Intervention of Performance: Applications of Parametric Studies On

Home , Zaha Hadid

Intervention of Performance: Applications of Parametric Studies on

Connective Design in Public Interaction

A thesis submitted to the

Graduate school

Of the University of Cincinnati

In partial fulfillment of the

Requirements for the degree of

Master of Architecture

in the School of Architecture and Interior Design

of the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning

Joshua Funderburk

B.S. Architecture, University of Cincinnati

May 2019

Committee chair: Joss Kiely, Ph. D

Committee chair: Ming Tang, M. Arch

Abstract

In the turn of a new digital era, processes of design have advanced with new modes of analysis

and form generation. New systems of parametric design promote the articulation of new design

philosophies, giving rise to new forms of spatial designation and social interaction. The history of

structure and its importance to the growth of architecture is an ever-expanding coordination

between the built form and the purpose for that form. The use of digital techniques has given

rise to opportunities for greater complexity of form and thus a greater expression of character

and design philosophy. This thesis examines how the new digital age, as described in works by

Mario Carpo, can be used in the qualitative design of public space based on formal actuation

from quantitative parametric manipulations, expressed through the design of the urban site

intervention. A study of works done by Greg Lynn, a pioneer of digital techniques, Zaha Hadid,

Preston Scott Cohen, and others, on the influence of digital computation on the spatial quality of buildings relative to the form and structure used in the projects to create the social and performative nature of interaction as precedent analysis as to the reasoning behind the computation. Digital computations have become a sort of fascination throughout all of design, with the application of these computations ever growing. The ability to assign parameters to design decisions lead the way in constructability, energy efficiency, aesthetics, and user engagement. The selection of these parameters becomes an indicator of the important criteria on which the project is going to be based. Through the use of new digital technologies, this thesis will look into an exploration of formal and spatial qualities of design based around a parametric rigor of formulation with regard to the enhancement of an urban scale site intervention and its relation to the program of public areas and a system exterior space. This is a space of primarily

ii public orientation, with the instilled purpose to transform to fit the needs of the users. The use of digital techniques feeds into the qualitative nature of the space in response to its usability.

With parametric ideas on a site wide scale, the urban intervention can create a place of motion and responsive building form that compliments and communicates with its surrounding.

iii © Copyright by Joshua Funderburk 2021

iv Acknowledgments

I would like to start by thanking my advisors for their commitment and continued support

throughout the entire thesis process. They have been a great source of knowledge, guidance, and

inspiration as I have worked towards a final project identification. The help they have offered and

the passion they show to the field of architecture has only helped to grow my own passions.

I would also like to thank the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, and

specifically the School of Architecture and Interior Design. The work I have been able to

accomplish through the guidance of the professors and staff have shaped my interests. My time

in this school through undergraduate and Graduate studies has been an excellent education and

preparation that I look forward to taking with me in into the professional world.

Without the suppose and comradery of my colleagues, peers, and friends that I have had

the pleasure of making through my time at the University of Cincinnati, I do not think I would

have enjoyed my education nearly as much. From the late studio nights to great project reviews

and discussion, the work done beside my classmates has had as mush equally influence me as

the professors we studied under. For the friendships I have made I will be eternally grateful.

Lastly, I would like to thank my family, without whom I would not be where I am today.

Their full and constant support has given me the drive to pursue my dreams and ambitions. Thank you for having open ears listening to me ramble on about the projects I have worked on and for the encouragement when I most needed it.

v Contents

Abstract ...... ii

Acknowledgements ...... v

Contents ...... vi

List of Figures ...... viii

Chapters

1. Introduction ...... 1

1.1 The Start of Parametric Design ...... 1

1.2 Historical Context ...... 3

1.3 Recent Evidence leading to Modern Parametric Design ...... 5

2. Developments in Computation and Parametric Design ...... 12

2.1 The Modern Turn Towards the Digital ...... 12

2.2 Parameters of Simulation in Qualitative Analysis ...... 18

3. Case Studies ...... 22

3.1 Technology ...... 22

3.2 Form Finding Geometry ...... 26

3.3 Atmospheric Description ...... 30

4. Project Design ...... 33

4.1 Decisions of the Site ...... 33

vi 4.2 Engagement through Intervention ...... 36

5. Conclusion ...... 42

Bibliography ...... 44

vii

List of Figures

Figure 1 Frontispiece of Marc-Antoine Laugier: Essai sur l'architecture 2nd ed. 1755 by Charles Eisen

(1720–1778). Allegorical engraving of the Vitruvian primitive hut...... 3

Figure 2. James Dwight Dana crystal projection drawings, ca. 1830. Image credit: https://medium.com/designscience/1568-1919-6f24460d0ff8 ...... 7

Figure 3. Antoni Gaudi, Catenary model. Image credit: https://atmosphericfront.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/gaudi-catenary-curves-and-other-sources-of- inspiration/ ...... 8

Figure 4. Soap Bubble Model, Frei Otto. Image credit: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Frei-Otto-

Experimenting-with-Soap-Bubbles_fig2_318103333 ...... 9

Figure 5. Ivan Sutherland with SketchPad, ca. 1963. Image Credit: https://www.designworldonline.com/50-years-of-cad/ ...... 13

Figure 6. Abstracted Form by Mario Carpo. Image Credit: https://www.metropolismag.com/design/design-education/qa-mario-carpo-on-architectures-digital- past-and-present/ ...... 14

Figure 7. Pedestrian Simulation on MassMotion. Image Credit: Oasys ...... 20

Figure 8. Conceptual Diagram – Greg Lynn. Image Credit: Microsoft HoloLens...... 23

Figure 9. Overlaid Hologram model. Image credit: Microsoft HoloLens ...... 24

Figure 10. Physical Model from 3D print. Image Credit: Microsoft Hololens ...... 24

Figure 11. Simulation forces along path. Image Credit: Greg Lynn Form ...... 26

Figure 12. Lofted surface form. Image Credit: Greg Lynn Form ...... 26

Figure 13. Rendering of Bengbu Opera House. Image Credit: Preston Scott Cohen ...... 27

Figure 14. Geometry Finding Strategy. Image Credit: Preston Scott Cohen ...... 28

viii Figure 15. Model of Eyebeam Atelier Museum. Image Credit: Preston Scott Cohen ...... 29

Figure 16. Exterior Rendering of Concert Hall. Image Credit: Zaha Hadid Architects ...... 31

Figure 17. Section Cut Rendering of Concert Hall. Image Credit: Zaha Hadid Architects ...... 32

Figure 18. Diagrammatic Map of Pittsburgh. Image Credit: Drawn by Author ...... 34

Figure 19. Zoomed-In Site Diagram referencing Highways. Image Credit: Drawn by Author ...... 35

Figure 20. Site Diagram: Division of Site into Strips. Image Credit: Drawn by Author ...... 36

Figure 21. Site Diagram: Program Connection Points. Image Credit: Drawn by Author ...... 37

Figure 22. Site Diagram: Path Through the Site. Image Credit: Drawn by Author ...... 38

Figure 23. Site Diagram: Division of Strips. Image Credit: Drawn by Author ...... 38

Figure 24. Site Diagram: Passeggiata Path Articulation. Image Credit: Drawn by Author ...... 39

ix Chapter 1:

Introduction

1.1 The Start of Parametric Design

Parametric design and digital processes for the creation of architecture have given new thought to the way design is conceived. These strategies make use of parameters, or rules, which data and criteria are subject to in order to produce an outcome. Computation and digital design techniques provide opportunity for the advancement of architecture. The articulation of

architecture has been a fundamental aspect of civilization and a primary way people have

engaged with their environments. With the move of tribal or nomadic cultures away from hunter-

gatherer lifestyles and into a more stationary domestic system, people could now invest in the

permanence of a settlement. Through this permanence, the construction of buildings could serve

more than just the base need of shelter. Community could start to grow, and with it a sense of

architecture indicative of their ideals. This transition in history has pushed architecture to play a

large role in informing the lives of people, such as their interaction with living conditions, the act of gathering in communal space, and architecture being “expected to provide culture with stasis.”1 The idea of architecture being this “concrete and useful vocation of building shelters for

dwelling” brings forth the need to continuously reassess itself.2 The worlds of architecture and

art in this sense have been in a state of constant intersection and cross contamination relating to

1 Greg Lynn, Animate Form, (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1999), 9. 2 Georges Teyssot, “The Mutant Body of Architecture,” in Flesh: Architectural Probes (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1994), 8.

what they mean for society.3 Advancements in thought about space and its use are partnered

with the advancement of technology, such as the use of the printing press to accelerate the spread of information through writing or the invention of the automobile with its push towards the streamlined design scheme. Even in modern modes of design, the application of new technology has found its way into the world of architecture, both for use in creating better systems that comprise architecture, such as integrating sustainable or passive design

philosophies into building envelopes and site conditions, but also in the initial stages of the design

process itself. Frank Gehry is one of the prominent figures with work from the 1990’s showing

how the use of computer technologies, such as CATIA and CAD based software, can be

informative and instrumental at the conceptual stage of architecture. Parametric strategies and

computation have become some of most advanced realms of study regarding design, especially

in the development of building structures and related systems. Not only can parametric

structures be utilized for their ability to focus streams of quantitative data into design processes,

but these parameters can be used to influence the spatial performance and human interaction

regarding perception within a space.

The term parametric, as stated being the set of rules through which operations are carried

out, was first really defined in the field of architecture by Luigi Moretti in the 1940’s. Moretti

primary used the idea of parametric relationships to define the dependence of dimension on one

another.4 The typical example used to describe how Moretti used parametricism is in a stadium;

here the data of viewing angles, economic cost of material, seating arrangements, etc. as the

3 Teyssot, “The Mutant Body of Architecture,” 8. 4 A. Peteinarelis and S. Yiannoudes, “Algorithmic Thinking in Design and Construction” (London, UK: Imperial House Publishers, 2016), pp. 19-27, 19.

inputs, parameters, for the design.5 The description of parametric architecture used here by

Moretti is what would become the more widely used definition.

1.2 Historical Context

Structure is a term that has an important connection with architecture. Any advancement in architecture often requires new methods of building to be established. These methods can range in scope, from the design of new structural systems for weight distribution or force

control6, to new discoveries in material science and

updates to construction methods. In the historical

context of architecture, underlying structural

systems have played a significant role in informing

and augmenting the perception of buildings and

space. The theoretical primitive hut, first proffered

by Abbot Marc-Antoine Laugier, is an architectural

concept meant to define the absolute basic needs of

a person for which architecture provides (Figure 1).

The structure of this hut, made of only beam,

column, and pitched roof, explains how architecture

is in its most basic state a naturalistic advancement

Figure 1 Frontispiece of Marc-Antoine Laugier: Essai sur l'architecture 2nd ed. 1755 by Charles Eisen (1720– from a simplistic idea meant to act for human 1778). Allegorical engraving of the Vitruvian primitive hut.

5 Daniel Davis, “A History of Parametric,” Web Log. Daniel Davis (blog), August 6, 2013, https://www.danieldavis.com/a-history-of-parametric/. 6 The term force here is in relation to seismic forces and wind load forces that act on a building.

comfort.7 Able to be seen in a realized context, this architectural design of the primitive hut is

evident in the structure of classical Greek temples; it acts as the diagram for a design strategy

related to buildings of high importance to a culture.

It is the fulfillment of these most basic needs that allowed humankind to develop more

intrinsic, complex, and ultimately beautiful places and space for habitation. The ancient cultures

of the Greeks and Romans defined new ideas in structural technology that aided in the creation

of space found within their city walls and across the country sides. The Greek world created the

designation of the classical orders, which informed much of the construction and detailing of

their temple architecture (extrapolated as a form of parameters). Use of the orders defined both

the articulation of structural components of the temples and a sense of characterization based

on accepted conventions.8 Later, the Roman Empire spread over a vast distance, around the

Mediterranean and saw developments such as the castrum or idealized city plan, the Roman arch

and barrel vault, as well as new forms of government and civic engagement. Domes, arches,

arcades, atriums, these progressive moves in the structural creation of space pushed architecture

to be more than that of a primitive hut, it started to give space meaning and purpose.

In later history, the development of Gothic architecture brought a new system of design

constraints and options to structure. With “prodigious structural innovation based on the pointed

arch, ribbed vault, and flying buttress,” this new style of architecture took on a new

characteristic.9 This form of structural design eventually fell to the wayside, and architecture

7 Jackie Craven, “The Primitive Hut,” ThoughtCo., https://www.thoughtco.com/primitive-hut-essentials-of- architecture-178084 8 Richard Weston, 100 Ideas That Changed Architecture (London: Laurence King Publishing, 2011), 24. 9 Weston, 100 Ideas, 86.

would return to a similar state as it had been before. However, it is still pertinent to review the

building designed in the Gothic style, and the later Gothic Revival, as their augmentation of

existing structural systems brought forth a new understand of design considerations with current

technology. The cathedral designs based in the Gothic structure required certain elements to be

placed in certain location, thus creating a set of parameters through which a functioning building

could rise.

The advancement of structural systems and aesthetic systems became the definition of styles throughout architectural history. Without consideration of the advancement of structure, the advancement of architecture becomes inhibited. Although the forces that intersect with architecture are wide ranging from the formal, spatial, social, cultural, and tectonic, structure remains at the core of the discipline.

1.3 Recent Evidence leading to Modern Parametric Design

The ideas that lay the groundwork for parametric modelling with regards to the development

of structure have been around for many years. History has proven when it comes to design, the

act of replication and augmentation will benefit the further discovery and identification of

important factors relative to that design philosophy. Computation and parametric use in digital

design is also subject to this history of replication. The ideas behind what is considered

parametric design can take two paths when history is reviewed; either historical works are

themselves a produce of parametric-adjacent processes, or they are not at all considered

parametric at all. The discussion of new structural devices found in the architecture of ancient

Greece and Roman was predicated on the idea that all architecture is derived from

“parameters,”10 or in any case guided by a distinct set of rules. Going back in history to the studies of Vitruvius and Palladio regarding the design of Classical architecture, their thinking on the

subject can be considered to expound upon this on parametric-adjacent regulation of design.

