Study into Functional Programme Morphing

Partly inspired by NOX's 100 Houses and OFRAMBRA's work into actuated tensegrity structures, this abstract study investigates the idea of programmatic change upon a form.

The idea is that depending upon day to day events and environment, the building's functional programme and uses will change, responding to individual and group activities as well as individuals in the vicinity.

Initial State of Activity:

Changes in activity change the form in a direct response:

This activity simplifies spacial characteristics into a number of shapes which change over time based upon changing attributes of the functional programme. The overall form, made up from cross sections of these shapes, therefore changes in response to the functional programme changes - which could be based upon different levels of response to change in functional programme such as the effect of a large group of people gathering at a certain point, changes in the weather or of course differing activity and spacial usage patterns. These changes should not just be considered as physical/aesthetic changes as this sort of change could be considered in a wider holistic manner of a building.

I would like to include the Paskian notion of interaction where there is a two way process between the user and the environment. For example the characteristics of a meeting place (like Monument in Newcastle) varies according to the time of day, local and national events. Differing numbers of people gather and use the space based upon outside factors. Therefore the nature of the physical space would be changed and reconfigured actively based upon the relationship both with the building and the context but also through people interacting and responding to the building itself - a dialogue.

Aims for Review

• Functional Modes Sacrificial Designs - For overlay in developing designs
• More Urban Design Studies - Night/Day Changes
• Investigate Overlaying Elements of Present Buildings into design
• Develop overlayed amalgamated NON-STATIC Schemes - Exporing FUMESSS - Remember FUNCTION, FORM, SCALE, MATERIALS & COLOURS
• Begin to explore relationships between these modes through studies in MORPHING between modes.

Events & Modalities

For clarification to myself, I am developing sacrifical schemes for these modes/building events:

• Library, Education & Outreach & Careers
• Evening/Night-time - Restaurants, Taxis, Clubs
• Large Scale Public Events eg Festivals, Theatre & Media Events
• Arts & Performance Facilities & Events
• Government & E-Democracy

More suggestions or ideas on these are very much welcome!

The Site (In Progress)

(Click above to enlarge - its a cool image)
Overview of the Bigg Market Site (model from which sections and all that jazz can be generated from). I am currently working on sacrificial functional concept designs for different usage types with the aim to understanding the relationships and overlapping nature of these programmes. My current thought is to investigate the generation of form through transitional forms based upon different arrangements and uses of parts of the building throughout the day and throughout different functional modes. I am would also like the building to be capable of directly responding to users and the changing environment (pseudo-realtime).

Review and stuff to do...

I need to enagage better both with my site and building programme to develop some form of developed sacrificial scheme.

• Sections of the site to get into whats going on and serve as a basis for developing the rest of the work - understand the historical nature/grain/development of the site.
• Develop sketch schemes for different modes of operation - these can be seperately designed schemes as it is the design for the function that is important. - sections, pla
• Investigate their overlays and how they interact with one another
• Consider spaces not only in visual/aesthetic terms but also from the range of human senses - investigate a more dynamic environment

Cedric Price - Sheep Dip

Sacrificial Schemes

Sacrificial Designs (if you can call them that)- I have issues with all of it but through these issues are coming out which is good. -Click the images to enlarge them-

Technology #1 - Transegrity & OFRAMBFRA

Whilst I bang my head against the wall developing sacrificial schemes, here's a technical precedent for responsive design.... Image from Tristan Sterk Using Actuated Transegrity Structures to Produce a Responsive Architecture ACADIA Paper

Next on Responsive Intelligent Architecture....

My next tutorial is on Thursday 19th October. My plan of work for this is:

• Develop a SACRIFICIAL SCHEME for the Bigg Market Site - This is my gut feeling towards the site and how to explore my line of enquiry there. This in no way has to be a final design and in fact it should be the opposite - warm up and a beginning to engage the issues of this project through DESIGN

Expect:

• Sketch proposals
• Notional Diagrams
• Some emerging technical applications

Watch this space...

Architectural Light and Magic #2 - Bigg Market Video 02 Contrasts

This video is a walkthrough the Bigg Market at 11AM and 11PM highlighting the contrasts and changes evident in the area which can begin to explore the idea of changing contexts, times, functions and social environments of this site which my thesis design will begin to address. It uses a higher resolution camera than the other and is far less MTV and is more directly the experience of walking through the area shifting through time.

