Cognitive Loop - Digital Architecture Workshop

I was recently part of a workshop on Digital Architecture. The focus of the session was experimentation with modelling tools, namely Rhino and result oriented code writing i.e. scripting to generate real world solutions for our visualisations. The design project for this workshop was a pavilion based in a hypothetical site of 100 sqm. This is my interpretation.

Human thought is mellow, sensuous and free flowing. The perception and processing of all environment and stimuli is similarly protean. Each line of thought can be defined as a pathway that the mind follows from its inception to its conclusion or transformation into another beginning. This constant interweaving can best be represented as a series of sinuous lines that overlap each other and extend infinitely in all dimensions. To project this continuous process into the built environment it has had to fit into the rectilinear geometry of existing structural design.

If the perception of space is directly related to how it is composed of physical and non-material elements, then by placing experiential boundaries which may be actual or not, spatial character and dynamics can be defined as a response to site and context.

This pavilion was an attempt to break free of conventional spatial stereotypes attached to experiencing structural interventions in public outdoor spaces.

The basic form was developed by defining two pathways – the physical and the visual.

The physical pathway was defined by the intended route of circulation through and around the structure. The visual pathway was defined by the inherent tendencies of visual perception. The base frame was a juxtaposition of these pathways within the constraints of the site. Using contemporary modelling tools, these pathways were amalgamated in to a single dynamic flowing surface that is a representation of the fluid nature of human perception.

To bring this expression from the virtual into the physical realm, experimentation was carried out on the surface with the concepts of parameterization and considering the planar rib as the primary design element. By introducing a directional grid of interlocking ribs to represent the surface, a third structural pathway was automated into the pavilion.

The end result is expected to be a material intervention that will activate the public space into which it will be placed.


The final model for the presentation was made of interlocking ribs laser cut out of 3mm thick transparent acrylic sheets.