scriptedarchitecture

Chris Precht, master student at TU Vienna and founder of prechteck combined a GH definition I developed for modelling paperstrip geometries with the principle of ZipShape, developed by Christoph Schindler, to model these beautiful prototypes, as part of his thesis: Images (c) by Chris Precht.

In this Revit 2013 video tutorial we'll do a fairly quick overview of the new Component Based Stair tools. The idea is to help get a better understanding of how the tools work and how the interface it put together. In future video we will go in more depth for all various types of stairs.

The BLOCK Research Group is pleased to announce the pre-release of rhinoVAULT Beta V0.2! The current version is now freely available for download. The Rhinoceros® Plug-In emerged from current research on structural form finding based on the Thrust-Network-Approach to intuitively create and explore compression-only structures. ”The resistant virtues of the structure that we seek depend on their form; it is through their form that they are stable, not because of an awkward accumulation of material. There is nothing more noble and elegant from an intellectual viewpoint than this: to resist through form.” - Eladio Dieste, 1996 Matthias Rippmann Lorenz Lachauer Philippe Block

DesignReform is pleased to be a part of an upcoming event organized by the AIANY Global Dialogues Committee. Going Viral explores the impact that social media, technology and device culture are having on our design process, and ultimately the way we practice. The NY Center for Architecture will host an opening and discussion on May 21 at 6pm where the topics of communication, research, collaboration, and data distribution will be addressed and debated.    Bjarke Ingels of BIG, Toru Hasegawa of Morpholio and Columbia University, Carlo Aiello of eVolo, and David Basulto with David Assael of ArchDaily will come together for a lecture and panel discussion moderated by Ned Cramer, editor-in-chief of Architect.  In addition, selected game changing blogs and websites will be exhibited as Voices Going Viral on the evening of the event. Be sure to check it out!   

The construction sequence of one axis of the tamedia office building by Shigeru Ban. Images by tagesanzeiger. Next

Yesterday I took pictures of the construction site of the Tamedia office building in Zurich, Switzerland, designed by Shigeru Ban. This webcam shows the construction site, it is located here. The pictures below show the assembly of a standing frame element, five story high, in front of the already existing structure. This frame is later shifted to the position of the next frame axis in plan.

Inspired by the work of Elisa Strozyk, I wrote a script, that imposes the geometric constraint of equal edge length to a given mesh. Download the python script for Rhino here. The final geometry results in a crumpled devlopable sheet, if the mesh is consisting only of nodes with the valence of six and of triangular faces. More digitally crumpled paper by Tamahiro Tachi on flickr. A crumpled mesh torus.

FlowAlongSrf는 여러방법으로 활용할 수 있는 라이노의 변형 툴중 대표적 커맨드입니다. 아래 동영상은 곡면의 모델링에 디테일을 추가할 때 FlowAlongSrf를 이용하여 효율적으로 모델링 할 수 있는 방법을 소개합니다.

it`s been a while since i uploaded something to this blog.

now , im back into programming. so here it is, a new WIP,

im playing with, processing, physics, meshes, etc.

here the results.

Click to view slideshow.

We’d like to take a moment and give props to LeeLABS and their beautifully handcrafted Para Clocks. Started by the John, Brian and Lindsey Lee, the Para Clocks combine the raw beauty of concrete with a digitally derived structure and the results are pretty amazing.   Their current Kickstarter campaign, which has only been up for a few days, is fully funded but it shouldn’t stop you from ordering your own – we did!

This drawing by Madelon Vriesendorp, artist and co-founder of OMA, is trying to catch different associations with Norman Foster's Gherkin. It has been published lately in Charles Jencks's book The Story of Post-Modernism. Madelon Vriesendorp's great animated film, Caught in the Act (Flagrant Délit) from 1979, presents a surrealistic vision of the life of skyscrapers, showing Chrysler and Empire State Building having sex, the naked Statue of Liberty and more great scences. Madelon Vriesendorp is famous for her paintings that have been used as illustrations for Rem Koolhaas's book Delirious New York. For more information about her work, read this interview.

Going to try and live blog as much of the event as possible. Keep checking back for this post to update.

 

3/22 - Press tour

 

3/23 - Talk Shops

Watch them live here - http://smartgeometry.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=170&Itemid=157

Talk Shop Agenda - http://smartgeometry.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=166%3Asg2012talkshopagenda&catid=47%3Asg2011-talkshop-sessions&Itemid=157

9:30 - Event is kicking off! Smart Geometry is a global network. 

