On the Shores of Architecture

2014

This paper explores the implications of complex geometry enabled by computational technology to architectural theory and practice. It reviews the different design paradigms engaged breaking the horizontality of the floor and ceiling or fusing them together. It argues that current advances in fluid dynamics simulations open a new frontier in the conception of the usable architectural surface, in which the architectural product is no longer a fixed object, but the interaction between a fluid, changing environment and built form. The paper presents a case study in which computational fluid dynamics are utilized to reconvert a disused breakwater into a ‘blue garden’. The morphology of the breakwater and its texture are calculated to produce the conditions amiable for supporting a varied marine ecosystem, and to shape the waves to generate aesthetically meaningful sensations. The essay discusses the technical and conceptual challenges of controlling the non-linear behaviour of fluids. It...

2019

The Float'n'rise Design Studio encourages a paradigm shift in design by speculating how a partially submerged building can be designed along the Southern Louisiana coast. As the erosion and submersion of terra firma continues, what might the future of a community's existence look like? If the fact that once-inhabitable ground slowly submerges is assumed, why not construct buildings designed to float on water in the first place? Instead of holding firm to past ground/water conditions, and only raising buildings according to the hundred-year flood level principle, why not embrace a relationship with water as a new design opportunity? Located at the intersection of architecture, ecology, and advanced technology, this studio is a step forward in navigating the fraught/complex relationship between terra-firma/aquafirma and its environmental settings, using advanced computational and fabrication techniques to rethink modes of habitation in the coastal areas of Southern Louisiana. This paper first provides an overview of the environmental conditions of the Southern Louisiana region in general and New Orleans in particular. Then, a review of the existing research and practice in the field of floating architecture is presented. Next, the specifics of the Float'n'rise Design Studio are introduced, followed by an overview of the CAD/CAM techniques employed throughout the process. Finally, students' projects are presented with a discussion of how they aligned with the pedagogical goals. Employing CAD/CAM methods was found to be an inspiring source for design thinking that offers innovative design solutions to multi-faceted complex problems. It can also act as an aid in prototyping and to verify the feasibility of proposed design scenarios. In fact, an interesting improvement to the studio, if repeated, will involve using CAD/CAM techniques paired with material explorations to fabricate small-scale prototypes that can actually be tested on water. The iterative nature of prototyping and testing can synergize the iterative nature of design towards better contextualizing it.

2014

Water is not only essential to life in every form, but throughout history it has been a fundamental means of production for populations, used for trade, defence, transportation, industry and recreation, hence determining the topographical character of urban areas. In the post-industrial society, though, the use of water for aesthetic pleasure in urban planning and architectural design has increasingly prevailed on other functions since the origin and development of the leisure and tourism industry and, finally, leading to the transformation of the meanwhile abandoned urban industrial waterfronts. However, many contemporary experimental urban and architectural projects are addressing water from different perspectives and introducing new modes of thinking and practices that will radically change our relationship with this natural resource. The aim of this work is to pinpoint and to analyse these developing approaches, which unveil possible paths of design innovation: using existing ur...

2017

Limassol coastal line has undergone significant changes through the past 10 years in terms of urbanization and touristic development. Coastal development has formed a major impact on the marine life of the coast resulting into species leaving the local waters, and marine flora being destroyed. The old industrial area of Limassol known as Carnayio is the home location of the city’s industrial boatyards. These industries spill all industrial waste into the sea due to non-ecological workspaces. The project aims to redefine the boatyard industry through an ecological architecture working in parallel with a marine science center for the replenishment of the marine environment. Boats within the area that are considered seaworthy will gain a new role in the transportation along the coastline while boats considered otherwise will form new artificial reefs becoming new habitat for marine life. The marine science center will oversee preparation of new artificial reefs so that quality of the new habitats are met, while the new shipyards will be a new boat maintenance and construction industry for the city. Both traits will be architecturally developed along the Carnayio coast allowing the public to walk through these new scenarios for educational and entertainment purposes. These new activities will also work as a strategy to reconnect Limassol coastline from the new port until the Molos area.

The subtle variation in the title from Total Fluidity (2000-2010) to Fluid Totality (2010-2015) implies not only a continuity in our basic stylistic commitments but a further escalation in our ambitious agenda of impacting the totality of the global built environment and the world of artefacts. The notion of a fluid totality can be understood as both the characterization of an existing societal condition and as an architectural concept/ambition to make this condition perceptually palpable within the global built environment and to further intensify and facilitate its complex flourishing.

