Architecture, Building and Planning - Research Publications
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ItemCNC Adjustable Mould to Eliminate Waste in Concrete Casting(eCAADe, 2018)Fabricating complex curvature in concrete panel typically required unique one-off formwork which is usually computer numerically controlled (CNC) milled, generating enormous waste as a by-product. What if, we can produce complex curvature in concrete with minimal or no immediate construction waste? This paper presents a novel machine designed by a team of architects and engineer to eliminate waste in concrete casting. Using a hyperbolic paraboloid geometric model, the machine produces variable shape using a single mould design reducing waste and cost to the casting process. The paper discussed the design framework of the system and its fabrication workflow. The outcome is digitally scanned and verified to satisfy industry standard. The paper concludes by reviewing the application of the system and highlighting the need for future research into digital fabrication and design that is less wasteful and waste conscious to better the process of constructing our built environment.
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ItemMachining Aesthetics: Tool Making as Design Research(The University of Sydney, 2018)This paper examines tool making as a form of design research. With the widespread availability of open-source electronic prototyping platforms and its knowledge, designers are no longer the end user of emerging technology and digital toolsets. Instead, we see a surge of designers dappling in the discipline of software, material and mechatronic engineering, escaping the constraints of existing computer numeric controlled (CNC) tools through designing and fabricating novel machinery. This paper presents three case studies from a master level design studio led by the authors. The result of each project include a novel CNC machine supported by a series of material prototypes that acts as evidence of the agentive capacity of the tool to deliver design outcome and its potential application in the inductry. Though examining tool making in architecture education, critical making is seen as drivers in design processes that has agency associated to it which delivers emerging tectonic and effects; we call Machining Aesthetics
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ItemFOAM: Custom Single Task Construction Robot(eCAADe, 2018)This paper discusses the design and fabrication of a novel in-situ fabrication system for building cladding envelope. The construction industry has utilised automation in onsite construction for many decades. This research examines how through the automation process, different construction techniques can be combined to generate a new system that is both performance and design lead. Through abstracting generative effects through the design process, the results are feedback into the fabrication process to construct a more meaningful dialogue between form, material and fabrication procedure. Using electronic prototyping, the researchers tested the system through large-scale prototypes. The paper concludes by discussing the interaction between material and design. We examine how this is evident in the machine workflow. The article addresses the theme of the conference through examining a revision of tool in design that embodied research knowledge for a more sustainable environment.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableA Variable Shaping Form( 2019)A variable shaping form includes a variable frame and a variable support extending within or across the frame. The shaping form is selectively adjustable to vary the shape of the support to define a variety of differently shaped contours, each of which approximates a doubly-ruled curved surface. The variable frame may be defined by a plurality of frame portions.
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ItemRobotic variable fabric formwork(Elsevier, 2019)Casting is one of the most widely used construction techniques. Complex geometries produced via computational design processes are not readily achievable through traditional rigid formwork and are subject to increased material waste. More suitable casting techniques are required to represent digital design output efficiently. This article presents a variable fabric formwork developed to work in conjunction with a 6-axis robotic arm for casting doubly curved panels based on hyperbolic paraboloid geometry. The variable formwork is designed to be extendable in length and width so that it can produce a wide range of outcomes within a single formwork. The interface established in the workflow allows the physical formwork and digital design to influence each other. The article concludes by discussing a verification method used to confirm the accuracy of the outcome. This variable fabric form-work reduces construction waste and is a more sustainable method for casting complex geometries.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableDigital Material Practice: the Agency of Making( 2019)Advanced digital fabrication has coupled virtual design modelling and material prototyping in new ways. This has permeated the discourse of architectural teaching, research and practice. A complicated relationship between the production of architecture and digital technology emerges especially when examined through the medium of making. Making is typically seen as an activity that is a means to an end: to achieve a built outcome. I have researched whether the activity of making can be a generative design process in its own right; a knowledge-generating activity. In this dissertation, I reconsider the relationship between contemporary tectonic culture and digital fabrication in what I call a `digital material practice'. This is a model of practice that employs the act of making and digital fabrication as drivers for its generative design process. The fabrication workflow, prototypes and tools emerge as critical agents. These agents have an agentive capacity to deliver what I call affordances for design. Affordances produce emergent aesthetic values that contribute to the formulation and negotiate architectural design intentions through a continuous feedback process. These values are uncovered during and after the act of making. Through reflective practice and autoethnography research methodology, the research is investigated through my design practice: LLDS. The practice embraces design and fabrication through deploying design strategies rooted in the making process, namely procedural logic, iterative prototyping and material interfaces. Interviews with contemporary craft practitioners allowed me to understand the role of tools and their associated agency for design. When applied to architectural practice, such agency challenges the traditional hierarchy of design intention to the outcome, with the potential to create novel aesthetics. This has a profound impact on my understanding of the making activity in design practice and architectural education. My contribution to knowledge in this dissertation lies in extending the practice of continuous designing in architecture through the agency of making. I have investigated this through theory and through practice to demonstrate how affordances for design engendered through making enable the architect to formulate, negotiate and alter design intentions also through making. The implication of digital material practice demands a new engagement with the way we work with prototypes. The method produces new intricacy in architectural detailing and aesthetics.
