Some Notes on Design and Current Projects

As I noted in my last post, I have not had much time to post lately - the end of summer brought a couple of new projects and the realization that I had been putting chores off around the house again.

This is a link to a great article in The Conversation - an online British journal that covers a multitude of ideas mixed with critical commentary - its pretty self-explanatory and should be mandatory reading for all designers. 'What Architects Can Learn From Designing With Children'

I am still working on the High Speed Rail project for Calgary-Banff and Calgary-Edmonton.  Some constraints have emerged for the main terminal in North Calgary that require the synthesis of not just the HSR project, but possibly 3 LRT lines, and a low-rise light rail shuttle.  We are going to have to propose additional terminal design alternatives because planning and development constraints on the adjoining property to the west may not allow a realignment of the LRT and shuttle lines. While we are hopeful about favorable planning for the alignment, and consideration of additional commercial zoning to promote a bit of an urban/suburban center around the proposed station, only time and successful negotiation will tell as to the final design.  I will be posting new models soon.

Here's a couple of visualization pieces for a game project that has yet to get off the ground (pardon the pun). I get a lot of undertakings that take a long time to get going, but that's the risk you take when freelancing.

Takeoff - Photoshop - 2014

Night Fight - Photoshop - 2014

All images copyright Vertigo Studios and Michael Knudsen

Evolving the Workplace .... and a Couple of Additional Portfolio Items

As the design and construction industry have moved into the digital age, the concept of the workspace and workplace has evolved slowly in some areas and quickly in others, Yes, telecommuting and the VPN have made working directly from home easier, but the fundamental work-space has not grown much beyond the physicality of bigger monitors, faster computers, and mouse and keyboard, or pad and stylus for control of the software,

Since the movie 'Minority Report', there has been a fascination about, and a drive towards, intuitive gesture based systems of control married to hardware, and one of the experimental routes has evolved into what is called projective capacitive touch or PCT.

I ran across a truly tangible resolution of this on Gizmag yesterday, and can hardly wait till I have one in my own office.  (As a side note, I highly recommend Gizmag for interesting current information on everything tech and design oriented.)

Ideum's Dynamic Experimental interface - note the files identified from the tablet, the wireless keyboard, and the lovely integrated giant monitor.  Make sure you  look at the the other images and video of the project - Gizmag Sept 11, 2014

There is also another project on Gizmag from DAQRI, a remarkable development of the construction helmet featuring integrated HUD and AR (augmented reality) displays

DAQRI Smart Helmet - Gizmag Sept 10, 2014.

And just because I have been too busy to post for a while, here's some more portfolio work.  The first are massing and facade studies for a fairly difficult house project on Scotchman's Hill just east of the Stampede Grounds in Calgary.

Scotchman's Hill House Project - East Facade Study - September 2014 - 3D Studio Max

Its a steep hill site with some fairly stringent geotechnical requirements to maintain a stable foundation. The pool aside, there's going to be a lot of concrete and re-bar to anchor the house. I'm not completely sold on the curved glass at the west elevation, but the client really likes it, and there is a certain lyrical quality that balances the more formal aspects of the elevation.

Scotchman's Hill House Project - West Facade Study - September 2014 - 3D Studio Max

Finally, here's some more recent work done in Photoshop.  The first is really just about exploring design, techniques in color, movement, and composition, as well as trying out some new brush styles and techniques.

The Chase - Photoshop 2014

The second is some previsualization work for a low budget science fiction movie just about to move to Kickstarter.  This scene pays homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey; still one of my all time favorite science fiction movies.

Discovery - Photoshop 2014

all images in this blog are copyright vertigo studios and michael knudsen

I Robot Builder

Part of my personal and academic interests lie in the inter-relationships between technology, culture, and design. Beyond reading everything I can, to keep myself forward thinking, I have been taking online courses; currently I am teaching myself Linux through EDx, and taking a robotics course through MIT.

It's been very interesting. There has, of course, been a distinct trend on assembly lines (hampered more by union caveats than capital investment) to use robotics to enhance production.  This year, Foxconn (the producers of all things Apple) hired workers for their new Iphone factories, but also purchased 18,000 robots for their assembly lines to control the consistency of assembly quality.

