POROSITY in BIO MEMBRANE

The new project is dealing with calibrated porosities, and I was asked to do a small presentation to introduce how bio membranes function as the porous precedence to mediate material and energy transfer.

1. MEDIATOR between interior and exterior
1. filter:
1. animate matter (corporeal passage)

1. passive diffusion 
2. active transport
   
   
   
   
3. pumps
   
4. endocytosis
   
2. invisible energy flows (light, heat, view, ventilation
1. neurons
   
2. manage relations
1. of matter and energy on the interior
1. muscles
   
2. cytoskeleton
   
   
   
   
2. establishing topological organizations based on requirements for (access, sequence, privacy, transparency, exposure, ventilation and heat transfer)

1. nuclear pore complex
2. material recycling
   
3. protein secretion 
   
2. OVERLAPPING SYSTEMS
1. produced by an external set of demands
2. and the logic of its interior circulatory flow

For the project, circulation of thermal energy through conduction, convection and radiation will motivate the circulation of people/air/light and heat - essentially it is a multi-system complex including

• Thermal dynamic hierarchy: 75 hot labs, 100 intermediate offices, 75 cold labs
• Room Function division: labs, common spaces, and offices
• Privacy: public, semi-private, and private (key card access)
• lighting: labs 25% direct, 50% indirect, 25% no; 50% of the building envelope remain shaded
• site

BEING SELF CRITICAL

Several all-nighters marked the end of the third project. This one I did not really like.

It is a weird marriage between thermodynamics and geometry with a pentomino armature.

I enjoyed the armature and the potential it can bring, and I spent a lot of time working on the circulation studies by tracing how each part of the armature move and the shift in connections between them. And I feel like it is too restrictive in a sense.

But I did not deploy the thermal part very much, even though I had a strong thermal dynamic concept of inversion/inside-out.

The thing I produce is monstrous. It is radical. But it lacks the final push. I can feel it. And I am more proficient in self-critique. I know I did not pull myself together to realize the final jump - which is glad.
I should rethink about the basic questions like the relationship between void and solid, and to re-consider the geometry and the interstitial spaces between volumes.

I had gain some judgemental sense in architecture to see what GSD likes: minimal/elegant design, clean geometry/generative logic, creating interesting spaces, and great/compelling representation.

HYBRID PENTAMINO and THERMAL DYNAMICS

I've been told that I deviated from my initial design attempt to create an inversion of the wall condition through the reconfiguration in the pentamino. The initial idea was inspired by the circulatory system that extension of heat transfer surface by the application of undulating walls, with exterior performs the function of a lung, while the interior heat transfer happens within the bounded thermal zones of thick and smooth walls.

The thermal dynamic intent now is about air flow: how the hot air (convection) running through the folded walls could help retain heat in a cold environment as a radiator (radiation), while accelerating heat transfer by maximizing the contact area with the exterior.

The problems need to be resolved: circulation; thick wall reconfigured spatial implication; formal language of the walls; think in section: there has to be three floors; air flows

THERMAL DYNAMICS?

Two buildings of identical components, one as compact and smooth as possible, and one as elongated and convoluted as possible.

1) diagrams of zoning and thermal dynamic understanding of the complex is of importance
2) tectonics to deploy thermal qualities are given as the hinge rotational system

MAJOR MOTIVATORS:

• SHAPE 
• GEOMETRIES: I/V-PENTOMINO with hinged rotational system - good for inversion, should start with zoning and inversion
• CONFIGURATION
• in response to HEAT TRANSFER:
• CONVECTION
• CONDUCTION
• RADIATION

CONCEPTS:

To me, thermal dynamics refers to a comprehensive heat exchanging system.
The major ways of heat exchange:

• CONVECTION: dispersal and constriction; pump and web; resembles the circulatory system
• CONDUCTION: heat cascading system, branching, ecosystem
• RADIANCE: heat reflection and absorption, atmosphere

To further coin the definition of thermal dynamics in an analytical way, inspired by the blood circulatory system in animals, my concept is to establish a thermal circulatory system where the heat exchange between interior and exterior occurs at the key/core organizational components whereas interior heat exchange happens at the extremities in a webbed/expanded surface area fashion, and the two are connected by a circulatory ventilation veins/thermal tubes.

Ideally, the inversion of the shape would also subvert the interiority and exteriority of the the thermal configuration, so by performing the hinged rotation act I would be able to subvert the roles of the extremities and the core, resulting in a differently configured vein system that is more appropriate for the context.

The next step would be to come up with a diagram of such inversion system and they set it into the tectonic system.

