Team: Nina Aragona, Tomasz Czarnecki, Maria Hormaza, Juan Perez, Mahesh Rana, Stephanie Susanto
12.15.2011
A TAILORED FIT [Team 2 Submission]
A TAILORED FIT is a wall system made of RIBS and FINS. The design of the RIBS is optimized for human scale seating scenarios. The sandwiched FINS are adjustable for three specific deployable winter states (9 AM, 12 Noon, 3 PM), optimizing for intended daylight conditions appropriate for functions at each time.
Team: Nina Aragona, Tomasz Czarnecki, Maria Hormaza, Juan Perez, Mahesh Rana, Stephanie Susanto
Team: Nina Aragona, Tomasz Czarnecki, Maria Hormaza, Juan Perez, Mahesh Rana, Stephanie Susanto
6 comments:
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Farzana Gandhi
In general I think this is a strong proposal with a clear programmatic agenda combined with a system that can respond to the two parameters of design - the interaction (sitting/leaning)below and the sunshading above. I am also taken by the image of billowing curtains as your inspiration.
That being said, the details will determine the success of this proposal. It is unclear to me how wide the vertical fins are, and their width is critical in determining comfortable sitting/leaning. It is also unclear what the exact form of this proposal is. In certain images the fins peel apart, in others they read as solid.
It might be possible to imagine that the fins would be thinner and have a surface attached to them that runs perpendicular to their primary orientation. This would be structurally stiff as well as provide horizontal surface for seating and shading, as well as making the impression of a curtain more legible.
Matthias Altwicker
"A Tailored Fit"
Thank you to the team for the clearly presented proposal. On first glance this appears as a conventional sectional study for seating, but the development of the ribs and fins, responding as a sunshading element makes for an interesting and compelling design.
I appreciate the site analysis. I find it convincing in showing the variation in the amount and direction of sunlight in the space. At first I was a little confused at the change in perspective with the photos switching for the the noon and 3pm(?) views. I can tell though that this study informed the team's thesis - to design a seating wall that responds to changing daylight conditions, but what role did the actual daylight and site analysis have in determining the specifics of the design. The team needs to investigate further. A further study into the particularities of the light coming through the far windows versus the windows near the door or the light coming through the lower windows versus the upper windows would make the design seem less arbitrary and more site specific.
I think the desire to provide seating took precedence over the desire to provide shading. As a shade structure I think the team needs to explore the affects of a perpendicular surface (the billowing curtain) versus horizontal louver surfaces like Team 1's submission versus vertical louvers as in your rib and fin proposal. Why choose the vertical system? What are the merits of a vertical system?
I need more information about the dimension of the ribs? How comfortable would it be to sit on? What is the spacing between the ribs? What is the spacing of the fins? Is it the same as the ribs? What is the height of the hinge points? Why those heights? Is it an arbitrary spacing or is it tied to the scale of a human body? (a person's knee, waist, elbow, shoulder?)
The structural system and construction method is convincing. I am a curious about weight placed at the hinge points and how the wall will not just flatten out if someone leans on it. Is this intentional? What is the reaction between responding to the daylight and responding to a person siting or leaning?
I appreciate the study and effort the team put into a mockup. That kind of investigation will help as I encourage the team to keep developing this proposal to get it to a buildable stage. It is an interesting and constructable design.
Thank you for sharing.
Jonathan Lee
Architect, Sydney, Australia
A Tailored Fit
Great work on the presentation. There are some excellent diagrams here (as in the other project) and this team has given the critics a great platform for discussion.
This proposal is part of a pedigree of lofted/contoured digifab projects that are seen quite often. What is unique about this project is it's promise of flexibility relative to light effects and solar control. Anyone who has ever played with a set of blinds in a window knows how interesting the play of light and surface can be, and I see this quality in this project.
From a technical point of view, flexibility is a very good way to deal with light and daylighting if light, rather than shading, is an element in your design. Projects that do this often have unexpected beauty, since light itself is so unpredictable and changes not only with solar geometry but with the weather and with local conditions.
On the other hand, your choice that "December 21st was the most suitable time of the year for further study" feels arbitrary given the potential of your project! This is a little bit like the serpent of Chichen Itza...and Dec 21st is a day of deep spiritual importance. Instead, I think it would have been a great demonstration of your project to celebrate this variation with a series of renderings...the idea that this installation could change from day to day as it is manipulated AND as the light changes is an exciting proposition, and the strong point of the project I think.
That said, I think an opportunity may have been missed to introduce color, texture, or pattern that could add to the effects of light on the project.
I am not entirely sure how your Ecotect solar exposure study is informing your piece...I just hope it is not a fixed input, but a way to direct the fins to one of the infinite possible fin configurations.
Returning to the point that the flexibility of the project is it's strong feature, I think the details that are part of this performance feel somewhat underdeveloped to me. I think there are two major things that could be more developed. One is the actual treatment of the components; the chamfered ends at the rotating joints seem a little awkward, unless their intention is to somehow prescribe movement to a series of planned angles. My assumption, however, is that these joints could be rounded and could give the project the plasticity it had in the early renderings, since the surfaces facing outward would remain smoothly contoured (the effect of a bicycle chain). The second detail that could be improved is the joint itself. The very small screw and nut combination is sized minimally, but the role of this element in the appearance and function of the joint is very different. I would guess that a larger connector, or something perhaps even improvised or fabricated, could allow the joint to move more smoothly and also have a more appreciable role in the design.
Otherwise, this is a very interesting framework that has been proposed and the relationship between mutable parts and light is in my opinion an excellent idea and an idea that appears to also fit the site very well.
- Michael Gibson
I disagree. Mahesh must've done this.
Really nice to see the paramteric studies, put to tangible functional use, applicable to all sorts of space. I can imagine project number 2 anywhere. the simplicity of the idea is its strength.
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