digital aptitudes - Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture
digital aptitudes - Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture
digital aptitudes - Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture
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ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
DIGITAL APTITUDES<br />
+ other openings<br />
Mark Goulthorpe + Amy Murphy, Editors<br />
ABSTRACT BOOK
Copyright © 2012 <strong>Association</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Collegiate</strong> <strong>Schools</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Architecture</strong>,<br />
Inc., except where otherwise restricted. All rights reserved.<br />
No material may be reproduced without permission <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Association</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>Collegiate</strong> <strong>Schools</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Architecture</strong>.<br />
<strong>Association</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Collegiate</strong> <strong>Schools</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Architecture</strong><br />
1735 New York Ave., NW<br />
Washington, DC 20006<br />
www.acsa-arch.org
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS<br />
ACSA wishes to thank the conference co-chairs, Mark Goulthorpe, Massachusetts Institute <strong>of</strong> Technology, and Amy<br />
Murphy, University <strong>of</strong> Southern California, as well as the topic chairs, reviewers, and authors for their hard work in<br />
organizing the Annual Meeting.<br />
EDITORS/ANNUAL MEETING CO-CHAIRS<br />
Mark Goulthorpe, Massachusetts Institute <strong>of</strong> Technology<br />
Amy Murphy, University <strong>of</strong> Southern California<br />
TOPIC AND SESSION CHAIRS<br />
1912: Progress, Technology, and Nature<br />
Fran Leadon, City College <strong>of</strong> New York<br />
1988–1997: Ambitions and Apprehensions <strong>of</strong> a<br />
“Digital Revolution”<br />
John Stuart, Florida International University<br />
Sunil Bald, Yale University<br />
4D <strong>Architecture</strong><br />
Keith Green, Clemson University<br />
Advanced Composite Fabrication Technologies for<br />
<strong>Architecture</strong><br />
Michael Silver, Mike Silver Architects<br />
The Agency <strong>of</strong> Drawing and the Digital Process<br />
Andrew Atwood, University <strong>of</strong> Southern California<br />
Automatism, or, Post-Medium <strong>Architecture</strong> and Post-<br />
War Art<br />
Sean Keller, Illinois Institute <strong>of</strong> Technology<br />
Becoming Computational: Restructuring/<br />
Reconsidering Pedagogy Towards a (More)<br />
Computational Discipline<br />
Chris Beorkrem, University <strong>of</strong> North Carolina at Charlotte<br />
Nicholas Senske, University <strong>of</strong> North Carolina at Charlotte<br />
Beyond Digital: Speculations on Analog Convergence<br />
Brian Lonsway, Syracuse University<br />
Design Computation: Parametrics, Performance,<br />
Pedagogy and Praxis<br />
Karen Kensek, University <strong>of</strong> Southern California<br />
Digital Details<br />
Matt Burgermaster, New Jersey Institute <strong>of</strong> Technology<br />
Digital Nouveau and the New Materiality<br />
Armando Montilla, Clemson University<br />
Emerging Materials, Renewable Energy, and<br />
Ecological Design<br />
Franca Trubiano, University <strong>of</strong> Pennsylvania<br />
Integration, Not Segregation: Interdisciplinary Design<br />
Pedagogy for the Second 100 Years<br />
James Doerfler, California Polytechnic State University<br />
Kevin Dong, California Polytechnic State University<br />
Open: Community<br />
Tom Fisher, University <strong>of</strong> Minnesota<br />
Open: Disaster Recovery<br />
Charles Setchell, USAID Office <strong>of</strong> US Foreign Disaster<br />
Assistance<br />
Open: Diversity<br />
Brian Kelly, University <strong>of</strong> Maryland<br />
Open: History/Theory<br />
Vittoria Di Palma, Columbia University<br />
Open: Sustainable Design<br />
Adrian Parr, University <strong>of</strong> Cincinnati<br />
Open: Urbanism<br />
Tim Love, Northeastern University<br />
Post-Parametric Environments<br />
Jennifer Leung, Yale University<br />
Registration and Projection: The Mediations <strong>of</strong> Urban<br />
Imaging Technologies<br />
McLain Clutter, University <strong>of</strong> Michigan<br />
Situated Technologies<br />
Jordan Geiger, University at Buffalo, SUNY<br />
Omar Khan, University at Buffalo, SUNY<br />
Mark Shepard, University at Buffalo, SUNY<br />
Teaching History in the Digital Age<br />
Carla Keyvanian, Auburn University<br />
Theoretical Implications <strong>of</strong> BIM: Performance and<br />
Interpretation<br />
John Folan, Carnegie Mellon University<br />
Ute Poerschke, Pennsylvania State University<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 3
CONTENTS<br />
Thursday, March 1, 2012<br />
12:00PM - 1:30PM<br />
5 Design Computation:<br />
Parametrics, Performance,<br />
Pedagogy and Praxis<br />
6 Open: Community (1)<br />
7 Open: History/Theory<br />
Thursday, March 1, 2012<br />
2:00PM - 3:30PM<br />
8 Open: Sustainable Design<br />
9 Registration and Projection:<br />
The Mediations <strong>of</strong> Urban<br />
Imaging Technologies<br />
10 The Agency <strong>of</strong> Drawing and<br />
the Digital Process<br />
Thursday, March 1, 2012<br />
4:00PM - 5:30PM<br />
11 1912: Progress, Technology,<br />
and Nature<br />
12 Advanced Composite<br />
Fabrication Technologies for<br />
<strong>Architecture</strong><br />
13 Becoming Computational:<br />
Restructuring/ Reconsidering<br />
Pedagogy Towards a (More)<br />
Computational Discipline<br />
Friday, March 2, 2012<br />
11:00AM - 12:30 PM<br />
14 Automatism, or, Post-Medium<br />
<strong>Architecture</strong> and Post-War Art<br />
15 Open: Disaster Recovery<br />
17 Open: Urbanism<br />
18 Open: Diversity<br />
Friday, March 2, 2012<br />
2:00PM - 3:30PM<br />
19 Beyond Digital: Speculations<br />
on Analog Convergence<br />
21 Emerging Materials,<br />
Renewable Energy, and<br />
Ecological Design (1)<br />
23 Open: Community (2)<br />
4 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
Friday, March 2, 2012<br />
4:00PM - 5:30PM<br />
24 1988–1997: Ambitions and<br />
Apprehensions <strong>of</strong> a “Digital<br />
Revolution”<br />
25 Digital Nouveau and the New<br />
Materiality<br />
27 Emerging Materials,<br />
Renewable Energy, and<br />
Ecological Design (2)<br />
Saturday, March 3, 2012<br />
10:30AM - 12:00PM<br />
28 4D <strong>Architecture</strong><br />
29 Digital Details<br />
30 Integration, Not Segregation:<br />
Interdisciplinary Design<br />
Pedagogy for the Second 100<br />
Years<br />
Saturday, March 3, 2012<br />
2:00PM - 3:30PM<br />
31 Post-Parametric Environments<br />
32 Situated Technologies<br />
Saturday, March 3, 2012<br />
4:00PM - 5:30PM<br />
33 Teaching History in the Digital<br />
Age<br />
34 Theoretical Implications <strong>of</strong><br />
BIM: Performance and<br />
Interpretation<br />
Project presentations<br />
Saturday, March 3, 2012<br />
12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
35 <strong>Architecture</strong><br />
42 Design<br />
45 Disaster<br />
46 Ecology<br />
47 Landscape<br />
48 Open<br />
52 Society<br />
54 Technology
THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012 - 12:00PM - 1:30PM<br />
Design Computation: Parametrics, Performance,<br />
Pedagogy and Praxis<br />
Karen Kensek, University <strong>of</strong> Southern California<br />
Folded Sun-Shades: From Origami to <strong>Architecture</strong><br />
Nancy Yen-wen Cheng, University <strong>of</strong> Oregon<br />
Abraham Rodriguez, University <strong>of</strong> Oregon<br />
Ashley Koger, University <strong>of</strong> Oregon<br />
This paper describes a hybrid <strong>digital</strong>+physical process for designing<br />
decorative and functional sun-shading screens that flex to meet<br />
changing diurnal and seasonal lighting requirements. A range <strong>of</strong><br />
techniques was used to optimize the visual effects created from a<br />
single sheet. Experiments in cutting and folding were combined<br />
with photography and solar testing using a heliodon and artificial<br />
sky. Material characteristics discovered through physical manipulation<br />
and direct observation shaped the geometric transformation<br />
and parametric modeling <strong>of</strong> lasercut patterns. The paper illustrates<br />
how each technique shaped the design development in a delicate<br />
balance <strong>of</strong> directed study and serendipitous discovery.<br />
Beyond demonstrating possibilities and limitations <strong>of</strong> cut and folded<br />
contiguous sheets as lighting modulators, the project shows<br />
how a material study can be targeted towards architectural applications.<br />
Defining a specific architectural problem is crucial for<br />
focusing the work towards building performance. The context<br />
limits the design exploration and sharpens the defining questions.<br />
For the <strong>digital</strong>+physical design process to trigger different modes<br />
<strong>of</strong> thinking, design education and the studio environment need to<br />
support agile shifts between design methods. Bringing together individuals<br />
with complementary skills and backgrounds enriches how<br />
a project can take advantage <strong>of</strong> these multiple modes.<br />
Performance-Based Generative Design. An<br />
Investigation <strong>of</strong> the Parametric Nature <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Architecture</strong><br />
Ming Tang, University <strong>of</strong> Cincinnati<br />
This paper investigates a collaborative research and teaching project<br />
between the University <strong>of</strong> Cincinnati, Perkins+Will’s Tech Lab<br />
and nD group, and the University <strong>of</strong> North Carolina Greensboro. The<br />
primary investigation focuses on the design and fabrication <strong>of</strong> building<br />
components, derived from performance-based parameters. The<br />
project examines various approaches including theoretical investigations<br />
and proprietary s<strong>of</strong>tware tools for parametric design.<br />
The paper first gives a short historical and philosophical background<br />
to performance-based design, then describes the technical and algorithmic<br />
requirements, and concludes with the examples <strong>of</strong> implementation.<br />
With two design courses taught in 2011, the authors discuss<br />
the “shared body plan” as an essential element for applying<br />
generative form-seeking methods in architectural design. Design<br />
methodologies, such as use <strong>of</strong> building performance simulation<br />
tools, genetic morphing, and fitness evaluations are discussed as<br />
new paradigms in generative, performance-based design.<br />
This paper also investigates how the large quantity <strong>of</strong> iterations can<br />
be filtered and selected based on the feasibility <strong>of</strong> fabrication and<br />
materialization processes. Using several student projects, the paper<br />
demonstrates the methods <strong>of</strong> mass customization and parametric<br />
iteration through physical prototyping.. The parameters related with<br />
fabrication have been implemented to generate a large quantity <strong>of</strong><br />
creative solutions, whereas genetic algorithm functions are introduced<br />
as optimizers.<br />
As a conclusion, this paper summarizes the formation process that<br />
nature permits in order to sustain a generative system. The paper analyzes<br />
several design and prototyping procedures, and illustrates how<br />
these performance-driven design approaches can be used for innovative<br />
forms, utilizing benefits <strong>of</strong> performance-based influences in architecture<br />
beyond formal assumption and aesthetic experimentation.<br />
Material in Performance-driven Architectural<br />
Geometry<br />
Sevil Yazici, Istanbul Technical University<br />
Leyla Tanacan, Istanbul Technical University<br />
Advanced Computer Aided Design Techniques liberated non-Euclidian<br />
geometries such as freeform surfaces. In today’s architectural<br />
practice, there is a necessity to subdivide complex geometries<br />
into smaller components for realization <strong>of</strong> buildings because <strong>of</strong> the<br />
current limitations in Computer Aided Manufacturing Techniques.<br />
Architectural geometry is an emerging field <strong>of</strong> research focusing<br />
on rationalization <strong>of</strong> freeform surfaces. This field <strong>of</strong> research is investigated<br />
with panelization tools. However, these tools are not<br />
able to accommodate requirements related to the material properties<br />
and building performance. Today, computational tools associated<br />
with performance analysis, evaluation and optimization are<br />
undertaken during a later stage <strong>of</strong> the design process, following<br />
the form generation. This paper aims to discuss how material can<br />
be integrated into a parametric model in which architectural geometry,<br />
material and building performance are interdependent for<br />
increasing efficiency in the design process. A parametrically defined<br />
architectural surface is generated, analyzed and evaluated as<br />
a case study where parametric modeling, panelization tools and<br />
series <strong>of</strong> analysis tools including Finite Element Method Analysis<br />
are used with the intent <strong>of</strong> mapping critical procedures towards<br />
building a complex architectural surface. Different types <strong>of</strong> materials<br />
are tested for the surface within imposed boundary conditions<br />
to assess and compare their structural performance. Future lines <strong>of</strong><br />
research are indicated in the paper.<br />
Signature <strong>Architecture</strong> Franchising: Improving<br />
Average <strong>Architecture</strong> Using BIM<br />
Ehsan Barekati, Texas A&M University<br />
James Haliburton, Prairie View A&M University<br />
Mark Clayton, Texas A&M University<br />
Ozan Ozener, Texas A&M University<br />
Building Information Modeling provides capabilities to aid architectural<br />
design that are so revolutionary as to enable new forms<br />
<strong>of</strong> practice. Signature architecture franchising is a design process<br />
and workflow that makes use <strong>of</strong> a “seed” BIM that a designer can<br />
modify rapidly to create a custom design. The design can be constrained<br />
to conform to characteristics <strong>of</strong> a signature architectural<br />
style through use <strong>of</strong> constraints, components and standard assemblies<br />
or families. The design can also be subjected to rigorous analysis<br />
for performance in domains such as energy consumption, construction<br />
cost and construction schedule. Experiments that have<br />
been conducted to explore and test the idea indicate that signature<br />
architecture franchising appears feasible. It may enable designers<br />
to expand market share and increase quality significantly, perhaps<br />
enabling substantial reductions in energy consumption in average<br />
buildings in the future.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 5
THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012 - 12:00PM - 1:30PM<br />
Open: Community (1)<br />
Tom Fisher, University <strong>of</strong> Minnesota<br />
A Small House Nation: Making Our Stuff Fit<br />
James O’Brien, Miami University<br />
Our homes inform the way we live. We spend years <strong>of</strong> our lives<br />
working to pay mortgages, electricity bills, cooling, heating, and<br />
plumbing repair services. As Americans, we have had no reason to<br />
scale down. In 1973, the average single family home in the United<br />
States measured 1400 square feet while today the average single<br />
family home is just over 2,200 square feet. The phrase bigger is<br />
better has informed our spending and building habits as a nation<br />
and our Achilles heel may lie in the more than three and a half million<br />
square miles <strong>of</strong> land within U.S. borders. We’ve built not out <strong>of</strong><br />
necessity but because land is both available and cheap. Following<br />
a brief history <strong>of</strong> the small house movement, this article addresses<br />
the essential functions <strong>of</strong> the house paying close attention to anthropometry<br />
and the ergonomics <strong>of</strong> space. Through a comparative<br />
analysis <strong>of</strong> three homes under 600 square feet and one cottage<br />
development, I’ll argue the case for small housing as a viable solution<br />
for sustainable domestic living, not only for individuals but for<br />
communities.<br />
Bricks and Bones: Discovering Atlanta’s Forgotten<br />
Spaces <strong>of</strong> Neo-Slavery<br />
Richard Becherer, Southern Polytechnic State University<br />
Over the past two years, my students and I have been fascinated<br />
with a rundown site on the Chattahoochee River, Atlanta’s western<br />
boundary: the Chattahoochee Brick Company, home to the first<br />
and largest <strong>of</strong> Atlanta’s brick factories. Local War hero Captain<br />
James English built it in 1878, and he and his family managed it for<br />
almost a century. Our research revealed that English had a private<br />
prison on the site, and that he used convicts as forced labor under<br />
the most abject conditions. A 1907 Sanborn map gives us an inking<br />
<strong>of</strong> the housing: three convict “tenements” beside the front gate.<br />
Furthermore, we learned what became <strong>of</strong> some <strong>of</strong> them at least.<br />
In two construction drawings taken from the hundreds that we<br />
salvaged from the site, we discovered a pair <strong>of</strong> graveyards. Even<br />
more surprising is the fact that both spots remain quite evident<br />
today on the site. Out <strong>of</strong> this work, my students came to realize<br />
that any urban site having such a long work history (like this one’s)<br />
must be haunted with stories worth knowing, stories that expose<br />
the human costs behind even the most mundane <strong>of</strong> materialities.<br />
They also learned that such stories are potentially generative <strong>of</strong><br />
form. But their discoveries also left them in a quandary: In light <strong>of</strong><br />
such terrible histories as Chattahoochee Brick’s, how is it to intervene,<br />
how is it to design? When confronted by sites and histories<br />
like these can ours ever be business as usual?<br />
6 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
Four Transit Villages for Nashville: A Case Study in<br />
University Research and Livable Communities<br />
Thomas Davis, II, University <strong>of</strong> Tennessee<br />
With the broad support <strong>of</strong> both public and private sectors, Greater<br />
Nashville is rapidly laying the groundwork for an extension <strong>of</strong> its<br />
mass transit network out into its region.<br />
In conjunction with these efforts, T. K. Davis’ University <strong>of</strong> Tennessee<br />
urban design students in Spring 2010 worked on team projects<br />
for four potential or existing transit station stops in Greater<br />
Nashville. The Nashville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization<br />
(MPO) sponsored the studio in the amount <strong>of</strong> $11,000, in cooperation<br />
with the Nashville Civic Design Center. This is an example <strong>of</strong><br />
teaching, creative design and service as a form <strong>of</strong> applied research,<br />
in which design proposals apply current urban design theories and<br />
best practices related to Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) and<br />
Livable Communities.<br />
MPO identified four sites for “Transit Villages” in the generally suburban<br />
area surrounding Nashville. One site has an existing commuter<br />
rail transit stop, which could serve as a catalyst for economic<br />
development. At the three other sites, however, the ultimate mode<br />
<strong>of</strong> mass transit was yet to be determined. In these cases, design<br />
proposals were requested that would be capable <strong>of</strong> accommodating<br />
all three <strong>of</strong> the potential mass transit options: commuter rail,<br />
light rail transit (LRT) or bus rapid transit (BRT).<br />
A unique aspect <strong>of</strong> this studio involved the formation <strong>of</strong> interdisciplinary<br />
teams <strong>of</strong> the University <strong>of</strong> Tennessee undergraduate architecture<br />
students paired with graduate students from the Vanderbilt<br />
University Owen School <strong>of</strong> Management. Under the direction <strong>of</strong><br />
faculty member Thomas McDaniel, a case study <strong>of</strong> regional transit<br />
villages was the Capstone Project for the Real Estate Development<br />
MBA Program.<br />
This studio sought to balance three equally important agendas:<br />
first, to present a very intense learning opportunity in urban design<br />
for the students; second, to engage the students in the thinking<br />
and priorities <strong>of</strong> developers, on the principle that this knowledge<br />
can significantly empower the designer to be proactive, and not<br />
reactive, by adding value both in project design and economics;<br />
and third, to structure the studio as a public advocacy <strong>of</strong> TOD as a<br />
way to build “Livable Communities.”<br />
Could this collaboration between two university programs, and disciplines,<br />
be a model component for in-depth consideration <strong>of</strong> TOD<br />
in other metropolitan areas? This paper will discuss the challenges<br />
and opportunities <strong>of</strong> a “creative work as applied research” teaching<br />
model. It will also disclose design and development outcomes as a<br />
case study, and suggest where Nashville goes from here.
THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012 - 12:00PM - 1:30PM<br />
Open: History/Theory<br />
Vittoria Di Palma, Columbia University<br />
Blow-Up: <strong>Architecture</strong> and the Technology <strong>of</strong><br />
Contemporary Art<br />
Nora Wendl, Portland State University<br />
Isabelle Wallace, University <strong>of</strong> Georgia<br />
The contemporary architectural reading <strong>of</strong> technology as instrumental<br />
is far removed from the Greek origins <strong>of</strong> the word, techne,<br />
knowledge related to making. The danger—and the opportunity—<br />
<strong>of</strong> such instrumental thinking is that it reduces architectural practice<br />
to a series <strong>of</strong> specialized strategies or operations that can be<br />
done by anyone, opening it up to appropriation. Appropriating the<br />
strategies and operations <strong>of</strong> architecture has been, for artists from<br />
the 1960s forward, the most direct method <strong>of</strong> institutional critique,<br />
a radical turn on the historical relationship between art and architecture<br />
through which art has <strong>of</strong>ten been the necessary vehicle, the<br />
technology, by which the perception, representation and the making<br />
<strong>of</strong> architecture is transformed.<br />
Over the last twenty-five years, art has become more than a technique<br />
to embellish or advance architectural form, it has become a<br />
site for architecture’s analysis. For, although architecture has always<br />
been a motif within the visual arts, in increasing numbers, and as<br />
if in response to architecture’s own willingness to picture itself—a<br />
willingness that begins in the Postmodern era— architecture is now<br />
the explicit subject <strong>of</strong> much visual art across media. Consequently,<br />
and as this paper will examine, a certain faction <strong>of</strong> contemporary art<br />
can be viewed as a silent compliment to the acknowledged history<br />
<strong>of</strong> the built environment—a non-verbal form <strong>of</strong> architectural history,<br />
a legitimate site <strong>of</strong> interpretation, criticism, and analysis—and, as this<br />
paper will argue, a technology through which architecture is experienced,<br />
theorized, historicized and disseminated.<br />
Digital Ecstasy: <strong>Architecture</strong> in the Post-Fordist era<br />
Elie Haddad, Lebanese American University<br />
Nadir Lahiji, Pennsylvania State University<br />
For three decades, academia and pr<strong>of</strong>essional architectural establishments<br />
have euphorically embraced exactly what this ACSA conference,<br />
in celebration <strong>of</strong> its hundredth anniversary, has termed as<br />
“<strong>digital</strong> aptitude.” Without a doubt, the imperatives <strong>of</strong> the postmodern<br />
culture have brought to the fore a gifted generation with an incomparable<br />
skill and talent to manipulate new <strong>digital</strong> technologies<br />
for design practices. But, significantly, the same gifted generation<br />
has demonstrated a parallel talent corollary with the first, which we<br />
shall call “political inaptitude.” We claim that this political inaptitude<br />
is the dialectical opposite, or the negative obverse, <strong>of</strong> the same <strong>digital</strong><br />
aptitude underlying postmodern design practices. In this paper<br />
we will attempt to critique this new design approach, which simultaneously<br />
displays both sides <strong>of</strong> this dialectic. We begin by posing this<br />
question: should the <strong>digital</strong> aptitude be necessarily accompanied<br />
by a separation from the ‘political’, a separation that is one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
symptoms <strong>of</strong> our society <strong>of</strong> the spectacle? Our initial answer to this<br />
question is an emphatic No! We will argue against this inauspicious<br />
separation and examine some <strong>of</strong> its theoretical causes.<br />
Leftovers: Residual and Risk in “Our Digital Present”<br />
Jasmine Benyamin, Texas A&M University<br />
Despite the so called ‘post-critical’ moment <strong>of</strong> our <strong>digital</strong> present,<br />
those <strong>of</strong> us who are more involved in thinking about buildings than<br />
in their making may find opportunities for critical inquiry after all,<br />
thereby avoiding the risk <strong>of</strong> disciplinary extinction. In this essay I<br />
propose possible avenues for a critical re-engagement with current<br />
practice, through the lens <strong>of</strong> residual and risk. Further, I argue that<br />
how we write and talk about buildings needs to undergo a paradigmatic<br />
shift, since the way buildings are made has fundamentally<br />
altered. In fact, given the current emphasis on process over<br />
representation, we have a renewed responsibility to inquire about<br />
the changing paradigms <strong>of</strong> authorship in current practice, but also<br />
in our thinking about practice. What are the implications <strong>of</strong> collaborative<br />
process-based practice on (singular) authorial subject?<br />
Does the notion <strong>of</strong> process itself so central to emergent technologies<br />
risk the loss <strong>of</strong> the author? Can authorship be re-defined and<br />
re-inscribed in process if not in outmoded notions <strong>of</strong> intent? This,<br />
after all, must not kill that.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 7
THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012 - 2:00PM - 3:30PM<br />
Open: Sustainable Design<br />
Adrian Parr, University <strong>of</strong> Cincinnati<br />
The Ontological Performance <strong>of</strong> Sustainable Design<br />
Michael Harpster, University <strong>of</strong> Nebraska-Lincoln<br />
In recent years, conversations concerning sustainable design have<br />
focused almost exclusively on questions <strong>of</strong> resource conservation<br />
and energy efficiency within the built environment. As a result, many<br />
assume sustainable design methodologies lead to an improvement<br />
in the quantitative energy performance <strong>of</strong> a building – nothing more.<br />
While such understandings <strong>of</strong> sustainable design are not inaccurate,<br />
I do believe they present an incomplete account <strong>of</strong> the impact sustainable<br />
design has (or might have) on our lives. It is my goal to<br />
explore the non-quantitative impacts sustainable design has on our<br />
lives and to thereby provide a fuller and perhaps more meaningful<br />
understanding <strong>of</strong> sustainable design. Ultimately, I hope to shift the<br />
discussion away from quantitative or technological performance and<br />
toward what I refer to as the ontological performance <strong>of</strong> sustainable<br />
design solutions. In speaking <strong>of</strong> ontological performance, I refer to<br />
a structure’s ability to reveal the fundamental characteristics <strong>of</strong> human<br />
being or existence. More specifically, I intend to examine the<br />
potential that sustainable design material strategies and active solar<br />
technologies have to reveal our basic relation to and place within the<br />
natural world, our situation both in and across time, and our basic<br />
human mortality. Finally, while this discussion represents merely a<br />
brief introduction to the idea <strong>of</strong> the ontological performance <strong>of</strong> sustainable<br />
design, a number <strong>of</strong> additional issues are outlined in hopes<br />
<strong>of</strong> promoting and providing direction for further consideration <strong>of</strong><br />
sustainable design’s ability to shape the way in which we understand<br />
what it is to exist in the world.<br />
Uneasy Green: The Value <strong>of</strong> a Semi-Autonomous,<br />
Productively Critical Green <strong>Architecture</strong><br />
Doug Jackson, California Polytechnic State University<br />
The architectural discipline’s current attempts to address the environmental<br />
crisis are problematically marked by either an attempt to<br />
deploy architecture’s unrivalled formal expertise to produce monolithic<br />
works that appeal to culture’s unquenchable thirst for novelty,<br />
or else a foregrounding <strong>of</strong> architecture’s technical and organizational<br />
prowess in order to meet culture’s ever-present appreciation<br />
<strong>of</strong> performance and pragmatism. The trivial and unremarkable work<br />
that results from these two approaches, however, undermines the<br />
status <strong>of</strong> the architectural discipline relative to the larger culture.<br />
In sharp contrast, the projects presented in this paper demonstrate<br />
a more appropriate way for architecture to respond to the environmental<br />
crisis. These projects are not intended as models for green<br />
or sustainable building, since their value lies not in their ability to<br />
be absorbed by the mainstream but rather in their unique ability to<br />
stand productively outside <strong>of</strong> it—providing critically alternative experiences<br />
that have the ability to beneficially affect the course <strong>of</strong> the<br />
mainstream. Accordingly, they act as agents for changing the way<br />
that individuals view their relationship to the natural environment<br />
and to the larger, abstract entities that alter, exploit, and transform<br />
the environment on their behalf.<br />
8 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
Consequently, these examples demonstrate how the discipline’s<br />
expectation to speak to the culture at large can finally be redeemed<br />
through its unique ability to productively engage broad-reaching<br />
and significant issues—issues that are crucial to the rectification <strong>of</strong><br />
humanity’s seemingly unrelenting environmental degradation, and<br />
which are far from answered by architecture’s recent short-sighted,<br />
unremarkable, and post-critical performance-driven efforts.<br />
Yes, They Do Walk in Suburbia: Multifamily Housing<br />
and Trips to Strips<br />
Nico Larco, University <strong>of</strong> Oregon<br />
Marc Schlossberg, University <strong>of</strong> Oregon<br />
Suburbia is <strong>of</strong>ten considered antithetical to the idea <strong>of</strong> walking and<br />
biking to local shops and restaurants because <strong>of</strong> its lack <strong>of</strong> density<br />
and destinations, long distances to travel, and auto-oriented design.<br />
While this may be the case for some parts <strong>of</strong> suburbia, the<br />
suburban commercial strip and the multifamily housing that typically<br />
surrounds it stand as widespread exceptions to this notion.<br />
These overlooked areas <strong>of</strong> density and mixed use actually foster<br />
significant walking and biking by residents. This paper presents recent<br />
research that found that not only is there already a significant<br />
amount <strong>of</strong> walking and biking in these areas, but that the design<br />
and connectivity <strong>of</strong> the multifamily housing and its surroundings<br />
is critical to increasing that amount <strong>of</strong> walking and biking. These<br />
findings points to a significant opportunity to recast our understanding<br />
<strong>of</strong> suburbia and the potential it might hold to create more<br />
sustainable models that are centered around walkable, active development.
THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012 - 2:00PM - 3:30PM<br />
Registration and Projection: The Mediations <strong>of</strong> Urban<br />
Imaging Technologies<br />
McLain Clutter, University <strong>of</strong> Michigan<br />
Aerial Vision-Based Model <strong>of</strong> Urbanism<br />
El Hadi Jazairy, University <strong>of</strong> Michigan<br />
Google Earth and airplanes give access to map-scale top-down<br />
views <strong>of</strong> cities. As a result, observers have a perspective allowing<br />
them to view cities as a whole in a towering position as if they controlled<br />
it from outside. This position empowers policy-makers and<br />
city users giving them a sense <strong>of</strong> control over the visualized object<br />
thereby making it submissive to their desires. This paper is an attempt<br />
to relate the meaning and agency <strong>of</strong> aerial vision with the<br />
emergence <strong>of</strong> a ‘new geography from above’ in the Gulf.<br />
Modeling Spatial Activity Distributions in Complex<br />
Urban Conditions: The Markov Chain Model for<br />
Weighting Spaces with Attractors<br />
Ipek Rohl<strong>of</strong>f, Mount Holyoke College<br />
Kurt Rohl<strong>of</strong>f, Raytheon/BBN Technologies<br />
This paper presents first insights from an ongoing investigation into<br />
how to predict movement distributions influenced by factors other<br />
than street networks. In current spatial analysis models, the ability<br />
to predict the effect <strong>of</strong> attractors other than street network properties<br />
on movement distributions has been limited. This paper introduces<br />
an analysis approach that incorporates normalized weightings<br />
on spaces with attractors along with network properties in order to<br />
provide finer grain analysis explaining movement distributions within<br />
urban complexity beyond the street network. This analysis approach<br />
is based on Markov chain models which have been widely used in<br />
other domains to model complex systems. We use the Markov chain<br />
modeling approach to represent network properties and attractor effects<br />
with normalized weightings to estimate probabilistic movement<br />
distributions in a computationally tractable manner. We argue that urban<br />
environments with business districts in segregated locations and<br />
green open spaces integrated with the urban fabric are cases <strong>of</strong> urban<br />
complexity where movement distribution cannot be explained merely<br />
by street networks but with attractors incorporating programmatic<br />
and environmental content. Our conclusion is that a comprehensive<br />
model utilizing Markov chains can be useful to detect the effects <strong>of</strong><br />
building density and environmental content on movement, yet further<br />
research is required to establish weighting criteria.<br />
Representing Information: Envisioning the City<br />
through Data<br />
Karen Lewis, Ohio State University<br />
The constructed world is replete with information that governs and<br />
controls its organization. From railroads to highways, building codes<br />
to zoning regulations, the design and development <strong>of</strong> the contemporary<br />
environment is managed by strategies <strong>of</strong> physical and visual<br />
organization. Architects’ interest in this globally networked environment<br />
is reflective <strong>of</strong> an increasing awareness and attention to the<br />
multi-variant world, one invested in infrastructural systems that support<br />
productivity in lieu <strong>of</strong> pictures and is reflective <strong>of</strong> a new global<br />
and electronic economy based on intangibles – ideas, information and<br />
relationships. The effects <strong>of</strong> these systems, once only theorized and<br />
simulated through abstract models, is given attention via the measurement,<br />
collection and processing <strong>of</strong> their effects.<br />
As emerging technologies have enabled new ways <strong>of</strong> measuring fluvial<br />
global, urban and regional networks, new representation techniques<br />
have enabled design practice to occupy and design with<br />
information, rather than merely represent its influence. Through<br />
techniques <strong>of</strong> clarification, simulation, augmentation and revelation,<br />
architecture mobilizes data visualization into architecture praxis.<br />
Spectacle <strong>of</strong> the Hyper-Real: Environmental<br />
Simulation, Cybernetic Subjects, and Urban Design<br />
Anthony Raynsford, San Jose State University<br />
Like Renaissance perspective before it, contemporary environmental<br />
simulation in urban design is an exceedingly codified and artificial<br />
visual construction whose success, likewise, lies in its reassurance<br />
<strong>of</strong> a certain scientific precision and point-by-point correspondence.<br />
Using a few key examples, I would like to suggest that current, hyper-realistic<br />
simulations, such as the Glasgow Urban Model, have a<br />
three-part history, dating back to the 1950s when experiments at<br />
MIT first connected cybernetic models <strong>of</strong> experience to the formal<br />
aesthetics <strong>of</strong> film. At this stage, simulations remained highly diagrammatic,<br />
translating dynamic urban sequences into an array <strong>of</strong> visual<br />
media, each <strong>of</strong> which was meant to capture some aspect <strong>of</strong> the<br />
totality <strong>of</strong> the visual experience <strong>of</strong> the city. This phase was followed<br />
by an intermediate stage in the 1970s, in which computer technology<br />
became embedded within specific techniques <strong>of</strong> Hollywood<br />
special effects in order to simulate a more-or-less total environmental<br />
experience, with extraordinary levels <strong>of</strong> detail and precision. This<br />
embedding <strong>of</strong> special effects technology coincided with a populist<br />
suspicion <strong>of</strong> urban design expertise that had begun in the late 1960s<br />
and that demanded ever-wider accessibility and transparency <strong>of</strong><br />
urbanistic representations. Realism now entailed both close, optical<br />
replications <strong>of</strong> urban experience and a type <strong>of</strong> cinematic immediacy<br />
that would be familiar to, and hence legible for a broad audience <strong>of</strong><br />
perceivers. The final stage emerged with the adoption <strong>of</strong> CAD modeling<br />
and animation systems that gradually became spliced into and<br />
ultimately supplanted traditional film, without, however, displacing<br />
the filmic visual codes and their subjective viewpoints. Where Renaissance<br />
perspective projected a static, <strong>of</strong>ten universalized viewer,<br />
centered within an abstract spatial grid, contemporary <strong>digital</strong> simulations<br />
tended later to project a variable and mobile ‘consumer’ <strong>of</strong><br />
urban space, a cybernetic subject <strong>of</strong> endless feedback rather than a<br />
Platonic knower <strong>of</strong> ideals. The demand for realism, also, became an<br />
appetite for the spectacular results <strong>of</strong> simulation per se. Simulated<br />
cities became sites for a new kind <strong>of</strong> hyper-reality, both in the sense<br />
<strong>of</strong> their intensely detailed duplication <strong>of</strong> the physical and in terms <strong>of</strong><br />
their acting as increasingly autonomous substitutes for the real. The<br />
replacement <strong>of</strong> physical models and film by <strong>digital</strong>ly scanned environments<br />
and <strong>digital</strong> renderings have further widened the scope for<br />
hyper-realistic spectacle, whether in the form <strong>of</strong> animated films that<br />
are choreographed in order to produce particular effects <strong>of</strong> motion,<br />
or interactive spaces controlled, in the manner <strong>of</strong> games, through a<br />
set <strong>of</strong> rules by which users move through the space. Although potentially<br />
neutral banks <strong>of</strong> visual and spatial information, the models,<br />
in practice, need to be organized in particular ways in order to simulate<br />
the effects <strong>of</strong> the real and reach a general audience, where they<br />
can be consumed as <strong>digital</strong>, cinematic media.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 9
THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012 - 2:00PM - 3:30PM<br />
The Agency <strong>of</strong> Drawing and the Digital Process<br />
Andrew Atwood, University <strong>of</strong> Southern California<br />
(Mis)Behaviors <strong>of</strong> Drawing<br />
Kelly Bair, University <strong>of</strong> Illinois at Chicago<br />
(Mis)Behaviors <strong>of</strong> Drawing outlines a series <strong>of</strong> statements that reposition<br />
analog drawing methodologies as a necessary accomplice<br />
to the ubiquitous <strong>digital</strong> methodologies that exist within contemporary<br />
practice and academia. While some <strong>of</strong> the statements challenge<br />
the conventional role <strong>of</strong> analog drawing, they do so not by<br />
dismissing the technique <strong>of</strong> production itself, but by questioning<br />
the agency <strong>of</strong> the artifact that is ultimately produced. The statements<br />
suggest that analog drawing paired with <strong>digital</strong> techniques<br />
challenge established drawing conventions in an effort to produce<br />
a new language for architectural representation. The intentional<br />
misuse <strong>of</strong> architectural conventions in analog and <strong>digital</strong> hybrids<br />
such as view, orientation, projective geometries, and line weight,<br />
suggests variable perceptions <strong>of</strong> the work, liberating drawing from<br />
a contracted or representational document intended for building.<br />
Instead, drawing becomes a generative design tool, a conceptual<br />
narrative device, and in some cases, more closely calibrated to a<br />
3-dimensional physical construct than a 2-dimensional sheet. Collectively,<br />
the statements summarize a catalog <strong>of</strong> selected analog<br />
and <strong>digital</strong> methodologies from both academics and practitioners<br />
who replace novelty <strong>of</strong> technique in favor <strong>of</strong> familiar processes<br />
<strong>of</strong> production that when unconventionally choreographed yield<br />
unique drawing agendas within the discipline <strong>of</strong> architecture.<br />
Drawing the Line; or Surrender, Surrender, but Don’t<br />
Give Yourself Away...<br />
Dora Epstein Jones, Southern California Institute <strong>of</strong> <strong>Architecture</strong><br />
“Drawing the Line” explores the basic critical settings that still guide<br />
our thinking about drawing despite the advent and acceptance <strong>of</strong><br />
the computer and other tools used in exploratory and generative<br />
architectural work. Thinking beyond long-held dichotomies <strong>of</strong> tool<br />
to outcome, and how to what, this essay recognizes the work <strong>of</strong><br />
current architects who draw as architecture itself. Describing them<br />
as “somewhats” and “somehows,” to evoke an emerging and unnamed<br />
sensibility, this essay emphasizes and asserts the primacy<br />
<strong>of</strong> exploratory drawing in architecture’s discipline – not as a strategy<br />
for moving away from authorship but as fundamental, central<br />
and ever-lasting.<br />
10 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
The Stylus Vector<br />
Michael Young, The Cooper Union<br />
The following paper explores the changing conditions in the mediation<br />
<strong>of</strong> architectural representation between manual and <strong>digital</strong><br />
techniques, explicitly drawing and the conditions <strong>of</strong> the line. The<br />
paper discusses three key differences between the two systems<br />
with a specific focus <strong>of</strong> the investigation on the relations between<br />
geometry and aesthetics. The three issues are measure, scale, and<br />
visualization. These three conditions are pursued in both their<br />
traditional understanding in architectural representation and the<br />
changes that occur in a <strong>digital</strong> environment. This discussion includes<br />
a brief look into the nature <strong>of</strong> NURBS curvature, the design<br />
practices that developed early surface modeling s<strong>of</strong>tware, and the<br />
differences in the goals <strong>of</strong> these practices in relation to architecture.<br />
Included in the paper is also a set <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> drawings produced<br />
by the author. These are seen as part <strong>of</strong> an experiment in the<br />
potentials <strong>of</strong> aesthetic questions raised by <strong>digital</strong> representation.<br />
If the techniques <strong>of</strong> developing and manipulating a representation<br />
have radically changed, what conceptual and aesthetic ties do we<br />
still have back into the traditions <strong>of</strong> art and architecture, and what<br />
novel potentials might be opened through <strong>digital</strong> mediation.
THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012 - 4:00PM - 5:30PM<br />
1912: Progress, Technology, and Nature<br />
Fran Leadon, City College <strong>of</strong> New York<br />
Utopias/Dystopias: From the Progressive Era to a<br />
Sustainable Future<br />
Marie-Alice L’Heureux, University <strong>of</strong> Kansas<br />
This paper characterizes the decades <strong>of</strong> the progressive era (1890-<br />
1920), their challenges, optimisms, and investments in infrastructure.<br />
From a succinct discussion <strong>of</strong> utopian and dystopian novels<br />
and their relevance to late 19th century cities, I then explore their<br />
relevance to the early progressive era from the 1893 Columbian<br />
exposition in Chicago to the 1901 Pan-American exposition in Buffalo,<br />
New York. I characterize the challenges for architects in this<br />
era when the focus was on urban-scaled engineering projects and<br />
architects were engaged in the expressive aspects <strong>of</strong> the urban environment<br />
that underscored their limitations in the rapidly changing<br />
technological realm. At the turn <strong>of</strong> the 21st century, architects<br />
again find themselves as a similar junction. Urbanized countries<br />
consume more energy and produce more greenhouse gases than<br />
un-urbanized ones, but within urbanized countries, dense urban<br />
centers consume as much as 30% less energy than the suburbs or<br />
rural areas. Cities are struggling to invest wisely in their urban infrastructure<br />
and are trying to re-create themselves as denser, more<br />
efficient centers <strong>of</strong> innovation and creativity. To engage in this discussion,<br />
architects and planners need to understand the deep historic<br />
roots associated with these challenges and to prioritize the<br />
intersection <strong>of</strong> the human aspects <strong>of</strong> design with the more familiar<br />
aesthetic and technological issues <strong>of</strong> design.<br />
From Orthographic to Eccentric: Tall <strong>Architecture</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
Extremes<br />
Terri Boake, University <strong>of</strong> Waterloo<br />
Height has long served as a benchmark for progress as it relates to<br />
the built manifestation <strong>of</strong> advancements in engineering and architectural<br />
technology. The past 100 years are marked by major advances<br />
in the construction <strong>of</strong> tall buildings. This paper will look at<br />
the architectural ramifications <strong>of</strong> changes in the structural form <strong>of</strong><br />
tall buildings. Building references will span early framing systems<br />
such as those used in the Woolworth Building to more eccentric<br />
diagrid systems. The impact <strong>of</strong> the destruction <strong>of</strong> the World Trade<br />
Towers will be examined for its impact on current practices in the<br />
design <strong>of</strong> SuperTall buildings. The material nature <strong>of</strong> the structural<br />
system, the emergence <strong>of</strong> wind engineering and questions <strong>of</strong> redundancy<br />
in design will also be included.<br />
The On-Again Off-Again Romance Between Nature<br />
and Technology in Healthcare Settings<br />
Mardelle Shepley, Texas A&M University<br />
The purpose <strong>of</strong> this paper is to describe the relative influence and<br />
dominance <strong>of</strong> technology and nature in the development <strong>of</strong> healthcare<br />
facilities in recent history. The history <strong>of</strong> healthcare design<br />
over the last 100 years can be segmented into four eras that are<br />
characterized by different attitudes towards technology and nature:<br />
the progressive era, the modernist era, the era <strong>of</strong> scientific<br />
humanism, and the era <strong>of</strong> evidence-based design. The Progressive<br />
era began in the mid-1850s and is associated with the Nightingale<br />
prototype. Among the design objectives <strong>of</strong> the period were the<br />
pervasiveness <strong>of</strong> natural light and ventilation. Hospitals <strong>of</strong> the Modernist<br />
era were <strong>of</strong>ten rendered in the International Style. These<br />
hospitals evolved into large, block buildings with minimal daylight<br />
in the central areas due to the deep floor plate. The era <strong>of</strong> Scientific<br />
Humanism was a reaction to the technological emphasis <strong>of</strong> the previous<br />
epoch. Designers during this period attempted to produce<br />
environments that were s<strong>of</strong>ter, and more residential in character.<br />
Our current hospital epoch, the Evidence-based Design era, uses<br />
science to inform the architecture <strong>of</strong> healing environments and describe<br />
the impact <strong>of</strong> nature. Although many hospitals in the United<br />
States still reflect the modernist vernacular <strong>of</strong> deep floor plates<br />
and long, double-loaded corridors, most new hospitals have been<br />
significantly influenced by Evidence-based Design.<br />
If nature and technology are the primary predictors <strong>of</strong> the future <strong>of</strong><br />
health care design, their on-again, <strong>of</strong>f-again relationship in healthcare<br />
settings may be self-resolving. Our simultaneous desire for<br />
the most advanced technology and the most untainted nature are<br />
intensifying. This approach is currently expressed in the form <strong>of</strong><br />
technological sustainability and biophilic healing, concepts that<br />
will likely be the hallmark <strong>of</strong> healthcare design in developed countries<br />
for the next half century.<br />
Evaluating Progressivism: A Critique <strong>of</strong> Biomimetic<br />
<strong>Architecture</strong><br />
Wynn Buzzell, University <strong>of</strong> North Carolina at Charlotte<br />
The following discourse considers biomimicry as a progressive<br />
trend, and aims to examine its validity and relevance, particularly<br />
as it relates to architecture. Establishment <strong>of</strong> validity is accomplished<br />
through examination <strong>of</strong> its historical context, definition <strong>of</strong><br />
its typologies and methodologies, taxonomic categorization <strong>of</strong> its<br />
terminology, a discussion <strong>of</strong> its contemporary portrayal, and provision<br />
<strong>of</strong> a series <strong>of</strong> illustrative examples to augment the observations<br />
<strong>of</strong>fered. These observations, characterizations, and conclusions,<br />
will be discussed through conceptual consideration <strong>of</strong> how<br />
“second nature” and humanities innate biophilic tendencies have<br />
given rise to biomimetic architectural methodologies. Particular<br />
attention is given to the concept <strong>of</strong> “second nature” and related<br />
ideas which deal with mankind’s perception <strong>of</strong> its connectedness<br />
to nature. This connectedness is discussed as it relates to the ways<br />
humankind imitates nature. Conclusions aim to define and clarify<br />
the semantics, typologies and methodologies <strong>of</strong> biomimicry.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 11
THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012 - 4:00PM - 5:30PM<br />
Advanced Composite Fabrication Technologies for<br />
<strong>Architecture</strong><br />
Michael Silver, Mike Silver Architects<br />
In-situ Processing <strong>of</strong> Thermoplastic Composites for<br />
Large-Scale Structure<br />
Anne Roberts, Automated Dynamics<br />
Robert Langone, Automated Dynamics<br />
Around for many, many years, composite materials have been on a<br />
long and interesting evolution. Although rarely recognized, the origin<br />
<strong>of</strong> man-made (or engineered) composites actually has its roots<br />
in architecture. From Egyptian times, straw has been used as an<br />
additive to the clay brick-making process providing both strength<br />
(resistance to cracking) as well as the ability to speed drying <strong>of</strong> the<br />
clay and reduce the occurrence <strong>of</strong> loss during the firing process.<br />
By the mid twentieth century, aggressive investment and development<br />
<strong>of</strong> fiber reinforced plastics for the emerging aerospace industry<br />
marked a period <strong>of</strong> tremendous progress for these materials –<br />
particularly marked by impressive gains in performance. The use<br />
<strong>of</strong> composite materials has been steadily growing ever since as the<br />
various benefits <strong>of</strong> these materials (most notably their high-strength<br />
and light-weight) have been utilized in many industries. The materials<br />
are now synonymous with aerospace, where weight savings<br />
are critical. Here today, advanced manufacturing technologies are<br />
being used to build composite structures for high performance applications<br />
such as Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II (The Joint<br />
Strike Fighter) and Boeing Commercial Aircraft’s 787. Here, composites<br />
are being used to replace aluminum and steel due to their<br />
high strength-to-weight ratio.<br />
Laminar Folds: Fabric Structure Molds to Jigs<br />
David Hill, North Carolina State University<br />
Laura Gar<strong>of</strong>alo, University at Buffalo, SUNY<br />
By illustrating the design and assembly process <strong>of</strong> a glass-fiber composite<br />
pavilion, this paper considers various production strategies<br />
and constraints, and <strong>of</strong>fers alternatives to conventional static molding<br />
processes for producing textile composite panels. The pavilion<br />
is designed to register environmental conditions along the Erie Canal,<br />
and it is a demonstration project that intertwines handcraft and<br />
<strong>digital</strong> fabrication methods in order to test textile composites’ ability<br />
to act simultaneously as structure and enclosure. The research compares<br />
traditional carved molds and vacuum-bagging techniques to<br />
versatile wire-strung jigs that can be reconfigured to create variation<br />
in panel form. The text explains both compressive and tensile<br />
stringing methods used to shape the supple woven fabrics.<br />
Focusing on the molding process, the project examines the potentials<br />
and shortcomings <strong>of</strong> textile composites as an architectural<br />
material, and it <strong>of</strong>fers an unconventional approach to panel fabrication.<br />
Textile composite materials <strong>of</strong>fer promising possibilities for<br />
architecture, particularly in mass-produced, panelized applications.<br />
Lightweight and rigid, textile composites exhibit high strength-toweight<br />
ratios that exceed more common structural materials such<br />
as steel, concrete, and wood. But, several factors—such as high material<br />
costs, lack <strong>of</strong> standardized performance characteristics, and<br />
specialized production methods—have contributed to composites’<br />
limited use. However, these same characteristics make this an ideal<br />
material for a process and form that are not defined or dependent<br />
on standardization such as that explored in the Flow Pavilion.<br />
12 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting
THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012 - 4:00PM - 5:30PM<br />
Becoming Computational: Restructuring/ Reconsidering<br />
Pedagogy Towards a (More) Computational Discipline<br />
Chris Beorkrem, University <strong>of</strong> North Carolina at Charlotte<br />
Nicholas Senske, University <strong>of</strong> North Carolina at Charlotte<br />
Bootstrapping a Computational Discourse<br />
Maya Przybylski, University <strong>of</strong> Waterloo<br />
This paper discusses work from System Stalker Lab, a third year<br />
undergraduate design studio taught at the University <strong>of</strong> Waterloo.<br />
System Stalker Lab is an introductory exploration <strong>of</strong> design computing,<br />
aiming to instill awareness <strong>of</strong> the key structures and processes<br />
inherent in a design practice inclusive <strong>of</strong> computational strategies<br />
and techniques. The studio also seeks to seed a computationally<br />
oriented design culture within the school by clarifying and speculating<br />
on the opportunities existing within computing in relationship to<br />
architectural design. Such a practice requires that designers expand<br />
their notion <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> methodologies to include the fundamental<br />
paradigms <strong>of</strong> computer science. The focus <strong>of</strong> the paper is on the first<br />
phase <strong>of</strong> work carried out in the studio, which is committed to building<br />
a workable foundation in algorithmic thinking, representation,<br />
programming and design – core skills required for working within<br />
a computational context. The described process exposes students<br />
to the skills necessary for the conceptualization, design, and execution<br />
<strong>of</strong> a project operating within a computational discourse. Having<br />
completed the first, highly structured phase <strong>of</strong> the studio, students<br />
are enabled to continue to learn independently and to employ computational<br />
design in more open design projects.<br />
Computation as an Ideological Practice<br />
Nathaniel Zuelzke, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne<br />
Trevor Patt, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne<br />
Jeffrey Huang, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne<br />
For computation to become an integral part <strong>of</strong> architectural design,<br />
it must be recognized as an ideological practice. Ins<strong>of</strong>ar as it requires<br />
explicit, precise formalizations <strong>of</strong> the factors which shape any given<br />
project, computation is a strong assertion <strong>of</strong> an author’s ability to<br />
solve a problem. Becoming computational involves acknowledging<br />
this agency and the ways in which it differs from conventional paradigms<br />
<strong>of</strong> authorship, and assessing its impact in the design process.<br />
This paper presents computation within the framework <strong>of</strong> a yearlong<br />
Masters-level design studio <strong>of</strong>fered at École Polytechnique Fédérale<br />
de Lausanne, Switzerland. The studio brief and assumptions<br />
are explained and the notion <strong>of</strong> a “computational engine” is introduced<br />
as an evolving document which clarifies its authors’ intents.<br />
Within the studio, the creation <strong>of</strong> an engine begins with a parametric<br />
site analysis or dynamic mapping <strong>of</strong> the existing context to construct<br />
an understanding <strong>of</strong> the site which possesses a strong authorial<br />
agenda. The temporal, multi-scalar, and diagrammatic nature <strong>of</strong><br />
the engine are discussed.<br />
By considering solution space, computational workflows are contrasted<br />
with conventional ones. Whereas conventional solution<br />
space is largely unstructured and underexplored, the relational,<br />
combinatorial nature <strong>of</strong> computational solution space makes it both<br />
unknowable in advance yet efficient to explore. The integration <strong>of</strong><br />
evaluation metrics and feedback systems into the computational engine<br />
further increases this efficiency without diminishing authorial<br />
will. Finally, some pitfalls are considered, the responsibilities <strong>of</strong> an<br />
author are discussed, and the mechanisms that computation has to<br />
mediate these concerns are recapitulated.<br />
Ultimately, computation should not be viewed as an end in itself,<br />
but rather as an ideological practice which engenders criticality<br />
and promotes innovation.<br />
Computational Design Methods<br />
David Lee, Clemson University<br />
The ACSA Digital Aptitudes Conference celebrates 100 years <strong>of</strong><br />
architectural discourse. Of parallel importance to the theme <strong>of</strong><br />
this session, the event will also mark the 50th anniversary <strong>of</strong> the<br />
internet’s conception. Indeed, Licklider’s concept <strong>of</strong> the ‘Galactic<br />
Network’ marked a revolutionary shift in thinking about how data<br />
sets could be managed and was followed by a series <strong>of</strong> influential<br />
publications that collectively laid the groundwork for the Age <strong>of</strong><br />
Information.<br />
While computation is not inherently about <strong>digital</strong> tools, the advent<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Information Age – spawned by the internet and fueled<br />
by technology such as, mobile computing, social networking, and<br />
GPS – is largely responsible for the current necessity for computational<br />
thought in design. Computational thinking being compulsory<br />
to the various disciplines that employ information processing, it<br />
is critical that architecture schools adopt an attitude that computational<br />
thinking be compulsory to the education <strong>of</strong> the architect.<br />
Moreover, it must be engrained in every aspect <strong>of</strong> a design education,<br />
from beginning to advanced design as well as in practice. This<br />
paper presents a series <strong>of</strong> concepts regarding the role <strong>of</strong> computation<br />
in design, specifically architectural, education. Accompanying<br />
these concepts are a series <strong>of</strong> examples <strong>of</strong> how they have been<br />
carried out in courses I have delivered at all levels <strong>of</strong> an architectural<br />
curriculum.<br />
Integrated BIM and Parametric Modeling: Course Samples<br />
with Multiple Methods and Multiple Phases<br />
Wei Yan, Texas A&M University<br />
This paper presents well designed modeling samples for teaching<br />
integrated BIM and Parametric Modeling in a graduate course.<br />
The samples range from parametric curves, recursive solid models,<br />
to parametric Building Information Models. Implicit and explicit<br />
parametric modeling methods are introduced to the class. Multiple<br />
phases <strong>of</strong> one sample are also exercised. Computer programming<br />
is studied as a powerful method for modeling. The objective <strong>of</strong> integrating<br />
the two powerful modeling methods is to foster critical design<br />
thinking, which is enhanced by the understanding <strong>of</strong> the major<br />
advantages <strong>of</strong> BIM and parametric modeling: Creativity, Constructability,<br />
and Computability (3C’s). The paper describes the samples<br />
and methods in detail and compares the different learning focuses<br />
and limitations <strong>of</strong> the multiple methods.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 13
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012 - 11:00AM - 12:30PM<br />
Automatism, or, Post-Medium <strong>Architecture</strong> and Post-War<br />
Art<br />
Sean Keller, Illinois Institute <strong>of</strong> Technology<br />
S<strong>of</strong>tware: Jack Burnham and the Medium as System<br />
Charissa Terranova, University <strong>of</strong> Texas at Dallas<br />
This essay focuses on Jack Burnham’s 1970-exhibition S<strong>of</strong>tware,<br />
the influence <strong>of</strong> Gestalt psychology under the leadership <strong>of</strong> György<br />
Kepes at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT, and<br />
the advent <strong>of</strong> a technologically generated post-medium condition<br />
parallel to Stanley Cavell’s “automatism.” Set in this light, Cavell’s<br />
idea <strong>of</strong> automatism resonates strongly with media and new media<br />
theories, in particular Burnham’s “systems esthetics” and Marshall<br />
McLuhan’s idea <strong>of</strong> the technological “extension.” Through the concept<br />
<strong>of</strong> the “haptic unconscious,” I argue that Burnham’s medium<br />
defying systems aesthetics bears greater political resonances than<br />
Cavell’s automatism. In conclusion, I look to The <strong>Architecture</strong> Machine<br />
Group, MIT’s “Seek,” a work <strong>of</strong> art in S<strong>of</strong>tware involving a<br />
computer, robotic arm, an ersatz city in flux, and gerbils, which<br />
played out the strictures <strong>of</strong> an earlier stage <strong>of</strong> global biopolitical<br />
order.<br />
The Death <strong>of</strong> Film in <strong>Architecture</strong><br />
James Macgillivray, University <strong>of</strong> Michigan<br />
Within architectural practice, the lopsided relationship between<br />
cinema and architecture has prompted an evasion as response.<br />
The notion <strong>of</strong> translation, <strong>of</strong> making a “cinematic” architecture, has<br />
displaced the possibility <strong>of</strong> confrontation and replaced it with the<br />
pursuit <strong>of</strong> mimesis. Unlike the modern painters who responded to<br />
the photograph with an open abnegation <strong>of</strong> the realism it entailed,<br />
architects in the age <strong>of</strong> film have consistently sought inspiration in<br />
the greater synthetic powers <strong>of</strong> their cinematic rival. From Le Corbusier’s<br />
promenade architectural, to Bernard Tschumi’s Manhattan<br />
Transcripts, and recently Steven Holl’s Linked Hybrid, the persistence<br />
<strong>of</strong> the cinematic analogy in architecture is to a certain extent<br />
more important than its success or failure as a premise. Whether<br />
or not the moving camera can in a satisfactory way be equated to<br />
an ambulatory sequence through a building, or if an elevator’s trip<br />
through disparate programs in section could be likened to a “jump<br />
cut” is immaterial when faced with the resulting building. The persistence<br />
<strong>of</strong> this cinematic metaphor in architecture constitutes the<br />
basis for this paper. That the base <strong>of</strong> the metaphor, the medium <strong>of</strong><br />
film, is in the last throes <strong>of</strong> a transmutation into video complicates<br />
and at the same time transforms the architectural product. By looking<br />
at two recent cinemas that conceptually straddle the “death<br />
<strong>of</strong> film” this paper will clarify how the metaphor works and outline<br />
how cinematic buildings make their case. [On Steven Holl’s Linked<br />
Hybrid Cinematèque and Thomas Leeser’s Museum <strong>of</strong> the Moving<br />
Image.]<br />
14 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
The Solaris Mirror<br />
Luke Ogrydziak, Ogrydziak Prillinger Architects<br />
Design is a mirror. This is a fundamental theme <strong>of</strong> Stanislaw Lem’s<br />
1961 science fiction classic Solaris, in which he explores three distinct<br />
‘automatic’ form generation paradigms: (1) abstraction, (2)<br />
mimicry, and (3) the unconscious. Lem’s paradigms remain relevant<br />
today, as allegorical models for a range <strong>of</strong> approaches to the<br />
open question <strong>of</strong> automatism in computational design practices. In<br />
particular, his final category, the unconscious, evokes a new frontier<br />
for automatic design – one which our current <strong>digital</strong> tools are<br />
only beginning to explore.
