Bill gates has predicted that the present decade will be known as The Digital Decade in that by the time that it comes to an end the impact of the digital realm will have been so far reaching that scarcely any facet of human existence will remain untouched by it. There will have been a digital revolution.1
More than ever we can see the impact foretold by Gates in the above quote in all aspects of society. This essay will examine how digitalisation effects the various aspects of architectural design and construction as a whole. This will involve a critical exploration of what the different types of digital architecture and fabrication comprises of, leading on to its wider impact within the design world. It will firstly address technical computer program orientated design methods. Then explore the digital fabrication methods currently available, showing examples in the built environment.
Digital technologies are changing the way we live today from our interactions with people to how we work and be entertained. Architectural practices have progressed and revolutionised their work methods and services in ways that few were able to anticipate just a decade ago. The most obvious yet intrinsic aspect being the jump from drawing board to the computer, which can be seen from architectural teaching right through to everyday practice. Indeed the computer has revolutionised the output ability and flexibility of editing and changing ideas and designs. However, digital technologies have affected the practice of architecture in much more deeper ways. Iwamotos statement below highlights the evolving developments and impacts in the profession:
Architecture continually informs and is informed by its modes of representation and construction, perhaps never more so than now, when digital media and emerging technologies are rapidly expanding what we conceive to be formally, spatially, and materially possible 2
The basic argument is that the digital age is forging a very different kind of architecture and at the same time providing unprecedented opportunities for significant redefinition of the architects role in the production of buildings. Digital technologies are enabling a direct correlation between what can be designed and what can be built, thus bringing to the forefront the issues of production, communication, application and control of information in the building industry. Digital tools combined with the ever evolving manufacturing processes in many of the other disciplines have paved the way for architecture to follow. Kolarevic summarises this below:
In the conceptual realm, computational, digital architectures of topological, non- Euclidean geometric space, kinetic and dynamic systems, genetic algorithms are supplanting technological architectures. Digitally driven design processes characterised by open ended and unpredictable but consistent transformations of three-dimensional shapes are giving rise to new architectonic possibilities.3
Digitally informed practice has included many generations of designers since its arrival in the early 1990s, so its not new to the discourse of architecture, and has a history. In reviewing the history of work in this field, and the level of technological development and the quality of the constructed work cannot be separated. As techniques are further refined and improved, so has the quality of the fabricated work and its aesthetic sensibility. Looking at the different techniques and technologies available helps highlight the impact these have on architecture as a whole and individuals work process. This essay will explore the various computer based processes of form origination and transformations using examples of various architects work.
Digitalisation within the architectural realm has essentially quickened the process between the design stage and production. It also opens up to more possibilities than ever possible before. Malcolm McCullough comments on the evolving aspects of design and production, how an amalgamation of digital design, fabrication and production eliminates many geometric constraints imposed by traditional drawing and production processes making complex curved shapes much easier to handle, for example, and reducing dependence on standard, mass-produced components.4
The realm of architecture within the age of digitalisation opens up endless opportunities and exciting possibilities. Peter Zellner summaries the formation of these developments:
Architecture is recasting itself, becoming in part an experimental investigation of topological geometries, partly a computational orchestration of robotic material production and partly a generative, kinematic sculpting of space5
These developments within architecture offer a more fluid approach to design and producing construction that is manifested through folding that departs from Euclidean geometry of discrete volumes, and employs topological, rubber-sheet geometry of continuous curves and surfaces.6 This fluidity is allowing for a new range of possibilities, changing the state and topological space of architecture geometry used via the use of digital programs. In technical terms, Lynn describes this continuous, highly curvilinear surfaces as NURBS Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines. Nurbs allow representation of geometrical shapes in an easily edited form.7 Lynn describes NURB surfaces as functions of two parameters mapping to a surface in three-dimensional space. The control points determine the shape of the surface with the polygors responding to the adjustments automatically.8 The image below illustrates the typical Nurb interface.
?Figure 1 - Example of Nurb interface
Breaking away from the rectilinear straight angled forms is highly associated with digital architecture thanks to the ability to specify and calculate dense mathematics easily. It gave architects an instant visualisation of their ideas and allowed for specific alterations to be implemented without having to re-assess their initial ideas.
