Recently, friends at Studio Mode co- hosted a workshop with Tietz-Baccon entitled Material Intelligence. The week-long workshop capitalized on the momentum of hands-on material research through the creation of informal organizational strategies, subsequent prototypes and arriving finally at aggregate topological manifestations. Iterative testing frameworks were developed in Grasshopper and realized as tangible artifacts in prototype. Participants in the workshop not only benefited from intensive work sessions and collaborations, but also from the availability and use of digital fabrication tools, namely, a CNC 3-Axis Mill and CNC High-Force Cutter. A reception capped the event where the resultant aggregations were on display.

Studio Mode/modeLab is a Brooklyn-based design studio and research collective founded by Ronnie Parsons and Gil Akos. As a studio committed to design as a form of applied research, Mode engages in practices that have a requisite and deep connection to material and the processes by which it is formed and informed.

TIETZ-BACCON is an office for Architectural Design & Digital Fabrication established in 2007 by a core group of Architects/Designers who teamed-up at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. Armed with diverse skills and a deep passion for making, our office approaches each project with ambitious innovation and detailed rigor.

Photos and Workshop descriptions after the jump…

MS

Material Intelligence was a one-week intensive design and prototyping workshop held in New York City during the week of August 16-20.

Brief:

The relationship between the designed object and the forces surrounding that object are always present, perceivable, and tactile. These forces span, among others, material, fabrication, economic, cultural, as well as political domains. In this manner, the object can be thought of as simultaneously existing within a charged field of pressures while adding its own charge back into the field. Contemporary tools (digital fabrication) and technology (associative environments) provide a strategic means for navigating the multitude of forces at play, while the prototype serves as the activating link between material research and design innovation.

Methodology:

This workshop progressed through a series of focused strategies beginning with material testing, followed by the development of prototypes, and arriving at aggregations of a single topological type. Each prototype was created by simple operations, undertaken through a specific disposition, and evaluated for performative potentials. All assemblies were designed in an associative environment (Grasshopper) and iteratively tested utilizing digital fabrication equipment (CNC 3-Axis Mill and CNC High-Force Cutter). The workshop concluded with a reception that exhibited design prototypes and full scale assemblies built by participants over the course of five days.

Material Intelligence was conceived through a collaboration between Studio Mode/modeLab and Tietz-Baccon. More details and images can be found at the following links:

http://materialintelligence.nu

http://studiomode.nu/
http://www.tietz-baccon.com/

flickr set 01

flickr set 02