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Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Architecture

Ornament And Craft: Digital Design And The Profession, Chris Knapp, Jonathan Nelson Apr 2017

Ornament And Craft: Digital Design And The Profession, Chris Knapp, Jonathan Nelson

Chris Knapp

Cellular Tessellation, an architectural installation developed for Vivid Sydney 2014, is a softly glowing, geometric form that responds to movement to create an ever-shifting space of pattern and light. Chris Knapp and Jonathan Nelson from Bond University discuss their involvement in the project, and its implications for digital practice and research.


Lightweight Material Prototypes Using Dense Bundled Systems To Emulate An Ambient Environment, Chris Knapp, Jonathan Nelson, Andrew Kudless, Sascha Bohnenberger Nov 2016

Lightweight Material Prototypes Using Dense Bundled Systems To Emulate An Ambient Environment, Chris Knapp, Jonathan Nelson, Andrew Kudless, Sascha Bohnenberger

Chris Knapp

This paper describes and reflects upon a computational design and digital fabrication research project that was developed and implemented over 2014-2015, with subsequent development continuing for applications at present. The aim of the research was to develop methods of modelling, analysis, and fabrication that facilitate integrative approaches to architectural design and construction. In this context, the development of material prototypes, digital simulations, and parametric frameworks were pursued in parallel in order to inform and reform successive iterations throughout the process, leading to a refined workflow for engineering, production, and speculation upon future directions of the work.


Arclight, Chris Knapp, Andrew Kudless, Jonathan Nelson Jun 2016

Arclight, Chris Knapp, Andrew Kudless, Jonathan Nelson

Chris Knapp

Arclight is a lighting installation put on display as part of the Sydney Vivid festival in 2015. This spatial and atmospheric project brings the quality of architectural inhabitation and visceral experience to an urban festival through a biomimetic proposition emulating dense bundled systems found in the natural environment, such as Australian mangroves or Strangler Fig trees, using parametric tools and digital fabrication processes. The installation serves as a register of the nonhuman environment. Embedded LEDs parse an environmentally driven data set, which provides a dynamic ambient interaction rather than the direct sensing of human actions. The result is an experience …


Arclight, Chris Knapp, Jonathan Nelson, Andrew Kudless Mar 2016

Arclight, Chris Knapp, Jonathan Nelson, Andrew Kudless

Chris Knapp

Arclight is a lighting installation put on display as part of the Sydney Vivid festival in 2015. This spatial and atmospheric project brings the quality of architectural inhabitation and visceral experience to an urban festival through a biomimetic proposition emulating dense bundled systems found in the natural environment, such as Australian mangroves or Strangler Fig trees, using parametric tools and digital fabrication processes. The installation serves as a register of the nonhuman environment. Embedded LEDs parse an environmentally driven data set, which provides a dynamic ambient interaction rather than the direct sensing of human actions. The result is an experience …


Resolution Of Complex Composite Envelopes Through Generative Computation And Digital Fabrication, Chris Knapp, Jonathan Nelson Feb 2016

Resolution Of Complex Composite Envelopes Through Generative Computation And Digital Fabrication, Chris Knapp, Jonathan Nelson

Chris Knapp

This paper documents and critically reflects upon the design, development, fabrication, and implementation of an experimental pavilion project developed during 2013-2014 for a site in Sydney, Australia. The core investigation embodied by this work is the refinement of techniques to computationally design and fabricate integrated structure and skin envelopes through a file-to-fabrication process, culminating in the production of doubly curved project geometry via panelized construction. The principal activity of the research is aimed at refining methods for software-based exploration of formal complexities and the subsequent need to control variability and efficiency in fabrication output, using Grasshopper for Rhino to develop …


Prototyping Of Composite Structural Envelopes Through Cnc And Robotic Fabrication, Chris Knapp, Jonathan Nelson Feb 2016

Prototyping Of Composite Structural Envelopes Through Cnc And Robotic Fabrication, Chris Knapp, Jonathan Nelson

