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| + The Descent of Man - competition entry submitted 19/03/10 |
Following on from my individual entry into the pavilion competition in collaboration with the Manchester Museum, The Descent of Man, [a concept by Joe Haire], was selected for the second stage of the design competition, and was developed to near-production readiness in anticipation of possible realisation as the winning design. The concept is based upon the triad of evolutionary trajectories of animal extinction rates, population growth rates and carbon dioxide emission rates. The data was then geometrically interpreted using computational modelling to produce the tunnel-like structure, through which the user can walk through and sensually experience the space, as well as comprehend the nature of these interlinked global phenomena.
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| + The Descent of Man - concept model |
The group behind the design development included Joe Haire, Patrick Drewello, Graeme Mill, Richard Lewis and myself. Having established and refining Joe’s original strong conceptual design, we developed, tested, modelled and proposed a design solution, which not only satisfied the design brief criteria, with little compromise of the original design concept, but also produced a space that was truly immersive, responsive and innovative.
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| + The Descent of Man - CAD sections |
The nature of the design demanded the utilisation of the digital fabrication facilities at the MSA, with the structure being entirely manufactured via CNC technology production process. The Descent of Man final presentation video can be viewed here. The winning design was the Reflective Room, and it can be visited at the Manchester Museum.
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| + The Descent of Man - context visual |
Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in winning the overall competition, however, the team felt that the design process provided us with invaluable experience in computational design, digital fabrication process, as well as ‘real-world’ client and specialist interaction.