Rain pavilion

Playful Architecture using Biomimetics & Kinetics
[Master Thesis]

Objective
The purpose of the thesis is to research and experiment digitally interesting new designs, actuated by water (or water responsive) using sustainable principles in order to create a rain responsive shelter in Järntorget.

‍Background
‍Climate change is a fact that Gothenburg will be facing soon and even if the emissions were to be reduced, we would still be forced to live in a warmer and wetter climate. By 2100, Gothenburg annual precipitation may increase up to 30%, heavy rains will become more frequent and intense accompanied by storms surges and flooded rivers. Awareness is one of the first steps towards a complete water responsive architecture in cities like Gothenburg.
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Method
‍On the other hand, biomimetics -or bio-inspired design- is the field of design by analogy. Nature throughout evolution has come to great engineering solutions to very specific problems. Systems seen from the naked eye to the nano-scale have evolved in an immense variety of shapes and structures, often passive “sustainable” solutions. As the technology catch up, the data base and research on biomimetics increases; replicate nature’s systems is becoming more interesting.
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‍Results
‍A panel of species will be identified and investigated to choose one or several systems answering to water or lack of water. The chosen ones will be dissected, and their passive systems modeled through grasshopper. The drawn principles will be then translated to architecture, and applied to a bigger system that is Järntorget.

Conclusion
The translation of cell shapes, materials & structure to architecture is ambitious and laborious. Material for example is hardly scalable to a whole building, and is dependent on other fields like chemistry or material research. The thesis was meant to show that with some enthusiasm and time, architects are able to research and deeply understand other scientific fields to incorporate findings into their design. The reality is that, without absolute coordination of the school’s actors and access to chemical labs, material research becomes extremely bothersome, tedious and expensive. Nevertheless, shape & structure research of plants using 3D modeling through Grasshopper have a tremendous potential for sustainable architecture and should be further investigated.

Programme

Personal programme leading to a design stimulated by research.

Main Examiner & Tutor

- Jonas Lundberg (UFO-Urban Future Organization)
- Kengo Skorick.

Location

Gothenburg, Sweden

Semester

Semester 10

Individual work

See thesis on issuu

The Oasis

Regenerative Food Hub

Description
“The Studio ‘Sustainable Building Competition’ will investigate how a symbiosis between urban farming, temporary construction and regenerative sustainability can create social and economic value in cities. The plot is located in between Christiana and Copenhagen city centrer who respectively have divergent mindsets.”

‍Food reconciles cultures
‍Creating value and attracting people, urban farming using vertical technologies such as Zip Racks, 500m² could feed 1000 people a week with minimum 4 farmers needed. With the right amount of planning, yearly harvest would be achieved.
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Food democracy
‍Bringing democracy in the building with the help of food would lead to social equality within the building functions. A research has been conducted to define “democratic spaces”. For example to allow “participate” & “associate” rights to a “brainstorming” scheme.
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‍Shape
‍The shell construction is related to specific parameters. The lowest points lay out the pre-existing paths on the plot, allowing people to climb on the building to reach their destinations instead of skirting it. The highest point altitude is the average height of surrounding buildings. To enter the building, one has to get on the roof to access one of the patio and reach the entrance. The shell itself provides visitors a public spaces, with view to the water an the opera. The building opens or closes when seen from particular spots. It aims to be dismantled and assembled easily thanks to rationalized panels and water transport. The building would be municipality owned and raise awareness about food, sustainability & equality. It aspire to shift people’s mind about temporary architecture and shapes.

Programme

Sustainable Building Competition, Regenerative Food Hub (Fall 2016)

Examiners

Kasper Guldager Jensen (GXN), Lasse Lind (GXN)

Location

Copenhagen, Denmark

Semester

Semester 9

Individual work

The Nest

Wernstedt 2nd Prize 2016

Description
What is a celebration ? What is wedding about ? How architecture can translate emotions into shapes ?A wedding is a journey where two people are tied together. There is a before and an after. There is the void in the past, the ceremony in the present and the path, that will lead to the future. In architecture, the past is behind us, when the future is embodied by the distant view. As we can see in the diagram, the shape combines the spiritual idea of a wedding, with site specific data.Moreover, it is often a compromise between two ideals. Here, it is between the exterior and the interior, between the bird and the tree : the nest.

