When Buildings Talk

We all are familiar with the nest, siri and the new sensation from amazon, a device called Echo. Echo can call Uber, light up your house, play a musical track or order pizza. All exciting, but to an architect it just sounds OK. Maybe a correct statement would be that all this does not do much for the architecture of the buildings.

So I wonder. What if all the elements of architecture become an Echo? What if they talk with each other and with other elements that interface with the building. Not a new idea. Yes, Internet of Things (IOT) and all but I want to dig deeper. IOT as a statement without context is meh. So I zoom in and imagine how, when, what, and why. For a moment, I think, not in tech verbiage but in scenarios and settings.

SCENE 1:

It is 2024 AD. Most of the drive is autonomous. Cities now have the density, most of the buildings in downtown are 15 stories or more. Parking is still in the basement. But unlike the last century, nobody self-parks. Vehicle elevators have replaced long winding ramps to the garage. There is no valet.

The car drops me at the porte-cochere. The car self-calls the vehicle elevator to the basement parking. The elevator understands how many cars it has dropped at each level. Analytics reports back to the elevator where the open spots are. The elevator communicates the spot location to the car and drops it to the right level.

[Autostadt,Wolfsburg, Germany. Image Source: http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2009/10/vws-unlikely-autostadt-theme-park-packs-them-in/]

SCENE 2:

Nic is still at home on the 60th floor in the same building. The sky outside is full of drones. Nowadays it is difficult to tell a bird formation from a drone formation. Shipping via drones is a way of life. The Echo device in the house announces a scheduled delivery through window JB_West-09. No more unit numbers or street address for deliveries. Every apartment, office, space has a dedicated window for delivery. The GPS location of window JB_West-09 syncs with all orders. The drones delivering the package knows the location. But it also performs its part in the dance of the delivery.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

Joe, as this drone calls itself, hovers about five feet away from the window. Closer than that and it will damage the window glazing, Joe knows better that that. The Window and the Drone get in a conversation via Echo. The facts get verified, the time recorded, the hatch opens to let a small robotic arm reach out for the package. Nic looks at this handshake with satisfied eyes. Echo once again announces the successful delivery of the package. It rates the service, logs in the report. The window hatch shuts, the drone flies away to another window. Amazon ships via drones to all window locations around the globe. Echo itself has evolved into a smarter building element. It can now call elevators, cars, open windows, receive shipping.

[Coca-Cola drone delivery  to Singapore migrant workers, Image Source: http://www.famemagazine.co.uk/2014/05/07/coke-drones-drops-cold-refreshment-and-messages-of-thanks-to-construction-workers-in-singapore/]

SCENE 3:

I think of other scenario’s in which building elements talk, listen, respond and act. As an architect, I try to dream the changing patterns. As devices get smarter so does all the building elements. Small robots answering maintenance calls, crawling in plenum spaces. Fixing stuff is fast, cheap, and at a push of a button. Autonomous parking relieves a human being to be present in depressing basement spaces. This is a good thing.

This new play of Architecture of Buildings is more exciting to me than an open-ended concept of Internet of Things. I look for silicon valley folks, to work with them on building projects that sync with their new products.

Release 14.0

Writing an opinion article every week was not a new years resolution for 2016. Nor is it a sudden declaration of ideas. Last year over coffee I read fail and fail fast the technology industry mantra. Wow, this makes me think.

I work in the design industry, a big idea is a disguise to iterations of wash, rinse-dry cycles. But as architects, we do this in our studios, among colleagues, within our comfort zone. As a technologist, my friend does the same, but with a larger audience. Every pin-up to us is a release to them. Improvisation happens over users experience, failures, and in versions. Release 2.0 is better than 1.0, and 4.0 in 2018 may even get better.

A decade ago I worked with Bechtel. A small group of us identified ourselves as the Next Generation Leaders. As a member of NextGen, I get to meet Riley Bechtel, the CEO of this large conglomerate. Approximately right, not exactly wrong is his strategy for success.

Every design is a new venture, the design team functions as a start-up most of the time. So I decide to test this concept for myself. I write about my work, my process, thinking and all things design on several platforms.