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012 - 11:00AM - 12:30PM<br />
Open: Disaster Recovery<br />
Charles Setchell, USAID Office <strong>of</strong> US Foreign Disaster Assistance<br />
Digital and Analog Aptitudes in Emergency Shelter<br />
Design and Fabrication<br />
Bruce Johnson, University <strong>of</strong> Kansas<br />
The Article discusses the flux between the Digital and Analog<br />
realms in the design, fabrication and outcome <strong>of</strong> a Prototype Emergency<br />
Shelter as conceived in a third year “hands-on” architectural<br />
design studio. The article examines the studio design process with<br />
relationship to both the physical needs <strong>of</strong> victims and refugees<br />
and with regard to fabrication and design development within the<br />
architectural studio itself. Currently and in the recent past there<br />
has been much emphasis on Crisis <strong>Architecture</strong> as it pertains to<br />
the need for large quantities <strong>of</strong> housing for victims and refuges <strong>of</strong><br />
Hurricanes, Floods, War, Tsunamis, Earthquakes, etc. and humanmade<br />
disasters, this article illustrates the need for such housing<br />
projects to examine the cultural requirements <strong>of</strong> privacy, family<br />
function, and enclave or neighborhood development in temporary<br />
housing communities such as to facilitate a sense <strong>of</strong> ownership and<br />
personal/family pride. For both Pr<strong>of</strong>essionals and Students, Crisis<br />
architecture requires the study <strong>of</strong> not only the specific needs for<br />
family and community housing during a Crisis, but also <strong>of</strong> the ability<br />
<strong>of</strong> various government agencies, volunteers, and even victims,<br />
to be able to organize, construct, and to maintain society during<br />
conditions that <strong>of</strong>ten manifest power outages and a complete lack<br />
<strong>of</strong> communication interface. Increasingly Pr<strong>of</strong>essionals and Design<br />
students flaunt advanced Digital interfaces for the study and<br />
manufacture <strong>of</strong> buildings, components and models – the article illustrates<br />
that design is a hybrid <strong>of</strong> whatever means are available<br />
and that Crisis architecture must adapt in the field in order to best<br />
serve society in a time <strong>of</strong> need.<br />
Bruce A. Johnson is an Assistant Pr<strong>of</strong>essor at the University <strong>of</strong><br />
Kansas. He graduated with honors from Kansas State University<br />
in 1991 where he was awarded the American Institute <strong>of</strong> Architects<br />
Certificate <strong>of</strong> Merit. In 1995 he received a scholarship to attend<br />
Columbia University where he was a recipient <strong>of</strong> the Lowenfisch<br />
Memorial Prize for best thesis (The Split-Level Sod House). He has<br />
practiced in Kansas City for firms such as Populous, Shaughnessy,<br />
Fickel and Scott, PGAV, and International Architects Atelier, and<br />
in Chicago for Stanley Tigerman and Margaret McCurry. In 1991 he<br />
was awarded the prestigious Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Bachelor<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>Architecture</strong> Traveling Fellowship, which afforded research and<br />
travel to study sacred architecture in the Middle East, North Africa<br />
and Europe. His current research interests include Alternate Architectural<br />
Practice and Direct Fabrication as it pertains to the radical<br />
integration <strong>of</strong> Structure, Systems and Emergent Materials.<br />
Haitian Rebuilding Initiative: Technological Solutions<br />
That Hinge on Empowerment<br />
Juintow Lin, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona<br />
Michael Fox, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona<br />
This paper outlines a series <strong>of</strong> studios and seminars focused on<br />
permanent housing solutions in the aftermath <strong>of</strong> the 2010 earthquake<br />
in Haiti. The project hinges on enabling Haitians through<br />
a housing project that that is built entirely with local labor and a<br />
minimum <strong>of</strong> imported materials. An entire house is constructed<br />
almost solely with a unique resin-coated corrugated paper core<br />
sandwiched between magnesium board panels which are manufactured<br />
locally. The combination <strong>of</strong> local initiative and a uniquetechnology<br />
applied to the construction process enables the house<br />
to be constructed within a very short time and at a very low cost.<br />
The work has resulted in an initial prototype section <strong>of</strong> a house<br />
constructed at the University campus in the United States and<br />
the first full house completed in Haiti. From a project standpoint,<br />
students learned to design schematic buildings within real material<br />
and budgetary constraints. They also were asked understand<br />
real strategies for fabrication, delivery and assembly related to the<br />
unique construction details that they developed. Students also had<br />
to reconcile the global and ethical impacts <strong>of</strong> their design decisions<br />
and confront real world political situations related to disaster relief<br />
housing. In addition, students learned to apply their discipline-specific<br />
construction and materials skills to an interdisciplinary problem<br />
where cost and simplicity are primary constraints.<br />
Learning from Disaster: Lessons from Community-<br />
Based Design in Haiti<br />
John Comazzi, University <strong>of</strong> Minnesota<br />
Jim Lutz, University <strong>of</strong> Minnesota<br />
This paper will chronicle a unique disaster assistance/learning<br />
abroad program developed in the wake <strong>of</strong> the catastrophic 2010<br />
earthquake in Haiti, and the pedagogical lessons gleaned from this<br />
extraordinary community-based design experience.<br />
The program began in the early spring <strong>of</strong> 2010 with two “factfinding”<br />
visits to Haiti by five faculty members from the School <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Architecture</strong> at the University <strong>of</strong> Minnesota in collaboration with<br />
two international NGOs providing relief services there. Following<br />
these site visits, a group <strong>of</strong> faculty, administrators, and research<br />
fellows worked to develop a coordinated, long-term plan for a new<br />
curricular model focused on public interest design associated with<br />
post-disaster reconstruction efforts.<br />
LEARNING in the CLASSROOM<br />
Recognizing the complex circumstances <strong>of</strong> working in a community<br />
recovering from disaster, we used the first half <strong>of</strong> the spring<br />
2011 term to pilot a seven-week, graduate-level seminar organized<br />
to build capacity among a group <strong>of</strong> students and faculty preparing<br />
for the program abroad. The first portion <strong>of</strong> the seminar was spent<br />
contextualizing the larger historical, cultural, social, and natural<br />
systems in Haiti through the creation <strong>of</strong> a Research Manual and<br />
course website that became an online repository for the research<br />
and analysis created by the students. Following the production<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Research Manual, the focus <strong>of</strong> the seminar shifted to the<br />
production <strong>of</strong> a 277-page Field Guide that concentrated more directly<br />
on the information and data most important for supporting<br />
the community-based design work by those students and faculty<br />
traveling to Haiti.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 15
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012 - 11:00AM - 12:30PM<br />
Open Disaster Recovery Continued<br />
LEARNING in the FIELD<br />
The on-site portion <strong>of</strong> the program consisted <strong>of</strong> a seven-week studio<br />
and seminar operated out <strong>of</strong> space provided by <strong>Architecture</strong><br />
for Humanity (AFH) in Port-au-Prince. Two major projects were<br />
identified by AFH with students working both individually and in<br />
teams depending on the complexity and schedule associated with<br />
each task. The first was collaborative work on the development <strong>of</strong><br />
a master plan for Santo, a new community for 500 families (currently<br />
under construction) located near Léogâne, the epicenter<br />
<strong>of</strong> the quake. The second was LaConcorde, an orphanage school<br />
in the Carrefour area <strong>of</strong> Port-au-Prince. Other work included the<br />
mapping <strong>of</strong> economic corridors, a model and O&M manual for a<br />
large composting toilet building planned for a school in Cité du<br />
Soleil, and classroom and sustainability “menus” used for fundraising<br />
by AFH.<br />
By conceiving <strong>of</strong> this community-based, learning abroad experience<br />
as a comprehensive program we, as faculty, were forced to<br />
rethink and rework the traditional models <strong>of</strong> design pedagogy and<br />
curriculum. Upon reflection, the experience has provided numerous<br />
lessons, architectural and otherwise, about the future <strong>of</strong> design<br />
education which places a greater emphasis on participatory, community-engaged<br />
scholarship. This paper will delve more deeply<br />
into the specific projects completed by the students in Haiti as well<br />
as the major lessons learned regarding the future <strong>of</strong> architecture<br />
education in the context <strong>of</strong> public interest design.<br />
reCOVER: Transitional Disaster Recovery Housing<br />
Anselmo Canfora, University <strong>of</strong> Virginia<br />
Project reCOVER brings together academic, civic, and pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />
organizations in a collaborative enterprise to study and build disaster<br />
recovery housing for marginalized communities. An essential<br />
part <strong>of</strong> a multi-sectorial approach, partnerships with non-governmental<br />
organizations and humanitarian pr<strong>of</strong>essionals with experience<br />
in assisting marginalized communities rebuild after natural<br />
disasters are an essential part <strong>of</strong> this research project. While assisting<br />
communities improve their built environment and helping<br />
advance building technologies, architecture and engineering<br />
students are directly involved in applied research and real world<br />
experiences as an important part <strong>of</strong> their education and engaged<br />
scholarship. New applications in the area <strong>of</strong> building design and<br />
construction emerging out <strong>of</strong> this research underscores the importance<br />
<strong>of</strong> translational research in the architecture academy.<br />
16 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012 - 11:00AM - 12:30PM<br />
Open: Urbanism<br />
Tim Love, Northeastern University<br />
From the Park to Parking: The Evolution <strong>of</strong> Suburban<br />
Mobility<br />
Ian Baldwin<br />
Suburbanization began with mid-nineteenth century developments<br />
such as Llewellyn Park, New Jersey and Riverside, Illinois, exclusive<br />
oases <strong>of</strong> romantic landscape that would pleasantly contrast with<br />
the bustle, noise and pollution <strong>of</strong> the city. In the early twentieth<br />
century, streetcar suburbs democratized the concept, providing<br />
middle-class families with closely-spaced detached homes on gridded<br />
plots. From the 1920s to the 1970s, Garden City ideals underlay<br />
the development <strong>of</strong> model (though by no means typical) suburbs<br />
like Radburn, New Jersey and Columbia, Maryland. Central to their<br />
designs were superblocks <strong>of</strong> common green space, extensive pedestrian<br />
pathways and -- in the designers’ minds, at least-- a subservient<br />
role for the auto.<br />
Thus the spatial practices we refer to with the inadequate word<br />
“suburban” continue to evolve after 160 years. We would do well<br />
to examine the modern suburb and exurb not as a placeless anticity<br />
but simply the most expedient and affordable version <strong>of</strong> urbanism<br />
in an era <strong>of</strong> unquestioned auto reliance.<br />
We know that the modern suburb is defined by capacious asphalt<br />
roadways and sidewalks that are narrow and exposed when they<br />
exist at all. But we know little about how that practice become a<br />
defining standard.<br />
Automobility and suburbanization enjoy a mutually supportive legend<br />
that has obscured and oversimplified the origins <strong>of</strong> the physical<br />
patterns that dominate 21st century America. This paper attempts<br />
a first step toward excavating those origins by addressing<br />
the relationship between suburbs and cars at their meeting point:<br />
the street.<br />
Laid Bare: Debating an Expanded Role for<br />
Instrastructure at the World Trade Center<br />
Robert Arens, California Polytechnic State University<br />
One result <strong>of</strong> the tragic circumstances <strong>of</strong> the World Trade Center’s<br />
demise was the possibility to rethink the site, not from the<br />
ground up, but from 70 feet below ground level to the depth <strong>of</strong><br />
Lower Manhattan’s bedrock. After months <strong>of</strong> debris removal, a<br />
space <strong>of</strong> tremendous potential emerged from beneath the rubble:<br />
an enormous sixteen-acre void made possible by a unique foundation<br />
system. This powerful space, which came to be known as “the<br />
bathtub”, was a realm made sacred by the tragedy that played out<br />
on its surface. The fact that the void was laced with infrastructure<br />
in the form <strong>of</strong> subway and commuter rail lines made it even more<br />
resonant. Recent remembrance ceremonies marking the tenth anniversary<br />
<strong>of</strong> the attacks, the opening <strong>of</strong> the September 11 Memorial,<br />
and the near topping-out <strong>of</strong> the tallest tower on the site are reasons<br />
to reassess the rebuilding effort at the WTC. This paper focuses<br />
on the project’s potential to involve the unique subterranean<br />
and infrastructural aspects <strong>of</strong> the site in its approach to urbanism.<br />
This paper examines how the subterranean world <strong>of</strong> the WTC site<br />
(and, by extension, Lower Manhattan), once laid bare, became the<br />
inspiration for framing not only the memory <strong>of</strong> 9/11, but all major<br />
land use decisions at Ground Zero. Discussed are redevelopment<br />
proposals from 2001 that explored the resultant void for its potential<br />
to lend conceptual and physical form to the site and in doing<br />
so reveal the subterranean world and its infrastructure, aspects <strong>of</strong><br />
life so vital to the city <strong>of</strong> New York yet so invisible on its surface.<br />
These proposals, emotional and quixotic, inspired stakeholders, the<br />
public, the master planner, and the memorial designer to give serious<br />
consideration to the role <strong>of</strong> infrastructural elements such as<br />
tower footprints, slurry walls, bathtubs, bedrock, rail lines and subway<br />
lines in future plans for the site. Also discussed are the forces<br />
that ultimately led to a diminished role for infrastructure in the final<br />
master plan.<br />
Although unique conditions at the WTC site make it difficult to<br />
fully generalize the project’s lessons, the engagement <strong>of</strong> the spatial<br />
and programmatic opportunities below Lower Manhattan’s streets<br />
have certainly contributed to broader discussions about infrastructure<br />
and urbanism. Discussed are projects such as New York’s High<br />
Line and Low Line (Delancey Underground) that engage infrastructure<br />
in the creation <strong>of</strong> urban space and expand the spatial section<br />
<strong>of</strong> public realm to include the area both above and below the<br />
street. These projects, the author suggests, have been nudged into<br />
existence by the debate for an expanded role for infrastructure at<br />
the World Trade Center.<br />
Other Urbanisms: A Scalar Approach Towards Pervious<br />
Design<br />
Jen Maigret, University <strong>of</strong> Michigan<br />
Maria Arquero de Alarcon, University <strong>of</strong> Michigan<br />
This paper fosters the imaginative capacity <strong>of</strong> visions for Detroit’s<br />
future urbanism by understanding the city through the lens <strong>of</strong> water.<br />
This is a distinctly different approach to the pervasive discussions<br />
<strong>of</strong> shrinking cities, centered around the “demise” <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Motor City and wistful reminiscence <strong>of</strong> Motown’s heyday. Whereas<br />
current debate is mired in circular reasoning—the solution to Detroit’s<br />
overwhelming vacancy is less vacancy—our work positions<br />
the consideration <strong>of</strong> urban storm water management as a key tool<br />
for generative design strategies that encourage nested, scalar approaches<br />
and interdisciplinary collaboration.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 17
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012 - 11:00AM - 12:30PM<br />
Open: Diversity<br />
Brian Kelly, University <strong>of</strong> Maryland<br />
Opportunities & Challenges: Learning Experience from<br />
International Architectural Students in the US<br />
Xiao Hu, University <strong>of</strong> Idaho<br />
During the past two decades, the number <strong>of</strong> architectural students<br />
from foreign countries in American universities has significantly increased.<br />
There are more students from Asia and South America<br />
who are working on undergraduate and graduate architectural<br />
degrees. Also, many educational exchange programs in different<br />
institutions bring more foreign students to architectural studios<br />
during a particular period <strong>of</strong> time ranging from three months to<br />
one year.<br />
The increasing participation <strong>of</strong> international students in American’s<br />
architectural studios has presented new challenges for the<br />
architectural curricula in each school. For example, most schools’<br />
curricula tend to be homogenized because <strong>of</strong> the NAAB accreditation<br />
requirements with special emphases on studio trainings<br />
with the application <strong>of</strong> history, technology, structures, theory, and<br />
other technical and academic topics deemed necessary for an understanding<br />
<strong>of</strong> architecture and its role in society. However, most<br />
international students, who come from developing countries with<br />
high school diplomas or college degrees, are normally trained in a<br />
top-down teacher-centered model promoting introspective learning,<br />
which is different from the bottom-up student-centered model<br />
<strong>of</strong> knowledge transmission promoting extroverted learning used in<br />
American schools.<br />
In addition, the different social-cultural settings and language barrier<br />
add more difficulties for international students. In fact, there<br />
are wide disparities in the expectations in different nations with<br />
regard to what their architectural students are supposed to accomplish.<br />
These disparities include different curricular objectives,<br />
assessment criteria, and student behavior <strong>of</strong> conductions. When<br />
arriving at schools in the US, international students are <strong>of</strong>ten thrust<br />
into studios where they are expected to complete academic tasks<br />
that they may be completely unaware <strong>of</strong>. This can be very difficult<br />
for international students, especially if their confidence with the<br />
use <strong>of</strong> the English language in academic communication is still not<br />
strong. Problems with international students’ learning process in<br />
studios can wreak havoc on their academic performance, even if<br />
they actually have insightful ideas to express.<br />
In current architectural research, studies have mainly focused on<br />
general views <strong>of</strong> architectural pedagogical methods and the majority<br />
<strong>of</strong> mainstream architectural students. Some have discussed<br />
gender, racial and age influences. But the needs <strong>of</strong> internationals<br />
students gain limited attention, especially in terms <strong>of</strong> their perception<br />
and experience.<br />
Calling for more diverse engagement in architectural teaching and<br />
learning, this paper investigate the learning style preferences <strong>of</strong> international<br />
students majored in architecture and their perceptions<br />
<strong>of</strong> American curricular model through interviews with individual<br />
international students from three public universities in the US. The<br />
18 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
purpose <strong>of</strong> this paper is to investigate cognitive and environmental<br />
dimensions <strong>of</strong> international students’ learning experience and how<br />
the content and form <strong>of</strong> American architectural curricula influence<br />
their learning experience.<br />
This paper is a preliminary report <strong>of</strong> an on-going research project.<br />
Initial findings show that the most common challenges for international<br />
students in design studios are: language, acculturation,<br />
communication and socialization with American students, interpretation<br />
<strong>of</strong> the role <strong>of</strong> faculty, and passive learning attitude. The<br />
research findings also suggest that students from different ethnic<br />
groups demonstrate different perceptions and visions for the<br />
American curricula and thus indicate different learning outcomes.<br />
The Predicament <strong>of</strong> Diversity through the<br />
Architectural Pedagogy <strong>of</strong> Beginning<br />
Shima Mohajeri, Texas A&M University<br />
Abstract—The architectural discourse on diversity suggests the inclusion<br />
<strong>of</strong> “other” for the sake <strong>of</strong> new social, cultural and typological<br />
constructs. The assimilation and repetition <strong>of</strong> exemplary structures<br />
derived from a multiplicity <strong>of</strong> historical and geographical<br />
sources may nevertheless be reduced to an expression <strong>of</strong> banality<br />
and inauthenticity in architectural design. However, this negativity<br />
could be the beginning <strong>of</strong> a productive opening only if architecture<br />
builds upon the idea <strong>of</strong> difference in its original depth and leaves<br />
diversity at its surface.<br />
Through the analysis <strong>of</strong> one example <strong>of</strong> the architectural<br />
space <strong>of</strong> difference found in Steven Holl’s works, this paper theorizes<br />
difference not as a generator <strong>of</strong> diverse forms and types in<br />
design but as an originator <strong>of</strong> ideas. The critical thinker Gilles Deleuze<br />
has discerned in difference the dynamic force to seize upon<br />
newness through the “asymmetrical” repetition <strong>of</strong> ideas in their<br />
“perpetual displacement.” A similar translation <strong>of</strong> difference into<br />
architectural design in its state <strong>of</strong> beginning might bring originality<br />
and authenticity to the work <strong>of</strong> architecture.<br />
This paper aims to contribute a new pedagogical strategy for the<br />
actualization <strong>of</strong> difference in design by studying the works <strong>of</strong> Holl<br />
as he creatively repeats the patterns <strong>of</strong> modern aesthetic language<br />
in rapport with Japanese and Persian representations <strong>of</strong> time and<br />
space.<br />
The paper concludes that architectural difference does not arise<br />
from a tabula rasa but from the internal transformation <strong>of</strong> heterogeneous<br />
ideas in their fragmentary synthesis, which is more in resonance<br />
with the condition <strong>of</strong> globalization in architecture.
