Immaterial/Supermaterial

gt_2p creates creates curvilinear table using parametric software

2009-12-17T17:30:00.000-08:00

Chilean digital design and fabrication studio gt_2p created this curvilinear table using parametric software. The table is part of a series of furniture created using software called SECTION. The software adapts the parameters of the table according to what material is selected and its associated characteristics. What the software essentially does is create 2 dimensional sectional layers to create an overall shape. The program uses grasshopper to efficiently integrate design and digital fabrication together. It is made of layers of interlocking plywood and a tempered glass overlay.

Its not that hard to make this type of a table using rhino. All it takes is the contour function and a laser cutter, really… I think whats innovative about this project (and overly worded by the firm) is that they are attempting to make a program that can automatically prepare the drawings to be cut for any form that one puts into it, without having wasting time contouring and figuring how one piece ‘locks’ into another.. You simply provide a form, and the program figures out the rest… Now a bad idea, but why limit this to only tables?

SLIDING LATTICE

2009-12-15T12:36:00.000-08:00

This screen system is an aggregation of a modular unit based on the four foot by eight foot size of a standard sheet of plywood. In order to reach the full 10’-1” height of the faculty center, there is a 30”x48” stationary shelf put together with slab inserts to connect three sheets to create shelves and add structural integrity. The movable wall is placed on the stationary shelf on a track to allow a shift to create a barrier and allow access into the desk area. The movable wall is three sheets of plywood that is laminated together using wood glue and metal fixtures. The imposition of a rotated grid each sheet of plywood creates a system of apertures which can be both scaled and shifted to create variable sizes and densities of penetration in the screen to suit site and programmatic needs. The gridded apertures are cut out by a water jet cutter.

To meet the programmatic considerations for the faculty center wall installation, we diagrammed areas of acoustic density as well as sight paths. Based on the need for a physical barrier between the hallway and workstations in the faculty center, the plan location of the screen is fixed in the plane of the beam which runs parallel to the hallway. Runners are mounted in this plane on both floor and ceiling in order to be able to slide the screen so that it can function as a barrier while still allowing access. The acoustic and optical considerations are developed in elevation in conjunction with the sectional structural needs of the screen.

The elevation was developed into three integrated zones. Zero to three feet high accommodates an additional programmatic element in the form of shelving. Three to six feet high is the area of highest acoustic and sight line density based on the height of people both sitting and standing, and thus has the smallest and greatest density of apertures. At approximately six feet high to the ceiling, apertures are larger and less dense in order to allow more air and a lesser intensity of sound through the screen. In section, the shelving at the bottom is the thickest accumulation of plies in order to provide surface area for the shelving. The top section of the screen is also thicker than the middle in order to provide the necessary structural integrity at the points the screen is hung from.

New York City and Paris ‘Map Cuts’

2009-12-15T00:34:00.000-08:00

http://ffffound.com/image/865d60a38efc2859305ceed21c5cb369ae67eb32?c=4200976

By removing the unnecessary, this New York City map-cut reveals the “paths, nodes, circles, boulevards, parks and streets” of the greatest city in the world.

2009-12-15T00:26:00.000-08:00

http://matsysdesign.com/2009/11/19/diploid-lamp-series/

The Diploid Lamp series explores multiple patterns inspired by nature such as scales, honeycombs, and barnacles. Using parametric modeling, scripting, and digital fabrication, the light’s geometry is created, refined, and produced. Each lamp is custom designed and hand assembled from digitally fabricated paper components. The series is composed of five individual lamps and is an ongoing project.

this project really took everything that we touched up on this semester and made it into a project, a very successful project.

interior of a tea shop in Copenhagen, Denmark

2009-12-15T00:15:00.000-08:00

http://www.dezeen.com/2009/11/23/t-magi-by-we-architecture/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+dezeen+(Dezeenfeed)

Hey look...this is awfully familiar to my original wall proposal. Great minds do think alike!

and just for kicks...my idea

which lead to...

A Parallel Image

2009-12-15T00:09:00.000-08:00

http://www.todayandtomorrow.net/2009/12/10/a-parallel-image/
“A Parallel Image” is an electronic camera obscura, made by Gebhard Sengmüller, in collaboration with Franz Büchinger. It is an interactive sculpture which can capture and display images. On one side is a camera made of 2500 photo senser which are mounted on a 1 by 1 meter board. On the other side there is the monitor with 2500 light bulbs to display to image. In between each sensor and light bulb there is a 3 meter long copper wire. The resolution of this sculpture is of course quite low, but the aesthetic of the device is very nice.

Light+Sound

2009-12-14T22:24:00.000-08:00

Through an analysis of the light and sound conditions of the faculty center a wall surface was generated. This surface was then perforated with continuous parallel apertures of varying densities. While the form of the surface itself responds to mappings of the existing lighting and sound conditions, the variation of apertures respond to programmatic needs as well as the opportunities in blocking or allowing of views. Some of the possible functions of the wall are portfolio storage or bookshelves. Books can be arranged by the user in order to block unwanted views or create privacy.