‍Shape
‍The shape itself comes from different sections mixed together. Then it is triangulated for structural reasons. The size of the windows changes based on the orientation and the amount of light needed. A lot of the light coming inside the building is zenithal but also when the sun sets. Openings can open & rotate in the middle. The building is entirely closed, and the entrance is hidden in the structure. Some windows opens downward to create a small terrace outside.
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Structure
‍The structure and the panels are made of wood, with a colour contrast on the outside and inside. The shape is holding thanks to beams and steel cables inside the void. On the inside around the tree trunk is a ramp to “climb” to higher levels. The interior design is made to provoke an emotional response , thanks to the white colour & everything hanging from the ceiling, just like inside a tree house.
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‍Jury Comments
‍«This exploration of a sculptural architectural language expands imaginatively beyond the limits of the perimeter. Using opportunities of parametric for design and fabrication it creates independently a unique decorative structure without expressing any existing religious or cosmological connotations. Making all types of events equal in relation to this unusual space. Invigorating features such as wall elements being lowered or raised provide seamless access to the surrounding landscape. A limitless space and a buoyant celebration to love. [...] The illustrations provided responds to the key question of the brief by providing a stimulating and invigorating image of another kind of marriage situation - but where is the groom ?»

Programme

A wedding pavilion on Saltholmen, Sweden. Architectural competitions (spring 2016)

Examiners

Gert Wingårdh (president), Pernilla Ohrstedt (external member), Malin Michaelson (member of the jury nominated by the local association of Swedish Architects),Sten Gromark (secretary and course examiner)

Location

Saltholmen, Sweden

Semester

Semester 8

Individual work

ExtrudeR
‍for a kuka robotic arm

Build project

Description
During the first two weeks of Material and Detail, we worked in the robot/ Kuka lab, on conceiving tools for the refugee shelter. The tool we (as a team) choose is the foam extruder. We worked together along with Stig Anton Nielson, to build it.

Challenges
The main challenge was to actually built it and make it work. It was a very long process, with many failures but also good surprises. It is made of a cooper pipe, a drill, a power supply for the motor and a feeder to supply it with foam. The heat controller is linked to wires around the pipe, outside the drill, to heat up the foam and change its form. The drill compress the material, thanks to a great pressure inside the pipe. When reaching the right temperature, the foam comes out of the pipe as a paste.

Kuka Robotic Arm
The other part was to figure out how to run the robot. We needed to create a grasshopper tool, to draw a path for the Kuka to print out. The one presented here is very easy to use and understand for most people. The only thing to do is to import the 3D model of the shape, define the thickness of the foam, and the tool calculate the path (that you can simulate) and pre-visualize the 3D result.

Programme

Foam extruder for kuka robot, on a 2 weeks notice.

Examiners

Stig Anton Nielsen, Daniel Norell, Stephan Svedberg

Location

@ The Robotic Lab. Chalmers University, Sweden

Semester

Semester 7

Group work

Reem Alkaisy, Maximiliano Parra, Gustav Nyman

Le Rocher

Lovecraft Object

This is a project based on H.P. Lovecraft monsters, as he describes them using different images : “Yielded simultaneously pictures of an octopus, a dragon and a human caricature”

object
Here is a representation of a female, vase and lamp stool. they are linked by their feminine outline and organized to emphasize female shapes : hips, torso, legs and feet.

Character
‍Ornamentation is also a common definition between the shapes. So the pattern of ceramic projected to the object separate it in two : head and feet.The texture mapping accentuate the following sentences : “head in the cloud” and “feet on the ground”. With a rhino displacement, I created a rock like shape but also carved inside to design tunnels. at the end, we can understand the conflict between :- rough surface, the earth, dark and crooked- soft surface, the space, luminous and human like

‍world
‍This is the scene from 2001: A space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick. Absolute link between space and earth. Between real and surreal. The rock deform space and time around, melting the faces of the apes. In the sand air, it provides light were it should be dark, and darken places that should be enlighten.

Programme

Lovecraft Object with acharacter within a world.

