04. Singularities: Struct. Eval. (Prep) (2)
3.2.04. Singularities: Struct. Eval. (Prep) (2)
DESCRIPTION
This exercise is using Grasshopper version 1.0.0007 and Karamba3D version 2.2.0.13-220422.
3.2.04. Singularities: Struct. Eval. (Prep) (2)
DESCRIPTION
This exercise is using Grasshopper version 1.0.0007 and Karamba3D version 2.2.0.13-220422.
3.2.03. Singularities: Struct. Eval. (Prep) (1)
DESCRIPTION
This exercise is using Grasshopper version 1.0.0007 and Karamba3D version 2.2.0.13-220422.
São Paulo, Brazil, 2022
1. DESCRIPTION
“Belas Bambu” is a lightweight bamboo shell structure built using Mixed Reality (MR) technology as part of an AA Visiting School Summer Programme held in São Paulo in 2022.
The course focused on the combination of bamboo constructions and digital design technologies. Participants were introduced to procedural digital design tools and methods that were developed as part of BSL’s ongoing design research in lightweight bending-active bamboo shell structures. Individual shell structures were designed and visualised at full-scale using Augmented Reality (AR). AR technology was then used to guide the manual construction actions of one of the geometrically complex bamboo designs for a small outdoor theatre space at the host institute.
2. PROJECT CREDITS
Course Details:
– Organisation: Architectural Association (AA) School of Architecture, London, UK
– Course: AA Visiting School São Paulo 2022
– Title: Interactive Constructions: Augmented Reality Bamboo Structures
– Dates: July 07th – Saturday 16th, 2022
– Location: Universidade Belas Artes, São Paulo
Workshop Team:
– Tutors: Dr Kristof Crolla, Garvin Goepel
– Project Coordinators: Anne Save de Beaurecueil, Franklin Lee (SUBdV Studio, São Paulo)
– Assistants: Jaime Vega, Ernesto Bueno, Henrique Lattes, Camila Calegari
– Participants: Mattheus Lucchi, Vivian Provasi, Mansuf Arevalo, Beatri Pimentel, Felipe dos Santos, Tofaneli Raik, Lira Podio/ Rabelo Mayara, Lana de Oliveira, Milena Tada, Ana Clara Queiroz, Brianna Bussibger and Júlia Gasparini
– Video Design: Julien Klisz
Perspective by Night
Perspective by Night
Construction and analysis through holographic information overlays
Construction and analysis through holographic information overlays
Pei Ta Park, Hsinchu City, Taiwan, 2019
1. DESCRIPTION
TOROO is a public art installation that challenges the limits of what is architecturally possible with bamboo splits as a construction material. It experiments with the combination of sustainable construction and local craftsmanship to produce a highly engaging architectural intervention that activates public space.
TOROO is designed and built by the research team directed by Prof. Kristof Crolla and Mr. Garvin Goepel at the School of Architecture of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) that is best known for its multiple-award-winning “ZCB Bamboo Pavilion”. TOROO was located at Hsinchu City’s Pei Ta Park in Taiwan where, as part of the “Fun Old Town” event, local volunteers assisted in its construction.
TOROO is a hyper-lightweight bending-active gridshell structure defined by an elegant and fluid bamboo line network. The project redefines and transforms the pre-existing site, a small outdoor public stage area, into an ephemeral place typified by varying levels of enclosure. Visitors connect to the installation through a playful and seductive dialogue in which the structure hides and reveals them as they navigate through and around its enclosure.
The material choice of bamboo was made because it is the fastest growing, carbon-sequestering construction material resource available to architects — far more sustainable than any wood species. Bamboo has been a vernacular construction material for centuries and is widely available in most rapidly developing parts of the world. TOROO advocates for the integration of bamboo as a viable structural material in today’s construction industry and highlights its most exceptional asset — its bendability, as a unique architectural design opportunity. Built from numerous thin bamboo splits, the structure is manually tied together following instructions extracted from a digital design environment. There, through computer coding, the project’s form finding took place using physics simulation engines based on natural material behaviour.
TOROO demonstrates how the combination of vernacular bamboo craftsmanship and digital design technology enables radically unique and spatially versatile architectural solutions rooted in local culture and sustainable building practices. The project illustrates the spatial versatility and practical applicability of a novel, eco-friendly tectonic system that is suitable for the low-tech, labour-driven construction contexts found in most rapidly developing parts of the world.
