Seen and Unseen

Skin - Skeleton

Some screenshots of the experiments of the 3D modelling with the undulating surface and its integration with the structural frame.

The models are then exported as ribs for fabrication.

Step 1 - Rhino Modelling of Surface

Step 2 - Rib Making by Paracloud Gem

Step 3 - Unfolding by Pepakura Designer

Step 4 - Fabrication and Assembly

The Rib Structure is very useful for further skin/structure interrogation.

Performative Skin

Paracloud Gem

just glanced through this tutorial about creating a parametric performative louvre system, made by a mesh editting software…

More to come after up-and-coming experiments.

The Armstrong Mitchell Crane

This crane was a breakthrough in engineering that represented a significant turning point in the evolution of the hydraulic crane. Making use of a new mechanism, the hydraulic accumulator, invented by William Armstrong himself, it permitted large quantities of water to be forced through pipes at a constant pressure, thus creating more power to lift heavier weights. The result was a considerable increase in load capacity (up to 160 tons). 

The idea of constructing a heavy-duty crane in the Venice Arsenale had been first proposed in 1881 by the shipbuilders working on the battleship Morosini (the first large warship with a metal hull to be built in the Venetian lagoon). Two years later the Italian navy commissioned Armstrong, Mitchell & Co. to install the crane. By 1885 it was fully functioning and in constant use for some 30 years until the First World War. After enduring serious war damage and being repaired several times, it was finally decommissioned in the mid-1950s.

Between 1876 and 1905, nine other Armstrong cranes were installed in naval dockyards around the world:

. La Spezia (1876) 
. Bombay (1877)
. Liverpool (1881)
. Malta (1883)
. Taranto and Venice (1885) 
. Pozzuoli (1887)
. Japan (1892 and 1905). 

The majority were destroyed during the Second World War, and of the remaining three, two were dismantled (La Spezia in 1969; Taranto in 1992). Only the Venice crane now survives, albeit with a serious structural problem - the counterweight chamber is cracking, and if that were to give way, the crane would collapse.

Understandably, in a country as rich with cultural heritage as Italy, a machine like this comes very low in public funding priorities. That is why it is so important for British organisations such as Venice in Peril to step in with a helping hand. Backed by the endorsement of the internationally renowned architect Lord Foster, it has become Venice in Peril’s latest project to restore this landmark in engineering history to its former glory. Britain was the first country to industrialize, and as such has a large number of historic industrial sites and therefore experience of caring for them and engaging the interest of the general public. 

Parallel Works

A film   

 ‘Death in Venice’

A book

‘The Merchants of Venice’ William Shakespeare

‘The glassblower of Murano ‘ Fiorato, Marina.

A character

Glass blowers in Venetian lagoon and Murano island

A process

Glass blowing, glass recycling, Sunrise and sunset, speed movement

                                                                                               
An event

‘Venice Biennale’

All year round art events at arsenal

An aesthetic language

A cultural theory

Popular culture and architectural application

A historical period

15^th century Venice  when the arsenal was one of the busiest industrial dockyard in the world

1291 when glass makers relocated their foundries to Murano

A design method

Intuitive design,  aesthetic based design,

A theory on the future

A theory on the present

Supply and demand, mass production, reminiscence

A theory on the past

Industrialization, mass production

A primary material

Light, Glass, concrete

A secondary material

Wood, steel, plastic

A building system

Formwork and concrete moulding

An environmental position

Natural daylight and ventilation, Recycle, reduce, reuse, water and air pollution by glass making