Examiners

Daniel Norell, Stephan Svedberg

Location

Chalmers, Sweden

Semester

Semester 8

Individual work

_Home

Competition & Build project

Description
W_Home is a shelter for the refugees of the Zaatari camp in Jordan. It is made of foam because of its insulation properties, and its light weight.The design of the shelter is divided in two complementary parts: the outside and the inside.The outside was designed to perform well in an urban context and by itself. In the urban tissue, modules are connected thanks to fabric, to provide shadow and define protected spaces. The roof is shaped to collect water during the winter period, and containers inside can provide water for an extended period of time. The roof also provide shadows for the entrance, and define a semi-private space, used to stand, sit or sell goods.The inside design is mainly inspired of orientals countries : rounded shapes that intersect each others and the use of moucharabia to shade and create and air flow inside the shelter. Foam is also useful to create tables, sits, and beds for the families.The studio competition was to define which project will be constructed in a 1:1 scale. Our team and another one won the competition. The construction period lasted 3 weeks.The main challenges were to realise our own tools to face the reality of large scale construction. Large sheets of foam needed to be cut together, so we created a giant hand foam cutter. Made of a wire, and two handles, linked to a generator.

Programme

Studio competition for a refugee shelter

Examiners

Daniel Norell, Jonas Lundberg.

Location

Zaatarri Camp, Jordan

Semester

Semester 7

Group work

Adrien Quennepoix, Andrine Johansson, Jakob Muller

Bee-LivE

Competition ruches insolites / Build project

Description
Bee-Live is a competition project at the Ecole Nationale Superieure d’Architecture de Montpellier. The goal was to design and build -in real scale- a beehive for a urban use. The competition promotes protection of the bees and inform the public about their importance in the eco system.Bee live is designed to be used by private buildings, and people who want to produce honey or be part of the project. It can be suspended from windows, balconies and also stand on the ground.The peculiar design makes a desirable object for inhabitants, but also provides a good environment for the bees to live in.

Challenges
The beehive is designed in an horizontal state inside the wood circles. Those circles provide shadow for the beehive, and are shaped to include spaces for plants (related to bees), and tools. The circles on the top of the beehive are fixed to the lid of the beehive, to make it easy to open.The beehive will grow and evolve during its life time. People on the street, will pass by everyday, and the more beehives they will see, the more they will be inclined to have one.

Programme

“Ruches Insolites & Architecturales” competition in ENSAM with UNAF.

Examiners

Philippe Capellier (President of the Ordre Régional des Architectes de Languedoc-Roussillon), Henri Clément (spokesman of UNAF), Claire Pourcelle (BNP bank), Alain Derey (Director of ENSAM), Daniel Delgado,David Pegazte (apiculturist),Clémence Attalin.

Location

Montpellier, France

Semester

Semester 6

Group work

Evie Lanthelme & Lison Vedy

Route de mende

Duplex flats

Description
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Programme

Group of flats, following the Floor Space Index, Local Urbanism Plan & accessible to persons with reduced mobility.

Examiners

Emmanuel Nebout

Location

Montpellier France

Semester

Semester 6

Individual work

Hybrid centre

Smart building

What is a smart city ?What kind of building smart cities includes ? Do smart buildings reinvigorate cities themselves ?

Context
The building takes place in a very particular context : Bilbao which is on the road to becoming a smart city. The transition from historical “zoning” city to the bright new one is tricky and takes time. The selected site is located on the Nervion quayside and alternates back and forth between an historical context and new ideas. It’s right beside the old and new train stations.

Purpose
‍The building will be used both for :- Artistic matters : gallery, artist’s flats, workshops, small theatre. - Work place : offices, reprography, translation work place, meetings.- Sleeping place : hostel with private restaurant, projection room, recreations room.- Foreign exchange : Erasmus centre, CROUS workplace, office for a layer.

Those functions don’t usually belong in the same building. By putting them in the same place it creates flows of people, brainstorming and new kind of meetings ; making it attractive.

Influences
‍Studying Yona Friedman and Paul Rudolph architecture, it appears they were creating building (or cities) for the future, depending on how they wanted the future to be like.