I study responses. Buildings that Build Itself is the most viewed article, Dirt Unplugged the least. Patterns of Things gets the most likes, The Black Taj does not do so well. I study analytics from LinkedIn, Medium, and WordPress. Similar patterns. Patterns of Things gets more views on LinkedIn, in Medium not so much. I am intrigued.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

My work on design competitions invokes a response. Everyday work not so much. I search for comments. Data backed design starts making sense. I am trained to draw, to think abstract, not to write. My articles have grammatical errors.

My good friend Bruce Toman comments “Articles and Tense”. I download Hemingway and Grammarly app. Improvisation is the plan for the weekend. Grammarly corrects few errors. I learn.

[Image Source: grammarly.com]

If buildings are ideas, then can we test and improvise with such a process? Environmental performance data is now a norm. Human performance, cultural likes, and dislikes, and new technological adaptations have equal value. The intent is to not align with a trend or a singular voice. Weighing multi-disciplinary opinions and making a bet on one or few is how I see the new paradigm.

Buildings that Build Itself taught me about 3d printing new materials. The research suggests to me that this new way of building is gaining traction. Advances in human perception and technological adaptation now sync faster than before.

My friend and I are working hard to 3d print carbon for our Traveling Pavilion project. This is a beta for several theories that we have researched and written over the last three months.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari & Anesta Iwan]

A broader multidisciplinary critique is now possible and relevant. Everyone who can provide me a feedback, a response, a comment, a suggestion or view my work is now a teammate. This is our current zeitgeist.

5 with Julie Taymor, tweet to Richard Branson, & A Traveling Pavilion

It all happened in one week. Anesta Iwan and I have been working on a proposal for A Traveling Pavilion. A Pavilion for peace, a pavilion of 27 steps, each step for a year Mandela spends in Robben Island prison. Who better to walk the first 27 steps than Sir Richard Branson? we think.

Richard as we like to refer him has been a long time supporter of Mandela, anti-apartheid movement. He has to be the first one to walk the 27 steps, sounds a bit like Neil Armstrong and the moon quest of the 60’s, or Musk and Mars in the 2030’s but for us, this event is to happen right here on Earth, at Market Street Fair in San Francisco.

So we tweet Richard Branson, it may have gone into a black hole but it may happen. The tweet makes us euphoric! @jack (Jack Dorsey) thank you for twitter.

 [Image Source: Nish Kothari & Anesta Iwan]

With a strong sense of accomplishment, I head to NYC for work. I reward myself with tickets to the broadway blockbuster, “The Lion King”. I luck out, sit in the second row, and get a lifetime experience.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

Rafiki looks into my eyes as she starts the show. Minskoff theater reverberates:

“Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba [Here comes a lion, Father]

Sithi uhm ingonyama [Oh yes, it’s a lion]

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba
Sithi uhhmm ingonyama
Ingonyama

Siyo Nqoba [We’re going to conquer]
Ingonyama
Ingonyama nengw’ enamabala [A lion and a leopard come to this open place]”

And the audience goes wild in awe. With a kid like curiosity, I stare at Mufasa, Sarabi, and Zazu. I see the courage in the eyes of Simba, the loyalty of Nala, I see the Circle of Life in the next few. The creativity in acting, set design, puppetry, lighting, sound, music is breath-taking. The show engages me.

The cast and story are no longer about animals, it is about personality, balance in the eco-system, duty, honor, and family. Well done Julie Taymor, I want to touch you in person to see if such creativity resides among us is real. I head back to my apartment in Nolita after the show. I narrate every detail to friends and family, they can sense my excitement. I sign up for a meetup event to go and listen to Julie Taymor.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

I am awake all night thinking about the event. An unexpected work meet clashes with Julie Taymor’s event. Anesta asks me to deliver a hand written note to Julie.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari & Anesta Iwan]

The events and expectations of the day are soon taking over me. I am in a meeting at East 26th, by the high line. It is 6:15 PM, the event has already started. At 6:30, my meet concludes, I rush to the Metro. E to Times Square, B to Columbus Circle, and 1 to Lincoln Center. It is 7:45 PM, the auditorium is empty, my eyes look for Julie.