In the robotics course I discovered I had underestimated how much robots and automation are being explored in practical and academic venues for use in commercial, industrial, and residential construction applications. In construction, I had thought that robotic applications were primarily leveraging modularity or extruded materials (for example, with brick laying or concrete), but the incorporation of 3D printing techniques was far more advanced as well.  I also had to revise my thinking about the 'robot' per se, because once you extend the autonomy and remote sensing ideas in robotics, you are in the realm of drones and adaptable architecture.

In an article from 2011 - IEEE Spectrum Magazine showed practical robotic applications for construction. But, I couldn't help but notice that they seemed really interested in how robots could be 'artistic'.

Using brick laying and stacking to achieve curvilinear forms - IEEE Spectrum Magazine - 2011

Both IBTimes and Wired have had a number of articles that explored the use of 3D printers in construction. While we are still in the developmental stages of this new synthesis of construction techniques, it is progressing rapidly.   In robotic applications, there are clear advantages in speed, quality control, and safety that have far reaching implications for building projects around the world.  Machines already lay up whole sides of brick buildings at once, and the race is on for the first completely 3D printed building.

Using a gantry based 3D printer to build house walls through contour layering of concrete - IB Times - 2013

The practical application of a brick laying machine, more simple machine than robot - but this is only a first generation design - Construction Robotics Incorporated - 2014

At Harvard , Termes robots are making use of hive mind mentalities to complete tasks.  These are termite-like robots that can climb, construct, and take away or add pieces as required.  What is really interesting about these particular robots is that they are designed to operate semi-autonomously; give them a task like delivering materials to a second floor and they determine how to build a staircase to accomplish their goal.

Termes robots building stairs - Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - February 2014

As an extension of the range of thinking, Building Design and Construction Magazine has an online article that explore the continuum of robots and automation from the use of drones in surveying and robots in construction, to buildings with automated skins that adapt and change per solar gain and cooling requirements.

RMIT University Design Hub - Melbourne Australia - Adapatible outer skin with literally thousands of PVC lens designed to block, capture, or reflect light and vent heat - BDC 2014

To come full circle or full spiral I would like to present examples from an Inhabitat article on a robotic 3D printer sprayer that makes uses of local source materials to produce lovely tracery-like 3D sculptures and structures, as well as a Wired article showing a similar robotic printer that extrudes wire to make all manner of forms.

Robotic 3D Sprayer and Playground beach sculpture in Spain - Inhabitat - 2013

MX3D printer from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia - a robotic extrusion printer that prints at about 3 meters per hour - the wire frame sofa on the left is shown in plan view.  Wired Magazine 2014

This is just a taste of what is possible with robotics, 3D printing, and automated technology.  For some more rarefied examples, I highly recommend the MIT Matter Lab showcase of Robotic Applications and 3D tools, the Harvard School of Engineering noted above, as well as simply searching 'Construction Robots' and '3D Printing' in Google.  There are new and surprising examples almost every day that are continuously opening up interesting architectural design possibilities for me.

More Current Events in the Portfolio

Some works in progress.

2014 - 3D massing study for first phase of HS Banff and HS Alberta High Speed Rail Station near Calgary International Airport.  There`s a bit of a mixed program to work out, as the station has to incorporate both light rail transit and high speed rail components, and support and administrative facilities for each respective rail system.  3D Studio Max

There is a plan for a low rise tram rail shuttle to the airport with a connection to the LRT system, possible expansion of the LRT to 4 tracks, and 2 high speed rail tracks with an expansion to 4 tracks.  This is a first iteration of design with main floor ticketing, second floor waiting and administration facilities, and bridge crossings to vertical circulation at the train platforms.  The client likes it, it has a sense of the lyrical elements I am looking for, and it satisfies a portion of the program requirements, but frankly, it isn`t setting enough of a sense of place and arrival for me.  3D Studio Max

2014 - 3D development model for 4 bedroom house in SW Calgary.  The client started out with a desire for a traditional design, but was surprisingly amenable to explorations of contemporary form once we began a dialogue about light, transparency, and view.  The house sits on a rise and from the second story has an unobstructed view of the mountains to the west, and downtown Calgary to the east. 3D Studio Max with Mental Ray Renderer.

