Ayres, P

Jones, W

Leung, C

Sheil, R

UCL Discovery

BLUEPRINT NOVEMBER 200686ODD STRUCTURES IN AN ALIENENVIRONMENT ARE HELPING A TEAMOF ARCHITECTS DESIGN WITH TIME,AS THEY EXPLORE THE FUTURE. WILL JONES REPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS LEUNGSIXTEEN*(MAKERS) B11/86-90/16makers/mh2/fp#D27DF  20/9/06  1:47 pm  Page 86BLUEPRINT NOVEMBER 2006PICTURECREDIT00087In the middle distance there are trees, tallconifers, but closer, the ground is barrenand scarred. Tree stumps, shorn close to theearth, and dead branches litter the area.Only mosses grow, sucking moisture fromink-black puddles in the rutted earth.This is Kielder Water and Forest Parkin Northumberland, and an alien landscapecreated after trees have been felled. Glintingin the sunlight stands a cluster of structuresas strange as the surroundings: ‘heads’ ofhinged metal fins with tube-like extensions,supported on single thin legs. There are fiveof them, motionless on the hillside.These interlopers in a remote, ravagedlandscape are not otherworldly invaders butan experiment, intent on creating anarchitecture that evolves in response to its environment. The work is also thecatalyst for a wider debate on what it is to be an architect in the 21st century;design innovator or component of the construction production line.‘I am fascinated in the differences,‘Cells’ that use iterativedata gathering software,are being used fora project aimed at adding information andtime to the threedimensions thattraditionally informarchitectural design ΩB11/86-90/16makers/mh2/fp#D27DF  20/9/06  1:50 pm  Page 87BLUEPRINT NOVEMBER 200689similarities and complementary issues that exist between the idealisation ofrepresentation and actualisation offabrication,’ says Bob Sheil of designresearch organisation Sixteen*(makers).‘Even though the public may think ofarchitecture as built structures, architectsactually reside in the first territory. Theactual making of the ideas over which theyclaim authorship is carried out by builders,people with a completely different skill set.‘Pre-Renaissance architects fullyunderstood the construction processthrough their constant interaction withcraftsmen. By definition, they were masterbuilders. However, since the introduction ofstandardisation and mass production in the19th century, the architect’s need forknowledge in artisanship has waned, to bereplaced by a need for ingenuity in theutilisation and adaptation of ready-to-usecomponents. The architect’s contact withcraftsmen and builders became less and lessand the exchange between drawing andmaking was drastically altered. Now, withnew digital technologies we could be seenas simple pattern makers.’The cells are the culmination of fouryears as ‘architects in residence’ bySixteen*(makers). Kielder Park haspreviously invited architects and artistsincluding Softroom and James Turrell butthis is the first long-term project to beundertaken by an architect.Sheil says: ‘There was no brief, noparticular site, no real timescale for theproject when we started. It was the completeopposite of all that an architect is used toand so we set out to explore our relationshipto the site, the actual design process and thearchitect’s connection with it. Sixteen*(makers)’s canvas was some62,000 ha of managed forest and 150million trees. Each year, 1,200 ha are felledand replanted in a highly designed cyclebased on soil condition and site topography,historic and projected weather data, andvisual impact on the landscape.The intensity with which this treefelling cycle is approached and how thelandscape is planned, constructed,developed and managed formed the basis forthe architects’ residency. ‘We were drawn tothe forest as a whole; its customisation andreaction to change; and on change as anenvironmental presence and force,’ saysSheil. ‘We set out to develop a responsivearchitecture that changes, like elementswithin the landscape, according to micro-ingredients – climatic, environmental andphysical – and which can inform thosechanges and evolve over time.’The team found a site in a newly-felledarea near mature trees. Recording stationswere set up to capture temperature dataevery 30 minutes for a year, within and theforest canopy and outside it. Back at thepractice’s base in The Bartlett, London, theform of the architectural intervention tookshape. Bespoke elements, designed and madeusing CADCAM technology, form clustersof 3mm-thick cell leaves, supports, groundanchors and feet pads. The leaves open andclose according to macro andmicrotemperature changes sensed by wax-filled pumps acting as passive actuators.Team member Chris Leung says: ‘Theproposition is sensitive to changes in thephysical environment. Cells will move inresponse to the site conditions and alsomicroclimates created by the objectsAbove: The cells collectand