Tradition Revised

Throughout the history of architecture, the application of materials has played a very important role in the design process of a building. Some architects think of materials at the very first stages of conceptual design and others wait until the final part to decide on the architectural palette of the project. Architecture has always been linked to society in a strong way since it is the only activity where users actually experience the product in three dimensions. Materiality, form, rhythm, balance, scale, proportion and spatial perception are some of the elements that are perceived by the user and this experience causes reactions and conclusions.

Earlier Architecture and Construction were based on practical experience, but several factors such as structural analysis and design, information, telecommunication, technology, etc, have improved building materials and design processes. Several of these affect the architectural appearance of buildings, although not all changes in architecture can be explained by technical progress. So what are the advantages of using new materials against traditional materials?, Is there more merit in handcrafting a brick instead of fabricating it with a CNC machine?

We find ourselves in a point where most of this releases as good or innovative as they may be, are not available for most countries, we also find that traditional materials are being processed, revised and reconsidered in order to make them more efficient, technology is giving way to benefit this processes. Are the new computer-based design techniques and the new designs leaning towards a complete new architecture that requires new materials for its development?
Parallel to the progress in materials sciences, the technology of construction and manufacturing of building materials have also evolved tremendously. The different architectural styles have been developed by a sum or technical development and ideas or architects. The ambition or architects along with the requirements of the clients, has provoked a technological development as in terms of design as in materials for construction.

Traditional materials such as timber and bricks along with 19TH century materials such as concrete (as we know it today, because a similar mixture named lime mortar had been used from the 4000 b.C.century) find their application in new architecture. As a matter of fact such materials are much favored by individual architects and some groups or architects. Traditional materials have been perfected: new types and composites of materials developed.

The so called new architecture, complex geometries and material evolution do not exclude the conventional material that has been used forever in construction, such as concrete, timber and bricks. The research has addition new components, new processes that evolved the way in which this materials has been used in the last years.

Nanotechnologies and Architecture

The biggest plans for the future of our built environment are actually very, very small. The eight billion dollar per year nanotechnology industry has already begun to transform our buildings and how we use them; if its potential becomes reality, it could transform our world in ways undreamed of.

Nanotechnology has the potential to radically alter our built environment and how we live. It is potentially the most transformative technology we have ever faced, generating more research and debate than nuclear weapons, space travel, computers or any of the other technologies that have shaped our lives.

It brings with it enormous questions, concerns and consequences. It raises hopes and fears in every aspect of our lives—social, economic, cultural, political, and spiritual. Yet its potential to transform our built environment remains largely unexplored. What, for instance, is the future of building if each of us possesses thermoprotectant skins that shelter us from the elements? How do we interact with our environment, and with each other, if walls and roofs become paper-thin, permeable, or even invisible?

Nanotechnology, the ability to manipulate matter at the scale of less than one billionth of a meter, has the potential to transform the built environment in ways almost unimaginable today. Nanotechnology is already employed in the manufacture of everyday items from sunscreen to clothing, and its introduction to architecture is not far behind. On the near horizon, it may take building enclosure materials (coatings, panels and insulation) to dramatic new levels of performance in terms of energy, light, security and intelligence.

Even these first steps into the world of nanotechnology could dramatically alter the nature of building enclosure and the way our buildings relate to environment and user. At midhorizon, the development of carbon nanotubes and other breakthrough materials could radically alter building design and performance. The entire distinction between structure and skin, for example, could disappear as ultra light, super-strong materials functioning as both structural skeleton and enclosing skin are developed.

The biggest changes to shake up architecture in a long time may have their origins in the very, very small. Nanotechnology, the understanding and control of matter at a scale of one- to one hundred-billionths of a meter, is bringing incredible changes to the materials and processes of building. How ready we are to embrace them could make a big differencein the future of architectural practice.

Already, this new science of the small has brought to market self-cleaning windows, smogeating concrete and toxin-sniffing nanosensors. Three hundred nanoengineered products are commercially available; $32 billion worth of them were sold last year, with sales expected to top $1 trillion by 2015. But these off-the-shelf advances offer only a taste of what's incubating in the world's nanotech labs today. There, work is under way on nanocomposites thin as glass, yet capable of supporting entire buildings, and photosynthetic coatings that can make any building surface a source of free energy.

EMERGENT FORM: History, Tools and Practitioners

ABSTRACT:

Emergence: The way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity.