These architects performed analysis of the classical ruins and from them set up guiding rules for

the creation of a Classical building or space, thus following a set of parameters and data to be

using in determining the finalized design. However, this historical reclassification of architecture

into terms of being or not being parametric is not a focus for this thesis. Instead, the analysis of

parametric design here will look at it as being “concerned with the management of the relations

between the parameters that define a geometric structure in the design process.”11

This process is mentioned to explain how history has made use of parametric ideas, its

development into a sense of modern strategies, its advantages, and its overall evolution. While

many of the buildings designed under a Palladian architecture can be said to follow a set rule of

parameters, articulation is still available for ingenuity and uniqueness. Parametricism is a strong tool for iteration, with this iteration providing quick feedback that can be replicated. With the act

of replication in concept, most any design strategy has been considered or attempted, and it is through the idea not of copying, but of studying and learning from the past to determine how to further design for the future. The root ideas that are inherent to parametric strategies have been studies long before the invention of the computer. The term parametric was not new with the creation of the computer or of the digital realm most equate it with today. In its more basic sense, to be parametric is to formulate an outcome to in terms of parameters set in mathematical

10 Parameters here referring to the idea that the set of rules that governed the creation of ancient architecture could be described as a parametric ruleset. 11 A. Peteinarelis and S. Yiannoudes, “Algorithmic Thinking in Design and Construction,”, 20.

equations. Examples of representative strategies written in the field of mathematics in the 19th

century have been seen as the source of the term “parametric,” while the mentioned work of

Moretti express the term in relation to its three-dimensional application with architecture.12

James Dwight Dana, an American geologist and mineralogist, is another prominent figure who

wrote in 1837 about using a system of parametric drawing decisions in order to accurately represent a crystalline form (Figure 2). His writing detailed the steps for drawing crystal with

Figure 2. James Dwight Dana crystal projection drawings, ca. 1830. Image credit: https://medium.com/designscience/1568- 1919-6f24460d0ff8

12 Davis, “A History of Parametric”

7 provided range and variation in the ratios relative to other outcomes.13 In this way, Dana was expressing the parameters that needed to be followed to determine the projected drawing outcome. These parameters had designed into them the ability to change, thus allowing for outcome variability. Dana’s rules foreshadow what would become the standard logic behind computational parametric design.

Whether it was a conscious act on their

part, similar types of ideas relevant to those

discussed regarding parametric design can be

seen in the work of Antoni Gaudi and Frei Otto.

Their works, while not done with digital means,

explored ideas using the inherent parametric

nature of processes. The projects they began to

experiment with functioned under the explicit

principles of what it means to be parametric.14

Gaudi made use of catenary arches through the

study of inverted chain, simulating the Figure 3. Antoni Gaudi, Catenary model. Image credit: https://atmosphericfront.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/gaudi- structural shape needed for arches and was catenary-curves-and-other-sources-of-inspiration/ able to instantly re-calculate those shapes by moving the end points for the chains and the placement of weights (Figure 3). These tests augmented the mathematical calculations needed create the paraboloids and hyperbolic curves

13 Davis, “A History of Parametric” 14 Davis, “A History of Parametric”

Gaudi became famous for. Gaudi’s work exhibits an aspect of parametric design not yet discussed: its use in giving architecture an aesthetic quality. In a sense, Gaudi’s work is loud, over the top, ecstatic. Its grandiose detailing and figural gestures captivate the viewer and instill a notion of wonder and delirium.15 His buildings used the inherent principles of parametric design to engage the architecture in an artform. The forms became a way to communicate the essence

of the buildings.

Similar to Gaudi, Frei Otto developed a strategy to make use of lightweight structures and

tension forces for the creation of large coverings for space. In contrast to Gaudi’s parabolic curves

through chain and weight, Otto used soap bubbles to study forms of tensegrity16 in minimal surface patches (Figure 4). Otto’s work with temporary forms were produced from set structural points, using stretched flexible materials to make draped connections.17 Both of these architects

Figure 4. Soap Bubble Model, Frei Otto. Image credit: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Frei-Otto-Experimenting-with- Soap-Bubbles_fig2_318103333

15 Esther Raventos-Pons, “Gaudi’s Architecture: A Poetic Form,” in Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal 35, no. 4 (2002), 206 16 This is a structural principle focused on individual components set into a network of compression inside a network of continuous tension. 17 Anna Winston, “Frei Otto: a Life in Projects,” Dezeen, March 11, 2015, https://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/11/frei-otto-a-life-in-projects/.

9 described their parametric work with generated forms in physical models. The use of models like this “follows and inverse logic… in advance of any definitive quantitative determination.”18

Before the time of fast computer technology, the use of physical model was really the only way to perform such numerous calculations required to produce the forms created by Gaudi and Otto.

Analog systems provide a richer material generation of the mathematics used in parametric design, and still play a role in modern dynamic experimentation.19

Parameters are guiding data sets, but that are not to be taken as result in its entirety. A designer’s intuition must come into play for a space to work, or it will fall into a lifeless shell composed of data. The use of parametric design systems can range in scale for any project, from a simple detail to articulation of larger scale massing and dimensional relationship to full site and context integration. The use of parametric or computational systems are tools with which design decisions are realized, they are under the control of the architect. While they are tools with a great potential, there is still the need to engage those potentials by drawing decisive conclusions through direction of the way the tool is utilized.20

The theories and analyses of architecture and its range of purpose is ever expanding. With each new development in technology and thought, a new realm of theoretical application is perceived. In this document, I aim to explore that new realm of discipline in the field of architecture and computational design with its regard to the formation of geometries and the designation of a connective site for public engagement. Setting up the stage for discussion, I will

18 Jesse Reiser & Nanako Utemoto, Atlas of Novel Tectonics, 1st ed. (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2006), 150 19 Jesse Reiser & Nanako Utemoto, Atlas of Novel Tectonics, 153 20 Patrik Schumacher, "Parametricism And the Autopoiesis Of Architecture." Log, no. 21 (2011): 62-79, 78.

10 address published works and writings regarding the digital and its application to architecture.

Case studies will be analyzed to further define how parametric processes can and have made an impact on the built world. Description of the final project, the culmination of this research, will detail the steps taken to define the problem for the project, the selection of programmatic elements, the articulation of the parametric structure related to the needs of that program, and the final detailing of the building as a full composition.

Chapter 2:

Developments in Computation and Parametric Design

2.1 The Modern Turn Towards the Digital

Since the time that civilization found a way to satisfy our basic needs, those persons responsible for the design and construction of architecture have pursued a further understanding of the medium in ways that address how space is considered. Toward the end of the twentieth century, the application of the computer and digital techniques grew to the point of becoming paramount to the future of architecture by professionals. Understanding digital technologies has become a fundamental skill for architects and designers. Computer modelling and the use of parameters to define the constraints by which a process will run were paramount to the widespread adoptions of digital design. This process has applications beyond just that of computer representation but allows for the fabrication of real parts for study and production.

Even at this point, the use of controlled milling machines was an available technology.21 This use of fabrication methods is useful both for its ability to provide mock-ups of modelled pieces in a real world setting but will also further define the methods final construction with little issue.

Digital scripting is another method of production that goes almost hand in hand with that of parametric design ideas. The formulation of code allows for quicker communication to the computer system and can read updated much quicker, generating a greater variation of results.22

The evolution of Computer Aided Design (CAD) software in the 1980’s not only allowed for the

21 Mario Carpo, The Second Digital Turn: Design beyond Intelligence, 1st ed (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2017), 3. 22 A. Peteinarelis and S. Yiannoudes, “Algorithmic Thinking in Design and Construction,” 21.

quicker production of drawings and materials

for the construction of a building but allowed for

the designer to explore at a deeper level the

creation of buildings altogether. Evidence of

these technologies first started to appear in the

1960s-70s, with the development of the

software SketchPad.23 Written by Ivan Figure 5. Ivan Sutherland with SketchPad, ca. 1963. Image Credit: https://www.designworldonline.com/50-years-of-cad/ Sutherland, the purpose of sketchpad was to create a system with better accessibility to new users. As a new form of computational communication, this system introduced the idea of inputs and outputs to programs, enabling interpretations of new data drawn on a computer display (Figure 5).24 As SketchPad was one of

the first computer design systems to be created, its story is close to the heart of modern

parametric programs. Sutherland wanted to create a program that still contained the element of

fun, that is by using the program there was still an enjoyment factor experience by the user.

