‘Environmental Ornamentation’

‘Environmental Ornamentation’, Hong Kong, Monika Bilska, Marta Naganska, Dessau Institute of Architecture , Germany, 2006

Instructors: Neil Leach and Tobias Schwinn

 

This project investigates the possibilities of implementing plant behavior into the world of architecture. The task – designing a skyscraper – led to a study of the Cactaceae family, because of its high structural resistance to wind loads. Environmental responsiveness was a major design concern, and Cactaceae’s self-shading ability inspired the creation of a building in Hong Kong, where solar gain is a significant problem. The plant’s self-shading logic was then combined with a camera diaphragm mechanism. This drove the form-finding logic for a double skin, which was populated on the façade according to an analysis of sun exposure during different times of day and seasons of the year. This project was generated entirely by scripting. Published in Neil Leach, ‘Digital Morphogenesis’ in Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi (ed.), ‘Theoretical Meltdown’, AD, Vol. 79, no. 1, Jan/Feb 2009; Neil Leach, Xu Wei-Guo (eds.), (Im)material Processes: New Digital Techniques for Architecture – Students, Beijing, China Architecture and Building Press, 2008