What is your opinion on this Architectural design

#1

Hi,

I do not know if this is in the right section, there are 3D/2D/animation…work, so moderator please move it, if its not.

This is an architectural design I worked on last couple of months. There are some unusual design solutions, new ideas… I would like to hear what people think of it.

Also you can see presentation posters that been printed here and small trailer. Sorry these are not in English.

I am really interested in what you think about the idea, construction, solutions etc.

All the best
Nikola Drincic

#2

Hi, this is a good idea and nice design. The presentation is very good, but my critique would be that the shape of the tower is not very original, I’ve seen one like that before (but don’t remember the architect, sorry!). Another disadvantage is the shape of the apartments itself. You end up with a decentralized, “de-hierarchized” 12-room apartment with just one owner and a huge corridor. Perhaps this would be better suited for offices or cultural uses?
To sum it up, it is very good for an academic exercise, very well presented, but in the end it is purely utopical (which may not be a bad thing).

#3

cool idea I think. :slight_smile:

#4

Norman Foster

Well, It certainly is very ambitious one, yet I don’t think the problem is the form, nor the mechanics of operation. You claim it is energy efficient ! How??
You call it “Live”! What makes it so?

How do you carry all that dynamic load? How do you resist wind loads, with the first hurricane it will be flying saucers everywhere…
How do you pass the power conduits to the floors from the core of the building if it is always changeable? How do you aircondition it? What building code will allow this? How do you think you are contributing to the culture of Green buildings by incorporating such expensive means? and most importantly, WHY? there are a lot more inexpensive methods to achieve your objectives and more.

Other fundamental architectural problems reside in the logic of space from the inside and to the outside world.

In anyway, it is applaudible that you think outside the box, but rationale should accompany the idea from realistic points of views.

#5

If you just want to ask for opinons, posting here is probably ok, but if you want to officially be part of the the cgtalk gallery, and also be considered for the Choice Award, then you must post in the correct gallery forum.

#6

Thanks for a reply guys.

Yes, the shape of the tower is not new. You can see it in work of Foster, Gehry
London, Barcelona
. ( Hey guys, try to find “Architecture in digital age” book from Branko Kolarevic – great one) Its made so it gives no resistance to wind that is blowing from any direction…

Its my mistake, I did not put any plans of floors in to the presentation and you can not see section of the building. Some things will be more clearer. Yes its an disadvantage to organize apartment in round shape, but I try to make those apartments very functional and to make many different types of it. Like for a family of 5, for people that work at home, for a sportsman

“Live” because its always changing. Mainly for its façade, its parts are always in different position. Like it’s a new building every time you look. That is a characteristic of live creatures. That is why I called it sunflower. And there are many other things like for an example garage. You stop the car in front of entrance and leave them. They are brought down with an vertical elevator to the rotating platform where they are stored. (like an apartment rotation). You do not have any need to go to garage. Building does everything for you.

“with the first hurricane it will be flying saucers everywhere…” // I was trying to see the picture in my head
I can not stop laughing

Other thing. Ventilation of public spaces is done purely in natural way. Different air pressure. Air conditioning for apartments is done for an every apartment separately. Electricity is transferred from the central core on to the rotating parts through a simple system that can be seen on tramps or other electrically powered vehicles.

Electricity is generated by a sun and wind. Position for this kind of building is top of the hill.

I know that this design does not look like real at first. I spend almost 10 months on it, collaborating with some professors from Architecture, Mechanical Engineering and Electrical engineering faculty, and a lot of problems are solved but

Its really useful to hear what people think and its my mistake that presentation is not very detailed.

All the best

Nikola Drincic

#7

Nice concept. I think you’ve got a few ideas in their that could actually be functional. Rotation to maximize solar efficiency seems logical as long as it didn’t use more power than it saves. With this design it would make more sense to somehow incorporate the solor panels into the structure - I can’t quite tell but it looks like they are separate from the main building?

I’ve lived in a passive solar house and the main thing I see missing from your design is any sort of real thermal mass to absorb heat. Without that the house can’t store heat for the night. Also I’m not sure about the insulation value of your window setup. Certainly it would be better than regular windows or even double pain windows, but I don’t think it would begin to approach the insulation value of say adobe or straw bail - the sort of materials that most passive heated homes are made out of. I could be wrong.

I’m not sure that I like the amorphous base structure. I’m more of a fan of form following function ane I’m not sure if that shape has a function (It does remind me of Gehry and I’m not really a big fan of most of his stuff).

Overall, nice work. Personally I haven’t seen a design quite like this before.

#8

I really like the concept and how you have carried out ur metaphor in the plan, its really quite good.

I dont think you would have to bother abt it structually, its not all important at the concept stage, if norman foster did for his gerkin surely it can be done. Anyways, i believe the shape would have less lateral loads than your conventional skyscraper. As for passive solar issues, i think uve did ur research judging from your sctions.

Youre right abt not having any words but ur images and plans are succinct and i can immediately see what u are trying to achieve. Its a hybrid building yes? multi-zone?

