Creative Art workshop - Damascus - results

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Creative Art workshop in Damascus

I've been invited by AIU - Arab International University and MAGLAB - as part of Maksoud Architectural Group to teach in a workshop called "Creative Art", a journey in territories where natural processes of morphogenesis tamper in the cultural ecosystem, exploring different ways of representing ideas through art concepts applied by an intensive search for spatial conditions in order to configure architectonical spaces.

You can follow the proceedings through the course blog here: http://creative-art-workshop.blogspot.com/

Co-de-iT website launch 01012010

I'm very honoured and happy to announce that together with Andrea Graziano and Davide Del Giudice we are starting a new adventure called Co-de-iT.

Co-de-iT is a connectivity HUB for computation, design, research & teaching in architecture. Project development and consultancy happen here, both first person by our team members or by building communication with specific required knowledge subjects, bridging different fields to the project.

Co-de-iT promotes (in Italy and abroad) events and workshops about digital tools and generative methodology into architectural and design process.

Co-de-iT operates as a catalyzer in the architectural process to trigger and engage (both conceptually and technically) levels of complexity and differentiation as an evolved answer to project instances that range from conceptual design to personalized fabrication.

Co-de-iT website - about us - our (starting) code page
Co-de-iT is also on facebook, Twitter and Architizer

: : Th. final thesis projects @ Università di Bologna: 1 of 3

Andrea Bugli is one of three students for whom I was the advisor at the University of Bologna who successfully discussed their graduation thesis projects on tuesday october 20th.

His project, "Digital refining: new winery for 'Consorzio Vini Tipici di S. Marino'", can be seen here. This post is also on the course blog.

An excerpt from his blog:

The work, that led to the design of the new winery for “Consorzio Vini Tipici di San Marino”, started with research about the shift of paradigm (from mechanicistic to ecological) that is affecting all the fields of human activity and consequently the architectural one. The new paradigm reveals how life on Earth belong to a big single web-system structured on many levels. This system is composed by all the environments and by all the living creatures that composed them, mutually influencing themselves in a cyclical way. The application of these ideas in architecture develops a new sensitivity that, starting from deep researches in the field of biology, studies how natural systems grow, differentiate and relate themselves with the external environment. The extrapolation of these natural laws, and its application in architectural field, allow to study, in depth and in a more efficient way, the relationship between the project and the environment (physical, cultural, social) which is located in.

From this point of view was developed a research on the algorithm of phyllotaxis: a system of natural closest packing that plants use to organize the arrangement of their lateral organs (leaves on a stem, scales on a cone axis, florets in a composite flower head) to optimize their exposure to rainfall and sunlight. The algorithm was reproduced, through the use of parametric design software (rhinoscript and grasshopper), and utilized for a case study on the generation of architectural shape. Subsequent elaborations allowed to link the algorithm of phyllotaxis to Incident Solar Radiation analysis on the architectural surfaces. In this way I could differentiate structure's permeability to sunlight on the basis of environmental data. The interaction between the algorithm (endogenous bind) and the solar gradient (exogenous bind), allows to generate an architectural shape directly influenced by the environment in which is located.

This research was applied to the design of the new winery for “Consorzio Vini Tipici di San Marino”. A winery is a complex system that made necessary a deep analysis of the relationship between the inner activities and the environmental factors. This interaction, between project and site, allowed to organize a gravity system of reception of grapes, with a remarkable increase of quality of produced wine. Besides, sightseeing areas were integrated in the inner work spaces to permit a complete comprehension of the “wine cycle” by the visitors. Solved the functional structure of the building, the algorithm of phyllotaxis was used to create multiperformance membranes that perform structural function of covering and adjustment of sunlight permeability at the same time. In this way, in every area of the winery, variation of sunlight permeability allowed to create heterogeneous working environment in which coexist working areas (with excellent natural lighting levels) and storage areas (with low lighting levels that contribute to a better maturation of wine).

[attr]-action - flowerstore project

Taking advantage of the recent project feature on SuckerPunchDaily, I would like to fill a gap with this project and share it here as well (you can find the full version on my new starting adventure: Co-de-iT).

[attr]-action - flowerstore project

Barcelona, 2008

Flowers are considered mainly as symbols of grace, beauty, fragility and transiency of things. They were the very first form of human body decoration (such as jewels), used to enhance seductive qualities. Besides their semiologic value, flowers are exceptional organs in which performance and economy of form are highly evolved: space, structure and material are tightly connected to environmental behavior.

Flowering plants, thanks to sexuated reproduction, are one of the most adaptive specie; flowers are their sexual organs. Entomophilous flowers rely on insects as hosts to perform sexuated reproduction (through pollination), so they base their reproductive potential on attraction. Differently from anemophilous flowers (which rely on wind and are mostly white and inodor), entomophilous show a wider range of forms, spatial organizations, color patterns and odors. Beauty then performs an essential function, triggering different strategies which are actuated through morphological conditions.

Starting from the analysis of the properties of the Cyclamen Graecum, we investigated the particular conditions of its petals: they are the main tool through which the flower signals its presence to insects. In the Cyclamen the weight of the head bends the stem downward, thus easing insect approaching from below, while petals elongate and bend upward signaling the flower position, creating a very interesting topological condition around the corolla. Their plication creates a continuous passage from outer to inner space, just like some typical topological surfaces, such as the Klein Bottle, which are continuously spatially connected. The differentiation of inner spaces out of continuous surfaces is a typical topological condition in living organisms and it is a phenomenon which starts in the embryo, when the initial cell aggregation (blastula) starts bending inward and creates the first spatial differentiation between outside and inside; it is called gastrulation. Another concept related to the Klein Bottle, this time from the side of mathematics, is involution, a mathematical function which applied twice brings back to the starting point.