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ItemVirtual Gestures, Re-Imagining Imaginary Prisons(University of Melbourne- Melbourne School of Design, 2017)VR Gesturing: Re-imagining Piranesi (Imagining Imaginary Prisons) Virtual Reality (VR) has exploded into mainstream media and is now being introduced into the design process of artists, architects and designers. This project questions the role of this emerging tool in spatial design and asks: how does this technology change the way we model objects and understand space? What aesthetics can be produced that have not yet been explored? The research presents time-based modelling in an immersive virtual environment. This endeavour is explored through the modelling of Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s Le Carceri d’invenzione; or more commonly known as; The Imaginary Prisons. This is a series of 16 Plates first published in 1750. Prints from these Plates are collated in a volume titled Opere Varie, published between 1804 – 1807 (Ficacci 2000); the first Paris edition volume is located at the University of Melbourne’s rare print collection. Research methodology: The research team used Melbourne University’s Plate VII as the starting point for the project. Through 3 dimensional digital modelling of the print, the team reveals unseen spaces of Piranesi’s Imaginary Prisons. Scholars have claimed that the spaces in the series are impossible and can only exist in paper (Mortensen 2017), however, our analytical discovery of the space reveals otherwise. Firstly, the space that Piranesi imagined on paper can exist in virtual reality; it is highly distorted but remains possible in most instances. Secondly, through VR technology, we can experience hitherto unseen spaces of Plate VII. The research team discerns that Piranesi utilizes repeating architectural motifs in the same series of Plates, and because of this discovery, the team combined multiple plates into a singular space, including the title plate of Carceri d’invenzione and the vaulted roof of the prison from Plate VI. Lastly, the final model of Plate VII is “painted” in a 3-dimensional environment in VR. This allows the user to experience the etched texture of Piranesi’s print on a physical scale as material in its own right. The model produces an anti-surface aesthetic which is unique to the VR modelling environment. Re-imagining Piranesi speculates on the use of VR as a potential design tool for the future. Outcome: The result examines the relationship between the body’s gestures and its physical manifestation; where each stroke and movement is translated into marks on the digital model. We will be capturing the interface between the physical and digital environment through Google Tilt Brush, recording it with digital film and the Xbox KinectTM to understand as well as explore these relationships. The project experiments with emerging design techniques where the physical act of the designer is placed in direct contest with the object we model; no longer are we bounded by the flatland of paper. References: Ficacci, L.: 2000. Piranesi The complete etchings, Taschen, Italy. Mortensen, C.: 2017. Piranesi's Carceri as Inconsistent. Available at: https://arts.adelaide.edu.au/philosophy/inconsistent-images/piranesi [Accessed 19 July 2017]
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ItemRobotic fabrication of doubly curved façade system: constructing intelligence in the digital fabrication workflow(CAADRI, 2019-01-01)This paper presents a novel advance digital fabrication method to produce doubly curved concrete panel with no immediate waste as a facade system. Using a bespoke CNC adjustable mould frame system coupled with robotic trimming techniques, the research examines the streamlining of data within a cohesive fabrication workflow. The paper concludes by reviewing an integrated workflow that points towards a multifaceted system of design, engineering and advanced manufacturing that propel research to design application.
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ItemArticulated Timber Ground(Intergrain Timber Vision Award, 2014)Research Background: Digital fabrication in Architecture design is an emerging field of research. While the use of Computer Numeric Control (NC) tools in fabrication has been around since the 1950’s, its implementation in design and construction has only been tested in contemporary example of architecture design. In studio teaching, the use of technology is still often separated from the design process. This project explored digital design process through making as pedagogy and examines how digital tools can facilitate collaborative design practice. It also explores timber construction through the use of CNC technologies. Research Contribution: The Articulated Timber Ground project demonstrates a collaborative design practice through constructing a creative collaboration workflow between design teams. Through concurrent physical and digital prototyping processes, the project develops a unique protocol to assist in the accuracy and precision of its construction and assembly. The structure consists of 1752 timber components, each varying in section and profile to accommodate the ergonomic of the body. The unique silicone filled movement joint developed for this project is structurally tested at the Melbourne School of Engineering. Research Significance: The project was originally conceived as a temporary structure. Soon after it is constructed, it was purchased by the University trust and is now part of the University of Melbourne art collection. The project received a commendation Intergrain Timber Vision Award in 2015.