Performing multiple roles within the watershed the main goal of this project aims at cleansing the Huron River, upon which a discourse will be built between the natural ecosystem and the people who inhabit it [the watershed]. Dual functions will result from the architectural structure system; an exploration of transferring information and data into architectural form, and the emergent properties that might arise by the use of a single mass-produced and customizable building agent. Due to the Huron River’s problem with Phosphorus pollution via non-point source runoff, and the scale at which data collection takes place in relation to the area of the watershed, a proposal must be made that reaches outside of the bounds of a traditional single entity. By looking at technological advancement and current trends in both the architectural and governmental programs, building systems outside of the traditional brick and mortar can be synthesized to reach a solution. Numerous fields outside of the architectural profession are already taking advantage of swarm algorithms to produce emergent properties, from traffic systems to shipping routes, yet architecture has yet to expand on this grammar and technology, even though the prevailing tools (parametric modeling) are inevitably headed in this direction. Together, both grammar of swarm algorithms and autonomous agents can be constructed in a manner conducive to life on the river.
To aid in the collection of mass amounts of data, through the creation of an emergent system which carries the flow of information from the local to global scales, the Huron River watershed will be the environment for an autonomous building agent which roams the river banks of dense urban areas, self-assembling into an aggregation which blocks non-point source pollution, cleanses the river, and also creates habitable spaces for recreationists, scientists, and educators/students. Acting as agents in their environment, autonomous building blocks randomly walk and test the river searching for stimuli, in this case Phosphorus, which remains the Huron Rivers greatest threat to aquatic life, culturing rampant amounts of algae growth and depleting oxygen levels uninhabitable by organisms within the river ecosystem. By shear number the agents will be able to cover vast distances, constantly testing the river, creating an up-to-date map of the phosphorus content, pointing to concentrated areas of run-off pollution. Interacting through a distributed peer-to-peer network on the local scale information will be shared by both agents and scientists to help inform the community.
Initially fanning out in random directions from the main “hive” agents will send out a wireless pheromone to its neighbors when the stimuli has been found—a positive test for p15 in quantities greater than 5ugL. Upon receiving the signal, agents from the nearby hive will swarm to this location via the shortest route, self-assembling into a second aggregation at this location. The swarm’s primary and initial goal is simply to aggregate and cleanse the water of phosphorus while also keeping a live analysis of data. The reason for primary aggregation as a main focus for the agents is due to the fact that at their base unit of intelligence they are only interested in their neighbor’s local position and local information. The second phase of the aggregation will involve an optimization in two main areas; human and environmental information exerting influence on form and space within and on the aggregate. The environment factors will lead to a form optimized to its climatic conditions and also keep its relation to the river, which is constantly in a state of flux. The human information transforming the spaces will come in the form of existing and proposed human traffic flows from a relationship analysis of the aggregated site. By carving voids within the aggregate for recreation, science labs, and educational spaces, awareness will be brought to the area in plight, simultaneously creating capital gain through human interaction.
After the site has been reclaimed, and the watershed recovered in this area, the aggregates will disassemble and continue randomly testing the river and repeating the entire process, thus continuing a cycle that will continually keep the interests of both the river and its inhabitants interacting. Emerging from this local interaction of agents on the Huron River could eventually lead to a global system, keeping track of all pollutants on main urban river systems, each adapting in their own way to their particular environment.
thousands of autonomous building blocks roam the huron watershed, testing for pollution. walking in random directions near the protected riverside banks, the building units send out an alert when the stimuli has been found–a positive test for one of the rivers known pollutants. sending out a wireless transmission to the the units neighbors within the nearby network, the units swarm to aggregate at this location. aggregation of the units leads to an increased presence in the cleaning of the river, with additional testing capabilities. out of the aggregation of building units, they assemble themselves around architectonic spaces by forming an exoskeleton around the programmtic voids. these spaces within the swarm are carved; labs, educational facilities, and recreational opportunities. by aggregating into a habitable structure, the aggregate also performs the task of rebuilding the capital for watershed region being rehabilitated, by creating a recreational space for the peoples of the region. these building units are built off site, require no digging into the watershed, and adapt to the ever-changing huron river system. when the area is recovered, the swarm will leave the location in search of other sites, testing randomly up-and-down the watershed. to fully protect the watershed and cover its spread, swarms of building units are located the full ength of the river. areas immediate to the banks are reserved for watershed preservation, eliminating the impervious boundary between to the built and unbuilt landscapes. the new interstitial spacs are the boundaries for the swarms to perform their tasks. acting within these swarms are the residents and scientists living, working, and playing on the river. as the units are sent out into the field, randomly testing nearby locations on the watershed, a unit will report back to the “hive”, at which point the units swarm to the location creating a new secondary aggregation at that location. the building units will stay at that locale until the infected area has been rahabed, through both phsyical and monetary means. via wireless signal, building units are connected to a peer-to-peer network, communicating amongst themselves and with the technicians. information is traded via a distributed network from one unit to its neighbors. the units emerge because each cell looks at its neighbors for cues about how to behave.
the fractal forest|growing place project is one concept for the third institute of advanced architecture competition–the self sufficient city. more information on the project will be available as the competition unfolds. this is one of many ideas for the competition, as we will explore the urban edge and its relationship to emergence. meanwhile, hoping to stir up more debate in the contemporary field of architecture, a competition entry has been submitted for the third year to the lifecycle building challenge. -JB
yale_fractals
Filed under: Architecture
production on the 2009 AISC Steel Competition is coming to an end; full coverage of project with website to be released within the next week.
