The Shape of Things to Come

The free-form building environment as a movement is about to move into high gear around the world. We consider how this will affect architects and their design thinking, and ultimately the space in which we all live and work.

To understand the potential of the organic design "movement," one need only look to another industry—the product manufacturing industry. In the manufacturing sector, designers worry about form, fit and function. More and more, manufacturers are realizing that fit and function alone do not sell product. It is style (form) that has the strong emotional appeal with customers (see Figure 1). There is no better example of this than Nissan Motor Company. By 1999, Nissan had crashed and burned with $22 billion of debt. Now they are a shining star in the automobile industry. What turned them around? Form. Nissan made a dramatic shift from boring car designs to dramatic styling, and the results speak for themselves.

Like the manufacturing industry's principles of form, fit and function, Vitruvius laid out a similar credo in his book, De architectura (commodity, firmness and delight). So, the subject at hand is "delight" (form). How can architects drive more delight into their buildings? It can be argued that organic shapes for both building exteriors and interiors can give buildings more feeling and evoke more emotion in the people who live in them and look at them. A great example is the design of a concept hospital by Mac Bouw Design in Holland (see Figure 2). Compared to a traditional hospital, it is hard for the observer not to have some reaction. In my view, there are three main areas in which organic form is increasingly taking a hold: large buildings, family houses and interiors.

Large buildings

People like Daniel Libeskind and Santiago Calatrava have led the way. Going forward, you will see more shape to large buildings, whether they are commercial like the new twisted tower structure in Doha, or institutional buildings like the £42 million Unity City Academy building in Middlesbrough by the UK's Hickton Madeley Architects (see Figure 3).

Residential architecture

Many consider Frank Lloyd Wright to be the father of this movement which is growing rapidly. Today, the organic direction of architecture is being led by such architects as Robert Harvey Oshatz and Bart Prince (see Figure 4). In addition to this movement having its effect on landmark buildings, more and more, family houses will be built with an emphasis on delight.

Interiors

Whether it is for store fixtures or to develop a different mood in a restaurant, organic shapes will see their biggest impact in interiors. According to the highly talented Hernan Zanghellini based in Hong Kong: "It used to be that in order to open a restaurant, you put a few paintings on the wall and a candle on the table. Now, you have to create a mood for the customer that is sensual, you have to develop feeling." Creating forms in ceilings, walls and decorations formerly took weeks of effort, and yet would result in only 75% of what Hernan intended. With today's new tools, weeks now turn into hours with a higher level of satisfaction in the result.

Manufacturing trends in the building industry

To understand where the building product manufacturers are going, you need to look no further than Permasteelisa. This global manufacturer of facades for some of the most stylish buildings in the world (see Figure 6) is heading from a 2D workflow to a 3D workflow. Today, there is often a big gap between what an architect specifies in 2D drawings and what Permasteelisa actually builds. This results in time delays and cost escalation. The future for Permasteelisa is a model-based process where the architect communicates their designs in 3D. This will alleviate a lot of the confusion about what the architect really wants to build. Of course, Permasteelisa will still make a detailed manufacturing model in order to cut metal, but the process will be faster and more cost-effective.

As far as implication for design tools is concerned, there will be a progression as outlined below:

- 2D sketch concepts feeding 2D drawings: The easiest and perhaps the most common workflow problems arise with owners not really grasping a clear understanding of what they are getting, and no coordination between sketch changes and drawing changes (see Figure 7).

- 3D modeling tools disconnected to the 2D drawings: In this workflow (see Figure 8), two different software packages are used that have no connection. The owner may get a better idea of what the design will really look like when constructed, but there is no connection with the drawing. Each iteration of the design set in the model requires a separate iteration for the drawing. This is time-consuming and mistakes can occur.

- A 3D environment where organic shapes can be developed and drawings extracted from the model: In this environment, it is easy for the owner to understand the design concept and drawing changes are automatically extracted from the model, ensuring proper coordination. Both accurate and coordinated drawing data as well as model data can be shared with the fabricators to insure that building components can be quickly and cost-efficiently manufactured.

It is pretty clear to see that the use of free-form shapes in architectural design has been building momentum over a long period, and is about to enter a much more pervasive phase in the design of where people live, work and play. It is also easy to see that design tools are no longer the limitation. What does it mean to you as an architect to be able to design and coordinate buildings and interiors that evoke emotion? My guess is that it will mean more business, more satisfied customers and just maybe, the ability to achieve rock-star status. And if you dream a bit, perhaps even the Pritzker Prize is there for the taking!

About the Author

Dominic Gallello is the President & CEO of Graphisoft. He has a long track record of helping to shape some of the major trends in the design software industry. Prior to Graphisoft, Mr. Gallello spent approximately 20 years in various executive positions at Autodesk and Intergraph. Having lived in Asia and Europe, Mr. Gallello brings a unique perspective to customer requirements and possibilities.

Note: The views expressed in Viewpoint articles are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect those of AECbytes.

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