There are several peculiarities in what is otherwise a fairly normal residential program of spaces - the main floor office has it's own entry door off the breezeway and a stair connection to the master bedroom suite, and 2 of the children's bedrooms have 4.2 metre ceilings to allow a split level sleeping space with open play/work areas underneath.  3D Studio Max with Mental Ray Renderer.

2014 - Development drawing for graphic novel illustration - Photoshop

all images in this blog are copyright vertigo studios and michael knudsen

House Rules

I started out as a builder when I first left high school, and went back to university at 30 to eventually become an architect.  I am educated in critical process, philosophy, and professional practice in architecture (feel free to take a look at such goodies as phenomenology), and can talk about theory, aesthetics, and business all day long.  However, I have come to believe that function, site, light, materials, and ecology are the backbone for a good design, and everything else is (pardon the pun) window dressing. In the end, I am still trying to find the balance between site and building, use and beauty, and unity and individual expression, and I am firm about the need for architects to set examples that are culturally relevant, forward thinking, moving towards zero impact and zero energy consumption, and truly expressive of the human experience.

It has taken me years to learn patience about the process, and I still fall on my face sometimes.

2013 - Story illustration - Photoshop.

2014 - Colour and design study for game project - Photoshop 

2014 - Massing study for mixed use condominium project in the Lower Mount Royal district of Calgary.  Program includes retail and restaurant at front, sub-surface parking at rear, 2 storey condominium units on lower floors and a mix of 2 and 3 storey units on upper floors.  The next step is to start to explore eccentric massing in the towers that isn't just an extrusion of the floor plates - 3D Studio Max 2014

all images in this blog are copyright vertigo studios and michael knudsen

Some Current Events in the Portfolio

I have been busy with a number of projects and haven't had time to post anything for more than a month, so I am posting some 3D renderings from a couple of current projects.

I now use a combination of drawing and 3D work to explore architecture.  Many times I use the 3D as an armature to draw over for elevation and material studies.  I don't use Sketch-up very often - I find that it has a certain interdependency with AutoCad that encourages me to draw straight lines and resolve finite dimensions long before a concept has gone through enough iterations of exploration.

One thing is clear to me.  The world of 3D has changed architecture.  From Frank Gehry to Zaha Hadid, the use of modelling tools like Rhino, 3D Studio Max, and the extensions in to BIM have changed how we design, present, build, and everything in between.  Buildings are more complex visually, and explore organic shapes more readily.  I will be posting more about this in future entries.

2014 - 3D concept model of Mexican food restaurant and bar proposal for SE Calgary.  The kitchen module at the rear of this rendering had to be oversized to accommodate both a take out counter and a tortilla production area. Because the site is surrounded by somewhat larger 3 and 4 storey buildings, the roof top is designed as a landscape with mechanical equipment carefully screened off. 3D Studio Max 2014

2014 - 3D concept model of mixed use office and retail for Calgary's East Village development.  This project is intended as a high-tech centre with business incubator space.  The client is currently negotiating density requirements to allow the development of a second office tower.  3D Studio Max 2014

all images in this blog are copyright vertigo studios and michael knudsen

More About Method

After graduating from architecture school, I went straight to work for a one man firm for a couple of years.

It was good , because I was always doing different kinds of work; from residential renovations to acreage homes, and from retail boutiques to industrial buildings.  I discovered very quickly that architecture was quite polarized between design and pragmatism; with pragmatism driven almost entirely by the parameters of budget. Worse still, at least for me; all the things I was interested in from a design and critical thinking perspective, seemed to be completely sublimated by this dichotomy.  Design time was supposed to be constrained to the 15% of time I was allotted by the book.