PTG Curtain

2009-12-11T14:27:00.001-08:00

The curtain wall is understood to be a non load bearing vertical surface that usually partitions space. In the Faculty Center at Woodbury University, there is no boundary between the pedestrian traffic and the diligent working staff. This is partially due to the lack of any vertical partitions in the space. This creates a problem of distraction.

The concept is to interrogate both the curtain wall and material to achieve new attitudes towards design intent. Horizontal bands of PTG plastic are fastened together and stacked vertically to create a pliant partition. The common notion of a hard curtain wall is contested two fold; primarily due to the softness of boundaries and secondly due to interaction/operability.

“...old materials are deployed to affect in new ways the old perceptions of space, precisely because of the expectations of how the familiar materials should behave.”

-Manufacturing/Material/Effect

Mobile Wall Panels by morphogenesis

2009-12-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

Indian Design firm Morphogenesis created this art retail store in New Delhi using movable wall panels design to increase display space. These fretted panels create spaces of retail that could house the complete array of art works. Through these flexible sliding panels, one big room was split into 6 smaller rooms. The entire setup has 14 movable and 3 fixed panels creating display areas. The panel system is in many ways similar to the proposal made by Marianne and Britt in our class. I would imagine that the best way to make the panel would be by means of the CNC machine, but I don't know if the straight edge look can be achieved with the CNC machine. The article can be found here.

Hands on computer modeling

2009-12-08T22:14:00.000-08:00

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/16/view/8404/lumino.html

As interfaces for the digital realm become more and more sophisticated, the user gains ever greater control over the construction and crafting of the project. If you build a model by hand, but it resides in the digital realm, could it be considered "hand crafted"? These distinctions between hand and digital construction could perhaps become blurred through the use of digital interfaces like the Lumino shown here. Cubes filled with glass fibers that allow light through can be stacked and moved to control a tabletop computer. Current applications of the Lumino blocks include a construction kit, control knobs for tasks like photo editing and playing simple games like checkers.

Curtain Door

2009-12-08T21:55:00.000-08:00

http://www.arplus.com/9855/ar-emerging-architecture-2009-winner-3-of-4-curtain-door-surat-india-by-matharoo-associates/

A design successfully incorporating a sinusoidal curve: "At 5.2m high and 1.7m wide, the door is comprised of 40 sections of 254mm-thick Burma teak. Each section is carved so that the door integrates 160 pulleys, 80 ball bearings, a wire-rope and a counter weight hidden within the single pivot."

Having begun to explore Grasshopper and the design opportunities inherent in the program, this door (though it may or may not have been designed using Grasshopper) points to design options which might incorporate that affect of transformation by rule set. Rather than simply stop the design at a certain point on the slider within the digital realm, users can adjust the "slider" - whatever that may become, pulleys or otherwise - to fit their own circumstances or moods in the physical world.

felt and fabric walls

2009-12-08T16:59:00.000-08:00

Anne Kyyrö Quinn is a London based designer that creates felt and fabric walls, resembling art than conventional fabrics. Her scultural approach developed a new genre of interior textiles that is based on a three-dimensional structure than smooth surface ornamentation.

Lumiwood

2009-12-08T16:16:00.001-08:00

Rita Baek is a designer with a background in jewelry design gave her the opportunity to work with a experimental approach to designing a lampshade that was delicate and respectful to the material. They were made with folding veneer laminated on canvas with a light filtering through the thin veneer.

Branching Morphogenesis

2009-12-08T16:06:00.000-08:00

The project discusses the part-to-whole relationship that is generated with branched structures formed with interacting lung endothelial cells within a 3D matrix environment. The time lapses manifest into five vertical, interconnected layers made from over 75,000 cable zip ties.

Digitally Fabricated City

2009-12-08T15:55:00.001-08:00

Jorge Ayala did a one-year research in the Pearl River Delta in the South of China, proposing a digitally fabricated city. The exploration index suggests existing tissues of topography, spatial orientation, rain flows, extreme flood scenarios, wind, soil condition, and residual spaces on site.

Rotary Weaver

2009-12-08T15:32:00.000-08:00

ToMoCo owns a rotary weaver, which there are two in existence, which they repurposed to create a carbon fiber A-pillars. The only one of the two weavers that looms dual-tube carbon fiber components.

DIYLILCNC

2009-12-08T15:04:00.000-08:00

Two Chicago-based artists, Chris Reilly and Taylor Hokanson, teach at the School of Art Institute of Chicago, have completed a do-it-yourself lil’ CNC. They offer an open-source set of plans that make the CNC mill cost $700 to make.

pAlice

2009-12-08T14:31:00.000-08:00

SOFTlab participated in Random Number's SYSTEM:SYSTEM exhibition with their installation, pAlice. pAlice is made with 2,400 laser cut triangles and over 3,600 custom connections using a custom written MEL script. The piece connects all openings in the room with a singular surface, giving the viewers a reference to the exterior of the room without access to it.

experiencing void

2009-12-08T14:19:00.000-08:00

De Smedt has a proposal for the Guggenheim Museum in NYC. The proposal is a massive web that is climbable that would be hung down through the central core of the museum, that occupies void and becomes experiential.

