image: 3d-head-lines black, core.formula
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Nous avons déjà commencé à parler des outils des conception que nous utilisons dans notre travail. Par la suite nous allons focaliser le discours sur le rôle des différents outils et logiciels.

Dans notre démarche quotidienne, une maquette virtuelle 3D (Rhinoceros ou Autocad) est développée à partir des premiers croquis réalisés normalement à la main. Le logiciel Rhinoceros représente aujourd’hui un véritable phénomène dans le monde de l’architecture. Conçu à la base pour les métiers du design d’objets (en particulier pour le dessin de bijoux) le logiciel s’est transformé dans les cinq dernières années en un véritable standard pour les agences d’architecture. La raison de ce succès est principalement liée à la grande facilité de générer, décrire et modifier des formes complexes.

image: rhinojewel.com
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image: pratt CES HL-17 , core.formula
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Rhinoceros permet de travailler la forme de façon intuitive et de changer aisément le point de vue de l’objet dessiné, en réalisant une sorte de promenade virtuelle autour de l’objet. Dans le cadre de cet article, ce qui nous intéresse dans cette technologie de modélisation est justement sa capacité accrue à générer des formes. Cette grande simplicité dans la création est tellement puissante que cela conditionne énormément le résultat final – nous parlerons par la suite de l’exagération esthétique des architectures contemporaines issues de ce phénomène, qui se traduisent souvent en des résultats de type blob architecture -: la question du rôle de l’humain, de la place de l’intervention de l’architecte dans cette méthodologie est alors tout à fait pertinente.

Le niveau d’approximation des outils de conception qui est, comme nous l’avons expliqué, implicite au concept propre de modèle, a un poids qui est directement proportionnel à la puissance de l’outil en lui-même. Dans le cas de Rhinoceros, sa puissance étant très élevée, cette approximation devient un élément important. En outre, elle peut engendrer de véritables délires automatiques, dans lesquels la paternité de la création humaine n’est qu’illusoire. C’est pourquoi, dans le cadre de notre agence d’architecture, un rôle important est accordé aux ingénieurs. Ceux-ci mettent en évidence, avec des réflexions parallèles et simultanées à celles des architectes, ce degré d’approximation des outils de modélisation.
Par exemple, comparé à un logiciel de calcul de structure, Rhinoceros pourrait être décrit comme un environnement “à plasticité infinie”, les contraintes physiques des forces naturelles étant complètement absentes. L’intervention des logiciels de calculs (tels que STRAUS7) dans ce processus circulaire de la conception permet de rajouter des contraintes physiques qui invitent le concepteur à reconsidérer l’objet du projet d’un terrain abstrait à un autre plus concret, où les forces naturelles exercent leur rôle primordial.

images: logiciel STRAUS7 , HDA | Hugh Dutton Associés
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Ce texte est un extrait adapté de l’article Architecture Hybride: espaces sensibles et nouvelle conception. Credits article: Francesco Cingolani, Pierre Chassagne, agence HDA | Hugh Dutton Associés

“Architecture Hybride” est une série de 10 post que nous proposons tout les jeudis; voici les post des jeudis passés:

ARCHITECTURE HYBRIDE 1/10 : Espaces Sensibles et Nouvelle Conception

ARCHITECTURE HYBRIDE 2/10 : VERS UN NOUVEAU PARADIGME – LE MODELE APERTURE(S)ARCHITECTURE HYBRIDE 3/10 : ESPACES HYBRIDES

ARCHITECTURE HYBRIDE 3/10 : ESPACES HYBRIDES

ARCHITECTURE HYBRIDE 4/10 : ESPACES SENSIBLES

ARCHITECTURE HYBRIDE 5/10 : L’HOMME AU CENTRE DU NOUVEL ESPACE PUBLIC RELATIONNEL

ARCHITECTURE HYBRIDE 6/10 : HYBRIDITÉ, CONCEPTION ARCHITECTURALE, DESIGN

ARCHITECTURE HYBRIDE 7/10 : LES OUTILS DE CONCEPTION

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1. INTRODUCTION

Medieval vault builders created complex forms carefully balanced in compression. The structural properties of these sophisticated forms are still poorly understood because of a lack of appropriate analysis methods, i.e. methods relating stability and form. Understanding the mechanics of these vaulted structures leads to new insights for both analysis and design.

