The Site:
The Evergreen Brickworks. To stick with the theme of recycling, I have decided to locate my structure on the northern slope of the Brickworks quarry, where the combination of having been a mining site for about a hundred years, and its direct southward exposure have made it impossible for the land to establish a new layer of topsoil over the exposed clay. Having watched Planet Earth, I know that topsoil requires ample shade and water in order to 'live long and prosper.' Also, here's a link that gives some info on how to actually grow (or cook as they call it) topsoil: http://managingwholes.com/new-topsoil.htm
plan view of my selected site
south-westward view of the site
northward view of the site
The Structure:
In order to revitalize the Brickworks quarry slope, I have decided to design a canopy that will provide shade for the ground beneath, and also prevent water in the ground from evaporating too quickly. Going back to the idea of the mechanical iris, I thought that it might be interesting for the irises to open and close according to a given location and intensity of the Sun using a physical computing system. Further, if each iris was also designed to hold rainwater while in the closed position, it could be used to feed the ground beneath the canopy.
Here are some screenshots of the iris:
Starting to think about what the canopy might look like:
After playing with this idea (and many other similar ones), it was brought to my attention that the unwavering shape of the section would make for a very boring form, and it would also not be very ambitious of me to design something that is so simple. Further, I needed to start thinking about what this was going to look like on my actual site.
This is just a quick physical model I made to give me an idea of what I wanted to do.
The above image shows (roughly) the surface area that I would like to cover on the quarry's slope. The canopy's form was derived to avoid interferences with existing trees and making strides to cover as much of the exposed clay as possible.
NB: by using Grasshopper as a tool in my form-finding process, I have ensured that the shown surface is highly flexible, and can be adjusted to make accommodations for anything that I may have overlooked.
After settling on an initial form, I applied a diagrid to the surface in order to establish an early structural grid. The diagrid works well in this situation because of its ability to span large distances efficiently, while maintaining my preferred form.
Next steps:
1) sleep... it's been a while since i had a good one
2) DETAILING: probably a bit behind on this, but i think that with my grasshopper definition, that once i get something designed, ill be able to apply it to my structure parametrically.
3) apply the iris over the structure and figure out a way to get it to open and close in my model without getting messed up (right now i can get it in in the closed position, but once i start to open it, some weird stuff starts to happen).
4) figure out if the ground beneath can sustain foot traffic while the topsoil is regenerating. id like to be able to get people circulating in and around the structure, but I realize that it may not be possible when you are trying to establish a new layer earth. once it is re-established, i think that this will be sustainable, but i am unsure if it will be possible initially.
Signing off and hoping that I can go bug Vince in his office this weekend,
Arash
Sidenote: i was told my last blog was a bit 'ghetto' so here's a little something for good measure :)
It is good to see the work coming out however there are a few questions that remain based upon your description of the work:
ReplyDelete-how do the irises work in order to retain water?; they seemed relatively 2D and their ability to retain water would imply something a bit more 3D; is that articulated/developed yet?
-though it is a bit of a secondary issue at this point, I would still recommend that you validate your rationale for the operational irises in your design as sunlighting control does not immediately strike the audience as a critical issue in the regeneration of the site; protection from adverse climatic extremes may be worthwhile but I think you might have to articulate the real value in having a canopy of operational irises in the regenerative lifecycle of the site
-while looking at detailing (which is an obvious point of development for EVERYONE in the studio), you should really look into ways of offering cross-bracing or some type of lateral support throughout the structures; otherwise it is a flimsy assembly reliant on the membrane or individual footing conditions to hold up the entire project