Currently there seems to be a trend in architecture leading towards the development of complex systems based upon biology, engineering and complex geometries. Within this style there are different methods used to generate form such as algorithms, proximity variables, angle analysis, and biomimicry. This method which we will investigate is described as Emergent Architecture.

This idea has evolved considerably since the original idea of L- systems and biometric form was discovered over 50 years ago. There have been a variety of methods used to investigate this topic. The most prevalent of these methods was created by a group called the Emergent Design Group based out of MIT. They have mixed people from different disciplines to develop a toolbox that creates form which responds to its environment and other influences of the world that it is part of.

For architects this field of study offers the possibility of form that is more a product of its environmnet and purpose than that which could be created with specific intention. Emergent shape relates to the nature and necessity of form, such as the way an ant colony will create a complex geometry simply by functioning. Or the phenomenon of water in which hydrogen and oxygen which are not especially interesting in themselves nor do they
possess any physical properties that are similar to water. But when combined they form an extremely interesting and essential compound.

"Key to the work is the phenomenon of emergence which offers insight into the way
apparently isolated bodies, particles, or systems exhibit group behavior in coherent, but unexpected, patterns. The animated beauty of emergent organizations, such as in swarms or hives, points to a range of real architectural potentials where components are always linked and always exchanging information, and above all, where architectural wholes exceed the sum of their parts." ⁽¹⁾

KEYWORDS:

Emergent Form, Generative Processes, Evolutionary Algorithms

You can download PDF presentation from the link.

HYPERBODIES: Complex Adaptive Dynamic Multi-Agent Systems (CADMAS) as Self-Sufficient Sustainable Environments of Inhabitance (SS SEI)

ABSTRACT:
Considering the question of sustainability and not only focusing in bio-climatic matters, a way of approaching this problem would be generating Complex Dynamic Adaptive Multi-Agent Systems (CADMAS) as environments of inhabitance. Not only because of the properties and characteristics mentioned in the paper of adaptive systems; able to shift and automatically adapt to their environmental conditions as represented in the work of Kas Oosterhuis. but also as a potential to grow by auto-re-generating processes. The much referenced term of ‘hyperbody’ used typically to describe a situation between the digital and the real, we feel is perhaps better suited to a concept of self sufficient sustainability, based on the CADMAS principal. This is the basis of sustainability in terms of self-sufficiency defined as ‘auto-poiesis’ (Maruyama 1963). The paper develops principals of this ‘hyperbody’ and through discussion of Complex Adaptive, Emergent, Auto-Reproductive and Auto-Organizational Systems, suggests principals for how a new kind of sustainable architecture might be derived.

FORMS AND TECTONICS OF EMERGENT ARCHITECTURE

FORMS AND TECTONICS OF EMERGENT ARCHITECTURE
An Educated Guess based upon study of Emergent Cellular Aggregations.


ABSTRACT:
The basis of this Research Paper thus is exploring the Idea of Emergence in Architecture by virtue of its Forms and Tectonics. The Research attempts to do an analogous reading between Emergence in Architecture and Emergence of Microscopic Biological systems. The objective of the research is not about the Biological Accuracy but about finding out Morphogenetic Principles those represents the Efficiency, Flexibility and Robustness present in them. The first part of the research elaborates the idea of Emergence in Architecture with help of few writings and works by Architect Tom Wiscombe while the later part studies Emergence of Cellular Aggregations with examples of Slime Mould and Lichen. The Research concludes by the Architectonic Principles observed in those Systems.

KEYWORDS:
Emergence, Bottom-up Method, Cellular Aggregation, Self Similar, Slime Mould, Lichen.

Digital Technologies’ implementation on urban design

ABSTRACT

Investigation of the changes of urban design taking place as a result of pervasive digital technology. Specifically, how digital technologies can change the way of designing and maintaining the urban space, the placement and reception of information about the city, the process of buying and selling , the way people meet in the city and finally the movements.

The approach of the research will be the analysis of example projects , analysis of prospects and analysis of developed technological systems (such as Wireless Communication, Location Awareness, Displays and Location Specific Information.)

Based on the analysis of the examples, we will try to respond to the following questions.
Will our use of the city change as media and communication technologies enters everyday life?
Are these new technologies going to change the city image and how?
Will the use of digital technologies in urban design improve the liveability of the city?
Who will benefit from this process and how?

