Mengxuan Qu BENV2402

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Sunday, October 30, 2011

In this video I want to show how kinetic structure in the machines is learnt and applied in architecture. I tried to show this process by telling a story of a stick. Let’s call this stick “Little A”.
“Little A” was originally a mechanical element in a machine. It was working properly in this machine until one day, there came a rock to the machine that caused “Little A” dropped out of the machine.
It was rolling and rolling and came to industrial construction site. “Little A” saw there were a lot of cranes and excavators on the site and like the kinetic structure very much so it called its mechanical element friends together to form this structure. A pair of leg is formed which can also be folded and extended.
“Little A” then walked along the site and saw a man holding an umbrella. “Little A” wanted to learn this structure so it formed an umbrella frame and a foldable cover matching the frame.
“Little A” continued walking and felt lonely so it cloned itself a lot of times to walk together. “Little A” folded its structure to become smaller.
It began to rain when “Little A” walked into a park, so “Little A” extended its huge umbrella to become a temporary shelter. People around all gathered under the shelter. After the rain stopped, “Little A” folded itself again and walked away; looking for somewhere else it is needed.
This story shows the application of foldable shelters in architecture was inspired by the kinetic structure in mechanization. The foldable shelter is easy to install and remove which will not take a lot of place and time, and is also easy to maintain.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

300words narrative

The final video I decided to present the how the kinetic structure in mechanics can be applied to architecture. I’d like to show the kinetic grid first and then the machine which use this grid. Then the 2-dimension grid appears again, changing shape, expanding and compacting. Finally the kinetic grids are applied to the real construction and show the different examples how these kinetic structure works.

200 words article review

The article I chose is “Unfolding Architecture – Study, Development and Application of New Kinetic Structure Topologies” by Madalina Wierzbicki-Neagu. This article talks about the application of kinetic structure in folding architecture. The use of kinetic elements makes the buildings element to be adjustable which make many goals of building easier to achieve. There are two main kinds of traditional kinematic chains used in mechanics which are rectilinear deformable grids and converging grids. However the kinetic chains in mechanics are two-dimension. This two-dimension chain is just a concept which needs to be transformed into three-dimensional system. A foldable shell is also needed to complement kinetic structures and form a finished, functional architectural solution. There are flat folding and 3d folding which all need experiment to achieve the best result. Point and angles are the key elements for folding mesh. The design workflow is to check the performance of design output is perfect. The design tools that perform similar tasks are widely available in mechanical engineering. One of the main applications of foldable structure is the adjustable shading system. The foldable architecture will change the traditional building maintenance and lifecycle models and provide lesser environmental impact.

reference：
Madalina Wierzbicki-Neagu, “Unfolding Architecture – Study, Development and Application of New Kinetic Structure Topologies” , http://cumincad.scix.net/cgi-bin/works/Show?_id=acadia05_246&sort=DEFAULT&search=Mechanical%20Space&hits=1975

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

150 first rough narrative

For this final video, I’ll still focus on my previous topic which is the transfer from Form Idea to Matter. I’d also like to show more examples of the regulations applied for machines are used in buildings a lot. Through the whole video I will try to show the main reason and main result of this transformation is to improve the efficiency of architecture.
I may divide the video into 3 parts. The first part is to show the natural material like stones or trees are carved into some particular shape to compose a building, which is a long time period.
The second part will show the architecture just leave the stones and wood in their original status and to compose a building. This part will be quite short to emphasize the improvement of efficiency.
The third part will show the same composition transferred from a machine to a building.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

final video - sword battle

storyboard and inpiration video

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

150 words narrative

During the design process in architecture, there was a battle between Form Idea and Matter. It was argued a lot whether the design should be based on the ideas or on the matter of the products. However, due to the requirements of efficiency, architecture was connected to mechanization and afterwards, the form of the products was determined by matter, i.e. the material and physical size. After exploring both ways of design, the architects found that there was an inevitable relationship between idea and matter. The matter design process needed to incorporate with the idea in order to make good designs. It’s just like the swordsmanship in Chinese, cooperation gives out more power in the battle. Therefore in my animation I made two swords which represent idea and matter respectively. They first explored their own ways separately and fight with each other. Finally they found only if they combined together can create the strongest power.

peer review

15 images

http://konachan.com/post/show?md5=5837dad871c65ef8b843fddc5d24aebb

http://www.digitaldesktopwallpaper.com/wallpapers/ink-guides/ink-in-water.jpg

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/The-Sun-national-geographic-6772908-800-600

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/national-geographic/images/6788619/title/tectonics-wallpaper

http://www.myfreewallpapers.net/fantasy/pages/steampunk-landscape.shtml

http://psp.88000.org/12_-_NY_City_at_Night.htm

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/national-geographic/images/6761345/title/landscape-wallpaper

http://emulatespike.deviantart.com/art/Internal-Struggle-7762994

http://www.texturepalace.com/gallery/ink/0117/ink_texture_big_05_texturepalace.jpg

http://www.crystalxp.net/galerie/img/img-wallpapers-building-dream-sangohanama-6312.jpg

http://wallpaper-s.org/20_~_Dragons_Battle_Fantasy.htm

http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs12/i/2006/307/b/f/Abstract_Ink_Design_by_Aggiepuff.jpg

http://tieba.baidu.comp1177897089

http://www.aitupian.com/show/2/61/aa0dc5ac40249d52.html

http://lor.deviantart.com/art/Internal-Struggle-831144

“Hypertextural Picturesque” and “Systemic Delay” summary

The article “Hypertextual Picturesque” illustrates the relationship between the buildings and the landscape. According to Kata Phusin, the building is not a “machine in the garden”, but a supplemental element of the landscape construed as a picture. The term Hypertextual Picturesque describes architecture of flickering texts and images and is a spatial construction within the computer.
The article “Systemic Delay” raised the term systemic delay which means temporal interstice of conceptual development between initial idea and its material form. Prior forms of design processes, ie material process, however abstract, depend on a linear correspondence between concept, form and representation.