Optimized Program Design
A ‘fast and dirty’* study for my current studio project, done early on in the design process, that aims to size the environmental features of a prototypical building section. This analysis uses Honeybee and Ladybug for Grasshopper and DesignExplorer to map the resulting patterns. In this case, a residential(north) and office(south) space are bifurcated by […]
Interpreting & Reacting to Forces: Structural Form Finding Excercise
This was a short exercise in studying the literal interpretation of flows on a site. This was a precursor study for the current studio project this semester. The site for the project is on an abandoned pier in Elliott Bay, Seattle. Although the climate is rather benign, the increased exposure of the site on the […]
Investigating Ignipetal Force at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello
In identifying the state-of-the-art available at the time when Thomas Jefferson was designing Monticello, including its subsequent renovations, it was discovered that he was aware of the mechanics of intentional, convective ventilation. In correspondence with John Carey on the 4th of July, 1791, the topic of ignipetal force was discussed at length. It is hypothesized […]
Environmental Diagnostics at Fort Union National Monument, Part 1
I was in Jackson Hole, WY last summer working with the Penn Praxis team on restoring log cabins at the Bar BC dude ranch when our professor, Frank Matero, mentioned to me that prolonged intensive rains at Fort Union, NM claimed another of the adobe structures in Fort Union that had catastrophically and spontaneously collapsed. […]