WorkGroup: Leonidas Paterakis, Gianluca Santosuosso , Svetlana Nesterushkina, Viraj Kataria

Tutor: Marine Bagneris – Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Montpellier

In this experiment we tried to build a physical model of a free form surface, using the technique of the geodesic curves of the surface.

The general definition of the geodesic curves is: “the shortes path between points on a surface” but an other definition, describes them on a more efficient way : “being γ(s) a geodesic on a surface X, and A a point on γ(s), the curvature of γ(s) in A is the minimum possible curvature among all curves passing through A and having the same tangent line of γ(s) in A”(Hilbert/Cohn-Vossen).

With few words, this means that in every point of the geodesic curve, the normal vector of the surface on that point is perpendicular also with the curve. Fact that simplifies a lot the joints, wich result all the same and very simple.

We started from choosing the type of surface to use and we decided to try a complex surface wich would include multiple curvatures.

This would permit us to verify the potential of this technique on surfaces that present positive and negative curvature.

With the help of Grasshopper plugin for Rhino we created a definition that made possible testing different situations and see the result of the geodesic curves generated immediatelly.

Initial Surface

Trimmed Surface

Parallel points geodesic curves 1

Parallel points geodesic curves 2

Diagonal points geodesic curves 1

Diagonal points geodesic curves 2

Connecting Hole1 with Points

Connecting Hole2 with Points

Connecting Hole1 & Hole2

Intersecting Geodesic Curves

Extracting Geodesic Curves

Naming and organizing the different Geodesics

Rendering

Laser cut File

Assembly phase

Finished model

Geometry

As the city is located in an arid climate, conditions in the surface can be really strong. In order to avoit that, the city is created underground, so that a fresh microclimate can be created. Desalinating sea water and filtrating solar exposure, food production can be guaranteed.

The geometry of the city is created from a rectangle. There is a public attraction point in each one of the vertices:
V1: Industry / Water purification / Waste management
V2: Primary + secundary education / Leisure
V3: Administration / University / Cultural
V4: Market / Sports centre / Hospital

There is an external conection that reaches the exterior from each vertice, working as public space as well as conection.
C1: Sea: Desalinization plat / Auditorium
C2: Car parking / Solar-eolic tower
C3: Train station / Solar eolic tower
C4: Pedestrian access

Housing and tertiary working (offices & shops) are located near and in between these nodes. Meanwhile, fields for food production are located around the city, creating a green ring that also works as a big park.

By general law, housing and offices will be always profit two opposite orientations (north-south, east-west) in order to have good ventilation. In addition, facades work as shadow devices and the fact of being underground avoids direct sun exposure and high temperatures.

Energy production

Sun radiation heatens the air below the glass-skin, which acts as a big hot air colector. Hot air is lighter than cold air, so it goes up the chimney. After reaching the turbines, kinetic energy is created, which will be transformed into electric energy thanks to an alternator. After this use, clean air is expelled again to the atmosphere.

These two towers also act like transport conections, because they work as a train station and a car-parking. People will change scale in this nodes, to get down and enter in the city scale.

Secondary energy will be produced using waves energy, biomass energy and from burning the waste that canot be neither reused or recycled.

Transport

The aim of the transportation system is to have some external conections in the edges of the city, that will act as main scale-changing nodes. This avoids private transportation issues, as the compacity allows easy movement walking or by bicycle. However, a radial transportation ring is conceived to make goods, food or people transportation easier.