Parametric skyscraper models produced during the 2008 ACADIA Grasshopper workshop, held by Mckneel [Rhinoceros]. During this two day workshop we worked on using the new Rhino plugin to create parametric models and designs. The particular designs were modified to rotate with solar paths and direct natural ventilation into the structure.
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.
Poster from a three day RhinoScript workshop, which was a collaborative effort between Southern Illinois University SoA/DFL and Ball State University/Digital Fabrication Institute(i-Made). Images and script on the page are part of a process where a given component can be tiled across a surface.
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.
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We are currently continuing to work on our L-System and Evolutionary Algorithm. Getting ready for ACADIA we are putting together a proposal for an exhibition, rendering new images of our L-Systems growths, as well as creating new diagrams explaining the process of the overall design.
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.
Bottom-up control begins at the molecular level through manipulation of the basic component, the nanobot. At the nanometer scale one will see convergent assembly lines generating nanobot components fueled by carbon split from CO2, and driven by carbon based nano-processors1. These self-replicating nanobots are chained together by nanotubes which simultaneously provide a way of transporting the newly formed nanobot parts. As the nanobots begin to emerge, their spatial orientation is mapped through a recursive Lindenmeyer System2.
After the nano-system develops into a structure quadrillions of nano-processors link, and the basic structural form becomes static. Top down control factors now begin to manipulate the basic form. The inhabitants can decide what kind of spaces are needed inside their dwelling. And if, over time, their needs change, the house can change as well. That brings us to the question of what the building becomes whenever no one is home. Does it still need to be a house?
The structure is inherently a-contextual while remaining site specific as it transforms to find the best solution for that particular place and time it inhabits. It takes shape based on precipitation, temperature, wind speed, and sun position3. If there is a heavy rain, the structure will deform into a capillary system with rivulets leading to a collection pit to collect rainwater. This capillary system would also allow for air and waste to pass through. Whenever the temperature changes, the surface area will adapt accordingly. If the temperature dips, then a surface will thicken to collect heat. The dwelling will also adjust to allow for other passive systems, such as solar heating, thermal mass effect, natural ventilation, direct evaporate cooling, and indirect evaporate cooling. The net result is a building that can exist in any environment through adaptation to present climatic conditions.
The third major factor in the formation of the structure involves a peer-to-peer connection with other structures. The dwelling can connect with other dwellings locally, regionally, and globally in order to obtain the optimum configuration. If one house works better than another, then that person can share that formation with everyone else on the network, and others can choose to upgrade using the information. This also provides a chance for urban planning. If the structures can share data, then they can work together to form whole neighborhoods, or even cities.
1 10-10 details of the nanobot systems are currently in 3dsmax production. Images of this work will be posted as they arrive
2 An operating Lindenmeyer System has been implemented in 3dsmax and the emerging forms are being evaluated for potential. It has not yet been possible to implement the L-System in Generative Components. Is it possible to develop an L-sys in that environment?
3 The parametric capabilities of Generative Components makes it a desirable place to explore climatic interaction with our form. Without an L-system in GC, we are attempting to recreate our form in that platform using exported point data as scaffolding. Currently the team is also working on creating a solar-path in Generative Components. Another possibility is the combination of an L-Systems script with a script that incorporates climatic conditions–this will enable our structure to grow naturally to the surrounding environment. Finally, how exactly will the remaining climate data be scripted?
Filed under: Code Dev
This animation shows an L-System based growth model that we are currently developing.
Filed under: Code Dev
After trying to do our L-system scripting in C# and then putting the script into Generative Components, we have decided to also try L-systems scripting in Maya and 3d Max. The cube will then be imported to GC for the second half of the structural deformation. This is where a script will be written and used to deform the cube based on climate data, which is imported from Excell and CAD.
