Relationship Between Digital Architecture and Digital Fabrication - Case Study Example

Relationship between digital architecture and digital fabrication Ideally, the world is currently undergoing a digital evolution. Almost every aspect of human life is becoming digitalized. In this paper, digital architecture and digital fabrication are initially defined independently before their relationships are explored. A plethora of literature as well as real-life examples are used to explore the relationship between digital architecture and digital fabrication. Ultimately, the research narrows down to the case study of the Greater London Authority using to explore how digital architecture and digital fabrication have not only revolutionized the construction industries through automation but have also create a more sophisticated and advantageous link between architecture and fabrication. As a matter of fact, it emerges that the relationship between the two is solely responsible for the increased automation in the construction industry. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Introduction 4 Digital architecture 5 Digital fabrication 6 Digital architecture versus digital fabrication 8 Case study: Greater London Authority 12 Discussion 15 Conclusion 17 Reference 19 Table of figures Figure 1: Paradigmatic shift in digital design 8 Figure 2: levels of digital computability 9 Figure 3: Mercedes Benz Museum 10 Figure 4: Cecil Belmond’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 11 Figure 5: Weaire-Phelan structure and Water Cube 12 Figure 6: Greater London Authority 13 Figure 7: Programmed wall elements 14 Introduction At a time when art and design are intertwined and increasingly sophisticated, generating ideas and fabrication of the ideas into items for reflection and evaluation of the conceptualized creativity is important. Conventionally, painters produce sketches as items of their creative processes; explore composition possibilities in form of pencil drawings before finalizing the paintings. On the other hand, Architects explore lots of design possibilities via sketching of designs, hard-line drawings, physical models, as well as manufacturing artifacts for diverse ideas exploration. In the modern world, architects have adopted digital design in manufacturing of shapes and spaces including advanced technologies, which include, generative modeling methods using parametric modeling as well as CAD scripting. Modern architects traditionally generate multiple ideas in form of sketches in order to be able to further narrow down possible solutions to design and manufacturing challenges. Throughout the entire design history, lots of efforts have been put forth in facilitation of the process of generating ideas. Past literature present various endeavors ranging from creative design methodologies to high-end technological solutions. Basing from the technology-methodology perspective, there still are lots of innovative technological advances and challenges in design methodology application in multiple circumstances, which can be abridged together. Digital design and fabrication solutions present extensive potentials for integration into creative design process given that it offers possibility of availing tangible artifacts to existence where imagination of the mind is exceeded. Designers conventionally attempt rationalize their designs. Creation of study models, mock-ups and test prototypes are amongst approaches often implemented in validation of utility of designs. These multiple methods considered are treated as post-design evaluation methods. Typically, by the time a prototype comes to focus group session, lots of decisions will already reached. As a matter of fact, in conventional design processes, critical decisions are reached on the paper. Micro design integration decisions shape products. Nonetheless, what makes the process realistic are the skills and experience levels that the designers exhibit. On the other hand, designers and fabricators are conventionally limited by skills they possess as well as various other parameters. However, digital design and fabrication have largely increased the efficiency of product design. These have come as timely solutions to combination of limitation and sophistication in product design which require high levels of flexibility in creative product design processes. The main emphasis of this study is on not just understanding digital design and digital fabrication but also on exploring the relationship between digital Architecture and digital fabrication. Digital architecture Digital architecture makes use of computer modeling, programming, simulation as well as imaging to produce virtual forms and physical structures, alike. The terminology is conventionally used to make reference to architectural aspects which incorporate digital technologies. This field is however not clearly delineated, and is in many instances also used to make reference to digital skins which include streaming images and having their appearances altered. Digitally produced architecture does not include real materials such as stones, glass, or wood but rather relies on electromagnetically stored set of numbers used in creation of representations and simulations corresponding to performance of materials and mapping out of built artifacts. Additionally, digital architecture goes beyond mere representation of "ideated space" to create locations for human interaction which do not bear semblance for physical architectural spaces. Further, digital architecture