Tuesday, June 21, 2011

ASSIGNMENT 03 LASER CUT MODEL




ASSIGNMENT 03 POSTER

ASSIGNMENT 03 RENDERS













ASSIGNMENT 03 TEXT

Project
Description:

Circular Quay Hotel is a new 5 star hotel, to be built over the site of the Bennelong Apartments, located in Circular Quay. This high density commercial property is intended to provide a boost in aesthetic quality to the surrounding environment, as well as provide a temporary living space for people such as tourists, close to Australian cultural landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House.

The proposed building will be 50 stories high, overlooking the harbour, and the botanical gardens. Retail areas will be designed on the ground levels to accommodate businesses as well as visitors.

The design of the building will aim to be of an advanced topological form, with emphasis on the building facade. Complex forms will be generated on the 3d modelling application ‘Rhinoceros’ and will be used as a basis for the buildings ambitious design.

Inspiration for this design comes from the work of Toyo Ito, in particular, his building facade which he designed for an apartment complex in Barcelona, Spain:

Topological
Forms

The basis of my model, and its iterations are derived from topological forms.
Throughout the last decade, there has been progressive development in a topological approach toward architecture. The advancement of technology and digital media has allowed for architects to design complex, yet aesthetically pleasing forms in their architecture.

Topology is the mathematical study of basic geometric forms which are not affected by changing the size or shape – i.e. geometric forms that generally remain the same through transformations and deformations such as stretching or twisting. An example of this continuous deformation from a doughnut (torus) shape, into a coffee cup – the geometric form remains continuous.

The study of topology can be applied into architecture, as the “emphasis shifts away from particular forms of expression to relations that exist between and within an existing site and the proposed program” These ideas become the basis for the “generation and transformation of form”.

Inspiration

The study of topology can be applied into architecture, as the “emphasis shifts away from particular forms of expression to relations that exist between and within an existing site and the proposed program” These ideas become the basis for the “generation and transformation of form”.

The study of topology can be applied into architecture, as the “emphasis shifts away from particular forms of expression to relations that exist between and within an existing site and the proposed program” These ideas become the basis for the “generation and transformation of form”.

The method of topology can be greatly seen within the work of Ito – deriving design philosophies such as collage architecture, and superficial architecture. These two concepts are closely linked to each other, fitting underneath contemporary architectural ideas. Ito suggests that modern Japanese society lives in an urban culture, where infinite symbols are seen everywhere, “covering the surface of the built environment”.

ASSIGNMENT 03 GRASSHOPPER SCREENCAPS & EXPERIMENTATION

My Grasshopper definition basically consists of a circle, with points set at random positions, which is then offset and extruded to make the base shape. Sliders are set to affect the sharpness of the shape, or its radial curve. The extruded base shape is then multiplied in the 'Z' axis, and rotating a small degree with each level. I have set the shape to decrease its size at each level past the sixth, up to 12 levels. My iterations are based on the different base shapes which could be achieved but changing the positioning of the points on the original circle, and also, changing the radius of the curve from those points.