NOTHING feels better than a good review

The review went really well. I wasn't expecting such great comments that the jury all congratulated me,

Hidden for me means to encounter the unexpected things, which could also translate into the negation of preconceived expectations. My project is about dwelling through four rooms that provides similar spatial experience and then come to an end with a unexpected fifth room in the center. The genealogy of the form was essentially a diagram showing how four volume respond to sheering force and created/concealed the elevated hidden space in slanted walls. The devices I used to create the hiddenness was to juxtapose the preconceived systemacity and the sudden encounter of the singularity. To emphasize the systemacity, symmetrical geometry and circulation are the primary motivators in that the four rooms are in similar shape with two interior walls slanted thus creating an ambiguity to the space on the other side; circulation runs in a symmetrical fashion which also goes under the center volume. On the other hand, to de-emphasize the singularity of the last hidden room, the slanted walls and walking within the chasms helped to conceal the central volume and disorient the dwellers; while on the lower level, visual transparency to the other rooms helped to set up the unexpectedness of the overhead volume, which is further accentuated by directing the dwellers to walk "pass"/(underneath) it through circulation. Therefore, having set up the preconceived regularity of the rooms through symmetrical circulation and leaving very little clue to the overhead elevated volume in the center, the dwellers would be really surprised to discover the hidden room in the end.

The jury liked the way I made the model (elegant) and also enjoyed the moment of passing by underneath the bridge. Also the variation in space differentiate the hidden room and the rest, which is nice to see as a end product that goes beyond what is required (meaning, after all, architects want to create interesting spaces!).  Critiques include reconsidering path configuration and expand the intensity/tension of the lower space, and the project is not necessarily just about the hidden room itself. Also, it is possible to open up the floor and create more variations in lighting conditions. But overall, they all liked the project very much and want me to keep it up in my next project :)

Things I learned:
1) moments of thresholds are key to the construction of the hiddenness, so as the markers
2) There is an intrinsic irony in this project, that the designer has to explicitly construct the hiddenness while the dweller has to anticipate and experience the thing inexplicitly; Also, the regularity of the four rooms contradicts the singularity of the fifth; the resultant has to be an interplay between the contrasting concepts through creating spatially meaningful volumes and circulation.
3) one thing I learned, which is very important to me, that you should always ask yourself what kind of space did you create in the end? the project and the requirement are indeed very important, but looking beyond that, the end product can be as boring simply as a thing that fulfills all the requirement, or intelligently manipulate the space so that you get exciting spaces and volumes out of that?
4) sometimes, to revolve the primary, first problem you have encountered in your design, is far more fruitful than coming up with random configurations that bypass that; but just be cautious of mind traps. (4 versus 5 question)
5) do not make space in need of operation, but rather deliberately make the space so that it is symbiotic of volume and porche
6) interconnected symmetry makes it less redundant - if you want to question the meaning of symmetry
7) tessellation can be a good geometric motivator
8) representational tricks: longitudinal section model to highlight the sloping; renderings to depict experience as well as lighting/key thresholds; dismountable model - floor by floor to follow the circulation (Gu Jia); sectional model to show morphing geometry (see heng); model suggesting movement (Johanna); unfolded section


At the end of the day, design does not have to be complicated at all. Just be conscious of what you are creating and be confident about it. It is also very important to constantly question the design and push it to a place where you find the thing interesting/satisfactory enough. Be ambitious, but do not over do it.

I think now I understand why Inge did not push me that hard. She thought it was a very neat project and through this I need to learn how to draw plans and sections properly, also get to know what is good and bad in design. Retrospectively thinking, if I did not push myself and work from the critique by Cameron, I will not be able to make the last jump. Anyway, always push it a little harder!

KEEP IT UP :) YOU CAN DO IT!

HIDDEN ROOM HIDDEN

IT IS a game. At this point of the design process, I realize that I was too restricted in the form and did not explore the spatial arrangement. I am glad that Cameron has pointed that out and Inge did not mentioned it at all.

Cameron also pointed out that the assignment is essentially to create a systematical singularityWhat other people are doing is either playing with circulation or the space. Typically it is going up through 4 rooms and down 4 rooms but actually there are 5; or make the space so integrated that one could not detect the hidden space.  My design was simple in geometry, also in circulation. That's why I wanted to develop it further to make everything work.

Then it came to my final design, in which a single symmetrical circulation runs through the four rooms and came to the fifth one elevated in the center.

The whole project is a diagram showing four spaces in reaction to torque forces. The application of the force created a central volume which is then concealed by slanting the walls to make it levitate above the common ground. The hidden room is then a reconciliation between the harmonious Euclidean geometries and the force. The chasm created by the force are therefore used as circulatory devices to get access to the rooms. The overall hidden was achieved through the phenomenological experience of the dwellers. The four rooms and the chasms provide a symmetrical experience so that people would have a symmetrical expectation till the end of the circulation, and the reveal of the hidden room in the central negates such expectation.