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Algorithmic Design & Architectural Machines A Pataphysical Urban Maker’s Studio and Artist’s Workshop for Upper Tribeca [Contents] PART I 9 [USER/CLIENT DESCRIPTION] 14 [SITE] 17 [PROGRAM OF INHABITATION; TYPOLOGY] 20 [PROGRAMATIC CASE 22 STUDIES] 22 [PROJECT EMPHASIS] 25 [GOALS] 25 PART II 26 [HISTORICAL, 27 SOCIAL CONTEXT] 27 [THEORETICAL & HISTORICAL PRECEDENTS] 36 [SITE ANALYSIS] 49 [APPENDIX] 61 PART III 71 [PROCESS DOCUMENTATION 74 & APPLIED RESEARCH] 74 [PROJECT DOCUMENTATION] 82 PART IV 107 [THESIS JUSTIFICATION] 108 [DESIGN METHODOLOGY & 108 DOCUMENTATION] 108 [REFERENCES] 110 [IMAGE SOURCES] 111 [PREVIOUS STUDIO EXPERIENCE] 114 [PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION] 114 4 [List of Tables & Figures] Fig.001 Grasshopper script 12 Fig. 002 Tower designed for drones 12 Fig. 003 Drawing of vertical reccesses by Marc Feldman 16 Fig. 004 Still from Project X 19 Fig. 005 1st 1ESS telephone swithcing room 21 Fig. 006 Data servers in the Long Lines Building 21 Fig. 007 Interior view of New Lab 22 Fig. 008 Section view of BLDG 128 23 Fig. 009 One of New Lab’s Workspaces 23 Fig. 010 New Lab’s Atrium 24 Fig. 011 Hero of Alexandria’s Aeolipile 28 Fig. 012 Archimedean Screw 29 Fig. 013 The Prague orloj (astronomical clock) 29 Fig. 014 Galileo’s material analysis using statics 31 Fig. 015 Microscope by Robert Hooke 31 Fig. 015 Saxon Engineering Factory in Chemnitz, Germany 1886 32 Fig. 016 Poster for the opening of Ubu Roi 33 Fig. 017 Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry 34 Fig. 018 Peter Olshavsky’s Mixed Media Skiff 35 Fig. 019 “Dance Sounds” from Daniel Libeskind’s Micromegas series 37 Fig. 020 Carceri Etchings, Plate 14 37 Fig. 021 Floor plan of the Dresden History Museum 38 Fig. 022 Close-up of “Dance Sounds” 38 Fig. 023 M. C. Escher’s “Waterfall” 39 Fig. 024 Writing Machine close-up 40 Fig. 025 Detailed view of Libeskind’s Writing Machine 41 Fig. 026 Engine from Guliver’s Travels 42 Fig. 027 Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie 42 Fig. 028 “In Advance of the Broken Arm” 43 Fig. 029 “Bicycle Wheel” 43 Fig. 030 The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass) 44 Fig. 031 The Large Glass Diagram 45 Fig. 032 1884 Manhattan V.1 Plate 35 Sanborn map 48 Fig. 033 Related spatial typologies near site 49 Fig. 035 Mechanical Floor plan for Long Lines building 51 Fig. 034 Wall detail for the Long Lines building 51 5 Fig. 036 Design infl uence for the Long Lines building 52 Fig. 037 [3A] Long Lines Building compared to nearby apartment tower 57 Fig. 038 [1A] View looking up the Long Line building 59 Fig. 039 [2A] Onsite plaza to be adapted 59 Fig. 040 [1B] Framing view from onsite 60 Fig. 043 [4B] Plaza vegetation 60 Fig. 041 [2B] Brutalist plaza space 61 Fig. 042 [3B] Historically preserved buildings on site 61 Fig. 044 Memory Theater Plan 63 Fig. 045 Memory Theater Imagined 69 Fig. 046 Process Photo of Artifact Exploration 73 Fig. 047 First Ribbon 1/3 74 Fig. 048 First ribbon 2/3 75 Fig. 049 First ribbon 3/3 76 Fig. 050 Artefact mid-demonstration 77 Fig. 052 “Drum” in process 77 Fig. 053 3 Person Amnesia Machine, emitting 77 Fig. 051 Layered ribbon iterations 77 Fig. 054 Hung ribbons for gallery installation 78 Fig. 055 Spud model with kinetic spaces 79 Fig. 056 Spud model northeast view 79 Fig. 057 1/8th Scale model 79 Fig. 058 “Drum” close-up 80 Fig. 061 “Drum” gallery installation 80 Fig. 059 View toward ground through building layers 80 Fig. 062 Spatial wrapping and catwalk through theatrical core 81 Fig. 060 View through workspaces through building layers 81 Fig. 063 Fraction of “Playful Model, Not to Scale” 82 Fig. 064 Program development 84 Fig. 067 3 Person Amnesia Machine and backdrop of ribbons 84 Fig. 065 Representational developemnt 84 Fig. 066 Spatial development 85 Fig. 068 Amnesia machine components, refer to page 88 87 Fig. 069 Process for Eta’s installation 94 Fig. 071 Model and display board process 94 Fig. 072 Model Process 94 Fig. 070 Process for Mu’s installation 94 Fig. 073 Model Process 94 6 Fig. 074 Model Process 96 Fig. 075 Playful Model, Not to Scale; contracted and expanded 97 Fig. 076 Gallery space; memory and creations displayed through portals into the city 98 Fig. 078 Theatrical Core; memory cycling through building tiers 99 Fig. 077 Production space; view through model layers 99 Fig. 079 Playful Model, Not to Scale; creation of spaces in plan 100 Fig. 080 Site plan; standard representation 102 Fig. 081 Level 1 plan; standard representation 103 Fig. 084 Close-up of exhibited, playful model 104 Fig. 085 Side view of exhibited, playful model 105 Fig. 086 Scaled context model; 1” = 60’ 105 Fig. 087 Full project exhibit 106 7 8 PART I [THESIS ABSTRACT] What is our relationship with technology? As designers, we sit on the precipice between the abstract and the