Competition layout for the Life Cycle Building Challenge 2. This is Archimorphs second year entering in the competition.
OPEN is a project based off the idea that solving the problems of the many, by the many, through open source, peer-to-peer cooperation will solve our problems. Sustainable housing solutions will come from the help and cooperation of the many, rather the select few. Not only does this project look at showing an open source system of building, but also at recycling and reuse of wastes put back into the chain of usable materials. Since the time of the industrial revolution we have been focused on mass production of uniform parts, now in the information age we search for architecture and building systems that also allows for mass customization. Through the use of cheap computers, available to anyone in the world, and peer-to-peer online freeware, users can collaborate on solving housing issues. Where rectilinear and uniform building models were part of the Industrial Age, this concept seeks to find the architecture of the Information Age, where not only mass production is important, but coupled together with mass customization. Where economy once determined the modular, now data and information from the context and user can directly become architecture via new digital manufacturing technologies.
The project uses self-replicating 3d printers to machine modular parts from a liquid polymer. The materials come from recycled plastics, and the input comes from an online peer-to-peer networking system aimed at the open source sharing of data and building modular data. The premise of the system is to create an entirely independent and open source building system while simultaneously recycling human trash. By collecting plastics, inhabitants can build their home through recycling, which will turn a waste into a sought after commodity for the built environment. Using 3d Printed modules, from recycled plastics, this house embodies open source system. From the building processes to the building systems, the design for the home attempts to create a dwelling for everyone in the world, free of cost.
The process begins by the inhabitant recycling and collecting necessary plastics. They are able to go to the recycling center and receive a 3d printer that will self-replicate and print modules based off of input code from the software. By taking collected plastics to the recycler, they will in exchange be given an equal amount of liquid polymer, for use in their printer. A user can take their 3d printer and print more 3d printers. After this they log onto a free peer-to-peer network, that shares files and home designs for use with the 3d printer software, which is also a freeware program. After the user downloads the data for the house that they wish, the 3d printers will begin to print modules, from the recycled plastic, on queue. After a module is printed the user can then put them into place to begin to building their new structure. After a structure is seen as inadequate, the owner needs only to return the plastic modules to the factory, to be refunded with new liquid polymers to create new pieces. Existing pieces can also be traded and swapped by others in the communities.
Users can create or share forms that they find on the internet, and form of structure is only limited to their design. This is only our interpretation of the project, and the point of the project is to further this process by the collective knowledge of the whole. For our project we decided to look at forms of minimal surfaces to attempt to create a structure with the least amount of material as possible. A system of “caltrops” that support a base of printed triangular modules. The caltrops use a system of nesting that creates a solid base out of minimal materials. The main structure of the house is composed of a system of struts and nodes.
Presentation boards have been electronically submitted to the Life Cycle Building Challenege 2, and are awaiting judging. For more information on the project you can visit the updated Archimorph website, under the Projects category. After the judging is complete, an in-depth analysis, of both text and images will be posted on the blog. In the coming future, check back at the website for a posted video of the IaaC project: Cultivating Spaces. This 30-minute movie will further explain the project and where it is headed.
Filed under: Architecture, Biomimetics, Code Dev, Competitions, Publications, Technology
Climatic data has been employed in the architectural discipline since its onset as can be seen in the placement of xxxx buildings to maximize xxxx. The advancement of digital and building technologies has continued to generate a field of dynamic responses to the environment through the implementation of responsive apertures and fins as well as smart glass technology and adaptive HVAC systems. While these “ecogadgets” in themselves remain flexible, the overall building form remains static and irresponsive. Data manipulation tools, and generative parametric digital tools suggest complete flexibility and climatic adaptability of a built form that can contextually evolve. These digital representations begin to merge with physical reality as human control at the nanoscale becomes possible.
Nanoscale robotics opens the path from digital to physical reality through allowing control of the built form at the molecular level. At this level, a group of pre-assembled and prepackaged nanobots begin a process of self-replication using carbon dioxide as raw building material. Oxygen is off-gassed as a byproduct as the nanobots use carbon to form an interlocking series of nanotube arms. The chemical bond which joins the arm of one bot to its neighbor is controlled by an increasingly complex array of nano-processors which are generated during this process of self-replication. The release and reconfiguration of nanoscale carbontubes determines the color, scale, and texture of the adaptable built form which never becomes static.
