bPL

tectonics
editedby

Neil Leach
DavidTurnbull
GhrisWilliams

@WILEY-ACADEIvIY

128 Digital
Tectonics

Gromrrny,AleonrrHM,
Pnrrrnu
- ToyoltoandARUP
TheSerpentine
Pavilion
2002
Balmond
Cecil

GEOMETBY
' - : t : i s c e ^ - o G r e e [a r c ht e c t l r e
G e o m e t r sy a n a n m a i c ' : - a s : . . : , s : i i
:
.
:
:
p
r
o
p
o
r
:
w e r eb a s e do n
c . a : a ' . ,c s l a : : : : ' . ' : ' ' ' a - I ' r er e a t v ep o s t o n s
o f a p o t n t o n a I n e l n ' a gf e a o o l t a v e . c a r : : . = : _ : a : c f l e r e n tp o s r t r o nsst o p p r n gt o p r o d u c ea r . e a s u r eo l . r a r n r o n cg.e c - _ a :_ t : : _ ^ ' e : a ^ r e a n sA t o n e p a ( i c
u a r p o . t t h e e S S ep' a r to : i h e n e 1 0t h e g ' e a : . . r - : - ' - : S : - : S a ^ ' er a tO a s t h e g r e a t e r
p a r t s t o t h e ! ' , r o e T h s d e f r n e si n e G oo e - ' , ' r - : - : - : : : : : : ^ e A c r o p or s a n d m u c h
o f t h e c o n r p o s l o n arlu e s b e h n d c a s s c a a ' : - . . = " a - ' . ,- e C o ' c - s e rt o o d e v e o p e d
t h e r o w n p r o p o r t r o n artuel e si o r t h e n r a kn g o ' : : - : i r : . ' : , . : . i . e c o n r p u t ewr e n o w
h a v et h e p o w e rt o l o o kf u r l h e r n t o a n a n m a t eg e : ' ' . : , - - s - g l e e d b a c kt e c h nq u e s
a n da l g o rt h m s .T e c t o nc s p a c en e e dn o t b e n r t e . r ' . - - a' - - g s l r L r c t u a
r es b o xl i k ea n d
a s s e m b e dw r t h s t a n d a r dp o s t a n d b e a mc o f s : ' . , ; : : - : : ^ ' a ! b e v e w e d a s a s e r a
p u n c t u a t r ogne n e r a t e b
d y c o m p e x p r o c e s s e s8 , , : : - a - . : - . : g a t o . o f s l c h n o n - l t n e a r
spaceneeos|ls own flgoursano,surpflsrngiy,
lnese ::^-::a:. :c aestnelc oeasoTpro,
portion,scae, and matera rty
l'r trally.Toyolro proposedtwo qLeslrons
A - how to float a slab?
B - how to transformthe box?
A W a n t r n ga s l a bt o f o a t m e a n si t l o s e sr t sc o n n e cor ' . , ' - - e g f o u i d ,n o l i n es h o o t s
straightdown andamp iflesgravity,no squatnessor roo-s:-esscr c a ms to an assumed
efficiencyremain.Instead,therecoud be a wanderng ne. a < r.rdof dreamingpath.
No need for hards ngle contact- lnstead,there coLrd be co ector zonesor gravity
basins.Insteadof descent,and the ideaof a loadcompe ec to lrave downwards,what
f the logicwere to flippand the 'load'ascend,upwaros)Tre oround s grvenlfe to rise
and coil up intothe air- then a flat planeintersects,
a nros: 'y.g' at t, to be embedded.
The movernentn the roof slab s. as f, frozen lf the 15 ng oround s transucent,poo s
of ight may f the spacebetween heavenand earth,a.o benchesand beds are fold
I nes. lvlni programspace s foundw thrn.The traditronam r of s ab on columnsis now
forgottenSonrewhefe
above,the rooff oats.
B W t h B t h e g a m e s p o si v e n e g a tv e H o w m u c h s v o r da n d w h a t s h o u l dr e m an
r l ? l s : a i e a t n g a l v a yo f t h e f o r m o r a f l o l vo f a r g eb u b be s t h a t m a y
o f s o l r dn r a t e a
t r a p a f o r m w t h r n)
l f s m a l h o e s a r e b r t t e na w a y i r o m a t h i c k m a t r i xt h e c u t s a r e d e e p a n d a n g e d ,