Thrust Line Analysis is a powerful graphical method for calculating the range of lower-bound equilibrium solutions of compression-only systems, such as unreinforced masonry structures (Fig. 1).

It visualizes the stability of these structures and suggests possible collapse mechanisms. Unfortunately, thrust line analysis is primarily suitable for 2-D cases and this limitation has prevented it from being used for the assessment of complex 3-D structures. While numerical methods based on elastic solutions give one possible answer,they no longer suggest better form as was inherentto the more holistic graphical methods There is a real need for tools to better understand and visualize the stability of compression-only structures, such as historic unreinforced masonry structures, as well as design tools that suggest better form. Both problems are related to finding axial force structures in equilibrium acting only in compression or tension. Currently, graphic statics provides a holistic analysis and design tool for twodimensional structures. With today’s availability of powerful virtual 3-D and parametric environments, the following question arises: can a fully threedimensional version of thrust-line analysis provide the same freedom to explore the infinite equilibrium solutions for a certain loading condition?

2. METHODOLOGY
The Thrust-Network Analysis method presented in this paper is inspired by O’Dwyer’s work on funicular analysis of vaulted masonry structures. It is extended by adding the concept of duality between geometry and the in-plane internal forces of networks.

2.1. Reciprocal figures
The duality between the geometry of a network and its internal forces is an old concept, first explained
by Maxwell [4]. He called this relationship reciprocal and defined it as follows: “Two plane figures are reciprocal when they consist of an equal number of lines, so that corresponding lines in the two figures are parallel, and corresponding lines which converge to a point in one figure form a closed polygon in the other.” This means that the equilibrium of a node in the first diagram is represented by a closed polygon in the second diagram and vice versa (Fig. 2). Graphic statics is based on this principle.

2.2. Assumptions
The proposed method produces funicular (compression-only) solutions for loading conditions where all loads are applied in the same direction, as is the case for gravitational loading. Since the solutions are compression-only this also means that the vaults can never curl back onto themselves, which would demand some elements to go into tension. The resulting three-dimensional networks can represent load paths throughout a structure. There is no constraint on the length of the branches or the planarity of the facets of the solution.

This images present a exemple for the design, engineering, fabrication and construction of an unreinforced stone masonry vault featuring new forms for compression-only structures.

The project is a collaboration between Escobedo Construction and Prof. John Ochsendorf and Philippe Block from MIT. By combining the MIT team’s expertise in three-dimensional equilibrium of complex structures in unreinforced masonry and Escobedo Construction’s expertise in design and construction of stone buildings, we expect to produce a state-of-the-art pavilion.
The vault is being designed using Thrust Network Analysis, a new computational tool developed at MIT for exploring three-dimensional equilibrium structures.

sources: http://equilibriumstone.wordpress.com/
Block’s PhD dissertation
Click here for a presentation with a range of examples and more details on the application of TNA for the analysis of vaulted structures in masonry.

DEFINITION. Forms are called ‘developable’ or ‘single curved’ when they can be created through ordinary bending of a planar surface without stretching, cutting or wrinkling the material. These surfaces are characterized by only bending in one direction at a time, like the cylinder or the cone. Developable surfaces are useful because they allow round forms to be made out of flat materials like plywood, sheet metal or cloth. This is why they are used for ship building, tent sewing and fabrication of ventilation ducts etc.

DOUBLE CURVED. Surfaces that bend in two directions at the same time and cannot be made out of a flat material are called ‘double curved’. The sphere and the saddle are examples of such surfaces (no double curved surfaces are developable). ‘Ruled surfaces’ are constructed from straight lines and are either developable or double curved. Because they appear to be straight in one ‘direction’ they can be mistaken for developable surfaces when they are in fact double curved.

TYPES. four types of developable surfaces:

1. Cylindrically developable. A curve extruded straight, creating a surface with a constant section. If the curve is a circle, the surface will be a cylinder.

