digital aptitudes - Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture

SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM
Architecture Continued
A discussion between the functional and the spiritual defines the
concepts of these projects and hence the approach to work. The
functional requires maximizing materials, energy, labor, and construction
time. To create a natural and healthy physical environment,
off-the-shelf products, sunlight, and passive ventilation techniques
are used. The second, more theoretical discussion is engaged
through words from the New Testament: “Where the Spirit of the
Lord is, there is freedom.” This verse informs design decisions on
every level of the project, from overall form to the design details.
The Biblical story in the Garden of Eden intended that humanity
dwell in naked presence with God in perfect unity, enjoying freedom
and “light-ness”, free of shame or guilt. In contrast to the often
heavy, dark structures that have dominated church design, these
buildings attempt to recreate this original condition of the openness
and love embodied in the Trinity—a place to catch a glimpse of God.
However, the projects acknowledge the difficulties in achieving this
“light-ness” due to restrictions of local building codes, climate, and
resources imposed on the structures.
The goal of these projects is to consider design strategies applicable
for future building projects that can be adapted to multiple global
sites in the developing world, so that minimal resources can be
maximized for substantial impact for building projects in developing
communities.
NOLA-Machiya: A multi-use housing prototype for
New Orleans
Kentaro Tsubaki, Tulane University
The reality of the demographic shift combined with the opportunity
to address pre-Katrina urban issues through rebuilding makes the
time ripe for rethinking housing as a connective tissue to “mend”
the urban fabric of New Orleans. This project aspires to develop a
new housing prototype for post-Katrina New Orleans. It is based on
the comparative research of vernacular housing types found in two
unique urban contexts: New Orleans and Kyoto, Japan, the shotgun
house and the Kyo-machiya. The striking contextual, cultural and
technological parallels and contrasts found in the two cities are the
potent source of inquiry and knowledge informing the design.
The main objective is to develop a mixed-use, multi-unit housing
prototype appropriate for standard 30‘x120’ lot, creatively addressing
the post Katrina social-cultural and performative issues in the
hot, humid climate. The central hypothesis is that the design principles
and features found in Kyo-machiya can effectively be translated
into a housing design strategy in New Orleans. The project promotes
a holistic approach to the sustainable housing design contrary to the
current trend where a product oriented, techno-centric approach is
the norm.
Similar to the shotgun house, the basic physical characteristic of
Machi-ya is defined in terms of a very narrow and long urban lot it
occupies. However, it employes several distinctive spatial strategies,
such as Tori-niwa (a covered interstitial side yard), Tsuboniwa
(a small courtyard garden for light and air), En-gawa (a circulation
porch), etc. to accommodate and take advantage of the
limited lot configuration. Combined with the tectonic characteristics
of timber framing and removable screens panels, these features
foster impromptu community interactions, alleviate hot and
humid conditions and cerebrate the seasonal transitions, merging
the spatial efficiency and climactic performance with dramatic visual
esthetics for urban dwelling.
According to the The New Orleans Index by the Brookings Institution,
the post-storm population of New Orleans is skewed towards well educated
young professionals and creative types, singles and couples with
no children. The study also indicates the relative success of Road Home
and other rebuilding programs in the hardest hit areas. However, these
programs are not intended to address pre-Katrina racial segregation
and poverty. The city suffers with disproportionate numbers of unoccupied
homes, yet, average rent in the city is still unaffordable for the
workers in the key service sectors. Nola-machiya addresses these issues
through unique programing and siting within the city. It is intended
to foster economic development beyond its initial investment value,
facilitating the mending of the existing urban fabric.
The Nola-machiya is a hybrid of Kyo-machiya and a shotgun house, an
attempt to transpose, negotiate, and integrate the architectural considerations
and features arising out of the two distinctive vernacular
cultures, while addressing issues of context and time. The project demonstrate
the NEXT iteration of the performative design thinking for urban
dwellings in the dynamic global context.
Parametric Zoning - Wringing Jouissance from the
Regulation Grid
Skender Luarasi, University of Massachusetts
This is a client-commissioned midrise project in Tirana, Albania. The
program calls for a commercial zone in the first three floors, housing
in the upper floors and a two level underground parking. The project
occupies a tightly situated corner at the intersection of two busy
downtown urban streets, populated with dense midrise adjacencies.
This urban configuration calls for a strict application of zoning codes,
setbacks and distances from the adjacent structures. The premise of
the project is to address this tight programmatic and urban complexity
by strategically deploying computational intelligence.
The design uses a computationally controlled curvature in order to negotiate
between the regulation grid, zoning codes and the building program
and its urban expression. Marching Cubes Algorithm is used to process
the contextual constraints and affect the generic zoning envelope. The
Marching Cubes is an algorithm developed by Lorensen and Cline on 1987.
Its applications are mainly concerned with medical visualizations such as
CT and MRI scan data images, and special effects or 3-D modeling with
what is usually called metaballs or other metasurfaces. Marching Cubes
Algorithm extracts/visualizes a polygonal mesh of an isosurface from a
three-dimensional scalar field, sometimes called voxels. An extracted isosurface
satisfies a particular topological relation or condition:
f(x, y, z) = c where c is the voxels’ numerical/scalar value.
The algorithm visualizes an isosurface through numerical values by
“marching” through the voxels and selecting only those whose values
are below a certain user input threshold. A series of isosurfaces
can be generated from different input qualities according to different
thresholds. (For architectural applications of Marching Cubes (Voxel)
Algorithm see the MArch Thesis works of Styliano Dritsas and Sawako
Kijima). In this particular project the algorithm is modified so that the
numerical value of the distributed voxels plastically morphs the zoning
envelope of the site, which in turn is indexed as the voxel bounding box
in the algorithm. Specific conditions are then selected from the variability
output of the algorithm, according to specific design predicaments
and objectives. The algorithm suggests a design process that is not
based on geometrical procedure, but on information processing, where
a particular geometry is an instantiation or actualization of a particular
“slice” of information (see poster).
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 37