Architecture Program

 

Title

Parametric Methods: Wyoming Renovation

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

May 2007

Comments

M.Arch Thesis, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, May 2007

Abstract

Primacy will be given to the objective of rediscovering process through utilizing parametric methods for design thinking. What will be explored is the relationship between thinking and doing in architecture, proposing a process which does not separate one from the other but instead removes the distinction between the abstract and the pragmatic. Through these considerations, an emphasis will be placed on processes themselves including; data collection, environmental analysis, scenario prototyping, manufacturing and fabrication methods, material production and assembly techniques. Each one of these processes has a relationship to parametric methods. Parametrics communicates and responds to these processes in an effort to stimulate a design process which is cyclical rather than linear. As information is gathered and introduced into the design process, design decisions are able to be proposed, evaluated and modifi ed based on established relationships. The design process therefore becomes a flexible cycle rather than one which is guided along a linear path.

Parametric thinking involves both external and internal parameters. External parameters have the ability to shape design decisions based on both global and local project specific relationships, while internal parameters are used to engage more dramatically, high-tolerance detailing in which specific components within the design respond to each other. Both processes will be of interest to this project. It will move from suggesting strategies for dealing with external parameters to developing one of the designed strategies through more complex internal parametric relationships. During Phase 1 of the project, both global and local parameters will be identified through a design phase which will establish the information from which initial design strategies will be generated. As each parameter is confronted, relationships will emerge and strategies will be developed through project information.

An emphasis will be placed on Phase 2 of the project. This phase will showcase the direct relationship between parametric modeling and designing for fabrication and assembly.

One of the strategies will be further designed through associative relationships; inquiring into potential workability, the act of making, and performance. This process will stimulate the resolution of competing forces and requirements through parametrically invested geometries. Components and inter-components will share in parametric relationships to allow for the geometry to be rationalized for assembly. The intention will be to produce fabrication sets and assembly diagrams, emphasizing the suggested design as a kit of parts. Just as the image on the cover represents a sheet of model parts, the goal will be to understand the design down to the relationship between prefabricated, internal components.