2. Conically developable. A curve extruded towards a focal point results in a surface with a section varying in size. A circle shaped curve produces a cone.

3. Poly-conically developable. Surfaces of the two first categories joined together create a composite surface consisting of conical (and cylindrical) segments.

4. Super-poly-conically developable. If a poly-conic surface (type 3) changes focal point momentarily, the resulting surface curves in a smoother way and can no longer be divided into segments.

from: http://www.omkrets.se/

http://thegeometryofbending.blogspot.com/ (I’m looking at the type of bending that is elastic (not plastic), meaning the material will spring back to its original shape when the force is released. Most materials break or deform permanently before they can reach an ‘elastic and beautiful curve’, but I think all ‘elastic deformation’ follow the same principals and therefore the same geometry.

/// This article is extracted from Mårten Nettelbladt’s works. Have a look to his reasearch blogs, here and here ///

Complexitys blog was conceived amid much brainstorming and deliberation, and with much enthusiasm, but with little idea of exactly which direction it would proceed in. Little more than two months after its birth and we’ve been surprised and encouraged to see the first important result of our devotion to, and investment in, an open online communication of architecture.
As Domenico Di Siena from Ecosistema Urbano Office explained in our “web for architects” training in Paris, “an architecture office’s blog is not a portfolio or a place to talk about themselves, but rather an incredibly powerful tool to create a community around the office’s activities and interests”.
Two months into the project and several blogs worldwide have begun talking about complexitys, so these words are now becoming reality.

We would like to thank these blogs personally, as they encourage us to keep working on ours:

DIGITAG& – Italian-based blog with an international reach, which aims to tag contents about digital architecture.

RHINO OFFICIAL BLOGS (French, English and other languages available) – a special thankyou to McNeel’s staff for their constant support for complex geometry and modeling issues, such as the Unrolling Double Curved Surfaces (and by the way, thanks too to Lowell Walmsley for his DevSrf Rhino Tool support).

RHINO CON Ñ – a Chilian blog which describes us as practicing an #openculture (thanks for that).

ArchDaily – a very important architecture blog talks about our last footbridge in La Roche sur Yon in France.

Furthermore, this blog and our twitter (mainly thanks to #gh3D and #rhinoscript ashtags) have enabled us to come into contact with many people who share our interests, such as Pier Paolo Presta and his blog, Rodrigo and his DesignPlayGrounds and the blog UN DIDI, with the wonderful Massive Unroll tool (which we used to produce the image shown above, available in a free wallpaper format here).

So many thanks to all of those who follow us. We would gladly welcome comments and/or suggestions on how to further develop our blog, and we will continue to give regular updates and continue to evolve.
We will soon be introducing an Engineering category, run mainly by HDA‘s engineers, for those interested in more technical and scientific content relating to architecture and complex geometry.

Bueno. Este es un post de viernes por la tarde, es decir un poco de risa.
Pero quizás tampoco mucho.
También es el primer post en español, y también es el primer post de la categoría “Architecture Games”, en la cual vamos a hablar de todo lo que está relacionado con la parte más creativa y de juego de la arquitectura y de la construcción.

Por ejemplo, aquí arriba van unas imágenes bastante divertidas de proyectos que hemos desarrollado y que también hemos destruido. Las imágenes se hicieron a partir del modelo del proyecto, deformados luego de forma bastante violenta. Nada más.
Esto me ha hecho recordar la foto de abajo, en donde se ve a Bernard Tschumi que habla en un ciclo de conferencias sobre el proyecto Grand Paris al @centrepompidou.

Un gran arquitecto habla de cómo construir las ciudades del futuro utilizando imágenes de destrucciones de edificios: es una imagen que me ha gustado y me ha hecho reflexionar.
No he tenido la oportunidad de seguir en directo el discurso de Tschumi, así que todo lo que digo es una especulación mía a partir de esa imagen tomada y retransmitida por @ethel_baraona.
Esa foto parece un icono de la idea que, quizás, para construir el futuro no se tenga que pensar en la construcción, sino más bien en una visión de la arquitectura más innovadora y como proceso más amplio. Arquitectura non construida entonces, la que trata el problema sociológico y relacional, el espacio non físico, y que resulta particularmente interesante en una época en que en la cual ya no me parece razonable considerar como distinto los cuestiones físicas y virtuales, como tampoco lo seria el separar los problemas tecnológico, ético, económico y del medio ambiente como si fueran independientes.

