Pattern Render

More on Patterns

Applying some new surface transformations:
1) applying rotation to a line of control points: creating an undulating pattern that becomes more pronounced/disturbing to the smooth surface
2) rotation of hull in the perpendicular direction: mountainous texture that reminds me of the construction of topography along a smooth field

3) creating the grid, and manipulating the rows by offsetting each row by one piece and staggering their positions

4) manipulating the alternate rows in the perpendicular direction again, and rotating them to create yet a larger undulating pattern across the whole piece

a view of the surface as completed (refined rendering to come):

Project 1c - Pattern

Approaching forward progress by first revisiting the previous components of project 1, I went back to my object (Chevy Camaro) and tried to model a new part of the car body. This time I went ahead and made a simple shape based off the ridge along the hood of the car (I don't know if there's a specific name for this piece), highlighted below in orange:

After building this piece, I started to reconstruct a matrix, and I want to take a slightly different approach with the transformation. What I plan to do is make very slight alterations along a single line of transformation, and then replicate those rows, and manipulate them as rows perpendicular to that first line, in order to start creating the grid that will make up my pattern. Here's a process image, and I will have a more complete rendered image for Tuesday's class (left is original):

I rebuilt the original piece on the left for more control, and I will be experimenting with pulling individual points from the surfaces to create cavities along the movement of transformed pieces.

Versioning - Evolutionary Techniques in Architecture

notes_during read through

open models of practice: technique over image

freedom of discipline when understanding versioning as an attitude

borrow from film, food, fashion for use in design and vice versa: the interaction among problem solving work fields

computer has impact on construction practices and design methodologies, which ultimately affect traditional relations of power

horizontal integration of design transitions to vertical integration

removing the traditional notion of an archetypal solution; rather, versioning relies on a set of conditions, capable of evolving parametrically

specific formal means of production to address variable conditions

aesthetic is a result of the interaction between external influences on the object and the ease of manufacture or fabrication; a continuous feedback from a building's users that the design can adapt to is desired

architect takes on the role of translator of unforeseen relationships in both imagined and actual space

synopsis & reflection

     This reading takes on a similar sentiment to that of the Performative Effects passage: the general idea that I'm sensing is that architects and designers are realizing the potential of computer technology as more than just a tool for representation or for creating substance to the designs that we formulate in our minds; rather, the computer's immense computing power catalyzes our abilities to analyze design problems. Beyond the effect of catalysis, the computer liberates design thinking to levels that actively engage with sensibilities of design construction, and expands our possibilities of prediction and projection in the category of contemporary social and spatial discourse. Ultimately, these capabilities not only change the substantial nature of design, but the structure and power relations among disciplines in the field of creative design.

     In these ways, we can optimize our understanding of what can be physically constructed, what types of construction techniques can be challenged, discarded, or expanded upon, and how to most efficiently utilize methods of manufacture and fabrication to create architecture that transcends the superficiality of image, and addresses the most pressing notion of change. As we become increasingly aware of the rapid pace of change in our natural environment and the conventions and practices of society, architecture must seek to move in stride with those changes; no longer can we accept static and unresponsive buildings and construction methodologies that, upon completion, find themselves already outdated from their time of conception.

Blog Comment Posts?

I can't seem to comment on other people's posts... anyone else having this problem?

Matrix Transformations

For the matrix assignment, I worked using the side paneling surface of my car model, highlighted below:

Taking this piece into Maya, I explored a few different types of transformations; the transformations, however, are continuous from one type to the other, so the final form is completely different from where I started. Below are some images from the model scene:

 Transformation order: 

1) horizontal lengthening of the whole piece (x-axis left-right)

2) vertical manipulation along top edge

(y-axis up-down)

3) extrusion to augment the "bulge geometry"

(z-axis forward-backward)

4) folding the surface over itself

(lower points up, upper points down)

5) horizontal lengthening

The transformed pieces move in a snake pattern starting from the upper left, toward the lower right. The most interesting transformations for me were the extrusion and the final horizontal stretch after all other changes were applied. Once the bulge started to carve out a distinct region of space, I thought it would be interesting to fold the surface over itself; then I stretched it back out to clarify the spaces that were trapped in that fold. Here are a couple of snapshots of one of the pieces I found particularly interesting:

In this case, the two peaks that originally accommodated space for the tires of the car have become a part of this system, which most reminds me of two lateral wings intersected into a central planar surface; however, there is a tube of space that is trapped and hidden from view behind the planar surface which dominates the foreground here.

