The Wunderkammer
A digitally-generated destination for aquatic recreation
Aquatic Recreation
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Digital Media
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Generating Form
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Site
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Dream it
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Data Filtering
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Grasshopper
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Aquatic Recreation 〰️ Digital Media 〰️ Generating Form 〰️ Site 〰️ Dream it 〰️ Data Filtering 〰️ Grasshopper 〰️
THE WUNDERKAMMER
Aquatic Recreation Site
2nd Year Design Studio
Instructor: Robert Claibourne
Independent Work
Winter 2013
The Wunderkammer(Box of Wonders) is an isolated destination, sited in open water; thus it is free of geographical constraint. Devoted to aquatic recreation, the building & site can be placed anywhere as a folly to complement nearby beaches & popular sites along a city’s waterfront. With intentional emphasis on the generation of the site itself, this purely formal exploration is an exercise in interweaving digital tools with real world data to produce rationalized built form.
- DESIGNING THE SITE -
An Exercise in cross-pollinating digital tools
The complex and the site in which it is nested were conceived by filtering raw training data from a competitive rower’s winter training through various digital softwares: from Excel, to Rhino, to multiple Grasshopper scripts, to 3D modelling techniques, 2D Sectioning, to physical model form.
Starting from a calendar grid, an array of extruded walls (or lanes) responds to quantitative training data. This organically resulted in streamlined channels on high performance days, contorted knots on days of decreased performance, and swollen swathes on rest days as a result of the athlete’s cold. This combination of results create a fascinating object landmass with natural straight channels for racing & spectating, unique experiences of exploration on the water, as well as moments of rest & pause for users on the landmass.
