spring net-work constrained to the surface.

Each cell is composed of two parts: a cone-like outer surface made from cherry veneer and a non-planer inner plate made from poplar veneer that stresses the outer cone into shape.

A.3. COMPOSITION/GENERATION

Figure 25. Still frames of 2D animation of cell relaxation from pure voronoi network to relaxed voronoi network (vorlax)| Matsys

Figure 26. Diagram of Plate Formation| Matsys

Figure 27. Close up of plates| Matsys Figure 28. Full view of Crysalis III| Matsys

Figure 29. Internal view of Crysalis III| Matsys

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A.4. CONCLUSIONPart A has dealt greatly in discussing design and design processes as it is now in our current everyday society, through research and readings, as well as introduction into the computational softwares of Rhino and Grasshopper. It has not only introduced topics of relevance, but has helped in engaging pro-ductive discussions that help us to really understand design as it is now, slightly creating and refining for us this new perspective and understanding of design. This new persepctive and understanding in my opionion is really interesting for it is really relevant and relatable to us, especially as students aspiring to become architetcts and designers.

This section really got me to reconsider and think about design in a far more critical manner, whilst developing a slightly clearer understanding of the many possibilities of design. It has brought to me a realisation that I can actually now use computational design techniques and processes to create art, instead of using a combination of apparatuses and my hands. This new idea of drawing and creating with algorithms is so innovative, it is what I want to focus on and aim to achieve in my design approach this semester. Hopefully by following this approach, I am able to in the end create something artistic and new that may be viewed externally by others as abstract and random, but when the outer layers are peeled away, deep within the skeleton of the design is a very specific and calculated algorithm that has crafted the overal form.

By designing in this manner, society can be efficiently far more innovative, aiding in the advancement of society, as well as shaping a bright and open future of opportunities. The younger and older genera-tions of society can all through exposure hopefully develop naturally a new perspective of not just only design, but the future of the world.

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A.5. LEARNING OUTCOMESPrior to Part A of Design Studio: Air, my knowledge and experience of architectural computing was quite standard, involving simply the basic programs and functions of Rhino and Autocad. I had never experi-enced the Grasshopper plugin of Rhino before, and now I am glad that I have. By learning Grasshopper along with the excercises and structures composed by this subject, I feel that it’s been very beneficial for me in developing not only an understanding of how designing can be achieved through computing, but begin to understand how computing actually works; such as how algorithms, components and func-tions work hand in hand. This new understanding for me has in a way unlocked a new realm of explora-tion for design, as well as provide myself with a new set of efficient skills.

By exploring this new realm of design in my own time as well as through the guidance and help of my tutor in class tutorials, I am exposing myself to new design processes and techniques that I wasn’t so clearly aware of earlier, or really understood. I feel that by actually having an understanding of my explorations, I have now initialised a far greater appreciation and interest of computational designs and design processes, intriguing me of the many possibilities waiting to be discovered. I am really excited to continue to explore these possibilties further, hopefully finding new ways of using computational tech-niques and processes to create art and designs.

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A.6. APPENDIX - ALGORITHMICSKETCHESWith my design approach in mind, which is to use computational processes and techniques to create visual art, I have selected the following sketches and designs. These sketches reflect my exploration of developing pieces of digital artistic outcomes, showing how it is possible in a way to create complex forms and structures, which can be fabricated to produce sculptures and artistic objects.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY“Adidas Unveils Sports Shoes Made From Recycled Ocean Waste”, Dezeen, 2015 <http://www.dezeen.com/2015/07/08/adidas-parley-sports-shoe-alexander-taylor-recycled-ocean-plastic/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

“Architects To Putin: Save Shukhov Tower, Moscow’s Futuristic Soviet ‘Eiffel’!”, Motherboard, 2014 <http://motherboard.vice.com/read/moscow-shukhov-tower> [accessed 18 March 2016]

“Chrysalis (III) « MATSYS”, Matsysdesign.com, 2016 <http://matsysdesign.com/2012/04/13/chrysa-lis-iii/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

“Liter Of Light - Curry Stone Design Prize”, Curry Stone Design Prize, 2016 <http://currystonedesign-prize.com/winners/liter-of-light/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

“Liter Of Light - Solar Powered Bottles | Travel Photographer Jacob Maentz”, Jacob Maentz Photogra-phy, 2011 <http://www.jacobimages.com/2011/12/liter-of-light-solar-powered-bottles> [accessed 18 March 2016]

“PROJECTS”, STUDIO ROLAND SNOOKS, 2016 <http://www.rolandsnooks.com/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

“Shukhov Tower”, Wikipedia, 2016 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shukhov_Tower> [accessed 18 March 2016]

“Voronoi Morphologies « MATSYS”, Matsysdesign.com, 2016 <http://matsysdesign.com/2009/06/18/voronoi-morphologies/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Howarth, Dan, “Adidas Combines Ocean Plastic And 3D Printing For Trainers”, Dezeen, 2015 <http://www.dezeen.com/2015/12/12/adidas-ocean-plastic-3d-printing-eco-friendly-trainers/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Matters, Rio, “A Liter Of Light Goes A Long Way (By Ami Valdemoro)”, Harvard Students Talk Rio+20, 2012 <https://riomatters.wordpress.com/2012/06/06/1-liter-of-light-by-ami-valdemoro/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

