Æsthe/tech:Tonik
Building | Beauty | Consuming | ImageAn Architectural Disposition
I was prompted on what my view of design was today, and I realized that in the day-to-day, we hardly ever take the time to articulate what “design” is or how we approach it. It is something we are asked to have conviction about, struggle with, hypothesize on, and even build a practice around. While this might be too broad and not personal enough for some, I thought it helpful nonetheless in defining these things for me. Obviously it has an architectural bent, so take that with a grain of salt. It’s a list of 5 with two sub-points.
An Architectural Disposition
1) Simplexity is my lens and filter to view design.
2) Design is organized problem solving. It is identifying unique constraints of problems which beget unique solutions via form and function.
3) Form (Geometry + Material) is the primary medium which we address the physics of space making and the seed for the engagement of the 5 senses. These, in turn, produce “experience” at urban, building, and human scales.
- Architecture is the only medium that addresses making the object, while simultaneously making the volume of the object. BOTH hold value.
4) Function is the sum of Aesthetics, Logistics and Situations that make a cohesive building ecology.
- Functional Ecologies cannot and should not be individually optimized. Nature operates through the optimization of the whole as opposed to the part.
5) Form and Function should support the betterment of the human condition.
As always, thoughts are welcome
MS
eVolo Skyscraper Competition 2011
For those familiar with the eVolo skyscraper competition, now in it’s 5th year, this year’s winners have just been announced. Traditionally this ideas competition fosters some incredibly progressive submissions rich in content, and easy (or not easy, depending on your disposition) on the eyes. Congratulations to the winners. From the eVolo announcement:
The first place was awarded to Atelier CMJN (Julien Combes, Gaël Brulé) from France for their ‘LO2P Recycling Skyscraper’ in New Delhi, India. The project is designed as a large-scale wind turbine that filters polluted air with a series of particle collector membranes, elevated greenhouses, and mineralization baths.
The second place was awarded to Yoann Mescam, Paul-Eric Schirr-Bonnans, and Xavier Schirr-Bonnans from France for a dome-like horizontal skyscraper that harvests solar energy, collects rainwater, and preserves the existing urban fabric at ground level thanks to its large skylights and small footprint.
The recipient of the third place is Yheu-Shen Chua from the United Kingdom for a project that re-imagines the Hoover Dam in the U.S. as an inhabitable skyscraper that unifies the power plant with a gallery, aquarium, and viewing platform that engages the falling water directly.
To explore the winners and 32 honorable mentions go to http://www.evolo.us/category/2011/
MS
Voxl
It is with great pleasure that I announce the (pseudo) launch of my new website, Voxl which will focus on documenting personal and professional works and investigations.
Voxl is a creative outlet whose purpose is both to propose and test design ideas, as well as document and assess past and current design work. It will stay rooted in an architectural bias, but will also occasionally permeate into graphic design, and other visual arts.
It has been a long time in the making, and an even longer time on the GTD list. Although the project list is short at the moment, it will get longer in the coming weeks as I kick the tires, synthesize and format on-going pursuits. I hope you enjoy it, and welcome any comments you have!
Æsthe/tech:Tonik will continue to be a mainstay in its attempt to provide contemporary editorials on things that are purty. Thanks to those readers who agree.
mvsuriano [at] voxl [dot] us
All the best this 2011
MS
Rolls Royce Apparition Concept
Via Coroflot, a limousine concept for Rolls Royce by Jeremy Westerlund. I love the way that this is represented.
From the artist:
An ultra luxurious chauffeur driven limousine evoking the glamor and sophistication of chauffeur driven cars in the past that has since been lost. This vehicle is about being seen, but at the same time being invisible or an “Apparition” in the sense that you’re safely tucked away in its palatial and private interior.
Exterior model-milled foam from Alias data.
http://www.coroflot.com/jw_concept
MS
Space Planning w/ Real Time Physics
Colleague Marc Syp has been working on a real time space planning tool using Spring Dynamics in Grasshopper. I had the privilege to have a cameo as well. Check it out after Marc’s description below.
This is a preview of a parametric conceptual design tool for architectural practice that I have been developing at NBBJ. I wanted to develop a system that allows designers to quickly organize and understand complex architectural programmes in three dimensions.
It is an advancement of the traditional bubble diagram; it solves adjacency requirements automatically and suggests planimetric and sectional relationships. The resulting diagrams are not formal solutions; they are simply organizational diagrams with solved adjacencies and accurate required areas. The diagrams are raw materials, meant to be manipulated sculpturally, or even squeezed into a formal container.
Technical Information
The tool was created in the Grasshopper plug-in for Rhino. Custom components, written in VB.NET, read programme data directly from Excel into Grasshopper. The tool uses the Kangaroo engine for realtime spring dynamics simulation.
MS
Oh What a Feelin’…
..When we’re dancin’ on the ceilin’.
I found this study today for a ceiling in a long dormant project.
Enyoy!
MS
Material Intelligence: Post Workshop
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/
