Shanghai, China
Inspired by Chinese Calligraphy and using space, art, and Artificial Intelligence-generated tools Lin Architecture presents two outdoor art installations where pedestrians can interact, move around, lie down, and play with.
The design attempts to use an artificial intelligence-assisted linguistic modeling system to help designers refine and optimize prototypes and generate derivative deformations and final forms of prototypes through image model training.
Based on the designer’s prototype language, this eliminates the need for repeated modeling exhaustion.
As an element of traditional Chinese culture, calligraphy is a wordless poem, an invisible dance, a pictureless painting, and silent music.
In the process of writing, calligraphy forms a three-dimensional form of calligraphy by “swinging,” “moving,” “lifting and pressing,” “twisting and turning,” etc.
The results of calligraphy are two-dimensional, but the movement of calligraphy is three-dimensional.
Based on the logic of calligraphy formation, countless forms and styles can be created.
The three elements of space, art, and traditional culture are integrated together in the form of an outdoor installation.
The design process was held in four phases.
The first one was to study the forms generated by calligraphy and to create various formal languages.
In the process of writing calligraphy, the four strokes of “swing,” “flat movement,” “lifting and pressing,” and “twisting and turning” form the three-dimensional space of calligraphy.
The “paths and lines” of calligraphy and the “cross-sections” of brush movements form “three-dimensional calligraphy.”
The second one was to train the model to analyze the types.
The prototypes are identified and the prompt engine is used to generate relevant design vocabulary, including form, material, stylistic language, etc. (smooth, flowing, graceful, elegant, undulating, serpentine, etc.).
The control net is mainly derived from the specific writing logic of calligraphy and the deconstruction of the radicals of Chinese characters.
The third phase was to select the optimal intention for deepening the design.
Combining specific functional use with the formal requirements of the design, we choose to generate categories and then continue to deepen them.
One direction of deepening control is at the rational level, considering the needs of different interactive behaviors; the second direction of deepening control is at the perceptual level, considering the aesthetics of forms and spatial forms.
The fourth and final phase was to optimize construction optimization, material design, and structural design.
The architects have used artificial stone to simulate the ink dipping process, with pure black as the main color, and white light to strengthen the border.
The outcome of this research is a public interactive medium with a unique Chinese artistic form, two art installations one appearing in the middle of the bustling commercial area and another one “standing” in the tranquil Huangpu River.
Project: Guofeng Chair – A collision of artificial intelligence-assisted generative design techniques and traditional elements
Architects: LIN Architecture Design
Lead Architect: Lin Lifeng
Design Team: Vic Yang and Jacio Bilberto
Photographers: Guo Jing, Lin Lifeng, and Liu Songkai
