Intelligent Formation presents an experimental approach to sustainable building design

“Overview from the public plaza”

Do we have to step backwards to build sustainable or could we further develop our understanding of the build environment by creating buildings that mediate their surroundings in an intelligent way?

“Overview of kennedy”

The project takes its offset in the design of a sustainable housing complex located in Aalborg on a borderline between the dense city and an unrefined industrial area. We investigate an innovative direction for the future design of a city, where a holistic approach to sustainability is the main driver.

“Elevation from south”

“Elevation from south-east”

“Model of Elevation”

Light becomes the heart in how we pecieve, see, and feel spaces. Therefor it must be a demand to create and arrange the rays of light not solely to depend on a uniform datascape of measurable properties, but as a space-creating property implemented with intention.

“Sculpting spaces with light”

The strategy for an integrated building design should focus on the modulation of the interior condition by means of building envelope geometry.
When designing according to the demands of climate it becomes crucial to be able to navigate through interconnected parameters and understand there influences on each other.

An approach relying on the potentials of digital technologies, can be the way to achieve an overview and to create a link between form exploration and environmental performance.

“A python script is written inside Grasshopper, to interactively design the spaces according to the vision of light and energy”

“Screen capture, showing the prcoess in realtime”

The creation of a dwelling that mediates the environment in its broadest sense. The search for shelter and the search for light, implemented in a single conceptual system. Where environmental relations are explored on several scales, and the setup of the facade plays an important role in the iterative exploration, of a relationship between apartment layout and exterior environment.

“3D section & interior render of student apartment”

“3D section & interior render of family apartment”

“Model of apartment facade”

The courtyard as a social generator is an important factor in both projects, while the mediation between the two environments differs. We want to use the courtyard as a social bufferzone and semipublic space in the project.

“Rendering of the courtyard”

The effect is the idea of a building designed for the future and to change the environmental conditions.
Along the way of achieving an understanding of the future city, the effects is not seen as challenges, but instead as architectual possibilities.

“Exploded diagram of the site”

“Model of site”

Intelligent formation wins second prize in Fyrkat museums competition

The Intelligent Formation project for a new Fyrkat museum near Hobro was rewarded with a second prize in this competition arranged by Mariagerfjord Kommune.
The project was chosen for its integration with the landscape, its expressive spatial qualities and its innovative combination of construction and form, working with digital tools to integrate material properties in the design.

“Exhibition space”

The inspiration for the Viking museum has been found in the etchings by Piranesi “Carceri”, as well as in the Jewish Museum by Libeskind, expressing with form, structure, light and shadows the mood of spaces, and communicating states of mind.

“Arriving to the museum from north”

“The museum with the viking village in the background.”

Therefore, the building has been conceived as a free-form ruin-like heavy concrete base, directly anchored into the landscape, and a lighter free-form shell as top, made of timber panels assembled in a triangular faceted form. This would give the feeling of a cave-like room from the inside, emphasized by means of large timber columns which are cutting through the space defining its final shape

“Storage spaces used as exhibition.”

The conceptual idea for the project gives the possibility to implement computational techniques. By considering structure, construction and assembly, it was possible to investigate and develop the free-form roof shell, with the means of a morphogenetic optimization procedure.

The design process is supported by the use of a parametric tool, Grasshopper™, for the definition of an optimization
problem related to shape-resistant structures, and then a Genetic Algorithm, Galapagos™, is used to explore/improve the shape of the ‘a priori’ defined structure, or better a parametric solution domain of tentative structures. Finally, a scripting interface between the CAD software, Rhinoceros™, and the FEM solver, Autodesk ROBOT™, is described as a rapid way to check and refine the structural behaviour of the overall roof.

“From smooth surface to Delaunay mesh.”

“Recursive subdivision algorithm for the structural system.”

“Mesh optimization done with Galapagos as GA solver.”

“Structural optimization, linking Rhinoceros3D directly to Autodesk Robot API.”
The open programming interface in the Robot API made it possible to program a direct link from Rhino to Robot making the Structural Calculations part of an Iterative design procedure enabling quick evaluations on the changes in the Structure. Due to time limitations, the investigation was solely done for uniform dimensioned structural bars (width and height). A planned further development would involve letting Galapagos inform the dimensions according to obtained stresses in each bar member allowing a material optimization as part of the architectural expression.

“Site plan of the buildings location in the landscape”

“Ending the journey in the café area, with view to the beautiful lake of Onsild”

The design vision for the museum is to create a space that makes the building an integral part of the exhibition experience. The spaces differ in flow, dimension and aesthetics that arouse the senses.
The vision was to create a differentiated space, where the roughness, materiality and manipulation of light and darkness leads to an intensive sensorial journey through the Viking age. The building inspired by the vernacular architecture made by vikings is a reinterpretation of the spaces, where it is possible for the visitors to imagine and understand how the Vikings lived, fought and survived. It is a building that exhibits these artifacts and in the same time melts the exhibited and the exhibition space to a coherent experience. The spaces are intentionally obscured, distorted and merged to make this experience about vikings intensive.