Open Platform

“This event will complement SmartGeometry’s annual workshop and conference event, bringing many of SmartGeometry’s experienced tutors to guide participants in exploring computational design through a variety of technologies.”

 

about Smart Geometry:

“Architectural design with computational tools

Computation and the use of computer as an intelligent design aid provide the focus for the SmartGeometry Group. It was formed in 2001 as a partnership between Practice, Research and Academia. Some of the world’s leading architectural and engineering practices (Foster+Partners, KPF, Grimshaw, Arup, Buro Happold) and educational institutions (Architectural Association, MIT, Delft Technical University, University of Bath) are represented in its core organisation.

Geometry is one of many systems which are amenable to modeling. Architectural design as a process should, we maintain, exploit the new potential available in computing. To the new generations of architects mathematics and algorithms are becoming as natural as pen and pencil.

The activities of the SmartGeometry Group promote the emergence of a new generation of digital designers and craftsmen, who are able to expolit the combination of digital and physical media. The group’s interests range from parametric design and scripting to digital manufacturing.”

Michael Hansmeyer

i found Michael Hansmeyer’s work around 7 months ago, while searching for information about Algorithmic Architecture and learning how algoithms can work as a design tool. worth to pay it a visit!

“regardless of their complexity, the tasks and decisions involved [when designing a building] can be formalized as an algorithm. As such, algorithms provide a framework for articulating and defining both input data and procedures. This formalization can promote structure and coherency, while systemically maintaining full traceability of all input.”

The Wolfsburg Project

the new exhibition from James Turrell just opened in Wolfsburg (Germany), with what’s said to be “the worldwide largest museum installation he has made to date“: a sublime space of changing light, where our perception of it’s dimensions fade with the soft colours – a space for the meditative contemplation of pure, essential beauty.

after you get in, you never want to leave it… ever again!

Beyond Reality

it’s amazing how fast and how far technology is evolving… to the point that we can overcome reality with the feeling that the virtual is more realistic than the real – and that it, somehow, “feels” better.

in the the TED talk below, you can see how “The curious case of Benjamin Button” was created and how the team adventured into the dark and developed new technologies that made the impossible happen.

hope you enjoy it!

GENERATE

“Architects all over the world are fascinated by algorithmic architecture which uses computer scripting to generate design solutions. Scripts are made out of series of written commands which can be programmed to solve complex geometric problems. Scripts can also be used to generate new, unexpected outcomes as they have the ability to evaluate, process and build on the given commands. In architecture scripting can be used in a variety of ways for different purposes ranging from automation of simple tasks to the management of entire design processes.”

it will be a great opportunity for students (specially european students) to discover what’s being done in the frontline of architectural experimentation and inspire and challenge themselves into new ways to think and do architecture.

go for it!