permits sophisticated calculations which delimit architects and permit an extensive range of sophisticated forms to be produce with greater ease with the help of computer algorithms. Physical models are a way through which designers bring to realization their mental concepts.as representational medium for designs, model creation process leads to new forms beyond what initial concepts originally proposed. Digital generation of models offers an appropriate interface between design concepts and manufacture of products. Digital architecture provides capability for creation of surfaces without complexities. As a matter of fact, digital architecture offers an interface between design concepts and production, centered on design process nature. Additionally, other than design-related and material-representational advantages within overall design as well as fabrication processes, there seems to be present substantial pedagogical advantages which can be derived from the technological advances (Oxman, 2008). Digital fabrication Digital fabrication has largely altered the way manufacturers approach their day to day operations. Emerging technologies such as laser cutters, CNC machining and 3D printers have made it possible to manufacture a single or more instances of physical object directly from digital architecture files. Creation of another object simply involves sending the other file to the machine and each time, the newly sent object is generated. As a matter of fact, digital fabrication eliminates costly and time-consuming tooling and in the process does away with the need to make huge up-front investments as well as high production volumes necessary for recovery of the investments. This offers promise for new opportunities for one-off or low-volume production. It is also important to note that digital fabrication technologies work alongside an extensive range of materials including wood to metal, plastic to fabric, as well as glass to paper, among others and as such, offer possibilities for creating forms as well as aesthetics which stretch beyond the ubiquitous plastic associated with most of consumer electronic devices. Irrespective of the small volumes, digital fabrication processes are not premised on similar manual labor and skills as conventional crafts. Due to the fact that objects are directly produced from digital files, anyone who can access the files can accomplish production of the object’s copy. People can easily modify individual component of object forms without recreating the complete design. In some respect, object source’s design files and sharing the files with other people is viewed as a form of open-source. Physical object’s open-sourcing provides potential for distributed production, customization/personalization, and learning about construction of objects through study or making of their designs. In general, digital fabrication presents a set of technologies as well as processes whereby digital architectural information is used to directly drive cutting, joining, or other forms of manipulation of physical materials in order to achieve specific forms or structures. Digital architecture and fabrication has myriad advantages in comparison to other manufacturing processes. Absence of tooling further lowers setup costs as well as work durations. Through avoidance of molds, digital fabrication provides for increased flexibility as well as freedom in the produced shapes. There is a tendency however, to incur higher per-unit costs and production duration in comparison to the conventional mass production processes such as injection molding. Consequently, it is typically used in prototyping or for small-volume production. Over the last decades, fresh techniques have emerged in architectural design, most of which exploit use of computers as a design tool. This has resulted into an extensive set of digital skills as well as a new kind of architectural knowledge. Nonetheless, until recently, there is no appropriate theoretical framework to allow for comprehensive pedagogical agenda for instruction of digital design in architecture. Understanding the theoretical grounding on basis of the concept of computable functions results into an abstract and formal perspective on digital design which enables grouping of contemporary digital fabrication methods and understanding their logical relationship. At theoretical level, it provides a path for study of mechanisms which facilitate concepts transfer from digital architecture into fabrication. Digital architecture versus digital fabrication Since the mid-19th century, digital architecture and fabrication has resulted into successive modifications or even more, replacement of reductionism as the single predominant design paradigm, that is, the mechanistic comprehension of nature and continuous top-down reduction of the entire components into parts has been changed from local interaction patterns to overall global alignment of parts as an emerging bottom-up system property. It is unsurprising that architectural experts became interested in the systemic nature models as a result of related new organization techniques and form-generation availed by computers and relevant software. Consequently, over the last decade, systemic notions as well as scientific concepts have merged into architectural discourses and are presently a subject of exploration for purposes of design. Figure 1: Paradigmatic shift in digital design Based on formal project description of digital forms by reviewing acquisition of constituent elements of related