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012 - 2:00PM - 3:30PM<br />
Beyond Digital: Speculations on Analog Convergence<br />
Brian Lonsway, Syracuse University<br />
From Digital Materials To Self-Assembly<br />
Skylar Tibbits, Massachusetts Institute <strong>of</strong> Technology<br />
A new paradigm is upon us, one that challenges our notions <strong>of</strong> assembly<br />
by looking to transfer <strong>digital</strong> and computational information<br />
from our design s<strong>of</strong>tware and machine control through our physical<br />
methodologies <strong>of</strong> construction. The construction industry has<br />
traditionally been plagued by analogue processes inherited from<br />
the industrial revolution where raw materials are sent through machines<br />
and assembly sequences fighting tolerance, machine errors<br />
and efficiency. On the contrary, information can now flow through<br />
materials and embody adaptability and material computation, <strong>of</strong>fering<br />
a new vision for construction where materials literally build<br />
themselves. This is a new paradigm for designing and making, one<br />
that <strong>of</strong>fers the ability for self-assembling, self-repairing and replicating<br />
structures. This vision challenges our notions <strong>of</strong> the <strong>digital</strong>,<br />
converting analogue processes into <strong>digital</strong> information transfer by<br />
“computing-through-construction” and pointing towards new opportunities<br />
for manufacturing, construction and design tools.<br />
Parallel Tracks: Digital | Analog Dialogue in Toy<br />
Development<br />
Jennifer Akerman, University <strong>of</strong> Tennessee-Knoxville<br />
Designers and fabricators have long understood their work to<br />
be related, but distinct. Boundaries, some intuited, others legally<br />
proscribed, dictate that designers establish the intent for a given<br />
outcome, while fabricators generate the actual work or product.<br />
That understanding is an action-based view, focusing on tasks performed<br />
by specific people or entities. We could shift our consideration<br />
towards the nature <strong>of</strong> work itself and state that there have<br />
traditionally been two fields, interrelated but distinct: design and<br />
craft. How are we to understand the changes to both <strong>of</strong> these fields<br />
necessitated by the ways emerging methods, practices, and technologies<br />
are merging the two? This essay will discuss the <strong>digital</strong><br />
| analog convergence in design and fabrication as illustrated by<br />
examples from a line <strong>of</strong> toys developed through the collaboration<br />
<strong>of</strong> an architect and mechanical engineer. Our work considers questions<br />
<strong>of</strong> craft and fabrication, relying extensively on both <strong>digital</strong> and<br />
tangible techniques in continual iterative dialogue. Also at hand is<br />
a parallel consideration <strong>of</strong> the <strong>digital</strong> | analog convergence in the<br />
realm <strong>of</strong> toy design, considering toys as objects designed for interaction<br />
and play. Our continued engagement in the convergence<br />
<strong>of</strong> technology, material, and culture in the interest <strong>of</strong> design and<br />
fabrication is a catalyst for speculations <strong>of</strong> what may come next.<br />
Émission<br />
Jordan Geiger, SUNY at Buffalo<br />
More than its physical matter, architecture’s conditions - its determinants,<br />
performance, milieu, and multiple stakeholders - grow<br />
ever more ethereal. The “ether” condition can be named as such<br />
because <strong>of</strong> its entropic, expanding and hazy mixture <strong>of</strong> physical<br />
and computational and other characteristics; and possibly for a resulting<br />
delirium in its movement past any paradigm in which any<br />
<strong>of</strong> these parameters can lay dominant claim to its formation. Answering<br />
to an ever-expanding set <strong>of</strong> contemporary exigencies from<br />
market crashes and shifting climates to globalized sources <strong>of</strong> building<br />
materials and the evolving influence <strong>of</strong> ubiquitous computing,<br />
the built environment provokes speculation on its possible futures<br />
that must lie far outside <strong>of</strong> typological or even scalar parameters. It<br />
needs critical fictions as a means for planning tactically past choices<br />
<strong>of</strong> utopic or dystopic scenarios, embracing instead a messy tangle<br />
<strong>of</strong> new and future influences and a sober acceptance that analog<br />
convergence recasts architects more like steampunk novelists or<br />
design noir authors (to borrow here a term from Anthony Dunne).<br />
These influences resemble the categories found in a building code<br />
or current teaching curriculum, but in name only: cultural, technological,<br />
legal, material, to name a few. Upon further examination,<br />
the nature <strong>of</strong> each has already so fundamentally transformed as to<br />
demand speculation far past existing models <strong>of</strong> architect-consultant<br />
relationships or any mere new upskilling for young designers.<br />
We need new methods now to participate in speculating on the<br />
built environment’s future.<br />
A Materiality <strong>of</strong> Agency//Speculations on the Impact <strong>of</strong><br />
Biological Computation on Materiality and Space<br />
Nicole Koltick, Drexel University<br />
Architects have traditionally viewed space as a static entity that is<br />
defined, shaped, and enhanced through the use <strong>of</strong> material objects<br />
that give form, structure and order to our daily existence. There<br />
have been clear boundaries between inside and outside, delineation<br />
between distinct building materials, the program and the<br />
project. But looking forward, is it possible that human interactions<br />
with objects and environments might be drastically re-envisioned,<br />
encompassing a more malleable and adaptive view <strong>of</strong> space and<br />
materiality? In this paper, I will explore how potential human interactions<br />
with space, objects and information may be transformed<br />
in the future through analyzing recent developments in biological<br />
computing, synthetic biology and object-oriented philosophy. To<br />
start, I propose an expanded definition <strong>of</strong> agency with respect to<br />
materials and objects. How can we begin to formulate conceptions<br />
<strong>of</strong> agency as they relate to objects or new categories such as<br />
object-beings1? Recent writings from object oriented philosophers<br />
may <strong>of</strong>fer a way forward through a novel reframing <strong>of</strong> the conventional<br />
pattern <strong>of</strong> interactions between humanity, materials and<br />
environments. Object oriented ontology allows for a total reconsideration<br />
<strong>of</strong> the relationships between ourselves, object-beings, and<br />
object-object associations. Humans are highly complex “machines”<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 19
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012 - 2:00PM - 3:30PM<br />
Beyond Digital Continued<br />
operating within a dense network <strong>of</strong> dynamic experiences, yet currently<br />
our spatial organizations are highly static, rigid and inefficient.<br />
The capacity <strong>of</strong> materials, networks and objects to possess<br />
emergent capabilities and behaviors requires our acknowledgement<br />
<strong>of</strong> this agency, and new relationships with space will likely<br />
be defined not by static physical boundaries, but rather by a series<br />
<strong>of</strong> negotiations, signals and exchanges. Space may well take on<br />
a more active role that transcends utility, function and normative<br />
or fashion-driven aesthetics in favor <strong>of</strong> a shifting, responsive condition<br />
rich with varying emotions, perceptions, temporalities and<br />
interactions.<br />
In complex systems, extremely sophisticated forms <strong>of</strong> higher-level<br />
order at the global scale can emerge from relatively simple, local<br />
interactions among individual agents. This ordering is a phenomenon<br />
seen across many systems and scales in biology, from the<br />
macroscopic to the cellular level. Engaging in the practice <strong>of</strong> design<br />
at these newly accessible scales might allow for a variety <strong>of</strong> information<br />
and intelligence to be configured into the materials and<br />
objects that we interact with. Towards these ends, biologically-inspired<br />
mechanisms <strong>of</strong> scaling, information reception and signaling<br />
can help us understand what makes a system resilient, complex<br />
and able to evolve. Such a shift towards a non-human centered<br />
understanding <strong>of</strong> systems and their interrelationships will become<br />
increasingly important as our environments and materiality expand<br />
their agency.<br />
20 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012 - 2:00PM - 3:30PM<br />
Emerging Materials, Renewable Energy, and Ecological<br />
Design (1)<br />
Franca Trubiano, University <strong>of</strong> Pennsylvania<br />
Drawing Energy Abu Dhabi: Critical Reflections<br />
Lisa M<strong>of</strong>fitt, University <strong>of</strong> Edinburgh<br />
Energy is central to sustainable discourse and yet it is <strong>of</strong>ten taught<br />
in a static, quantitative manner that denies it a more productive<br />
role in design thinking. As a design tool, energy’s behavioral abstraction<br />
and invisibility overwhelms, leading to conceptual inaccessibility.<br />
But it is only by engaging with energy as a spatial entity<br />
with organizational consequences and physiological impacts<br />
that it can take on agency in design thinking. In Autumn 2010, I<br />
taught Drawing Energy Abu Dhabi, a third year design studio that<br />
explored energy’s spatial and organizational consequences using<br />
the act <strong>of</strong> drawing energetic exchanges as a design generator.<br />
This paper is not an exploration <strong>of</strong> the aims and ambitions <strong>of</strong> the<br />
studio but a critical reflection <strong>of</strong> the gaps and misfires that occurred<br />
within the course. A reflection <strong>of</strong> these gaps reflects larger gaps in<br />
energetic thinking within the discipline. After generally introducing<br />
the Drawing Energy studio structure, the paper explores how contemporary<br />
educators and practitioners engage with the topic <strong>of</strong><br />
energy as a “spatial project” (Ghosn 2009). More specifically, the<br />
paper provides an expanded platform for discussing the behavior<br />
<strong>of</strong> energy, its scale and extents <strong>of</strong> operation, the taxonomic limitations<br />
that constrain thinking about it, and the representational<br />
opportunities that have the potential to deepen and enrich its role<br />
in design. The paper explores energy/matter exchanges at a foundational<br />
level in order to help build a shared understanding <strong>of</strong> more<br />
subtle ways in which energy informs the built environment.<br />
Biographical Statement: Lisa M<strong>of</strong>fitt is a Lecturer in Architectural<br />
Design at the University <strong>of</strong> Edinburgh. Lisa studied, practiced<br />
and taught in the US and Canada before moving to Edinburgh. In<br />
addition to teaching, she currently runs an independent practice,<br />
Studio M<strong>of</strong>fitt, which recently completed a design/build <strong>of</strong>f grid<br />
house in rural Canada. She is also completing a PhD in Design on<br />
Drawing Energy, which looks to establish a disciplinary vocabulary,<br />
tools and techniques for discussing and designing spaces that foreground<br />
thermodynamic principles.<br />
EcoArchitectural Machines<br />
Brook Muller, University <strong>of</strong> Oregon<br />
Ecological imperatives provide impetus to develop new materials,<br />
ones that are efficient, that adapt to environmental stimuli, minimize<br />
negative impacts on human and ecosystem health, etc. Yet<br />
it is not simply a matter <strong>of</strong> what assemblies we might devise and<br />
evaluate: a deeply ecological architecture calls for new forms <strong>of</strong><br />
‘accountability,’ new modes <strong>of</strong> describing materials, assemblies<br />
and their co-dependencies. Such an approach would emphasize<br />
projects as open experiments in the ‘arrangements’ <strong>of</strong> the living<br />
and nonliving. This essay considers how conceptual predispositions<br />
affect our ability to describe ecological materials and environments.<br />
It provides a speculative basis for aligning heterogeneous,<br />
event-laden ecologies and dynamic architectures <strong>of</strong> the city. It asks<br />
how urban interventions as hybrids <strong>of</strong> architectural fabrication and<br />
ecological regeneration might support a trajectory <strong>of</strong> enhanced<br />
human and biological diversity. Lastly it considers a proposal for<br />
an eco-architectural machine, a modest intervention that could be<br />
replicated throughout urban public spaces and that collapses architecture<br />
and ecology, establishes correspondences at vastly different<br />
scales, and aligns multi-sensory awareness, sociability and<br />
dramatically enhanced biological performance.<br />
Photosynthetic Energy and Ecological Recycling: The<br />
Architectural Potential <strong>of</strong> Algae Cultivation<br />
Gundula Proksch, University <strong>of</strong> Washington<br />
Designers are expanding the definition <strong>of</strong> Ecological Design by incorporating<br />
biological processes and systems directly in their design.<br />
Systems like green ro<strong>of</strong>s and living machines have proved<br />
themselves invaluable for reducing a design’s overall environmental<br />
footprint. Algae-based energy is almost 30 times less expensive<br />
per unit than energy generated by photovoltaic technology, and<br />
algae biodiesel can already be produced at market-competitive<br />
prices. With its efficient energy production and potential for improving<br />
the health <strong>of</strong> the surrounding air and water, algae cultivation<br />
is the next photosynthetically driven system primed for architectural<br />
integration.<br />
This paper examines the various methods <strong>of</strong> algae farming, its opportunities<br />
to support cyclical systems, its design implications, and<br />
its integration into urban space. The paper will support its findings<br />
with examples from built and speculative projects that centrally<br />
feature algae farming: The WPA 2.0 Competition winner, Carbon<br />
T.A.P.; Metropolitan Magazine’s 2011 Design Competition winner,<br />
Process-Zero: Retr<strong>of</strong>it Resolution; the Blenheim Municipal Wastewater<br />
Plant in New Zealand; a Algae Photo-Bioreactor in Klötze,<br />
Germany; and the Green Power House in Columbia Falls, MT.<br />
Cultivation methods range from low-tech open ponds to computer-automated<br />
bioreactors. Each method varies the balance <strong>of</strong><br />
yields, land, water, and energy usage, susceptibility to contamination,<br />
initial costs, and operating costs. Each system has very different<br />
design implications. Algae can effectively sequester carbon dioxide<br />
and treat wastewater while increasing its growth efficiency.<br />
These properties give it great potential for integration with other<br />
intrastructural systems like wastewater systems. These synergies<br />
can be developed into closed-loop systems within the built environment,<br />
resulting in lower CO2 emissions, nutrient reuse and efficient<br />
energy generation.<br />
These multi-layered benefits <strong>of</strong> algae cultivation initiate a rethinking<br />
<strong>of</strong> the relationships between sunlight, alternative energy and<br />
material recycling. This paper argues these new relationships have<br />
strong potential for future development <strong>of</strong> algae-integrated systems.<br />
Possibilities include integration into urban landscapes, existing<br />
building stock and power generation on the neighborhood<br />
scale. Challenges include economically down-scaling algal systems,<br />
onsite harvesting and the logistics <strong>of</strong> combining new infrastructures.<br />
To conclude, algae’s high ecological performance generates a<br />
multi-fold contribution towards improving the health <strong>of</strong> the environment.<br />
With its combination <strong>of</strong> carbon neutral/negative energy<br />
production and ecological recycling <strong>of</strong> environmental pollutants,<br />
the integration <strong>of</strong> algae cultivation in the built environment opens<br />
a new dimension to ecological design.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 21
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012 - 2:00PM - 3:30PM<br />
Emerging Materials (1) Continued<br />
REIs: Renewable Energy Infrastructures<br />
Chris Ford, University <strong>of</strong> Nebraska-Lincoln<br />
If the architectural discipline is to reclaim its influence on the built<br />
environment, then it must conceive <strong>of</strong> research-led and performance-based<br />
solutions that address issues beyond aesthetic finishes<br />
and the market-serving provision <strong>of</strong> habitable space. Furthermore,<br />
as issues and problems relating to the built environment<br />
become ever more layered and complex, architect-led interdisciplinary<br />
teams will become necessary to address them.<br />
One such opportunity for leadership is infrastructure design, although<br />
it is historically shaped by the engineering discipline. However,<br />
if we share Buckminster Fuller’s observation that “society operates<br />
on the theory that specialization is the key to success, not<br />
realizing that specialization precludes comprehensive thinking,”<br />
then as the discipline <strong>of</strong> Engineering requires higher modes <strong>of</strong> specialized<br />
thinking, architects remain in an advantageous position to<br />
continue to act comprehensively, and engage both technological<br />
and infrastructural innovation in a critical way. The challenge for<br />
architects first lies in the recognition <strong>of</strong> their own comprehensive<br />
propensities, and then the deliberate engagement with true issues<br />
<strong>of</strong> infrastructural performance and associative yields.<br />
While the discipline <strong>of</strong> engineering continues to generate re-productive<br />
and mono-functional infrastructural solutions, then architects,<br />
qualified by their comprehensive propensities, are positioned<br />
as “impact players” for conceiving <strong>of</strong> multi-functional infrastructural<br />
solutions to address the demonstrated needs <strong>of</strong> society. The<br />
design <strong>of</strong> new infrastructure typologies, especially those with hybridized<br />
qualities, drastically changes the position, contribution,<br />
and responsibility <strong>of</strong> the pr<strong>of</strong>essional disciplines involved in their<br />
creation. To this end, architects should no longer wait for an invitation<br />
to produce viable infrastructure solutions.<br />
The opportunity must be claimed.<br />
Our university-based design / research team has identified and focused<br />
on a problem that is defined by renewable energy production,<br />
electrical transmission, and urban land use policy. We believe<br />
a Renewable Energy Infrastructure (REI) addresses this problem in<br />
an effective way and ultimately surpasses the prevailing practices<br />
<strong>of</strong> each <strong>of</strong> these three identified areas.<br />
An REI seeks to generate renewable energy megawatts (MW) at<br />
an industrial scale through the simultaneous harnessing <strong>of</strong> wind,<br />
solar, and geothermal resources, but within an integrated, holistic,<br />
and free-standing facility positioned in an urban environment. An<br />
REI is not a retr<strong>of</strong>it <strong>of</strong> a pre-existing architectural condition, but<br />
rather is conceived as a new infrastructure typology to be owned<br />
and operated by an electrical utility for purposes <strong>of</strong> servicing users<br />
in high-population areas.<br />
Infrastructure cannot be fully realized in ideological form alone.<br />
If we are truly interested in affecting either incremental improvements<br />
to existing infrastructures, or the prognostication <strong>of</strong> a fundamentally<br />
new infrastructure type, then we must proceed with a<br />
heightened seriousness in our design intelligence, a dire sense <strong>of</strong><br />
urgency in the timeliness that we work, and focused clarity upon<br />
the effect that we want to induce, just as the technological innovators<br />
Brunelleschi, Wright, and Saarinen have done before us.<br />
22 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012 - 2:00PM - 3:30PM<br />
Open: Community (2)<br />
Tom Fisher, University <strong>of</strong> Minnesota<br />
Activating Agency: Assessing Impacts <strong>of</strong> Global<br />
Collaborative Practices<br />
Michael Zaretsky, University <strong>of</strong> Cincinnati<br />
The question that anyone engaging global collaborative practice<br />
faces is whether the impacts <strong>of</strong> their work are more positive than<br />
negative. At one presentation I gave early in the process <strong>of</strong> developing<br />
a health center in rural Tanzania, a Brazilian woman asked<br />
me if I spoke the local language. I stated that I did not and she proclaimed<br />
that I had no right to design something for a community if<br />
I didn’t speak their language.<br />
Following three years <strong>of</strong> extensive research in the US and in Africa,<br />
I have come to realize that unquestionable contradictions are<br />
inevitable when an educated American in a Midwestern university<br />
is leading the design <strong>of</strong> a health center in rural Tanzania – a region<br />
with fundamentally different cultural practices, languages, climate,<br />
construction and context. But, I have also come to accept that if<br />
we recognize this challenge and assume that we are going to make<br />
mistakes along the way, we can still create something that is going<br />
to have positive impacts for communities around the world.<br />
The greatest realization is that while the communities with<br />
whom we are working are gaining benefits, our students, colleagues,<br />
consultants and many others throughout our communities<br />
are benefiting in pr<strong>of</strong>ound ways for this process. People<br />
are becoming engaged and active within in collaborative practices<br />
within their own communities and communities abroad.<br />
<strong>Architecture</strong> for the Public Good, A Problematic<br />
Development Process<br />
David Kratzer, Philadelphia University<br />
Given public need, architecture can provide for social needs, effect<br />
behavior and support social change. Often referred to as architecture<br />
for the “pubic good,” public service architecture can be defined<br />
as work built for public need without the incentive <strong>of</strong> financial<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>it. Sandy Hirshen, past Chair <strong>of</strong> Berkeley <strong>Architecture</strong> program,<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten referred to public service work as “a battle for an appropriate<br />
architecture and for social equity.” He spoke <strong>of</strong> a “democratization<br />
<strong>of</strong> design” condition where “a paying client and middlemen are interposed<br />
between the user and the designer” resulting in a severed<br />
relationship between the architect and the users <strong>of</strong> their buildings.<br />
Most students <strong>of</strong> architecture share an altruistic optimism about<br />
social architecture. The process for bringing public service architecture<br />
into being, though, is extremely complex and controlled by<br />
Hirshen’s political “middlemen.” Without an understanding <strong>of</strong> the<br />
developmental processes and their effects on design, the architect<br />
will be at a distinct disadvantage to better the world <strong>of</strong> public service<br />
architecture. This paper explores this underlying context in<br />
chronicling the work <strong>of</strong> a homeless assistant center design project<br />
completed by students at Philadelphia University.<br />
Millennials and Design Education<br />
Richard Sweeney, New Jersey Institute <strong>of</strong> Technology<br />
Darius Sollohub, New Jersey Institute <strong>of</strong> Technology<br />
All schools <strong>of</strong> design - including architecture, planning, industrial<br />
design and other allied disciplines - are communities made <strong>of</strong> faculty,<br />
staff and students. Of these groups, students are by far the<br />
largest and most dynamic constituents. Entering the second decade<br />
<strong>of</strong> a new century, design academies find themselves shepherding<br />
a new and unique group through studios and classes, the<br />
so-called Millennials. This generation is the first to have matured<br />
with both the computer and the internet. They are distinct, in command,<br />
and leading the <strong>digital</strong> revolution around us. The authors <strong>of</strong><br />
this document come from different backgrounds and together they<br />
ground this paper in both recent literature focused on both Millennials<br />
and design education, combined with surveys, focus groups<br />
and other outreach. The authors organize this paper in response<br />
to generalized findings on both the behavior characteristics and<br />
personality traits <strong>of</strong> Millennials, dividing those into two categories:<br />
those supporting design pedagogy and those challenging it. And<br />
while other research has examined common behaviors and traits<br />
that distinguish Millennials from previous generations at the same<br />
age in different environments, this paper selects and discuses the<br />
largely unexamined performance <strong>of</strong> Millennials within the context<br />
<strong>of</strong> design education.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 23
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012 - 4:00PM - 5:30PM<br />
1988–1997: Ambitions and Apprehensions <strong>of</strong> a “Digital Revolution”<br />
John Stuart, Florida International University<br />
Sunil Bald, Yale University<br />
Eulogy to Paperless Studios: The Kernel for Pulsation<br />
in <strong>Architecture</strong><br />
Eric Goldemberg, Florida International University<br />
This presentation is both a eulogy to the paperless era, and a proposal<br />
for a new critical reception <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> design through a lens<br />
<strong>of</strong> rhythmic perception; a hopeful look at the possibility for <strong>digital</strong><br />
design to move beyond mere instrumentality and engage with core<br />
aspects <strong>of</strong> the discipline.<br />
Paperless studios flourished during the early ‘90s propelled from<br />
the <strong>digital</strong> hub <strong>of</strong> Columbia University and quickly expanded<br />
throughout academia, infecting and inflecting the pr<strong>of</strong>ession as<br />
well as benefitting from the feedback process activated by pioneering<br />
practices such as Greg Lynn, Jesse Reiser, Hani Rashid,<br />
and others. These architects overlapped design research practices<br />
with studio pedagogy favored by the pervasive culture <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong><br />
experimentation, and coupled by a fast culture <strong>of</strong> publications<br />
leading to cycles <strong>of</strong> excess and consumption. New generations <strong>of</strong><br />
designers grew and multiplied the novel techniques afforded by<br />
computational literacy, basking in the glory <strong>of</strong> a new found faith in<br />
“technique based studios” whereby projects pushed a new craft, an<br />
expertise in handling ever more complex geometrical calculations<br />
and astounding effects. The decade was marked by the boundless<br />
pursuit <strong>of</strong> new spatial sensations, freed from the constraints <strong>of</strong> Euclidean<br />
geometry and tired notions <strong>of</strong> typology. As a consequence<br />
<strong>of</strong> such exuberant and <strong>of</strong>ten times overindulgent experimentation,<br />
the conceptual breadth <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> design grew thinner and it has<br />
been difficult ever since to develop new objectives for such work<br />
beyond the physical pleasures <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> fabrication. The death <strong>of</strong><br />
paperless studios engendered the discourse <strong>of</strong> rhythmic affect.<br />
Extreme Makeover; or How the F-Word Shaped<br />
Contemporary <strong>Architecture</strong><br />
Dora Epstein Jones, Southern California Institute <strong>of</strong> <strong>Architecture</strong><br />
“Extreme Makeover” is a speculative essay connecting the basic<br />
tenets <strong>of</strong> contemporary architectural exploration to the philosophical<br />
mandates established by second-wave feminism. Beginning<br />
with the discourses iniatiated by Irigaray, Kristeva, Haraway and<br />
Grosz, both formative and embedded in post-structuralism, this<br />
essay traces a direct line from the stated interests in differenceas-difference,<br />
minor literatures, cyborg bodies, repressed emotions<br />
and technologized desiring to the ethos <strong>of</strong> s<strong>of</strong>tware-driven formfinding<br />
permeating architectural academics over the last ten years.<br />
Like the television show it is named for, “Extreme Makeover” celebrates<br />
these developments; and in doing so, reminds us <strong>of</strong> the<br />
fundamental female root source.<br />
24 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
The Autonomous Nature <strong>of</strong> Creativity in Juxtaposition<br />
to the New Structuralism<br />
Hollee Becker, Catholic University <strong>of</strong> America<br />
Creativity is independent <strong>of</strong> technology; it lies in the mind <strong>of</strong> the<br />
designer and may be either augmented or hindered by the capabilities<br />
and limitations <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> s<strong>of</strong>tware. For the purpose <strong>of</strong> argument,<br />
this paper will limit itself to the creation <strong>of</strong> complex form.<br />
Fifty years ago complex forms involving double curvatures were<br />
accomplished without the use <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> technology and through<br />
the same basic strategies used today. The only difference is, since<br />
the <strong>digital</strong> revolution <strong>of</strong> the 1990s, s<strong>of</strong>tware allows the designer to<br />
create form through the application <strong>of</strong> rules or parameters rather<br />
than conceiving form wholly through inspiration, tradition and the<br />
vernacular.<br />
If creativity is autonomous, then <strong>digital</strong> technology is merely a tool<br />
and not a driver <strong>of</strong> design. If not, creativity may be directed or<br />
dictated by the limits <strong>of</strong> s<strong>of</strong>tware. The term New Structuralism<br />
implies a return to rules, a process- driven design methodology<br />
fully entwined with research <strong>of</strong> project parameters and materiality.<br />
Rivka Oxman states, “The New Structuralism presents a body <strong>of</strong><br />
novel representational and process models in which form, structure<br />
and material are integrated as one entity in a single model <strong>of</strong> design”16.<br />
The disposition <strong>of</strong> creative autonomy with regard to form,<br />
structure, and material is assessed by comparison <strong>of</strong> complex form<br />
design in pre- and post-<strong>digital</strong> design. The case studies then address<br />
concerns about the effect <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> tools on creative design.
