<p>Parametric techniques are developing as an agile tool in both civil engineering and architectural design. What is especially powerful is the ability of these softwares to relate and iterate through multiple options with minimal effort. The tools that combine a parametric definition of the bridge with a 3D graphic and a FEM model gives the designer the opportunity to analyse instantaneously, the effect in the variation of the variable parameters in terms of visual appearance as well as structural behaviour simultaneously. Therefore parametric design is a valuable tool in the conceptual design phase where the geometric decisions made are the most structurally and architecturally impactful.</p>
Contemporary architecture can be seen as a dynamic system that changes in response to its environment and even as a system that can modify itself. Interactive or responsive environments are not totally new to architecture; however, the possibilities in architecture have only begun to be examined.To look at the possibilities in this emerging field experimentation is required and the architect must develop an understanding of the language of sensors, actuators and control systems.This article examines an interdisciplinary design research studio with mechatronic engineers which allowed a wide range of experimentation. It shows that the scope of what can be done with responsive architecture is hard to imagine from where we now stand and that it is only through a broad range of experimentation that we can find the most beneficial uses of this powerful technology.The resulting projects -kinetic architecture on control systems -challenge our understanding of what our built environment could be.
79Architectronics:Towards a Responsive Environment ᭣ Figure 1: Phillips Pavillion, Poème Electronique, 1958. 80 AnnaLisa Meyboom, Greg Johnson and Jerzy Wojtowicz ᭤ Figure 2: Magic Carpet, Michael Webb 1960. ᭤ Figure 13: ROBOstudio project Bridge/Ferry hybrid on a responsive control system.
To design infrastructure is to design a built form that can be generative and directive: it has the potential to create place and suggest future growth. Yet transportation infrastructure in North America is routinely designed as isolated, mono‐functioning works of engineering. In urban areas, this singular approach often leaves areas of adjacent land as vacant and unviable public space discouraging to other patterns and modes of movement. Conversely, new infrastructure in dense urban areas could be developed that promotes public space and includes cultural and social agendas as primary generators of built urban form. This new approach would weave novel, responsive elements into an existing fabric, generating a multiplicity of connections, program, and places.
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