Skin

Skin
The building blocks

“. . .the foot is more noble than the shoe,
and skin more beautiful than the garment
with which it is clothed.”
_Michelangelo






2009

Skin is a surface supported by a structure either externally or internally. Human skin is stretched over an internal structure, where as architectural skins are attached to an external structure. Skins are either semi-permeable to the effect that it reacts to the environment to regulate temperature and humidity or non-permeable skin that shields the under layers from external factors. Skin also reacts to the environment around it providing a durable surface to protect from hazardous conditions.
The surface of skin is made up of many smaller pieces connected together to act as a whole. The pieces can work independently from each other but collective stand as a whole. Other skins work together to develop a single surface that provides a service to the structure that supports it.

Roof
The transforming application of a plane.




"We beleive the computer revolution has
leftmost of you behind."

-Dan O’sullivan and Tom Igoe



2004

A roof is better defined as one of the three elementary parts of architecture: points, lines, and planes. In Its basic form the plane can change according to the parameters laid out by the designer. Throughout its transformation it holds many of the characteristics that walls and skins also hold. It is only after its application that the planes orientation defines it as a roof. Through out history the roof has been redefined multiple times in response to culture, climate, economics, welfare, etc. The question we have to ask ourselves is what truly defines the roof of the present and the future. In my opinion it is a mixture of forces driving the design of today’s roof structures. In my opinion the movement for a greener and more sustainable architecture should combine with the innovative technologies offered by computer programs and digital fabrication. Together they would create a freeform roof that responds to the occupant as well as the environment around it.
_gap




References:
Quote- O’Sullivan, Dan, and Tom Igoe Physical Computing (2004)Thompson, Boston, Ma pgXVII
Image- Rafael Vinoly Architects. www.rvatr.com

Walls

The Boundary of our lives.

“But the wall is a good thing” _Don Tomlinson

May 2007

Don Tomlinson said this in a National Geographic article about the new wall being installed at the United States and Mexico after his brother said he felt sorry for the Mexicans. In Webster a wall is defined as many things. First it is a think and tall masonry structure making a protective barrier for the prepuces of defense or a structure that holds back a form of pressure. It is also defined as one side of a room or building connecting floors and ceilings as well as a material enclosed space. The final one is something that resembles a wall especially if it acts as a barrier or defense. To me walls are a protective barrier. In a building they keep the elements like rain, snow, ice, cold out and the inside at a nice dry temperature. Other walls like the bremer wall which is used in Iraq and Afghanistan to protect the bases from blast. Another good example is the wall between the United States and Mexico. The wall was designed to keep immigrants from entering the United States illegally. In a number of areas you cannot get thought the wall which is made of three walls. The first being made of twenty foot high reinforced concrete followed by a steel mesh wall, and finally ten yards later there is a cyclone fence topped with jagged concertina wire. These new walls have slowed illegal immigration greatly at the 1950 mile border. In the end walls do a lot to protect us from a number of things. If it was not for walls we would have a lot of problems. _DCL

References:

Webster

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wall

Where U.S.-Mexico border fence is tall, border crossings fall

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0401/p01s05-usgn.html?page=1

Bremer wall

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremer_wall

National Geographic

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/05/us-mexican-border/bowden-text/3

Picture

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/05/us-mexican-border/bowden-text/1

Complexity - ARO NSB

Complexity
The Design of Nature

“Human beings, viewed as behaving systems

are quite simple. The apparent complexity of

our behavior over time is largely a reflection

of the complexity of the environment in which

we find ourselves.” _Herbert Simon

2009

Complexity is not confined to the human race, but is shown in all of nature. The smallest single cell organisms and the largest giant red wood trees share similarities in the complexity of their existence. Complexity could be defined as the predecessor to life. The two seem to rely on the other. As living things spread throughout their environment their complexity also expands.
Human interaction at a small level is simplistic. Once expanded, the interactions become more and more difficult. Life’s complexity comes from the desire for the human race to explore and spread to the far reaches of their environment. This desire to expand can be related to the human aspiration to learn the unknown and to add complexity to their life. Complexity, like the world around it, is always changing and adding new issues to the overall problem.
_ARO, NSB





References:

Simon, Herbert, (1983) Reason in Human Affairs (Harry camp Lecture). California: Stanford University Press.

Image: ”Stratford Ariel” (Image adapted)
http://www.propertyinvesting.net/cgi-script/csNews/image_upload/specialreports_2edb.Stratford%20ariel2.jpg

Complexity_gap_drc

Hybrid thinking in a perpetual state of learning


“It thus can be said to be situated in between order and disorder, or, using a recently fashionable expression, "on the edge of chaos".”_ F. Heylighen



1996

Complexity is a term that gives identity to a system of parts or the function of assemblage. It creates a mode in which a method of absorbing or acquiring knowledge is possible. Through this new path of thinking your mind can collaborate previous ideas and current ideas into a useable unit. Simultaneously it is the juxtaposition of one part or idea to another that creates an interdependent existence. From this interdependence there emerges a new idea or a hybrid system that is more versatile and more apt to handle its purpose. Complexity can be further seen as an evolutionary process that reacts to its surroundings. As one element is added to the sequence of previous elements, it creates a system that is needed to adapt to. As this occurs, complex solutions are formed to provide for the people or the structure it entails.
_gap _drc



References:

F. Heylighen, What is Complexity?
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/COMPLEXI.html

Image:”Research & Sustainability”
http://www.edc.ncl.ac.uk/assets/hilite_graphics/rhnov06g01.png

Complexity

Complexity
As a level of chaos

“A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over, beginning with a working simple system.” John Gall

2008

Complexity is the level of chaos brought together to create a uniform design working as one. When complexity is created throughout a design, it conveys a simplistic meaning of efficiency and order. A system of interacting elements can have a deeper meaning as the structure/system moves together within itself. Though the interactions of the parts in a “disorganized complexity” situation can be seen as largely random, the properties of the system as a whole can be understood by using probability and statistical methods. In the sense of how complicated a problem is from the perspective of the person trying to solve it, limits of complexity are measured using a term from cognitive psychology, namely the hrair limit. “The concept of the hrair limit is illustrated by imagining the six faces of a die used tp play dice. It is easy for many people to visualise each of the six faces. Now imagine seven dots, eight dots, nine dots, ten dots, and so on. At some point it becomes impossible to visualise the dots as a single pattern, and one thinks of, say, eight as two groups of four. The upper limit of your visualisation of a number represented as dots is your hrair limit for that exercise.”( neohumanism.org ) Complexity coexists with the chaos theory, which is the study of a system that appears to be random but in theory could be a system of complex networks.

References:

John Gall, What is Culture?
http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1414-a-complex-system-that-works-is-invariably

Image:”Live Modern” (Image adapted)
http://livemodern.com/everglades_house1_small.jpg

Hrair limit
http://neohumanism.org/h/hr/hrair_limit.html

WebCast

Event Name: Design Visualization Webcast Series: Design Vis Expert
Tips Webcast
Date and Time: 2009-Feb-11
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM - Pacific Standard Time
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