Architectural Science Review

Seawalls and other types of waterfront infrastructures are predominantly designed to counter natural forces and maintain structural stability. Consequently, their defensive and reactive design impedes other types of uses and users. As an alternative to the single-use paradigm, there have been attempts to develop a more ecological, performance-based and civic approach to coastal defence structures that would engage with the diverse needs of human and non-human stakeholders. This paper presents a theoretical and methodological framework for employing computational tools to creatively design the interaction between the sea and the man-made shoreline. The research developed and tested a computational design methodology for the early stages of the seawall architectural design process. The suggested design methodology relies on inputs from a wave and texture taxonomy that was developed using physically based fluid simulation tools. The methodology was tested in a case study design.

Landscape Research, 2017

Hard coastal infrastructure such as breakwaters and seawalls are built according to engineering parameters of structural performance and cost efficiency. Especially in urban settings, they conflict with the diverse needs and values of other users and stakeholders, such as sustaining coastal ecosystem biodiversity and providing the public with open, accessible spaces for socialisation and recreation. The presented research explores how the discipline of landscape design can contribute to their evolution. Building on recent precedents in developing multi-functional, ecologically enhanced seawalls, it proposes the concept of the blue garden, and explores two of its key features: bio-engineering the form and materiality of seawalls to enhance their performance as ecosystem service providers; and utilising computational fluid dynamics to poetically shape sea waves as a visual, aural and tactile landscape material to enhance its social and experiential value. It concludes with a pilot study that implements these principles for a specific urban site.

JOURNAL OF WATER AND LAND DEVELOPMENT, 2020

For citation: Januszkiewicz K., Gołębiewski J.I. 2020. Climate change-oriented design: Living on the water. A new approach to architectural design. Journal of Water and Land Abstract The paper deals with the digital architecture concept which is trying to introduce a new spatial language into the context of water urbanism, using nature as a model, measure and mentor. The first part analyses Biomimetics with its design strategies and methods. The Problem-Based Approach (designers look to nature for solutions) and the Solution-Based Approach (biological knowledge influences human design) are defined here. In the second part of the research, the authors present selected examples to the topic. This case study has demonstrated that a new approach to architectural design is emerging. This approach redefines the process of architectural design, understood not as the traditional shaping of the ob-ject's form, but as a compilation of various factors resulting from changeable climate characteristics and ecology. The conclusions emphasize that not only the contemporary understanding of ecology should be changed, but also the way architects approach the built environment, especially in the aquatic environment.

Education for Research, Research for Creativity, 2016

The current research on the amphibious architecture lacks the proper, commonly shared vocabulary and typology of water-placed structures. In the paper the state of the typological works is described and the new typology based on three main distinguishing factors (relation to water, buoyancy and mobility) is given. Thanks to the different perspectives of civil-and naval architecture that are taken, the typology encompasses the architectural objects of all sizes, functions and movability, build both in the water and on the water, divided into six types: overwater, waterside and amphibious buildings, floating structures and residential and facility vessels.

SAJ, 2019

This paper focuses on the changes in architectural aesthetic criteria, from static to dynamic values of both figurative and non-figurative aspects in contemporary architecture and its cultural context. Fluid state of architecture refers to the notions of constant variability occurring in relations between architecture and contemporary cultural context of globalisation. Contemporary context dynamises everyday perceptual experiences, living conditions and terms of spatial appropriations. Accordingly, new networking phenomena appearing on informational, communicational and spatial levels transform the city and architecture into constant process of flows, dematerialising its elements into the new fluid, variable character. Architectural aesthetic qualities simultaneously shift trough events and effects affirmation over static formal whole in transformation from objective to (inter)subjective aesthetic spatial experience. This paper is based on hypothesis that contemporary architecture is characterised by the loss of object singularity in terms of contextual conditions and assimilation of particular characters into the dynamic character of the whole. Therefore, architectural design principles shift through dispersion of disciplinary boundaries and boundaries of inner and outer architectural space, hybridity and typological definition loss. This paper presents how dematerialisation of architectural values transforms contemporary architectural space into the complex dynamic system of infrastructure, flows, events and effects.