The only thing i have to comment on is, and yes it looks alot like Normans Fosters. If its soley residential, its gonna be really expenisive to construct. So wat id do is firstly have the bottome area have a commercial zone to service the residential component.

And lastly, i think for each floor, explore the plan a little further with the sunflower in mind, but in more 3D. For example, itd be interesting if the balcony was a loft that connected the living room to the bed room in some way. the plan should ‘bloom’ outwards as well as upwards/downwards. in that, ull get a more unique form i reckon.

Hope that helps

#9

[color=white]Thanks for your reply aaron111,
I saw and research passive solar houses but I never speak with anyone who actually lives in one. In my country solar energy is mainly used only for heating water, and only in part of the country that are over by the see.
One of the first solutions for the solar panels was to mount them on the tower. Every rotation ring will have its own. But that changed by the time and double skin facade was final decision.

From the very start I try to model the whole building by the shape of a sunflower in the field. Ground floor amorphous shapes were perfect for modeling the field. And they are just a cover for a closed park and other activities at ground, like pool, restaurants…

Overall, I was trying to make a building that will be like an expensive car. You buy it for a big money but it cost you as less as it can to use.

Nikola
[/color]

#10

Well it looks… interesting… does it vibrate?

(just joking)

#11

It’s a nice concept although the rotating floor would be extremely cost prohibitive IMO and is more a device that places like restaurant use to make themselves a novelty. We have a rotating restaurant here in Phoenix that I have eaten in a few times (http://phoenix.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp) maybe you can take a look into some of these and what kind of structural systems they used.

Also one alternative technology that would be much cheaper to create a “living” exterior might be the clever use of smart windows (http://home.howstuffworks.com/smart-window.htm). They are still very expensive, but would be much cheaper then rotating floors.

One thing though that I’m sure would not fly with a developer is that the current design’s building core is a waste of rentable space. Typically building cores in high-rises service elevators, mechanical and electrical chases. The developers I work with are concerned with one thing, making back the money that they invested in the project, and then some. That almost always translates into rentable square footage. An open core that large greatly reduces the floor area available to rent.

I really like the overall concept, but it takes a special group of people to finance projects like this. Some of the most likely to finance experimental projects are public works projects. The only reason I bring up these issues is because if you have are preparing for school crit they might want to be issues that you might want to think about. Good work, I enjoyed the presentation.

[edited for spelling]
#12

Jeryk - I think that one of the apartments that can be seen in printed poster page has open space connecting living room and bedroom.

mangual - no it does not vibrate but it rotates … :slight_smile: (just joking)

byanfu - I never been in one of those rotating restaurants. But people who did sad that if you do not know that floor rotates, after some time you get nauseous.
I also try to find other functions that can be placed in rotation building but except apartments and restaurants there are no more. Offices? I would not be ideal working environment.
Those smart windows are very interesting. One solution I had was to make facade like a big cloth over the building and floors will have different shapes. When they rotate, movement of the floors can be seen on facade… like a muscles in a snake or…but that was really difficult to design.

#13

You are right, the restaurant in Phoenix rotates one revolution ever hour and even at that slow speed I felt a little nauseated, not a good situation for a restaurant. I mentioned them more in terms of the structural systems possibly being of interest in a project like yours.

Your cloth idea is actually a pretty interesting one. Like you said for a large scale project its not feasible, but for a small scale installation or trade show kiosk it might be pretty cool.

Good luck.

#14

The main problem with that cloth idea was that I could not find Cloth that will protect interior from climate or I could not find system that will be like a traditional facade but flexible enough to move like a skin. Still searching so if anyone has an idea…

#15

How could that be? It seems your concept revolves around formal language more than anything else. Energy conservation claims are cosmetic in this case. It is true however that the lifecycle cost of the building equals the sum of initial, operational, and maintenace cost, yet I don’t see the comparison to the car is relative. Expensive cars cost a lot more than cheap car at all three (initial, operational, & maintenance). There are certain aspects in buildings or in cars that have a longer life, but that is the same everywhere, even in clothing, cameras, watches. I broke the metal wrist strap of my Omega watch, and they asked for $600 to fix it !! It ended up unused in the drawer. That’s what happened to buildings, especially after the Modernism boom. Many buildings failed to live up to its operational cost and dysfunction, and they had to be imploded.

With an ambitious design like yours, it is very buildable when cost is not an issue. In Dubai, there are more ambitious projects being built as we speak. From man-made island resorts and ports, to 800m high tower, to underwater hotel with 400 rooms, to…listen to this…it’s true…a Floating City 200m high in the air supported by antigravity mechanisms and helium pneumatic structures.

The Archigram of the fifties, proposed walking cities with legs. Great theorists though, but …!

I would really urge you to work on a smaller prototype with less levels of complexity, where you can actually calculate and test your claims (hypotheses).

Best of Luck :slight_smile:

#16

Ashakarc you have the point. I used bad comparison.

But I think that people understood the aim of designing a building that will cost a lot, but give much more through time.

Nikola

#17

it is very nice just if you made the towers much clearer :slight_smile:

#18

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