DESIGNED TO DIE

Amin Hassanpour Divshali Andriani Souzou Federico Martelli

Biological essence of Architecture it belongs simultaneously to biological procreation, organic evolution, and aesthetic creation. Levi-Strauss

Systems inevitably tend towards entropy, loosing organization and functionality over time. If no energy and matter is added the system tends to complete disorganzation.

WE CAN REDUCE THE TOTAL ENERGY USED BY EMBRACING MATERIAL DECAY

Because of the singular origin of buildings we think of them as finished products not as a changing structure.

What kills a building nowadays?

Obsolescence Technological Functional Economic Social Legal * Not easily controlled * Process is random * Cannot be forecast Deterioration Physical decay Damage

* Can be controlled * Process is continuous * Is predictable

Traditional building elements life expectancies (years) Substructure Frame Upper Floors
Foundations Steel Concrete Timber (...) Reinforced floors Precast slabs Timber joists (...)

110 74 72 42 40 25 18 20

Refurbishment Modernisation Retrofitting DEPRECIATION

Roof External walls Floor finishes Fittings Electrical installation

Timber batten Pitched roof Decking Insulation (...) Brickwork Cladding Aluminium walling (...) Floor covering Skirting Wall units Floor units (...) Heating controller Power circuit Light switch (...)

Ryugyong Hotel, Pyongyang, North Korea

Material embodied energy Extraction of raw material Processing Assembly Transport to site

Design strategies for reduction of material embodied energy Low embodied energy content timber rammed earth hempcrete natural fibers, etc. Material optimisation by minimising the quantity of materials Design for deprecation reuse recovery bio-degradation

Material Primary energy requirement (GJ/ton) Veryhighenergy Aluminium 200250 Plastics 50100 Copper 100+ Stainless steel 100+ Highenergy Steel 060 Lead, zinc 25+ Glass 1225 Cement 58 Plasterboard 810 Mediumenergy Lime 35 Clay bricks and tiles 27 Gypsum plaster 14 Concrete: In situ 0.81.5 Blocks 0.83.5 Precast 1.58 Sandlime bricks 0.81.2 Timber 0.15 Lowenergy Sand, aggregate <0.5 Flyash, RHA, volcanic ash <0.5 Soil <0.5
United Nations Centre for Human Settlements

Life-cycle embedded Energy of a Building

origin renewable resources availability environmental impacts energy consumption

RAW MATERIALS

waste energy consumption

PRODUCTION

distance energy consumption

TRANSPORT

energy consumption

INSTALLATION

USE + MAINTENANCE
100%
BEST ACCEPTABLE POOR Repair #1 Repair #2 Replace

maintenance durability energy consumption

Repeat Sequence

level of function

RECYCLE functional limit (minimum acceptance performance level)

time

RE-USE DISPOSAL

0%

disposed material biological decomposition

1 year 1 month

3 years

5 years

10 years

20 years

50 years

Temporary architecture
Time-scale - we can perceive the process ocurring during the time frame of this excercise

Our lab

Exposition Universelle poster, Paris, 1889

MVRDV, Expo 2000 NL Pavilion, Hannover

Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona, 1929

Pavilion - light, temporal and programatically vague and trivial. Releases the author from the constrain of rigourous programme so as to focus on the material stuff of the building itself. (Charles Walker, 2010)

Architectural ambition
Considering the energy used in maintenance, repairs and dismantling, we want to propose an architectural system which will re-configure itself utlizing the changes induced by the decay in materials.

+
=

Stage choreography of self destruction

Seasonal Climatic Zones

SNOW

WARM TEMPERATE

POLAR

Warm Temperate Climate

50 40 30 20 10 0C 40% 50 60

70

80

90

WEATHERING

solar radiation temperature water (moisture) Primary

biological phenomena acid rain airborne pollutants Secondary

FAILURE + WEAR natural disasters human intervention

Material Interactions with environmental conditions

CLIMATES
arid meditteranean tropical temperate polar

MATERIALS

INTERACTION air pressure

light x x

temperature

moisture x

permeability x x x x x x

reflectivity

transformation

retention

conversion

sound absorption

insulation

uv light

light-transmitting concrete translucent concrete x pervious concrete autoslaved aerated concrete x piezoelectric ceramic and polymers translucent insulated glazing unit light-diffusing glass aerogel thermotropic cast resin glass metal patina thermal-biometals titanium dioxide thermal expansion materials (waxes,glycerine,tetrachloroethylene) phase change (paraffin wax, salt hydrate, water, water mixtures) thermalchromic+thermotropic (cholesteric liquid crystals, leuco dyes, metal oxides, metal iodides) straw vacuum insulation panels recycled glass insulation solar pv technologies transparent solar cells thin-film photovoltaics spherical solar cells

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

x x x x x x x x x

x x

x x x x

x x x

x x x x

x x

x x

Co-Efficient of Linear Thermal Expansion a (10-6/K at 20C)

Mercury BCB Lead Aluminium Brass Stainless Steel Copper Gold Nickel Concrete Iron or Steel Carbon Steel Platinum Glass GaAs Indium Phosphide Tungsten Glass, Pyrex Silicon Invar Diamond Quartz, fused 60 42 29 23 19 17,3 17 14 13 12 11,1 10,8 9 8,5 5,8 4,6 4,5 3,3 3 1,2 1 0,59

BRITTLE
clay glass wax

EXPANDABLE

timber gas

Wood Species
Roble (Quercusspp) Marishballi Pilon

% tangential change
6.4 5.4

% tangential change
11.7 11.7

radial/ tangential
1.8 2.2
d d/2

Oak Southern Red Oak Black Madrone Pacific

Persimmon Common

Azobe

4.7 4.4

7.9

8.4

7.5

11.3 12.4 11.1

11.2

11.0

11.7

2.4 2.2 2.5

Dc =

1.4

1.3

1.6

Beech American

Elm Winged

Hickory Mockernut -

Hickory Pignut

Hickory Shell bark

5.5

5.3

7.7

7.2

7.6

5.6

Di (MCi - MCf) ---------------------FSP(100)/S - FSP + MCi

11.9

11.6

11.0

11.5

12.6

2.2

2.2

1.4

1.6

1.7

Dc = dimensional change Di = initial dimension MCi = initial moisture content (percent) MCF = final moisture content (percent) FSP = fiber saturation point (average = 28%) S = shrinkage percentage from green to ovendry (radial, tangential, longitudinal)

Geometry

Integrated material system

Must allow structures whose shape can be adjusted and controlled Gravity is a force to be used to achieve the change in configuration

Tensegrity as a model to research

- Lightweight structures with high strength-to-weight ratios. Material economy. - Different materials structurally integrated - An evolutionary algorithm can be used to explore the space of arbitrary tensegrity structures which are difficult to design using other methods, and determine new, non-regular forms (Paul et al, 2005) - Form finding procedure for tensegrities with multiple states of self stress (Tran & Lee, 2011)

To be continued...

Material expermentation Bio-plastics Biological infection (fungus, bacteria, etc)

Predictable situations Unpredictable situations Particular locations

Multiple variables Computational techniques Scripting

Genetic Algorithm Form finding techniques Minimal surface (??)