Kartal Masterplan, Sea View ZHA’S SMALL ARTIFACTS ARE IN THE SAME DNA AS THEIR BIG ONES, HOW IS THAT? AND WHY IT IS IMPORTANT?
TEXT: CHAKKARAT WONGTHIRAWAT
PHOTO COURTESY OF ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS EXCEPT AS NOTED
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Kartal-Pendik Masterplan, Istanbul
Scale is indefinite, and the fact that Zaha Hadid Architects has been utilizing the same tool and process in the designs of their mega-scale architecture and small-scale products is sometimes mind-boggling as we find ourselves wondering whether we’re looking at a skyscraper or a vase, an urban plan or a pattern on a shoes.
Free Market Urbanism
ZHA Lacoste Shoes
ZHA Lacoste Shoes
Parametric Design is the methodology that ZHA has been using and promoting for quite a considerable amount of time. The design is developed through the algorithm system, which is based on different parameters which interweave to formulate a connection between design intent and design purpose. The result reveals itself as reconciled layers of codes created and composed by designers. The process can be and has been applied to objects of practically every scale, from the gradual emergence of wave patterns on ZHA Lacoste Shoes, which shares certain commonalities with ZHA’s urban planning projects such as Kartal-Pendik Masterplan, in Istanbul. Theoretically and practically, the Free Market Urbanism project can be originated from the same set of parameters or equations with similar algorithms despite the massive difference in scale. And while principally, Parametric Design enables designers to readjust and control parameters or algorithms to alter the final result to countless scales and functions, the outcome is still under the control of the equation’s DNA, simultaneously causing the solution to gear toward the same direction.
The LIQUID GLACIAL Collection for the David Gill Gallery, photo: Jacopo Spilimbergo
An equally important process is digital fabrication technology. The method eliminates the media that designers and manufacturers once needed to communicate their drawings or ideas to command orders. The data from a digital model generated virtually can be converted into codes to directly communicate with production tools in the real world, allowing machines to manufacture (print, inject, cut, fold, drill, carve, mill, etc.) a product with precision, sans the need for media. Similarly, we can apply the technology to the scales of architectural and product design. The LIQUID GLACIAL Collection for the David Gill Gallery is a testament to one of the many possibilities the technology can offer. Utilizing the Acrylic Milling technique, the furniture collection reveals forms and patterns that resemble moving ripples of waves inside different motionless, rigid, crystallized, ice-like masses while the light reflected from the surface creates glowing effects. The pattern formation and manufacturing process is applied to all the pieces from the collection, such as the table, stool and chair, creating a collective aesthetic despite being different items. In terms of architectural scale, the most prominent example is building part manufacturing, particularly façade panels where the digital fabrication technology is incorporated to deliver new possibilities such as creating sharp edges or seamless, smooth curves. The technology contributes tremendously to the mass customization of building parts since the intricateness and accuracy of the tools and commands between digital models and machines have increased, causing the media commonly used in architectural construction, be there two-dimensional drawings or BIM, to lose their significance entirely.
Heydar Aliyev Center, the design where Digital Fabrication technology is incorporated to produce façade panels
Besides the design and manufacturing process, ZHA is known for incorporating architectural lines and silhouettes into product and fashion items. Such ambiguity is a result of the ‘Continuous Differentiation’ of forms and spaces. By using continuity and enclosure, ambiguous forms and functions are created. In CELESTE, Zaha Hadid x Swarovski, the silver necklace possesses a dynamic shape and lines that mimic flowing, weightless fabric. With a relatively different size than most necklaces, the piece covers a wearer’s body like a piece of cloth, creating a sense of ambiguity regarding the accessory’s actual functionality.
CELESTE, Zaha Hadid x Swarovski, photo courtesy of Swarovski
With Icone Bag for Louis Vuitton, ZHA reinterprets the luxury brand’s iconic bag into a seamless curved and smooth form where the bag’s body and handle become indistinguishable, rendering a sculpture or vase-like shape. While bags and vases share the functionality of a container, what differentiates the two items is portability, a functional quality expressed through the bag’s handle. As a result, when the design diminishes the role of Icone Bag’s strap, its role as a bag comes into question.
Icone Bag for Louis Vuitton, photo: Werner Huthmacher
Zaha Hadid Architects’ repertoire is the manifestation of how the use of the same tool and method can create a wide range of objects. They have proven how a technique and idea developed for a design of a specific scale can be seamlessly utilized and applied to another work of an entirely different scale. Codes are now being used as a communication tool in modern architectural design, while coordinate systems can create the most elaborate details in building construction. With the current design and construction technologies, we can now construct the most complex architectural forms. It is, therefore, exciting to see all the possibilities that Parametric Design and Digital Fabrication can bring with their seemingly unfathomable potential. We are witnessing the future where tools can form their own ideas and develop new abilities through Machine Learning technology, and AI continuously increases its role. And at the root of it all, Zaha Hadid and her team are among the monumental pioneers.