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012 - 4:00PM - 5:30PM<br />
Digital Nouveau and the New Materiality<br />
Armando Montilla, Clemson University<br />
Digital Plecnik : Vienna Years<br />
Magdalena Garmaz, Auburn University<br />
This paper proposes that by looking at the work <strong>of</strong> the architects <strong>of</strong><br />
the Wagner School, Joze Plecnik in particular, one can identify a series<br />
<strong>of</strong> connective threads with the <strong>digital</strong> technologies <strong>of</strong> the present<br />
day. Digital technologies have enabled production <strong>of</strong> myriad<br />
<strong>of</strong> wall panel and cladding systems, with a focus on predetermined<br />
architectural form and materiality. It is important to state that the<br />
basic premise behind his architectural production remains true to<br />
Gottfried Semper’s Bekleidung theory, which provided the theoretical<br />
grounding to Plecnik’s work. Semper’s theory remains, even<br />
after a century and a half, as inspiring and fresh, as it was when it<br />
was first introduced to the architectural audience. In other words,<br />
Plecnik’s work embodies the same principles that were/are championed<br />
not only by Otto Wagner, but also by our contemporaries.<br />
Semper’s attention to the surface, or skin, rather than the structure<br />
<strong>of</strong> the wall, in relation to the space (making), found its early testing<br />
in Plecnik’s Vienna work. That same “Semperian cloth” richly<br />
adorned with architectural ornament, can be observed in the work<br />
<strong>of</strong> Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, who, with the help <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong><br />
technology, create buildings that give an even more complex<br />
interpretation <strong>of</strong> the relationship between the surface and space.<br />
Material Postproduction<br />
Adam Fure, University <strong>of</strong> Michigan<br />
Material postproduction is an approach to working with architectural<br />
materials based on principles <strong>of</strong> manipulation, multiplication,<br />
and mixing. It draws from art theory, most notably Nicolas Bourriard’s<br />
text Postproduction and the writings <strong>of</strong> Simon O’Sullivan.<br />
Both writers articulate a model <strong>of</strong> art practice based on principles<br />
<strong>of</strong> connectivity, where establishing links between disparate objects,<br />
people, and practices is more important than creating original or<br />
autonomous art. Following these accounts, material postproduction<br />
advances a design approach that combines diverse materials,<br />
varied logics <strong>of</strong> application, and superficial alterations to create<br />
works <strong>of</strong> architecture that embody a broad range <strong>of</strong> cultural and<br />
disciplinary associations and experiential effects.<br />
Material postproduction is technological in nature but not founded<br />
on distinct technologies. Rather, new technology is used to expand<br />
architecture’s access to diverse types <strong>of</strong> matter. Material postproduction<br />
uses <strong>digital</strong> patterning to organize and interlace disparate<br />
materials producing heterogeneous aggregates. Superficial treatments<br />
are deployed to amplify visual and tactile depth and/or undercut<br />
the typical associations <strong>of</strong> common materials. In this way,<br />
both materials’ ability to transfer meaning and its physical status as<br />
raw matter are exaggerated and contaminated to produce diverse<br />
sets <strong>of</strong> associations and material qualities, yielding an experience<br />
that vacillates between the realms <strong>of</strong> the haptic, the visual, and the<br />
conceptual.<br />
Finally, material postproduction is opportunistically positioned in<br />
relation to architectural history. Past theories <strong>of</strong> architectural materiality<br />
are mined for latent relevance in contemporary contexts.<br />
Through the combination <strong>of</strong> seemingly oppositional strategies,<br />
material postproduction sets up relational approaches to design<br />
underwritten by a diverse set <strong>of</strong> concepts and material tactics. In<br />
doing so, material postproduction reactivates dormant disciplinary<br />
attitudes, imbuing vitality through insertion into new speculative<br />
domains.<br />
Nouveau Pulsation - 100 Years <strong>of</strong> Craft Evolution:<br />
From Art Nouveau to Digital Pulsation<br />
Eric Goldemberg, Florida International University<br />
This paper collapses 100 years between the intense deployment<br />
<strong>of</strong> ornament during the Art Nouveau period and the contemporary<br />
flourishing <strong>of</strong> ornamental, rhythmic production through <strong>digital</strong><br />
design and fabrication, speculating on the renewed potential<br />
for modulation systems to generate novel architectural tectonics<br />
and spatial effects. There is a complex and historical interrelation<br />
between ornament and techniques <strong>of</strong> architectural design and<br />
production that connects the turn <strong>of</strong> the 20th and 21st centuries.<br />
Ornament is considered here as the ultimate product <strong>of</strong> rhythmic<br />
perception, a locus for fecund architectural exploration.<br />
Pulsation generates ornamental effects that are not ad hoc, they<br />
are inherent to the rhythmic forces that activate dynamic changes<br />
in space, reflecting mutations and transition which get indexed on<br />
the tectonic connections within the range <strong>of</strong> topological geometry.<br />
Ornament, rhythmic awareness and new modes <strong>of</strong> craft triggered<br />
the concept <strong>of</strong> “Nouveau Pulsation”, a continuum <strong>of</strong> rhythmic geometries<br />
that brings together design sensibilities <strong>of</strong> two different,<br />
but intricately connected eras. The focus <strong>of</strong> Digital Nouveau is to<br />
highlight the shifting terrain <strong>of</strong> craft and ornament, as it has evolved<br />
from the 1900s until the present time. The comparison seeks a critical<br />
analysis and integration <strong>of</strong> a continuum <strong>of</strong> design production<br />
<strong>of</strong> 2 intense periods <strong>of</strong> approximately 15 years each, both <strong>of</strong> which<br />
articulated important transitions spanning 100 years, connecting<br />
the early 20th century with the early 21st century and the future.<br />
Contemporary <strong>digital</strong> practices and Art Nouveau share an interest<br />
in the spatial and aesthetic capacities <strong>of</strong> rhythmic affect coupled<br />
with ornamental form.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 25
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012 - 4:00PM - 5:30PM<br />
Digital Nouveau and the New Materiality Continued<br />
Tactile Values: A Political Economy <strong>of</strong> Smooth Surfaces<br />
Ann Marie Brennan, University <strong>of</strong> Melbourne<br />
Not unlike the age <strong>of</strong> the Italian Futurists, <strong>digital</strong> design can be<br />
understood as the result <strong>of</strong> the merging between man and machine.<br />
Today the computer is understood as prosthesis; not quite<br />
an ergonomic one, nor what the Futurists referred to as metallization<br />
<strong>of</strong> humans with machines, but nevertheless trending toward<br />
that direction. We can begin to understand this relationship by<br />
re-examining historical moments within Modern architectural history<br />
such as streamlined design and Italian Futurism, and looking<br />
at how these moments were tied to methods <strong>of</strong> manufacture and,<br />
more importantly, fluid methods <strong>of</strong> valuation. With these examples<br />
in mind we can begin to contemplate how to assess the values and<br />
meanings <strong>of</strong> the multiple configurations <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> design.<br />
No doubt, the emergence <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> technologies changed the manner<br />
in which architects design today. In addition to the introduction<br />
<strong>of</strong> this new mode <strong>of</strong> production, the results <strong>of</strong> these novel methods<br />
<strong>of</strong> parametric processes create a specific formal aesthetic, one<br />
which has been described as smooth surfaces <strong>of</strong> forms consisting<br />
<strong>of</strong> some homogeneous plastic or liquid metallic, mercury-like<br />
material, initially referred to within the architectural discipline as<br />
“blobs.” And while these forms are striking in their appearance as<br />
buildings, the formal games employed to bring about these creations<br />
seem at best shallow, or even arbitrary. A significant factor<br />
that leads to their similar appearance is that these surfaces seem to<br />
be without qualities other than smoothness, and therefore appear<br />
bereft <strong>of</strong> any significant meaning. One way to infuse these new<br />
forms with meaning may be to compare them with other moments<br />
within the history and appreciation <strong>of</strong> forms. Inspiration for such a<br />
process can be found within the discipline <strong>of</strong> art history, which by<br />
definition perhaps contains the tradition <strong>of</strong> looking at forms and<br />
smooth surfaces in a more rigorous and analytical way than architects.<br />
This paper re-examines some historical moments in industrial<br />
design and art history that emphasized the characteristics<br />
<strong>of</strong> smooth surfaces. These historical cases may <strong>of</strong>fer some insight<br />
into analyzing and assessing current <strong>digital</strong>ly-designed forms and<br />
reframe the way in which we, as architects, assign both aesthetic<br />
and economic values to these seemingly non-descript, <strong>digital</strong>ly designed<br />
surfaces.<br />
26 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012 - 4:00PM - 5:30PM<br />
Emerging Materials, Renewable Energy, and Ecological<br />
Design (2)<br />
Franca Trubiano, University <strong>of</strong> Pennsylvania<br />
Aluminet: A Study In Technology Transfer and Radiant<br />
Barriers Post-Sputnik<br />
Ryan Salvas, Auburn University<br />
The 1950’s were a time <strong>of</strong> architectural optimism and innovation, a byproduct<br />
<strong>of</strong> an industry-wide digestion and re-contextualization <strong>of</strong> the<br />
previous decade’s focused war effort. One such product was radiant<br />
barriers, which developed through technology transfer and collaboration<br />
between building scientists and NASA researchers. Since then,<br />
architecture has failed to amass a synergy between disparate technological<br />
worlds. <strong>Architecture</strong> is now a commodity industry, and research<br />
has devolved into coupling and splitting from other fields. This<br />
paper describes a return to that integrated transfer model through<br />
the development <strong>of</strong> an interdisciplinary experiment that tests the architectural<br />
applicability <strong>of</strong> a high performance material (Aluminet) as<br />
a new type <strong>of</strong> radiant barrier. This process is illustrated through a joint<br />
venture between Auburn University’s <strong>Architecture</strong> Department and<br />
the Kinesiology Department. The result is a pro<strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong> concept supporting<br />
the future engineering <strong>of</strong> a new type <strong>of</strong> dynamic radiant barrier for<br />
use in diverse climates.<br />
Beyond Arrows: Natural Ventilation in a High-rise<br />
Building with Double Skin Façade<br />
Mona Azarbayjani, University <strong>of</strong> North Carolina at Charlotte<br />
There is an unexploited opportunity to employ either fully naturally<br />
ventilated, or partially, when mixed with mechanical ventilation in<br />
large <strong>of</strong>fice buildings in Chicago climate. This type <strong>of</strong> ventilation in<br />
those buildings are more desirable than the mechanically ventilated<br />
counterpart because <strong>of</strong> the potential to reduce the high air-conditioning<br />
energy demands, yet provide a comfortable and healthy indoor<br />
environment. The biggest factor to take into consideration when deciding<br />
upon a high-rise ventilation is that the building’s velocity pr<strong>of</strong>ile<br />
increases with height. The conventional way to solve this issue has<br />
been to seal the facade and put a mechanical- ventilation plant into<br />
it. However, double facades are built to allow natural ventilation in<br />
high-rise buildings which represents an undeniable advantage for the<br />
buildings with great height.<br />
The possibility <strong>of</strong> exploiting natural ventilation due to complexity<br />
<strong>of</strong> physical phenomena that is non-linearity, chaotic behavior <strong>of</strong> air<br />
movement, demands a major tool “Computational Fluid Dynamics”<br />
(CFD) for design analyses. Fluent was used to study the airflow and<br />
temperature distribution in the occupied spaces evaluating different<br />
possibiity <strong>of</strong> exploiting natural ventilation for different outside conditions.<br />
In this study two driving forces-wind and stack effect (buoyancy forces)-<br />
are investigated to study the possibility <strong>of</strong> providing comfort in<br />
the building. The results document the indoor climate, the boundary<br />
conditions for further planning and the possibilities for high-rise buildings<br />
with the new innovative enclosure.<br />
Simulating Visual Comfort and Energy Performance <strong>of</strong><br />
Organic Energy Harvesting Electrochromic Windows<br />
(EH-ECWs) in Mid-size Commercial Office Buildings<br />
Amanda Bruot, University <strong>of</strong> Washington<br />
Christopher Meek, University <strong>of</strong> Washington<br />
An interdisciplinary research group including faculty from the College<br />
<strong>of</strong> Engineering and the College <strong>of</strong> Built Environments at the University<br />
<strong>of</strong> Washington (UW) in Seattle is developing a new generation <strong>of</strong> organic<br />
energy harvesting electrochromic windows (EH-ECWs) based<br />
on recently developed organic conjugated polymers and switchable<br />
dye technology. EH-ECWs <strong>of</strong>fer the potential for substantial energy<br />
saving and increased visual comfort in buildings. This paper describes<br />
work undertaken by the Department <strong>of</strong> <strong>Architecture</strong> to simulate the<br />
potential performance <strong>of</strong> EH-ECWs and to begin to develop optimum<br />
deployment strategies <strong>of</strong> EH-ECWs in existing and new commercial<br />
<strong>of</strong>fice buildings. This includes simulation using a code compliant Department<br />
<strong>of</strong> Energy (DOE) reference model and “high-performance”<br />
building model with EH-ECW window technology in four climate<br />
zones, across the following parameters: net site energy consumption,<br />
thermal performance, and the on-site power generation potential <strong>of</strong><br />
energy-harvesting organic photovoltaics. A pilot assessment <strong>of</strong> visual<br />
comfort using a contemporary net-zero commercial <strong>of</strong>fice building<br />
design as a test case was also conducted.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 27
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 10:30AM - 12:00PM<br />
4D <strong>Architecture</strong><br />
Keith Green, Clemson University<br />
4D Environments and Design: Prototyping Interactive<br />
<strong>Architecture</strong><br />
Kihong Ku, Philadelphia University<br />
Jonathan Grinham, Studio27<br />
This paper describes the prototyping efforts <strong>of</strong> an interdisciplinary<br />
design approach that explores interactive environments and<br />
design innovation. 4D environments relate to the proliferation <strong>of</strong><br />
interactive appliances and the possibility <strong>of</strong> interconnecting people<br />
and objects, and the paper presents key concepts <strong>of</strong> 4D environments<br />
and its relation to design. Designing 4D environments<br />
extends beyond developing interactive phones, games, reading<br />
devices which confine their interactivity to surfaces <strong>of</strong> screens. 4D<br />
environments require an understanding <strong>of</strong> the complex physical<br />
interactions facilitated by embedded computation and physical<br />
kinetic counterparts and the application <strong>of</strong> such knowledge to design<br />
and production.<br />
The authors build on previous work conducted in the field <strong>of</strong> interactive,<br />
responsive and kinetic architecture and describe in detail<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the exploratory projects that evolved into further outreach<br />
endeavors and design studio workshops. The creative opportunities<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong>f -the-shelf sensors, actuators, and microcontrollers were<br />
examined through the design development <strong>of</strong> responsive architectural<br />
systems which were investigated through the technical<br />
integration <strong>of</strong> interactivity, physical computing and virtual simulations.<br />
The initial design research involved collaborations with faculty<br />
and students from architecture, computer science, mechanical<br />
engineering, electrical engineering, leading practitioners, and<br />
open source online communities. A series <strong>of</strong> architectural scenarios<br />
<strong>of</strong> kinetic shading partitions were explored and prototyped using<br />
<strong>digital</strong> manufacturing tools and processes. Concentrating on developing<br />
new tectonics through 4D environments, the theoretical<br />
and experimental explorations <strong>of</strong> this research expand the understanding<br />
<strong>of</strong> emerging <strong>digital</strong> technologies and question the impact<br />
on architecture: Can architecture actively and dynamically<br />
change physical environments in real time while becoming a social<br />
medium? Can architecture connect the virtual and the physical?<br />
Can architecture become an interface to connect what were once<br />
thought to be disparate ideas and worlds?<br />
Self-organizing Strategy: An Adaptable Growth Model<br />
for <strong>Architecture</strong><br />
Taro Narahara, New Jersey Institute <strong>of</strong> Technology<br />
The paper explores a possible future direction <strong>of</strong> computational<br />
design strategy through a new conceptual method for a city design<br />
tool. The method uses interactions and feedback among its own<br />
components, agents and environment, and produces new instances<br />
<strong>of</strong> spatial layout <strong>of</strong> paths and buildings from primary inputs <strong>of</strong><br />
a given landform and environmental conditions. Agents’ behaviors<br />
are updated accordingly as new paths and buildings are generated.<br />
This co-evolutionary process between agents and environments is<br />
known to exist in many self-organizing systems.<br />
28 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
Reflections on Kinetic Reticulated Frameworks<br />
Bernhard Sill, Clemson University<br />
This contribution is reflecting on kinetic reticulated frameworks,<br />
structures composed <strong>of</strong> linear elements, that adapt to different<br />
climatic conditions or reconfiguring to various functions. Kinetic<br />
systems are devised to adapt and change in shape, therefore their<br />
assessment shifts from static behavior to dynamic performance.<br />
The aesthetics and technology are linked to movement and variability,<br />
revealing ephemeral <strong>aptitudes</strong>.<br />
The goal is to explore a new vocabulary for kinetic architecture,<br />
expanding the established range <strong>of</strong> static buildings with adaptive,<br />
convertible and kinetic architectural systems.<br />
The novelty <strong>of</strong> the approach is the identification and exposure <strong>of</strong><br />
a comprehensive survey <strong>of</strong> loadbearing principles in architecture<br />
structures and to develop for each <strong>of</strong> the fundamental structural<br />
behaviors a measure to convert a static structure into a kinetic<br />
mechanism. On this basis several new basic kinetic loadbearing<br />
systems could be developed. More complex systems can be synthesized<br />
through combination and hybridization.<br />
Cloud Code: Public Space in 4 Dimensions<br />
Andrew Vrana, University <strong>of</strong> Houston<br />
Joseph Meppelink, University <strong>of</strong> Houston<br />
Travis McCarra, Metalab<br />
“Cloud Code” in the City <strong>of</strong> Houston Permitting Center is a conduit<br />
and real-time display <strong>of</strong> the occupancy, activity, and air quality<br />
in the building. The interaction <strong>of</strong> occupants within the physical<br />
space <strong>of</strong> the public areas is measured and displayed as civic art.
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 10:30AM - 12:00PM<br />
Digital Details<br />
Matt Burgermaster, New Jersey Institute <strong>of</strong> Technology<br />
Optimization Takes Command: Miscalculations in<br />
Performative Design<br />
Doris Kim Sung, University <strong>of</strong> Southern California<br />
As the natural in nature gradually disappears, research’s obsession<br />
with simulating, replicating, deviating, and mutating nature as<br />
means to control the extinction <strong>of</strong> that same organic world around<br />
us, ironically increases the realm <strong>of</strong> artificiality and, ultimately, the<br />
dependency on math, sciences and technology. Design research is<br />
no exception, where the notions <strong>of</strong> optimization are derived from<br />
the self-perpetrating obsessions with math and science, reliance on<br />
algebraic or logarithmic equations for geometry generation, and<br />
the dependence on the logic <strong>of</strong> the physics <strong>of</strong> nature for identification<br />
<strong>of</strong> the lowest energy states. This same pursuit <strong>of</strong> optimization<br />
has pr<strong>of</strong>oundly influenced decision-making in the design process.<br />
In many cases, efficient use <strong>of</strong> materials, effective selection <strong>of</strong> design/construction<br />
strategies, lower energy use and minimal waste<br />
have affected the choices that are made from schematic design<br />
to construction, and add to the traditional pressures <strong>of</strong> cost effectiveness<br />
and densification <strong>of</strong> planametric space. Engineers have<br />
become integral players <strong>of</strong> schematic design teams, playing larger<br />
roles in the integration <strong>of</strong> structural and M/E/P systems in order<br />
to prevent unnecessary redundancy throughout. Additionally,<br />
newly available and powerful computer s<strong>of</strong>tware makes the realization<br />
<strong>of</strong> optimization <strong>of</strong> complex shapes, fluid parameterization,<br />
unimaginable forms and material feasible. Never before have we<br />
been able to make, test and fabricate parts <strong>of</strong> architecture as we<br />
can today. As a result, projects have become more ambitious, resulting<br />
in forms and tectonics that are complex, multi-faceted and<br />
comprehensive with a definitive effect on the aesthetic outcome<br />
<strong>of</strong> a project and an indelible change on the new landscape <strong>of</strong> man.<br />
These projects have historically been limited to static systems.<br />
Now, add dynamic input systems into this equation. Because realistically<br />
architecture must respond and mediate between multiple<br />
non-stationary variables, it is clear that the response <strong>of</strong> the<br />
architecture must also be dynamic and fluid from the large scale<br />
(programmatically) to the very small (nanomaterials). But, to understand<br />
the meaning <strong>of</strong> optimization vis-a-vis performance criteria<br />
in dynamic models, holistic understanding <strong>of</strong> the input, output<br />
and deviations must be considered. This paper will present projects<br />
completed by the author made <strong>of</strong> thermobimetals, where the<br />
consequences <strong>of</strong> sheer science resolution and idiosyncratic inconsistencies<br />
from logic, lead to an aesthetic <strong>of</strong> optimization, responsiveness<br />
and performance <strong>of</strong> dynamic systems, namely in the use<br />
or misuse <strong>of</strong> incomplete <strong>digital</strong> tools (scripting, programs, etc.),<br />
true understanding <strong>of</strong> fabrication tools and assembly limitations,<br />
irregular insertion <strong>of</strong> overlapping mobile components (material behavior),<br />
and wavering definition <strong>of</strong> criteria in structural systems.<br />
Although “form, structure, and material act upon each other, and<br />
this behavior <strong>of</strong> all three cannot be predicted by analysis <strong>of</strong> any<br />
one <strong>of</strong> them separately” (Weinstock, 2010), for purpose <strong>of</strong> discussion,<br />
each will be identified in its own section, but, by no means,<br />
should be considered in isolation from its intertwined context.<br />
Tending to the Detail<br />
Patrick Doan, Virginia Tech<br />
In an ‘age <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> ubiquity’ it is important to not lose sight <strong>of</strong> the<br />
architectural details potency within the practice <strong>of</strong> architecture.<br />
The detail is not passive, disposable, a production drawing buried<br />
within the pages <strong>of</strong> a construction document set, or the product<br />
<strong>of</strong> a specific tool. Rather, it is the embodiment <strong>of</strong> the architect’s<br />
knowledge, skill, understanding, and sensitivity to how materials<br />
and spaces are thoughtfully formed and brought together. Born<br />
<strong>of</strong> the architect’s imagination, the detail is complex and multi-dimensional;<br />
operating simultaneously at multiple scales addressing<br />
constructive, formal, and spatial questions <strong>of</strong> joining. Tending to<br />
the detail is to turn our attention back to the role the architectural<br />
detail plays in the making and crafting <strong>of</strong> works <strong>of</strong> architecture.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 29
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 10:30AM - 12:00PM<br />
Integration, Not Segregation: Interdisciplinary Design<br />
Pedagogy for the Second 100 Years<br />
James Doerfler, California Polytechnic State University<br />
Kevin Dong, California Polytechnic State University<br />
A 21st Century Approach to Trans-disciplinary<br />
Sustainable Design Education<br />
Robert Fleming, Philadelphia University<br />
Sustainability is a powerful force that is fundamentally reshaping humanity’s<br />
relationship to the natural world ushering in the 21st Century<br />
and the Age <strong>of</strong> Ecology. From inefficient unhealthy buildings to carbon<br />
neutral living buildings; from paved lifeless landscapes to ecologically<br />
integrated environments; from stark and sterile interiors to daylit<br />
and effusive indoor environments, architects, designers, landscape architects<br />
and planners have begun to show life, to begin to illicit visions<br />
<strong>of</strong> a grand and green future. While practicing design pr<strong>of</strong>essionals<br />
benefit from plentiful continuing education opportunities, the upcoming<br />
generation <strong>of</strong> built environment pr<strong>of</strong>essionals must rely on the<br />
academies to deliver the kind <strong>of</strong> holistic interdisciplinary educational<br />
experience that is so needed in the 21st century. At the foundation <strong>of</strong><br />
such an approach lies the ethical framework <strong>of</strong> the Triple Bottom Line.<br />
Now released from their traditional dialectic relationship, social/environmental<br />
progress on the one hand and economic progress on the<br />
other can now comfortably coexist to form a more integrated version<br />
<strong>of</strong> sustainability. However, the now culturally accepted Triple Bottom<br />
Line while useful in explaining the philosophic goal <strong>of</strong> integral sustainability,<br />
leaves few, if any clues as to how to attack such integration in<br />
a design education setting. As a response, this paper will explore a<br />
framework <strong>of</strong> five intentions for trans-disciplinary sustainable design<br />
education: Design Consciousness (why are we designing?); Inclusiveness<br />
(Who is designing?); Cooperation (How do we collaborate?); Realignment<br />
(What order should information be communicated?); and<br />
lastly Integration (What is the goal <strong>of</strong> sustainable design education?).<br />
But design educators must move from the comforting realm <strong>of</strong> intention<br />
into the more painful and impactful process <strong>of</strong> making interdisciplinary<br />
pedagogy operational. Therefore, this paper will also explore<br />
important aspects <strong>of</strong> each intention in the proposed framework with<br />
a specific focus on how interdisciplinary work forms the centerpiece<br />
<strong>of</strong> a trans-disciplinary M.S. in Sustainable Design at Philadelphia University.<br />
The Program, now in its fifth year, has existed long enough to<br />
provide some useful insight into the various educational techniques,<br />
strategies and methodologies needed to achieve an authentic sustainability<br />
experience for students seeking to participate in a sustainable<br />
21st century.<br />
A New Regional Platform for Computational Fabrication<br />
Brad Bell, University <strong>of</strong> Texas at Arlington<br />
Kevin McClellan, University <strong>of</strong> Texas at San Antonio<br />
Andrew Vrana, University <strong>of</strong> Houston<br />
Will Laufs, Buro Happold<br />
TEX-FAB is a non-pr<strong>of</strong>it organization founded between three universities<br />
in Texas with the primary function <strong>of</strong> connecting design pr<strong>of</strong>essionals,<br />
academics, and manufacturers interested in <strong>digital</strong> fabrication.<br />
The three co-directors established TEX-FAB as a collective action,<br />
one that endeavors to combine divergent interests and capabilities,<br />
for the purpose <strong>of</strong> strengthening the regional discourse around <strong>digital</strong><br />
fabrication and parametric design. The three primary avenues for accomplishing<br />
this goal are set out as Theoria (Lectures / Exhibitions),<br />
Poiesis (Workshops) and Praxis (Competitions / Commissions). We<br />
see this type <strong>of</strong> effort as a new paradigm focused on providing a<br />
network <strong>of</strong> affiliated <strong>digital</strong> fabrication resources, and a platform for<br />
education and exchange on issues <strong>of</strong> parametric modeling. It is our<br />
position that TEX-FAB engages the new and growing awareness <strong>of</strong> a<br />
regional and global hybridization. We seek to leverage the burgeoning<br />
global knowledge base to produce a more specific and contextual<br />
dialogue within the region we operate, teach, and practice. We assert<br />
that TEX-FAB presents a new model for collaborative engagement<br />
through the framework <strong>of</strong> our organization. Specifically, we will use<br />
the international competition REPEAT our organization recently hosted<br />
to illustrate how collaboration is a vital tenet to the success <strong>of</strong> executing<br />
a complex full-scale installation entitled Minimal Complexity.<br />
30 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
In Support <strong>of</strong> Pre-Pr<strong>of</strong>essional Relations: Guidelines for<br />
Effective Educational Collaborations between<br />
<strong>Architecture</strong> and Engineering<br />
Clare Olsen, California Polytechnic State University<br />
Sinead Namara, Syracuse University<br />
Despite the increasing reliance on architecture-engineering collaborations<br />
in the pr<strong>of</strong>essional world, in the United States, students from<br />
the disciplines generally have few opportunities for interdisciplinary<br />
learning. Recognizing the potential for architecture and engineering<br />
course collaborations to (1) integrate creativity in engineering<br />
education, (2) encourage architecture students to strive for greater<br />
technical resolution, and to (3) align pedagogy with practice, the<br />
Syracuse University <strong>Schools</strong> <strong>of</strong> Engineering and <strong>Architecture</strong> applied<br />
and were granted a three year National Science Foundation Innovations<br />
in Engineering Education grant. Amongst other initiatives, the<br />
grant supported the development <strong>of</strong> an interdisciplinary course, and<br />
in the first two iterations, the authors co-taught a design elective<br />
focused on Shell Structures. Teaching a diverse group <strong>of</strong> students<br />
posed interesting challenges. By recognizing and building upon the<br />
differences amongst the students’ understanding, we sought to establish<br />
a common ground for communication and design through a<br />
shared vocabulary and skill set. Analyses <strong>of</strong> the courses’ successes<br />
and failures were evaluated through NSF-supported assessments<br />
conducted by the Office <strong>of</strong> Pr<strong>of</strong>essional Research and Development<br />
in the School <strong>of</strong> Education at Syracuse University. As a result <strong>of</strong><br />
these evaluations and our teaching experiences, we have created a<br />
number <strong>of</strong> guidelines for future engineering and architecture course<br />
collaborations. We hope these guidelines will support and enhance<br />
future interdisciplinary collaborations, which we see as crucial to the<br />
curricula <strong>of</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>essional degree programs.<br />
Reaching for Sustainability Using Technology and<br />
Teamwork: Teaching Integrated Project Delivery in<br />
Multi-Disciplinary Studios<br />
Kathrina Simonen, University <strong>of</strong> Washington<br />
Carrie Dossick, University <strong>of</strong> Washington<br />
Robert Pena, University <strong>of</strong> Washington<br />
Designers and builders are under increasing pressure to innovate<br />
and adapt to rapid changes in economic, social and environmental<br />
conditions. As educators we must be flexible enough to adopt new<br />
teaching methods and creative enough to teach to an uncertain<br />
future. Over the past three years an evolving Integrated Practice/<br />
Design Build Studio has been taught at the University <strong>of</strong> Washington.<br />
The Integrated studio is a project-based senior undergraduate<br />
construction management/architecture studio where students<br />
from the two disciplines as well as civil engineering and landscape<br />
architecture worked in a collaborative environment to deliver a<br />
design proposal, conceptual estimate, schedule and construc-tion<br />
plan for a building project with challenging sustainable goals such<br />
as net-zero energy consumption. All studio projects have focused<br />
on reaching towards sustainability and demonstrating the possibilities<br />
for making market-ready, high-performance, low environmental<br />
impact buildings. The pedagogical model uses technology and<br />
teamwork, building on the processes <strong>of</strong> Integrated Project Delivery<br />
(IPD), a design approach that integrates people, systems, business<br />
structures and practices for harnessing the talents and insights <strong>of</strong><br />
all participants in order to optimize project results, increase value<br />
to the owner, reduce waste, and maximize efficiency through all<br />
phases <strong>of</strong> design, fabrication and construction. In this paper we<br />
will report the faculty perspective <strong>of</strong> the challenge <strong>of</strong> interdisciplinary<br />
education that brings together students from departments that<br />
have very different expectations, histories, disciplines and cultures<br />
in the context <strong>of</strong> a sustainable project supported by BIM technologies<br />
and the opportunities that this teaching model presents for<br />
education and practice alike.