Flexible Wall

2009-12-07T22:35:00.001-08:00

A prototype of a flexible wall that 'breathed' like the gills of a fish in response to changing information, demonstrating the potential of architecture to adapt to shifting conditions and to alert humans about them.

BanQ

2009-12-04T14:06:00.001-08:00

The project reuses the an old bank building with an idea of adding new program and a new surface without affecting the existing structure.

Aqua Tower

2009-12-04T13:56:00.000-08:00

The building shape was inspired by limestone formations around the Great Lakes area.

The form has a sculptural composition but at the same time it has a very rational and well developed floor plan of a standard skyscraper. The curves that create the balcony maximize the views of the the building and at the same time provide shading for the floors below.

Performative_Facade

2009-12-04T13:53:00.000-08:00

"Marilena Skavara’s ‘Adaptive Fa[ca]de’ explores the functional possibilities and performative characteristics of cellular automata (CA). In addition to the unique emergent behaviour of CA, a neural network enables a further computational layer to evolve CA behaviour to the context of its surrounding environment. Building upon the early work of Conway’s ‘Game of life’ and Stephen Wolfram’s extensive research on the wider implementation of CA, Skavara’s facade becomes a living adapting skin, constantly training itself from the history of its own errors and achievements."

2009-11-29T21:41:00.000-08:00

This is a room divider/shelf. I thought it was relevant to our wall project.

Edible Wall

2009-11-19T19:55:00.000-08:00

Perhaps Galina would like an edible wall installation next to her desk. She could grow herbs and even fruits and vegetables for faculty members' lunches. Terry could have a raspberry plant growing through her wall partition, supplanting the ubiquitous dish of candies on her desk. If the faculty center acquired a fish tank, as every institutional lobby building type should, the fish poop could feed the plants while the plants filter the fishes' water. To complete the loop, we will punch a skylight in the center of the ceiling so that a solar panel can run the vertical farm's water pump. Inka Biospheric Systems' Sun Curve (its vertical farm + fish tank + solar power design) has a battery which can even store enough power to run Galina's laptop, or charge her cell phone. Digital fabrication can be implemented to mill the lattice work for vine tendrils to grow up the wall. The extreme functionality as well as increasing popularity of "green" and "sustainable" architectural elements today makes the edible wall a clear choice to enhance Woodbury's image as a cutting edge institute for architectural learning.

http://dirt.asla.org/2009/11/19/edible-walls-grow-in-popularity/
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/vertical-farm-fish-tank.php

Memorial Tree

2009-11-17T15:53:00.000-08:00

The memorial tree was completed by australian architects M3architecture.

The tree marks the site where the first Australian Labor Party was established in 1891.

The tree is enclosed inside a wooden structure that supports 18ft timber pieces hanging from it. the finishes render the original tree shape that existed in the site. The installation uses a controlled grid that supports the timber pieces. Each timber has a unique cut at the tips that suggest the direction of the original surface that was used to cut the pieces in 3d environment. Installation time and costs and methods are not explained although much respect to the contractor that took upon this endeavor.

Random Photograph

2009-11-11T23:09:00.000-08:00

"The Crystal Monster"

2009-11-11T21:33:00.000-08:00

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/16/view/8142/the-crystal-monster.html

Designers Beverly Tang and Tod E. Kurt recently completed their "crystal monster" installation at Los Angeles’ Continental Gallery from laser cut sheets of acrylic, steel, and LED tape. It is over 12 feet long and the LED lighting can be controlled remotely. LED tape is a fascinating material I had up to now not yet encountered. The potential of electronics to be integrated into superthin materials (another example being the Kieran Timberlake "SmartWrap") would seem to hold much promise not only in the field of visual awesomeness, but also as easily adaptable and installable architecture (provided insulation is unnecessary or easily applied to the ultra-thin, smart layer).

Visual Information.

2009-11-10T19:21:00.000-08:00

The installation of the wall uses illuminating panels to display the information surrounding the walls in real time. It calculates the electromagnetic fields, the amount of people, cars, and bikes that pass by the wall installation. In a way it reflects the surrounding and creates a light play with information that is received through infrared sensors surrounding the boards.

nook

2009-11-08T23:59:00.000-08:00

Patrick Frey designed this stool made from a single piece of plastic for the young label VIAL.

The clinching pattern is milled into the flipside of a VarioLine board. Subsequently the stool will be folded into its extraordinary shape. The whole piece is fixed at the bottom by an aluminium catch – without cementation or welding.

http://www.dailytonic.com/nook-by-patrick-frey/

Objects

2009-11-06T16:22:00.000-08:00

http://www.archdaily.com/40060/sebastopol-residence-turnbull-griffin-haesloop/

The Sebastopol Residence looks like an object in the landscape. A good-looking object, I would say, in a beautiful naturally landscaped setting. Inside of this object in the landscape are more objects - art objects. From inside the house, the landscape becomes backdrop, like a painting...another object.

How should design relate to its context? Do we want objects, - beautifully designed objects - in which we may house more objects, whether art, or furnishings, or...people? When nature becomes object, what prevents people from becoming object? Or perhaps they have already become the commodities, or consumable objects, Heidegger describes as "standing reserve."

