Spatial Computing Project - Zoho’s Pearl
Our project is named Zoho’s Pearl. In this analogy Rotterdam can be seen as the clamshell. Worn and rough on the outside due to its history and pronounced character, but beautiful on the inside, strengthened by its ever changing character and ability to stimulate growth. A strong shield that contains the foundations for beautiful flourishing development. In our case these foundations are found in the neighbourhood of Zoho. Where it was once a run down business area, we now see the first steps of renewal. During our design process we took the foundations offered to create a pearl worthy of Zoho. A building that will not only consist of living and working, but will be a social hub for the entire neighbourhood. We seek to stimulate inhabitants to network and grow in their environment. Similar to how the pearl will transform Zoho, we believe it will encourage inhabitants to flourish on an individual level.
This web portal is the result of the course BK7083 "Computational Design Studio" given in the minor program Spatial Computing in Architectural Design at the Technical University of Delft. During this minor, we have formulated a programme of requirements and subsequently used mathematical spatial computing constructs to design and simulate the optimum building.
The assignment of this course consists of a computational design for the site in the area of the Rotterdamse Maakkwartier. Currently, this building (also known as ZOHO) is used for residency, workshops, studios and startups. This is why the ZOHO is promoted with the following:
For and by makers in design, art, culture, media, tech, food, architecture and urban planning. All pioneers who want to use their craftsmanship to strengthen themselves, ZOHO, and the city in an innovative way. (Stichting ZOHOCITIZENS Ondernemerscollectief, 2018)
The aim of this project is to design a new building that fits into the requirements given by the tutors, the (imaginary) future residents and ourselves, using diverse python scripts.
The structure of this webpage is based on the design process we went through: Planning, Configuring, Massing and Forming. Planning and Configuring are divided into two extra folders: ‘Process’ and ‘Products’. In the folders ‘Process’ the research, which was needed for the final products and conclusions, is documented. The conclusions can therefore be found in the folder ‘Products’. The other ones consist of the various Notebooks with each the same structure (flowchart - additional diagrams - pseudo code - visualisations of the results.)