I step out, look for the spirit of Mufasa, and the voice of Rafiki. A woman resembling Julie looks back at me. Not exactly a “Dr. Livingstone, I presume moment”, but more like:

Hi, Julie, this is Nish.
Hi, Nish, do I know you?
No, but………………
[The conversation goes on for 5 mins, I deliver the handwritten note, I shake Julie Taymor’s hand]

A selfie would have ruined the moment. I decide to keep this moment etched not on icloud but in ibrain. I head to Alice Tully hall at Lincoln Center for coffee. I am humbled, thankful, happy.

I head back to San Francisco. We finish the last few items on our pavilion project  and wait for the results, due in three weeks or so. The promise is to make this a production like The Lion King, with lights, camera, and action.

Tweet to Richard Branson, a 5 min conversation with Julie Taymor, a Traveling Pavilion submittal for Market Street Fair in San Francisco, all events in one week.

“I’m not going to spend two years on a film or four years on an opera if I don’t feel like I can put my own self into it. That doesn’t mean it has to be about myself.”
Julie Taymor

Agree with Julie, my resolution for The Traveling Pavilion and other Future Projects.

0, Social, 2100

We have all agreed to believe that the 21st century is different. Last three centuries were about maximization to 100%. A new social movement of 0% is evident in 2100 AD. Zero Carbon, Zero Disease, Zero Ownership, Zero Hunger.

The movement is global and social. The alignment of the Zero Target across multi-discipline resets the playing field. Zero are the new rules of engagement. Technology and innovation are the heart of this change. A new social behavior of adaptation propels this from 0 to 60 in few seconds. Creative business models enable feasibility for a mass scale. The net results are positive in economics and in a social cause.

[Image Source- Nish Kothari]

Alejandro Aravena, winner of 2016 Pritzker Prize announced few days ago that his studio Elemental will open source four of its affordable housing design. The open source initiative will allow FREE access to CAD files of four of Aravena’s affordable housing project. Governments can use the built projects and the free CAD files to test pricing and feasibility for a housing subsidy. The intent is social upliftment, Zero Homelessness. This terrific example of Social Cause, Open Source technology permeates all barriers.

[Quinta Monroy Housing, Iquique, Chile, Image Source: Alejandro Aravena]

The 2030 challenge in architecture calls for carbon neutrality or Zero Carbon for all buildings by 2030. We know the drill, renewable energy, green materials so forth so on. But a look at the carbon challenge in the aviation industry will beg us, architects, to innovate more. Bio-fuels, composite materials, efficient engines are a start. The goals for reduction in carbon are well outlined.

What I also encounter in my research is electric landing gears for aircraft. Airbus, Safran and Honeywell are developing this technology. This means all the taxing for the landing, takeoff cycle is Zero Carbon. Innovation and adaptation such as these are our keys to a Zero Carbon environment.

[Image Source: Airbus, Safran, and Honeywell]

The millennials are redefining social patterns and behaviors. Owning a car, Not Cool. Using UBER, Cool. Go Airbnb, hotels and motels not so much. Embracing such concepts lower carbon emission through multiple channels. A shared economy is a Zero Ownership economy.

[Image Source: http://www.newbrandanalytics.com]

Technology helps, but a change in mindset is the key. I grew up in Mumbai, India in a nuclear family. Four uncles, four aunts, grandparents, seven cousins all living together. We live in a large bungalow by the Arabian Sea in Mumbai. All seven cousins get dropped to school at the same time, picked at the same time. Two rides opposed to 14. Sometimes I reach school earlier than required, but I learn to adjust, so do my cousins.

I live through it growing up in Mumbai, I experience this again when I use Airbnb, Uber Share Ride and Zipcar in 2016. I adjust. The net deduction: no room cleaning, limited shampoo use, no filling up the tank, fewer car trips. Reduction in use of resources is good. I am for it.

[Image Source: http://www.airbnb.com]

Bill Gates by far is doing the most towards Zero Disease. Listen to him talk, knock of polio by 2018, tuberculosis in 6-7 years, knock off malaria in 15-20 years. Money, Will, and Technology all put towards the right purpose. The immediate benefit may be for the bottom 2 billion people in Africa, India, and China, but going long this is good for all humanity. A Zero Disease target rocks.