process short andlonger term data such asthe solar informationgenerated in this chart,that became part of thewider design process, sowhile architects are nolonger ‘master builders’,neither need they becomethe deskilled ‘patternmakers’ digital technologycould turn them into‘‘‘‘WE SET OUT TO DEVELOP ARESPONSIVE ARCHITECTURE THAT CHANGES LIKE THEELEMENTS WITHIN THELANDSCAPE, ACCORDING TOMICRO INGREDIENTS – CLIMATIC,ENVIRONMENTAL AND PHYSICAL –AND WHICH CAN INFORM THOSECHANGES AND EVOLVEΩSolar Irradiation (W/m2 )Time (UTC) on 27th August 2006Category AxisTime-series of Solar Heating CharacteristicsSolar IrradiationPump Rod ActuationPump Rod Actuation (mm)B11/86-90/16makers/mh2/fp#D27DF  20/9/06  1:33 pm  Page 89BLUEPRINT NOVEMBER 200690themselves. Hence, as a leaf opens inresponse to a rise in temperature due to thesun shining on the actuator, it may start toshade that pump and so cool it again.’Installed in Kielder, the cells’movements are recorded using 3Dphotogrammetry – five networked time-lapse cameras – at one minute intervals.Pyronometers measure solar irradiation anda differential sunlight sensor tracks hours ofsunlight using the same time increment,over a five day period.This information is recorded on solidstate technology enclosed within a site-based weather station. ‘The remote stationis self-sufficient, like space probetechnology,’ says Leung. ‘It has its ownpower source and a degree of intelligence inthe software to drive the cameras, initiatingphotography only when there is enoughlight to start recording.’ Sixteen*(makers) believes that with thewholesale encroachment of multimediatechnologies, the need for architects tounderstand the intricacies of bothconstruction and manufacturing processesis now imperative. Digital fabrication,CADCAM, computer numericallycontrolled (CNC) machinery and additiveprocesses such as stereo-lithography andselective laser sintering now allow theproduction of objects thought impossible inthe recent past. The architect’s designs arebeing drawn directly into the constructionprocess as never before. And, if architectsdon’t fully understand and transcend theprocess, they will be consigned to being asimple link in the production line. The data collected – both long-termtemperature fluctuations and the intensefive-day recordings – have now beenmapped on to a digital 3D model of the cellusing software written by team memberPhil Ayres. The cyclical nature of therecorded weather patterns, allows data to be extrapolated to create a digital picture of conditions for the Kielder cells from the date they were installed until a time 40 years in the future when they becomecompletely overgrown by mature trees. This, in turn, is transformed usingcomputer modelling into a digital growingarchitecture. ‘The physical movements ofour cell are used to inform the developmentof a larger architecture in the threedimensional environment. The designevolves, learning from itself as it generates,’says Ayres. ‘We have developed softwarethat will add or subtract cells depending on set criteria according to the real recordedconditions. The 3D design is part of acircular, iterative process.’ This is designing using the threedimensions of space, plus an environmentaldata set and time, 5D. ‘People have talkedabout it for a long time, but we are nowdesigning with time,’ says Sheil. ‘Things areoften assumed to be resolved in the drawingbut there is a whole set of other parametersin the real world. This project responds tothat larger set of criteria to allow designersto create on a deeper level.’The apocalyptic appearance of the siteat Kielder and its rigidly detailedmanagement proved the inspiration forSixteen*(makers) to present the physicalrepresentation of a theoretical argument.Ultimately, the cells are bound into alearning process; evolving as a digitalproject, and enabling the knowledge of theircreators to developTop: Solar heating data Right: The Bartlett teamset up the cells with theirown power sources andsolid state recordingtechnology so that theywould run much like aprobe to another part of the solar system‘‘‘‘THE ARCHITECT’S DESIGNS AREBEING DRAWN DIRECTLY INTO THE CONSTRUCTION PROCESS AS NEVER BEFORE. AND, IF THEYDON’T FULLY UNDERSTAND ANDTRANSCEND THE PROCESS, THEYWILL BE CONSIGNED TO BEING A SIMPLE LINK IN THEPRODUCTION LINE www.kielder.org.Solar IrradiationSolar-heated Air TemperatureSolar Irradiation (W/m2 )Time (UTC) on 27th August 2006Solar Heated Air Temperature (Degrees Celsius)Time-series of Solar Heating CharacteristicsB11/86-90/16makers/mh2/fp#D27DF  20/9/06  1:55 pm  Page 90

Sixteen*(makers) Kielder Residency

http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/175360/1/Jones%200611xx-WJ-SM-BLUEPRINT-Kielder.pdf

Sixteen*(makers) Kielder Residency

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