Material kindly provided for publication by Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design.
Leo Stuckardt:
“The Valley” is a project I've been working on for the last two years. This is a complex of buildings with a total area of 70 thousand square meters. m, performing several functions at once: there are both living spaces and offices with shops. We wanted this versatility to be reflected in their appearance, so we decided to make facades of two types. The first one is "corporate", with smooth mirrored glazing. Coming up with the second, we achieved the opposite effect: with the help of landscaping and the dynamics of a convex surface made up of different volumes, as well as the use of natural stone, we managed to achieve the feeling of a natural, natural space - there is just housing. According to our plan, the area around these buildings should become a place for rest and communication, accessible to everyone, and not just the residents of the house.
The construction of the complex has already begun. At the stage of the competition, the project, like almost all the works of our studio, looked as ambitious as possible: different floors, not a single standard corner. But how can you turn such a complex 3D model into a real building, meet the deadline and budget, without deviating from the original plan?
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zooming 1/3 Valley @ MVRDV Complex
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zooming 2/3 Valley @ MVRDV Complex
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zooming 3/3 Valley @ MVRDV Complex
We had to adapt this concept to the existing conditions, which concerned not only the appearance of the building and the design of the facades, but also the consideration of insolation and sound insulation standards in the project. To do this, we used the parametric tools of the Rhino program, with the help of Arab, one of the largest European civil engineering companies. Together we developed and optimized the algorithms for the program, tried different options, rotated these buildings in different ways to make the most of the sunlight in winter. In the Netherlands, by the way, there are special regulations regarding natural light indoors during the cold season. At the same time, we tried to avoid overheating the building in the summer in order to minimize the use of air conditioners. We had a lot of similar tasks, up to finding the optimal size of the terraces. Using the kinetic algorithm, we went through the possible options, leaving the most suitable one. The sections of the project that did not meet our criteria were highlighted in red by the system as program errors: we corrected and adjusted them in manual mode.
After the building got its final look, we applied the BIM (Building Information Model) technology using Autodesk Revit software. BIM allows you to involve a large number of different specialists in the process of working on an architectural project. A multi-layer digital model of the future building is created, in which all team members can make changes: there is a model for architects, for engineers, etc. This makes it easier to track down and quickly eliminate any contradictions that may arise in the course of work. For example, if plumbing engineers do something that does not fit into an architectural project according to certain parameters, then a structural analysis will be carried out, as a result of which a decision will be made as to which team to take on the correction of contradictions - architects or plumbers …
The facade took a lot of our time and effort. We wanted its texture to be heterogeneous, to resemble an untreated surface. However, we received an answer from the contractors that they do not know how to implement this, and therefore they need instructions and a very detailed terms of reference. The processed building model was extracted from BIM and synchronized with the original version, and then we moved it to Rhino, a NURBS modeling program that allows you to create 3D models of any complexity, and Grasshopper, a graphical algorithm editor working with it, adapting 3D elements. models for BIM. And there we used powerful scripting engines to see how different facade options would behave. We managed to calculate very accurately all resistance models in the structure, all angles, we developed all complex elements using algorithms, etc. As a result, we created a "facade generator": we have one constant - the height of the facade, but its options relief - a lot. The program will issue them until you are satisfied with everything and you will not return the model back to BIM. Accordingly, the next step is to return the model to Autodesk Revit for processing.
In total, about 50 thousand tiles of various shapes and sizes were required for the facade. We collected all the necessary data and parameters, downloaded them from Autodesk Revit and converted them into the format required by the contractor.
I believe that today the design, the creation of a new image of the city implies a constant search and improvement of tools that allow different specialists to work together in real time. The created models should be dynamic, they should be such models that could be easily changed. They are many times more informative than a simple plan, the geometric structure of a building: with their help, it is possible to test a huge number of design solutions in a short time.
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zooming 1/5 Valley @ MVRDV Complex
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zooming 2/5 Valley @ MVRDV Complex
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zooming 3/5 Valley @ MVRDV Complex
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zooming 4/5 Valley Complex © MVRDV
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zooming 5/5 Valley @ MVRDV Complex
And also programs and algorithms, similar to the ones I told you about, allow you to immediately take into account and easily adapt the project to the requirements of the city authorities, the conditions of the developer, the budget, etc. Or give clear instructions on how to complete this or that detail, how it was in our case with The Valley and the contractor. The main thing is not to forget that, no matter how convenient and wonderful these technologies are in themselves, the final result will directly depend on the data that we initially set ourselves. The model is only as good as the parameters that we introduced into it.
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zooming 1/5 Valley @ MVRDV Complex
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zooming 2/5 Valley @ MVRDV Complex
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zooming 3/5 Valley @ MVRDV Complex
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zooming 4/5 Valley @ MVRDV Complex
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zooming 5/5 Valley @ MVRDV Complex
It is believed that parametric design will soon completely revolutionize all our ideas about architecture and revolutionize the industry. In fact, our goal is not revolution as such, but the search for methods that would simply help save time. We are going to continue our research in this direction and, perhaps, our architectural bureau will turn into a software development company. We need to create tools that would help every citizen of the city, as in ancient times, to contribute to the formation of the urban environment.
The In The City conference was held in St. Petersburg from 28 to 30 November 2019. It was organized by Gazprom Neft as part of the Rodnye Gorod social investment program. Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design was the Program Directorate.