Zero was invented in India few thousands of years ago but it is being redefined by a new social movement in 2100 AD. I measure my projects on a scale of 100 to 0, with 0 being good.

For me, Zero Is Social, Zero Is 2100.

The Silhouette

I concentrate on the mannequins wearing Oscar De La Renta at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. The fiberglass models present an unfamiliar silhouette. I seek refuge in the familiar Chrysler building cut-out staged behind the models. The immediate comfort is uncanny.

[Oscar De La Renta at DeYoung- Image Source: Nish Kothari]

I understand silhouette of buildings and cities. The mannequins challenge this ideology that I have burdened myself with. I study De La Renta’s dresses. The outline of the haute couture is strong. Curiosity makes me read more on what Silhouette means in the Fashion world.

[Oscar De La Renta at DeYoung- Image Source: Nish Kothari]

Silhouette in fashion is about the shape of the dress. It is the simple outline of the clothing. Silhouette terms like hourglass and bouffant are now common in our own vocabulary. This is a building parti, few lines that demarcate the outline of the form. So I understand.

[Edwardian corset with the S-bend of hourglass- Image Source: https://www.pinterest.com/buuubiiiiii/edwardian-era-fashion/%5D

Silhouette architecture in fashion follows universal elements and principles of good design. It captures the flow of the line. They narrate a story and hold all the embellishment pieces together.

[Oscar De La Renta at DeYoung- Image Source: Nish Kothari]

A model always stands behind a backlit translucent screen before her ramp walk. The outline shadow of the clothes is the silhouette of the design. I like this approach for design measurement.

De young museum is set in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. I step out from the exhibit and see the varying landscape silhouette. The rhythm and scale of this silhouette are comforting.

[Landscape Silhouette- Image Source: Nish Kothari]

Sou Fujimoto explores a similar approach for his House of Hungarian Music project in Budapest. The project context is a park. The Silhouette is the Park. One of the best approach to landscape skyline preservation so far.

[House of Hungarian Music Building Section- Image Source: Sou Fujimoto]

A silhouette in fashion, landscape or in architecture removes the noise. Silhouette undresses the fluff, bares the idea. But ultimately, silhouettes are the start and end of an idea. In architecture, ruins are nothing but silhouettes of ideas of the past.

“I like ruins because what remains is not the total design,
but the clarity of thought, the naked structure, the spirit of the thing.”
Tadao Ando

And that Silhouette is what I understand the best.

Dirt Unplugged

1995

We are going to build a Rammed Earth House, Peter Anderschitz informs me. I have come uninvited to Auroville, Pondicherry. My friends in Mumbai are working as apprentices in fancy design offices. I choose to go to Auroville, an International Town in South India. The Green Initiative is alive and kicking here since the 70’s. This internship is sort of three-month Burning Man experience.

[Auroville, The City of Dawn. Image Source: Auroville.org]

Having come here unannounced I find myself knocking on local architects doors for an internship. I find Peter. His Office is the Site. Building his house with Rammed Earth is the task at hand. The Team: Peter, local craftsman, myself.Tools for communication: Sketch on dirt, no drawings.

[Peter’s House in Progress. Image Source: Nish Kothari, 1995]

Process:  1- Build scaffolding. 2- Mix red earth excavated from the Site with cement + water.   3- Ram this dirt mixture to make walls. Product: Rammed Structural Walls that cantilever up from the ground. Durability Test:Withstands five-day tropical cyclone storm in India.

After three months I return back to Mumbai. I have built my first project with my own hands. Not knowing then, my first structure is a Zero Carbon Product.

[Peter’s House in Progress. Image Source: Peter Anderschitz Gallery]

2013

Foster + Partners investigates lunar soil known as regolith as building matter. Sophisticated technology + regolith are the tools and materials for the first lunar base habitat. The product: Rammed Moon. Lunar dirt protects the structure from gamma radiation, meteorites, and temperature fluctuations. Rammed Earth is in works since 5000 BC. First lunar base shell is much like the first rammed earth walls. I like the irony, conceiving Lunar future with Histories of the Earth’s past.