Taking the system described in his thesis further would start to constitute work rather than the

fun it was designed to explore.25 In part, this is a reason a part of the appeal of parametric design

or computational processes, it makes design more intriguing and fun for the designer.

23 Davis, “A History of Parametric.” 24 Ivan Edward Sutherland, “Sketchpad: A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System” (dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1963), 9. 25 Evan Yates, “Design World,” Design World (blog), February 13, 2013, https://www.designworldonline.com/50- years-of-cad/.

SketchPad, and the later programs it inspired, gave design professionals the ability to create the parameters seen in the works of Gaudi, Otto, and others, but also to experiment with new parameters of their choice. These new rules were no longer tied to physical models for their calculations and iteration. Theoretically any rule could now be explored for its potential. Mario

Carpo, an architectural historian and critic, was one of the first people to advocate for the widespread adoption of computers and digital processes in architecture when personal computer ownership started to become more popular and affordable. He was one of the major activists in the 1990’s expressing the new ways in which. In Carpo’s book, The Second Digital Turn: Design

Beyond Intelligence,26 he expresses his ideas on what the computer provides to design (Figure 6).

Carpo writes, “Architects adopted digital technologies earlier, and more wholeheartedly, than

Figure 6. Abstracted Form by Mario Carpo. Image Credit: https://www.metropolismag.com/design/design-education/qa-mario- carpo-on-architectures-digital-past-and-present/

26 Carpo, The Second Digital Turn, 1.

14 any other profession or craft…many key principles of the digital revolution have been interpreted, developed, popularized, if not outright invented by architects and designers.”27

Through the examination of Carpo’s own work, the major points of interest he found important in digital design become apparent. In the early days of computational design, the application of human science informed what operations the computer carried out; however, the change occurred to now let the computer create its own science, to let it carry out processes in its own way.28 Much of the design work of Mario Carpo is abstracted forms generated by lines, vectors, and nodes, as shown in Figure 6 on the previous page. Some of the works gets into abstracted sculpture, playing more off the traditional notions of architecture. The rise of new modes of computation can lead to a sense of overload of knowledge in order to properly tackle the notions in parametricism. However, this is part of the beauty of parametric strategies.

Architects, much like chefs, do not fully need a comprehensive understanding of the most minute happening of their work. It is the understanding of the process, and the effects of that process on result that need be understood.29

Explorations into the digital and parametric realms has also better enabled designers to understand complex geometries. These geometries are the new forms through which architecture and space is created. Geometries of architecture have revolved around the use of platonic solids, noticeable by their rigid edges and hermetic figures. These formed the base primitives of buildings.30 The use of computation and parametricism allowed architecture to

27 Carpo, The Second Digital Turn, 96 28 Carpo, The Second Digital Turn, 7 29 Jesse Reiser & Nanako Utemoto, Atlas of Novel Tectonics, 168-170 30 Schumacher, Patrik. "Parametricism And the Autopoiesis Of Architecture." Log, no. 21 (2011): 62-79, 73.

break away from these primitives, to work with series of new formal typologies – those of the spline, blob, nurbs surface. These figures followed an imbedded mathematical logic to them, and the change to that math would provide a resultant change in figural form.

Architecture for so long has had to grapple with the constraints of motion, looking into the way people move through the space created and the inability to provide active motion in architecture itself. The questions of static versus dynamic design have been found in a different perspective in this digital age. Architects and designers have been exploring concepts of motion and attempting to incorporate dynamism in form-making for decades. The processes of

computer aided design workflows can now use ideas of dynamic form in the conception of a

building. Greg Lynn follows in a similar school of thought to that of Carpo, but with his own

interpretation on digital applications to design. Through the lens of animation as a counterpart

to motion, Lynn explores the idea of evolution in form and shape and sees this mode as an

expression of “architecture’s deepest embedded assumptions”31 relating to structure. His notion

behind what is animate form address those ideas that are connected to architecture, its presence

as a timeless monument of inert status meant to exhibit a sense of the time when it was built but

respond to the changes of the future. There is a constant association that architecture must

remain this permanent entity that must embody the characteristics of the culture and time where

it exists. Lynn proposes architecture as a product not for the continuity of time, but with the

application of time apparent.32 This sense of elongated purpose in architecture still stands as an

urban factor, where buildings are not designed to last forever like they were before.

31 Greg Lynn, Animate Form, (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1999), 9 32 Lynn, Animate Form, 15

Motion, time, space, gravity, these can be seen as parameters through which architecture

is explored, evaluated, and designed. Animate design, as Lynn refers to it, works on the basis of

acceptance between motion and force at strategic vectors with influence on formal conception.33

Here there is a split between the forms in which the term motion is considered. Motion, as Lynn

expresses it, can be revealed either through procession or superimposition.34 Procession relies

on the architecture to be fully static, with fixed relational frames of program and user. The use

of motion to reveal itself in the superimposition of images into a form roots itself in history with

the work of Sigfried Giedion.35 This superimposition is an expression of the dynamic nature of

motion that can only be revealed through context in time. Motion in any case is a result of force,

whether it is an applied force of solvers in a computational system or the forcing of perspective

shifts while viewing the architecture. As architecture has been discussed as static, the use of this

technique presents the view with the ability to piece the motion together, to interpret the form

created; Lynn refers to this as “a dialectic definition of motion that assumes that matter is inert

while our experience of it involves movement.”36

In a world of ever evolving circumstances, why should architecture not follow suit? The advancement of architecture strategies is not locked into the stereotomic processes of its time.

The origin of the design process itself becomes abstracted with the introduction of parametric thought.37 Parametricism can be part of key to expanding the perception of architecture beyond

33 Lynn, Animate Form, 11 34 Lynn, Animate Form, 11 35 Lynn, Animate Form, 11 36 Lynn, Animate Form, 13 37 Lynn, Animate Form, 39

17 being a static object and reach towards motion and a dynamic rhythm superimposed with the logic of design requirements.

2.2 Parameters of Simulation in Qualitative Analysis

The use of parametric design has a very wide range of applications. Parametric design starts with the selection of the most important or applicable parameters to the determined problem and using them as the guidelines that will inform and mold the process of design. The use of parameters to help with the design of buildings and addressing of space needs data to manipulate and find outcomes. The subjectivity of the design process is not a new condition, thus the answer to a design problem is left to the professional and their assessment. Iteration is a very important step in the use of parametric design as it allows for the study of different outcomes. Exploring multiple studies with similar basic outlines allows the parametric modelling scheme to derive multiple outcomes and provides the opportunity to fine tune the data flow for towards a wanted result. At the initial conception of a project, what are determined to be the important parameters falls to the individual designer or the individual project. Architecture is a response to human needs - for the need of space and comfort. In design projects, this identification of function and spatial layout can be considered parameters in the computation process. Program, spatial height and width, and relationship between space further constitute some of these basics in design needs, while more complexly determined data sets can be added to this list, such as movement, tension and release, and spatial quality. While the ideas that have grown into the current thought of parametric design deal with issues greater that these, they can still be viewed as basic parameters through which a solution must calculate, promoting the historical context that almost

18 any building design is based on a parametric model. If the scale of the underlying building dimensions or use changes, so will the rest of the detailed work.