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 2:00PM - 3:30PM<br />
Post-Parametric Environments<br />
Jennifer Leung, Yale University<br />
Biochemical Injections - <strong>Architecture</strong> as a Biotechnical<br />
Interface in a Post-parametric Environment.<br />
Mina Yaney<br />
Biochemical Injections is examining the potential <strong>of</strong> a creative, heterogeneous<br />
and perpetually variable interface between architecture,<br />
bio-technologies, postmodern philosophy as well as political<br />
theory. The intersecting point between these four fields is identified<br />
as the organic body, taken to mean all kinds <strong>of</strong> different bodies,<br />
be they biological, chemical, physical or geological. What all<br />
embodied entities share, is that one can clearly conceive <strong>of</strong> them as<br />
an irreducible, corporeal, informational field which displays the relation<br />
and performs the negotiation between different forces. This<br />
difference <strong>of</strong> forces can be variably re-modulated and interfaced<br />
through different biotechnologies. Since biotechnological practice<br />
is circling around harnessing, manipulating and managing the<br />
manufacturing, differentiating, propagating and fusing capacities<br />
<strong>of</strong> tissues, cells, proteins and molecules, the notion <strong>of</strong> the organic<br />
body is, hence, rendered as intrinsically open for re-modulation.<br />
The biotechnological re-modulatability <strong>of</strong> the organic body opens<br />
up a vast ethico-aesthetical paradigm on a molecular level and<br />
clearly implies a re-modulation <strong>of</strong> the political, philosophical and<br />
architectural as well. Hence, architectural design can be rethought<br />
as inducing organic form from within - through modulation - rather<br />
than mechanically imposing form from the outside. Can we specify<br />
architectural approaches in which biotechnics may amplify, augment,<br />
recombine and interface different life forces, forms <strong>of</strong> vitality,<br />
and transformative productivity, governing the emergence <strong>of</strong><br />
environmental bodies <strong>of</strong> habitation?<br />
Communication Theory as an Anti-environment for<br />
Understanding the Effects <strong>of</strong> Technological Environments<br />
upon Cultural Change<br />
Isaac Lerner, Eastern Mediterranean University<br />
Abstract: In order to deal with the bias <strong>of</strong> the ‘environment’ shaping<br />
cultural and social prejudices in architecture and urbanism in<br />
the information age, Marshall McLuhan’s communication theory<br />
<strong>of</strong> cultural change provides a meaningful analysis <strong>of</strong> the effects <strong>of</strong><br />
technological environments, as a means <strong>of</strong> heightened perception.<br />
In the current age, where the <strong>digital</strong> infrastructural environment<br />
<strong>of</strong> cyberspace envelopes and transforms all pre-existing cultural<br />
and natural habitats, the scale and pace <strong>of</strong> this transformation and<br />
its psychological, sociological as well as material effects escapes<br />
perception. McLuhan’s prose-poetic style and his mosaic form <strong>of</strong><br />
discourse satirize, or as he says “puts-on”, the reader in order to attune<br />
perception so that understanding media effects is facilitated.<br />
The interplay <strong>of</strong> cultures and the possibility for global cooperation<br />
depends on harmonizing spatial biases as determined by the media<br />
ecology (i.e. operational technological environments) and its effects<br />
on group behavior. In terms <strong>of</strong> modern evolutionary theory,<br />
such as the work <strong>of</strong> evolutionist David Sloan Wilson, at the group<br />
level, altruistic or cooperative traits versus competitive or selfish<br />
traits are selected for which sustains the survival <strong>of</strong> the group. In<br />
this way, evolution occurs if there is another layer to the process<br />
<strong>of</strong> natural selection which is the layer <strong>of</strong> group selection. This is the<br />
layer, in terms <strong>of</strong> McLuhan’s work, whereby, by shaping our tools<br />
we shape ourselves as a culture. By complementing modern evolutionary<br />
group theory with McLuhan’s communication theory <strong>of</strong><br />
cultural change this enhances insight, and consequently provides<br />
a means <strong>of</strong> anticipatory design, for architects and urban planners.<br />
Risky Business: From Digital Fabrication to the Abstract<br />
Workshop<br />
Mark Cabrinha, California Polytechnic State University<br />
The legal boundary separating architects’ conception from execution<br />
is broached through a new genre <strong>of</strong> workshop practices enabled<br />
by <strong>digital</strong> fabrication. The challenges and opportunities <strong>of</strong><br />
these workshop practices and their reflection on contemporary design<br />
culture are made visible through a series <strong>of</strong> interviews I conducted<br />
between 2005 and 2008. These interviews help to position<br />
the pedagogical place <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> fabrication not as argument for the<br />
design-build process, but rather in the formation <strong>of</strong> the image <strong>of</strong><br />
practice as an abstract workshop enabled through parametric design<br />
tools. Abstractions develop from real world objects and experiences<br />
becoming generalized, as abstractions, to apply to multiple<br />
scenarios and situations, taking the general from the concrete. The<br />
concept <strong>of</strong> the abstract workshop is grounded by material systems<br />
but not fixed within one particular domain or application, and in so<br />
doing, can leverage scale in the way direct fabrication never could.<br />
The Parameters <strong>of</strong> the Posthuman<br />
Ariane Lourie Harrison, Yale University<br />
This paper recruits another “post”—the posthuman—to reflect on<br />
the slippery status <strong>of</strong> the “post-parametic” environment, marking<br />
our changing relationship to nature and registering what we term<br />
an emerging architectural imagination <strong>of</strong> posthuman hybridity.<br />
The posthuman interpretation <strong>of</strong> longstanding ecological concepts<br />
<strong>of</strong> “hybridity” and “assemblage” allows us to explore the heterogeneous<br />
urban environments produced in two realized works by<br />
R&Sie (n) and The Living. The paper proposes that these examples<br />
<strong>of</strong> contemporary architecture modify conventional understandings<br />
<strong>of</strong> subject/object relations and instead address the posthuman “hybrid<br />
subject”. Featuring animal subjects and vegetal cyborgs, these<br />
works visualize the presence <strong>of</strong> human and non-human subjects as<br />
assemblages which do not perform according to the “optimizing”<br />
filters <strong>of</strong> parameterized behavior. Instead, A posthuman approach<br />
to architecture expands the architectural subject beyond the human<br />
user, extends the architectural building material to include<br />
assemblages <strong>of</strong> inorganic and organic, and invokes the architectural<br />
assemblage as a multi-scale territory. The post-parametic (or<br />
posthuman) imagination suggests that what was formerly known<br />
as nature is an environment bristling with hybrid subjects.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 31
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 2:00PM - 3:30PM<br />
Situated Technologies<br />
Jordan Geiger, University at Buffalo, SUNY<br />
Omar Khan, University at Buffalo, SUNY<br />
Mark Shepard, University at Buffalo, SUNY<br />
A Cybernetic House Between<br />
Duncan Patterson, University <strong>of</strong> Waterloo<br />
This paper outlines a strategy for the design <strong>of</strong> a cybernetic house<br />
so as to successfully navigate what the author perceives as the<br />
‘Faustian bargains’ <strong>of</strong> the technologization <strong>of</strong> flesh and field. The<br />
cybernetic house is conceived <strong>of</strong> us an extended technological<br />
flesh layered between social micro-ecologies and the larger networks<br />
within which they are situated. The cybernetic house is designed,<br />
following an intention to be under-specified, so that information<br />
is spatialized, communal, and interactive.<br />
Appropriateness in the Design <strong>of</strong> Ubiquitous<br />
Computing Environments<br />
Nasir Barday, TandemSeven, Inc.<br />
The standards for ubiquitous computing technologies are much<br />
higher than those for traditional computing. These high standards<br />
are compounded when considering ubiquitous technologies embedded<br />
in the built environment. In the past, the ubiquitous computing<br />
community has focused on the technology and infrastructure<br />
to support novel applications, leaving largely unexplored the<br />
thinking about using embedded computation to humanize the built<br />
environment and enable it for interactions with information and<br />
other people. The designer must consider the appropriateness <strong>of</strong><br />
the intended functions and interactions <strong>of</strong> an intelligent environment<br />
before proceeding with a design.<br />
This paper explores the appropriateness <strong>of</strong> design for ubiquitous<br />
computing environments brought about through collaborations<br />
between interaction designers and architects. When considering<br />
the appropriateness <strong>of</strong> a new design, designers can break the study<br />
into the attributes <strong>of</strong> function, engagement, calmness, and robustness.<br />
While in most cases the designer should strive for these attributes,<br />
she may decide that a core characteristic <strong>of</strong> her design is<br />
to ignore one or more <strong>of</strong> these categories. If this is the case, the<br />
decision should be a deliberate element <strong>of</strong> the design.<br />
Informing Material Specification<br />
Ayelet Karmon, Shenkar College <strong>of</strong> Engineering and Design<br />
Mette Thomsen, Royal Danish Academy <strong>of</strong> Fine Arts<br />
<strong>Architecture</strong> is entering a radical rethinking <strong>of</strong> its material practice.<br />
Advancements in material science and more complex models <strong>of</strong> material<br />
simulation as well as the interfaces between design and fabrication<br />
are fundamentally changing the way we conceive and design<br />
our built environment. This new technological platform allows an unprecedented<br />
control over the material. Creating direct links between<br />
the space <strong>of</strong> design and the space <strong>of</strong> fabrication, the idea <strong>of</strong> the<br />
hyper specified material developed in direct response to defined design<br />
criteria calls upon a new material practice in which designers <strong>of</strong><br />
artifacts are also designers <strong>of</strong> materials. In this practice materials are<br />
seen as bespoke composites, differentiated and graded, and whose<br />
particular detailing is a central part <strong>of</strong> a projects overall solution.<br />
32 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
The development <strong>of</strong> this new material practice is central to emergence<br />
<strong>of</strong> a new more sensitive approach to design. As we enter<br />
an era <strong>of</strong> design thinking that seeks to respond to the increasing<br />
social, environmental and sustainable demands <strong>of</strong> building practice<br />
we need to develop new models by which we can realize our architecture.<br />
To engage directly with material design and to partake in<br />
the development <strong>of</strong> new material systems is to be part <strong>of</strong> an inventive<br />
culture <strong>of</strong> material engineering. From the very small to the very<br />
large, the imagination <strong>of</strong> performative materials that are created<br />
in response to highly defined design criteria are challenging the<br />
traditional boundaries <strong>of</strong> design and representation. Performative<br />
materials can be structurally differentiated designed in response<br />
to a variegated load, materially graded responding to change in<br />
program or property or computationally steered incorporating<br />
actuated materials designed for state change and environmental<br />
response. Hyper specified and designed, what they have in common<br />
is that they are developed in response to particular criteria<br />
by which the strength, structure, elasticity or density <strong>of</strong> a material<br />
can be devised.<br />
This paper will present a dual investigation into material design as<br />
an architectural practice. Taking point <strong>of</strong> departure in two cross<br />
disciplinary workshop investigations, we explore ways in which<br />
materially embedded sensing can lead to the making <strong>of</strong> new strategies<br />
for material design. Both investigations use textiles as a model<br />
for material thinking. Developing bespoke interfaces between<br />
programmable architectural design tools and advanced computer<br />
numerically controlled (CNC) knitting machines we understand the<br />
practice <strong>of</strong> textile design as a particular class <strong>of</strong> material design that<br />
enables variegation across both material and structure. Our aim for<br />
the experiments is firstly: the design <strong>of</strong> active materials that use integrated<br />
sensing as a means for triggering actuation and secondly:<br />
the design <strong>of</strong> graded materials that use integrated sensing as a<br />
means for specification. In the following we will discuss how these<br />
two practices can be interlinked, what are the shared concepts and<br />
technologies and can these be advantageously merged.<br />
Intelligent Infrastructure: Mobile Networks as Tactical<br />
Transportation<br />
Therese Tierney, University <strong>of</strong> Illinois Urbana Chamapign<br />
Ben Feldmann, Mia Lehrer Landscape <strong>Architecture</strong><br />
Katherine Handy, Field Paoli Architects<br />
Tyron Marshall, Perkins+Wills<br />
Gerry Tierney, 510 Collective<br />
Dinesh Perrera, Format Design<br />
This paper focuses on one key concept related to intelligent infrastructure:<br />
new modes <strong>of</strong> transportation enabled by mobile technologies<br />
and wireless networks. Los Angeles_REDCAR, a prototype<br />
project, is described in detail. The project is positioned within an<br />
ongoing discussion <strong>of</strong> the Resiliant City and “internet <strong>of</strong> things.”<br />
As cities look to new infrastructural solutions, this research explores<br />
the evolving relation between people, networks, and artifacts<br />
– and how this connection between people and “things” is<br />
altering the way we occupy, navigate, and inhabit the city.
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 4:00PM - 5:30PM<br />
Teaching History in the Digital Age<br />
Carla Keyvanian, Auburn University<br />
Building Socialistic Architectural <strong>Schools</strong>: The<br />
Transformation <strong>of</strong> China’s Architectural Education<br />
from American Beaux-Arts Model into the Soviet Model<br />
Xiao Hu, University <strong>of</strong> Idaho<br />
The pr<strong>of</strong>essional education is a vital component <strong>of</strong> the architectural<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>ession. It not only <strong>of</strong>fers special training to obtain the required<br />
basis <strong>of</strong> architectural knowledge and skills needed for the<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essional practice <strong>of</strong> design, but also ensures the stable development<br />
<strong>of</strong> the pr<strong>of</strong>ession by excluding other competitors through<br />
a monopoly <strong>of</strong> knowledge and skills. The required formal training<br />
<strong>of</strong> architecture provides a cultural and social legitimation for architects’<br />
responsibility and importance.<br />
The formation <strong>of</strong> the modern architectural pr<strong>of</strong>ession in China was<br />
the product <strong>of</strong> political and social change – the falling <strong>of</strong> China’s<br />
imperial system and the rising <strong>of</strong> Western capitalism in the end<br />
<strong>of</strong> 19th Century. The introduction <strong>of</strong> modern Western capitalist<br />
forces <strong>of</strong> production had undermined and transformed much <strong>of</strong><br />
China’s traditional economic order, and the onslaught <strong>of</strong> the Western<br />
model disintegrated China’s traditional architectural practices.<br />
However, the architectural pr<strong>of</strong>ession in China was not refashioned<br />
in the image <strong>of</strong> the Western pr<strong>of</strong>essional world. Although Chinese<br />
architects shared the similar, if not the same, pr<strong>of</strong>essional criteria<br />
and social distinction with those practitioners in the West, the<br />
changeable ideological structures, repeated foreign interventions,<br />
and constant revolutions significantly changed the nature <strong>of</strong> the architectural<br />
practice in China. In the 1950s, China’s architectural education<br />
underwent a significant transformation under political and<br />
ideological orders. Within a few years, the American Beaux-Arts<br />
model was wiped <strong>of</strong>f and was replaced by the model borrowed<br />
from the Soviet Union. This paper focuses on how the Chinese<br />
Communist Party effectively implemented its plans and policies<br />
step by step to complete this transformation.<br />
On the Use Value <strong>of</strong> History<br />
Amir Ameri, University <strong>of</strong> Colorado<br />
The <strong>digital</strong> information revolution and the economic globalization<br />
it has greatly facilitated have brought diverse cultures into unprecedented<br />
proximity and a precarious dialogue in both actual and<br />
virtual space and time. This cohabitation is transforming world cultures<br />
at a scale and a rate that is impressive, if not unprecedented.<br />
The question and challenge this change poses architectural education<br />
is how to educate the next generation <strong>of</strong> architects to meet<br />
the unique demands <strong>of</strong> a plurality <strong>of</strong> cultures in a state <strong>of</strong> flux and<br />
change? To meet this challenge architectural education has to instil<br />
a heightened understanding <strong>of</strong> the complex dialogue between<br />
architecture and culture, along with a spirit <strong>of</strong> critical exploration,<br />
experimentation, creative thought, and innovation. The history <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>Architecture</strong> will have an indispensable role to play in any curriculum<br />
that seeks to meet these challenges. Yet, to play a pivotal role<br />
in fostering the requisite spirit <strong>of</strong> critical exploration and innovation,<br />
architectural history has to engage and exert a critical impact<br />
on studio pedagogy. Since secular institutional building-types are<br />
the core focus <strong>of</strong> design studio instruction, architectural history<br />
has to more directly engage the history <strong>of</strong> their cultural and institutional<br />
development. Such genealogical studies can establish a direct<br />
link between history and design pedagogy as complimentary<br />
practices. To demonstrate, I focus on the history <strong>of</strong> the library and<br />
point out how a critical re-evaluation <strong>of</strong> its ideological underpinnings<br />
can form the parameters <strong>of</strong> a new context for design, within<br />
which the link between the formal/architectural properties <strong>of</strong> the<br />
building type and its institutional/cultural presuppositions could<br />
neither be restated nor discarded. This new context will require<br />
students to not only think analytically and critically, but also to wilfully<br />
manipulate the language <strong>of</strong> architecture as opposed to faithfully<br />
re-produce its various speech acts.<br />
Transparency: Literal, Phenomenal, Digtial<br />
Newton D’souza, University <strong>of</strong> Missouri-Columbia<br />
Bimal Balakrishnan, University <strong>of</strong> Missouri-Columbia<br />
James Dicker, University <strong>of</strong> Wisconsin-Milwaukee<br />
Our proposal consists <strong>of</strong> a reframing <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> tools that moves<br />
away from its current usage as ‘tools for design’ to ‘tools <strong>of</strong> design.’<br />
Using a prominent historic example in the architectural discourse,<br />
namely phenomenal transparency (Rowe and Slutzky 1963; 1971),<br />
we will demonstrate how this reframing might be possible, and illustrate<br />
the affordances <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> tools in the pedagogy <strong>of</strong> history<br />
and design.<br />
We recognize that the current <strong>digital</strong> tools were born in disciplines<br />
outside architecture and thereby divorced from its intellectual core.<br />
We believe that intellectual core consists <strong>of</strong> moving away from the<br />
practice <strong>of</strong> architecture as an expressive content (fabrication and<br />
manufacturing), and moving toward the practice <strong>of</strong> intrinsic content<br />
(visual vocabularies, ‘what-if’ design scenarios, and a corpus<br />
<strong>of</strong> mutually dependent representative network). Digital tools can<br />
be reframed to facilitate such an intellectual core because <strong>of</strong> their<br />
affordance <strong>of</strong> a shared, holistic, structured and replicable environment.<br />
This has implications to the pedagogy <strong>of</strong> history and design and<br />
more importantly to strengthen the history-design studio axis. It<br />
will comprise <strong>of</strong> an approach that conceptualizes history as a problem-solving<br />
domain, and one which becomes available for a shared<br />
scrutiny. Rather than a mere accumulation <strong>of</strong> explicit knowledge,<br />
this approach allows for dissecting the process in varied ways, facilitating<br />
cross-comparison, learning how recurring problems were<br />
solved in the past, and revealing hitherto hidden elements. These<br />
historic lessons can then be extended to design studios through<br />
exploratory exercises that allow designers to launch with conviction<br />
creative and intellectually stimulating design scenarios.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 33
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 4:00PM - 5:30PM<br />
Theoretical Implications <strong>of</strong> BIM: Performance and Interpretation<br />
John Folan, Carnegie Mellon University<br />
Ute Poerschke, Pennsylvania State University<br />
Beauty+ the BIM<br />
Danelle Briscoe, University <strong>of</strong> Texas at Austin<br />
The assumption that Building Information Modeling (BIM) solely<br />
develops efficient data schedules or coordinates Integrated Design<br />
Process (IDP) collaborators misses opportunities to utilize information<br />
as a source <strong>of</strong> visual creation. This paper examines the role <strong>of</strong><br />
beauty within design-based aspects <strong>of</strong> information modeling and<br />
fabrication strategies. For the development <strong>of</strong> design culture within<br />
a BIM practice to be viable, it will take more than ecologically<br />
regenerative designs or virtual collaboration among consultants.<br />
What becomes additionally indispensable is to nurture a design<br />
process and theory with responsiveness to the visual environment<br />
alongside manners for its production. This requires considering<br />
the role <strong>of</strong> aesthetic experiences, such as beauty, in re-centering<br />
design consciousness where the architect takes on an authoritative<br />
role in the collaborative setting <strong>of</strong>fered by BIM.<br />
A seminar course entitled “Beauty + the BIM” provides a setting<br />
in which overlapping historical conditions <strong>of</strong> “sensation” and the<br />
current condition <strong>of</strong> “reason” in architecture can creatively engage<br />
one another while ultimately situating these activities in the context<br />
<strong>of</strong> a new theory <strong>of</strong> practice through representation. The course is<br />
divided into three brief but intensive projects <strong>of</strong> corresponding disparate<br />
theories <strong>of</strong> beauty. Each respective theory represents a specific<br />
resultant CAD/CAM and drawing production: the sublime as<br />
understood through Edmund Burke, the grotesque by way <strong>of</strong> John<br />
Ruskin, and wabi-sabi from thoughts by Leonard Koren. The trajectory<br />
proposes a deeper understanding <strong>of</strong> sensuous empiricism and<br />
its definition, a potential venue for concept and production in relation<br />
to the emerging and imperative BIM technology.<br />
Integrating BIM into the Comprehensive Design Studio<br />
Jerry L Stivers, Oklahoma State University<br />
This paper discusses the successes and failures <strong>of</strong> integrating<br />
Building Information Modeling (BIM) into the Comprehensive Design<br />
Studio (CDS). As a 25-year practitioner turned full time educator,<br />
my motivation for discussion is rooted in a deep concern for<br />
the “pedagogical value <strong>of</strong> BIM as holistic design tool in architectural<br />
education and to prepare students <strong>of</strong> architecture for the inevitable<br />
use <strong>of</strong> BIM in practice.”(1) That being said, it is important to<br />
look at this issue from the different perspectives <strong>of</strong> those involved<br />
in the CDS experience: educators, practitioners and those who find<br />
themselves in the middle, the students.<br />
BIM <strong>of</strong>fers many benefits to practice and is fast becoming the standard<br />
for the design collaboration and delivery <strong>of</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>essional services<br />
within the AEC industry. From my observation, benefits for<br />
practice, however, do not always translate into benefits for education.<br />
If the purpose <strong>of</strong> CDS is to create a bridge for today’s student<br />
to cross over to tomorrow’s pr<strong>of</strong>ession, and BIM is becoming<br />
standard practice, it is not a question <strong>of</strong> “if”, but rather “how” BIM<br />
should be integrated into a CDS.<br />
At first glance, the request to integrate BIM into CDS seems plausible;<br />
new tools have been integrated in the past (CAD, pin-bar<br />
overlay drafting, etc), however, from studio observations, this is<br />
different. BIM not only affects students design communication, but<br />
also their design process. The integration <strong>of</strong> new tools and processes<br />
comes at what and who’s educational expense?<br />
34 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
The thesis <strong>of</strong> this paper suggests that, without strategic control, adequate<br />
s<strong>of</strong>tware support, new teaching methods, and a more collaborative<br />
team-based studio experience; BIM has the ability to overwhelm<br />
and limit the individual students’ creativity as well as change<br />
the overall learning experience within the CDS from a semester<br />
about comprehensive design, materials assemblies, and systems integration<br />
to a frustrating semester <strong>of</strong> s<strong>of</strong>tware manipulation.<br />
Parametric BIM as a Generative Design Tool<br />
Andrzej Zarzycki, New Jersey Institute <strong>of</strong> Techology<br />
This paper discusses the adoption <strong>of</strong> building information modeling<br />
(BIM) tools as an opportunity for design generation, validation, and<br />
implementation. It specifically focuses on parametric modeling in<br />
discussing construction details, assemblies, and generative explorations<br />
considering <strong>digital</strong> materiality with physical forces. The introduction<br />
<strong>of</strong> parametric thinking into architectural design allows for<br />
understanding the interdependencies between various elements <strong>of</strong><br />
a building assembly as well as for an alternative design process with<br />
possible bidirectional interoperabilities. It also opens doors for “What<br />
if…” speculative exploration that allow for broader questioning <strong>of</strong> design<br />
intent and possibilities. This second aspect <strong>of</strong> parametric thinking<br />
encourages students to bridge technical knowledge with creativity.<br />
Following this approach, architecture returns to the realm <strong>of</strong> making,<br />
rather than conceptualizing. However, the process <strong>of</strong> making or<br />
the consideration <strong>of</strong> material characteristics is no longer exclusively<br />
associated with handmade processes; rather, designers are experimenting<br />
with <strong>digital</strong> exploration into physically based characteristics<br />
<strong>of</strong> architecture. These could include lighting, material properties,<br />
and design behavior responding to physical performance criteria.<br />
Topological Future: Generative BIM<br />
Alfredo Andia, Florida International University<br />
We can no longer think about the future <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> technologies in<br />
architecture without rethinking the future <strong>of</strong> the pr<strong>of</strong>ession <strong>of</strong> architecture.<br />
But what is the pr<strong>of</strong>ession <strong>of</strong> architecture? Architectural<br />
design operates in the sphere <strong>of</strong> every thing that occurs before the<br />
buildings are built. Drawings, models, contracts, diagrams are all mediums<br />
to administer a very complex dominion that involves many<br />
actors and many divergent pr<strong>of</strong>essional specialties. Traditionally, an<br />
exhaustive search for an optimal solution is impractical or unattainable<br />
in the Architectural domain. In order to manage this very complex<br />
dominion Architects use experienced based techniques named<br />
heuristics, which are rules <strong>of</strong> thumbs, educated guesses, and strategies<br />
to synthesize the themes that arise during design.<br />
Pr<strong>of</strong>essional practice and architectural academia have developed<br />
two diverging stories about the present and future <strong>of</strong> the computerization<br />
in design. Architectural practice is using computer<br />
technology to “modernize” the pr<strong>of</strong>ession more than truly revolutionize”<br />
it. In academia an increasing number <strong>of</strong> schools <strong>of</strong> architecture<br />
are presenting a broader critique, in which the architectural<br />
discipline can be rethought in relation to generative form-finding,<br />
population thinking, and automated topological structures.<br />
In this paper we argue that a plausible merging <strong>of</strong> the ideas from<br />
main stream practice and pioneering academia can yield one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
most novel themes for the future <strong>of</strong> architecture: Generative and<br />
parametric modelers that contain specific topological intelligence<br />
could be fused to a worldwide network <strong>of</strong> procurement <strong>of</strong> products<br />
and services in the construction industry.