One day, I realized that I had become Howard Roark.  ( For those who don't know, see The Fountainhead on Wikipedia, or better yet, read the book.) I found myself doing design for free.  Rather than arguing about a need to explore the alternatives, I would spend late nights working after everyone else had gone home.  I would fix plans, elevations, and sections, because it was the only way I knew to keep myself sane and not screaming in frustration at my boss or the client.  I lost track of the number of times I heard the remark,' I'm amazed that you were able to sort that out'.  I wasn't a genius in design; the piles of crumpled up tracing paper under my desk were a simple testament to the relentlessness of my process.  I just kept drawing until things worked.

I knew something had to change, I just wasn't sure what.

Shortly after this, I moved back to Toronto and went to work at the last firm for which I would ever hand draft.  At a design conference, I met a salesman who was promoting the latest version of a DOS based 3D modelling programme called 3D Studio - the forerunner to 3D Studio Max.  I was able to persuade him to give me a copy as a beta tester, and between that, and my first copy of Photoshop, my conceptual world took a giant leap forward.

2012 - Photoshop study of high density architectural forms.  Making conceptual  architecture becomes easy when you are allowed to forego structure and gravity, but it has been these kinds of explorations that started to evolve my sensibilities about high rise projects.  Simply put; extruding a floor plate vertically was no longer enough.  My experiences at Arcosanti 20 years before were resurfacing to meld with my new understandings of  an urban architecture. 

2012 - Condominium lobby structure and color study - Default Renderer in 3D Studio Max

2013 - Material study for subway platform in game project.  Default renderer with GI in 3D Studio Max

all images in this blog are copyright vertigo studios and michael knudsen

Games, Architecture, and Crowdsourcing - 1

I've been working in both Photoshop and 3D Studio Max for a while now.  Sometimes, as I explore things, I have been less and less sure where I fit in.  How exactly do I leverage what I know as architect in ways beyond building.  And how do I take this experimentation back into the real world.

I started out playing the first version of Doom while I was in graduate school. When mod tools first appeared, I have to admit that, originally, I laughed at how simplistic many of the level designs were.  I became really interested though, because shear experimentation was rampant.  It was chaotic crowd-sourcing with people willing to throw literally anything into level design.  From a critical standpoint they were the simplest architectural spaces possible, but there were some interesting spatial ideas beyond the 'open door-see corridor-kill monster' design.  I kept on thinking that architectural simulation in games was something we as architects should pay attention to.  I actually proposed an independent studio based on the use of Doom's mod tools, but it wasn't very well received by my thesis advisor.

That didn't stop the IT guy and I from playing Doom in the PC lab late at night of course.

2012 - Massing study for Turin Train Station Ideas Competition.  I've been using 3D models in the way I used to build cardboard and wood models for massing studies.  The big idea was to have layers of courtyards and landscape as the integrative mechanism between the airport, train and bus components of a regional transportation hub.  A new public market was proposed to anchor the entrance and the edge of a new public square.  Bringing the river into the interior with a canal meant that new recreational and hospitality components could be explored. Default Renderer in 3D Studio Max.

 2013 - Book Cover Proposal

2013 - I've been rereading older science fiction; what is euphemistically called 'classic' or golden age work.  One of the first books I ever read (in junior high school) was Damon Knights compendium 'Beyond Tomorrow'.  I found an awesome first edition in a used book store not too long ago, and Robert Heinlein's 'Coventry' became the inspiration for this illustration.

all images in this blog are copyright vertigo studios and michael knudsen

An Evolution of Sorts

Experimenting with 3D Studio Max and Terragen together started to open some nice images for me, particularly after I started building faster workstations to reduce rendering times.  Because I needed to bring the Max images to the same level as the Terragen images, I had to stop using the default renderer and start exploring Global Illumination (GI) and Ray Trace rendering in 3D Studio Max.

2011 - Security monitoring room design for un-named online game project.  Default renderer in 3D Studio Max.  I ended up taking over the level design, but there was no saving a project where the leads couldn't agree on any of the content.

2011 - Warehouse interior for un-named game project.  Default renderer in 3D Studio Max.

2013 - I was working on some street front elevation studies for a developer.  He had presented me with sketches showing a pastiche of classical elements and the admonition; 'it just needs a little massaging'.  I ended up resolving it in a very simple and clean way , but then I started rereading A.E. Van Vogt's 'The Weapon Shops of Isher' and it ended being up a late night with this as the result.  