The petals condition (along with the concepts of involution, gastrulation and with the translucency and color properties of the petals) was then explored under TopMod®, a topological mesh modeler, testing different strategies within an open process that led to the final shape through generative process driven by the program and a selection criteria based on consistency with the conceptual basis, avoiding a mere biomorphic translation.

The pavilion is a continuous surface that differentiates environment into 3 different spaces: an exterior outside the pavilion in which the envelope surface defines the overall shape and two different interior spaces, a ring that embraces a court and creates different gradients of use within it. Different gradients of transparency/translucency, established according to a map of activities based on performative qualities of morphology, are implemented through the use of holes in the surface and not only relying on material properties (pigmentation).

Project story

[attr]-action is a project developed together with Antonio Vacca from alfa301 during "flower obsession" studio, held by SPAN (Matias Del Campo + sandra Manninger) in the Biodigital Architecture Master at ESARQ, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, 2008. Thanks to Matias & Sandra for their inspirational studio & teaching.

Featured on:

:: 2008: . Beijing Architecture Biennale, selected among others to represent ESARQ (see my older post)
:: 2009: . AAST/// exhibition Settimo Torinese 17.04>17.05 2009
. AAST/// exhibition Torino 23.06.2009
. SuckerPunchDaily.

Ben Fry - The Preservation of Favoured traces

Knowledge, as any other thing, evolves in space and time, differentiating in complexity, developing and regressing its aspects throughout the whole process. Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" makes no exception: far from being a theory carved in stone out of pure thought, it evolved and changed as Darwin's studies went further on. Ben Fry, thanks to the effort made by Dr. John van Wyhe, et al. who run The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online, released The Preservation of Favoured traces, a tool that allows users to watch the book evolve across its six editions as Darwin reconsidered his arguments (also in response to the period's criticisms). Check also his interview on Seed magazine.

Re-linked from Andrea Graziano on twitter.

f2f Conference - Chania - Greece

In the next september 3 & 4 I'll be presenting a short paper called "Porosity by Curvature" at the File 2 Factory international conference.

The conference is about processes that generate continuous paths from the digital design to fabrication techniques. In my paper I will briefly discuss the theoretical premises of a small fabrication experiment as a proof of concept in the investigation of implicit geometry properties (in this case curvature). Those properties are not only abstract cartesian mathematical concepts, but in a space which is fully permeated with continuous gradients of force fields they are virtual properties (which can actualize into a shape) affecting morphogenesis. On top of that, fabrication tools and techniques add their own properties in the mix, endowing the final product with the possibility to exhibit emergent properties which are not present in the digital model. On this point many translations from the digital are considered a failure just because they do not match the digital image, and a lot of effort is put on the attempt to domesticate machines and get as close as possible to the "perfection" of the digital: my opinion is that the "perfection of the digital" is a misleading concept, I rather think that the digital model is missing exactely material system characters, which are properties of fabrication techniques and materials used. What is generally considered an "imperfection" is in my opinion an emergent property endowed by the physical actualization of the model.

In my Flickr you can find photos of finished model, such as this one:



The prototype was produced with a Z-Corp 3D printer @ SILAB, Università di Bologna with the help of Giovanni Bacci.

the Nature of Code - Daniel Shiffman

Daniel Shiffman is a Processing artist and teacher (just check his bio). In his blog, among a comprehensive programming and Processing tutorial list, there is the Nature of Code, a page dedicated to the interwoven relations among emergence, code, maths, physics and nature. Directly from Daniel's web page:

Can we capture the unpredictable evolutionary and emergent properties of nature in software? Can understanding the mathematical principles behind our physical world world help us to create digital worlds? This class will focus on the programming strategies and techniques behind computer simulations of natural systems. We’ll explore topics ranging from basic mathematics and physics concepts to more advanced simulations of complex systems. Subjects covered will include forces, trigonometry, fractals, cellular automata, self-organization, and genetic algorithms.

. e-cloud on Wilfing Architettura: Droste Effect

Salvatore D'Agostino, the italian blogger behind Wilfing Architettura, asked me a couple of simple yet tangling questions:

. Which famous architect do you like? Why?
. Which non-famous architect do you like? Why?

I'm glad for the opportunity for which I thank Salvatore, though seeing my answers there (both text and picture) gave me a kind of Droste effect...

AAST exhibition @ Piazza dei Mestieri

AAST exhibition opens now in Piazza dei Mestieri in Torino, a wonderful place held by a fundation that aims at introducing young people in the working world through several labs inspired by old piazzas where different activities spontaneously once met and exchanged skills and products. There are kitchen, food and applied arts labs; among all these activities soaked in a nice atmosphere, they also brew their own beers that you can taste and buy at the inner pub.

Ahem... back to the exhibition, this time all the panels create an enclosure around the models, solving the exhibition path in a ring between the two.


VIRTUAL AND ADVANCED ARCHITECTURE EXHIBITION

june, 23rd - july, 17th

MON-FRI 10-18
SAT 16-18
Piazza dei Mestieri · Via J. Durandi 13, Torino

FREE ADMITTANCE


Images taken from AAST blog.

Visualizzazione ingrandita della mappa