Evaluation of the quality of a space has no distinct singular answer and must also undergo the same sense of contemplation. The use of different parameters can provide feedback about how the spatial qualities are developing through design iteration, and because of their adjustable nature will allow for quick changes to further understand their impact on the design quality as a whole or in parts. Qualitative modes of design require a more fine-tuned expression for parametric calculation. The indication of something being qualitative implies that the data references how it impacted the subject, through emotional for experiential means. It is important though that spatial design and performance are extremely important to the use of architecture, and the parametric strategies that define those conditions will in turn feed into the quality of the architecture.

In the designation of the parameters defining the conditions of space, forms of computational analysis, namely simulation, become important steps in the process. The application of simulations in form generation and structure have also began to arise with the growth of digital design software. This technique gives the chance to test both real world data factors and more arbitrary design considerations in a scheme without the need for physical models or tools. When working with digital technologies and structural form, the use of simulation to create the space and test the space brings about a new realm of visualizing design choice based on the desires for that space. The idea behind the use of simulation is to preview a resultant for analysis. This analysis will be useful in determining the relative success of the current parameter organization about the desired result, feeding information into a feedback loop.

Depending on the program used, and the skill of the program user, many different types of

simulation can be used to present more data. This digital technique is applicable in the creation

of form and formal quality. This type of simulation is used for creating massing based on a set of

parameters focused on size, orientation, programmatic relation, etc. Form finding simulation is

often used in conjunction with more standard routes of parametric design. Through this, a

parametric set of volumes can be set, and a simulation can run to augment and adjust the forms

to meet the criteria set by the input data. The simulation here takes control, running through the

path set and producing and outcome. This process then puts the designer into the role of

evaluator or critic, judging the simulation outcome.38 Pathing simulations can be run to approximate the way people will move or interact with a space (Figure 7). This can be important in determining the placement of interior elements of wayfinding within a building. To determine the path a person takes when in a space is to enforce a certain idea about the space. While the

Figure 7. Pedestrian Simulation on MassMotion. Image Credit: Oasys

38 Ming Tang, Parametric Building Design Using Autodesk Maya (London: Routledge, 2014), 94.

20 use of simulation is often to implement statistical data into a quantifiable result, this result can be used to alter the streams of data to adjust the overall quality and atmosphere of a space. The final major use of simulation techniques revolves around integrated design. The use of integrated design strategies is becoming more important as architecture is adapting to the needs of the world. Simulations can be run to determine the impact, both positive and negative, certain design strategies will have on the outcome of the building and its site. The application of these strategies can be fine-tuned as input parameters, allowing the building to start responding to its environment in a co-habitable way, instead of a purely utilitarian.

Innate to a modern understanding of parametric design, the preliminary design strategies discussed are no longer the only steps that can be taken in the conception of a project. The advancement of computation give allowance to address the qualitative nature of space, that is, the subjective idea of human interaction with the designed space. While parametric modelling, supplemented with help from other technologies like virtual reality and simulation, can articulate the spatial decisions to influence a person’s movement, the judgement of the outcome is still in the hands of the architect and their professional training. The reliance on iteration to judge outcomes is especially important here in understanding how the use of parametric design leads to making impactful decisions.

Chapter 3:

Case Studies

As important for this thesis as any design project, the use of case study research provided

a step in understand the capabilities of digital design techniques. The analysis of a wide range of work done through different series of operations or for different experiential outcomes became informative to exploring how parametric design, or at least its strategies, can be applied to a new conceptual project. The case studied described here will focus on methodical approaches: technology, form finding articulation, atmospheric description.

3.1 Technology

Greg Lynn is one of the first design professionals to embrace the use of digital technologies for the development of architecture and space. With a strong focus on the acceptance and integration of material and fabrication study, the work of his office explores the opportunities available with multiple media use in the design process. Many of the works that have been done by Lynn help to showcase his strategies and articulated use of digital design.

These projects show an augmentation of tradition design methods that have been infused with

a new digital mindset, showing the future growth of design direction.

The Center for Fulfillment, Knowledge, and Innovation was a project designed by Lynn for the

Venice Architecture Biennale in 2016 with support from Microsoft. The use of specialized

technology gave Lynn the ability for quick decision making and form adjusting. Looking at a

rehabilitation of a site where an automobile factory stood, Lynn’s idea for this project stemmed

Figure 8. Conceptual Diagram – Greg Lynn. Image Credit: Microsoft HoloLens.

from the site initial program. Since the site was that of an automobile factory, a symbol of

innovation with the invention of that machine, this project sought to transform the site based on

new modes of technology and innovation (Figure 8). According to the online news source World

Architecture, Lynn worked heavily with Microsoft and Trimble in collaboration for this project.39

It was a fitting partnership that the use of new technology, such as the HoloLens, was available

for use in the conception of this design. Lynn comments, “…mixed-reality technology and

Microsoft HoloLens bring the design to life and bridge the gap between the digital and physical.

Using this technology, I can make decisions at the moment of inception, shorten the design cycle

and improve communication with my clients.”40 This statement helps promote the idea of

technology use as a generator but also as a production element. While Lynn is primarily discussing

the implementation of virtual reality technology in the design of this project, the underlying

39 WA Contents, “Greg Lynn Transforms Detroit Car Factory with Microsoft HoloLens at Venice Biennale,” World Architecture Community (World Architecture Community, June 4, 2016), https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/cemch/greg-lynn-transforms-detroit-car-factory-with-microsoft- hololens-at-venice-biennale.html. 40 WA Contents, “Greg Lynn Transforms Detroit Car Factory with Microsoft HoloLens at Venice Biennale,” June 4, 2016.

23 conditions he is describing are part of digital design’s strengths across the spectrum (Figures 9-

10).

The site organization dealt with university buildings as the anchors with fourth story walkways leading to reconfigurable collaboration spaces.41 The 1.7-mile superhighway beneath this walkway acts as a connective tissue for transport of materials and good, and translation between the dispersed programs. Lynn plays this that idea of complex geometric relationships in

Figure 9. Overlaid Hologram model. Image credit: Microsoft HoloLens

Figure 10. Physical Model from 3D print. Image Credit: Microsoft Hololens

41 WA Contents, “Greg Lynn Transforms Detroit Car Factory with Microsoft HoloLens at Venice Biennale,” June 4, 2016.

this project. The initial geometries created play both with the concepts of simplicity and complexity. Along the idea of simple, the generalized forms are “organic,” putting focus on the smooth curvilinear shaping. This gives the chance for more noteworthy interactions between the spaces and a more captivating experience when within the building. The complexity of the design shows forth with the lattice work covering these shapes. An idea of the structure for each of these forms is expressed through the patterning on each shell. This structure is reminiscent of a wireframe view in terms of 3D modelling, which is indicative of the forms generated digitally and how they were transposed into reality. Both viewpoints develop the project into “architecture of the new complex prioritizes flow, movement and processing—an interconnected network of products, people, robots and ideas.”42

The Port Authority Triple Bridge Gateway by Lynn was one of the early projects to implement

an animation technique as a generator of design characteristics. The animation factors were

driven by “a series of 'forces' representing traffic and pedestrian flow.”43 These forces were then rendered out as spheres in the modelling program, allowing for study of their generated paths.

