The Fresnel Trimaran designed by Margot Krasojević has a folding wingsail for a better lift to drag ratio, the sail’s frame is a built up mechanical structure similar to an airplane wing constructed from carbon fibre with a retractable Kevlar sail covered in aero-nautical film. The sail rotates around the mast and has a series of motorised creases which catch the wind, the wingsail is actuated by motors that control these movements using solar cells and wind energy.

The combination of the Fresnel lens and holographic film clad outrigger concentrates solar power for more of an efficient output. The form of the main hull acts as one unit with the wingsail, which wraps into the main body of the hull creating a continuous surface resulting in the motorised mast changing the shape of the sail allowing it to harness more wind. The outriggers detach to transform the yacht from racing multihull Trimaran to a cruise boat for leisure. The multi-hulls use recycled carbon fibre materials to reduce the environmental damage caused during processing new carbon fibre sheets.

The multi-hull wingsail design does not carry a heavy ballast which slows down vessels, all the materials used are strong yet lightweight.

A triangulated woven polyester mesh trampoline with a vinyl coating runs the length of the Trimaran, it is connected to the wingsail which wraps itself into the main composite carbon fibre hull, the trampoline frame acts as a water piercer with a heavy ensuring a smoother ride. Wind flows over wingsail and uplift drives the Trimaran forward.

The Wingsail generates wind energy, internal gearing systems convert wind energy to electricity which can be used to part run the motors or contribute to the integrated desalination unit along with the solar cell/ fresnel clad outriggers which run the desalination unit providing up to 4 litres of drinking water per hour.

Flexible solar panels located on the top and bottom of the wingsail surfaces generate electricity using wind and solar energy.
During bright windless days, wingsails face the sun and only solar energy is generated.
On windy days, wingsails rotate to generate largest combined energy from wind and sun. At night, wingsails generate just wind energy.

The outrigger hulls can detach themselves from the main hull, they are constructed from a double section vacuum bonded PVC surface lined with Fresnel lenses and holographic film to focus the light intensity towards the sandwiched solar cells. The Fresnel trimaran also has a set of fold-out hydrofoils. When it’s in monohull mode, these hydrofoils can be deployed, pushing the main hull up above the water, reducing water resistance by up to 80 percent, allowing for a fast, smooth ride that uses less fuel.

The main cabin is lined with holographic film which defracts incident light, it also acts as a prismatic concentrator which channels light towards the photovoltaic material.
The second stage to the project involves a series of elliptical tracks running across the yacht’s boards attempting to harness the main hull pendulum motion to run the perpetual retrieving magnetic turbine motor. Read the rest of this entry »

The proposal developed by AGi architects for the Qatar Courthouse restricted competition, organized by the Qatar Government, has been awarded second prize.

Institutional buildings need to embody the ideals and value system of any given society, with order being one of the core principles of any group. No society can prosper and thrive without it. Order is structure, it is the law, it is justice; without it, there is chaos. It is therefore extremely important that the Qatar Court House be aspirational and reflect these basic principles. The building is designed on two basic grids that are site driven, one linking it to its immediate context and the second to the larger context of Doha. These grids create stunning structural and spatial possibilities that make the building stand out visually so that people can see their ideals reflected in built form -structure, order, transparency, ambition -all of which are the ideals of Qatar’s growing society.

One of the fundamental questions for a civic structure is how is it approached and how is it perceived? The project brief contained a dense program that would occupy only 40% of the site, which would yield a type of vertical structure. This verticality however in the context of modern day Doha does not read as institutional. We sought to expand the ground plane across the entirety of the site, creating a public plaza and in doing so altering the proportion of the building. Floating above the plaza is the main structure carrying the central courtrooms, signifying that the law is above everyone. These subtle gestures ensure that the plaza act as a threshold between society at large and the justice system, making the Qatar Court House an open and welcoming building, rather than an ominous, insular one. At this scale, the floating structure acts as a literal and figurative canopy: it offers protection from the elements and a place where one can seek refuge from the greater population. The geometry of the floating structure ensures that there is ample light that fills the plaza, making the building feel lighter. At night, this very interplay between the volumes themselves makes the building visually striking. Read the rest of this entry »

Ice Crystal designed by Virginia Melnyk arrives from a series of aggregations and adjustments inspired by the way that snowflakes and ice crystals are formed. Using computational design to generate growth cycles and manually manipulating outputs for desired proportions and organization, the structure arises from the assembled tetrahedrons. Each of the different generations which combine to shape the pavilion built on top of one another and decrease in scale every new generation. The proposed frame work  would be made from PVC pipes with unique connectors at all the joints digitally fabricated with 3d printing. The surfaces of the tetrahedrons is made from silver Mylar, commonly used as “space blankets” or emergency blankets. The space blanket feels warm by reflecting heat from the body back onto the body. The Ice crystal warming hut feels warm, in contrast it’s cool iceberg  like appearance on the icy landscape. But once inside colors of the skaters clothes begin to reflect around the Mylar walls producing and kaleidoscope effect inside the Ice Crystal warming hut. Read the rest of this entry »

Experimental project SYMMETRYSCOPE tryes get to the bottom of symmetry and reveal its possibilities. At first step the liner symmetry was investigated and several columns were made. The principle consisted in the rotation and mirroring geometrically simple shapes (tetrahedron). However, the geometry of the column did not allow any internal spaces and so were unusable for architectural purposes. Another move forward was done by the planar symmetry. The principle was similar to the columns. The effort was to achieve interior spaces.

The fascination with symmetry has not been exhausted. From the mirror surface we moved into the space. I started from the tetrahedron, I used its internal organization. The mirroring planes match his faces axes, internal axes and perpendicular planes to theses axes in vertexes. Geometry results in kaleidoscopic effect. It can be rotated, target structure changes.

DOMINIK CÍSAŘ (AUTOR)

/ AIII / Imrich Vaško, Martin Gsandtner
ACADEMY OF ARTS, ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN, PRAGUE Read the rest of this entry »