Chris Knapp

The paper explores the results of a series of practice-based research investigations of full-scale building envelope prototypes generated from parametric design strategies. The work strives to achieve integration of structure and cladding using digital fabrication (CNC and multi-axis robot) techniques. The projects employ a range of sheet materials: principally plywood, plastics, and aluminium composite panels; and integrated architectural lighting and daylighting. Two key projects are discussed in detail: habitable pavilions which allow for investigation of fabrication, assembly, structural capacity, durability, and transport. Each project sets the goal of achieving doublecurvature, load-bearing surfaces. This is explored through either panelisation or tessellation …


Cellular Tessellation, Chris Knapp, Jonathan Nelson, Michael Parsons, Nathan Freeman Aug 2015

Cellular Tessellation, Chris Knapp, Jonathan Nelson, Michael Parsons, Nathan Freeman

Chris Knapp

Cellular Tessellation is a small yet generous pavilion put on display as part of the Sydney Vivid Light festival in 2014. The project is both spatial and aesthetic, bringing the quality of architectural inhabitation and visceral experience to an urban festival which is typically limited to visual engagement.


Contsructing Atmospheres, Chris Knapp, Jonathan Nelson, Michael Parsons Apr 2015

Contsructing Atmospheres, Chris Knapp, Jonathan Nelson, Michael Parsons

Chris Knapp

This paper documents and critically reflects upon the design, development, fabrication, and implementation of three pavilion projects developed during 2013-14. The core investigation of this work is the production of architectural spaces characterized by a quality of enveloping, diffuse, visual and spatial atmospheres. The principal activity of the research is aimed at refining methods for software-based exploration of formal complexities and the subsequent need to control variability and efficiency in fabrication output, using Grasshopper for Rhino to develop customized definitions particular to each specific project scenario. Linking the projects together are issues of scale, resolution of effect, and intent to …


Eco Living, Chris Knapp Jun 2014

Eco Living, Chris Knapp

Chris Knapp

Combining sustainability with trend-setting design is one of the great challenges of contemporary architecture. Resource sparing living space is one of the most important themes. In addition to the increased consciousness of the interactions between the human being, his built environment and eco system, the desire to leave behind an intact environment worth living in for the next generation and to fashion a healthy environment for oneself are also factors gaining in economic significance. Depending on the building project and its circumstances, procedures and techniques of ecological building may be applied. Building orientation, shape, the type of materials and building …


Experiments In Computer Controlled Architectural Prototyping, Chris Knapp May 2014

Experiments In Computer Controlled Architectural Prototyping, Chris Knapp

Chris Knapp

This proposal aims to utilize digitally-controlled fabrication equipment recently acquired by the new Soheil Abedian School of Architecture toward developing novel, prototypical building envelope systems applicable to new building construction and retrofitting scenarios. This research into three-dimensional self-supporting enclosures is directed toward the need to develop low-cost building systems using inexpensive materials manipulated with sophisticated fabrication systems. The practical aim of the research prototypes are sustainability-providing structures which may be designed to provide shade, support vegetation growth, induce cross ventilation, increase thermal comfort, and enhance aesthetic pleasure in the built environment.


The Hand And The Machine: A Hybrid Approach To Complex Construction In A Work Of Sir Peter Cook, Chris Knapp May 2014

The Hand And The Machine: A Hybrid Approach To Complex Construction In A Work Of Sir Peter Cook, Chris Knapp

Chris Knapp

This paper describes and provides a critique of the design and implementation of the “scoops” – a set of bespoke multifunctioning architectural free-form concrete elements that are a highlight of the new Soheil Abedian School of Architecture by the office of Sir Peter Cook and Gavin Robotham (CRAB). The development includes the transfer of analogue design processes into digital 3d modelling, which is then analysed and rationalized via an exchange with consultants and procurement contractors. The complexity of the concrete works necessitated the use of digital fabrication to make their implementation affordable and within time constraints, with said complexity creating …