Pack House
Date: 2021
Size: 865 square feet (80 square meters)
Collection: One House Per Day, Day 487
Overview
The Pack House is composed of 20 packed circles that form the floor plate. Between the circles are 887 thin columns supporting a domed roof. There are no walls other than the tightly spaced columns and curtains around each of the circular spaces.
Drawing (both analog and digital) and digital modeling typically offer no physical resistance: geometry is weightless, objects can pass through each other, everything is infinitely malleable. One of physical modeling’s great benefits is simply that the model exists and must accept the realities of the physical world. They provide the designer friction, both literal and conceptual. Physical models are stubborn. They collapse. They take time. But this friction creates opportunities to think about the design in ways that are difficult through drawing or digital modeling.
As computers have become more powerful, it has been possible to bring more physical simulations into the digital design process. In the case of the Pack House, the packed circles were composed using a physics simulation engine that allows a designer to set certain properties such as collision resistance and elasticity on geometry. Each circle was attracted to every other circle yet also prevented from intersecting any other one. Once packed, the circles were connected with a network of bridges and the interstitial space was packed with columns.
This drawing was a partnership between designer and algorithm. The logic for the drawing and the selection of this specific iteration of the drawing was determined by the designer. The algorithm generated both the digital and the analog drawings based on these choices. The final drawing was made with an Axidraw SE/A3, Micron 08 & 005 pens, and a Papermate 0.7mm mechanical pencil.