129

. rrr_=-rral',il

addinga third dimensionto the f oatingplanes.But as the matera is thinnedand the

holesa lowedto grow,as the vo d increasesand the so id part turnsto resdue or float
place.f the so id is reflectivealuminiumandthe Jloorhashard
ing islands,reversaltakes
and sofl zonestoo, the pavilionbecomesa capsuleof dri{tingspace.The dreamof the
wanderinggravityline now spreadsover the surfacestretchedby voids.Like ice floes,
the solidis at risk.
ResolvingA and B
The initialquestionsA and B lto rarseded to much specuiaton aboutform and enclovolume Fortherewas much to experimentwith as
sureand how to deflnea tradrtional
we investigated
what couldbe contaned or ,berateds mply by the drawingof pattern,
and what sort oi rlsk do we nject nto the unpredclableTWe choseto mag ne, in the
event,a cubLcspacemadeon y out oTvansn ng nes
NETWORK
A straght line is a constantvelocity.In speed rnes 1 slreaksfrom nowhereto somewhere,and does not want to be stopped But a cross.g irnethat ntersectsthe motion
s ows it down, and the queston becomes,wh ch !!ay2 A seriesof crossingsand the
questionsmult ply,where d rectionis ost, where trme stops
We may loopor zigzagor lump over intersectionsmpos ng a part culardirectionover
others,but as the network grows the puzzlebecomesmore rntrcate,for which line
came lirst?
lmaginesuch lines, as a small sample,scorchedonto the earth in front oJ the
SerpentineGallery,and the groundtrace energrsedro p ck rtselfup and fold over into
the planesthat outlinean enclosure.As the I nes raceoverthe p ane,shootingdown the
sidesat anges only to kick backthroughthe baseand r se up the other slde,the surJace becomesa mesh of crcuits, going nowhereand yet at the same tlme moving
towardseverywhere.Normalextensionceases;we aTe n a t me capsule.We occupy
spacethat underminesthe ideaof a imit, denyinghardsk n to a vo ume.
Geometry,as a catalyst,even in this simplestcond tion of the stralghtline can sub'surround
ng'. And sincegeometryis the lfe I ne of structure,tsanivert our not ons of
mation enlvens a plece of constructioninto somethng other than the dumb frame,
makingthe differencein how we give metaphorsto form volumeor enclosure,skin
or surface,traveling marginor boundary?With such questionsstructureprovokesa
mobi e senseof architecture.

ALGORITHM
Usualyto constructa rectanguar or squareroof, inesare drawnat rightanglesto each
other,parale to the sidesof the p an,to producea gridof beams.Thisroof planeis then
supportedby verticalcolumnsp acedevenlyaroundthe edges.Insteadoi followingthe
edgesthough,a more efficent patternjor the roof may be drawn by travelling
acrossat
po
point
an ange, say from half nt on one sideto the halJ
on the adjacentside.Repealng
this for eachside producesan innersquarewhollyembeddedw thin the Jirst,but diagolf the connectionbetweenadjacentsides s made more general,the
nal in orientation.
po
end
nt
of the firstIne may havedifferentratios.Thisputsa skew intothe patstartand
tern,and once the new squareis compleleda virtualsquareis impliedthat goes beyond
the boundaries
of the or g na shape.Bepeating
the ideaproducesa spiralof shapes.

,|31
A gonthm,
Pattern
Geometry.

sr lotlal Pr0c ztJ

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I0rlan1lsu03

\
I

A t t h e s a r n et i m e i f a i l I n e s a r e p r o l e c : e fdo r w a r d sa n d b a c k w a r das d e n s ef i e l do f
c r o s s e oI n e s a p p e a r S .
lf anywhereon this two dimensrona1e C the p anes of a cube or box is laidout flat
and then fo ded backagan, the patte'. o c(ed up providesa cont nuousz gzag tracing
over the three-dmensionaform.
DanielBosraof Arup helpeddeveop 1r-s a gorithm,to provde Lrswrth endlessoppor
tunity n the drawrngof networksthat outl ned the terrtory.
CONSTRUCTION
eI Ines.
A m n i m u ms i z eo f s t e e f l a ti s c h o s e nt o m a t e r i a l s a
pattern
Particular
tracesof the
are underlred and madeth cker to act as structure.
(We shoud note that normaly steel f ats would be judgedtoo weak to span much dist a n c ea s b e a m s a
, s t h e t h i n s e c t i o n sb u L fe e a s l y .B u t d u e l o t h e s d e s u p p o r m
t ade
pattern
part
lable
from
ng
in
weakness
is
ava
cross elements the
this
cular
easrlyover
come, the densrtyoffersa net of stablty )

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