Individualization

Randomness = meaningless, reapeatless, non-pattern..................... what can this character brings to architecture?

Is that a tragedy of architecture ? Or it is a chance? In the project of NOX they always suggested the new design technique, such as computer analog experiment or the others. Those techniques always suugest a new chances for the design process.

So I start to think, what these character of randomness like meaningless, repeatless, non-pattern can give architecture design, the answer is individualization, this is important for architecture design, the structuralism suggested a basic template for certain type of architecture, while post-structuralist suggested the opposite but yet having the same idea in material using or other buidlign technology, but is that possible for people to affort individualized architecture ? But yet afforadable for them to build it up ? Maybe randomness can help here. In this experiment I will start to have the design not for the form of the architecture but use randomness to draw out the basic module of the building form, yes this is the structural system component or we can say this is the frame of the building, and after that we will use this design diagram to adapt different functions of the building or different site. This is like a bit of the factory production process but not yet the same is we are not manufacturing the end product but the basic comoponent.

reference:

Nox OfftheRoad_5Speed project

Rethinking

When random means Meaningless and chaotic or no pattern and order. The nonrandom means the opposite. This is not easy to define random, because the arguement point will be focused on the point that what is randomness, in what extent will become random ? or Chaotic? but it is easy to define what is order or what is pattern because people have the common conscience on it.

So to answer the question during the class with Paul, what I want to try to do in the major project is the project that looks disorder or randomness or meaningless but it is actually getting the opposite behind. So it is like the disorder circulation space, but it actually have the logic behind but this is only opened and can be understood by the internal people.

Reviw of the design process through out the semester

I spend over half of the semester to study and explore randomenss. But what am I really doing ?
This question ran up when Pia asked me in the theory seminar class and I am speechless. This is simple and straight forward that because I talked about Randomenss in the very beginning in the class and Paul encouraged me to do the research on it for my major project.

But after I went that far to this extent I suddenly realized that I don't know why and what I am doing? So I urged myself to sit down and think about for what I am doing in this semester.

First thing for me to think about is what is randomness, refer back to the definition for randomness, I can answer this within one second that this mean non purpose, and non defined, so when we come up with random process, it means that this is a non purpose process and non defined process.

By this non defined and non purpose act of move, secondly, I put myself in the experimental stage, and this is the trap for me, I spent the whole semester to test out what is the 'APPLICATION OF RANDOMNESS', without thinking deep enough of what Randomness is, I start to do the experiment blindly, using the simple script from Rhinoceros to generate the random line, I did a couple of experiemnts and see how randomness can be applied completely and totally in the form making exercise.

And then again I test it out in different step like halfly, or only a bit of random is happened in the tower.

At that point I think I am lost and completely obssesed in making the application of randomenss and forget about the whole lot of research that I did in the very beginning of the semester.

The word stochastic come to my mind and crptography and encrpytion as well. Therefore I will start to redirect my resaerch in different focus, Pia and I claimed this is the 'change', I think the change here is not about doing different topic but change in the direction, that maybe this will be interesting for the research of instead of sitting in front of the computer to generate the random and let it opens up the chance for me to design something maybe this is good for me to take part actively and do something which is looks like random but it is actually not. To grap the idea of encryption, the next step for me will be, I will generate something which looks like nonsense and meaningless when you look at it but it actually does mean something if you can break the code.

This cryptography idea let me go through one more level is that what can it leads the design of architecture when we design the building looks like meaningless but it actually has the meaning, this means that the building have the natural immunity for terriost attack or vice versa. I hope this can lead me through a new start in my research.

Review of the Theory Class

This is a very good and energetic theory class today. First of all thanks Pia and Ross, for they showed me that I am stucking in the same place or staying in the same circle for I don't really know about that. Ross simply fold of paper made me understand that I am on the monoline of thinking that I am thinking and doing of what I am want but not doing the stuff that people understand my work.

Pia pin point out my problem is I am doing the same thing with different package but the content is still the same.

So I would like to rephrase my presentation for tomorrow studio class.

1) The paper model is about using the regular shaped paper strip to building up a 'meaningless' paper sculpture. I am actively participating in the step of designing this to build up the meaningless paper sculpture. Here I would appreciate the word of meaningless because Meaningless does not mean it shows nothing, the meaningless sculpture show off some spatial quality and this meaningless actually become the chance.

So in this experiement, to review, I would like to say what I have done is I actively doing the exercise to try to build up a paper model which looks like meaningless. But through out the process I found out that I am actually making of fluid flow space, which is the by product of the exercise.

I am thinking of this is similar to the cryptography idea, which is people actively encrypt the message into the way which looks like meaningless, so they try to make the encrypted message either looks like a reading which is completely not related to the secret message or they make the encrypted message looks like randomly arranged alphabat, like outcome of people who practice how to type.

I think I have found the thing that I want to explore for the final project which is can we design the thing which formally or programmatically looks like meaningless or randomly arranged but it actually does give us a highly articulated and meaningful outcome ? at the end.

So the question is actually jumped from what is the relationship between randomness and architecture or the application of randomness in architecture and become the above one.

Randomnesss and Physical model

This week exercise will be the randomness and the physical model.

