design democratisation: towards more inclusive and joyful architecture via material computation

depicting the framework, source: author

reflecting upon the interrelationship between macro-scale architectural concepts — specifically bjarke ingels’ ‘hedonistic sustainability’ which emphasises public pleasure and thomas heatherwick’s ‘humanising buildings’ that focuses on the human scale, this article is about bridging between public enjoyment and buildings incapability via material computation.

hedonistic sustainability & humanising buildings

we often see buildings are set into public realms, though they intendedly serve the inner occupants. they could not be separated from urban fabrics that create the context and support the definition of the facility amongst society. however, modern buildings often forget the passers-by who makes the buildings even more alive, not particularly as a ‘factory’. take a look at barcelona or other well-known european cities that have many old buildings that draw in visitors from all over the world. sagrada familia, arc de triumph, or even westminster’s palace are examples of remaining post-war buildings that support revenues for their countries. markets know better that public pleasure is a huge factor for this, the main factor of what bjarke ingels defines as ‘hedonistic sustainability’. this concept seeks playability of buildings in order to create lively and lovely urbanhood atmosphere, leading to public enjoyment and the more-use of the facility, something that shifts an unidentified, undefined space into ‘place’.

apart from the spaces, the face or the form of the buildings matters too of the playability. looking back to the sagrada familia and other gaudi’s works, or old cities that make people love european buildings, they have so many decorations that modernism movement tries to critique. i do not say that those are good at all, yet it somehow or sometimes even makes our buildings dysfunctional. in this case, eastern countries have more positives as they offer more balanced proportion between complexity and simplicity. however, without ‘textures’ on our buildings’ surfaces, they just feel too ‘bland’. how can you say you are in seattle, us if the buildings have glass panels as similar to what other cities have like dallas, shanghai, or else. this is what heatherwick defines as ‘boringness’ in our modern buildings. they are just ‘boring’ and do not bring any identities behind. at some points, they also lead to conflicts such as war, or negative emotions to the society (like what should we be proud of if we have similar buildings to other parts of the world). we embrace the interconnectedness of our life nowadays, but without losing our identity which is part of our unexchangeable dna. the idea is now to ‘humanise’ our buildings so that they create joys and make buildings more human, closely connected to the locals or even passers-by if they eventually draw tourists. approaches, ways, methods can be anything depending on the prior situation, however, the output is how we could bring visual complexity which allows us to ‘touch’ the buildings from a distance.

material computation & design democratisation

so now, what are the largest obstacles? how do we make these visionary philosophies come true? coming from a material-intensive phase i.e. manufacture, this relies on the fabrication method and approaches. the actual challenges we encounter when we are dealing with these are the component complexity, budget, and labours. old buildings were constructed years after years, and the components were manufactured by artisans with (still) low wages and precision, even it includes the one which is still under construction (and often postponed, the finalisation and inauguration), sagrada familia. modern buildings have been focused to gain economically driven viability through faster and cheaper construction and manufacture, much more of the return of the investment, not something to be enjoyed or visually fascinated (ironically, people seem to keep praising them, indulged).

to be more specific, in my opinion, it lies in material computation as the embodiment of design for manufacture (dfm). what is it? my take is that the term is about computerising material parameters to be processed through certain procedures digitally for the design to be machined with digitally-integrated computer numerical control (cnc) machine, such as 2-axis machines (drilling, etc) or even 6-axis or multi-axis machines (3d printing, robotic arms). the input parameters will be converted into set of digital instructions e.g. toolpaths, machine speed (feeding rate, etc).

outside the discussion of hybridising with craftsmanship that could be achieved by placing those digital and manual approaches fairly, the use of cnc machines from 2-axis to 6-axis like robotic arms can create greater efficiency in terms of time and cost, fostering project’s delivery whilst balancing with the enjoyable form of the components being machined. more inclusively, the inputs can by any type of data — as simple as analog data coming from children’s playful handprints — which are then converted into complex, calibrated fabrication datasets, subsequently executed precisely by robotic arms. in this scenario, technology functions as a bridge, lowering the ‘barrier to entry’ that allows everyone to participate within design and making something. this is ‘design democratisation’ where ‘making’ is no longer exclusive for architects or manufacturers, but a ‘shared ownership’

depicting the inclusivity and collaboration, source: author

summary

based on those, sustainability produced through this process exceeds energy metrics. beyond economic sustainability, it creates a profound sense of belonging amongst society and the ‘environmental cost’ would be as lower as the facilities or buildings do not have to be demolished as long as they are loved and represents themselves. particularly with the inclusive approach (society’s marks and their creation), when society demands and sees their identity carved physically into the built environment, we create ‘social resilience’. this emotional attachment ensures buildings and environments are cared for, effectively lowering the demolition rate in the future.

depicting the how-to, source: author

depicting the what-it-should-be, source: author

xi’an cbd, xi’an, china. designed by heatherwick. source: dezeen

azabudai hills, tokyo, japan designed by heatherwick. source: heatherwickstudio