Studio E/01


The Shape of Wine

Alberto Pugnale

Ysios winery building. Alava. Basque country. Spain. Melba Photo Agency

Studio Description

The Shape of Wine investigates possible design-to-construction working methods for free-form and Blob architecture. “Blobs enrich the discourse of tectonics by confounding the terms of tectonic discourse. Blobs cannot be reduced to a typological essence: no two blobs are identical, the form and organisation of any given blob is contextually intensive and therefore dependent on exigent conditions for internal organisation. […] In any definition of the architectonic, there is an implication of the arche as being an ideal global singularity where the tectonic involves a particular local identity. For these reasons, blobs promise to open up strategic spaces in tectonic discussions, precisely in the discursive spaces where the particular, the multiple, the contingent is conflated with the global singular” (Lynn, 1998).

Students will employ various performance-drive digital and analogue processes and techniques of form finding and optimisation to explore the tectonic qualities of shell and spatial structures by designing a winery in regional Victoria.

Studio Outcomes

WEEKS 1-6: Students will familiarise themselves with the concepts of form-finding, parametric design, detailing and fabrication by analysing various design precedents in small groups. At the same time, students will work individually on a design proposal for a winery that will be presented at the mid-semester reviews. By the end of Week 6, students should be able to: [1] generate and explore free-form geometries using Rhinoceros; [2] define Grasshopper scripts for design automation, such as for surface discretisation and panelling; [3] perform FEM analyses using Karamba; [4] prepare 3D digital models for fabrication through laser cutting, 3D printing and other fabrication techniques.

WEEKS 7-12: Students will develop their design proposal for a winery in regional Victoria. The focus will be on tectonics – poetics of construction – and the whole of life environmental implications of material choices. By the end of week 12, students should to be able to: [1] communicate design ideas and propositions through a variety of media, including diagrams, renderings and other techniques; [2] present their work to an external panel of architects and engineers; [3] design and prototype a shell or another spatial structure at different scales (1:200 to 1:1).

ESSENTIAL PREREQUISITES: Foundations of computational design thinking and analytical thinking. Competency in 3D modelling and parametric design (Rhinoceros and Grasshopper). Strong attention to detail.

Studio Leader

Dr Alberto Pugnale is an architect and Senior Lecturer in Architectural Design at ABP. He is the Co-Director of the Advanced Digital Design and Fabrication (ADD+F) Research Hub. In 2007, he won the IASS HANGAI Prize, an international contest of research papers on shell and spatial structures for young researchers under 30. In 2022, he was presented with the IASS Tsuboi Award for the most meritorious paper on the Journal of the IASS. He has taught in Italy, Denmark, France, and China. He is member of the “International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures” (IASS). He sits on the Editorial Board of the “Nexus Network Journal” and the “International Journal of Space Structures”.

Readings & References

  • Adriaenssens S., Block P., Veenendaal D., Williams C., Shell Structures for Architecture: Form Finding and Optimization, Routledge, 2014.
  • Engel H., Structure Systems, 3rd edition, 2007 (1967).
  • Holgate A.,The Art of Structural Engineering. The work of Jörg Schlaich and his Team, Axel Menges, Stuttgart, London, 1997.
  • Menges A., Material Computation, Architectural Design, March/April 2012. (p)
  • Nerdinger W., Frei Otto. Complete Works: Lightweight Construction - Natural Design, 2005.
  • Oxman Ri., Oxman Ro.,The new structuralism, Architectural Design, July/August 2010.
  • Peters B. and De Kestelier (Eds), Computation Works: The Building of Algorithmic Thought, Architectural Design, March/April 2013.
  • Tedeschi A., AAD Algorithms-Aided Design, Le Penseur, 2014.
  • http://www.albertopugnale.com/resources/
  • https://www.albertopugnale.com/blog/
  • http://www.karamba3d.com/

Further references will be provided during the semester.

Schedule Mondays and Thursdays 15:15-18:15 in MSD Room 140

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