Responsive Architecture
o
One of the main limiting features of
responsive architecture is the need for high-power mechanical operators capable
of moving large amounts of structure for a relatively low cost. This problem is
slowly being overcome simply through the continual improvement of materials
(Lighter materials means less power required to move them.) and more powerful,
smaller mechanical operators. At the moment, however, there are very few
examples of architecture that has been fully mechanised, due to the large cost
required. Instead, there are a number of examples, albeit mostly built for
exhibitions, of responsive architecture on a single axis, such as dECOi’s Aegis Hyposurface or LAb[au]’s fLUX Binary
Waves. These installations show what we can currently cost-effectively
achieve in terms of the engineering of responsive architecture. More elaborate
installations exist within the ever-increasing digital environment, such as the
Dynamic Tower in Dubai. Another problem is that it is difficult to design or
simulate large-scale moving architecture. Calculating stresses and tensions is
difficult enough on stationary buildings, having to account for hundreds or
even thousands of configurations or permutations for each calculation means
even a simple piece of responsive architecture requires a long period of
structural analysis, pushing up the cost and pulling down the likelihood of the
project being built.
o
An interesting aspect of responsive architecture
is the sensor input, or data flow, used to control the architecture. The two
main kinds of input are environmental, such as temperature or amount of light,
and entity analysis, such as the location of a car or the number of people in
an area. Environmental analysis is generally easier to use in terms of the
complexity of the sensors themselves, such as a thermometer or rain-meter, and
can be used to benefit the users in an immediately obvious fashion, such as
providing shelter from rain or shade from sunlight. Entity analysis is slightly
harder to achieve, since it often requires recognising elements such as a human
that can be quite difficult for a computer. Installations using these kind of
inputs generally provide a more interactive, engaging experience, to the point
where people will stop and examine how the architecture reacts to their
presence or actions. These kind of installations have therefore generally been
placed in exhibitions or public spaces such as parks, where they exist in a
fairly isolated environment to engage people on a more personal level and allow
them to explore it, rather than on a footpath or street where the user is
unlikely to be able to give the installation much thought.
o
There are a variety of applications for
responsive architecture, especially in terms of adapting to environmental
conditions. A common one is having a building that responds to changes in the
light conditions to allow the maximum amount of light to reach the interior, by
actions such as opening and closing windows or even rotating the entire
building. Another, more extravagant idea is that of a space which expands to
accommodate the number of people inside it. This kind of variable space allows
a single building to have a much larger number of uses. These examples dealt with physical problems,
but responsive architecture can also be used to answer more abstract problems.
A floor which responds visually to people walking on it can allow the user to
experience a crowd in terms of personal space, usually an invisible concept,
while also allowing social analysts to easily study crowd behaviour through
data collected from the floor. A more subtle example might be a room which uses
a number of bio-sensors to analyse the temperament of the current user, and
change things throughout the room, like temperature, light, colour, noise, etc.
to match or improve the aforementioned temperament.
Architectural Topology
o
Topology is a word which has many meanings,
since it originated in mathematics, where it was used to describe the analysis
of what happens to an object when you stretch and morph it, without creating a
tear or morphing two surfaces together. Topology in Architecture, while varying
in meaning from architect to architect, is generally concerned with surfaces
and the deformations they undergo to achieve their final shape. This means that
topology is generally used in relation to curved or fluid-like surfaces, such
as can be seen in many of Gehry’s works. While topology is usually used to
describe the process and techniques used to achieve the final shape of an
object, it can also be used to define the final object itself. This means that
the object must be deformable in some way. A good example of this is the Water
Pavilion at the FreshH2O eXPO in the Nederlands , designed by NOX. This is a
building which continually morphs in a topological fashion in accordance with
the people inside it. This means that the building is not just produced by
toplogical means, but actually embodies topology over time.
o
One of the main problems with surfaces that have
been topologically modified is converting the conceptual form, be it digital or
physical, into an accurate set of plans for construction. The most common way
to do this is by creating a skin of panels, generally glass or sheet metal,
around the form. An alternate method involves creating large, complex formwork
and pouring high-strength concrete into it. Both methods, however, require a
skin to be created from the shape of the initial form. The main challenge is
then finding an appropriate panel shape for the skin, which often contains
sharp points and irregular curves, making the use of simple squares or
triangles quite difficult. Once increasingly common method, given the rise of
high-level modelling software, is to create a mesh of standard polygons around
the complex shape using a ‘shrink-wrap’ technique, which, as the name implies,
shrinks the outer shape until it completely wraps the inner shape. This results
in a form almost identical to the original form, but now with a regular
polygonal pattern which can be easily used to create a construction diagram. A
good example of the panelling technique is the Kunsthaus Graz by Peter Cook and
Colin Fournier, which has distinctly separate panels which combine to create a
very complex shape.
o
Homeomorphism is one of the main features of
topology, if two objects are homeomorphic, they can be stretched, squashed and
bent, without tearing, until one becomes another. This means that,
topologically, they are the same. While
most mathematical applications of this feature are rather too extreme to apply
to architecture (e.g. Turning a mug into a donut), the idea of simplifying an
object down to its basic features, namely; points, surfaces and holes, is
something that can easily be applied to architecture, especially when
generating parametric models using a program like grasshopper. Such generation
can be used to create a series of buildings that, while looking completely
different, are topologically identical, giving a designer a variety of choice
within the bounds of the initial topological definition. Technologically,
creating an actively topological homeomorphic building is effectively
impossible, it requires materials that can stretch and compress without losing
any structural integrity, as well as some way to accurately stretch and
compress that material. An attempt to create something close to a
hormeomorphicly active object is the Variable Class Parametric Structures by
ORAMBRA (Office for Robotic Architectural Media and Bureau for Responsive
Architecture), which lacks a skin, but has a highly flexible structure that can
morph while maintaining its theoretically topological shape.
Bibliography:
1.
Main Paper
1: Designing Responsive Architecture. Daniel
Davis, Flora Salim, Jane Burry. In C. M. Herr, N. Gu, S. Roudavski, M. A.
Schnabel, Circuit Bending, Breaking and
Mending: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Computer-Aided
Architectural Design Research in Asia, 155–164. ©2011, Association for
Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), Hong Kong.
2.
Main Paper
2: On Topology (Originally: Topology -
from Mathematics to Architecture) Essay, A. A. School of Architecture,
2007.
3.
Shape
Control In Responsive Architectural Structures– Current Reasons&
Challenges, Tristan d’Estrée Sterk (2006) from the 4th World
Conference on Structural Control and Monitoring.
4.
Augmented
Membranes: Design explorations into responsive materials. Nancy
Diniz (2007)
5.
Irregular Vertex Editing and Pattern Design on Mesh, Kobayashi, Yoshihiro (2011) From ACADIA 11: Integration
through Computation [Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the
Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA)] [ISBN 978-1-6136-4595-6] Banff (Alberta)
13-16 October, 2011, pp. 278-283.
6. Research on Hybrid Tectonic Methodologies for
Responsive Architecture. Chiu,
Hao-Hsiu (2009) From Proceedings of the
14th International Conference on Computer Aided Architectural Design Research
in Asia / Yunlin (Taiwan) 22-25 April 2009, pp. 493-502.
7.
Topological Design of Sculptured Surfaces. Ferguson, H., Rockwood, A. and Cox, J. (1992)
From Computer Graphics, no. 26, pp.149-156.
Matthew Kruik, 3376172, 11/4/2012
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