Interactive Architecture Lecture @ Kunsthaus Graz

As part of the Europrix exhibition held in the Kunsthaus,Graz, I did a short presentation about my views on Interactive Architecture and its relationships to other fields in the arts and sciences both practically and conceptually and also where my Performative Ecologies project fits into my research. See below and I apologies for saying ummm a lot, I never realised I did until I watched this.

Part1

Part 2

5 comments December 20th, 2007

Life Spectulatrix – Augmented Architectures

Video

Here’s one of Augmented Architecture’s prototypes that I saw at the ACADIA07 earlier this year. “Life Spectulatrix” is an evolutionary physical skin based on digital environmental feedback retrieved through the webspace. Architect Nancy Diniz describes how it becomes a “universally situated living piece” through its own evolutionary behaviour in relation to global environmental information as well as local interaction.

“Augemented Architectures” is : Nancy Diniz, a licensed architect and a PhD candidate at the Bartlett and a tutor at the Department of Architecture at ISCTE in Lisbon and Cesar Branco, a computer science engineer working for VSNL as a Solutions Architect based in London, UK.

1 comment December 18th, 2007

Mader Stublic Wiermann

reprojected

I first encountered the work of Mader Stublic Wiermann when Alexander Stublic did a talk at the MediaArchitecture Conference earlier this year. He presented four projects by the group in different technical environments focusing on correlations of space by extending and transforming architectural structures. I won’t cover the entire scope of their work here but their website has more detailed descriptions of what they’ve been up to in recent years. Below was one project in particular that I like as it starts to transform the rigid structure of an architecture into a dynamic fluid skin.

twists and turns

The exterior of the Uniqa Tower in Vienna has been equipped with a LED-grid, a wide-meshed net of picture elements capable of receiving video-data, which are fitted into the building’s facade. At first, the electronic data corresponds to the architectural structure of the tower, but during the course of its choreography, repeatedly detaches itself from the concrete shape of the building, establishing new spaces which dynamically interweave.

2 comments December 17th, 2007

David Rokeby – Cloud

One project that caught my eye from Regine’s posts covering the VIDA awards was David Rokeby’s Cloud Installation currently suspended in the Great Hall at the Ontario Science Centre. One hundred identical sculptural elements, arranged in ten by ten grid, are rotated at slightly differing speeds by computer-controlled motors. The elements slowly shift in and out of synchronization. When the motors are just out of sync, huge waves ripple across the space. When completely in sync, the work appears almost solid then suddenly almost invisible. When far out of sync, the sculptural elements float in apparent chaos. Cloud creates constantly shifting fields and patterns in the space of the Great Hall, playing with the tension between chaos and order, between scientific theory and human experience, and between objectivity and subjectivity.

Cloud is large arrangement of identical simple elements. The smallest elements of the work are a pair of thin acrylic planes crossing each other perpendicularly on their short side. One is clear, the other is a light blue grey. Six sets of these planes are arranged in identical orientation along an acrylic shaft. A stepper motor slowly rotates each shaft. 100 of these motor shaft sets are set up in a 10 x 10 configuration to create an open form. The 100 units are identical, replaceable and interchangeable. They are attached to a 10 x 10 grid of aluminum. All motors are connected to a computer which maintains the desired relationship of rotations speeds and positions.

There are three distinct states of organization of this structure. When all rotations are identical, the structure resembles a solid, both subjectively and formally. As the rotations shift away from this solid state, the structure melts into a liquid-like flow, with waves clearly traversing the structure. Beyond a certain point, the relationships between the rotations becomes unclear and the structure resembles the random incoherence of a gas. The transitions between identifiable states reflect the transitions of melting, freezing, evaporating, condensing and sublimating.

Add comment December 12th, 2007

Sean Hanna

Sean Hanna is an interesting architect/engineer whose work I’ve been meaning to cover for some time. He was awarded a American Institute of Architects Student Gold Medal and went on to work on algorithmic & parametric design aspects of major construction projects with architects including Foster and Partners and sculptor Antony Gormley. His research is mainly in developing computational methods for dealing with complex systems in architecture, and in structural optimisation and rapid prototyping technology. I’ve selected a couple of his projects to give a sample of his work but check out his website for more details. His work is part of the currently running “Capture & Context” exhibition I posted on early this week.

BODY / SPACE / FRAME

Sean role in the BODY / SPACE / FRAME by artist Antony Gormley was in the creation of methods for generating a body formally and constructing a geometry appropriate for and structurally constructing the 25 metre high sculpture. Built out of an open steel lattice in the shape of a crouching figure, it was sited on the end of an 800 metre polder and faced outward from the coast of the Zuiderzee, Holland.

PAN_07 CHAIR

Optimised cellular structure in collaboration with Timothy Schreiber

Based on an analogy with the highly efficient cellular structure of living wood or bone, which adapts to its environment as it grows, the chair’s interior is comprised of a fine lattice that minimises weight while maximising strength. The design method combines principles of evolution and artificial intelligence to create a material that responds to its environment by growing denser in the areas required to best withstand the external forces applied when the chair is in use.

Sean’s website

1 comment December 7th, 2007

Capture & Context – London

Here’s a last minute plug for “Capture & Context“, an exhibition opening at the Bartlett in London tomorrow. The exhibition presents the work of current EngD students at the Bartlett exploring innovative approaches to Virtual Environments, Imaging and Visualization. It will show work in progress towards their individual research goals, representing a cross section of multi-stranded concerns, ranging from computer vision and real-time rendering to simulation and design optimization, overlaping fields of expertise in computer science, architecture, engineering and complex systems science. Exhibitors include Mojtaba Bahrami, Erica Calogero, Sean Hanna, Katrin Jonas, Chris Leung, Karen Martin, Abel Maciel, Alastair Moore, Jamie O’Brien, James Tompkin. Check out the website for more details.

Add comment December 5th, 2007