• Session 1 | Shifting Attitudes
• Talk Shop discussion
  • Should architects make materials?
  • "parametric models are a material vacuum"
  • Ana  - Interscaler exploration. What can we learn from exploring techniques to study materials in variable scales?
  • Branko - Students can deal with geometry quite well. What they need to get a better sense of is thickness and tolerance.
  • Branko - We should look to other fields of research to expand what we do. BUT we also need to focus on fundamentals. In Academia, we need to make sure students are getting material fundamentals.

• Session 2 | Energy, Environments and Conflicts
  • Panelists  - Sal Craig - Foster+Partners,  Dru Crawley - Bentley Systems, Kiel Moe - M O E
  • Dru Crawley
    • We should not use technology if we don't know what we are looking for.
    • had a friend call CFD "Colors For Designers" - Awesome!
    • Q - is software serving us well?
      • Are the physics well presented
      • Does it represent the information?
      • Is innovation promoted - some tools are restricting us.
    • Need to be critical of the tools
  • Kiel Moe
    • Talking about the SANAA Toledo museum 
    • Extensive use of Low E glass for transparency 
    • Height and width of glass forced for the panels to be built outside of the US (China)

 

HUGE thanks to Bentley Systems for hosting me at Smart Geometry 2012.

새싹을 틔우는 나무들의 봄 준비가 소리 없이 바쁘게 보이는 3월입니다. 2012년 3월 정모가 오는 3월 31일 리스푼에서 개최됩니다. 리스푼은 라이노스 회원이신 배지훈님이 직접 운영하는 카페입니다. 배지훈님은 재활용 재료를 이용한 가구를 주로 디자인하고 있습니다. 배지훈님 작품소개 2012년 3월 모임 모임 1차 일시 : 2012년 3월 31일 토요일 오후 3시 장소 : 9호선 선유도역 리스푼 아래 약도 참조 라이브파크 | THE LIVE PARK 4D   라이브파크4D 및 파빌리온 WINDY 소개      - 라이브 파크 프로젝트 소개      - Windy concept developement      - Windy 제작과정 소개      -  이동주 / 디스트릭트 홀딩스 / http://www.dstrict.com       WINDY 파빌리온 디자인 및 구조       - 라이노를 활용한 파빌리온 디자인       - Prototyping 및 Fabrication       - 라이팅 모듈 기구 디자인       - 윤상철 / +plastic / http://www.plusplastic.com 라이브 파크 관련 부품 프로토타이핑 및 제작       - CNC 활용한 워킹 목업 제작       - QDM을 활용한 라이팅 모듈 및 인식표착물 제작       -  이혜은 / 플러스모델 What's New      - Rhino5.0 Beta에 새로 추가된 커맨드 및 바뀐 내용 소개 2D drawing      - Rhino를 드로잉툴로 활용하기      - Hatching, Linetype, Dimensioning      - Page layout      - Rhino 5.0에 추가된 드로잉 기능 Q&A      - 질의 응답      - 정확한 질문/답변을 위해서 USB 메모리등으로 관련 파일을 준비하시면 도움이 됩니다. 모임 2차 일시 : 오후 6시부터 Greetings      - 회원소개 및 인사 Let's talk talk talk      - 이야기하며 서로 사귀어요!      - 이야기하며 많은 정보를 나눠요!      - 이야기하며 웃고 즐겨요! # 연락처 윤상훈 : 010-3286-5575  | 윤상철 : 010-9460-7239 | 고정석 : 010-4125-2867 # 참가 인원수에 따라 조기 마감될 수 있으니 서둘러 신청하세요. # 정모 회비는  일반 20,000원 | 학생 15,000원 입니다. # 정모 2차로 바로 참석하시는 분들도 환영입니다. 위 연락처로 연락주세요. 참가 신청! click 정모장소 약도 - 선유도역 리스푼

This is a visioning study down by the Perkins+Will San Francisco Office. The designers were Bill Katz and Jess Austin (me!) Andrew Wolfram was the managing principal and Arup provided engineering consultation.

This first scheme was developed to be a lighter weight structure that sailed above the current Diridon Station while creating a new space for The Proposed High Speed Rail. The structural diagram for this option was fairly simple, the large white members held themselves vertically with some basic columns helping out. The smaller cable like wire would provide the lateral support and respond to each unique loading condition. I used grasshopper to build the majority of this model hoping that any sizing or stress information we received from Arup could be integrated into the model. Thereby creating a feedback loop between the design and the structural requirements. Because this project was so short (two weeks!) we didn’t have the chance, but I know it can be done. The incredibly talented Ripon De Leon is updating our ColoniaTecne Project based on Buro Happold’s input.