I am thinking when we applying randomness in the basic module or in the process of making model. Making model does not mean that making the architecture model, but the sculpture like model. This again is to test out the possibility for the randomenss.

Method 1) Applying randomness to create the basic module for making up the model

Method 2) Using regular geometry as the basic module and randomly make something looks good.

Material will be paper as paper gives me more possibility and different thickness of paper will have different behaviour.

Random in Grid

When thinking of putting the randomness in the programme, I would like to satrt with the macro environment which means not zooming into the architecture function first, but jumping out of it and stand into the urban fabric. While in the urban fabric, I start to zooming in, focus on a grid. Imagining that the function is the public DNA and what happened when it is having the mutation.

Further the step of the research

When you get stuck, you still need to do something.

So think of the further step in doing something will be much important for my research project.

I proposed to do the randomness meet programme this week.

And the put it into the site for the tower, on the corner of Bourke and William Street.

When the Random meets Classic

An observation for randomness meets the NeoClassical building.

I have chosen the building Karl Friedrich Old Berlin Museum as a reference in this exercise.

The aim of this exercise is started in a simple thinking: See what will happen if we input the randomness into the highly ordered and systematic building. And see how it looks like at the end.

During the process: I have divided this into three main phase: 1. Construction phase, a basic and simple model including the interior wall, and columns is built in Rhino, the columns are set out by the script. 2. Randomness is introduced into the column system in x-axis and y-axis seperately. 3. Randomness will introduced into the column system in both x and y axis.

When Random meet X-Axis


When Random meet Y-Axis


When Randomness is slightly applied to the whole column system

When Randomness is fully utilized in the column system



During this exercise, I can conclude different things which are, We can feel the randomness more easily whenever we have order together happen, which is in my language I called it order as the basic reference, with the basic reference our eyes can easily find out the visual impact of the randomness, it is further elaborated to other level, together with the still and routine order of the coloumn, we can feel the dynamic energy of the dancing, disordered and non-routine column.

Furthermore, we can expect that if we want to show off the dynamic of the building, we should have the stable side and the changing side, this will be the most effectiveness for the building to show the dynamic to the public.

Functionalwise, speaking, to be frank, disorder or chaos in this highly ordered and well organized building will cause a mess and disaster to that building. But there is an idea that I wonder and would like to put further the research is: What will happen if I start from the very beginning to have the function which is not organized in the meaningful and systematical way.

The related terms of Randomness

Pseudorandom: The fake random, or the controlled random

I found this is important to have the pseudorandom, in the desing process for architecture for pseudorandom give us the guarantee of the repeatness in the design process. So this means that we can always refer back to the certain stage of the design process and restart there.


Stochastic: Random or probabilistic but with some direction. For example the arrival of people at a post office might be random but average properties (such as the queue length) can be predicted / A random variable, or referring to patterns resulting from random effects

Stochastic is an important attitude, architecture design is about problem solving, means that applying randomness in the design process should have the stochastic character becasue we are using randomness to solve the problem. So we should be able to predict the outcome, but yet the outcome is still not exactly what we can control or expected.

Pertubation: A non-random disturbance.

Mutation: A permanent change, a structural alteration, in the DNA or RNA. Mutations happened randomly, and the resulting evolution is the natural selection of that random mutation.

Mutation is randomly happened, this term is imaginative for architecture design as well. If we think that we get a pool of Urban DNA or Building DNA in hand, and let them randomly change or mutate within the pool and then the final outcome will be selected according to the most suitable to the existing situation, that is the site situation and the building programme and functionality.

Sampling: A way to obtain information about a large group by examining a smaller, randomly chosen selection (the sample) of group members. If the sampling is conducted correctly, the results will be representative of the group as a whole.

Aleatory: Improvisation or random in character. Aleatory (or aleatoric) means "pertaining to luck", and derives from the Latin word alea, the rolling die. Aleatoric art is that which exploits the principle of randomness. One of the most ambitious aleatory projects in poetry is Raymond
Queneau's Cent Mille Milliards de Poèmes (Hundred Thousand Billion Poems).

Aleatory is something completely random in my mind, although we choose a top down situation to start in the very beginning, that is we choose to use which method to generate the randomness, but it still guarantee the random outcome in certain extent.

Formless: the unmanifest, that which encompasses the form within itself; it coexists with all forms on the earth plane. Form cannot exist without the Formless. (see Inner Planes)

The coexisting of formless and form remind me the coexisting of the solid and void, the programme and non programme and the situation of chaos and order / random and order. This is important that I will bare in mind that the randomness should be shown together with order inorder to emphasize the existance of randoness.

The randomness

Randomness means non-pattern, non-routine, formless or meaningless.

This is usually the enemy in the architecture design. Takes the Neo-classicism building as an example, the building is usually designed as the building which is emphasizing the rhythm and symmetry.

But this enemy for the architecture design is widely adapt and applied in the other field. Such as the scientific, the information technology or evne the audio visual application as well.

So is that true that architecture cannot affort any randomness or accident or say chaos in the design process ?

This will be the key question that I want to explore in the architecture design and see if there is any method or design technique can be genreated from the randomness or take the randomness into the process.

From the very beginning

This blog will be the visaul diary that I am going to use it as the pursuit or the record of my design process of the Major Project of my architectural life.