2F-G8

RESEARCH BACKGROUND: The project '2F-G8' was produced in response to an open competition for the National Gallery of Victoria sculpture garden pavilion 2016-2017. Drawing upon current research into the use of digital and fabrication tools in architectural design, the project builds upon the work of Barkow Liebinger on the use of laminated bent ply as a free form structural device (2016 Serpentine Summer House), and McBride Charles Ryan (PEGS Junior School) & Lyons Architecture (Swanston Academic Building) on the contextual use of digital tools. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: The design of '2F-G8' explores versioning processes through the use of generative software. The form was generated through the projecting of a traced panorama of the surrounding physical context. The project was an attempt to embed within the architectural object a reminiscent trace of the city of Melbourne as it existed at the time. The design tested the limits of laminated bent ply to be employed as a free form structural device. The intent of this was to speculate on how timber lamination and splicing techniques could be used to create rigid, non-standard architectural form/structural systems. The project is part of Milbourne's ongoing research into the use of urban sampling processes in the design process, and the design and construction methodologies associated with resolving and delivering complex timber structures. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: The project significance can be determined by its publication and exhibition in multiple forums. It was selected for exhibition in the 'Sino-Australian Dialogue on Design Practice Research' curated by Lu Andong (Nanjing University) and Marcus White (University of Melbourne), and published in the catalogue (ISBN: 978-0-7340-5260-5). It was published on the Designboom blog on 14 February 2016.