Here, the goal is to incorporate the principles of old Bilbao, back in the 80’s/90’s when it was a great coastal city. Thus, the use of raw and simple but refined materials.

‍Shape
‍The shapes are linked to functions and views. The ground floor is an important cross point. It can be considered as an indoor street. The 2 parts of the building answer to each other creating movement inside the street, thanks to a very simple process: dividing a function in 2 parts. For example, the reception of the Erasmus centre is on the right part and the waiting room on the left one.

The building earns its transparency thanks to the holes created in the shape. They have inclined planes to modify the natural landscape and offer new views upon the old city. Finally, the ground floor is 3D shaped (going up and down small triangulated hills) to make pedestrian slow down and appreciate the city.

Programme

Smart building with mix uses (Erasmus centre, artist residence, restaurants, gallery, theatre, etc.) in 6000m².

Examiners

Jacques Brion, Nicolas Crégut

Location

Bilbao, Spain

Semester

Semester 5

Individual work

de stijl building

Duplex & Triplex flats

Description
‍The plot is located in Nîmes, on the border between the avenue and the green belt. Those patterns of living are different that’s why architecture should link them.

How do we live in the countryside ? How do we live in the periphery ?

The countryside way of living embodies liberty and privacy. There’s is no lack of space and the two story houses symbolize the countryside. On the contrary, the conditions of life on the periphery must satisfy both of privacy and collectivity. This is why there are always communal public spaces between houses. Those typologies have the particular feature of having mixed public/private spaces just like share entrance hall, balconies, and access aisles. It is most due, as we saw before , to the relationship between countryside and city space.

Here, I’ve transformed two story houses in three story flats. In fact, if we study the history of tree houses, human beings always felted safe hight up in the trees. It’s a sign of safety, protection. See without being seen, define as areas we have overlooked : heterotopia. The concept describes real spaces simulating imaginary ones.

What kind of spaces are private ? Which ones are communal private spaces ? What should be put in safer space ?

We can set the spaces in logical order :

- Communal public : entrance hall, elevators, playgrounds
- Communal private : living room and kitchen- Semi-private : mezzanine, shared dressing
- “Traffic areas” : corridor, staircase
- Safe and private : bedroom, bathroom

With this logic, I was able to draw in plan space and with the “tree house idea”, the safer it is, the higher it should be.

Thus, the building is a mixed object and help revitalize the bypass and its surroundings. Pioneering new territorial improvement. Changes can be felt inside the flats but should also be seen outside, with the façade. The architectural volumetry is made up of movements, creates a rhythm and is used for sun-shading. The materials clearly state a difference : concrete is cold and smooth when wood is warm and rough.

Programme

Gathering of flats with LUP, flood prevention plan & accessible for people with reduced mobility

Examiners

Laurent Duport, Nicolas Crégut

Location

Nîmes, France

Semester

Semester 4

Individual work

"A" Houses

Individual Housing

Description
‍The houses are relatively small modules which make them highly adaptable to the natural landscape. The working process of the common areas is very important because it offsets the size limitation of private spaces. Each module have its own patio in the centre of two wings, night & day areas.The landscape is considered as an object with curves, in contrast of the vertical construction. The establishment of a roofing triangulation creates a second skin, natural but with Cartesian principles. It is used as a cover for the houses that curl up under it. The cover is also shading the public areas.

Questioning
‍"How do I get home ?” “What makes me feel home ?” “What makes me feel secure ?”

Those questions are important because they point out the definition of a cocoon, a private and safe space. With grouped individual housing, those questions become essential. Here, the access to the houses is embodied by the stairs : the house is half buried. Nevertheless, the entrance for cars is shared. It makes sort of a binary atmosphere because it is semi covered -just like the narthex, introduces the idea of entrance.Finally, the inside is orientated around the patio to bring light all day long. It also enable efficient movement of air currents.

Programme

Three individual houses, on a shared plot and entrance.

Examiners

Julien Wafflart

Location

Montpellier, France

Semester

Semester 3

Individual work

About

Academic Portfolio of an Architect

Hi! My name is Marie-Lou Valdes, and I'm an Architect & Software Developer on Grasshoper.

