we want to learn - Diploma Studio 10 at Westminster University School of Architecture and the Built Environment

Blog of the "Diploma Studio 10 at Westminster University School of Architecture and the Built Environment"

Ressources, inspiration , tutorials, ... and more.

Tom Price - PP Tree Installation

"PP TREE INSTALLATION

Made exclusively from polypropylene pipe and nylon cable ties, this installation occupied an entire room at Industry Gallery, in Washington DC from September to November 2011.

The work partly pays homage to Washington DC's own iconic cherry trees, whilst also questioning our relationship with and attitudes towards plastics.

The longevity and ready availability of the industrially manufactured materials used to construct the installation stands in stark contrast to the ephemerality and natural beauty of the cherry trees and blossoms it emulates."

[via www.dezeen.com]

VoltaDom Installation / Skylar Tibbits + SJET

"VoltaDom, by Skylar Tibbits - for MIT's 150th Anniversary Celebration & FAST Arts Festival (Festival of Arts, Science and Technology) - is an installation that populates the corridor spanning building 56 & 66 on MIT’s campus. This installation lines the concrete and glass hallway with hundreds of vaults, reminiscent of the great vaulted ceilings of historic cathedrals. The vaults provide a thickened surface articulation and a spectrum of oculi that penetrate the hallway and surrounding area with views and light. VoltaDom attempts to expand the notion of the architectural “surface panel,” by intensifying the depth of a doubly-curved vaulted surface, while maintaining relative ease in assembly and fabrication. This is made possible by transforming complex curved vaults to developable strips, one that likens the assembly to that of simply rolling a strip of material."

[via www.evolo.us]

adapa - adapting architecture

"ADAPA is a cross disciplinary company where the focus is on adapting technology and materials that have untapped potentials into an architectural context.

We are a small research based architectural practice, where we use research both to reposition ourselves and simultaneously to create projects that give us a completely different approach than other architectural firms.

We believe that the ability to design free, affordable and sustainable lies in the ability to understand and make full use of the latest technologies and production methods and introduce them as the basis for modern architecture."

Robots in Architecture

"The international Association for Robots in Architecture is originally a spin off association of Vienna University of Technology. Its goal is to make industrial robots accessible for the creative industry, artists, designers and architects, by sharing ideas, research results and technological developments.

Founded in December 2010 by Sigrid Brell-Cokcan and Johannes Braumann, robots in architecture is an open platform for everybody interested in the creative use of and innovative fabrication with industrial robots.

Robots in Architecture is engaged in applied research, soft- and hardware development, “robot pedagogics” – and in the question: how soon will robots revolutionize architecture?

We pursue the association’s goal by offering workshops and holding lectures at international conferences, schools, and universities, and by maintaining the Robots in Architecture homepage, which serves as a hub for all things robotic in architecture, art, and design."

D-Shape

"The 21st century revolution in building technology has a name. D-Shape.
The mega scale free-form printer of buildings.
What couldn't be done, now can be done."

"D-Shape is a new robotic building system using new materials to create superior stone-like structures.

This new machinery enables full-size sandstone buildings to be made without human intervention, using a stereolithography 3-D printing process that requires only sand and our special inorganic binder to operate. D-Shape is a new building technology which will revolutionize the way architectural design is planned, and building constructions are executed. By simply pressing the “enter” key on the keypad we intend to give the architect the possibility to make buildings directly, without intermediaries who can add interpretation and realization mistakes."

Smart Geometry 2012 - Material Intensities

"Material Intensities

Imagine the design space of architecture was no longer at the scale of rooms, walls and atria, but that of cells, grains and vapour droplets. Rather than the flow of people, services, or construction schedules, the focus becomes the flow of light, vapour, molecular vibrations and growth schedules: design from the inside out.

The sg2012 challenge, Material Intensities, is intended to dissolve our notion of the built environment as inert constructions enclosing physically sealed spaces. Spaces and boundaries are abundant with vibration, fluctuating intensities, shifting gradients and flows. The materials that define them are in a continual state of becoming: a dance of energy and information."

Obscura Digital >> CueLight

"Transform any pool table into a digitally-enhanced video experience. High-definition imagery responds in real-time to every shot. User-selectable themes yield infinite possibilities. As seen in the Paradise Tower Penthouse, Hard Rock Hotel & CasinoTM, Las Vegas and the Esquire SoHo apartment." Obscura Digital

< via http://micasaessucasa.tumblr.com >

Kim Pimmel _ Compressed 2: Pulsating Magnetic Ferro Fluids and Soap Bubbles

"I combined everyday soap bubbles with exotic ferrofluid liquid to create an eerie tale, using macro lenses and time lapse techniques. Black ferrofluid and dye race through bubble structures, drawn through by the invisible forces of capillary action and magnetism.

Time-lapse sequences: Nikon D90, Nikkor 60mm macro lens and custom built intervalometer.
Motion-control: Arduino driven scanner platform and mirror rigs
Score: Ableton Live"

Kim Pimmel

< via http://thisiscolossal.com >

3D Printed bicycle

"The 'Airbike' is made of nylon but, according to EADS, is strong enough to replace steel or aluminium and requires no conventional maintenance or assembly. It is 'grown' from powder, allowing complete sections to be built as one piece; the wheels, bearings and axle being incorporated within the 'growing' process and built at the same time. Because it can be built to rider specification, it requires no adjustment."

www.eurekamagazine.co.u

Interactive Architecture 2010

"Metropolitan Works is pleased to present this forum for the building design community to gather and share ideas and experiences around exploiting new technologies to enable the built environment to dynamically respond to people in or around it.