[Lunar Base. Image Source: Foster + Partners, 2013]

Dig and build the same materials is sustainable, scaling up this process is an issue. The first few Lunar and Mars base may well be adobe shells. If so, my interest lies in investigating binding agent for the dirt. For Peter’s house, we use cement, but that is not the greatest material for building on Moons, Mars, and Jupiters. I want to engage with Dow Corning and nanotechnology research facilities in finding a better glue. I look for a high-performance Dirt Glue.

Future

I google Dirt Glue. Such a product is available. It does what it says. It glues dirt. Primary use is to stabilize soil at construction sites. Can it do more? Can we panelize dirt? Can panelized dirt become facades? Can it become structure?

Will sophisticated nanotechnology-enabled polymer glue (molecular super glue) be available in the future? If so, then we can scale. Like Peter’s house in Auroville, every construction site becomes a manufacturing site. This may be the best approach to building first iterations of built structures on the Moon’s, the Mars and on the other Stars in a galaxy far far away.

For myself, I would like my CV to read:
Rammed Earth – 1995
Rammed Mars – 2045

The Patterns of Things

I understand the world in patterns. Patterns are at play everywhere, from block printing to graphic design to architectural facades, to structure to behavioral to environmental. The fluidity of its migration from one genre to another interests me. Magic happens when patterns migrate in more than one dimension and direction. Mapping patterns is a sport that I like to indulge in.

Borders on Sari’s are my first recollection of patterns. Can I look at this border with mango patterns? my mom asks the shop owner. I sip my cola as I observe dozens and dozens of clothing patterns. The orange mango border pattern goes onto the edge of my mom’s new Sari. The Sari now matches her mango shaped gold earrings. The Sari and jewelry are looking great together, my aunt compliments my mom. More discussion happens on other cousin’s clothes and jewelry patterns. My mom ventures into a different pattern combination at the next family occasion.

In Mumbai different patterns are constantly happening around me, I live through it and adapt to it in a natural way. Patterns of languages, economics, diversity, humans, animals, food, culture are all happening in tandem. A regular state of things and order is what the patterns suggests. Patterns bring clarity to the chaos.

The patterns are sometimes invisible to a naked eye. Often time I would sketch my pattern of activities, and overlay that with my parents. Emerging patterns overlap, morph, appear and disappear. I map the patterns of our milkman, our helpers, and my teachers. The overlays teach me why public buses travel the route they do, why bazaars are right outside the train station, why rickshaws are not allowed in south Mumbai.

Patterns like fingerprints reveal the mystery. All together they inform me of the environments I live and work in. If I know a pattern then I can improvise, I can measure, I can quantify. I learn to design with patterns. I can start with a design program and fit a pattern to it. Or I can research a pattern and use it as a starting point. Can patterns produce performance? can patterns invoke emotions?

I test patterns as a design parti for World War One Memorial in Pershing Park, Washington DC.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

I propose a pattern of 116,516 shadows, one for each American life lost in World War One. Pershing park is the context for the arrival and departure of the shadows. The rhythmic disappearing patterns are as fragile as life at war. Shadows from the past narrate the realities of war and bask in the optimism of the future. A memorial is a place of dialogue between the shadows of the past, visitors of the present and the landscape of the future.

On other projects, I use patterns to gather data, which I then use to drive design. It gets interesting when technology patterns overlap my design patterns. Once that happens we truly create smart environments. Patterns of Things is the Architecture behind Internet of Things.

The Black Taj

Jean-Baptiste Tavernier a French traveler visits Agra, India in 1665 AD. He reports two Taj Mahal’s. A white Taj on the banks of the river Yamuna, a black Taj across the white Taj. The black Taj never get’s built. This historical observation could be a myth. But its a good story so let’s go with it.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

Jean-Baptiste reports that emperor Shah Jahan has planned a second Taj in black marble across the white Taj, along the other side of the Yamuna river. A bridge connects the two mausoleums.The design parti is strong. A river, two monuments, one black, one white, a bridge. The simplicity of the diagram is compelling.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

I like the black Taj. But the two monuments no longer hold my attention. I am interested in the journey between the Taj. What would it be like to be on this bridge?