I have completed a Master Thesis in Architecture & Urban Design at Chalmers University (Sweden), using biomimetics (biomimicry), soft-robotics & kinetics to answer flooding issues in Goteborg, Sweden. Here is the record of my past, present and future works, with different scales and programmes.

You can contact me via LinkedIn, Issuu and Email as shown at the bottom. Enjoy !

Skills & Contacts

Write me an email or contact me on Linkedin

3D Modeling

Rhino 5 & Grasshopper
ArchiCAD
Autocad
Revit

Adobe

Photoshop
Illustrator
Indesign

Renders

Artlantis
Vray

Rain Pavilion

Gothenburg, Sweden

The oasis

Copenhagen, denmark

the nest

Gothenburg, Sweden

build or repair

Chalmers, Sweden

Extruder

Chalmers, Sweden

le rocher

Chalmers, Sweden

_home

zaatari camp, Jordan

Bee-Live

Montpellier, France

Route de mende

Montpellier, France

Hybrid centre

bilbao, spain

De Stijl building

Montpellier, France

A Houses

Montpellier, France

About

Academic Portfolio of an Architect

Skills & Contacts

Write me an email or contact me on Linkedin

3D Modeling

Rhino 5 & Grasshopper
ArchiCAD
Autocad
Revit

Adobe

Photoshop
Illustrator
Indesign

Renders

Artlantis
Vray

Rain pavilion

Playful Architecture using Biomimetics & Kinetics
[Master Thesis]

Programme

Personal programme leading to a design stimulated by research.

Main Examiner & Tutor

- Jonas Lundberg (UFO-Urban Future Organization)
- Kengo Skorick.

Location

Gothenburg, Sweden

Semester

Semester 10

Individual work

See thesis on issuu

The Oasis

Regenerative Food Hub

Programme

Sustainable Building Competition, Regenerative Food Hub (Fall 2016)

Examiners

Kasper Guldager Jensen (GXN), Lasse Lind (GXN)

Location

Copenhagen, Denmark

Semester

Semester 9

Individual work

The Nest

Wernstedt 2nd Prize 2016

Programme

A wedding pavilion on Saltholmen, Sweden. Architectural competitions (spring 2016)

Examiners

Location

Saltholmen, Sweden

Semester

Semester 8

Individual work

ExtrudeR
‍for a kuka robotic arm

Build project

Programme

Foam extruder for kuka robot, on a 2 weeks notice.

Examiners

Stig Anton Nielsen, Daniel Norell, Stephan Svedberg

Location

@ The Robotic Lab. Chalmers University, Sweden

Semester

Semester 7

Group work

Reem Alkaisy, Maximiliano Parra, Gustav Nyman

Le Rocher

Lovecraft Object

Programme

Lovecraft Object with acharacter within a world.

Examiners

Daniel Norell, Stephan Svedberg

Location

Chalmers, Sweden

Semester

Semester 8

Individual work

_Home

Competition & Build project

Programme

Studio competition for a refugee shelter

Examiners

Daniel Norell, Jonas Lundberg.

Location

Zaatarri Camp, Jordan

Semester

Semester 7

Group work

Adrien Quennepoix, Andrine Johansson, Jakob Muller

Bee-LivE

Competition ruches insolites / Build project

Programme

“Ruches Insolites & Architecturales” competition in ENSAM with UNAF.

Examiners

Location

Montpellier, France

Semester

Semester 6

Group work

Evie Lanthelme & Lison Vedy

Route de mende

Duplex flats

Description
‍/

Programme

Group of flats, following the Floor Space Index, Local Urbanism Plan & accessible to persons with reduced mobility.

Examiners

Emmanuel Nebout

Location

Montpellier France

Semester

Semester 6

Individual work

Hybrid centre

Smart building

Programme

Smart building with mix uses (Erasmus centre, artist residence, restaurants, gallery, theatre, etc.) in 6000m².

Examiners

Jacques Brion, Nicolas Crégut

Location

Bilbao, Spain

Semester

Semester 5

Individual work

de stijl building

Duplex & Triplex flats

Programme

Gathering of flats with LUP, flood prevention plan & accessible for people with reduced mobility

Examiners

Laurent Duport, Nicolas Crégut

Location

Nîmes, France

Semester

Semester 4