PRESENTATION

You can download the final 8 slide presentation of our paper here

G03: mass-customisation & the prefabricated house

Is it possible to find a solution in which everyone can generate their own custom prefabricated house?
As more advanced levels of digital technology are incorporated into housing design, we will begin to see a prefabricated house that is truly unique. Through the utilization of mass-production and digital fabrication techniques, a customised prefabricated house could be entirely unique, designed specifically for an occupants needs. In turn this offers personalized, unique and affordable house that would be available to the general public, making architecture more accessible.

'Clouds in the Bottles'

ABSTRACT:

Ever since there was a desire to design invisible…
Considering philosophy of phenomenology, beginning from Merleau Ponty and his ‘Phenomenology of Perception’, ending on Steven Holl and his way of understanding architecture, we could think of architecture dealing with the phenomenological approach, with spaces generated simply by phenomena – any observable occurrences. Defining space by smell, light and sound could create a wide range of potential directions, in which architecture could aim in the near future.
The new, potential approach to contemporary architecture could be compressed in the void. Amplifying its geometrical and spatial characteristics by emphasizing the already existing there phenomena, could create infinite design possibilities. It provides potential for designing spaces that on the one hand would be strictly defined, but on the other hand would play with the weaknesses of human perception and use it to create illusion of immateriality. Furthermore there appears a question how to balance defining and limiting space with its immaterial aspect.
Architecture operating with phenomena would add new qualities to the traditional approach, offering spaces that could be freely penetrated, entered and left without having to cross any physical barrier.
Moreover, considering recent development of nanotechnologies, mobile and wireless technologies, geographical information systems, sensors and long-range interaction systems and digital technologies, we could think of creating that kind of space by constructing those phenomena artificially. New available materials, which one of physical features has been reduced, provide undiscovered possibilities of implementation into the design process.
Architecture of the void, offering its physical no-existence and sensor experiences is a challenge for both designers and users, creating infinite design possibilities and opening wide spectrum of new spatial qualities.

REJECTING MATERIALITY: IN-FORMING FORMS

DTA Group 01 Javier Olmeda, Maite Bravo, Luis Odiaga

PAPER OUTLINE – DEC 2/07

5 QUESTIONS:
WHAT
WHY
FOR WHOM
HOW
WHEN

1. WHAT: [Objective of research] Can architects able to use novel (innovative) ways of dealing with digital interfaces in order to explore space with such intuitive approach?

2. WHY: Conception and development of innovative design processes interfaces.

3. FOR WHOM: Architects, artists, digital tech, people dealing with responsive environments.

4. HOW: [Methodology]

a. Study of REACT table as the development process to identify needs, processes and solutions.
i. Interview with creators (if possible);
ii. Explanation of REACT table in terms of structure, functionality, complexity;
iii. Experiential interaction with table to understand processes and to gain insight on creative/individual input.

b. Research of 3 projects that incorporate tangibles as method of design to identify:
i. Inputs/outputs to determine variables: Logic.
ii. Systems of combinations: Media.
iii. Outputs: Final reaction/effect.

Projects suggested:
a. Reaction pollution
b. Enric Ruiz (Cloud 9) IM Museum
c. ????
d. Electronics/Technology: Interview to Victor Vina to identify;
i. sensors available to be used in architecture,
ii. amount of energy required,
iii. input/outputs.

5. WHEN: Digital era today.

6. Conclusion:

a. Interactivity, re-contextualize in actual terms; era of consume- becomes productive, society of service- not products. Architecture as multi-sensorial experience? Will digital media be able to modify concepts of spaces? Open doors to acknowledge human experiences (sound, light) and energy efficiencies/interactivity with the natural world?

b. End of architecture as we understand it, disappearance as an activity, transforming into modifiable surfaces and platforms of design; cut/paste architect; master-builder as organizer of processes and delegates; architect will orchestrate several layers of information/ fields with a general knowledge (NOT specific driven).

c. CONS; Reliability on technology ignores/ left out, utopian ideal that technology can solve problems of humanity; will it change quality of life? Pride on human knowledge and technology? Will robotics, genetics, etc resolve .GOD-like humans? Can tech produce better architecture? Sustainability of programmable surfaces, Dialogue between logic/intuition driven? Emotional side of architecture?