2. PROJECT CREDITS
CUHK Design Research Team:
– Principal Investigator (PI): Dr. Kristof Crolla
– Project Leader: Garvin Goepel
– Video Design: Julien Klisz
Workshop Construction Team:
Dr. Kristof Crolla, Garvin Goepel, Nichol Long-Hin Wong, Shuk-Man Lo, Jae Sok Surh, Tong Chen, Victor Wei-Chung Chien, Hui-Ting Hsu, Yen Lun Huang, Nicky Chung-Yu Hwang, Yu Chuan Lai, Tsung-I Lee, Mu-Huai Liu, Hang Yu Peng, Carol Yu-Jung Shen, Wa Bowe, Xin-Yu Wang
In Collaboration With:
Graduate Institute of Architecture of National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), Association of Humanitarian Architecture (AHA), Hsinchu City Government
Special Thanks To:
Chih-Chien Lin (Hsinchu City Mayor), Prof. Pei-Hsien Hsu, Prof. David Tseng and Prof. June-Hao Hou of NCTU
This CUHK project research was partially supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region China (Project No. CUHK14604618).
Perspective by Night
Under Construction
Under Construction
Under Construction
Aerial view – Structural Skeleton Under Construction
Perspective by Daytime
Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong, 2015
1. DESCRIPTION
The ZCB Bamboo Pavilion is a public event space built for the Construction Industry Council’s Zero Carbon Building (ZCB) in the summer of 2015 in Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong. It is a four-storey-high long-span bending-active bamboo gridshell structure with a footprint of approximately 350m² and a seating capacity of 200 people.
It is built from 475 large bamboo poles that are bent onsite to shape the structure and that are hand-tied together with metal wire using techniques based on Cantonese bamboo scaffolding craftsmanship. The shape is a large diagrid shell structure that is folded down into three hollow columns. These columns rest on three circular concrete footings. A tailor-made white tensile fabric is stretched over the structure and is brightly lit from inside the three legs.
The project is the outcome of the concerted efforts of the Construction Industry Council (CIC), The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and different contractors. It was designed by a research team led by Prof. Kristof Crolla at CUHK School of Architecture. The research investigates how computational design tools can be strategically inserted into existing construction methods to allow for a more engaging and innovative architectural outcome. The ZCB Bamboo Pavilion showcases this and illustrates how the endangered craftsmanship of bamboo scaffolding construction in Hong Kong can be expanded through the introduction of digital form-finding and real-time physics simulation tools.
The project’s design is based on an architecture student design internship held at the CUHK School of Architecture. The design was developed further by the research team in collaboration with structural engineers and bamboo consultants, using digital physics simulation engines, physical model making, and large-scale prototyping to derive its final form.
Bamboo is a widely available, environmentally friendly material that grows abundantly and at remarkably high speeds in the Asia-Pacific region, Africa and the Americas. It is an excellent renewable natural resource which captures CO₂ and converts it into oxygen. It is strong, light and easy to process and transport. In Hong Kong, bamboo mostly appears in temporary theatres, scaffolding, or structures for religious festivals. Globally, it is usually applied as a surrogate for wood or steel, rather than in ways that utilise the material’s unique bending properties and strength. In contrast, the ZCB Bamboo Pavilion presents an alternative architectural application that maximises these latent material properties.
The pavilion is geometrically complex. Bamboo has widely varying geometric, dimensional, and performative properties, and the scaffolding industry does not use conventional architectural drawings for its intuitive constructions. Building the project, therefore, challenged the boundaries of the architect’s design control. In response, new methods were developed that merged precise digital design systems with inconsistent natural resources in order to deal with these unpredictabilities.
The ZCB Bamboo Pavilion promotes innovative and ecological architectural design to the broader public and design community. It will be used to host exhibitions, performances and events that advocate low carbon living, construction, and development. By promoting sustainable, light-weight building methods for large span architecture, the project seeks ways for traditional Cantonese craftsmanship to evolve for the 21st century.
