Designing a tall building is a challenge in which the project constraints tend to strongly limit ... more Designing a tall building is a challenge in which the project constraints tend to strongly limit the architectural solutions. Tall buildings represent a challenge where it is possible to test and tune specific solutions and multiple variations of the same problems. Above all, a tall building is an exercise of precision, in which the building is like a machine, and where every component of the building needs to work in an integrated way in order to achieve its maximum performance. In the Citylife tower RdD1 in Milano, designed with Eduardo Souto de Moura, the exercise of precision in the engineering design process is taken to its limits. Inspired by Italo Calvino’s “Six Memos for the Next Millennium” - lightness, quickness, exactitude, visibility, multiplicity and consistency – we try to explore and interpret each of this characteristics in the design of a building, within an integrated design process, using Building Information Modeling (BIM). The final result is a sustainable project that is economically competitive, structurally rational and that at the same time meets the client and the architect’s expectations.
Nowadays, it is possible to design a building with any shape or form. Since the advent of compute... more Nowadays, it is possible to design a building with any shape or form. Since the advent of computers and CAD/CAM programs, the designers have the tools, technologies and techniques that allow them to erect buildings that would not have been feasible in the past. Nonetheless, designing buildings with computer-generated forms is a task that is still quite complex and where things might go wrong very easily. Advanced computer calculations might help the structural engineer but, more than that, the solution for every structural problem should be as simple as possible. In the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, designed together with Amanda Levete Architects, we used two “old methods” from the past: the grid of J.N.L. Durand, which helped us to rationally tame a very complex geometry, and Cullman’s graphical statics, which allowed us to design an arch that replaced a big truss that could have weakened the architectural experience of space. This proves that old methods, which by its simplicity might seem neglectful at contemporary practices, still hold their ground and might help us to design better structures and architectural spaces.
Nowadays, the use of drawing in the engineering design process as a conceptual tool is barely res... more Nowadays, the use of drawing in the engineering design process as a conceptual tool is barely residual. Drawing is mostly used on its technical part – plans, sections, details – in order to communicate a project, as a necessity. However, in the past, engineers used to rely heavily on drawing, on its multiple forms – sketching, hand-drawing, statics and technical representation – to design and detail any structure. Starting with the creation of the modern engineer at the École des Ponts et Chaussées, we analyze how drawing as tool for the engineer evolved until the end of the 19th century, focusing on the binary of visual representation and mathematical analysis. We found that the crescent focus on a mathematical approach was responsible for the decline of the classic visual representation tools and led to an excess of diagrammatic representations, which are abstractions of reality and impede engineers from achieving an effective dialogue between form and structure.
Designing a tall building is a challenge in which the project constraints tend to strongly limit ... more Designing a tall building is a challenge in which the project constraints tend to strongly limit the architectural solutions. Tall buildings represent a challenge where it is possible to test and tune specific solutions and multiple variations of the same problems. Above all, a tall building is an exercise of precision, in which the building is like a machine, and where every component of the building needs to work in an integrated way in order to achieve its maximum performance. In the Citylife tower RdD1 in Milano, designed with Eduardo Souto de Moura, the exercise of precision in the engineering design process is taken to its limits. Inspired by Italo Calvino’s “Six Memos for the Next Millennium” - lightness, quickness, exactitude, visibility, multiplicity and consistency – we try to explore and interpret each of this characteristics in the design of a building, within an integrated design process, using Building Information Modeling (BIM). The final result is a sustainable project that is economically competitive, structurally rational and that at the same time meets the client and the architect’s expectations.
Nowadays, it is possible to design a building with any shape or form. Since the advent of compute... more Nowadays, it is possible to design a building with any shape or form. Since the advent of computers and CAD/CAM programs, the designers have the tools, technologies and techniques that allow them to erect buildings that would not have been feasible in the past. Nonetheless, designing buildings with computer-generated forms is a task that is still quite complex and where things might go wrong very easily. Advanced computer calculations might help the structural engineer but, more than that, the solution for every structural problem should be as simple as possible. In the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, designed together with Amanda Levete Architects, we used two “old methods” from the past: the grid of J.N.L. Durand, which helped us to rationally tame a very complex geometry, and Cullman’s graphical statics, which allowed us to design an arch that replaced a big truss that could have weakened the architectural experience of space. This proves that old methods, which by its simplicity might seem neglectful at contemporary practices, still hold their ground and might help us to design better structures and architectural spaces.
Nowadays, the use of drawing in the engineering design process as a conceptual tool is barely res... more Nowadays, the use of drawing in the engineering design process as a conceptual tool is barely residual. Drawing is mostly used on its technical part – plans, sections, details – in order to communicate a project, as a necessity. However, in the past, engineers used to rely heavily on drawing, on its multiple forms – sketching, hand-drawing, statics and technical representation – to design and detail any structure. Starting with the creation of the modern engineer at the École des Ponts et Chaussées, we analyze how drawing as tool for the engineer evolved until the end of the 19th century, focusing on the binary of visual representation and mathematical analysis. We found that the crescent focus on a mathematical approach was responsible for the decline of the classic visual representation tools and led to an excess of diagrammatic representations, which are abstractions of reality and impede engineers from achieving an effective dialogue between form and structure.
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