This conference promises, with the help of a fantastic line-up of speakers, to draw out ground-breaking ideas in the realm of interactivity in architecture.

Chaired by Fiddian Warman of Soda Creative, the organisation behind the Interactive Arts BAFTA Award-winning Sodaplay, this full-day event will provide a platform for industry leaders to explore key themes emerging in interactives. Each theme will be exemplified, examined and critiqued by a multidisciplinary panel in the context of their own work."

Liquidmetal® Technologies

"Liquidmetal^® alloys are a revolutionary class of materials that redefines performance and cost paradigms. The superior properties of Liquidmetal alloys are made possible by revolutionary scientific and technological innovations. Liquidmetal alloys represent the first enabling materials technology since the creation of thermoplastics and possess characteristics that make them superior in many ways to other commercially-viable materials. First, they have an "amorphous" atomic structure, which is unprecedented for structural metals. Second, they include a multi-component chemical composition, which can be optimized for various properties and processes. Finally, they lend themselves to process technology similar to that possessed by plastics."

@ [ u t o ] - a collection of past & ongoing works

This is a very interesting Blog from Ursula Frick and Thomas Grabner. They are dealing with some geometrical challenges within Rhino (Script) and Grashopper.

Formtexx- freeform facades with automotive precision

Formtexx has launched its unique double-curvature facades at The Building Centre. These facades are manufactured using the technology and precision of automotive mass production.

The launch of this innovative process shows that the digital design and manufacture of complex geometry sheet metal work is now a seamless reality. It´s not rapid prototyping – it is rapid manufacturing on an industrial scale. Formtexx has developed an entirely new category of sheet metal processing which produces custom double curvature components to the finish quality and precision of the high end automotive industry. It does this robotically, without fixed tooling, and in the quantities anticipated by major construction projects.

Digital Tectonics: Robotic Fabrication

This is the course blog for Digital Tectonics >> Robotic Fabrication taught within the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University by Jeremy Ficca.

hyposurface

"HypoSurface is the World's first display system where the screen surface physically moves! Information and form are linked to give a radical new media technology: an info-form device.

The surface behaves like a precisely controlled liquid: waves, patterns, logos, even text emerge and fade continually within its dynamic surface. The human eye is drawn to physical movement, and this gives HypoSurface a basic advantage over other display systems.

As a digital device, any input (sound, movement, an Internet feed...) can be linked to any output (logos, patterns, text...) This offers full interactivity with an audience, and a simple User Interface allows HypoSurface to be 'tuned' to any event, its wide range of effects choreographed easily (by you…)"

[ ] MODE launches website

Mode is a design office that leverages computational expertise through design research, teaching, and consulting.

Mode utilizes diverse methodologies including code, associative and relational strategies, as well as digital fabrication in the production of material organizations and the formation of space.

While we are interested in intense iterative design processes, we believe the evolution and contextualization of these procedures in a broader social and cultural domain is both our primary objective and the means for embedding interest and significance into design.

Mode is Ronnie Parsons and Gil Akos.

mode lab I academic research

academic research and teaching I Product Architecture Lab

This repository serves as an index of the research and teaching currently underway at The Stevens Institute of Technology’s Product Architecture Lab.

While we are interested in iterative design processes, we believe the evolution and contextualization of these procedures within the broader ecology of the built world is both our primary objective and the means of embedding interest and significance into design.

Mode is Ronnie Parsons and Gil Akos.

Geometry in Architecture - Design Studio Fall 2008

From classical Greece to the medieval Gothic and Orient, Kepler to the Crystallographers to Coxeter, the language and knowledge of geometry has grown and developed giving a view into a fabulous world of pure order.

The expression of these ideal forms in the world as structure and ornament and ideally a synergy of the two has and continues to be an activity of architecture when it strives to transcend utilitarian purposes. Explorations included research, hand drawing, model making and computer drafting and modeling.

Tools developed and utilized to serve the expression and fabrication of geometric compositions included rhinoscripts, grasshopper definitions and CNC 3-axis mills and laser cutters.

Ball Nogues Studio - Materials & Applications 2005

"This vortex-shaped, temporary outdoor installation at Materials & Applications in Los Angeles warped the flow of space with a featherweight rendition of a celestial black hole. Hovering over M&A's courtyard, Maximilian's Schell was a spectacle the size of an apartment building constructed in tinted Mylar resembling stained glass. The piece functioned as a shade structure, swirling overhead for the entire summer of 2005. The interior of this immersive experimental installation created a beckoning outdoor room for social interaction and contemplation by changing the space, color, and sound of the M&A courtyard gallery. During the day as the sun passed overhead, the canopy cast colored fractal light patterns onto the ground. When standing in the center or "singularity" of the piece and gazing upward, the visitor could see only infinite sky. In the evening when viewed from the exterior, the vortex glowed warmly while both obscuring and allowing glimpses of the building behind it. The assembly paid homage to a character played by actor Maximilian Schell in Disney Studio's forgotten sci-fi adventure The Black Hole. Dr. Reinhardt is a visionary tyrant on a monomaniacal quest to harness the "power of the vortex" and possess "the great truth of the unknown."