2. PROJECT CREDITS
CUHK Design Research Team:
– Institute: The Chinese University of Hong Kong School of Architecture
– Principal Investigator: Dr. Kristof CROLLA
– Co-Investigator (Co-I): Mr. Adam FINGRUT
– Research Assistants (RA): Mr. IP Tsz Man Vincent, Mr. LAU Kin Keung Jason
– Structural Engineering: Dr. Goman HO & Dr. Alfred FONG
– Bamboo Consultant: Mr. Vinc MATH
– Authorised Person (AP): Mr. Martin TAM
– Registered Structural Engineer (RSE): Mr. George CHUNG
– Photography & Videography: Mr. NG Ka Hang Kevin
– Photography: Grandy LUI & Michael LAW
– Drone Photography: Mr. Ramon VAN DER HEIJDEN
Construction Team:
– Main Contractor: W.M. Construction Ltd.
– Bamboo Construction: Sun Hip Scaffolding Eng. Co., Ltd.
– Fabric Contractor: Ladden Engineering Ltd.
– Lighting: CONA Technology Co. Ltd. & Brandston Partnership Inc.
The CUHK project research was partially supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region China (Project No. CUHK24400114)
3. FACTS
– Client: Zero Carbon Building of the Construction Industry Council
– Address: 8 Sheung Yuet Rd, Kowloon Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong
– Construction Period: 3.5 months
– Completion Date: 14 October 2015
– Dismantling Date: 01 July 2016
Pavilion:
– Covered Area: 350 m2 (425m2 incl. footing area)
– Function: Event Space
– Capacity: 200 people
– Largest span: 37m
– Height: 12.3m (free height of arches:5.65m)
– Weight: 6,800kg for bamboo & skin. (107,800kg incl. footing)
Bamboo:
– Total #: 475 poles used
– Total Length: 2956m
– Pole ø: Base: 12-15cm, top: 8-12cm
– Pole length: ≈ 7.2m
– Total weight: 6,350kg after complete drying of bamboo. (7,100kg in wet state)
– Species: Phyllostachys edulis (moso bamboo, mao zhu, 毛竹)
– Age: Average age is 4 years (between 3 and 5 year old bamboo is used)
Ties:
– Material: Galvanized metal wire
– # intersection points: 1107
– # overlaps: 365 (3 ties per overlap)
– total # ties: 3321
Fabric:
– Total area: 910m2
– # of triangles: 1278
– Total Weight: 450kg
Concrete footing:
– #: 3
– Diameter: 5.4m
– Height: 0.5m
– Weight: 101 tonnes
Aerial View by Night
Aerial View by Daytime
Night Time Event
Perspective by Night
Night Time Event
Interior Perspective by Night
Interior Perspective by Night
Under Construction – Bamboo Structure
Bamboo Measurement & Annotation
Bamboo Intersection Tying
Aerial view – Structural Skeleton Under Construction
Aerial view – Structural Skeleton Under Construction
Top View – Structural Skeleton
Fabric Installation
Fabric Unrolling
Fabric Tying to Bamboo Structure
Elevation 1
Elevation 2
Section
Top View By Night
Top View By Day
Top View – Bamboo Skeleton
3.1.02. fingerprint tool
DESCRIPTION
This exercise is using Grasshopper version 1.0.0007
5.1. curve network fabrication
This script provides a tool to generate fabrication drawings for intersecting curve networks. It outputs labels in both 3D and 2D.
This exercise is using Grasshopper version 1.0.0007
4.01. bamboo visualisation
DESCRIPTION
“This script visualises an axis model by placing bamboo-like geometry on top of it that its suitable for the production of Make2D line drawings or for rendering.
PROCEDURE:
Axis lines are first oriented to have their starting points at the lower part and end points higher up as these will become the slightly thicker base and thinner tips of the bamboo culms. The axis lines are then broken up into segments of increasing length that will be used to identify internodal cells. Each cell is then used to place a series of circles that will be used to create cell like geometries and nodes. In the end, two outputs are produced: 1) (heavy) NURBS geometry, which can be used for the production of Make2D line drawings, and 2) (light) meshes, which can be used for rendering and quicker visualisation.”
This exercise is using Grasshopper version 1.0.0007
3.2.02. Pop-up Grid: Struct. Eval. (Prep)
DESCRIPTION
This exercise is using Grasshopper version 1.0.0007 and Karamba3D version 2.2.0.13-220422.