Does designing in the closed setting of the office, or studio, staring into the computer, promote the creation of objects? To bring this idea beyond the specific instance of the Sebastopol Residence, does digital fabrication remove the craft of making which connects the designer to the specificity of the material and the context from which it comes? Is it possible to design beyond the object using digital fabrication and computerized design techniques in general?

I say yes, it is entirely possible to introduce craft and specificity into the process of digital design and fabrication. However, it will require an attitude toward technology beyond that of creating beautiful objects, similar to the attitude of revealing which Heidegger called "poesis." This attitude, I hope, can create a specificity and meaning to design which goes beyond objectness.

Scripting Life

2009-11-06T00:15:00.000-08:00

http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=79443

Apparently a group of scientists is working on a programming language that can be ran on cells of bacteria. Right now the technology is at the state of modifying DNA to have the cells grow a certain way and create specific proteins, however this can be expanded to architecture in an almost sci-fi way. Imagine Biological cells as the building material. That would be the true definition of an aggregate system, where each cell would be programmed on how to grow and the space/architecture would come from the rules within each cell. The architectural equivalent of the bee swarm would be created.

Rip Curl Canyon

2009-11-05T15:08:00.000-08:00

Rice Gallery commissioned this installation in collaboration with The Museum Fine Arts in Houston exhibition, The Modern West: American Landscape, 1890-1950 - The project required laminating over 20,000 strips (weighing approximately eight tons) of curved, industrially die-cut corrugated cardboard in twelve days. Incredibly strong and capable of supporting the weight of several people, the cardboard laminates operate as semi-monocoques with an intermediary plywood armature. The armature was made of standard wood materials – 2 x 4s and plywood – individually cut and CNC routered offsite to conform to the varying dimensions and curvature of the undulating cardboard shells.

http://www.ball-nogues.com/ripcurlcanyon/

Boys and their Toys Exhibition at LOT

2009-11-04T21:31:00.000-08:00

The installation follows the idea of taking sound and making it visible. They created a 3D sound surface and then applied it to a array of plexiglass.

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/8064/boys-and-their-toys-exhibition-at-lot.html

Taipei Pop Music Center

2009-11-04T21:18:00.000-08:00

The proposal offers the usage of natural landscape in order to create interior and exterior spaces. Terrain of the hill-like project has been sectioned horisontally in order to create a filtering method to bring light inside and define the interior space.

James Turrell

2009-11-01T20:31:00.000-08:00

James Turrell makes an art of defining immaterial with the immaterial. What is space, and what is light, and could one ever be perceived without the other? The two seem largely codependent. Turrell creates exceptional experiences with these two everyday, yet somehow sublime, mediums. His latest, and largest, is currently in production at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg.

Breathing Chair

2009-10-30T16:58:00.000-07:00

The chair is composed of high-density foam and contains 3 layers within one another.

Each layer of the chair has cutouts that create a structure that adjusts to the person's body shape and weight once the person sits on the chair. The cut outs are very specifically calculated according to the properties of the foam and the form that it creates once a person sits on it.

Flat Pack Design to Extreme

2009-10-30T16:49:00.000-07:00

Designer Joost van Bleiswijk took the idea of a flat pack design to a whole another level. The furniture pieces are designed as flat surfaces and then put together using a sliding joinery method. This makes it possible to take out glue, screws out of the equation and use the material properties and a digital precision in order to put these pieces together.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/10/no-screw-glue-barbeque.php?dcitc=th_rss

MATSYS Honeycomb

2009-10-29T23:02:00.000-07:00

This research develops a honeycomb system that is able to adapt to diverse performance requirements through the modulation of the system’s inherent geometric and material parameters while remaining within the limits of available production technologies. The Honeycomb Morphologies Project is based on the desire to form an integrated and generative design strategy using a biomimetic approach to architectural design and fabrication.

Buildings as scripts?

2009-10-27T15:28:00.000-07:00

Storefront for Art and Architecture

A machine that can build buildings without the need of human labor creates a wall as an exhibit at the Storefront for Art and Architecture. What does such a machine mean for the profession? Will architects eventually be designing input for such machines? More importantly, will the limits of the machine limit an architects freedom to design freely? Or maybe the architects of the future will use the new abilities of the machine to go beyond current possibilities.

Apparently Inadequate Data

2009-10-26T01:28:00.000-07:00

href="http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/419-france-reconstructed-from-apparently-inadequate-data/">

The use of data (and lots of it) to legitimize design decisions is a widespread practice in the field of architecture. Yet data collection, while certainly advisable, may or may not lead to quality design, and may, in fact, lead to pseudo-scientific justification for primarily artistic, or aesthetic, decisions on the part of the designer. On the other hand, evidence in this blog about different ways of generating a map of France "reconstructed from apparently inadequate data," shows that less data can generate accurate form. I would argue, more data may or may not improve form, but said data should only be used for justification of form insofar as it correlates in reality (and this can be done with data than we may previously have thought necessary) and the guise of pseudo-scientificism dropped and artistic license acknowledged.

