Week 3: Geometric explorations

The particular stone carving technique which was explored by the Armenian craftsmen for decades unveils a dialogue between the design intent of the master and the geometric boundaries of the material. With the help of computational techniques I have analysed an architectural specimen of stone masonry, found in Geghard monastery chapel dome (4^th Century AD).

Geghard cave and monastery dome 

There are number of computational and fabrication techniques that can be implemented throughout design and construction processes and these implementations have become more accessible with the use of CAD/CAM. I have been computing some geometries, based on the fusion of techniques used in stone carving of the dome and the Khachkars of outer cave.



Khachkar and dome pattern studies

The shapes were created around the form of the ornaments, and composed in 3D, translating the individual layers of depth and light-dark contrast.



Exploring folding and sectioning of the stone pattern

Folding is a simple yet a very versatile technique where a flat surface is turned into a three dimensional shape. The fold itself introduces a structural element of rigidity and stiffness in the form that sometimes can be self-supported. In these preliminary explorations I have looked into the stiff honeycomb shape patterns of the dome that echo the support locations of the stone carved structure. 
Sectioning, on the other hand, uses a series of profiles, the edges of which follow lines of surface geometry,  rather than constructing the actual surface. The embodiment of sectional fabrication was facilitates mostly by emergence of laser cutting technology, which allows building of big scale profiles and which I will be exploiting in more detail in weeks to come.

Tessellation and resolution studies

Tessellation, in fact, is an ancient technique, that uses collection of pieces that fit together forming a surface without gaps. These method have been explored in stained-glass windows of Gothic Cathedrals, screen walls of Islamic architecture and mosaics of Byzantine and Roman empires. The digital technologies reinvented this patterning technique with higher resolution and greater modulation and variation. NURB and mesh modelling offer an enormous definition of surface approximation from faceted to smooth. These studies gave birth to the parametric architecture, which allows a wide array of tessellating possibilities. I will be comparing the limited array of Geghard dome tessellations, that are dictated by the internal structure of the rock with the liberating possibilities of digital tessellations on the platform of 3Ds Max and CATIA.

Digital carving- contouring

Contouring is the subtractive method of removing successive layers of the materials, which, in essence, is carving, that creates a three dimensional relief by reshaping the surface. The rock cutting technique used in Armenian temples and Khachkars is the earliest form of the contouring process, which nowadays is widely performed by CNC milling machines. The digital fabrication method of milling thus transcends the old analogue crafting technique, with additional resolution and depth. My preliminary focus will be on pushing the boundaries of existing limitations of scale and cost prohibitive factors of this technique, by series of 3 axis milling studies of the rock cutting specimen. 

Phantasmagorical 3D carving and folding elevations 

Finally I will be looking into the process of forming, which has been largely deployed by industrial design since the early industrial revolution but has only recently established more concrete framework within the realm of architectural structures. Here as well, digital fabrication unveiled new potential for designing customisable concepts, although forming inherently is a manual process. With the help of digital milling and rapid prototyping, I will be investigating into non-standardized mould making of analogue digital hybrids that can be developed into architecturally scalable structures by multiplication and variation.

Contouring path and joint explorations

Phantasmagorical 3D representation of the pattern

Week 3: Chraftsmanship of Medieval Christian Armenia

Khachkar (Armenian - cross stone, a stone that bears a cross, a cross shaped stone etc.) is an absolutely essential component in the development of Christianity, education, arts, crafts and architecture in Armenia from 4th century onward. According to the evidence presented in the "History" by Agatangeghos, the first cross-bearing steles and temple appeared in the centre of the capital of Armenia as a result of a miracle (http://www.khachkar.am/en/origins/). The Khachkar, thus, aimed to give holiness to an open air, the secular territory, which was in interesting contrast to temple- a non-secular, holy territory of the temple.

Khachkar monument

The stone for creating of Khachkar is chosen by the craftsman from the wide variety of stone mines. The process of carving was done by chisels, hammers, sharp pens, with the use of compass and rulers, however a free style sketching was also very common.