One of the most prominent examples of this is Frank Gehrys Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. The Guggenheims visualisation was achieved by using Computer Aided Three Dimensional Interactive Application (CATIA) this program played a large role in the structure's design. In the past, this design would have been nearly impossible to construct. However, computer simulations of the buildings structure made it possible to achieve shapes of such tectonic form. Gehry is seen to be at the forefront of Topological space design and as leading the way for the widespread use of technology in building design.
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Fig 1 - Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao by Frank Gehry
Blobs or Metaballs are a technique invented by Jim Blinn in the 1980s. Kolarevic describes these Metaballs in a more technical way
they are also known as isomorphic surfaces, they are seen as amorphous objects constructed as composite assemblages of mutually inflecting parametric objects with internal forces of mass and attraction. They exercise fields or regions of influence, which could be additive or subtractive. The geometry is constructed by computing a surface at which the composite field has the same intensity: isomorphic surfaces.9
This opens up a huge plane of widely alternating variations for the designer. The forms inhabit the space together, therefore allowing for a wider range of interaction. The objects act in a fluid state enabling new opportunities that could never have been achieve in a static form.
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Fig 2 - Metablob behaviour diagram
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Fig 3 - BMWs The Bubble exhibition pavillion at the IAA 99 Auto Show Frankfurt
Another common digital design process is Motion kinematics & Dynamics (animate architectures). Animation software is used for the generation of form in various disicplines. However within architecture Greg lynn has defines animate design as the:
Fig 4 - Port Authority Bus Terminal in NY by Greg Lynn
co presense of motion and force at the moment of formal conception ; while motion implies movement and action, animation implies evolution of a form and its shaping forces.10
Kinematics can be described as the study motion on object or a hierarchical system of objects without consideration given to its mass or the forces acting on it.11
Dynamic simulations is commonly used in most of the major architectural practices used today. It allows the user to accurately take into consideration the forces that will effect the finished building. Once the buildings mass and other traits have been defined the model can be subjected to varying forces such as gravity or wind in a realistic simulation. Allowing the designer to gauge the effects of the world around his design is key here simulating the built form in reality whilst still being in the design stage.
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Fig 5 - Tea Set for Alessi by Greg Lynn
Leading on from the application of Metablobs I will now explore how Metamorphic formations have enhanced the design world. The most common technique is known as Keyshape animation which:
allows deformation of the space around the object using a bounding box (lattice deformation), a spline curve, or one of the coordinate system axis or planes, and path animation, which deforms an object as it moves along a selected path.12
In keyshape animation, the changes in the shape are recorded as individual spaced out modules known as keyframes. The software then works out the formation in between these designated gaps in the form. Object shapes conform to the changes in the overall geometry within the space rather than the reforming of the individual shape.
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Fig 6 - Ustra Office building (1999), Hanover, Germany, Frank Gehry
The twist seen in Gehrys design can be attributed to a fourth dimension used in keyscape animation during the design process. The twist in the building to point towards the nearby park skews the common rectangular shape whilst allowing more people views of the park. Calculating the curvature and resulting effects on the overall design would have been automated through the sue of the software package.
The next technique I am going to explore is Parametric design. This process is achieved by allocating the overall parameters of the area rather than the intrinsic shape of the object. The different value parameters and configurations along with mathematical equations define the objects and their proximity to each other. This allows the objects behaviour to other objects and their transformations to be quickly edited and proofed.
Ultimately the designer can scroll through many variations of the same design quickly and decide on the best overall design that works well with other defined objects. Mathematical software can be used by the architect to design mathematical models to automate test procedures on the design using different slots to test varying external forces and influences both static and dynamic in nature. Essentially this automated type of design lessens the intensity of the designers input filling in the blanks over the period of the parameter designated. Kolvenic sumerises parametric design as the rejection of fixed solutions and for an exploration of infinitely variable potentialities.13
With the software available now it allows designers to adapt and further explore the customary standard shapes associated with the built environment it opens up the possibilities of shapes and their effect on design in general.