Additional Book References:

Some additional books, suggested by the contents of the abstracts:
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- The Prefabricated Home by Colin Davies
- What Every Engineer Should Know About Finite Element Analysis (What Every Engineer Should Know) by John Brauer
- What Every Engineer Should Know About Computational Techniques of Finite Element Analysis (What Every Engineer Should Know)by Louis Komzsik

In the Architectural Design magazines you may find several interesting issues addressing your research topics like:
- Collective Intelligence in Design: New Forms of Distributed Practice and Design (Architectural Design) by Christopher Hight and Chris Perry
- Programming Cultures: Architecture, Art and Science in the Age of Software Development by Mike Silver
- 4dsocial: Interactive Design Environments (Architectural Design) by Lucy Bullivant
- Techniques and Technologies in Morphogenetic Design (Architectural Design) by Michael Hensel, Achim Menges, and Michael Weinstock
- Emergence: Morphogenetic Design Strategies by Michael Hensel, Achim Menges, and Michael Weinstock

Next Class: ABSTRACTS DISCUSSION

In the next class (Monday, 19) we will discuss the abstracts submitted to help the further development of the research paper.
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For this purpose, each group is going to read his abstract to the class, which will serve as a starting point for a 5-10 min. colective discussion about it. The idea is to get the maximum feed-back, pointing out to the specific critical issues of each group's text.
Good work!

PS: please spread this message.
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Abstracts List

Abstracts submitted until now:

12.11.07
G06: "Forms and Tectonics of Cellular Aggregation"
G12: "Collective intelligence in the process of real-time environment reprogramming"
G07: "Tradition Revised"
G10: "Clouds in the Bottles"
G18: "Zaha Hadid"
G01: "Rejecting Materiality: In-Forming Forms"
13.11.07
G03: "Mass Customization and the Prefab House"
G14: "The Abaqus Unified FEA application in the field of architecture and industrial design."
G05: "Nanotechnology and Architecture"
G02: "Advanced Design Processes"
G09: "Bio-materiality"
G15: "HYPERBODIES: Complex Adaptive Dynamic Multi-Agent Systems as Self-Sustainable Environments of Inhabitance."
G04: "Emergent Form"
G13: "Ubiquitius Computing"
G17: "Coherence and Chronology in Digital Design Manifestation"
14.11.2007
G08: "Scripting: Emergent Design Process"
15.11.2007
G16: "Digital Technologies's Implementation on Urbanism"
G11: "Tech is More? (UnStudio Design Models)"

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The 3 groups missing should submit their abstract using the Form as soon as possible!
The submission order is the sequence that we will follow to discuss the papers next week.
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Abstract Submission - Tuesday

Due to the Valencia trip, the research paper abstracts can be submitted until tuesday 13th! (respecting the deadline is subject of evaluation)
Please note that is of your interest to submit it as soon as possible to get recommendations/comments for its further development. You should use the submission for here.
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Research Paper: Format Instructions

All research papers should follow the same presentation principles. Please download here a template that will help you formatting your text and illustrations.
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RESEARCH PAPER: Abstract - 13th of November

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RESEARCH PAPER

1. Description

Today, current state of digital technologies demonstrate that computers can interfere in almost all aspects/dimensions of the architectural discipline. As a result, there's a wide variety of topics that can be studied from the point of view of the digital, in fields like:
• design processes;
• construction and fabrication;
• sustainability;
• material development;
• monographic studies;
• building practices;
• architectural theory;
• design themes; - (...)

In this context, the completion of the Seminar is achieved by writing an original research paper on a specific theme, related with the integration of digital technologies in architecture. This final work consists in an opportunity to develop a more in-depth research on a specific subject that might interest you as a group. Each paper should make evidence about the particular interference of digital technologies in the selected research topic. Historical references, case-studies research, comparitive analysis, specialists' opinions, direct contact with the sources... are some of the procedures/techniques that you should follow to address and frame your essay.

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2. Presentation

This essay should have a length of 3000 words (without counting bibliographic references, footnotes, etc), and must be conveniently illustrated with images. The development of this work must be presented to the instructor, who will discuss with you its evolution.

Until the 5th of November, each group must submitt in the blog an abstract of their paper, by filling the online form. This abstract will be reviewed to help the further development of the full paper.

For the final review, you will submit your paper in 2 ways:

• full version as a written document, following the formatting guidelines;

• short version as an illustrated post in the blog, that will serve as the basis for a 5 minute group presentation to the class, in the review day.

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3. Calendar

• October, 22

_CLASS: Introduction to the Research Paper Work

• November, 2 (friday)

_CLASS: Discussion with the groups

• November, 11

_DEADLINE: Submission of Abstracts

• November, 19

_CLASS: Discussion with the groups

• December, 3

_CLASS: Discussion with the groups

• December,17

_FINAL REVIEW

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