Before the process of self-replication begins, the end-user is given the opportunity to manipulate the basic formal grammar the will lead to the built aesthetic. This grammar becomes an algortithim in which data pulled from the climate and geodetic location become variables that optimize the systems use of water, light, and air, and inevitably effect the aesthetic as well. The lindenmeyer system becomes one such grammar that can be use to determine nanobot placement in the structure. The capacity of the dwelling to organize and design is itself the product of design. The l-system, which simulates nature’s growth patterns, is created and run through a genetic evolution code. Fitness criteria, based on climatic conditions and inhabitable space, will be used to filter out the millions of possible evolutions that this code would produce. The inhabitants then decide what kinds of spaces are needed inside their dwelling. And if, over time, their needs change, the house can adapt accordingly.
The system of interconnected nano-processors connects with others locally, regionally, and globally through a peer-to-peer network to share and obtain information needed to optimize its configuration. This could happen automatically, and may need no attention from the inhabitant. Houses become aware of themselves in relation to the world and to other structures via GPS, which can also aid in urban planning analysis. Buildings collaborate to form whole neighborhoods, or even cities that create effective vehicle/pedestrian circulation, quality outdoor space, and community environments. And structures will alert others in different areas of the world of major environmental changes, thereby allowing enough time to optimize before extreme conditions reach those dwellings.
REACH Undergraduate Research/Creative Activity Award
Southern Illinois University, School of Architecture
(Statement of Project Objectives)
Are there any clues to our innate social desires imbedded in the way we move through public space? If so, can these clues be identified and given a discreet value which can be codified in algorithmic form, and used to reorganize space to a configuration that is optimal for social interaction? We believe so. The object of our research is to determine whether or not this supposed optimization will satisfy the initial parameters established to signify desire, or generate a hyperreal state that will overturn the signifiers first established. Will this confusion of medium and message create a place where, “There is no longer a medium in the literal sense: it is now intangible, diffused and diffracted in the real, and one can no longer even say that the medium is altered by it (Baudrillard, p30).” Or, will this algorithmic method of space making prove itself to be an effective tool in the creation of comfortable and functional public place?
(Background and Context)
The formal systems codified in the pilotis and ramps of Faner Hall represent an absolute, static, and impersonal spatial typology which has become incommensurate with contemporary modes of mental/mechanical information processing. Digital technologies have begun to affect a paradigm shift in architectural theory, displacing the objective ‘absolute nature of the object’, in favor of subjective variability and personalization (Saggio, p23). The bundling of motion, time, and space into stochastic algorithms or parametric models, allows architecture to generate form from convergent and fluctuating systems of information and permits personalized interpretations of the final product. Computerization of the design problem through use of parametric modeling and algorithm represent a revolutionary approach not yet widely embraced by the profession. “Corporate architectural practices…use the computer simply as an efficiency tool while continuing to develop design through traditional manual means (Terzidis, p40).”
(Methods, Procedures, Materials)
Our proposal is an interactive digitally formulated intervention to be installed in the outdoor corridor at Faner Hall. This installation and lounge space will be developed through an intense documentation of current student interactivity within the space. We propose to install an array of low-cost web cameras to survey the current activity and model this usage into an erosion algorithm. The pedestrian pathways and movements are to be mapped throughout the space for a given period of time. These movements and pathways will be given specific erosion values. As the pedestrian moves through the space, their rate of speed, chosen path, and acceleration, will dictate erosion values spatially and numerically. A probabilistic, non-determinate evaluation process will be maintained in order to maximize the potential of digital tools and prevent limitation of possible outcomes. “Algorithms employ randomness, probability or complexity the outcome of which is unknown, unpredictable, and unimaginable (Terzidis, p27).” Through the use of digital modeling techniques the resultant forms will parallel and indirectly map the travel that has taken place throughout, and promote new social interactivities within the space. A direct correlation between subjective movement through space and variability of form will result.
Not only will this installation facilitate the use of new modeling techniques, but also the use of CNC milling and laser cutting technologies in the Digital Fabrication Lab. The final installation piece will make use of this technology in order to minimize cost of production, and create a self-supporting structure that will require no invasive fastening techniques. The installation will employ light-weight, low-cost, and recyclable material which can be installed rapidly and easily disassembled.
(Significance and Impact)
This proposal will explore the potential of algorithms and the use of parametric modeling programs in the creation of architectonic spaces. Potentially the use of emerging computational technologies such as Bentley’s Generative Components, Rhinoceros, and Visual Basic, will promote a local understanding of the impending paradigm shift. The resultant space will also aide in an understanding of social interactions through the use of architectural fabrication techniques and advanced algorithms. Hopefully we will be able to answer the initial question, does the optimization of space actually lead to an optimal state, or are we accreting layers of mitigation onto something spontaneous? But without regard to the philosophical outcome, the scholarship funds for this installation will facilitate new digital fabrication techniques for the use of architectural models, and lead to the creation of a temporary recreational space to be enjoyed by all of the campus.
(Role of Faculty Sponsor)
Professor Yeshayahu is at the forefront of our proposed research technologies and directs the Digital Fabrication Lab. Trained in the use of advanced digital techniques; the Professor will closely monitor team progress and actively participate in advancing modeling methodology and developing appropriate algorithms.