(Version), NCS, “Archives”, Lihirilamel.com, 2015 <http://www.lihirilamel.com/archives/anitua-newslet-ters/ncs-gadona/114-ncs-gadona-the-voice-e-letter-april-2014-web-version?path=anitua-newsletters/ncs-gadona> [accessed 18 March 2016]

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FIGURESFigure 1. Howarth, Dan, “Adidas Combines Ocean Plastic And 3D Printing For Trainers”, Dezeen, 2015 <http://www.dezeen.com/2015/12/12/adidas-ocean-plastic-3d-printing-eco-friendly-trainers/> [ac-cessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 2. Howarth, Dan, “Adidas Combines Ocean Plastic And 3D Printing For Trainers”, Dezeen, 2015 <http://www.dezeen.com/2015/12/12/adidas-ocean-plastic-3d-printing-eco-friendly-trainers/> [ac-cessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 3. “Adidas Unveils Sports Shoes Made From Recycled Ocean Waste”, Dezeen, 2015 <http://www.dezeen.com/2015/07/08/adidas-parley-sports-shoe-alexander-taylor-recycled-ocean-plastic/> [ac-cessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 4. “Adidas Unveils Sports Shoes Made From Recycled Ocean Waste”, Dezeen, 2015 <http://www.dezeen.com/2015/07/08/adidas-parley-sports-shoe-alexander-taylor-recycled-ocean-plastic/> [ac-cessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 5. “Liter Of Light - Curry Stone Design Prize”, Curry Stone Design Prize, 2016 <http://cur-rystonedesignprize.com/winners/liter-of-light/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 6. (Version), NCS, “Archives”, Lihirilamel.com, 2015 <http://www.lihirilamel.com/archives/anitua-newsletters/ncs-gadona/114-ncs-gadona-the-voice-e-letter-april-2014-web-version?path=anitua-news-letters/ncs-gadona> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 7. “Liter Of Light - Solar Powered Bottles | Travel Photographer Jacob Maentz”, Jacob Maentz Photography, 2011 <http://www.jacobimages.com/2011/12/liter-of-light-solar-powered-bottles> [ac-cessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 8. Matters, Rio, “A Liter Of Light Goes A Long Way (By Ami Valdemoro)”, Harvard Students Talk Rio+20, 2012 <https://riomatters.wordpress.com/2012/06/06/1-liter-of-light-by-ami-valdemoro/> [ac-cessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 9.

Figure 10. “PROJECTS”, STUDIO ROLAND SNOOKS, 2016 <http://www.rolandsnooks.com/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 11. “PROJECTS”, STUDIO ROLAND SNOOKS, 2016 <http://www.rolandsnooks.com/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 12. “PROJECTS”, STUDIO ROLAND SNOOKS, 2016 <http://www.rolandsnooks.com/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 13. “PROJECTS”, STUDIO ROLAND SNOOKS, 2016 <http://www.rolandsnooks.com/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 14. “PROJECTS”, STUDIO ROLAND SNOOKS, 2016 <http://www.rolandsnooks.com/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 15. “PROJECTS”, STUDIO ROLAND SNOOKS, 2016 <http://www.rolandsnooks.com/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 16. “PROJECTS”, STUDIO ROLAND SNOOKS, 2016 <http://www.rolandsnooks.com/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 17. “Voronoi Morphologies « MATSYS”, Matsysdesign.com, 2016 <http://matsysdesign.com/2009/06/18/voronoi-morphologies/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 18. “Voronoi Morphologies « MATSYS”, Matsysdesign.com, 2016 <http://matsysdesign.com/2009/06/18/voronoi-morphologies/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 19. “Voronoi Morphologies « MATSYS”, Matsysdesign.com, 2016 <http://matsysdesign.com/2009/06/18/voronoi-morphologies/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 20. “Voronoi Morphologies « MATSYS”, Matsysdesign.com, 2016 <http://matsysdesign.com/2009/06/18/voronoi-morphologies/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 21. “Voronoi Morphologies « MATSYS”, Matsysdesign.com, 2016 <http://matsysdesign.com/2009/06/18/voronoi-morphologies/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 22. “Voronoi Morphologies « MATSYS”, Matsysdesign.com, 2016 <http://matsysdesign.com/2009/06/18/voronoi-morphologies/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 23. “Architects To Putin: Save Shukhov Tower, Moscow’s Futuristic Soviet ‘Eiffel’!”, Motherboard, 2014 <http://motherboard.vice.com/read/moscow-shukhov-tower> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 24. “Shukhov Tower”, Wikipedia, 2016 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shukhov_Tower> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 25. “Chrysalis (III) « MATSYS”, Matsysdesign.com, 2016 <http://matsysdesign.com/2012/04/13/chrysalis-iii/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 26. “Chrysalis (III) « MATSYS”, Matsysdesign.com, 2016 <http://matsysdesign.com/2012/04/13/chrysalis-iii/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 27. “Chrysalis (III) « MATSYS”, Matsysdesign.com, 2016 <http://matsysdesign.com/2012/04/13/chrysalis-iii/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

Figure 28. “Chrysalis (III) « MATSYS”, Matsysdesign.com, 2016 <http://matsysdesign.com/2012/04/13/chrysalis-iii/> [accessed 18 March 2016]

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FIGURESFigure 29. “Chrysalis (III) « MATSYS”, Matsysdesign.com, 2016 <http://matsysdesign.com/2012/04/13/chrysalis-iii/> [accessed 18 March 2016]