The Perspective Hinge - Perez-Gomez Reading

Reading Notes (during read through):

"tools of representation underlie the conception and realization of architecture"

projective tool as product of philosophical tradition

symbols embody specific historical and cultural values

architecture as a formal order reflective of the depth of the human condition

architecture as a poetic translation rather than a prosaic transcription

Architectural Meaning & Tools of the Architect

Gothic period - the creation of a city of God on earth, rhetoric and geometry driven construction process

Renaissance period - geometric physiognomy of a building is conjured and divined by the architect

Seeing and Being Seen

objective basis for beauty is cognition - 

Thomas Aquinas

vision related specifically to mathematics and used to grasp the physical structure of reality - Euclid

light of the heavens and experience of the human are united by the phenomenon of vision - Plato

act of perception occurs in the head, not between object and eye - 

Al-Hazen

humanity exists in the light of God

Natural Perspective to Artificial Construction

     I found this passage fairly confusing and was struggling to understand a holistic concept beneath all of the various examples and philosophies of different architects and philosophers; however, my general understanding is that the development and understanding of perspective as a reality of perception had a monumental impact on the way that architecture was conceived and conducted. 

     The accurate portrayal of perspective was tied intimately with the ambition to communicate truth, and questioned distinctions between architecture, art, and sculpture. The evolution of architecture from the mission to repair the distorting effect of perspective to the consideration of designing in perspective is reflective of a changing intellectual construct about the way that the human eye sees the world, and how the built form accommodates the psychological connections between the experience of space and the human condition.

Potential Performative Effects - Rahim Reading

Reading Notes (during read through):

technique as a driver for the architectural prod uct

mutual effects of technology and culture

"transmissions across lineages is the major source for cultural change"

material attributes of an object are linear and causal

internet as an example of the transformation of an identity once new uses and applications are discovered

contemporary processes allow for exploration of possibilities; processes amplify the distinction between the possible and the real

simulation and the contemporary process make actualization an ongoing process throughout the project

"matrix of possibilities coded into a specific, but flexible organization"

combinations of space use are redefined by a merging of programmatic solutions, which allow new possibilities and assign new meanings to spaces that can be reflected in the physical realities of the space

     The Rahim reading elaborates on two main topics: 1) the conversation between the advent of technology, its effect on culture and the design process, and vice versa, and 2) an analysis of Variations, a residential project in Islamabad, Pakistan, including a breakdown of the spatial organizations of the project. 

     In the first topic, the passage presents the point that the contemporary process has changed the way that we design, because the importance of the design has become the careful consideration of a multitude of options, and the need to explore many options to achieve a strong solution. Since technology has offered the freedom to do so, challenging the threshold between possible and real with regard to structure and building construction has become an increasingly prevalent consideration, and the versatility of space as well as the discrete and complex interactions between spaces and their functions are examined more critically, and with more vigor than ever before. 

     In the second topic, the reading summarizes many of the features of the residence to point out that the immense capabilities of simulation and realistic situational modeling allows an iterative design process to integrate all aspects of a project's design, and even to push further and discover unpredicted or unrealized adjacencies and overlaps in the way that spaces are used by their occupants.

Switching Gears

Feeling a bit confused by Rhino still, I decided to also give Maya a try.
Below are some images of a model I started on a different object (Chevy 2009 Camaro).
I think I'm understanding Maya a bit better; maybe it's just the interface, or maybe it's just because we started class working in Maya (I haven't had prior experience with either program before this course...).

Some of the new things I've figured out, although they still don't seem like the best ways to model the objects still:

_taking multiple cross sections of the car, and lofting them to provide a more continuous, detailed surface
_creating solid faces to the sides of the car by using the planar surface tool
_experimenting with beveling the edges of a cylinder to create a softly rounded contour to represent tires

Some of the things I'm still a bit stuck on:

_manipulating the outermost lofted surface's control points for a continuous surface from top of car to side of car (you can see a gap between the side faces of the car and the top; I used the planar surface tool and am not sure if that's how you create that connection properly)
_breaking down a planar surface of a NURB curve into the same type of grid that we can create with a typical rectangle plane

In these images below (especially the second one), you can see that I've modeled the front tires differently from the back tires; I think that moving forward, I will be focusing on this portion of the car, and I plan to develop this portion of the model in more detail this week, in preparing a matrix for the next assignment.

Skin and Bones - Vidler Reading

Some focal points of the Skin & Bones reading:

1. the implication of the fold - its transcendence past a physical form to permeate into ideas, concepts

2. the influence of emerging technology in architecture to redefine the exploration of form and fold

3. the response of the eyes and brain to an image, and the ever-changing perception of space through a picture plane: the image represented as a series of folds on a two-dimensional plane

4. illustration: the Baroque House as an analogy, a diagram that refers to the soul as a dark room into which thoughts and experiences permeate, and the analogy of the brain as a screen whose complexity is also characterized by folds

5. analogy of the screen and room, to music: a box and strings that oscillate: the continuing connection between folds in the figurative sense and physical folds 

6. folds as a connective system between two independent parts, the physical and the spiritual

7. evolution of architectural forms into non-platonic, bloblike forms that challenge traditional notions of structure: topological surface

First Model - Working in Rhino

Just getting started with a model of a jet in Rhino... still learning the program!

 *Updated images (2.6.12):
manipulating control points on side view to create the mass for the body of the jet

separate parts of the jet are modeled: the body as a network of curved lines, the wings as a vertical project of straight lines, mirrored across the central axis






still trying to figure out how to manipulate individual lines that were lofted from one section of the drawing to another.