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Fig 7 - The Jellyfish House - Iwamoto Scott architects
The tiling shown above in the jellyfish house was processed with parametric software allowing the overall geometry of the building to be processed to varying degrees as designated the user. Designers can go as far as to fully automate the parametric design process and allow the computer to create the geometry automatically resulting in random and complexly unique shapes and constructions.
Genetic architecture investigates the ability to analyse the evolution of a design through a generational technique. The architectural initial concepts are added as generative commands to the program. The generated computer models can then be put through an accelerated evolution process allowing the prototypes to be tested and chosen on their performance from the models reactions.
The evolutionary steps in user specified quantites can be generated in a rapid concession and the resulting forms often challenge the designers initial idea. The genetic algorithim is described by Kolvenic as
a string-like structure equivalent to the chromosomes of nature, to which the rules of reproduction, gene crossover, and mutation are applied. Optimum solutions are obtained by small incremental changes over several generations.14
In essance , genetic coding within architect allows the emphasis to shift to articulating the inner logic of the project rather than the external form.15
Fig 7 - Kolatan and Mac Donalds Chimerical Housing projects
In housings a normative 3 bedroom colonial house was used as a base object that was then morphed into a range of everyday objects as targets, producing a large range of what they call chimerical designs16. The technique of morphing and skewing the normal reality of an object or building through computer manipulation allows easy access to a huge range of design variations but also the evolution of a design. Asking the question where would this design have went if it wasn't finalised by the designer.
Leading on from the virtual form design and testing this essay will now look at the digital fabrication techniques used within the industry. Computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) technologies are deeply rooted within modern day building design and construction practices. Throughout the construction industry all at all levels computers play an essential role. Architectures integration with CAD has allowed for the control of complex shapes and organising large scale jobs much easier as shown in the previous examples. Technology has also affected the fabrication of components used within the built environment. As with all technology the methods are constantly changing and being challenged within the profession itself by those using them.
CNC also know as computer numerically controlled cutting / 2d fabrication is at the heart of modern fabrication. These vary vastly depending on the techniques and materials being cut with laser and water jet being the most widely used format. What they all share is the ability to submit CAD drawings to allow very precise and specific cutting on various materials. Water jet cutting is most commonly used for intricate cutting of various metals sheets however this can be limiting depending on the thickness of the sheets. In the construction industry highly specialised machines such as plasma arc cutting wherein an electrical current is passed through pressurised gas resulting in plasma that allows for heavy duty yet highly precise cutting.
?Fig 8 - Plasma-arc CNC cutting of steel supports for masonry walls in Frank Gehrys Zollhoff Towers in Dsseldorf
Laser cutters are one of the most common versions of CNC equipment available. Having used one in my own studies the ease of use and time saving ability is excellent. Laser cutters use an intense infrared light along with pressurised gas to burn out the designated shape from the chosen material. The materials commonly cut are usually card or thin wood as it is confined to thin materials that can absorb the light to allow the cutting to take place.
Subtractive fabrication has recently been increasingly popular in the construction industry as a very specific way of creating formwork for intricate casts. CNC milling involves the subtraction of volumes of material from designated solids. The computer controls the movement of the cutting mill when coded instructions are submitted based on the sheet size of the material.
The swiss firm Gramazio & Kohler are pioneers of digital fabrication in particular CNC milling which was used in the construciton of the BearthDeplazes designed winery in Flasch, switzerland.
Fig 9 - BearthDeplazes - Winery in Flasch, switzerland.
The opposite of subtractive fabrication involves a gradual forming achieved through the addition of the material step-by-step on top of each other. This layering technique known as additive fabrication or more commonly rapid prototyping revolutionised product design from the ground up. The computer model is sliced into two-dimensional layers; the slices are then printed like a layer by layer ontop of each other froming a 3d object. The models can be made from a huge range of plastics and plasters. However architects are now turning to it as a quick alternative to hand crafted models allowing the exportation of 2d plans that can be quickly layer by layer mad into a fully formed scale model. Although costly this technique allows the architect to quickly be able to pick up their design rather than view a floating 3d computer model. Another form of 3D printing involved the gluing of fine sheets of material on top of each other that have been pre-cut using laser technology. Multi-jet manufacture (MJM) uses a special printing head to imprint melted thermoplastic/wax material in very thin layers, one layer at a time, to create three-dimensional solids.