(Apologies for any shakiness in the 11PM camera as we had just been to Laua Brodderick from Northern Architecture's leaving do as she's moving down to work for RIBA in London and there were drinks! We'll miss her in the NE)

Review #1 - Summary of Tutor Feedback

From my review on Thursday 5th October was an assesment of my proposal as far as design thesis's go. With thanks to Tom Attewell for noting things down (and consequently blame for any mis-representation of any opinions) here is the summary of the feedback I received, any comments to this are very welcome:

• The site, Newcastle Library, is probably a large urban design programme. Is this your intent?

• In many ways, the project is the dissipation of the activities/erosion/ability to change the envelope/building morphology

• The project is very much experimental and therefore a setting is needed where all these things can be explored in the programme. The Bigg Market could offer this potential for the project with potentially 4 facades with public presence, printing press, nightlife, WC, cathedral

• What about the static nature of the building programme? People need support facilities etc no matter what building type - perhaps 30-60% solid infrastructure to enable the rest of the building to be interactive & engage

• Flexibility always has to be based on rules - for example you could have a support structure which is the backbone for the building

• The proposal presented needs to be a piece of architecture not a piece of technology. By making the method of design, interaction and modes of engagement people centric then it becomes a piece of architecture.

• A very interesting scheme - expect it to be challenging!

Personally I felt that it went better than I expected! Now I have to get a sacrificial scheme together for the review on 18th.

Architectural Light & Magic #1 Bigg Market Video 01

This video is from walking around Bigg Market on Saturday armed with my mobile phone camera. It begins to highlight a number of elements which make up the area. I intend to create one which also shows area throughout the day (including night) to get an idea of the activity and gauge what I can use as a basis for responsive design. The music is by try^d who I found via a Creative Commons site which allows artists to licence music for creative use and distribution freely. (Video is YouTube crossed with mobile phone camera quality)

Usman Haque, Gordon Pask & Paskian Environments

(above) Simplified interaction diagram of Pask's Musicolour Machine from Haque GSM2 Proceedings (2006:469)

Usman Haque has begun exploring Gordon Pask's ideas on responsive/interactive environments which seem relevant to the ideas behind this project...

"...but to explore comprehensively the poetry of interaction we believe we need to consider what truly intelligent spaces might be like: we might not like them, we might not fully understand them, we might even decide we don't want them. However the most stimulating and potentially productive situation would be a system in which people build up their environments through 'conversations' with the environment, where the histiry of interactions builds new possibilities for shared goals and shared outcomes." Haque GSM2 Proceedings (2006:472)

"The vital question to ask is how do we develop complex interactive systems that are not a priori prescriptive, restrictive and authoritarian? Only via conversation and collaboration over shared goals can complex, dynamic systems afford benefits that justify the added interactions that they require to negotiate their possibilities. We believe that rigorous guidance is provided by the models that Gordon Pask developed, which are predicted on strict definitions of performance, conversation, interaction, 'environment' and 'participation'." Haque GSM2 Proceedings (2006:474)

More about this at: http://www.haque.co.uk/ and http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/008280.php#comments

Project Declaration - Review 1

The Site is going to move to the Bigg Market but as the sketches below are generic anyway - they are still relevant.

Project Balance

(Note:- This is NOT procrastination before more details on the brief in subsequent posts)

From tutorialing on Friday, the question of balance came up in this project which I need to resolve. The motivations for this project have been technology focussed (even though it mediates human interaction and the arguement can be made that it is therefore entirely socially focussed). This is something I need to address with my tutors as I think I need to develop a Fun-Palace level of sophistication. The fun palace was seen as a response of uncertain post-war Britain in development of an uncertain and adapatable building. I need to understand how I can pull these ideas (wiki's, collaboration, user centric change) into an actual design in a similar way.

Some guidelines on balanced projects:

FUMESSS

F - Functional Programme
U - Unity
M - Massing
E - Architectural Expresssion
SSS
Structure/Fabric
Services/Environmental strategies
Specialist technical requirements
- Missed out the 3 S's to thanks Francis for pointing this out:)

Michael Tawa's 7 Points:

Line of Enquiry
Thematic Framework
Functional Programme
Site
Representation
Precedents
Technology

(next post will have pictures... sorry for none in this one)