Con estas breves notas quiero también enlazar con el debate que ha surgido desde hace unos meses en los medias españoles sobre la figura del arquitecto del futuro. Solo recuerdo un par de enlaces que me parecen mejor enfocados al tema que intento tratar: la contribución de Ecosistema Urbano, el artículo de soitu.es ¿Desaparece la arquitectura? que también hace de resumen de este debate y, por fin, una presentación de la teoría urbana sobre espacios públicos híbridos (colectivo imaginario).

Quiero terminar recordando a mi profesor de “Tecnica de las Construciones” que nos decía: “Un buen ingeniero no necesita hablar utilizando formulas matemáticas”. Pues uno de estos era seguramente Mario Savadori, un ingeniero y profesor que ha escrito más de un libro para explicar las estructuras de los edificios utilizando el sentido común y similitudes con la naturaleza.
Dos de estos libros son “Why buildings stand up” y “Why buildings fall down”.

Al final, los dos libros hablan de lo mismo. Dos títulos en una simetría perfecta. Es para pensárselo no?

We are happy to post our first entry of our new DOWNLOADS category.
Like a small but growing number of other architecture offices (such as Ecosistema Urbano and Arquitextonica), we believe that sharing content can be useful, productive and not anti-economic.
In other words, we believe in an Open Culture.

That’s why on this post we want to share with you in a free download format, a rhinoscript code (see video above) that we developed for a skylight design in China, which can help with understanding the concept of double and single curvature geometry.
If you are new to rhinoscript, it may help you to have a look at THEVERYMANY, where you will get a better idea of what can be achieved within this format.

This code was written to achieve a free-form skylight design with a glass roof,  a cable truss and 100 shading blades. The script was necessary due to the time it would have taken in drawing the elements one by one.
If you are architect and used to working with complex geometries and surfaces, you are probably aware of the difficulties and intricacies of double curved surfaces. In many of our projects at HDA we have to deal with these issues on a regular basis.

The basic premise is that you have a free-form surface and it has to be built. A free-form surface (with double curvature) is difficult to build because the surface is not developable; you can’t unfold or unroll it, so you can’t build it from a folded flat panel (i.e. glass or ruled metal panels). In architectural practice it’s always preferable to transform double curved surfaces into single curved or flat surfaces (this last case is especially suitable if you are using glass, which is very expensive to deform).

In the slideshows below you’ll find for your reference two of the project where we had to solve problems related to double curved surfaces.

The first slideshow is the Paris Philarmonic Hall (with Arch. Jean Nouvel) and the second is the Publicis Drugstore, situated on the Champs Elysees in Paris, where all the glass panels are single curved, and therefore give the impression of free-form geometry.

You can download here our free package containing two simplified rhinoscript files, one for generating single curved panels (A) and the other for generating flat panels (B), and a rhino file that can be used as a base to test and play with the script. In the rhino file you’ll find a few base geometries which can then be used as a start point to run the script, and a set of layers that will help you to manage the large quantity of geometry generated by the script.

As shown in the video, the script will ask you to chose a set of lines to use as the base of the geometry (they just have to be mono-oriented as in the image above), the starting height, and (only for script B) the number of flat panels you want (12 by default). There are possibly (probably!) some bugs within the script that I didn’t notice, and admittedly the code is quite poorly annotated, but I hope you will be kind enough to ask us if you have any problems, we’d be happy to help and to develop the tool together with you. We would also appreciate any comments about the idea of publishing things such as this, as we are continually looking to understand the best way to do it in order to build a constructive platform for debate.
The following images show the geometries resulting from running the script in the Rhino file in the downloadable package.
Please also remember that you need Monkey to run rhinoscript files. You can download it for free here.

Download rhinoscript package : http://complexitys.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/HDA_2009-10-14_rhinoscript.rar

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.