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
<strong>Architecture</strong><br />
Facade : Building Envelope : Skin<br />
Awilda Rodriguez, Oklahoma State University<br />
In the United States, buildings produce 40% <strong>of</strong> the total energy<br />
consumption and greenhouse emissions release into the atmosphere<br />
(Lawrence 2009). Most major cities around the USA have<br />
a high population <strong>of</strong> aging buildings, but the U.S. is not alone in<br />
this dilemma. These buildings are not only aging, but they are remarkably<br />
inefficient. Many older structures lack proper insulation,<br />
poorly retain heat during winter and are in urgent need <strong>of</strong> updated<br />
technologies that make newer buildings not only more energy efficient<br />
but also more attractive to tenants. No doubt that retr<strong>of</strong>itting<br />
inefficient buildings is a costly enterprise, but the outcome will well<br />
supersede the financial investments.<br />
Among the solutions contemplated by the design community on<br />
how to re-energize aging buildings is the idea <strong>of</strong> re-skinning. Reskinning<br />
our aging buildings will largely reduce our communal environmental<br />
footprint. There are ways to improve the building performance<br />
through the redesign <strong>of</strong> the existing building envelope.<br />
These new skins can provide ventilation systems to dissipate heat,<br />
collect solar or water, and integrate smart technology that can<br />
sense environmental conditions and make the proper adjustments.<br />
At the end <strong>of</strong> the nineteenth century, architects began to question<br />
the architectural envelope. New materials and technologies were<br />
developing and began to have a physical impact on the façade.<br />
Today, we have similar discourse where the notion <strong>of</strong> façade is being<br />
replace with the idea <strong>of</strong> a skin. This new notion <strong>of</strong> the building<br />
envelope fosters systems where the skin is an active and informed<br />
membrane that is capable <strong>of</strong> understanding external and internal<br />
conditions and reacts to them.<br />
Today, skin systems are one <strong>of</strong> the most innovative and exciting<br />
fields in architecture. It is the place to explore the visual culture <strong>of</strong><br />
patterns, transparency and permeability <strong>of</strong> the building. Students<br />
at Oklahoma State University’s Introduction to Building information<br />
modeling (BIM) seminar not only learn the s<strong>of</strong>tware, but are<br />
also charged with redesigning the skin <strong>of</strong> an old structure. Through<br />
the discourse <strong>of</strong> parametric computation this seminar’s final exercise<br />
explores how crafting physical models can inform computational<br />
modeling and vice versa. The exercise proposes that a set<br />
<strong>of</strong> different sensibilities emerged from operating within these alternate<br />
modes. From working on the physical model the students<br />
are able to quickly grasp a sense <strong>of</strong> scale while on the virtual allows<br />
them to quickly explore changes.<br />
Students were asked to explore the articulation <strong>of</strong> tectonics<br />
through computational modulation <strong>of</strong> a physically and virtually<br />
constructed component that created a formal continuity or a pattern.<br />
Using this basic geometric component, the skins explored<br />
patterns’ openings that filter light, create shadows and through<br />
smart technology control air and light flow. In addition, students<br />
were required to research new materials and technologies that<br />
supported their design proposals. Through the process, they discovered<br />
high-tech materials such as nanotubes surfaces, which are<br />
water phobic and materials such as high strength polymers that<br />
demonstrated exceptional three dimensional formability properties<br />
using therm<strong>of</strong>orming techniques. Lastly, having the students<br />
work on alternate processes complemented the shortcomings <strong>of</strong><br />
each medium.<br />
Humus House<br />
Daniel Norell, Chalmers University <strong>of</strong> Technology, Gothenburg<br />
Erik Hökby, Erik Hökby<br />
Humus House is a speculative housing prototype developed for two<br />
NGO organizations providing housing in Haiti. The project is designed<br />
to combine material dynamics and <strong>digital</strong> design processes<br />
with infrastructures and building technologies that are locally available<br />
in Haiti in order to create an architecture that addresses sensory<br />
qualities as well as local ecologies. The materialist approach <strong>of</strong> the<br />
project makes it distinct from a lightweight kit-<strong>of</strong>-parts approach, as<br />
epitomized by historical projects like Jean Prouvé’s Maison Tropicale<br />
or a traditionalist approach where local materials are used to<br />
signify authenticity.<br />
Deriving its name from humus, a highly fertile soil layer composed <strong>of</strong><br />
organic matter, the project features housing units <strong>of</strong> approximately<br />
100 sq.m. indoor space. Each pair <strong>of</strong> units is enveloped in an outer<br />
wall constructed on site from soil-filled earthbags made from geotextile.<br />
This outer wrapping cools and humidifies air in and around<br />
the house by storing thermal energy and moist. Over time, its plentiful<br />
outcroppings and cavities will collect and retain organic matter,<br />
ultimately accumulating a layer <strong>of</strong> soil that can support growth <strong>of</strong> a<br />
variety <strong>of</strong> plant species. This will turn the exterior <strong>of</strong> the house into a<br />
green and lush oasis in an otherwise arid Haitian landscape suffering<br />
from deforestation and erosion.<br />
Behind the protecting outer wall, each housing unit works according<br />
to a cellular logic where rooms are conceived as framed boxes<br />
that can be freely grouped and recombined around a central courtyard,<br />
with smaller spaces forming a network <strong>of</strong> indoor and outdoor<br />
spaces. Constructed from bamboo, locally available from several<br />
programs that are planting bamboo in order to restore some forest,<br />
these boxes are capped <strong>of</strong>f by lightweight tensile ro<strong>of</strong>-pillow<br />
constructed from tensioned bamboo and translucent fabric. The air<br />
trapped inside these pillows heats up when exposed to sunlight, creating<br />
an upward thrust and suction that will propel a supply <strong>of</strong> cool<br />
air through the foundations <strong>of</strong> the house. The translucent fabric allows<br />
for indirect light to enter the interior dwellings. Together, these<br />
elements form a variety <strong>of</strong> communal and individual social spaces<br />
with open as well as shaded courtyards and gardens.<br />
The structural performance <strong>of</strong> Humus House is built around dynamic<br />
systems that respond elastically to lateral movement and vibrations<br />
caused by earthquakes. While most heavy construction systems like<br />
brick and concrete tend to crumble if shaken, earthbags are held<br />
together and retained by friction and barbwire alone, making them<br />
semi-rigid but not stiff. The bamboo boxes and tensile ro<strong>of</strong>s are constructed<br />
using flexible tied joints and are equally flexible.<br />
The project seeks to provide an alternative to existing approaches<br />
to housing in developing countries by considering the house as being<br />
part <strong>of</strong> local flows <strong>of</strong> synthetic and organic matter. Humus House<br />
combines the pragmatics <strong>of</strong> construction on Haiti and the program<br />
<strong>of</strong> housing with a set <strong>of</strong> architectural qualities such as massive, undulating<br />
earthbag walls with integrated vegetation and floating,<br />
translucent tensile ro<strong>of</strong>s.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 35
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
<strong>Architecture</strong> Continued<br />
Living Light<br />
Edgar Stach, University <strong>of</strong> Tennessee-Knoxville<br />
The Living Light house incorporates the knowledge <strong>of</strong> the region’s<br />
past and present to create a sustainable, comfortable home to meet<br />
the needs <strong>of</strong> today. The Living Light home organizes the daily routines<br />
<strong>of</strong> life into two cores pushed to the extents <strong>of</strong> a large l<strong>of</strong>t-like<br />
space. The north and south glass façades become the stage upon<br />
which the building comes to life, enclosing the main living space<br />
while incorporating lighting, privacy, views, and ventilation. Air harvested<br />
within the double façade system will be directed to an energy<br />
recovery ventilator, supplying the home with passively warmed<br />
or cooled fresh air. Technical systems, such as the trellis-like solar<br />
array that provides both shade and power, are integrated into the<br />
architecture <strong>of</strong> the home and find their own unique aesthetic expression.<br />
MISSION STATEMENT<br />
Our team created the Living Light house to maximize opportunities<br />
for interdisciplinary collaboration, public outreach, and research related<br />
to energy efficiency, and sustainable design.<br />
Interdisciplinary Education: This project demonstrates how cooperation<br />
among disciplines results in culturally and environmentally<br />
responsive designs, which significantly reduce energy consumption<br />
and improve the quality <strong>of</strong> life for the residents.<br />
Public Outreach: The Living Light house becomes a platform to<br />
demonstrate sustainability, energy-efficiency, clean power generation,<br />
and emerging technologies to homeowners, students, and industry<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>essional throughout the state and region.<br />
Research: Upon completion <strong>of</strong> the competition, our team and its collaborators<br />
will begin to make use <strong>of</strong> the fully-sensored house as a<br />
laboratory for collecting and analyzing energy efficiency, and testing<br />
new applications <strong>of</strong> emerging technologies, which will benefit<br />
the university, regional manufacturers, and research partners<br />
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY<br />
The Living Light team based its design on the following four tenets:<br />
•Apply global technologies to local contexts: Although the<br />
forms and spaces <strong>of</strong> the Living Light home were inspired by the cantilever<br />
barns <strong>of</strong> southern Appalachia, the systems <strong>of</strong> the dynamic façade<br />
and integrated ro<strong>of</strong> array are scalable and tunable to a diverse<br />
range <strong>of</strong> climates and applications.<br />
•Use passive systems where appropriate and active systems<br />
where necessary: Three tiers <strong>of</strong> increasing complexity define<br />
our team’s strategy for energy efficiency. First, create a tight, highly<br />
insulated envelope. Second, employ passive strategies for shading,<br />
heating, cooling, and lighting. Third, augment the passive systems<br />
with active components as conditions require.<br />
•Fully integrate technical and architectural systems: A primary<br />
goal for our team was to integrate multiple complex systems<br />
into a few architectural elements and to find the most refined aesthetic<br />
expression <strong>of</strong> these emerging technologies. For the Living<br />
Light home, the trellis that shades the façade is the photovoltaic array<br />
and the expansive window walls are the passive heating system.<br />
•Maximize opportunities for education, outreach, and technology<br />
transfer: As a team-based multidisciplinary student project,<br />
the Living Light home creates an environment where a wide range<br />
<strong>of</strong> subjects can be explored. As an entirely mobile exhibit, the home<br />
allows for dissemination <strong>of</strong> knowledge to the people <strong>of</strong> Tennessee<br />
and beyond. The use <strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong>f-the-shelf technologies in innovative<br />
ways generates partnerships with regional industry and catalyzes<br />
research and product development<br />
36 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
Making Machines: Analog Inspiations from<br />
Computational Systems<br />
Robert Trempe, Jr., Temple University<br />
The “Making Machines” project is a study in emergent use <strong>of</strong> procedural<br />
modeling tools and s<strong>of</strong>tware pipelines as method for investigating,<br />
visualizing and outputting design constructions. “Making Machines”<br />
mission is to denote how designers today have more control over<br />
s<strong>of</strong>tware to embed aesthetic, tectonic and process-based tendencies<br />
throughout the design cycle via the acquisition, translation and design<br />
<strong>of</strong> data systems, and that the resulting information visualization can<br />
be used to inform construction technique. In this way, the designer’s<br />
process becomes holistic, with their mark embedded throughout the<br />
entire design process by crafting the very nature <strong>of</strong> the design pipeline.<br />
Resulting constructions reflect every aspect <strong>of</strong> the design process,<br />
from the crafting <strong>of</strong> the procedural network all the way through to the<br />
techniques <strong>of</strong> construction. The resulting work wears the very process<br />
used in its generation.<br />
The “Pro<strong>of</strong>-<strong>of</strong>-Concept” phase <strong>of</strong> this project (Phase 03) is the next in a<br />
series <strong>of</strong> steps designed to display the feasibility <strong>of</strong> this design process,<br />
using analog construction methods as a metric and testing bed. Earlier<br />
phases tested the ability to make connections between data and spatial<br />
constructions within a virtual procedurally-generated environment<br />
(Phase 01) and tested the methods by which the procedural model<br />
can be (hypothetically) connected to a construction system, outputting<br />
building designs and proposed construction methods that reflected<br />
all <strong>of</strong> the design aesthetics and processes undertaken (Phase 02).<br />
Essentially, data in the form <strong>of</strong> survey questions was output to twodimensional<br />
mappings via the design <strong>of</strong> a complex three-dimensional<br />
procedural model. The emergent gradient patterns from this mapping<br />
can then be reintroduced into the procedural model, driving the z-axis<br />
coordinates <strong>of</strong> curves, outputting sets <strong>of</strong> architectural surfaces at the<br />
scale <strong>of</strong> a building. Without a physical and tangible result, however,<br />
the system would still be a hypothesis inhabiting a virtual environment.<br />
Due to the complexity, scale and costs <strong>of</strong> blindly transitioning towards<br />
the physical articulation <strong>of</strong> a construction at the scale <strong>of</strong> a building, a<br />
“Pro<strong>of</strong>-<strong>of</strong>-Concept” test is required to explore analog connections at a<br />
tangible scale. Three guidelines have shaped the development <strong>of</strong> the<br />
“Phase 03 PoC” design:<br />
1) The ability to work with physical materials at a 1:1 scale.<br />
2) The desire to continue testing the flexibility and adaptability <strong>of</strong> the<br />
existing procedural network.<br />
3) The need to employ <strong>of</strong>f-the-shelf parts and construction techniques<br />
as method for establishing a delta.<br />
The procedural network employed in Phase 01 was modified to use its<br />
own graphical outputs (mappings) towards the production <strong>of</strong> a lamp<br />
shade casting bed, allowing for the usage <strong>of</strong> real-world materials while<br />
testing the flexibility <strong>of</strong> the procedural network. The tradition amongst<br />
architects (especially when testing new ideas in a computational environment)<br />
to build domestic objects and artifacts with the same techniques<br />
as those <strong>of</strong> their proposed architectural environments has been<br />
copied in Phase 03 to facilitate quick and precise analysis <strong>of</strong> the connections<br />
between the computational network and resultant analog surfaces.<br />
Minimum Maximized<br />
Jae Cha, Judson University<br />
These 4 projects entails architecture for Christian humanitarian missions,<br />
and all the challenges that go into designing and building minimal structures<br />
with low-budget and low-tech constraints in difficult landscapes in<br />
developing communities, particularly in the developing world. The buildings<br />
are not ornate, complex, or high-tech, and simple means <strong>of</strong> construction<br />
are used. Three structures in Latin America have been completed<br />
almost entirely by volunteers—they are dual purpose, at once churches<br />
and community centers—and a medical clinic in West Africa (phase 1).