The main components of Khachkar are the central cross and other illuminated symbols, the decor elements (triangles, stairs, rosette etc.), birds and other figurative reliefs, cornice, inscriptions etc.

Khachkars with decorative and religious symbols

Khachkar is a common model of Armenian world and the tradition of erecting the stele is still kept intact in modern Armenia. The main stimuli for Khachkar placement was an anticipation or a goal, which can be described as a holy attribute directed towards the future.
Along with two miraculous incidents of the appearance of Khachkar and the first temple, Mesrop Mashtoc, a renowned linguist and hymnologist, reported the third miracle which took place while he was preparing for a missionary life in a monastery. He had a dream, in which the Armenian alphabet was shown to him by a divine force. This was a powerful factor in reinforcement of Christianity and the uplifting of the national spirit. More Khachkars were erected bearing the newly scripted Armenian alphabet.
Throughout Armenian history, Khachkar played a role of a temple, a gravestone and of a book. The making of the stele, was considered a serious and prestigious profession, since most of the master Khachkar makers were well travelled and had a thorough understanding of not only sketching and carving, but also sculpting, construction and architecture. These craftsmen were referred to as sketchers, workers, compilers, inventors, decorators, painters, sculptors, masters, etc.

Khachkar motifs

In the next chapters, I will be exploring the geometric structures and topological relationships of Khachkars in terms of relationships between the shapes, mathematical dependencies, closeness of components etc.

Week 2: Case study: Lord Byron School

In this amazing case study  I will be looking into the design and construction of the Lord Byron school in Armenia, Gyumri, which represents United Kingdom's contribution to the earthquake in Armenia.
It only took 40-50 second for the earthquake to nearly destroy 3 major cities in Northern Armenia, leaving behind almost half a million people homeless on 7th of December 1988.
Here something significant happened; the first time after 1917 revolution, the USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev invited the rest of the world for the rescue mission and accepted foreign help in recovery and reconstruction of the cities.

The Prime Minister Mrs Thatcher outlined £5 million for the Lord Byron school, that was implemented by the Department of Education and Science (Building Bulleting Issue 74, 1991).

The most impressive factor was that despite all difficulties, the shaping of this project took only 18 months, from sketch to final-hand in.

Earthquake damage in Gyumri, Armenia 1988

Lord Byron School , block C construction 1989 

Aerial view of the completed building of the School

In accordance to USSR seismic requirements at that time, a one storey series of six pavilions was proposed by British side, with local tuff stone facade, which is generally used for nearly all buildings in Armenia. 

A steel frame structure (unusual for Armenian USSR) was put forward, because of seismic performance, besides the structure allowed for quick prefabrication in UK. Also, it was supposed to be reasonably robust to transport and fast to erect on site.

design proposal for the school by DES: the Plan

design proposal for the school by DES: the Elevations

On the other hand, the Armenian side was to provide local materials, vehicles and equipment, some labor,  construct work on drainage and external services, as well as build the outer skin out of tuff stone. However the tuff idea was later discarded, since it was not feasible for the winter time and an insulated timber wall was used instead. 

The communication between Gyumri and UK offices was severely impaired, as the earthquake destroyed the telecommunications in Gyumri and it took a while until a satellite communication was established.

While Armenians lay down  the fundaments, the British adopted several transportation routes, but the main bulk of materials arrived by sea via Leningrad (currently St. Petersburg).

Transportation routes from UK to Gyumri, Armenia

The steelwork for the blocks was set in motion after the materials have arrived, and the main British workforce was sent on site, who put an incredible effort of 60 hours, 6 days a week in this project.

Lord Byron was a name chosen by Armenians as this English poet is held in high esteem among Armenians because of his interest in Armenian language and culture as well as some translations of Armenian literature.