La Rinascente by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands

2009-10-17T16:36:00.000-07:00

The standout feature is a three dimensional back-lit ceiling – a bespoke solution inspired by honeycomb which adds sunshine throughout the day and drama at dusk. The ceiling is made up of a frame of aluminium extrusions, the concealed fluorescent light fittings shining on to the soffit and bouncing back down through the translucent panels to create a diffuse light. The effect of undulation and depth is achieved through the use of four types of triangular panel with four visible facets, so that the shoppers experience a different effect each time they view the ceiling. All the triangular elements point towards the front of the store ensuring an appropriate dynamism.

Interesting Aerial Images to Map

2009-10-17T13:07:00.000-07:00

http://standardrgb.com/?p=1162

http://standardrgb.com/?p=1162

Both images are rice fields and both have no sense of perspective, which makes them easier to map.

Material Becomes Immaterial

2009-10-14T16:25:00.000-07:00

A new iphone app allows users to show clients material samples of Corian and Zodiaq products for surfaces. While useful, the author of the blog apparently ignores, or does not deem sufficiently important, the necessary translation of material qualities that must occur between the digital and physical realms. As we have explored throughout the semester, the differences between these two realms exist in important ways and can be exploited to our own design advantage. Also, having worked in an architecture and interiors office, I can speak to the differences between the image of a material on the computer screen, in a book, and in the physical sample. While this app is perhaps a useful tool, I would not make an expensive material decision for a project based on anything less than a physical sample of the material.

Generating Form

2009-10-07T23:36:00.000-07:00

This is an example of a very mathematical-sounding way of generating form, yet ultimately probably involved a lot of highly subjective decisions. With the concept of "Seeing Eye Architecture" - an intriguing concept! - this team used isosceles triangles developed from the golden section to generate a form composed of like units, though with each unit retaining its own unique character (as in within the species of dogs, or any other species). DNA and the golden section certainly provided a starting point for this concept, but the actual decisions of size, rotation, perforation, and composition seem fairly arbitrary. But is this a bad thing? If the overall concept is well represented (though I'm not sure it is here, but that is somewhat beside the point), does it matter whether a rule system was created and whether that system was rigorously adhered to? Perhaps the use of that rule-set as simply a generator of ideas is enough. Or perhaps that would delve architecture too deeply into subjective artsy-ness, endangering its status as a professional occupation.

LED clip turns any object into lamp.

2009-10-07T14:44:00.000-07:00

Sungho Lee integrates a battery-operated LED (light-emitting diode) into the area near the gripping points of the clothespin, letting the user become a do-it-yourself lighting designer.

Stack-Laminate Plywood Furniture

2009-10-06T00:48:00.001-07:00

http://3rings.designerpages.com/2008/12/06/live-at-design-miami-julia-krantzs-stack-laminate-plywood-furniture/

The images of furniture seen here are the works of Brazilian artist/designer Julia Krantz. To make the forms, Krantz laminates sheets of plywood to create a block of wood. Much like a sculptor chipping away at a slab of marble, she carve out layers of the wood to create curvilinear forms. She then sands and polishes the wood to create the smooth flowing forms. This is very similar to what we did with our milling project, minus the use of high tech tools like the CNC machine. I would be pleased if my project could have the same visual quality as this.

Make Synergies, Not Sums!

2009-10-01T09:16:00.000-07:00

This is an example of adding two things together - concrete and LED lights - and coming out with the sum of those two things - concrete with embedded LED lights. What I really hoped this project would do, is create something new. What if the lights were not just some preprogrammed patterns, but more of a computer that could interact with the user? The lights could respond to conditions in the room or vicinity somehow, or to inputs from people actually touching the wall. The lights could be like keys on a keyboard - similar to those crosswalk signal buttons that are just a light without the button that one actually pushes down. I suppose that would involve a few more hidden parts and a bit more thinking, but I think the result would be more of a quotient than a boring sum.

Taichung Convention Center

2009-09-30T23:23:00.000-07:00

The project is a proposal for a convention center which continuously merges the architecture and the landscape in order to create an eco-friendly light-play experience. The layers are composed of pleated skin system that is clear on one side in order to allow light inside the space. These layers create an interesting light spectacle at night from outside and at a daytime from inside.

http://www.archdaily.com/36534/taichung-convention-center-mad-architects/

Infinity Bench by CARL FREDRIK SVENSTEDT

2009-09-30T15:49:00.000-07:00

The rings are serial, concentric hoops, like the layers of an onion, cut from less than 3.4 m² of flat furniture-grade plywood using CNC technology.

2009-09-30T14:17:00.000-07:00

http://archrecord.construction.com/features/interviews/0909johnhart/0909johnhart.asp

Carbon nanotube (CNTs) are long molecules that are seamless cylinders of carbon atoms...CNTs can self-organize into a "forest". If we look at the properties of materials like this one at the nanoscale and inform the design of its use at the macroscale, different types of spaces and surfaces than what we know might begin to emerge...