computational function, f during architectural design process, it is possible to create a distinction of the three major computational utilization levels which can be described as design levels of architectural computability including representational, parametric, and algorithmic. Representational level is characteristic of the use of computational as a form of electronic drawing tool. This is well depicted in its application to Kunsthaus Graz design by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier. NURBS from these designers has been digitally employed in description of the museum’s outer skin shape. Similarly, Coop Himmelblau employed architectural modeling software in representation and refinement of the oblique-angled crystalline forms of UFA cinema located in Dresden. In the described scenarios, computers made it possible to activate geometric languages not normally possible to easily control as a result of the geometric incongruence with standard projections conventionally employed in architectural presentation and design. As a matter of fact, representation aspect of digital architecture recognizes existence of a relationship x between specific inputs and a unique output y. Figure 2: levels of digital computability On the other hand, parametric level is characterized by use of provided relationship f within a spectrum of possibilities between specified inputs and outputs through continuous variation along parametric space. A good example of such a type of parametric variation is the Nicholas Grimshaw’s Waterloo train station design. The design employed a 3-pin bowstring arch which comes with an asymmetric placement around the center pin as a result of the platform’s geometry as well as its parametric propagation as a series comprising of 36 trusses identically configured along the train-shed length. Stuttgart’s Mercedes Benz Museum however incorporated increasingly complex parametric interplay between multiple architectural elements. The approach allows for each components geometric definition. In general, at parametric level there exists a clear understanding of existence of an architectural computational relationship x between inputs and outputs and integration of the same into design process as scheme for interdependency between a number of design components. Figure 3: Mercedes Benz Museum Algorithmic relationship description on the other and is not actively employed as a design tool. It presents a fixed relationship and focus is more on input quantification possibility enabling controlled output variation. Nonetheless, algorithmic level opens the relationship between inputs and outputs and is characterized by the utilization of formal description of x itself and the application of the same as a design approach. The first architectural work based on this strategy was Toyo Ito and Cecil Balmond’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion. Figure 4: Cecil Belmond’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion In the design, usage of iterative sub-division of adjacent sides produced a dense field of lines which defined structural members’ location as well as their opening’s distribution for enclosed cubic space. Another example of algorithmic digital architecture is the National Swimming Center in Beijing which employed algorithmic construction of underlying geometric structure. The approach allowed for a formal description of the of foam bubbles’ space filling behavior. Additionally, its abstraction as Wearie-Phelan geometry made it possible to use of complex polyhedral cells as the fabrication system. This turned out to be a rational and effective solution which seemed to be random. In general, algorithmic level is all about developing computational design logic sequential of algebraic, analytic, and also geometric operations for data manipulation and translation into architectural characteristics. Beijing National Aquatics Centre designed by PTW Architects; a Chinese State Construction Engineering Corporation is a good reference example for the convergence between digital architecture and digital fabrication. The architectural design of this structure was based Weaire–Phelan three-dimensional computational foam model, which applies two primary cells, each of equal volume and minimum surface to volume ratio. Despite the model being used as a base for Water Cube structure, during its design phase, the structure evolved to produce a more structurally efficient configuration, which consequently produced a larger amount of varying building elements improving the sophistication and production cost. Figure 5: Weaire-Phelan structure and Water Cube Case study: Greater London Authority The Greater London Authority designed by Foster and Partners offers a good case study for exploring the relationship between digital architecture and digital fabrication. Whilst the structures initial design was to be spherical shaped, the design ad to be changed to make it possible to physically realize the building. The egg-shaped structural form was re-shaped with assistance of planar quadrilateral (PQ) strips to ensure that the fabrication criteria were appropriately met (Attar et al., 2009). This highlighted the role of co-rationalization; a process described a parallel finding of a compositional system and form affecting each other. As is typically the case in pre and post, co-rationalization, where structural parameters application is separated from design process, co-rational technique refers to multidisciplinary coordination at each design