stardust pavilion

Melbourne, vic

The key concept explored through my design is the use of growth aggregation and point attractors to create evocative, angular geometry that juxtaposes the natural surroundings of the park landscape in which the pavilion is set.

The qualities of the space created are sheltered, intimate, evocative and exploratory, being developed by the raw materials: metal, wood and concrete as well as the layered geometry and sharp, angular panelling.

Threshold and circulation shaped the design through the creation of a central path with seating on either side - aided by the angular, faceted concrete base and the pointed geometric shelter overhead that creates a sense of intimacy and shaded protection.

The parametric design strategy deployed was from the Grasshopper extension ‘Pufferfish’ and its ‘TweenTwoSurfaces’ component as well as other strategies of growth aggregation to point attractors, radial waffles and other strategies to create the flat lay of components for fabrication templates and extrusion of surfaces to demonstrate the constructed model.

circulation

The circulation diagram is separated into the three components of structure, main circulation areas and circulation paths.

The circulation created forms a fork-like pattern where users congregate within the central space and disperse through the North and South entrances. There is a direct line of sight through the pavilion that frames the city view from the garden and shelters from East-West sun path.

The circulation is defined by the base platform, which raises along the West and East boundaries to create seating elements and connectors from the base to the structure. The structure overhead also provides a threshold that defines the circulation path as it peaks in height toward the centre of the pavilion, arching downward along the East and West boundaries.

Threshold

The threshold diagram is separated into the three components of the pavilion structure that produce the circulation paths and areas identified in the circulation diagram.

The metal cladding provides a visual threshold, shielding from the elements and blocking the visual sightline into the pavilion from the East and West, while creating an opening on the North-South axis.

The plywood structure creates thresholds of usable space through its sloping, angular form, creating allowances of space through height changes that provide seating and standing areas.

The concrete base provides a similar threshold of usable space through directing pedestrian walking paths, with seating elements on the borders and a central path through the pavilion’s North-South axis.

the process

The process of Abstraction occurred within the design matrix between the form created by growth aggregation
to point attractors and the use of Pufferfish’s command ‘TweenTwoCurves’. By extracting facets of the original growth aggregation’s surface, I created planes between which more geometry could be abstracted. The same reference brep was maintained between the two processes, a diamond, to create an eventual abstraction of shape and detail that is incomprehensible from the first geometry.

The geometry was then further abstracted through the use of a radial waffle to give a smoother language to the geometry as well as making the pavilion design fabricatible. A radial waffle was chosen as opposed to a XY contour as it gave a better rhythmic flow and added to the evocative geometrical language of the pavilion design.

The design went through the process of Reduction during the translation between design to scale model, where the number of radials was altered from 45 to 30 and the radial disks scaled to allow for the material thickness difference.

The design further underwent Normalisation occurred in all phases beyond the radial waffle as panels of the abstracted geometry that did not attach to the structure were removed, panels that had an area lower than 3000mm.

the model

To translate the design into a 1:25 scale model, the geometry was scaled down to 200 x 200 x 200 mm cube and put through the radial waffle grasshopper script with alterations being made to the disk size, and amount of radials.

The section was cut along the North-South axis of the pavilion, which has the main path of circulation and sightline through the structure’s entrance. It affected the structure as it did not have three points of balance, as one was now removed (East structure point).

The considerations when translating the design into a scale model included the thicknesses of materials, size of waffles and notches as well as the amount of radials that could be produced in accordance to material thickness.