Science & Health: New technology shakes architecture’s foundations
By Natalie Banach
June 1, 2006 9:00 p.m.
Tucked away in a red brick building in the middle of North
Campus are classrooms with turquoise-colored walls, winding
staircases and machines that seem to make just about anything.
Home to the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, Perloff
Hall houses one of a handful of architecture schools across the
country intent on expanding and reimagining architectural design
through technological innovation.
With the use of machines that spit out 3-D models designed on a
computer screen, students at the school are conceptualizing forms
and theories in ways very different than their predecessors.
“In the past five to 10 years, more and more schools have
been getting the physical equipment, and that’s what is
allowing us to translate digital modeling into physical models more
or less on a one-to-one scale,” said Adam Fure, a third-year
architecture student and technology supervisor at the
school’s studio.
Digital software from film and animation companies found its way
into architecture about 15 to 20 years ago. A sudden increase in
radically different designs was the direct result as the digital
tools allowed architects to imagine new forms, Fure said.
The progression of this digitalization has subsequently led to
the use of new equipment capable of expressing the imaginative
ideas of its makers.
Each piece of equipment in the studio is meant to provide
students with a tangible representation of their design.
“The point is to rapidly explore forms that are intricate
and complex, … to explore the look, form and feel,” said
Michael Leaveck, a second-year architecture student and technology
assistant at the studio.
The 3-D printer is one such machine. It takes any digital model
articulated on a computer screen and then builds it by tightly
layering thin layers of powder.
Coming out of the printer in a big rectangle of powder that must
then be swept, students can see prototypes of everything, including
scaled models of buildings and furniture, and strange shapes and
curves that would be difficult to actually construct.
Without the 3-D printer, certain models either could not be made
or would have to be done by hand ““ a process that could take
up to a year.
One of the more common uses of the 3-D printer at the
architecture school is to investigate minimal surfaces ““
planes where corners meet in a specific way. Technology seminars on
the topic are taught every year.
The perfect illustration of a minimal surface is a soap bubble.
Based on a theorem developed by German mathematician Hermann
Schwarz, a spherical soap bubble encloses a given volume of air in
the least amount of space.
Observing the pieces on display in the halls of Perloff, some
look like hollowed-out, smoothed-down coral, while others
approximate a conglomeration of stylized beach foam.
“An object isn’t 3-D printed to a finished product.
… It’s about using a system to work in, to distort and
deform, to stretch and to change,” Leaveck said.
The emphasis on the conceptual thought that such technology can
provide is highlighted by how many students who graduate never use
the machines again, Leaveck said. For students, it’s not just
about learning the technology, but rather how it can be “a
tool to realize innovation.”
On average, 3-D printers cost around $20,000, according to a
price quote by Z Corp., a leading retailer in 3-D printers. More
advanced printers (ones that print in color, for example) can cost
up to $50,000.
Another piece of literally cutting-edge technology at the
architecture school is the Computer Numerically Controlled Mill. It
takes a slightly different approach than the 3-D printer by
utilizing a digitally configured surface and carving it into a
piece of foam or wood, Fure said.
Used more to conceptualize how joints and curves work, the mill
allows students to generate forms that express the underlying
geometry of a surface.
Students quickly grasp how to use the equipment as they work
with the “mathematics of surfaces,” Leaveck said.
After their first quarter at the architecture school, students
start using the equipment in the studio as part of their own
research or through specialized technology seminars.
“It’s a whole other dimension to architectural
modeling which wasn’t available before this technology and
that a lot of schools are really trying to handle,” Fure
said.
While the architecture school is up-to-date with its technology,
private schools often have more money to spend on newer equipment,
Fure said. But what sets UCLA apart is their generally younger
faculty.
Much of the UCLA architecture faculty is among the first
generation of computer-literate architecture students. The result
is a greater integration of state-of-the-art technology in the
curriculum.
“In that respect, it’s probably one of the top
schools in North America. They have become experts and can impart
that expertise,” Fure said.
Look for Science & Health articles every Tuesday and
Friday.