stage and suggests use of generative procedures, which take into consideration fabrication parameters alongside other conventional formal and functional design rules (Fischer, 2007). Figure 6: Greater London Authority As depicted in the case of Greater London Authority, the relation between fabrication parameters and the object’s designed was aligned to many other similar cases, the interdependence was limited to integration of manufacturing constraints into form development, as often witnessed in pre and co-rationalized design techniques (Whitehead, 2003). Taking into consideration use of specific digital fabrication method, the case offered an avenue for looking into digital architecture-digital fabrication relationship from varied angles and attempting to respond to the question as to how fabrication parameters can be incorporated in design process in order to enhance architecture-to-fabrication communication. The design rationalization variables are meant to be design’s driving force within generative procedures which have embedded fabrication logic (Seely, 2004). Additionally, the case study bears witness to the true potential of digital architecture in promoting simulation and hence more efficient fabrication. The case employed controlled milling which widely accessible to digital architecture and fabrication industries due to their ability to produce sophisticated and highly differentiated building elements through a relatively easy and cost effective process. It is important to point out that CNC machines are automatically controlled by programmed commands of Numerical Control programming language, conventionally known as G-Code based on functions syntax. The NC program, apart from the general purpose machine’s operation control functions, consists of additional commands related to the overall machine’s actions - the so-called M-codes, which may differ in structure for particular machine model and producer (Whitehead, 2003). Most of NC programs are developed using CAM software. Manual programming in this case is constrained to three axis machines. The three conventional operational dimensions include X, Y, Z axis which enables sculpting of landscaped surfaces Z axis depth variation (Mitchell, 2009). However, only higher dimensional machines are able to cut sophisticated geometry. Further, digital additive fabrication methodology was applied in design context. The project used parametric tools in generation of 2 by 3 parametrically regulated wall designs made from standard brick units. On basis of using regular fabrication material, the design process was meant to focus mainly on the fabrication technique rather than on properties of materials. Fabrication used a robot arm able to reach all points in a 3 by 3 by 8 spaces. Designed information resulted into what was referred to as informed architecture and fabrication. This was a result of creating a direct link in architectural design information with real architectural construction artifact . Creation of this unique element of architecture became possible through custom software and hardware. This involved a scripting environment; a post-processing script was translation of output CAD models into robot specified procedural language (Mitchell, 2009). Also, a custom-made brick gripper robot’s extension was built, which at further stages of the project was enhanced with a precise adhesive automated adhesive depositing onto each brick. See illustration below. Figure 7: Programmed wall elements Discussion The relationship between architecture and fabrication technologies has played an important role in development and intertwinement of the disciplines across their entire history. The link between the two is even more evident at the present times given that design/production processes are largely premised on computational advances. Taking into consideration use of specific digital fabrication methods, this paper assessed digital architecture-digital fabrication relationships and hence, how they impact on each other. Arguably, the interrelation between the two is achievable through application of simulation-based algorithmic processed derived from inherent logic behind fabrication machines functionality. The case evaluated as we well as the provided background information both emphasized the role of two custom tools in facilitation of the entire process, that is, a library for the processing programming language as well as a bespoke design process. As a matter of fact, this realization made it possible to conclude that broad implementation of custom digital architectural design processes with underlying digital fabrication logic has potential to change design process, in addition to facilitating communication. In the recent times, digital fabrication has become more and more accessible to different people and purposes. As a matter of fact, in some quarters it has come be referred to as personal fabrication. Additionally, the reduced costs of fabrication machines, and emergence of low-cost do-it-yourself (DIY) machinery, has made it possible for even small scale enterprises to own the machines. Various research projects bring together electronics with digitally-fabricated components in the construction. They have offered motivation, design principles, as well as aesthetic inspiration for various cases across the globe. Many computational toolkits have further employed digital fabrication in their construction modules, illustrating feasibility of production processes associated with electronic devices. For instance, Topobo