Those who look closely will see that the center door logo announces Nick Danger of Firesign Theater fame.  3D Studio Max 2014 with Mental Ray Renderer.

2013 - Experiment with compositing of 3D Studio Max model in Vray Renderer and Background render from Terragen 2.  The flags are Tibetan rug patterns from a textile exhibit brochure in New York.

all images in this blog are copyright vertigo studios and michael knudsen

The Ray Traced Landscape

One of the things that started to change my perception of the computer based architectural model was my discovery of landscape rendering in the first iteration of Terragen. For those who don't know, it is a landscape and atmosphere modelling program that uses ray tracing to generate surprisingly realistic results from procedural algorithms.  It relied heavily on plugins written by users for everything from importing bitmaps to wave generation in water, but it was a robust program and happily supported by the community of users.

The next version, Terragen 2, was able to incorporate larger DEM data with fractal tweaks to generate even more textured landscapes.  It could also import meshes, plants, and objects in TGO or OBJ formats from other programmes such as XFrog and World Machine.  Most of the plugins in Terragen were included as standard features in Terragen 2, and the new node based interface meant that even more complex materials and complex terrains were possible.

Raytracing is frighteningly processor and time intensive.  It is just what it says; a myriad of points are calculated one by one against the rays of light from the source of illumination and mixed with global illumination; the light glow from each one of those points.  But if you have the patience and the computing power, the end results are fantastic.  Terragen 2 was able to make use of multiple cores and threads for a significant speed upgrade over Terrgen. The newest version, Terragen 3 has further evolved, with significant improvements to rendering speeds, and rendering of landscape and atmospheric effects.  It also allows network based rendering to share a rendering task across multiple computers.

It's still a wait for some things though, particularly if you want stellar lighting and atmospheric effects.  Start that renderer, make some coffee, and perhaps a meal, and watch the magic appear line by line.

2010 - combination of procedural landscape and World Machine landscape rendered in Terragen 0.9

2011 - a DEM mesh of Mitten Buttes Arizona rendered in the beta version of Terragen 2

2012 - a DEM mesh of Mount Assiniboine Alberta rendered in the final version of Terragen 2

2013 - procedural space landscape for book cover - rendered in the final version of Terragen 2

all images in this blog are copyright vertigo studios and michael knudsen

Discovery Of A 3D World

I was born in Denmark.  My family immigrated to Canada when I was 4.  The summer I turned 10, my younger brother and I got to go back and spend an entire glorious summer in Denmark.  We mostly stayed at my aunt and uncles' cramped but sunny little 2 bedroom apartment, full of musty smells, royal Danish blue china plates, and the oldest furniture I had ever seen, on Blegdamsvej in downtown Copenhagen.

   

My Uncle was a retired mechanical engineer, the old school kind that designed and machined parts for factories.  One night, about 2 weeks after we arrived, we were astonished to discover that what I took for a closet door in the small sitting room, pivoted down to reveal his amazing N scale model railroad layout on the back of the door.  It was a countryside with rolling hills, small town and rural stations, farms, and tiny people. There were passenger trains, freight trains, and coal trains.  It was densely textured and layered with multiple levels of track, trestles, and tunnels.  I would sit at night watching him make buildings and accessories, paint them, and fret over their placement. He would sing softly to himself while sipping akavit and beer.  Every once in a while he would look up, laugh, and say in Danish, 'stop staring, it isn't polite'.

Jorgen took us to one of Copenhagen's largest toy stores one Saturday morning, to get parts and paint for his train set installation, and that's when I discovered Lego.  At that time, the Lego kit as we know it today didn't exist.  Lego only came in boxes of assorted pieces. There wasn't much color choice, but the shear variety of building blocks that snapped together, including pitched roofs, windows, and doors, was amazing. There were even wheels with bearing blocks to make moving vehicles.  There were beautiful house models of all shapes and sizes, and an installation of the Danish royal summer palace; all reproduced in Lego. I was stunned and had to be dragged away from the displays when it was time to leave. 