This second scheme had some input from Andrew Tsay-Jacobs in our office. He went to engineering school and received three degrees before going to Columbia for his March; which is to say I think he’s very interesting. While he didn’t run any analysis or come up with any hard numbers we did sketch out a diagram that we think could work. Essentially the large columns are a vertical cantilever that triangulate at the bottom and there are smaller members that create an overall diaphragm for the roof. All very conceptual but this model was also made with grasshopper in the hopes that each member could be optimized. I am not publishing those definitions because they are a mess, and I think Perkins+Will might own them because I made them there. I hope you like it!

A Grasshopper assembly wizard has been released by McNeel's Giulio Piacentino! This aids in the development of custom component creation. More of Giulio's experiments and components can be found here.

 

By David Fano and Steve Sanderson, edited by Julie Quon This article first appeared on ArchDaily, January 30th, 2012.   A well-known and often cited truism of architecture notes that forty (as in years) is considered young for an architect and most don’t start hitting their stride until they’re seventy. This may partially explain why well-known architects seem to live forever… they’re simply too busy to die.What is often omitted from this narrative is how the architects spent the first twenty (or so) years of their careers as freshly minted graduates prior to being recognized by their peers in the profession as “making it”. If you approach any architect about their early-career experience in the profession you will get slightly different versions of the same story. They are all, in essence, about paying your dues.

1. Taking a low-paying position for an A or B-list architect, where the compensation for long hours is the privilege of anonymous design on important projects, and in return a few hours are spent outside of the studio (usually with a group of similarly indebted classmates) on open design competitions that pay trifle stipends.
2. Taking a low-paying adjunct teaching position, ideally in a design studio, where compensation for long hours is the privilege of working on your design interests with students in order to become a part of the elite tastemakers and to one day be shortlisted for an exclusive cultural competition.
3. Taking a slightly better paying position with a corporate firm and spending your hours outside of work designing kitchens and bathrooms for wealthy friends and family with hopes that their social reach is broad enough to lead to additional commissions that will one day be substantial enough to make a living.
4. Taking a slightly better paying position with a corporate firm and slogging through the incredibly tedious intern development and professional registration process in order to move up the corporate hierarchy. The goal is to eventually become a principal or partner with an established firm or even break off on your own with some of the established firm’s clients.

In each of these scenarios, the only path to a significant commission is to spend the few hours outside of these paying jobs in the pursuit of establishing credibility and reputation through exposure in architectural publications. In any case, it seems that around the age of forty is when all of this hard work finally begins to pay off with consistent commissions. For the vast majority that never succeed by following these models, there is usually a ‘pivot’ (in startup terms, a change in approach) that leads to a stable corporate position, a full-time teaching post, or an exit from the profession altogether (we did the latter, see Fed’s post). The difficulty of ‘being’ an architect is branded about in schools (oftentimes by people with little to no actual experience in the field) as a source of pride, a perverse hazing ritual intended to weed out all but the most dedicated adherents to the ideals of architecture as a pure form of expression, a rationale which further reinforces architecture as an intellectual pursuit for the privileged (that topic is for another post).  

Mark Zuckerberg, Person of the Year 2010

Contrast this with the technology startup community, which has almost the opposite arrangement. It’s rare to hear about a successful mainstream startup whose founders are older than 25. Two graduate students started Google, Facebook by a college sophomore, Groupon by a graduate school dropout and the list goes on. While these success stories only represent a tiny fraction of the much broader startup scene (most of which never see the light of day), the drive, work ethic, naiveté and lack of external commitments (financial, social, etc…) of these young founders has led many venture capitalists (who invest in startups for living) to shy away from startups founded by people over 30. The costs and accessibility to the technology needed to start one of these companies are being lowered each day through the creation of development frameworks and tools, like Ruby on Rails, Apache, mySQL, etc. Tools like these enable a group of founders with a good idea, some solid technical and design skills, and the ability to shamelessly self-promote and endure repeated rejection and setbacks, to launch a product with little to no more investment beyond their sweat.