Further Modelling through these shapes created the spatial definition. The definitions of these

paths and space describe a relationship between the vector forces implemented and the

42 WA Contents, “Greg Lynn Transforms Detroit Car Factory with Microsoft HoloLens at Venice Biennale,” June 4, 2016 43 Greg Lynn, “GREG LYNN FORM,” GREG LYNN FORM, accessed February 2, 2021, http://glform.com/buildings/port-authority-triple-bridge-gateway-competition/.

25 subsequent design outcome. This process has become a staple of parametric design logic, where

“real world” forces or computer simulated forces work to prescribe a relation between reality and the digital process. This is a primary example of the computational potential of digital design,

Figure 11. Simulation forces along path. Image Credit: Greg Figure 12. Lofted surface form. Image Credit: Greg Lynn Form Lynn Form and the processing capabilities have only advanced since Lynn designed this structure (Figures

11-12). The new accessibility to digital tools and data manipulation through those tools leads the way to new design innovation with form finding and digital fabrication.

3.2 Form Finding Geometry

Preston Scott Cohen had an interest in the cross-collaboration of ideas between tradition architecture and this new wave of digital process when writing the book Contested Symmetries and Other Predicaments in Architecture. In a review written by Jin-Ho Park, the way Cohen designs are called challenging and experimental, conflicting yet complimentary.44 Cohen uses this book to both examine the symmetries of past architecture regarding geometry and complexity.

He then moves to exploring his own works about similar principles. Park brings up a point of

44 Jin-Ho Park, “Preston Scott Cohen - Contested Symmetries and Other Predicaments in Architecture,” Nexus Network Journal 5, no. 1 (2003): pp. 157-160, https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s00004-002-0010-8.

Cohen’s use of fundamental architecture principles in relation to their application on contemporary practice. There is a focus put on the melding of classical architecture with the use of advanced computer technology in design strategies.45

Bengbu Opera House was designed between 2012-2013 by Preston Scott Cohen and team

(Figure 13). Focused on the articulation and interconnection of site and building, this building is comprised of opera theaters, stores, classrooms, and public gather spaces. The concept for this building is the play between the public spaces and the housed program. There is a guiding force of pedestrian movement between landscape, lobby, and auditorium. This case study looks at analysis of the formal “complexities” that Cohen used as a descriptor of the social aspect of this

Figure 13. Rendering of Bengbu Opera House. Image Credit: Preston Scott Cohen

45 Park, “Preston Scott Cohen,”, 157

Figure 14. Geometry Finding Strategy. Image Credit: Preston Scott Cohen

building’s function. Cohen starts to hint at elements of the structure with the glazing elements

along the curved surfaces of this project. The intrigue with this project is the formal components

(Figure 14). The central axis bisects the building into two halves, each becoming home to a

different program element. The structural covering for these programs creates a tension

between transparent and opaque, and a geometry of fluid movement across the surface. As a building designed for public engagement, the glass entrance works to create a welcoming experience to the user. The site for this project becomes equally as important as the building proper. In Bengbu, China, this building sits on a topography surface extended out into the waterfront. According to Cohen, “the prominent waterfront site calls for a building to be seen from a great distance.”46 This constructed landscape both works to surround the building in a

46 Preston Scott Cohen, “Bengbu Opera House,” Preston Scott Cohen Inc, accessed March 8, 2021, http://www.prestonscottcohen.com/project32.html.

28 space to make it unique from the rest of the city, but also creates a space for complete engagement within the building-site composition.

The Eyebeam Atelier Museum was

designed as part of a competition in New

York City for client John Atelier (Figure 15).

The drive for this building was the integration

of data and the symbiotic relation of digital

media and architecture space. As described

on Cohen’s website, “This project aims to

exemplify and accommodate unprecedented

Figure 15. Model of Eyebeam Atelier Museum. Image Credit: applications of information technology.”47 Preston Scott Cohen This project starts to showcase the use of data in architectural forms in mechanical structures, acting on the new complexity of design achievable through computation. Contained within a rectilinear form, the interior space of this project is augmented through the application Cohen undertook to create a tension between elements. The play here with the scale of elements is the driving force in articulation of primary versus secondary structural system of analogues.

Cohen discussed this project in particular with Greg Lynn for the Canadian Centre for

Architecture. Primarily looking into the reasons Cohen decided to design this competition entry the way he did, it mostly stemmed from a formal interest in geometry that was not capable by

47 Cohen, “Eyebeam Atelier Museum”

hand.48 Cohen used the Eyebeam project as an experiment for the orientation and manipulation

of planes, lines, and disintegration of objects. The complex that arose when the structural forces

of tensegrity were applied allowed for a greater implementation of divisions in space while also

allowing for informed locations of vertical circulation to be added. The shaping created a

“dualistic construct” of surfaces, very thin with no poche.49 This project took to extremes the level of thought about computation and its determination of spatial interpretation.

3.3 Atmospheric Description

Works by Zaha Hadid Architects are known for their design aesthetic and complex geometric

forms. While her work does solely not focus on the structural aspect of the design, the complexity

of the spaces created rely on a complex structural backing. Hadid gained acclaim in 1983 with a

competition-winning entry for a recreational center in Hong Kong.50 This project is the

establishing moment of her aesthetic style, defined by its sense of movement, fragmentation,

and instability. The built work by Zaha Hadid and her firm capture an intensity for move and

articulation of form, many forms being comprised of compound curved structures. The

attunement of complex structures give a good precedent to the opportunities of computational

design.

48 Preston Scott Cohen and Greg Lynn, Preston Scott Cohen and Greg Lynn Discuss Eyebeam Atelier Museum, ed. Greg Lynn (Montreal, Quebec: Canadian Centre for Architecture, 2017). 49 Preston Scott Cohen and Greg Lynn, Preston Scott Cohen and Greg Lynn Discuss Eyebeam Atelier Museum. 50 John Zukowsky, “Zaha Hadid,” Encyclopædia Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., February 14, 2019), https://www.britannica.com/biography/Zaha-Hadid.

The Sverdlovsk Philharmonic Concert Hall project is a concert hall design by Patrik

Schumacher, principal architect for Zaha Hadid Architects. Built for Yekaterinburg, Russia, the building is one of the newer projects under this firm (Figure 16). The simple cubic containing structure sets the boundary for the building, but it is the engagement of the roof structures through the interior space that brings character to this building. The forms are meant to echo that of sound waves, working with the idea of resonance vibration off continuous curves

Figure 16. Exterior Rendering of Concert Hall. Image Credit: Zaha Hadid Architects surfaces.51 The interior concert hall theater is comprised of both stage seating and balcony seating, with the balconies designed to formally flow through the space, acting with that idea of continuity. The organization of the stage in the end of the space, and the widening of the room towards the back, allows for the further propagation of sound. The building does well to situate

51 Zaha Hadid, “Zaha Hadid Architects.” Sverdlovsk Philharmonic Concert Hall – Zaha Hadid Architects. https://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/sverdlovsk-philharmonic-concert-hall/

itself within its context, both

acting as a focal point in the

region while not disturbing its

immediate surroundings. The

formal designs of this building are

expressive of the sense of motion

discussed in the theories of Greg

Lynn. Sound itself is created Figure 17. Section Cut Rendering of Concert Hall. Image Credit: Zaha Hadid Architects through motion, that is the motion of air particles in wave forms. The use of sound as a generator for form does not only give the form a unique quality in appearance but means the interior space where the concert performances happen can better resonate throughout the space (Figure 17). This performance of architecture is a thoroughly sown idea in what parametric design provides to building and urban relationship to use.

Chapter 4

Project Design

4.1 Decisions of the Site

One of the most important parts of a design project is the selection of a site. This choice of location to study will in turn impact the decision-making process used in the intervention design.

For most all architectural project, the site provides the information needed to make informed conceptual choices. This information is responsible for determining the population of the urban areas that will interact with the site, the cultural aspect and the demographic types of these populations, and the geographic conditions that will be faced in the design project. For this thesis project, the site chosen is in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Located along the lower edge of the residential neighborhood called the Hill District, this site is a median point between multiple points of interest within the Pittsburgh urban context. The parameters here will focus creation of a new stitched fabric as a connection between the residential district and the heavy downtown urbanism; building program and coordination will arise relative to surrounding site context, addressing ease of public use of the project as well as having the project “fit in” with its context.

This site, referred to as the Lower Hill District, is located at a seemingly important crossroads between important points of infrastructure throughout Pittsburgh. The decisions to use this site as the location through with an intervention is considered for this thesis is due to this interesting locational value and its history as a public space. As part of the existing composition that makes up Pittsburgh, the Lower Hill District lays at the bottom of the topographic hill from which it gets

Figure 18. Diagrammatic Map of Pittsburgh. Image Credit: Drawn by Author its name. At this location in Pittsburgh once stood the Mellon Arena, a large domed arena that was home to the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team. This arena helped to designate the site as one of shared community, as place to gather for entertainment purposes. With the demolition of the arena, the remaining terrain was converted into parking lots to service the new PPG Arena, located across thew road. Above this site, on the hill is the Hill District, is a residential neighborhood consisting of a majority black resident who were displaced from the city proper during the 1920s-1940s. This influx of new residents brough life into the community, becoming a home to a grow jazz circuit and being named among the most prosperous and influential of Black

communities.52 To the west of the

site stands the downtown business

region of the city. Between these

two locations run a band of

highways, creating a perceived split

between what is considered

downtown and what is beyond

(Figure 19). To the south is located Figure 19. Zoomed-In Site Diagram referencing Highways. Image Credit: Drawn by Author Duquesne University, adjacent to the labeled uptown extents of the city. Consideration of these factors as distributed pieces of an urban whole, the lower hill location has the great potential to become an important location of interest.

As discussed throughout this thesis, the use of parametric design strategies relies on the use of identified parameters through which the process goes. The diagrammatic study the site helps to define a portion of the parameters that can be used in order to create an intervention that addresses the existing context of the site. Understanding the related locations and history of the site are only part of the analysis, getting into the infrastructure and social order help complete the picture.

52 “The History of the Hill,” Hill Community Development Corp, accessed March 9, 2021, https://www.hilldistrict.org/history.

4.2 Engagement through Intervention

Discussion of the site is the first step in determining how to progress in design of an

intervention, iteration is the next. The context in which this site is placed starts to indicate it as

an important location in the city of Pittsburgh. To start the design integration, site wide decisions

should be made. These decisions help to bind the site together as a full intervention, and into a

singular projection of how the site can impact he greater urban condition (Figure 20). Looking to the proposal done by OMA and Rem Koolhaas for the Parc de la Villette competition, the creation of bands or strips across the site work to help organize the interchange between material application and programmatic division. While OMA had to deal with a site condition and a set program requirement through the competition entry, their gesture of the strips addressed the

Figure 20. Site Diagram: Division of Site into Strips. Image Credit: Drawn by Author

36 programmatic zones as categories of theme or discovery garden, playground, etc.53 The intervention proposed here for Pittsburgh is not set with a defined programmatic need, but the way OMA deals with the addition and distinction of program lends important ideas to how the strips articulate the site. The dimension of the strips is another important factor, as they can

“facilitate change and replacement without disruption and to create fixed points for the infrastructure.”54

With the way in which the site wide intervention discussed, how is the actual landscape to be addressed (Figure 21)? Based on the topography of the site, a series of terraces implemented to follow the change in the ground conditions, with the primary direction running

Figure 21. Site Diagram: Program Connection Points. Image Credit: Drawn by Author

53 Rem Koolhaas and Bruce Mau, “Congestion Without Matter: Parc De La Villette, Paris, France, 1982,” in S, M, L, XL, ed. Jennifer Sigler (New York, NY: The Monacelli Press, 1995), pp. 894-935. 54 Koolhaas, “Congestion Without Matter,” 923.

along the strips parallel to the main road Crawford Street along the northeastern/eastern edge

of the site. These terraces were further divided into smaller segments along the length, allowing

for a greater degree of response to the change in ground level. While the terraces are used to engage the topography, they also can serve as a method of delineation in exterior programmatic layout. Through the addition of smaller striations, a texture of materials can be applied to the terraces, giving the strips and the site landscaping as a whole a character of interest to promote engagement. From the OMA example, this is a further breakdown of the strip dimension and allows for a more in-depth organization of elements across the site.

One of the main themes that is being implemented in the design intervention for this site is the notion of performance, both by the space and by the people in it (Figures 22-23). This

performance is part of the idea of using the site to stitch together the existing urban fabric of

downtown Pittsburgh and the residential neighborhood of the Hill District. Towards the

southwestern edge of the site runs the highway system, almost dividing the downtown from the

rest of the city. These highways run at a much lower ground level than the lowest point

topographically on the site, and the creation of a new public park spanning over the highways

Figure 22. Site Diagram: Path Through the Site. Image Credit: Figure 23. Site Diagram: Division of Strips. Image Credit: Drawn by Author Drawn by Author

38 can be used in the integration of this idea of connective stitching. This park, hereafter referred to as a cap park, provides both a destination for persons moving from the residential neighborhood towards the city and vice versa.

Using this new cap park as a major destination point, focus moves towards a more direct system for connection, the use of a footpath provides passage through the site itself. This path weaves across the strip divisions created on the site. Instead of being resigned to just a place of transportation, this path alters, constricting and expanding, to create pockets of movement and open space (Figure 24). The term passeggiata has been the driving focus for how this path acts as the central figure of this intervention. From the Italian language, passeggiata means a stroll or walk, but in action it is a form of art. It regards the gathering of people in performance and procession, and it accentuates the splendor of public space. The ideas of community, movement,

Figure 24. Site Diagram: Passeggiata Path Articulation. Image Credit: Drawn by Author

39 and performance captured in this term almost perfectly articulate what the Lower Hill District of

Pittsburgh can mean for the city.