Fig 10 - Typical 3D Printer
The final type of fabrication I will analyse is formative fabrication. Various forces such as heat , steam and mechanical are used to form and shape a material to the allocated design. This technique is most evident in the intricate metal facades used by modern day architects. Permanently warping or deforming the metal to fit the curved or jagged edges of the design. Numerically controlled bending of glass plastic and metal is used throughout the industry in particular for the creation of prize winning pavillions.
The idea of a structural skin not only implies a new material, but also geometries, such as curves and folds that would enable the continuous skin to act structurally, obviating an independent static system: The skin alone does the heavy lifting. 17
Construction itself is rapidly changing due to technological advances, which are no longer confined, to the fabrication stage. Upon fabrication of components virtual 3d models are often used to pinpoint the location of each highly specialise item created. Even on my year out experience technology such as laser measurement and electronic surveying where common. A large-scale example being Frank Gehrys Bilbao museum where the construction was like a paint by numbers experience. Most components where bar-coded and scanned to locate the precise location.
Whilst mass production for standard building components became common decades ago the need for huge amounts if detailed and irregular building components became possible with CNC techniques. Systematic customisation allowed architects to make large buildings unique over the desired space without resorting to standard building components or spending huge amounts on individual craftsmanship across the build. With CNC it is just as efficient to make the same design as it is to make 100 different designs with the drawing work being the only time consuming factor.
?Fig 11 - Mass Customisation: Bernard Caches Objectiles
The question we are now faced with is what is the architectural language of the future going to be ? We have witnessed the gradual shift from hand drawing to the computer this century; digital design students of all fields have the potential to be the pioneers of new methods of designing within the virtual world.
The new generation of students have skills in video, web design, animation and interactive multimedia. They are using 3d design as a real working environment for inventing form and space. That is their new habitat.18
These advance in technology and applications to architecture do not only affect the high-end firms and rich users but instead are trickling down to the students starting out in the field. The emerging architectural language is directly linked with the new tools studied above. These technologies take us directly from the mass used 3D world to the built form. Taking an Idea from concept to physical form is easier than ever with the current tools, which allows for more experimentation and diverse ideas.
The computer has gone from being an isolated box to become part of a gigantic digital network of networks, which shapes our collective future. The way and pace at which we connect, communicate, memorize, imagine and control the flows of valuable information have changed forever. 19
This advancement is not without repercussions as the technical vocabulary of the new design student is alienating them from those not as familiar with the ever changing technological advancements. Using terms such as NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines) mentioned above can mean that the young architect can overlook core design principles and rely to heavily on computer design. These new terms and skills replace older skills the most evident of all being hand drawing. Sketching is still an integral part of a designers life but hand drawing final proposals is a thing of the past mainly due to time limits and accuracy available to everyone.
Architecture is presently engaged in an impatient search for solutions to critical questions about the nature and the identity of the discipline, and digital technology is a key agent for prevailing innovations in architecture. Although, this is really nothing new, as new technology has always been a catalyst for new ideas in architecture. A positive digital future in architecture requires a clearer definition of principles and skills necessary to maintain a rigor in emerging digital projects. 20
Opinions vary on the benefit of the technologies currently on hand for new skills being taught at university enable students to focus on the design rather than the solely the labour of drawing everything by hand .The computational architectures described necessitate certain design strategies that provide for a dynamic manipulation of the designs with a high degree of indeterminacy. The future of digital architecture resides on the extent to which architects can accept that excellent architectural designs can be created in a computer assisted environment and that digital thinking is indeed architectural thinking.
Theres a nostalgia for a time when there was technological optimism, when people felt like the world would be a better place with technology, thats almost completely gone from our culture, and I think thats really sad. 21
From this essay i have learned that the advantages in fabrication in the built environment are huge when digital fabrication is implimented. CNC fabrication has revolutionised how we go about customising and specifying buildings immensely. In my opinion it is finding the right balance that is key to great design over reliance on pure computer design can make design stale no matter how many incarnations these programs allow users to browse. As Frank Lloyd Wright once commented on the emergence and spread of computers If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger.22