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
<strong>Architecture</strong> Continued<br />
A discussion between the functional and the spiritual defines the<br />
concepts <strong>of</strong> these projects and hence the approach to work. The<br />
functional requires maximizing materials, energy, labor, and construction<br />
time. To create a natural and healthy physical environment,<br />
<strong>of</strong>f-the-shelf products, sunlight, and passive ventilation techniques<br />
are used. The second, more theoretical discussion is engaged<br />
through words from the New Testament: “Where the Spirit <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Lord is, there is freedom.” This verse informs design decisions on<br />
every level <strong>of</strong> the project, from overall form to the design details.<br />
The Biblical story in the Garden <strong>of</strong> Eden intended that humanity<br />
dwell in naked presence with God in perfect unity, enjoying freedom<br />
and “light-ness”, free <strong>of</strong> shame or guilt. In contrast to the <strong>of</strong>ten<br />
heavy, dark structures that have dominated church design, these<br />
buildings attempt to recreate this original condition <strong>of</strong> the openness<br />
and love embodied in the Trinity—a place to catch a glimpse <strong>of</strong> God.<br />
However, the projects acknowledge the difficulties in achieving this<br />
“light-ness” due to restrictions <strong>of</strong> local building codes, climate, and<br />
resources imposed on the structures.<br />
The goal <strong>of</strong> these projects is to consider design strategies applicable<br />
for future building projects that can be adapted to multiple global<br />
sites in the developing world, so that minimal resources can be<br />
maximized for substantial impact for building projects in developing<br />
communities.<br />
NOLA-Machiya: A multi-use housing prototype for<br />
New Orleans<br />
Kentaro Tsubaki, Tulane University<br />
The reality <strong>of</strong> the demographic shift combined with the opportunity<br />
to address pre-Katrina urban issues through rebuilding makes the<br />
time ripe for rethinking housing as a connective tissue to “mend”<br />
the urban fabric <strong>of</strong> New Orleans. This project aspires to develop a<br />
new housing prototype for post-Katrina New Orleans. It is based on<br />
the comparative research <strong>of</strong> vernacular housing types found in two<br />
unique urban contexts: New Orleans and Kyoto, Japan, the shotgun<br />
house and the Kyo-machiya. The striking contextual, cultural and<br />
technological parallels and contrasts found in the two cities are the<br />
potent source <strong>of</strong> inquiry and knowledge informing the design.<br />
The main objective is to develop a mixed-use, multi-unit housing<br />
prototype appropriate for standard 30‘x120’ lot, creatively addressing<br />
the post Katrina social-cultural and performative issues in the<br />
hot, humid climate. The central hypothesis is that the design principles<br />
and features found in Kyo-machiya can effectively be translated<br />
into a housing design strategy in New Orleans. The project promotes<br />
a holistic approach to the sustainable housing design contrary to the<br />
current trend where a product oriented, techno-centric approach is<br />
the norm.<br />
Similar to the shotgun house, the basic physical characteristic <strong>of</strong><br />
Machi-ya is defined in terms <strong>of</strong> a very narrow and long urban lot it<br />
occupies. However, it employes several distinctive spatial strategies,<br />
such as Tori-niwa (a covered interstitial side yard), Tsuboniwa<br />
(a small courtyard garden for light and air), En-gawa (a circulation<br />
porch), etc. to accommodate and take advantage <strong>of</strong> the<br />
limited lot configuration. Combined with the tectonic characteristics<br />
<strong>of</strong> timber framing and removable screens panels, these features<br />
foster impromptu community interactions, alleviate hot and<br />
humid conditions and cerebrate the seasonal transitions, merging<br />
the spatial efficiency and climactic performance with dramatic visual<br />
esthetics for urban dwelling.<br />
According to the The New Orleans Index by the Brookings Institution,<br />
the post-storm population <strong>of</strong> New Orleans is skewed towards well educated<br />
young pr<strong>of</strong>essionals and creative types, singles and couples with<br />
no children. The study also indicates the relative success <strong>of</strong> Road Home<br />
and other rebuilding programs in the hardest hit areas. However, these<br />
programs are not intended to address pre-Katrina racial segregation<br />
and poverty. The city suffers with disproportionate numbers <strong>of</strong> unoccupied<br />
homes, yet, average rent in the city is still unaffordable for the<br />
workers in the key service sectors. Nola-machiya addresses these issues<br />
through unique programing and siting within the city. It is intended<br />
to foster economic development beyond its initial investment value,<br />
facilitating the mending <strong>of</strong> the existing urban fabric.<br />
The Nola-machiya is a hybrid <strong>of</strong> Kyo-machiya and a shotgun house, an<br />
attempt to transpose, negotiate, and integrate the architectural considerations<br />
and features arising out <strong>of</strong> the two distinctive vernacular<br />
cultures, while addressing issues <strong>of</strong> context and time. The project demonstrate<br />
the NEXT iteration <strong>of</strong> the performative design thinking for urban<br />
dwellings in the dynamic global context.<br />
Parametric Zoning - Wringing Jouissance from the<br />
Regulation Grid<br />
Skender Luarasi, University <strong>of</strong> Massachusetts<br />
This is a client-commissioned midrise project in Tirana, Albania. The<br />
program calls for a commercial zone in the first three floors, housing<br />
in the upper floors and a two level underground parking. The project<br />
occupies a tightly situated corner at the intersection <strong>of</strong> two busy<br />
downtown urban streets, populated with dense midrise adjacencies.<br />
This urban configuration calls for a strict application <strong>of</strong> zoning codes,<br />
setbacks and distances from the adjacent structures. The premise <strong>of</strong><br />
the project is to address this tight programmatic and urban complexity<br />
by strategically deploying computational intelligence.<br />
The design uses a computationally controlled curvature in order to negotiate<br />
between the regulation grid, zoning codes and the building program<br />
and its urban expression. Marching Cubes Algorithm is used to process<br />
the contextual constraints and affect the generic zoning envelope. The<br />
Marching Cubes is an algorithm developed by Lorensen and Cline on 1987.<br />
Its applications are mainly concerned with medical visualizations such as<br />
CT and MRI scan data images, and special effects or 3-D modeling with<br />
what is usually called metaballs or other metasurfaces. Marching Cubes<br />
Algorithm extracts/visualizes a polygonal mesh <strong>of</strong> an isosurface from a<br />
three-dimensional scalar field, sometimes called voxels. An extracted isosurface<br />
satisfies a particular topological relation or condition:<br />
f(x, y, z) = c where c is the voxels’ numerical/scalar value.<br />
The algorithm visualizes an isosurface through numerical values by<br />
“marching” through the voxels and selecting only those whose values<br />
are below a certain user input threshold. A series <strong>of</strong> isosurfaces<br />
can be generated from different input qualities according to different<br />
thresholds. (For architectural applications <strong>of</strong> Marching Cubes (Voxel)<br />
Algorithm see the MArch Thesis works <strong>of</strong> Styliano Dritsas and Sawako<br />
Kijima). In this particular project the algorithm is modified so that the<br />
numerical value <strong>of</strong> the distributed voxels plastically morphs the zoning<br />
envelope <strong>of</strong> the site, which in turn is indexed as the voxel bounding box<br />
in the algorithm. Specific conditions are then selected from the variability<br />
output <strong>of</strong> the algorithm, according to specific design predicaments<br />
and objectives. The algorithm suggests a design process that is not<br />
based on geometrical procedure, but on information processing, where<br />
a particular geometry is an instantiation or actualization <strong>of</strong> a particular<br />
“slice” <strong>of</strong> information (see poster).<br />
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<strong>Architecture</strong> Continued<br />
The building itself performs as a geography <strong>of</strong> n-dimensional curvatures that<br />
respond to the very contextual constraints that produced them in the first<br />
place. These constraints become in fact the very stuff and material <strong>of</strong> design.<br />
The final effect is one <strong>of</strong> jouissance, a sublimation <strong>of</strong> spatial and material desire<br />
that is generated as a result <strong>of</strong> a negative drive, a joyful reaction towards<br />
the external limit, which is usually considered to be against desire as such.<br />
The building elegantly oscillates as a result <strong>of</strong> a multiplicity <strong>of</strong> local zoning<br />
codes and forces and programmatic constraints. The building is wrapped<br />
with a very thin skin that consists <strong>of</strong> fixed and operable screens. The screen<br />
responds to the geography <strong>of</strong> the building itself, its habitation units, HVAC<br />
infrastructure, programmatic heterogeneity and the life <strong>of</strong> the street.<br />
Project GRAFT: Focus on the Future<br />
Jennifer Akerman, University <strong>of</strong> Tennessee-Knoxville<br />
Architectural education is uniquely positioned to imagine and create the<br />
future by critically investigating complex conditions <strong>of</strong> the present and<br />
past. As designers, we examine how to craft space, light, and material in<br />
the best interest <strong>of</strong> cultural exchange. The designed world—ranging from<br />
micro to macro, from handheld device to global infrastructural systems—<br />
shapes the way people live and share ideas. Design is transformative,<br />
in ways that can be positive or negative. The underlying goal <strong>of</strong> Project<br />
GRAFT is to consider what strategies might minimize negative environmental<br />
impacts stemming from the design, construction, and ongoing operation<br />
<strong>of</strong> buildings, using ecological systems as a model. Through a critical<br />
exploration <strong>of</strong> existing and recent patterns in consumption, agricultural<br />
practices, and architectural, urban, and infrastructural activities, we seek to<br />
project a possible future that is wholly sustainable and culturally enriching.<br />
We do this by grafting eco-logics onto design logics.<br />
This design studio is an ongoing investigation into the potential for a hybridized<br />
architecture <strong>of</strong> food production to help revitalize urban centers<br />
spatially, economically, and culturally. A number <strong>of</strong> influences, ranging<br />
from regulatory to grass-roots, are leading to a resurgence <strong>of</strong> urban agriculture<br />
as communities recognize the benefits <strong>of</strong> returning food production<br />
and distribution to city centers. Simultaneously, technological<br />
advances have enabled new possibilities for architects and designers.<br />
We see an opportunity for critical investigation to suggest specific approaches<br />
rooted in a deeper context. We analyze the underlying systems<br />
<strong>of</strong> sustainable food production models as a means <strong>of</strong> synthesizing a new<br />
approach in urban design.<br />
We specifically analyze permaculture as a potential model for both food<br />
production and architectural design and realization. In the agricultural context,<br />
permaculture refers to stacked and interlinked ecological operations.<br />
Optimally, the outputs <strong>of</strong> one process become inputs to another process,<br />
embodying McDonough’s “waste equals food.” The goal is to limit outside<br />
inputs (fertilizer, water, food, petroleum) and to limit waste (pollutants/<br />
carbon, wastewater, packaging), replacing them with continual, mutually<br />
beneficial, ecological systems.<br />
Key principles <strong>of</strong> permaculture are applied to a full architectural, landscape,<br />
and interior design project addressing a specific program and site. We<br />
seek to extrapolate and apply strategies <strong>of</strong> nested and sequential loops as<br />
an alternative to the many disparate inputs and outputs typically associated<br />
with buildings. Each team develops a hypothesis explored through<br />
a design proposal that creatively and elegantly connects input and output<br />
<strong>of</strong> various, possibly incongruous, processes. This work interconnects<br />
design across many scales (from human, to building, to city), and across<br />
processes (from ecosystem to conditioned architectural space). The final<br />
sites and programs propose a grafted architecture and landscape intervention<br />
in a city in the southeastern United States. The program specifically<br />
relates to food production and consumption—conflating grocery,<br />
restaurant, and farm.<br />
38 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
The approach <strong>of</strong> Project GRAFT enables shifting agriculture from rural<br />
to urban, from horizontal to vertical, from exterior to interior. Grafting<br />
blurs distinctions between previously dialectical conditions. The resultant<br />
hybrid posits spatial and experiential qualities that can transform<br />
what it means to live in the city while promoting environmentally-positive<br />
structures.<br />
Ro<strong>of</strong>less Gallery for [con]temporary Art<br />
Bryan Shields, University <strong>of</strong> North Carolina at Charlotte<br />
Jennifer Shields, University <strong>of</strong> North Carolina at Charlotte<br />
The contemporary city is littered with derelict sites: once active commercial<br />
or industrial zones, now void <strong>of</strong> human occupation, contain<br />
architectural remains left to atrophy. These ruins <strong>of</strong>ten exhibit a rich<br />
palimpsest <strong>of</strong> cultural and material history, ripe with latent potentialities<br />
to be revealed. How can these wastelands, remnants <strong>of</strong> the technological<br />
landscape, be reactivated, transforming artifacts <strong>of</strong> industrial<br />
obsolescence into cultural catalysts through minimal intervention?<br />
In service <strong>of</strong> attempting to answer this question, the Ro<strong>of</strong>less Gallery<br />
for [Con]temporary Art is a design/build project undertaken to<br />
reinhabit a specific abandoned artifact. A dry-cleaning facility lies in<br />
a state <strong>of</strong> ruin along a heavily traveled spine in Charlotte, the seam between<br />
two underserved urban neighborhoods. The ro<strong>of</strong>less character<br />
<strong>of</strong> the building, a space defined only by walls as a result <strong>of</strong> neglect and<br />
weathering, creates an unintended but fortuitous Terrellian skyspace.<br />
The inherent boundaries <strong>of</strong> its urban context <strong>of</strong>fer solace solely in the<br />
vertical dimension, providing the opportunity to transcend physical<br />
and societal limitations and reconnect with the boundless firmament.<br />
This artifact has the potential to reactivate the urban corridor: interventions<br />
into the structure will provide a means <strong>of</strong> reinhabiting the site<br />
and engaging in a dialogue with the community.<br />
Seen as a dualistic membrane, the building enclosure thus becomes<br />
paradoxical, alternately acting as a limit that separates and indicates<br />
the distance between two spaces - between here and there, my world<br />
and your world, private and public, and also acting as the very mechanism<br />
by which those same worlds communicate and passage occurs<br />
between them.<br />
- Henry Plummer “Realm <strong>of</strong> the Landing: Reciprocal Form and Spatial<br />
Dialectics at the Threshold”<br />
This ro<strong>of</strong>less structure has been envisioned as a temporary arts space<br />
that would encourage interaction between local artists and residents.<br />
The architectural intent is to provide partially protected but unconditioned<br />
space for episodic arts and music events, including lighting,<br />
display mechanisms, and weather protection for the artwork. Recognizing<br />
the rich spatial and haptic experience <strong>of</strong> the space as a result <strong>of</strong><br />
the ambiguity between exterior and interior, students have explored<br />
ways to construct a canopy, or integument, <strong>of</strong> found materials that<br />
preserves the ro<strong>of</strong>less nature <strong>of</strong> the building. This integument is kinetic:<br />
in its horizontal position, it <strong>of</strong>fers mounting surfaces for artwork,<br />
lighting, and weather protection, while providing exterior lighting <strong>of</strong><br />
event signage on the existing building shell. In its vertical position, the<br />
integument creates an illuminated fin, calling attention to passers-by<br />
as it proclaims its role in the new life <strong>of</strong> the building. The project culminates<br />
in post-installation testing through an arts and music event,<br />
bringing together students, artists, and neighbors – the reactivation <strong>of</strong><br />
a vestigal urban site through minimal architectural intervention.
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
<strong>Architecture</strong> Continued<br />
Small House<br />
Donna Kacmar, University <strong>of</strong> Houston<br />
This 544 sq. ft. house was placed at the back <strong>of</strong> a large lot to allow<br />
for future development if desired while also sized to allow for<br />
house to be moved if property was sold for land value only. The<br />
house sits next to a large carport/porch and looks out to a large<br />
Ipe deck and the lawn beyond. The house is efficiently designed for<br />
a couple who spend much <strong>of</strong> their time away but required a place<br />
near work and family. The house is wrapped in low maintenance<br />
metal siding on the exterior and simple materials are used inside.<br />
The bathroom and closet are clad in vintage white oak siding that<br />
matches the kitchen cabinetry and refers to the cabin like quality<br />
<strong>of</strong> this very modest home.<br />
Structural Scents<br />
Glenn Nowak, University <strong>of</strong> Nevada, Las Vegas<br />
Erik Swendseid, Univeristy <strong>of</strong> Nevada, Las Vegas<br />
The Structure <strong>of</strong> Scent<br />
An examination <strong>of</strong> past developments between design and human<br />
interaction will generate the NEXT pedagogical intersection between<br />
architecture and society; the next point in which designers<br />
educate and inform society <strong>of</strong> the experiential qualities <strong>of</strong> a fulfilling<br />
built environment.<br />
Throughout the last 100 years, society’s vastly changed perception<br />
<strong>of</strong> color, light, scale, sound, movement, and technology in design<br />
and architecture has forever altered the way we live in and<br />
judge our built environment. This heightened sense <strong>of</strong> awareness<br />
has either redefined or given each element a new role as a layer<br />
in the designer’s thought process. Their combined syntheses with<br />
all other elements <strong>of</strong> design have led to groundbreaking creativity<br />
and innovation in architecture. We now see buildings that are<br />
covered with light that dance to music. Information technology has<br />
made possible a whole new level <strong>of</strong> complexity and human interaction<br />
with architecture. Advances in engineering and the science <strong>of</strong><br />
materials have allowed architects to design bigger and taller, while<br />
keeping users safer. Architectural visualizations and architectural<br />
acoustics have made tremendous strides over the last one hundred<br />
years. With such advances happening in the way architecture engages<br />
our emotions and physical environment, we can argue the<br />
thought that the olfactory sense will, in the next 100 years, mimic<br />
these advancements and employ a much more critical role in our<br />
sensory experience.<br />
Given its potential cognitive capacity, a heightened sense <strong>of</strong> olfactory<br />
awareness will enable us to do more than merely enjoy a<br />
pleasant amenity, but instead will provide us with a tool for living.<br />
Educating ourselves <strong>of</strong> this potential, learning the “language” <strong>of</strong><br />
scent, and taking advantage <strong>of</strong> its benefits will deliver only richer<br />
experiences in design. Today, the way we perceive scent and<br />
translate its meaning <strong>of</strong>ten leaves us describing it in very elementary<br />
terms such as “good“ or “<strong>of</strong>fensive“. With such an effort in<br />
society to cover one scent with another scent, we <strong>of</strong>ten fail to<br />
recognize the many subtleties in between an under whelmed and<br />
overwhelmed environment. Being able to express and recognize<br />
gradations in scent will allow designers to use scent as a tool for<br />
design, to communicate specific goals to the end user, and will<br />
allow the olfactory sense to become a more functional piece <strong>of</strong><br />
everyday life, as opposed to something with which we currently<br />
use to simply recognize decoration. With advances in perfuming<br />
science, scientists can not only create new smells that have never<br />
been recognized before in nature, but they can pinpoint the exact<br />
molecular structure for these and all other scents in order to arrive<br />
at a specific purpose for design.<br />
As designers, we need to seize the opportunity and potential <strong>of</strong> all<br />
senses in design, while taking into account the complexity <strong>of</strong> the<br />
human mind and its multidimensional and multisensory comforts<br />
to insure that they do not become dormant in an unchallenging<br />
society. “The architecture <strong>of</strong> tomorrow will call for an architect that<br />
can embed new kinds <strong>of</strong> rules and design behaviors together with<br />
design ingenuity.” Maria Lorena Lehman<br />
The Fibrous Structure Machine: a Generative Process<br />
Towards Form-Finding<br />
Emmanouil Vermisso, Florida Atlantic University<br />
The project discussed here was developed during a six week research<br />
& design seminar on biologically inspired prototyping<br />
(the project itself lasting four weeks). Based on the observation<br />
that nature produces infinite structural and formal configurations<br />
through re-cycling <strong>of</strong> only one material (fibers), a ‘machine’ was<br />
designed that would fabricate complex shapes using a variety <strong>of</strong><br />
thread types and a simple actuator such as a Lego® motor. The<br />
project is regarded as an attempt to learn from the efficiency <strong>of</strong><br />
biological systems; in the long-term, the authors would like to extract<br />
a series <strong>of</strong> ‘rules’ from the properties <strong>of</strong> the three fiber types<br />
that exist in the human body. We are interested in this line <strong>of</strong> study<br />
because it operates on both formal (aesthetic) and performative<br />
(functional) levels. The nature <strong>of</strong> the work involved requires input<br />
from other disciplines like Engineering to perform analysis on the<br />
resulting prototypes which is something that we are encouraging<br />
as a working methodology. From an Architectural standpoint, the<br />
next generations <strong>of</strong> this machine can provide a good platform for<br />
developing some sort <strong>of</strong> structural response to form. The precedence<br />
for this investigation seems to be assuming an ever-growing<br />
importance within the context <strong>of</strong> integration in <strong>Architecture</strong> and<br />
the authors believe that such premises will constitute a large portion<br />
<strong>of</strong> future Design -related research.<br />
Thick-It<br />
Adam Fure, University <strong>of</strong> Michigan<br />
Global climate change and the imperative <strong>of</strong> sustainability have<br />
placed immense pressure on the discipline to consider innovation in<br />
new terms. Technological progress is no longer measured solely by<br />
advancements in structural engineering, responsive skins, and new<br />
composite materials but also by the responsible recycling, renewal,<br />
and reuse <strong>of</strong> that which already exists. Until now advancements<br />
in computation and <strong>digital</strong> fabrication have been predominately<br />
in service <strong>of</strong> the former while material scientists and a handful <strong>of</strong><br />
resourceful architects have propelled the latter. Thick-It expands<br />
the role <strong>of</strong> computation in sustainable material practice by mixing<br />
high-tech <strong>digital</strong> protocols with low-tech material realities.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 39
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
<strong>Architecture</strong> Continued<br />
Thick-It is the result <strong>of</strong> research conducted in partnership with a local<br />
hardwood mill to consider novel ways to utilize the byproducts<br />
<strong>of</strong> their manufacturing process. Thick-It focuses on the use <strong>of</strong> linear<br />
wood cut-<strong>of</strong>fs generated by the standard lengthwise cutting (ripping)<br />
<strong>of</strong> non-standard boards. This wood is high-grade hardwood<br />
but it lacks dimensional consistency that renders it useless in standard<br />
wood construction. Thick-It develops its potential as a viable<br />
architectural material.<br />
The project activates an alternative life for this material as a thick,<br />
woody, interior. The first act in the design process is one <strong>of</strong> optimism—the<br />
flipping <strong>of</strong> a perceived limitation into an opportunity.<br />
Despite having little to <strong>of</strong>fer as a standardized building element<br />
the wood edges do <strong>of</strong>fer up a unique quality: mass… and lots <strong>of</strong> it.<br />
The mill produces these pieces faster than it can grind them up and<br />
burn the chips. This affords an opportunity to rethink the models <strong>of</strong><br />
economy that are associated with most building systems, including<br />
wood, which tend toward optimization as minimum thickness and<br />
maximum performance.<br />
Thick-It flips this model upside down, conceiving <strong>of</strong> an extreme<br />
thickness from which space is carved. Instead <strong>of</strong> lining the shell,<br />
the wood is oriented perpendicular to it—hanging from the ceiling<br />
and projecting up from the ground. Scripted patterns govern<br />
the orientation and length <strong>of</strong> each piece, aligning them with virtual<br />
ordering systems that create gradual swells <strong>of</strong> volume that envelop<br />
the body. The natural textures <strong>of</strong> the wood and various marks<br />
<strong>of</strong> its manufacturing history beckon the touch <strong>of</strong> those who pass<br />
through.<br />
Ultimately, this kind <strong>of</strong> work has the potential to shape the world<br />
from the inside-out. Innovation and integration are defined by the<br />
strategic insertion <strong>of</strong> foreign (i.e., <strong>digital</strong>) codes into existing streams<br />
<strong>of</strong> production. This approach forgoes the ambition to restructure<br />
entire manufacturing processes in favor <strong>of</strong> a more targeted strategy<br />
<strong>of</strong> cleaving space for design within established protocols. In the<br />
end, Thick-It’s story <strong>of</strong>fers up a new narrative <strong>of</strong> architectural production—one<br />
where architectural agents configure guerilla scripts<br />
to reshape the detritus <strong>of</strong> global mass-production. Such an agent<br />
may be more akin to a DJ than a scientist, constantly composing<br />
new aesthetic mixtures from the matter at her fingertips.<br />
Tingle Room<br />
Adam Fure, University <strong>of</strong> Michigan<br />
Ellie Abrons<br />
Predominately governed by efficiency, maximization, and building<br />
standards, the architectural liner (i.e., floor, ceiling, and wall) is<br />
most <strong>of</strong>ten built as a thin, taught surface. Its standardization produces<br />
a blankness that is then adorned with window dressings, colored<br />
paint, and personal artifacts. Tingle Room challenges this thin<br />
surface by transforming it into a deep volume, unlocking a space<br />
within the thickness <strong>of</strong> the wall, and ultimately moving architecture<br />
from blank backdrop to active participant.<br />
The project employs a tension between multiple material states:<br />
those that resonate with the existing structure—a repurposed, single-family<br />
home in Detroit—and those that are foreign; materials<br />
that are highly worked and finished and those that are rough or<br />
raw; materials that play more than one role in the structure, de-<br />
40 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
tailing, and finishing <strong>of</strong> the space and those that are extraneous<br />
or ornamental. To do this, the standard functions <strong>of</strong> materials are<br />
redefined, distorted, or multiplied in order to exploit latent qualities<br />
that contribute to the rich experience <strong>of</strong> the space. Avoiding a fundamentalist<br />
attitude towards the use <strong>of</strong> particular materials, they<br />
are burnt, painted, smothered or otherwise manipulated in order to<br />
extend their possible qualitative effects. There are no material essences<br />
to be found, only evocative textures, colors, and forms that<br />
<strong>of</strong>fer up new associations and sensations.<br />
Formally, the project creates a space within a space—a room within<br />
a room—coating the existing floor, ceiling, and walls with a new architectural<br />
surface comprised <strong>of</strong> plywood panels, insulation foam,<br />
and steel cable. The thickening <strong>of</strong> the architectural liner allows<br />
formal ruptures to cleave space between multiple interior surfaces.<br />
As the plywood breaks apart it reveals foam insulation that is<br />
thickened, carved, and poked into a coarse surface that is painted<br />
in rich, vibrant colors. The suspension cables, typically positioned<br />
sparsely on a taught grid, are multiplied and extended beyond their<br />
requisite length to create a cloud <strong>of</strong> thin tendrils.<br />
The layering <strong>of</strong> formal variation, material texture, and vivid color<br />
obscures an instantaneous or complete “reading” <strong>of</strong> the space;<br />
instead propelling the participant to perceive and sense multiple<br />
dimensions that unfold over time as they move through it. In other<br />
words, each material creates its own pattern, but none is visible as<br />
a whole at any one point. More akin to a manifold than a veneer,<br />
each pattern fades in and out <strong>of</strong> focus, yielding an experience that<br />
vacillates between the realms <strong>of</strong> the haptic, the visual, and the conceptual.
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
<strong>Architecture</strong> Continued<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 41
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
Design<br />
[Dada]rchitecture<br />
Javier Gomez, Texas Tech University<br />
The “Dada” Manifesto was a rejection to War, a rejection to prevailing<br />
standards, and the creation <strong>of</strong> “anti-art”.<br />
The cultural movement that began in Zurich in reaction to war included<br />
visual arts, literature, poetry, art manifestoes and art theory.<br />
It reached its peak in the 1920s and became a breaking ground for<br />
the contemporary arts. “Dada is the groundwork to abstract art<br />
and sound poetry, a starting point for performance art, a prelude<br />
to postmodernism, an influence on pop art, a celebration <strong>of</strong> anti-art<br />
to be later embraced for anarcho-political uses in the 1960s and the<br />
movement that lay the foundation for Surrealism” 1 .<br />
Dadaism began as an anarchist reactionary movement; it was nihilistic<br />
and representational <strong>of</strong> the opposite. It rejected the traditional<br />
culture and aesthetics in search <strong>of</strong> new meanings that were intentionally<br />
meaning-less.<br />
During the late1950’s Dada became influential in the surge <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Situationist International, the anarchist movement that taught psycho-geography<br />
as a means to understanding the environment’s,<br />
“unitary urbanism”.<br />
By introducing [Dada]rchitecture my intentions are not to develop<br />
nihilism or anarchism with political implications in the studio. My<br />
goals strive in challenging the students with unexpected scenarios<br />
in order to achieve better creative outcomes. Through philosophical<br />
studies and contemporary arts my pedagogy focuses on observation<br />
and critical thinking as tools for creativity. Teach how to observe,<br />
to find that magic moment on a trash container, a neglected<br />
alley… an art piece.<br />
Following the premises <strong>of</strong> the artistic and philosophical movement<br />
<strong>of</strong> the beginning <strong>of</strong> the twentieth century, I encourage students to<br />
use the right side <strong>of</strong> the brain by reading opposites, understanding<br />
that the creation <strong>of</strong> an architectural apparatus could be found in<br />
banal everyday objects: in dreams, in the unconscious, in the unexpected,<br />
in the contradiction, in the accident.<br />
Beginning with assignments including a series <strong>of</strong> surrealist photocollages,<br />
I teach the students, with an analytical-cubist perception,<br />
the nature <strong>of</strong> the environment and the value <strong>of</strong> the objects contained<br />
within the space. Using semiotic codes, in a “ready made”,<br />
the object not just is defined as a meaningful element <strong>of</strong> our daily<br />
life, but also defines the meaning <strong>of</strong> the opposite. By diagramming<br />
motion, and the unconscious human interaction with space and objects,<br />
students develop a program. Finally, through diagrams and<br />
a supporting narrative the project for a basic building is created.<br />
The Design Studio is divided in four main topics:<br />
+dweller/user: A first stage will include an investigation <strong>of</strong> the user<br />
(physical and meta-physical) and the creation <strong>of</strong> a narrative by understanding<br />
the dweller’s beliefs and activities.<br />
+context=site: Mapping site, context, and objects.<br />
++spatial sequences/movement: Space and motion are extruded<br />
and diagrammed.<br />
+program=narrative: Interaction between the space and the dweller,<br />
space and context, space and object, and in consequence the<br />
development <strong>of</strong> a program (trans-program, cross-program or disprogram).<br />
+building: Development <strong>of</strong> a project, by integrating previous phases<br />
<strong>of</strong> design through ordering systems.<br />
1 Marc Lowenthal, translator’s introduction to Francis Picabia’s I Am a Beautiful<br />
Monster: Poetry, Prose, And Provocation,<br />
42 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
Baltimore Calling<br />
Gregory Marinic, Universidad de Monterrey<br />
This proposal for the Baltimore MTA systems suggest a flexible<br />
approach to embedding landscape into urbanism and providing a<br />
‘third way’ adapted to various conditions, continual change, and<br />
unpredictability. The concept, Baltimore Calling, <strong>of</strong>fers an insertable<br />
light infrastructure that mitigates the adverse effects <strong>of</strong> MTA<br />
Red Line construction from the inside, thus allowing the system as a<br />
whole to maintain balance.<br />
origins<br />
In the 21st century, methods and means <strong>of</strong> communication have undergone<br />
rapid transformation. A dying icon, the public telephone<br />
was once a symbol <strong>of</strong> modernity and communication. Typically located<br />
at a busy downtown street corner or adjacent to bus stops,<br />
the telephone booth <strong>of</strong>fered a simple, direct, and affordable way to<br />
connect and share information. Baltimore Calling recalls the fading<br />
memory <strong>of</strong> this mid-20th century communication device by reinterpreting<br />
its form, function, and performance. The project <strong>of</strong>fers a<br />
way to simultaneously connect people with information, culture, and<br />
nature. Here, the physical dimensions <strong>of</strong> the classic telephone booth<br />
(4’ x 4’ x 8’), as well as informal geometries <strong>of</strong> stacked cast-<strong>of</strong>f construction<br />
pallets, simultaneously informed the design <strong>of</strong> site-specific<br />
performative architectural installations for Baltimore. Constructs<br />
may be temporarily installed at various locations impacted by construction<br />
activity throughout the MTA system.<br />
opportunities<br />
Built from unfinished spruce, Baltimore Calling has been designed to<br />
flexibly adapt to interstitial spaces found within MTA construction<br />
zones, rights-<strong>of</strong>-way, and existing stations. The ‘telephone booth’<br />
houses a classic telephone, and acts as a ‘call center’ both literally<br />
and figuratively by providing a refuge and year-round nesting habitat<br />
for migratory birds. Seasonally changing and hosting additional<br />
native plant material, each installation will continually adapt to and<br />
merge with its site over time. As individual installations wear into<br />
their sites, these new habitats will collect native vines, tall grasses,<br />
mosses, and lichens. Attracting migratory birds, butterflies, and<br />
plantlife, the installations will become unexpected amenities for<br />
citizens. