Architecture at Zero Entry

HOK recently won the Architecture at Zero Jury Special Recognition Award.  Some of the contributions I made to the project should be discussed here. 

I recently came across this website which talks about Bay Common SF Bay marine animals in specific I was interested in the Phylum Porifera which can act like a mini “hotel” or “apartment complex” for other animals.  Wikipedia was where I got the inspiration of  how Water flow and body structures work in sponges

Syconoid - Water flow

[cid:image001.png@01CCADE4.517395E0]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Porifera_body_structures_01.png>

Porifera<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porifera> body structures[10]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sponge#cite_note-9>

Most sponges work rather like chimneys<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimney>: they take in water at the bottom and eject it from the osculum<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osculum> (“little mouth”) at the top. Since ambient currents are faster at the top, the suction effect that they produce does some of the work for free. Sponges can control the water flow by various combinations of wholly or partially closing the osculum and ostia (the intake pores) and varying the beat of the flagella. Also Sponges with photosynthesizing<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis> endosymbionts<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endosymbiont> produce up to three times more oxygen<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen> than they consume, as well as more organic matter than they consume. Such contributions to their habitats’ resources This is what I have to say

Using the free energy system principles inherent in the form of the netpositive sponge type “syconoid” a similar digital massing was built in vasari and tested with onsite wind analysis.  The results were exciting.  Each unit has open pores that allow air to circulate through the shell into an interior atrium and each unit can control the flow of air. The air is then exhausted with the help of the negative pressure at the opening of the building at the leeward top of the mass which creates a suction effect that periodically pulls air through the system.  This effect would also be heightened with stack effect but was not tested in the conceptual model.  When the air flow is watched in real time animation the effect is similar to a primordial heartbeat causing the flow of air to surge in pulses through the body of the building.  The biomimetic process was very stimulating and  informing the team in our understanding of the origins of complex systems in life and inversely how complex building systems can begin to perform with the efficiency and beneficial attributes of life. Paired with the BIOS-FIN system = The BIOS-FIN (Functionally Integrated NutraFilters)

Using flat panel photobioreactors would grow algae and be incorporated into a building facade system which also functions as vertical light blades. The system could be even more robust if it not only absorbed CO2 from the building occupants but it could also biofiltrate<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofilter> greywater waste. Taking inspiration from local salt flats in the bay that system would change color due to different strains of algae and bacteria colonies at different purification.[cid:image004.jpg@01CCADE5.E8270890]<http://biosarch.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/399px-salt_ponds_sf_bay_drod.jpg>  Similar to the tiered cleaning pools of a living bio-filtration ponds structured as artificial wetlands.  The end result is a Light Filtering, CO2 absorbing, Greywater Purifying, Bioenergy producing Rainbow Beauty.

Here are also some early program studies

This is a mockup of the lamp configurator I’m putting together for Fabripod, the company I’m starting that sells lamps. The mockup opens in a new window. Use the sliders on the left to control options like scale and materials. The resulting size and price is shown on the right. You cant buy laps with this configurator yet so the “make it” button doesn’t do anything yet. This is currently tested and working in firefox on both mac and windows. Its  working in chrome on windows, but not on mac (at least not on mine).

I’m still working out the kinks in the back end, so the pricing is not accurate yet. Stay tuned for the official release coming up soon! If you absolutely need to buy an Urchin lamp right now, check out the one size available in the Ponoko store!

This is a fun project I did for a friend who wanted to design a wall of cabinets with an integrated work surface. This definition takes lines on the ground as input and helps to compose a wall of individual doors, with sizes that you specify. Then it  projects a pattern be CNC cut into the doors. (cut it at Techshop or with 100k garages!)The pattern comes from an image that you add yourself so it could be anything. The example below used a photo of some shadows on the ground.

download the grasshopper file and rhino base file here

Great news!

I’m sure you have all see the previous posts about my Chrysalis project on kickstarter. Well Ponoko has been generous enough to offer $50 making vouchers to backers of Chrysalis who pledge $50 or more. That’s right: you support the Chrysalis project with $50 and you get a making voucher for the full $50 from Ponoko. Making vouchers are redeemable for all of the making services that Ponoko offers: laser cutting, CNC routing and 3D printing! For more information on making vouchers see this link.

If you’re already a backer, its easy to upgrade your pledge and add this reward: just log in to kickstarter, go to the Chrysalis project page, and click on “manage my pledge”.  If you’re not a backer yet, this is a great opportunity to support a great tool for makers, and do some making yourself as well!

That’s the question I have been asking each person who has backed my project on kickstarter . Listed below are the best answers so far, in no particular order.  I will continue to post the really outstanding ones on this blog and onBIOS in the weeks to come, so stay tuned!

Quoted directly from kickstarter backers’ comments:

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Cat in the Bag table by Filson Rohrbacher

“My partner and I have designed a series of customizable furniture objects (http://www.filson-rohrbacher.com/atfab.html). We designed the furniture to be parametrically transformed, exported into 2D cut files, downloaded for local CNC fabrication, and finished and assembled by a user. We’ve managed to design transformations in Grasshopper, and are in the process of (slowly) making it happen with Processing. But, really, Chrysalis is our holy grail that would help us more immediately realize the co-design process that’s really important to us and the project.”

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“I want to be able to visualize data sets in 3D to create data embodied objects. “

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“Community involvement in public architecture, is another purpose that comes to my mind. So say the city of SF was going to contract the construction of a new sculpture in the park, The designer could create the basic forms, materials, construction methods, etc., and allow the citizens to manipulate a few variables to taylor it more to their liking. The designer could then consider the possibilities from public input, and create a hybrid product from their considerations. A more democratic form of public works can be achieved this way. I would definitely pitch it to the city… once it exists.

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Check out the Chrysalis project on kickstarter here

Latest renderings of the the project showing a more detailed understanding of connections and construction.

Two scaled models were also made for the exhibition. These models show our latest idea about structural bracing throughout the form. The waffle system is doubled with one on top of the other creating a triangulation between the two systems. This allows us visual complexity through simple design principles.

In response to overwhelming request to offer something more suited for the designer/maker, I’ve added the new “Collaborator” reward to my kickstarter project for $75.

Take this opportunity to show the world what you will make with Chrysalis, and drive more traffic to your site by linking to it from ours!

I’ve also reduced the price of my largest reward to $2500 from $5000! The “True Believer” includes implementation of a fully operational mass customization web app, hosted on the Fabripod site or on your own, and includes incorporation of one of the online maker APIs like Shapeways or Ponoko! It’s a pretty amazing deal!

Please spread the word about this new reward!

Link to project: http://t.co/aikHgFnz

Chris Chalmers was recently approached by Studios Architecture to give a short grasshopper tutorial and offer digital fabrication consulting for their highly acclaimed installation for Parking Day 2011. This project used over 250 cardboard tubes from architectural plotter rolls, and  160 CNC-cut MDF connectors. We used Grasshopper to preview what the design would look like with a number of different car-shaped outlines. Grasshopper also output the number and size of  each type of piece we would need, so we had an accurate prediction of cost and CNC time for each variation.

here are some screen shots from the various designs we explored:

the Prius

the Hummer:

the compact SUV

and a screen shot of the connector pieces, laid out for CNC cutting at Techshop from a 4′x8′ sheet of MDF.

Finally, this project has gotten a lot of press! Congatulations to the Studios Team:

Anna deAnguera, Justin Glover, Brian Nee, Matthew Covall, Tanya Retherford and Andrew Clemenza (apologies if I’ve missed anybody)

and to Paul Roberts  and Bill Tremayne from Holmes-Culley Engineers

http://www.i4u.com/related_articles/07hA44D8XP7bZ

http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2011/09/16/snapped_sf_parking_day_2011.php

http://sf.streetsblog.org/2011/09/16/parking-day-2011in-san-francisco-time
-to-reclaim-the-streets/

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/30/view/16696/parking-day-2011-studios-architecture-with-holmes-culley-chris-chalmers.html

http://www.moma.gr/?p=42022

UPDATE:

Single-line fonts are the standard for laser cutting and CNC milling because they are more eficient to cut. Somebody correct me if I’m missing something here, but  it seems impossible to get a single-line font to appear in Rhino using the typical text tools. I’ve been doing quite a bit of CNC milling lately, so I used this technique to create single-line labels for my cut files by using pre-defined blocks instead of text.

The script is set up as a function so you can incorporate it into your scripts easily. To use it, you have to first import the rhino file with the text blocks into your file.  Then run the script and it will simply turn the text you want to use into the appropriate block and place it.

The beauty of this system is that you can make your own custom fonts! Just draw any shapes you want to represent your letters and numbers. Make them into blocks with the appropriate names (letterA, number 2 etc..), and the script will place them instead. Make sure they are 1 unit high in the current unit system (ie: 1 foot, 1 inch, 1 meter etc..)  for the sizing bit to work properly.

I’ve always thought that a system based on geometry like latin numerals or braile might  wok better than text for labeling parts. I’d love to see your experiments, please send them to me!

(remember to right-click and save-as)

numbers.3dm

numbers-function.rvb