presented in Raffle (2004) is an actuated construction kit, which employs digital fabrication in creation of prototypes for user-testing. Additionally, various researches have focused on interaction with as well as use of construction kit, alongside digital fabrication which primarily serve as a means of producing the prototypes. Further, other researches explicitly explored design processes as well as aesthetic possibilities enabled by combination of electronics and digital fabrication. The notion of functionality associated with digital architecture, therefore, is non-normative like is the case in a performative design strategy but is instead operative and comparable to the conventional vague comprehension of architectural functionality. This implies efficiency of computational function as formal design strategy is evaluated using architectural criteria, instead of numerical ones. Formalization of design thinking by means of computable functions cannot be used to replace design process but can act as framework for more systematic investigation into digital design strategies applicable to architecture. Investigation into concept of computability and its importance for digital design in architecture shows that the computer is not a neutral tool, but rather is actively shaping the way designers are approaching the question of design. Additionally, Performance models play an important role in architecture with respect to the question of functionality of the digital design, but they do not provide a new level of digital computability due to the embedded nature of the class. The same is true for compound models, which are defined as a class of future paradigmatic digital design media. Further, for architectural design, the output-driven perspective onto the computational function of a performative design strategy is a pitfall because it encourages a tendency towards optimization and with it, an economization and closing up of architectural thinking towards parametric manipulation Conclusion Generally, contemporary architectural practice, flat sections as well as plans drawings are no longer the sole means of representing information and communicating with customers. Today, the extensively used architectural media include visualizations, animations as well as three-dimensional models/simulations. Additionally, available digital fabrication techniques allow direct materialization of virtual design conceptions whether in small scale models or in fabrication of structural elements. The transition is executed after completion of design process and is made possible with assistance of CAD/CAM software tools. The tools make it possible to convert Computer Aided Draft (CAD) models to Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) codes for as long as CNC technique is employed. In general, digital models call for conversion into specific file formats were 3D printing or other technique method is utilized. Digital fabrication tools are essential in architecture given attainable building costs mitigation in case of design’s increased sophistication. Free-form shaped designs comprised in design stage of countless unique elements, call for some means of structural rationalization of structure constituents prior to their materialization into real structures. In general, with introduction of digital aspect in architecture and fabrication, it is possible to observe a major variation in architectural thinking directed towards formal methods which fundamentally changes human perspective of architecture and fabrication as well as its relation to other disciplines. As a matter of fact, use of digital architecture and fabrication provides a firm foundation for knowledge and methods systematization. With the rise of digital design tools in architecture, a family of formal strategies has emerged based on the use of computable function to questions of performance. These formal strategies constrain architectural utilitas to a measure of fitness that is an algebraic combination of quantifiable entities. In general, performative design approaches are driven by the numerical output of a formula as a measure of performative fitness. Consequentially, performative design strategies show a close affinity to bionic engineering because of the similarity in design thinking, which in both cases is based on the quantification of phenomena in nature Reference Attar, R. et al., 2009. Physics-based generative design. [Online] retrieved from http://www.autodeskresearch.com/papers/gendesign/CF09PhysicsGenDesign.pdf Fischer, T. (2007). Rationalizing bubble trusses for batch production. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V20-4HR75KR-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=995334430&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_v Mitchell, W. J. (2009). The Logic of Architecture: Design, Computation, and Cognition. Massachusetts: MIT Press, Cambridge. Oxman, R. (2008). Digital architecture as a challenge for design pedagogy: theory, knowledge, models and medium. Design Studies, 29(2), 99-120. Seely, J. C. (2004). Digital fabrication in the architectural design process. [Online] Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Available at: http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/27030/56780968.pdf?sequenc e=1 Whitehead, H., (2003). Architecture in the Digital Age Design and Manufacturing. New York and London: Spon Press. pp. 82-100. ersion=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=80aefa41caccd3cfb92 [Accessed 29 August 1009]. Read More