yeosu KOREA
COLLABORATION AND CONTEXT
This project is the result of a collaboration between EMERGENT and KOKKUGIA, intended to capitalize on both shared sensibilities as well as individual expertise. It is an exploration of messy computation in the sense that the project is the result of moving in and out of the realms of designing and scripting. It represents a loose, open-ended way of working that biases effects over self-justifying processes.
los angeles CALIFORNIA
the american institute of architects los angeles chapter proudly announces the winners of the first annual arch is_ program.
congratulations to:
dwayne OYLER and jenny WU – oyler wu collaborative, los angeles, ca
tom WISCOMBE – emergent, los angeles, ca
the award ceremony and lectures are scheduled for monday, april 5 2010, 7 pm at sci-arc (960 east 3rd street, los angeles, ca 90013)
london ENGLAND
tom WISCOMBE
extreme integration
friday 22 january, 7.00 at the architectural association school of architecture.
this lecture follows on from the drl phase ii jury which takes place in the lecture hall during the day.
os angeles CALIFORNIA
project team: bin LU + joongsik YANG
suckerPUNCH: describe your project.
bin LU: consistent with the obama government’s national transit and new technology initiatives ,the main focus of our studio is finding the urban strategy considering infrastructure by scripting an parametric design with sustainable building technologies. we started with branching script and voronoi algorithm based on the main stream of the people coming to the bus station. we obtained our main design pattern implying people’s flow from this main path.
sci-arc spring 2009 2gbx studio
instructors: tom wiscombe, elena manferdini, peter testa
los angeles CALIFORNIA
tom WISCOMBE: our point of departure for this project was to engage the nascent cultural paradigm shift from thinking about energy as something which comes magically from distant sources to something which can be generated locally in a variety of ways. our goal was not, however, to undertake an engineering experiment, or to simply express material processes, although this is certainly one dimension of the project. our primary goal was to create a sense of delight and exotic beauty around new technologies by decontextualizing them and amplifying their potential atmospheric and spatial effects.
client: dept. of culture and the arts, la (dca)
design team: tom WISCOMBE, bin LU, chris ESKEW, ryan MACYAUSKI
los angeles CALIFORNIA
tom WISCOMBE: freshwater plaza is a spatialization of an innovative, low-tech water desalinization process, and part of the larger sustainability initiative of abu dhabi. the goal is to reveal new technologies but not for the sake of the image of technology. the project is instead focused on generating technological ambience. the divisions between technology and culture– and building technology and architecture– begin to dissolve into a hybrid spatial sensibility. fluid flows, structural patterning, ornament, and lighting all combine into a coherent whole, generating an unexpectedly vivid and lively atmosphere. the space will generate public consciousness of the looming water crisis as well as offer a glimpse of how biological, integrative thinking may offer productive solutions to this global problem.
los angeles CALIFORNIA
tom WISCOMBE: the structure of the building is based on a hybrid of shell behavior, which is surface-based, and spaceframe behavior, which is vector-based. the structure adapts from an underdimensioned condition based on local geometrical and bending moment conditions. where the building shape allows for shell behavior, the depth approaches this minimum. where bending occurs, member depth is increased on a smooth gradient up to the maximum economical depth for a plate girder, at which point the structure delaminates to become a three dimensional vector-based spaceframe. this is a kind of structural phase change, or emergent effect, where the structural system changes in kind rather than simply in degree. it produces highly intricate and ornamental spatial conditions which can be understood qualitatively as well as quantitatively.
los angeles CALIFORNIA
tom WISCOMBE: the morphology of the project is based on patterns of armatures and pleats which form an intricate ornamental network. armatures are woven together to create the circulation and structure of the concourse, forming deep spaces and views from the plaza into the building as well as from the building down into the plaza and out into the city. micro-pleats track along the armatures but also spread out along surfaces, spatially drawing visitors inside the plaza. the sensations produced by this fluid geometry are heightened by a gradient of color which is most intense on the interior but fades out to the exterior of the building. formal and color intensities are at their peak in the concourse, and begin to atrophe toward the theater blocks at the perimeter of the site. in this way this project attempts to bridge classifications of generic and articulated form as well as monochromatic and variegated color.
los angeles CALIFORNIA
tom WISCOMBE: this project revisits the problem of architecturalizing tower infrastructural systems. rather than expressing the literal image of technology, the goal is to create technological ambience. this ambience is defined by translucency, shrouding, and exotic lighting and color effects. but it is also the result of hybridizing mechanical systems with other building systems in a way that cross-wires traditional hierarchies and produces synergetic forms.
the point of departure for the design was to allow ductwork to migrate out of the central core toward the exterior. the glass envelope begins to take on duct behavior by delaminating to create pleats where air can flow. these pleats branch and run across the building facades, linking to floor plenums on each level at several locations along the perimeter.
los angeles CALIFORNIA
tom WISCOMBE: the project is based on creating continuity between the three elements called for in the brief: a garden, a central sculptural volume, and a network of canopies. during the day, when temperatures can reach 120 degrees fahrenheit, this involuted, grotto-like space becomes an inviting sanctuary. indeed, in an environment where people often avoid the outdoors during daytime hours, this project offers a spatial and atmospheric solution. the surface of the roof transforms into a volume at the center of the plaza. this surface-to-volume transformation is an extension of an investigation into surface-to-strand geometries in recent projects. hybrid, transformative geometries offer a wider range of flexibility than surface, strand, or volume systems alone.
