The Volumetric Effect of an Explosion on Porosity

According to the thesis on porosity of Richard Goodwin (2007), the term “porosity” refers to the notion of the permeable edge that exists between public and private space and the scale of the city.

My X and Y cactus models (The Rotate and The Zoom) are based on Richard Goodwin’s idea of porosity. The two models present the effects of explosions in a 363 George Street building. This experiment is inspired by the previous experiment which tested the effects of explosions in different environments (water, air, and ground). The effects of each explosion are contrasted in the models.

Pores can be referred as minute openings in a surface through which fluids may pass. In the experiment, explosions cause fluids such as water, fire, and air pass the building resulting in several effects (e.g., dynamic water waves, a powerful blast waves, and vibration) between the void spaces of the building (The Pan). The concepts of porosity are associated with the way in which the private and public realms can be made to interconnect. Explosion is one way to construct a state of porosity and the new interconnection between private and public spaces.

The outcome of explosions has led to a methodology for the production of new linkages between the private building, its surroundings, and the reality of general public space. The explosion represents a starting point to the process of adaptation and transformation of the building. After the explosions, the building is deformed its normal built form, which can cause porosity in various ways. Consequently, the building may be opened for public access as part of the pedestrian walkways or roads and footpaths. Later on, the spaces resulting from the explosions can be made more accessible to the pedestrian or city dweller.

The Rotate

The Zoom



The Pan

The X% Solidworks Model

The Y% Solidworks Model

Mass Properties - VOLUME

The total volume of my model is 100993.85 cubic meters.

The exact % that increase in space are:
X% - 58
Y% - 33

Calculation for X%
100 993.85 x 58 %
= 58 576.433 cubic meters (the increased space)
100 993.85 – 33 327.9705
= 42 417.417 cubic meters (the finished volume)

Calculation for Y%
100 993.85 x 33%
= 33 327.9705 cubic meters (the increased space)
100 993.85 – 33327.9705
= 67 665.8795 cubic meters (the finished volume)

The Cactus Model as a series of voids

Doing a series of voids is quite repetitive work and takes a long time. While doing, I was wondering what the inside building looks like. It would be interesting to see the continuing series of those voids, so I decided to make the additional animation. It shows the section series of front, top, and right.

The Approach to the Cactus Model

SketchUp
1. Create section planes.
- For the “Cactus Model” in SketchUp, the distance between each plane that I will use is 2.4 meters. The reason is that the height of every element is greater than 2.4 meters, so they will appear on section planes. It should have approximately 33 section planes.
2. Observe each section plane from the top to bottom of the building and find the similarities and differences.
- If it has the same plane with other section planes, highlight the first and last noticing section planes. Therefore, it is not necessary to find dimensions on all 33 section planes.
3. Find dimensions.
4. Print out all necessary planes with the dimensions.
5. Find the height of each element.
- With each plane, observe the height of each element. In case there is the same height, connect those elements together. After that, write down the height above and below the plane.

SolidWorks
1. Set up planes.
2. Sketch the profile according to the dimensions gathered from SktechUp
3. Use ‘Extruded Cut’ to make a void.
- Put the height in both direction 1 (the height above the plane and) and direction 2 (the height below the plane).
4. Continue to work on each plane.

363 George Street - The Envelope Solid Part

Once I understood how the SolidWorks works, creating the envelope of 363 George Street has become very easy. The building consists of three main parts. The processes of constructing the envelope are as follows:

1. Sketch the profile of each part from the top view.

2. Use ‘extrude’ feature to make the height of the building.

3. Repeat the 1&2 Steps for other two parts.

Solidworks Tutorials

PARTS

It was quite difficult at first since I was not familiar with the interface. However, each step provides a quick way of finding the tools by simply clicking on the tool. It will automatically guide us where that tool is. I found that constraining the base is quite interesting feature in 3ds max. It adds relation between elements and the origin.

LOFTS

It is quite amazing on how the object becomes very realistic by just creating planes, sketching, and connecting the profiles. Unlike other softwares, 3ds max can deform the model into most flexible form. I found that this loft tutorial is not too difficult as it looks like.

REVOLVES AND SWEEPS

The ‘revolve and sweep’ feature is very similar to ‘follow me’ tool in SketchUp. It took me a bit of time to complete this tutorial. However, I started to be familiar with the interface because this tutorial involves many features. At this stage, I became fascinated with 3d max and would like to learn more about it.