The enormous endeavour was received by Armenians with profound gratitude and the schools stands in Gyumri until today, as an educational home for many generations of scholars.

In conclusion, the story of this school is absolutely overwhelmingly inspiring; I have studied closely the tactics used on this platforms on remote design and instalment, since prefabrication was used as the main tactics here. This is also a good example that illustrates the importance of communication routes, the choice of materials and understanding of logistics, especially in context of modern abundance of the internet and wireless communication.
Lastly, it is worth mentioning that during this time, Azerbaijani government made it very difficult for the international aid to reach to the suffered zones, by blockading any transportation routes running through the land of Azerbaijan. It is significant in a sense that Nagorno Kharabagh dispute has not blossomed at this point yet, thus I will be trying to investigate the reasons behind this decision of the Azeri government, when I look into the Nagorno Kharabagh and the Armenian-Azeri conflict in the future chapters.

Week 2: Strategize!

I never underestimate the importance of well thought through strategy in any of my endeavours, even if it is for something relatively trivial.
Here are some short (weeks) and long (months) term strategies, that I have put together to organize my thought process and to assist me with further directions.

Below are some explorations (in their rudimentary state) towards the subject, the hypothesis, sub-themes, hints of potential frameworks and other stuff which does not fit anywhere else yet:

...............................Topic Description attempts.........................
... analogue-digital hybrids explorations on the landscape of Shikahogh
...analogue craftsmanship techniques of Shikahogh re-invented in digital era
...modern machines decoding the scripts of prehistoric stone masons of Shikahogh
...the integration of Shikahogh's ancient carving techniques into contemporary digital fabrication methods
...history forgotten.. or not? A 3000 year old carving techniques of Shikahogh giving birth to new digital fabrication application

..............................main hypothesis sketch.....................
...the study and "rehabilitation" of old rock cutting and stone carving methods of old Shikahogh; how can these techniques be embedded into computational design and digital fabrication techniques
...the old techniques inspiring new horizons for the development of agricultural infrastructure
...locally sourced architectural installations boosting the declining agricultural system in Shikahogh
(here I can't help but to visualize one of the pinnacles of technological advancements - a wind turbine, standing mightily in the middle of a serene landscape..a profoundly beautiful dialog between the subjects of nature and the machine working together as a unity ..)

Ghostpine farm by Alberta Foothills

...hence, ideally this architectural fabric, this infrastructure of whatever it may end up becoming, evolving and finally materializing itself in Shikahogh, will not only solve some of the agricultural or other impediments of the village, but also represent a new hope for the declining population of Shikahogh with its physicality, its tactility and its posture.

..................................Sub themes..............................
... are mostly components of the short term strategy
... historical maps of Armenia, revealing the territorial arrangements with Roman, Ottoman and Persian empires, that could have impacted the evolution of the crafts and styles
...trading routes-revealing influences of variety of styles, including literature, music etc as well as displacement and export-import of materials used in crafts and architecture
... the natural resources: what was available then and now?
...why are people abandoning their homeland of Shikahogh? the importance of the concept of BELONGING...
...the carving as a manifestation of struggle, war, ode, religion, faith, hope and other esoteric clusters- essentially "cause and effect" bubble
...the physical act of making, the object and the objector; prototypes, testing, trials, field trips
... Armenian diaspora - the migrated traditions

...................Some questions.............
...is there a tangent scope to this rock cutting/stone carving technique that can be explored within the digital realm? and what physical evidence is available in terms of monuments as well as stone masons today
...how can this technique be integrated into modern fabrication techniques?
...how will this "hybrid" manifest itself and impact the livelihood of villagers?
...will this newly implemented infrastructure be an improvement or an original solution for an existing systems of agriculture, watering etc or will it be an allegoric inspiration source? or both?
...who will be involved? villagers, Armenian students of various disciplines, governmental organisations, private sponsors etc?