The placement and articulation of building space and program further develops this site into a sought-after location. Returning to the OMA Parc de la Villette project, the needed program was expressed through the strips banding the site, but also through smaller elements scattered across the site. The use mathematical establishing techniques provided the locations where these smaller elements were to be places. Thinking parametrically, OMA used the factors of frequency, area served, optimum number of points, and distribution as the driving components in the mathematical grids and layouts.55 The primary program components selected for this thesis design project deal with the expanse of the residential neighborhood onto the site as well as connections formed to the close commercial areas and the nearby arena. To compliment this residential sector and further promote the social orientation of the path and cap park, the designation of a commercial region, comprised of bars and cafes, enhance the public use. This area provides a connection on the site to the existing PPG Arena, another important place of existing infrastructure this project can respond to. Parametricism has been the architectural idea expressed throughout this thesis, and it is the primary idea used in the articulation of the building designs for this site. As the site is located near the downtown region of Pittsburgh, view corridors towards the urban jungle and rivers beyond are an important factor in considering the building placement on site and interior arrangement. For the lower building levels that may not be subject to attunement to views, their interaction with the exterior site

55 Koolhaas, “Congestion Without Matter,” 925.

40 usage become important. The concerns through which the parametric or the computation design techniques can function deal with blending the sense of interior and exterior spaces, pushing for an engagement of site and building that extends beyond placement of a building within the site.Parametric design has the opportunity here to augment how the buildings interact with the site landscaping conditions. Informing the space through complex geometries factors into the performance of the space, enhancing the idea of passeggiata with the main site path. The interior program of the built structures can relate back to the geometry of form, playing off the complexity. In the end, the use of parametric design methods allows for a more intensive connection between the organization of the site components, whether they be exterior elements or larger built geometric forms. The ability to relate these pieces of architecture together gives the project a full sense of coherence, unifying its presence in the larger context of Pittsburgh’s urban development and creating a space where people will want to be.

Chapter 5

Conclusion

The history of architecture has seen it change with time and invention, adjusting and adapting to the needs of the time. This latest shift in paradigms leading to an adopting of computational techniques and parametricism has pushed architects and designers into a whole new world of formal exploration, connective decision, and atmospheric prescription. These ideas of the parametric have roots in the science and math of design throughout the ages. Th works of ancient Greek and Roman temples followed a determined set of rules, which augmented and grew more complex as new structural forms were implemented. The later mathematical application of the term parametric gave it the definition and rule-based system that would be adopted for architectural or design discussion. Early works of architects such as Antoni Gaudi and

Frei Otto showed how extensive parametric ideas can be used in the design of buildings and space. Their works captured parametricism through physical models as ways to explore the natural properties of form and physics. While not fully encompassing of the ideas of parametric or computational design, these early studies showed the effectiveness of setting rules through which a resultant geometry is generated.

Since the 1990’s, with the writings of Mario Carpo and the projects of Greg Lynn or Zaha

Hadid and Patrik Schumacher, the use of parametric design systems has only grown more expansive. The roots of these programs dated to the 1960’s and SketchPad express the history and progression of computational systems related to the fields of design and architecture. These

42 systems allow for a much greater exploration into the design, control, and outcome of forms previously unattainable.

Through this research, the thesis project here aimed to explore how the use of parametric architectural ideas to engage in a full site intervention. This intervention looked to inform and promote a sense of performance within the space, through the alterations of the site with terraces and the progression of a central path through the site. Building forms, program, and connection with the site can be created and finely tuned in order to further the idea of performance and blend the conditions of interior and exterior space. The use of parametric design allows for the thorough coordination of elements and the ability to iterate on design to produce an interesting final scheme.

The use of parametric design or computational systems has had a history of furthering the capabilities of architects and designers for decades. The paradigm shift brought about by the widespread dissemination of personal computing capabilities and the creation of complex software has enabled a new form of architecture to emerge. This form is based on history and theory, but made unique through its ability to create unique, engaging, and responsive decisions.

Parametric systems are tools for the creation of architecture, and through them the knowledge and expertise of professionals can change the way architecture is seen and felt in the world.

Bibliography:

Bois, Yve-Alain, and Rosalind E. Krauss. Formless: A User's Guide. New York, NY: Zone Books, 1998.

Carpo, Mario. The Second Digital Turn: Design Beyond Intelligence. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England: MIT Press, 2017. doi: 10.2307/j.ctt1w0db6f.

Cohen, Preston Scott. “Bengbu Opera House.” Preston Scott Cohen Inc. Accessed March 8, 2021. http://www.prestonscottcohen.com/project32.html.

Cohen, Preston Scott, and Greg Lynn. Preston Scott Cohen and Greg Lynn Discuss Eyebeam Atelier Museum. Edited by Greg Lynn. Montreal, Quebec: Canadian Centre for Architecture, 2017.

Contents, World Architecture. “Greg Lynn Transforms Detroit Car Factory with Microsoft HoloLens at Venice Biennale.” World Architecture Community. World Architecture Community, June 4, 2016. https://worldarchitecture.org/architecture-news/cemch/greg- lynn-transforms-detroit-car-factory-with-microsoft-hololens-at-venice-biennale.html.

Craven, Jackie. "The Primitive Hut - Essentials of Architecture." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/primitive-hut-essentials-of-architecture-178084 (accessed February 2, 2021).

Davis, Daniel. “A History of Parametric.” Web log. Daniel Davis (blog), August 6, 2013. https://www.danieldavis.com/a-history-of-parametric/.

Diller, Elizabeth, Ricardo Scofidio, and Georges Teyssot. “The Mutant Body of Architecture.” Essay. In Flesh: Architectural Probes, 08–35. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1994.

Koolhaas, Rem, and Bruce Mau. “Congestion Without Matter: Parc De La Villette, Paris, France, 1982.” Essay. In S, M, L, XL, edited by Jennifer Sigler, 894–935. New York, NY: The Monacelli Press, 1995.

Lynn, Greg, and Hani Rashid. Architectural Laboratories. Rotterdam: NAi, 2002.

Lynn, Greg. Animate Form. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 1999.

Lynn, Greg, and Gage, Mark Foster. Composites, Surfaces, and Software: High Performance Architecture. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2011.

Lynn, Greg. Greg Lynn Form. Accessed March 8, 2021. http://glform.com/buildings/port- authority-triple-bridge-gateway-competition/.

Park, Jin-Ho. “Preston Scott Cohen-Contested Symmetries and Other Predicaments in Architecture.” Nexus Network Journal 5, no. 1 (2003): 157–60. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s00004-002-0010-8.

Peteinarelis, A, and S Yiannoudes. “Parametricism vs Materialism: Evolution of Digital Technologies for Development,” 19–27. London, UK: Imperial House Publishers, 2016.

Raventós-Pons, Esther. "Gaudí's Architecture: A Poetic Form." Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal 35, no. 4 (2002): 199-212. Accessed March 1, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44029973.

Reiser, Jesse, and Nanako Umemoto. Atlas of Novel Tectonics. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2012.

Schumacher, Patrik. "Parametricism And the Autopoiesis Of Architecture." Log, no. 21 (2011): 62-79.

Sutherland, Ivan Edward. “Sketchpad: A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System.” Dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1963.

Tang, Ming. Parametric Building Design Using Autodesk Maya. London: Routledge, 2014.

“The History of the Hill.” Hill Community Development Corp. Accessed March 9, 2021. https://www.hilldistrict.org/history.

Weston, Richard. 100 Ideas That Changed Architecture. London: Laurence King Publishing, 2011.

Winston, Anna. “Frei Otto: A Life in Projects.” Dezeen, March 11, 2015. https://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/11/frei-otto-a-life-in-projects/.

Vigo, Julian. “Parametric Architecture's Embrace of New Technology.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine, June 16, 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/julianvigo/2019/06/16/parametric- architectures-embrace-of-new-technology/.

Yates, Evan. “50 Years of CAD.” Design World (blog), February 13, 2013. https://www.designworldonline.com/50-years-of-cad/.

“Zaha Hadid Architects.” Sverdlovsk Philharmonic Concert Hall – Zaha Hadid Architects. Accessed March 14, 2021. https://www.zaha-hadid.com/architecture/sverdlovsk- philharmonic-concert-hall/.

Zukowsky, John. “Zaha Hadid.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., February 14, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Zaha-Hadid.