Festival of Lights

2009-09-26T10:41:00.000-07:00

The London Design Festival presents a series of projects interested in lighting effects. Perhaps these projects can inspire you to improve on your lampshades.

http://www.dezeen.com/2009/09/25/in-praise-of-shadows-at-the-va/

The Material Essence

2009-09-24T03:59:00.000-07:00

This last project of translation - from the organic three dimensional object (a fruit or vegetable in most cases) to digital realm of Rhino and back into the physical world again in the form of plywood - causes us to examine the nature of the material we work in. For example, when working with plywood we may observe the laminations of the wood, the direction of the grain, and the hardness of the wood. In this exhibition, the installations look at corn and wheat and the material possibilities of these products in innovative ways. The use of wheat to hold up dishes reveals new opportunities for what is normally only seen as an edible item, not as structural. How might we look at the materials we use for our translations in new ways? Are we resisting the material by making it perform in these strange ways, or simply experimenting and innovating?

today and tomorrow

2009-09-23T20:14:00.000-07:00

http://www.jerzygoliszewski.com/Jerzy_Goliszewski_En/Portfolio/strony/Dimensional_works.html

This installation brings back memories of 2a and the paper folding project. "nodes and creases", glad that is over, but cant say we didn't learn something from it.
The artist, Jerzy Goliszewski looks into the structures of nature to create the patterns, and a quote from the site which I think offers the best description of the project intentions:
"the common sight of a cracked layer of paint or peeling plaster shows the passage of time which transforms the original shapes, giving them a completely new look.
The work refers to the mirror which, as the fairy tale tells, broke into pieces distortioning the world and making it hideous and absurd."
This is pretty much what we have been doing, distorting our perception of an object/image using our fancy computer tools to create.

Stalled Building Project

2009-09-23T16:49:00.000-07:00

The project tries to give answers to old question of what to do with old projects that are being decommissioned. The one of the solutions was the usage of green design ideas in order to bring new life to dieing projects. The renderings and the ideas seem to be very interesting and intriguing, although the practical implementation of the project seems to be questionable. For example, the rendering proposes a continuous building process, living building literally, which seems to acquire a great deal of energy consumption.

CNC Tool Path

2009-09-21T22:54:00.000-07:00

Developed based on CNC tool path responsive surface milling – cut paths respond to local curvature and allow for surface milling with overlayed surface patterning.

Rhino Math

2009-09-19T23:26:00.000-07:00

Ever wanted to define a curve or surface by equation, not just by points?

Rhino Math is a small plugin that allows you to create a surface or curve from an equation. It came in very useful when I needed a loft path based on the deformation of a water wave. The plugin computes all the basic operations(+,-,x,/) as well as exponents, logarithms and trig functions. It also has the ability to use user-definable variables.

Download:
http://www.rhino3.de/_develop/__v3_plugins/math/

Library of interesting equations to use:
http://www.rhino3.de/_develop/__v3_plugins/math/library.shtml

RhinoCam

2009-09-18T23:35:00.000-07:00

Maybe some of you know about this, but I thought it would be useful to try before milling the surfaces. RhinoCam is a plug-in for machining and they have a free demo version that is supposed to be fully functional (except for you wouldn't be able to actually process it). Follow the link for demo...

http://www.mecsoft.com/rhinocam.shtml

Terrain Vague

2009-09-17T12:45:00.000-07:00

I re read Ignasi De Sola Morales Rubio article on Terrain Vague. This article had much more relevance to what has happened academically this week. While blogging remained speculative and slightly unnecessary, I took leisure in kicking back and enjoying this text.

He starts off the the essay with a comparison through the medium of photography and relating how artists see our city, through traditional means of composition, have found a new paradigm.

Terrain Vague is a French term which has several different connotations when spoken in the English language. It refers to accumulation and juxtaposition of experiencing the city. Its translation is closest to 'questionably vacant urban spaces'. These spaces exist outside the city's effective circuits & structures.

This article reminds us of the messy realism that we exists in. We become strangers to ourselves, and as society changes infinitly faster than we can comrephend it, we become more nomadic and disconnected.

Pike Loop

2009-09-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

The sculptural brick was is constructed by a robot which is mounted on a flatbed in order

to allow it to manuver around the installation.

The installation will take up to 4 weeks and it will be open for the public to view the process. The idea was to create a structural piece of art using high level of technology in order to create a script, using which the robot arm would place more than 7000 brings with extreme accuracy. The robotinc arm is the same arm that is used by many acr manufacturers in order to assamble automobiles. It seems like the idea that they are trying to pursue is full integration of technology into construction process. It has worked with cars, hence the next step is to use it on construction sites. In my opinion, the technology is still at a very early stage, and it is pushing the accuracy limits of building process to its extremes.

http://www.dezeen.com/2009/09/16/pike-loop-by-gramazio-kohler/

Robot Constructs Oscillating Wall

2009-09-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

Swiss Architects Gramazio and Kohler have employed the services of one R-O-B the robot to construct their Pike Loop -- an oscillating brick wall that will be erected along Pike street in New York. This is clearly a relationship between man and his technology that possesses an extraordinary level of potential and a reformation of our understanding of building technologies.

http://www.dezeen.com/2009/09/16/pike-loop-by-gramazio-kohler/

Parametric modeling as a tool for design, not as a final goal.

