Thursday, November 10, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
300 WORDS_RATIONALE
Architects sometimes get very panic because of the limited choice of architectural materials, as they have to take both aesthetics and human comfort into considerations. Therefore, traditional architecture materials include masonry, concrete, metal and timber; as a result form is constrained.
In order to create a dynamic cityscape, hence to fulfil the requirements of aesthetics today, the innovation of the use of architecture materials becomes the future evolution. Architects and engineers have been constantly developing the modern technologies in order to make the buildings to be distinct in the city.
With the respective embrace of digital tools, Frank Gehry has articulated a productive relationship between design and technology. The technology has mastered the production of what can be called synthetic materiality which is a constructed set of surface effects resulting from the mixture of actual material properties and geometry-induced properties of digital operations. These synthetic materialities are immediately sensate and exhibit unusual qualities due to the co-mingling of form and representation.
A recent example is the “Water Cube” designed by PTW constructing in Beijing, China. The innovative use of the material ETFE which is a kind of lightweight plastic material is able to let the building breathe in the city, the complex construction is also able to inspire people in the urban context and enrich their visual experience.
Many contemporary architecture successfully created a effect called “anti-classical” by distorting the traditional form and more importantly applying modern materials. The purpose of this kind of design is to liberate ourselves from the weight of history, and to explore the possibility of developing imagination during the process.
My video intended to show how the contemporary technologies influence our classic concepts of architecture regarding to materiality.
150 Words_Initial Ideas + 200 Words_Article Review
INITIAL IDEAS
The theme I chose is materiality. I found that the innovation of materiality is a critical element to achieve success in architectural design. The modern technologies have been influencing conventional materials such as masonry, concrete and timber. The unique materials helped to make building facades dancing in the urban and regional context.
In my video, I’ll be trying to show this concept through a very abstract way, showing the modern technologies had come to our life, and challenge the old methods of construction and use of materials. I’m planning to use some liquid textures to contrast with the traditional solid masonry materials, showing how the liquid gradually ‘eats’ the old buildings and forms.
SYNTHETIC MATERIALTY
Frank O. Gehry and Greg Lynn span nearly three generations to continue articulating a productive relationship between design and technology. The effects of their use of technology have converged while their motivations initially differed from one another. Each has mastered the production of what can be called synthetic materiality, which could be understood as a result from the mixture of actual materials properties and geometry-induced properties of digital operations. These synthetic materialities are immediately sensate and exhibit unusual qualities due to the co-mingling of form and representation.
Digital operations blur the boundaries between form and its representation, first as geometric, sensate matter and secondly as tool paths drawn by machines. The real and the virtual become so interwined that one perceives a new synthetic materiality.
From Source:
Plastic Realities: How Technology Alters Materiality
Source: A & U: architecture & urbanism, 2008 Aug., n.8(455), p.58-63,