Techstars, a NY-based incubator

These conditions have led to an explosion in the tech startup world of incubators/accelerators. Companies usually made up of experienced entrepreneurs and VCs that go beyond the role of simply investing in a promising young startup will now provide a physical space, access to experienced entrepreneurs and technologists, constant feedback and assessment, exposure to media and network of advisors, and at times a token financial investment in order to get the startup off of the ground. At the end of this incubation process most startups leave with a solid product and business model, but most importantly they leave with an impressive set of connections and the blessing of some of the most influential people in the startup world. You can imagine the success rate for companies like this is much higher than your standard, off the street startups and in some ways benefit from one of more of these factors, just not within a formal incubator. Now, taking this model and applying it to the architectural profession may not be as big of a stretch as it might initially sound. The profession already has a model for this incubation process under the Intern Development Program (IDP), where a recent architecture graduate is expected to document and submit hours indicating that they have performed a broad range of tasks in a professional office under the direct supervision of a seasoned architect, or mentor. As any young architect will tell you, this system is irrevocably flawed. You leave school without many of the practical skills necessary to work on many aspects required by the IDP and many firms are managed in a way that makes it difficult for a young architect to work on multiple stages of a project. Typically, young architects are assigned to one particular phase (either design or documentation) and they will remain there as long as they are willing to tolerate it. In the best scenarios this process is expected to take three years to complete and requires substantial fees to maintain and submit. It is a huge barrier and disincentive to becoming a licensed professional and we haven’t even approached the subject of registration exams. Truth be told, you’re lucky if you’re licensed to practice architecture seven years after completing your five (or six, or seven) year professional degree. The major problem with this process (in addition to the issues described above) is that it does not give young architects the tools and experience needed to run their own practices, mainly because it’s managed by someone that needs your labor – not additional competition in the marketplace. The other fundamental flaw of this process is that it continues the misplaced emphasis from school on individual development, instead of looking at the practice of architecture as it truly is: a complex collection of many individuals with distinct strengths and interests, each with its own importance and value to the profession. So, what if NCARB, and by extension the AIA, focused on encouraging the development of young architects through a structured incubation process that would provide an alternative way for young architects to meet their professional requirements, while at the same time giving them the skills and exposure needed to get their practices off the ground. This process could provide a solution to the “architect’s career beginning at forty” problem as described above. Most importantly, it would provide a clear way to combat the mass exodus from the profession that is happening as a result of the recession and will continue to happen, due to revelations like the much discussed Georgetown University study (here and here). Here’s how it could work:

• Reallocate funding supporting ideas competitions, prizes and fellowships for single recipients and a portion of the funds for professional development for young architects, toward an incubator fund.
• Distribute these funds to local AIA chapters based on market demand to seed new architectural practices. These funds will be used to provide startup capital and salaries for the first six months of operation while in the incubator program.
• Potential applicants are screened based on a competitive process that requires young practices (no single practitioners) to apply based on a project that they have won or an RFQ that they intend to pursue that will lead to a real commission.
• Selected firms will be chosen through the submission of a business plan and a portfolio that demonstrates a balance between design, technical, management, leadership and communication skills.
• The incubator will provide a shared workspace for selected firms, potentially leased from or donated by a sponsoring firm. This would include desks, a conference/meeting room and access to printers and the web. A major vendor (we’re looking at you, Autodesk) could provide the software.
• The local chapter will provide access to mentors from established firms (fulfilling a portion of their public service requirements) that provide critical advice and recommendations on various aspects of establishing and managing an architectural practice.
• Mentors may assume greater responsibility within promising new practices in order to help them win or deliver more complex projects, in exchange for equity.
• Incubated firms and their projects are given access to an amazing network of collaborators and their work would be featured prominently in press and publications.

We would be willing to invest our time in a program like this by volunteering at the AIA New York chapter. Would you or the principals of your firm contribute? How do you think we can pull this off?  Please post your thoughts or questions in the comments, and let’s see how far we can take this.

About CASE:  Practice 2.0 is a periodic column by our friends at CASE. CASE exists where building and technology intersect. We are a Virtual Design and Construction (VDC), Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Technology Management consultancy based in New York City. CASE provides strategic advising to building design professionals, contractors and owners seeking to supplant traditional project delivery methods through technology-driven process innovation. Cite: CASE , CASE . "Practice 2.0: Championing the young architect’s career, a lesson from technology startups" 30 Jan 2012. ArchDaily. Accessed 15 Mar 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/203841>

 

Magic!!! Long Awaited Paneling Tools for Grasshopper This has been a long awaited feature for us and it has finally arrived, PanelingTools GH Add-On. Great work from Rajaa Issa and the folks at McNeel!

MADEOFFICE @ SELINUNTE sicily >>> Exhibition + Book's Presentation FROM MARCH 29 UNTIL APRIL 1 2012!!! MADEOFFICE è stato selezionato tra 20 emergenti studi studi italiani. Produrrà una propria mostra con tre pannelli espositivi a Selinunte in occasione dell'evento internazionale “Architects meet in Selinunte-Partire-Tornare-Restare” che si svolgerà dal 29 marzo al 1 aprile 2012. check our website >>> madeoffice.it more info on >>> click