2009-09-15T21:33:00.000-07:00

http://matsysdesign.com/2009/06/25/flux-architecture-in-a-parametric-landscape/

The FLUX: Architecture in a Parametric Landscape exhibition at CCA Architecture/MEDIAlab in San Francisco uses parametric modeling to define an expandable exhibition system. A “complex set of relationships defined by its formal, performative, and fabrication constraints” control a series of ribs that can be expanded by changing the parameters fed into the scripts. In this way the data, in this case student projects, creates a map of itself, separating into eight “digital practices: Stacked Aggregates, Modular Assemblages, Pixelated Fields, Cellular Clusters, Serial Iterations, Woven Meshes, Material Systems, and Emergent Environments.”

By exploiting the technology as a tool to create space, MEDIAlab goes beyond using parametric modeling as a simple representation of data and explores spatial complexities and flows created by the data.

Cairo Sound Inspired Tabletop

2009-09-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/tabletop-terrain.html
Daniel Dendra from anOtherArchitect, produced a tea table that was inspired by the sound recordings of Cairo’s streets. From the recordings, he generated CNC-milling patterns that created complex joints for carpentry. The underside of the table was purely inspired by the acoustics of the city of Cairo, and the complex surface flushes with a base that was curved opposite of the surface.

Both pieces can serve as a table or a noise map of Cairo.

Charles Walker on Digital Fabrication

2009-09-14T20:48:00.000-07:00

Charles Walker an instructor at the Architectural Association will be giving a talk at the upcoming Digital Architecture London Conference. He will be discussing his works with Zaha Hadid as well as his annual summer pavilion and his digital fabrication processes.

http://www.digital-architecture.org/london/2009/charles-walker/

The Fourth Dimension

2009-09-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

This artist installation by Danish artist Tommy Stockel - "from here to there and back again" - makes physical the ideas of disintegration and integration. While designboom blog describes the work as "rotting or disintegrating," it is actually impossible to determine in which direction the work is progressing - it is either integrating itself or disintegrating apart - without introducing the fourth dimension - that of time. As in the question of crowds or bodies, it is the introduction of a sequentiality to the picture that reveals the nature of that relationship between local elements. In a digitally fabricated production, that index of the relationships between parts that is produced may remain incomplete without some temporal indication of the sequence(s) of events.

Futuristic Food Production

2009-09-11T22:26:00.000-07:00

Philips Designs have developed a device that produces prototypes of potential food items based on the consumer's nutritional needs. It is kind of like a 3D printer for food, or a mini-farm.

http://www.dezeen.com/2009/09/08/food-probe-by-philips-design/

The Termite Pavilion

2009-09-10T09:43:00.000-07:00

The first ever 3D scan of a termite mound scaled up to a human scale. The architects and the engineers worked together in selecting a central section of a termite mound and recreated the mound in a larger scale for people to walk in and experiance the space. The mound is built in sections using cross laminated timber, which was the safest and the cheapest material to build the mound with. The result is a set of laminated organic forms that make the installation.

http://www.dezeen.com/2009/09/05/the-termite-pavilion-at-pestival/

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/extreme-environments.html

2009-09-10T02:11:00.000-07:00

Within the environment of Antarctica, the application and use of "supermaterials" becomes vital. Here we see the example of a low-tech, hand-stitched tent. The opportunities supplied by extreme environments for the creation by necessity of new materials is fertile ground for the application of digital fabrication.

http://www.futurefeeder.com/2005/11/bio-paper-for-printing-organs/

2009-09-10T01:55:00.000-07:00

Printing organs? What!
I can barely 3d print a 5.5" x 5.5" x 1" model...

Digital_Architecture

2009-09-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

http://www.digital-architecture.org/london/

This site has some very relevant projects to what we are doing in the class but on a much grander scale...

Space in Books

2009-09-08T16:16:00.001-07:00

A recent graduate of the Bartlett School of Architecture, Johan Hybschmann did a project were he varied a mix of ornate technical detailing and abstract ideas that dealt with simulation, reproductions, and spatial perception.

The above image is a blank sketchbook that has been laser cut with precision representing a 90 minute shot of Russian Ark a film by Alexander Sokurov. It’s a new way of looking at the ideas being experienced in a new dimension in a book that it is to read about it.

Johan writes that:
The book is made from layered silhouettes with inbuilt distorted perspectives that are laser-cut into the individual pages of a standard sketchbook. There is a drawing for each page, and these are all cut separately: turning the page, loading up a new drawing and cutting, page by page.

In Hybschmann’s “Replicating a Replica” he created two buildings that occupy the same place at the same time, interlocking and separating visually and spatially. It’s just another example of Johann’s approach to seeing architecture, how it is comprehended when built, and how to make it more complicated and interesting at the same time.