I walk on the bridge. The visual symmetry is broken by the infinite in-between space. I feel the strong magnetic force of the Taj. As I approach the Black Taj I am pulled by even a greater force of the White Taj. The same happens when I reach the White Taj. On the bridge, I experience the intimate bond between Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal. I look for the black Taj across the Yamuna on my next visit to Taj.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

The journey between the two Taj is similar to the one I take between the great pyramids of Giza, Cairo. Ruba Nadda captures this elegantly in her movie Cairo Time. Ruba’s journey to the Pyramids is one of transition. Mine is of exploration.

[Cairo Time- A Film by Ruba Nadda]

I forget the unforgiving Cairo heat as I walk on the road between the two pyramids. Mirage of images from 5000 BC talk to me, I am seized. I feel the tension. A vortex takes your mind on a journey of hope, love, loss and victory. The in-between space is more enigmatic than the monuments. If the pyramids are the road to the afterlife, then the road in-between is a one to life.

Maybe the design is about a journey and not a destination.

Anesta Iwan and I experiment this idea on a Nelson Mandela Design competition proposal. Our design is titled 27 steps to freedom.

The big idea is a journey of 27 steps through a triangular void that cuts a large black granite rectangular block along its diagonal.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari & Anesta Iwan]

The black granite is Robben Island Quarry. Along the diagonal of the quarry lies a 27-foot walk, each step echoes a year of hardship that Mandela endured in prison, in the granite quarry.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari & Anesta Iwan]

27 steps: a walk to seek answers, to self-reflect, to connect with righteousness, to confront unjust paradigms, and to change for the better. It is here that one walks through Mandela. Through this journey, the spirit of Mandela is alive, becoming a companion, a guide, a mentor, and an inspiration for change in every visitor.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari & Anesta Iwan]

This memorial of hope is rooted in the profound belief that generation after generation will visit and walk this journey – 27 feet to Mandela, 27 steps to freedom.

Maybe not. We do not win the competition. Not every idea is built or needs to be built I conclude. I archive the loss in a digital folder called The_Black_Taj.

The Search for White

007 is not what comes to mind when I think of color White. But such is the state of affairs at DuPont. The need for White > White is a big market, a multi-billion dollar business. DuPont owns a large share of this market.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

I know white till I read “Stealing White”, an article in Bloomberg publication. Chinese company stealing White color IP from DuPont, a scene right out of a James Bond movie? How can anyone steal a color? I dig deeper.

DuPont uses titanium dioxide compound to create the whiteness. The IP sought after is the know-how of titanium dioxide extraction embedded from the rock. DuPont has mastered this extraction process. Most companies spend a fortune to research better extraction means. Stealing this IP secures a larger piece of the pie, big money.

Why it matters to me?

My interest lies in color White and its application in architecture. White buildings fascinate me. Few years ago I was designing a project in San Francisco. The building exterior was metal and glass. Our request for noble metal facade was rejected for budget reasons. Fair enough, we started exploring painted metal panels. After studying white terra-cotta buildings of San Francisco I am convinced: My building in its context wants to be a White building.

White terra-cotta is not the same as painted white metal panel. But I give it a try. All kinds of white metal panel samples are ordered. Selected pieces are hoisted up and studied. The problem: White is never White in daylight.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

The play of sunlight and overcast skies makes the white metal panel appear gray, shades of gray, uneven gray. The ever changing inconsistency in reflection is aesthetically disturbing.

I blame myself for not being able to find the right white. I abandon the search and settle for a silver painted metal panel. This upsets me. Seven years after I am still searching for my White.

What if the white metal panel had titanium dioxide compound? Would that make a difference? Does the chemical characteristic of white pigment make a difference? I do not know. I research more.

How does the flower Edelweiss stay White in daylight?

Edelweiss flower always appears white. How does the flower do it?

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

Edelweiss is covered with thin hollow filaments that are covered with nanoparticle structures. Edelweiss grows at higher altitudes and is subjected to ultraviolet light. The nano-particles absorbs the ultraviolet light because of similar wavelengths and reflect all the visible light. This explains the white color of the flower.

I learn: Color has to be Structural, not Pigments. Structural color isn’t Chemical. It is tiny nano-particles like the ones found in Edelweiss flower. The trick is to fool the light and make it reflect the same color of the material. Structural color is at work in peacock feathers, fish scales, and beetle casings.