..............Theoretical framework............
... I have an interesting combination of highly under-researched area (the old crafting technique) and an emerging technology with limited number of well-established theoretical framework (digital fabrication)
...in essence, therefore, my potentially "problem solving" research will unwrap itself as a reflective, active process with a constant feedback loop

Week 2: Journey into ancient maps (part1)

The history of Armenia dates back to 4000 BC and beyond, therefore diving into the mysterious cartography of the whole civilization is going to take a while and I will be mastering one step at a time.
As a crossroad connecting Europe and Asia, Armenia was relentlessly caught between empires, mainly Persian, Ottoman and Russian.
Thus the current size of the country (11490 square miles) represents only the fraction (about 10%) of what was used to be the Greater Armenia.

Current 2013 map of Armenia

On the map below, Portuguese cartographer Fernao Vaz Dourado depicts Armenia Minor and Armenia Major stretching across Black and Caspian seas, occupying the territories that are now known as Georgia, Azerbaijan and most of eastern Turkey, including Mount Ararat. Interestingly, the map dates to 1570, right in the middle of Ottoman-Persian wars. During this time Armenians established a printing press in Constantinople and the first Armenian printed books were produced, which was a significant psychological uplift for the Armenians.

1570 Map of Armenia by F. V. Dourado 

Because of the ongoing territorial disputes, it is complicated to overlay the maps from different centuries, therefore I have been using the Black sea, Mediterranean and Caspian seas to gauge where possible. In that respect, the following map illustrates the territory of current Armenia on the overlay of the Dourado's map.

The current territory of Armenia compared on the 1570 map

Another map, by German Goldsmith, printer and engraver Christopher Weigel, portrays 1720 Armenia again as the land between the Black and Caspian seas. During this time, Armenia was greatly elated by the emergence of new generation of artists, songwriters, lyricists, led by the legendary Armenian poet and musician Sayat-Nova ("Master of songs").
It will be curious, therefore, to find out if there is a concurrent cyclic pattern that ties together the events of the cultural and spiritual up rise movements with the territorial peaks.

1720 Map of Armenia by C. Weigel

On the map, we can observe the location of the current territory of Armenia (in dark orange) in comparison with that of the land occupied at around 1720. It is hard to believe that after the consequent 200 years of numerous devastating wars trapped between Ottoman and Persian empires, Armenia has preserved most of its land at that point. In his "Armenia: Survival of the nation" (Routledge, revised second edition, 1990), British historian and author Christopher J. Walker writes

“Almost without, exception Armenians are Christians, although often in a sociological rather than a religious sense. Their devotion to their ancient Church as the main embodiment of their traditions,  and as the one institution which remained alive when their country was enshrouded in the might of alien empires, is immensely strong”.

Week 1: Subject Initiation

With some set-up in place, lets look into the initially proposed research targets:
---
Fabricating computational geometries:
The analogue-digital hybrids
Case study: Shikahogh Rural Development
---
The Analogue-digital hybrids conception is something I have been pursuing during my MA, where I only scratched the surface of the following areas 

• Multidimensional spatial representations

• Implications of contemporary Science (the String  and M Theories) on architectural fabric

• Sound-scapes of a 3D space

• Haptic modeling

• Digital Sculpting

• Non Newtonian fluids

• 3, 3+2 and 5 axis CNC milling

• Robotic arm applications

The analogue-digital hybrid structure by L. Mnatsakanyan

The tests have been performed within the realm of the Bartlett workshop on a small scale experimental pieces and studies of analogue materials. 

Therefore, for my PhD, I proposed an exciting location for implementation of these on-going "computation and fabrication" dialogues. I then suggested that the outcome/s (the assumption being some kind of an architectural assemblage/s) will be tested on a grand scale in Shikahogh village, which will also address the actual needs of the local population.
Surrounded by breathtakingly beautiful series of Mountains and lakes, Shikahogh (Armenian translation “heated soil”) is a rural self-contained village in the outskirts of Kapan (sometimes referred to as Ghapan) municipally in Armenia.