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/book-of-space.html

Gaudi Stool

2009-09-03T09:04:00.000-07:00

http://www.dezeen.com/2009/09/02/gaudi-stool-by-studio-geenen/

This is an interesting combination of materials and a usage of Gaudi's structural ideas in order to create a very light weight chair. The structure of the chair is composed of polyamide, which is reinforces and cove red on top with a carbon-fiber laminates. The carbon fiber resist the compressive forces from top and the structure underneath resist the tensile forces caused by the carbon laminate. The structure of the chair was designed after a series of tests borrowed from Gaudi, who used gravity and weights in order to determine perfect structural system for his church designes. The chair weights a little more than 2 Lb and has very low production cost due to very high tech design solutions.

Found Functions

2009-09-02T15:32:00.000-07:00

http://www.nikkigraziano.com/foundfunctions/index.html

The artist behind this is also a mathematician who looks into nature to find the patterns.

This in depth study of the shapes found in nature which can be then related to mathematical functions is similar to the current mapping project.

Procedural Destruction for the Gaming World

2009-09-02T15:12:00.000-07:00

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/procedural-destruction-and-algorithmic.html

At the 2001 SIGGRAPH conference in Los Angeles, CA, Yoav Parish and Pascal Muller presented the mathematical city, they used an algorithmic approach for modeling a city topology that is realistic and is expected to appear within the next decade. Chris Delay, a game designer, was inspired by Parish and Muller, to develop Subversion, which is his latest project that is based upon generated cities for the gaming world. Delay started designing cities without the help of artists, and became one of the most expensive projects in game design to build a city from polygons and road layouts.

Marco Cobetta’s Structure, also into designing cities in the gaming world, created a basic engine to generate cities similar to games such as Grand Theft Auto 4, and at a cheaper rate. Corbetta takes his city design a step higher than others by making these cities procedurally destructible. It’ll be the next step that instead of running through walls of infamous iconic buildings, gamers will be able to destroy cities as if it’s the real thing.

Then the future question is what will the effects be once the gaming world has become completely interactive with violence?

base26: Word mapping

2009-09-01T19:40:00.000-07:00

http://toxi.co.uk/p5/base26/

base26 is a small java project that maps 4-letter words in 4 dimensions (time, x, y and z.)

More importantly, it maps data in an unexpected way that produces connections between otherwise unrelated words. Words that use the same letters, or letters alphabetically close to each other become clustered in space. A wireframe surface surrounds each cluster and points out the relationship.

While base26 strips the words of their regular meaning and indexes them based on the order of the alphabet alone, interesting relationships are found if the original meanings are considered. For instance the words ICON and IDOL are grouped very closely together. While the two words' meanings relate, the spellings are different due to each word's etymology.

These sorts of relationships are what make mapping words this way interesting.

On another note, this seems very related to our first project.

Oil Rocks' Logic of Accumulation

2009-09-01T11:43:00.000-07:00

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/oil-rocks.html

BldgBlog describes the fascinating "offshore metropolis" of partially abandoned oil extraction infrastructure in the Caspian Sea named Oil Rock. The facilities are designed for both working and living on site and stretch for miles and miles in the form of points and polylines extending across the sea. The continuing additions to the complex over its lifetime recalls Stan Allen's "algebraic" architectural archetype wherein building blocks accumulate toward an "indeterminate whole" with the main focus on local relationships between parts.

Voronoi Morphologies

2009-08-31T20:37:00.000-07:00

http://matsysdesign.com/2009/06/18/voronoi-morphologies/

This is the latest development in celluar aggregate structures. This is an algorithm that is used in many fields including satellite navigation, animal habitat mapping, and urban planning. It was developed using 2D and 3D and a series of points were used to determine the spaces. The actual script was developed to be worked with Rhino and Qhull prepares the geometry for CNC fabrication by unfolding and labeling it.

This project was produced in collaboration with http://www.ezct.net/

Foster and Partners

2009-08-31T09:41:00.000-07:00

Foster and Partners win South Korea Masterplan Competition

Foster + Partners, together with PHA and Mobility in Chain, has won an international competition to design the masterplan for the expansion of the Incheon Free Economic Zone, South Korea. The project aims to create a ‘self sufficient and sustainable’ development for a population of up to 350,000 residents and commuters.

The mixed use scheme aims to turn Incheon into a national centre for sustainable industry and will be phased over 10 – 15 years. Technologies employed in the masterplan will include biomass energy generation, the use of hydrogen fuel cells and hydroponic roofs. The masterplan will eventually connect North and South Korea via the world’s longest bridge.

Grant Brooker, a design director at Foster + Partners, said: “Working at a very strategic level, we saw the masterplan as an opportunity to explore the sustainable potential of this extraordinary island, exploiting its pivotal position close to Seoul and its rugged landscape. We are delighted that the judges share our vision and, along with our collaborators at A+U, PHA and MIC, we hope to develop the project into the next stage.”

http://designreform.net/2009/08/11/ball-state-universitys-imade-exhibition/

2009-08-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

Designer reform is a legit site filled with news feeds on BIM, scripts, plug ins, & Rhino stuffs. This article is about an installation done at BALL State using advanced electronics (MorphoLuminesence) with simple fabrication techniques (Laser cut and cnc). I think the result was very successful and interesting as well. The students chose to represent the design through stop motion photography and diagrams. Personally, I didn't ingest enough ecstasy to enjoy the musical score accompanying the video, but whatever.