alien; between meaningful imagination and reductive otherness. With the permeation of algorithmic software in the architectural pro- fession, are we able to design algorithmically with meaning? How can digital means aid poetic architecture? This thesis opens a less examined side of algorithmic thinking within the dialogue between designers and the technology we use. Language, humor, and pataphors become building mate- rials in this architectural translation of ‘Pataphysics, a rebel, absurdist science created by playwright Alfred Jarry. A dense prospection and oscillation through philosophy, history, art, and architecture all work to consider this design of a playful memory machine. Enter, the Urban Maker’s Studio and Art- ist Workshop. This story of machines, in both a fi ctional and a literal context, brings humans back into the fold through the linguistic dimension of algorithmic storytelling. It values the historical and cultural memory latent in ourselves over ab- stracted, generalized and reductive information. The project is situated in contention and alliance with the AT&T Long Lines Building, a foreboding idol of modern tech- nology, in upper Tribeca New York. 10 [NARRATIVE] Algorithms and their use in the stood as a series of logical steps taken design process are growing ever more in a speculative exploration to address within the practice of architecture. So- a problem. They can present ambiguous phisticated software enables architects and interpretive results that unfold ac- to hybridize modeling and scripting for cording to the user. It’s not only about easy incorporation into a design pro- precise solutions to problems but also a cess. It’s crucial to examine the role of revealing of the unknown. this technology as more practices as- similate this specialty fi eld into their For architecture, algorithmic work. design software has served as a tool for reducing qualitative experience The concept of an algorithm is into data so that it can be regurgitated often associated with the programming into abstract form. This way of work- found in computer science. Software ing strays from recognizable connec- like Grasshopper is a mediator between tions between the architecture and the programming languages and graph- ourselves. Shown here is a snapshot of ically represents the parameters and a programming script for Grasshopper, creative components in the process. a modeling software. It uses icons to represent actions and steps the design- If we go all the way back to er has taken to model digitally. When the word’s origins in the 8th or 9th we are presented with alien form so century, we fi nd that its fi rst recorded removed a surrounding context and use was by Persian mathematician Al- culture, it’s diffi cult to relate and fi nd Khwarizmi. His term, algorism, and the meaning with anything but the thing it- Greek arithmos (number) have a funda- self. mental relationship with computation. Therefore, algorithms can be under- Arithmos Algorism Algorithm Allo } 11 Fig.001 Grasshopper script Fig.12 002 Tower designed for drones What tends to get built using they’re used in architecture. The re- algorithmic methods are unfamiliar sulting building will foster artists, pro- representations of technological ad- fessionals, and hobbyists in an Urban vancement. We’re creating a version Maker’s Studio and Artist Workshop of “otherness” that doesn’t allow our situated in contention with the AT&T imaginations to relate and our percep- Long Lines Building in New York. I’ll ex- tions don’t form cultural or emotional tend my metaphors through historical meaning anymore. One culprit is found and theoretical research, the creation in Blob architecture which uses com- of an artefact, drawings, language, mod- putational algorithms to design build- els, and design process. It will show the ings. Typically, the outcome is a mere value of human perception, interpreta- one-dimensional object that doesn’t tion, and judgement in the design pro- situate the user in a sphere of cultural cess over the will of algorithmic soft- relevance. Formal, and aesthetic objec- ware as it relates to our worldview. tifi cation becomes the tendency than a deeper perceptual experience of archi- tecture. In a philosophical and architec- tural contemplation of our relationship with technology, I explore how the lin- guistic dimension of allegorical story- telling awakens poetic algorithmic de- sign. In doing this, I aim to offer another understanding of algorithms and how 13 [USER/CLIENT DESCRIPTION] The client would be the owner of the site, AT&T. Currently the land is part of a secured facility. This theoret- ical project exists within a specifi c vac- uum of reality that applies schematic design to issues addressed in this docu- ment. Who this is designed for then be- comes the people using the building and the residents or visitors of New York.