Since the most under-researched counterpart of my proposal at the moment is the wonderful village Shikahogh, it is thus important to draw timelines and dive into establishing some basics. 

Armenia, or rather the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country, bordering Turkey (West), Iran (South), Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (East) and Georgia (West).

Current map of Armenia and bordering countries

In the above image, I have emphasized the notion of the "current" map, as the actual borders have been altered significantly and consistently throughout the history; something that I will be feeding in systematically, as the exploration of the project matures. At this point I will be assuming that these ongoing territorial disputes have had significant influence on the architectural, stylistic, musical, literary and other cultural cross developments of all the countries in the perimeter. This will be discussed in a greater detail in upcoming articles.

In my proposal, I highlighted the recent completion of the strategic road, connecting Armenia with Iran, which was favourably passing by Shikahogh and various surrounding villages. Shikahogh, with estimated population of 250-300, relies heavily on its crops and agriculture, as well as  the sales of local fruits, vegetables, craft works etc.

New road connecting Armenia and Iran

 This road, could and must be treated as a profound opportunity for villagers to take advantage of, perhaps by expanding the capacities of agricultural and farming micro structures and re-inventing the vibrant heritage of the local community.
To quote from my proposal ", I aspire to design, develop and implement architectural framework that will represent a symbiosis of traditional craftsmanship and technological advances, by creating smart and sophisticated agricultural solutions for the rural village of Shikahogh".

In search for this traditional craftsmanship techniques, I started my journey, penetrating deep layers of history, which in case of Armenia goes back to 4000 BC and beyond.

Armenia: Landscape and Architecture by G. and G. Karoly 

Armenians refer to their country as an "open air museum" (quote G. and G. Karoly, Armenia: Landscape and Architecture), due to the large number of churches, castles, temples and other similar buildings with religious and patriotic notions, dating back to thousands of years. On the picture above (on the right) is the Geghard monastery, founded in the 4th century by Gregory the Illuminator.  The story of Geghard is absolutely fascinating in its richness and historic significance, thus I will have to dedicate a whole new article for it in the future. Meanwhile, this monastery is a great representation of the "inside out" rock cutting technique of later era (4-12 century). There is yet much to be exposed about this technique and its origins, but for now, we will look at one significant element of the interior of this monastery.

The roof detail of the monastery

The geometric structure of this detail of the roof, located within the 4 columns of the Altar, seems to depict some kind of a "stone algorithm", which the Armenian stone masons have skilfully unveiled. This systematic, fractal repetition of a form has interesting resemblance to the surfaces created by modern 3, 3+2 and 5 axis milling techniques.

3 axis milling surfaces

In the future chapters, I will focus on this particular pattern and explore it in the context of digital computation.

Week 1: The set up

It seems that, I tend to divide any space I am given into areas, which evolve and form themselves almost remotely. However, regardless of the spatial dimensions of this designated sum of areas, historically, it has never been enough, as the "work splatters" grow and expand, like "good-natured" bacteria. Nevertheless, some areas that form themselves so far, include:

Pockets of "Inspiration Areas"

The inspiration areas- which are subject to frequent changes and updates. The main purpose here is visual simulations, mostly sketches (combination of own and borrowed work), test concepts, diagrammatic and schematic representations of anything relevant and not so.

The "working surface"

The working surface is an open platform for first "dip" information sequences: everything is welcome on this surface without any discrimination. This area is where the precisely organised "chaotic" distribution of information, based on visual and textual inputs, spreads out.

The "Action floor"

Lastly the action floor, which simply is the use of the physical floor space; despites my love for all things digital, I take huge importance in being on the floor, being grounded, away from the computer screen. My definition of archaic "bigger picture" is simple: work on the floor, have physical distance between yourself and the subject. Lying down on the floor is another way of both maintaining the essential close proximity, but also having the totally relaxed state of body and mind to be able to decode the surrounding information.
I anticipate "natural formations" of more areas, as the process evolves.