Lego hadn't come to Canada yet, and both my brother and I wanted it.  My mother cautioned us to be patient.  Later that summer, when my birthday was coming up, I was asked what I wanted.  Naturally I replied, 'Lego'.  Kenny and I were delighted to get so much Lego and other toys from the family, that my mother had to buy 2 extra suit cases to carry everything home on the plane.  

From then on, until Lego was sold in Canada, every birthday and Christmas meant new Lego shipped to us from relatives in Denmark.  Kids from all over the neighbourhood would come over to play day after day in our Lego filled basement.  When we grew older, nieces and nephews played with it. There is, in fact, still a huge box of assorted Lego in a downstairs closet at my parents house.  And, I am happy to say, my youngest son is a consummate Legomaniac, building the kits of course, but then taking them apart to make new stuff out of his imagination.

2011 to 2013 - Assorted assets for game and personal projects modelled in 3D Studio Max.  Almost every single vehicle and ship started life as a chamfered cylinder or box.

2012 - When it was clear that something bad was starting to happen in Detroit, I started a series of 3D urban landscapes.  It's more than just the post-nuke imagery of Fall Out.  As an architect, I just couldn't stop wondering about the ecology of the old and new city.  Do we consolidate and leave the edges?  Do we take the edge and leave the centre?  And what happens where these conditions collide?

all images in this blog are copyright vertigo studios and michael knudsen

The Beginnings of a Method

I was 8 years old when I discovered that not all my classmates could draw.  I had just assumed that, like reading and breathing, everyone could do it.  It empowered me; I could do something no one else could. 

It also got me in trouble.  I lost track of the number of detentions I got, when instead of doing my classwork, I was caught drawing in my notebooks and in the margins of my textbooks,.  Eventually my teacher sent a note home, asking my parents to please, please, give me paper and pencil to get it out of my system.  I was lucky my father was an accountant, and would come home with reams of unused ledger paper.  

I never dreamed paper could be so big,  Much better than drawing small stuff in book margins.  

It was a great time to be a pre-computer child.

2013 - The Gateway series started after an intense couple of months re-exploring 

the new FallOut series.  Its my own fault for joining Good Old Games.  

Damn them and their free games and excellent deals.

2013 - There are many versions of the cave and city in my work.  I am fairly sure there's a root of something from Plato in it, although, instead of looking at shadows on a wall, my view is almost always looking out at the city. I'm happy to philosophize about cities and design, but today I just need to draw and build.

2013 - I was approached by a group interested in a kind of 'Running Man' mod for an existing game.  I thought they would be better off using one of the new game engines but I went in on spec anyway.  My idea was that it could be a Mario kind of jump puzzle side-scroller in a post apocalyptic environment.

all images in this blog are copyright vertigo studios and michael knudsen

Welcome to Vertigo Studios

I have spent most of my adult life looking for interesting ways to shape the human environment; first as a builder, and then as an architect.  

After working in engineering and construction for more than a dozen years,I returned to school at the age of 30, obtaining a fine art degree in painting, and a master's degree in architecture and urban design.

  

After working for several years in architecture, I founded Vertigo Studios as a venue for the exploration of ideas and precepts that were not possible within the traditional framework of client based practise. The original intention was to use computer based 3D and 2D imagery to explore architecture and urban design, but over time I realized that I was becoming interested in imagery that was increasingly only peripherally connected to architecture. 

You will see a continuum of ideas, in both words and images, on this blog.  Reinterpretations of personal experience, speculative fiction, computer gaming, along with architecture, have pushed imagery in unexpected ways for me. It's hard not to just follow along when an idea takes on its own life.   

2011 - I  produced this robot when my youngest son, Ben, started school.

Can you tell I was just a bit nervous? 

2011 - based on an old Life magazine portrait that transformed 

into this depiction of a different kind of holiday for father and son

2012 - I love Ian M Banks Culture novels - partially because 

his descriptions of the physical environment are intrinsic to his stories.  

They are remarkably architectural. This developed after reading 'Excession'.

2012 - I got really excited when I found out that Mechwarrior was being revived.

It has not exactly fulfilled my expectations, But I did this anyway, 

because who doesn't like Mechs under starlight?

all images in this blog are copyright vertigo studios and michael knudsen