fading

Membrane systems are in many aspects already characterized by gradual change. This model uses the concept of fading in its basic structure, making this quality act on another level. The systems ability to transform (gradually or suddenly) makes it flexible and potentially able to perform according to different needs throughout the system.

The basic idea is a continuous membrane with small holes that transforms gradually to a system of individual small patches in space.

-et skall på kuba- modellfotografier

…bedre sent ann aldri…her er noen fotografier av modellen jeg lagde til digital arkitektur-kurset.

De øverste bildene er tatt rett før solnedgang en oktoberkveld, og de nederste er tatt omtrent midt på dagen, også de i oktober… Skulle gjerne hatt noen bilder av modellen under en høy sommersol, men jeg får vel ta det til neste år…

-Ørestad Transformer- urbanism 07

This is an urban design/urbanism project for the course “sealed against the real” in the fall of 2007. The site is Ørestaden in Copenhagen, Denmark.

entering the area by car…

entering the northern parking area…

inside the parking. leaving the car behind and…

switching to public transport

the residential area fading into the big green common in the west

overview, looking towards the north-east

—-below are our presentation posters (click on the link to open the large pdf file):

finalplansjejaaaa

small

Patches that are small in relation to the spaceframe can easily be arranged in quite freely in complex systems within the frame. In this model we have varied the density of membranes throughout the frame. The square patches are all connected, some to just one other patch, most of them to two or more.

Shading-patterns at different angles on the sun. (above)

large

These patches are “too big” for the frame. We cut minimal holes in them in order to make room for the joints in the frame. The frame had to be extended to be able to push the flaps in the minimal holes away from the joints.

medium

Square membrane patches attached to the spaceframe, “filling the holes”.

framework

Until now we had only made membrane systems in the big generic spaceframe. We wanted to look at alternative spaceframes that could support membranes. Units of three perpendicular rods (cartesian crosses) can be stacked and conquer space in all directions. (A problem with these (oktahedra)units, if they are to be assembled like we have done here, is that they can’t be packed tightly in space.)

“dancing chicken”

We made a system of five rectangular patches, each connected to the spaceframe by the four corner-points and to the neighbouring patch by two internal points. The two “flank” patches were also connected to the frame by one internal point.

We developed a notational system in order to be able to draw simple diagrams describing the basic structure of the membrane systems.

Additional diagrams were made to describe different spatial characteristics.

I thought the system looked nice and had some interesting spatial qualities, but of course someone had to spoil it all by saying it looked like a line of headless, dancing chicken. I guess the dance would have to be can-can…