More Research

I understand the facts, now I need to learn how to make this happen for my future projects. How do I make a perfect structure for a color?

I travel to 16th-17th century AD. I visit Rembrandt’s studio in Amsterdam. I make my own colors Rembrandt whispers to me. My art shimmers. The secret is mixing the pigment with  linseed oil, lead oxide and master resin. Cannot give away more, he quips, just about when I was going to probe him more on the color recipe. I try asking Johannes Vermeer, another painter. What makes the pearl glow in your work “The girl with the pearl earring”? I do not get a response. I cannot get more, so I travel back to 2016.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

I discover the works of contemporary painter Kate Nicholas. Like Rembrandt and Johannes, Kate makes her own colors. The difference, Kate understands nanostructure and its impact on light and reflectivity. Kate shares her process of making structural colors in the link below.

[Image Source: Kate Nichols, http://www.katenicholsstudio.com/]

I get it now. In addition to searching a white painted metal panel, I should have done more scientific research on the making of color.

Architecture is Research. I have embedded this concept in my design process. Nano-structure particle White is still far away for architectural applications. But it will happen. For now, I am glad I found my White.

The Origami Side Effects

I discovered Origami before Lego. The ease of folding paper appeals to me. But the fun lies in improvisation. Cutting and folding the paper simultaneously is how I break the rules of this game. Often times I would use the same sheet of paper to fold, unfold and cut. The temporary forms are my first sketches in architecture.

Cutting paper with Origami is not an original idea. Kirigami and Miura are Origami side effects. Kirigami includes cutting the paper rather than only folding it as in Origami. Kirigami originated in Japan before 17th Century AD. Miura is a method of folding a sheet of paper into smaller segments. Japanese astrophysicist Koryo Miura invented the Miura fold.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

My Kirigami

I visit Origami often. More so now to experiment new ideas. Kirigami with folded perforated metal panels is my design approach for a Research Building. This intent hinges on the concept of looking at cells through a microscope, the primary activity in the building. The form is the Function. The building blocks of Kirigami are hexagonal base pairs. The pair opens up at the hexagon seam. I touch the tactile form. The handcrafted emotion comes through.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

I experience the building DNA as I walk by it. 10,000 years after it may offer archaeologist some clues of its purpose. Maybe not, but the thought inspires me.

[Image Source: Nish Kothari]

But that was then. I revisit my Kirigami facade. This time, I look at it through the lens of applied materials. Instead of metal what if the scrim was polymer? What if the wall could self-fold? Could this self-fold be a function of its performance? Advanced research in polymer films enables it to fold and form 3D structures. Black ink patterned on either side of the sheet absorbs light and heats the polymer. The inked region like hinges relaxes and shrink. This action folds the planar sheet into a three-dimensional object. A New Active Facade is possible.

 

 [Self-folding Polymer Sheet, Image Source: http://pubs.rsc.org/]

Origami in Space

Japanese Space Program has used Miura folds to deploy satellites with large solar panel array. Miura folds packed into a compact shape unfolds in one motion when the satellite enters space. Miura folds help to reduce satellite weight and transportation complexity. The advantages make the satellite launch and deployment cost effective.

The team at Bringham Young University are developing solar arrays with a similar concept. The prototype of the array is 1 cm thick and is able to expand from 8.9 feet to 82 feet in one motion. The image below illustrates this in action.

 

[Image Source: BYU Engineers, http://e.standard.net/] 

 Origami for Future Design and Construction

Rapid urbanization demands millions of housing units and infrastructure developments by 2050. I need to create designs that can scale. Manufactured buildings is a norm in 2030. Designed in America, engineered in Germany, manufactured in China/ India, assembled in Japan and deployed in cities on Earth. Maybe not exactly the sequence but I like the breadth of the human resources engaged in solving the problem.

Manufactured buildings are here to stay. Multi-disciplinary Origami applications help me to scale up, to break free from the prefabrication ideas of the past. If architecture is to survive: this seems one way to do it — to create a new, specific demand for a traditional craft with smartness. This is a good thing. A Building and Construction Industry renaissance is in calling. Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban, Akihisa Hirata, Toyo Ito are the first among many answering this call.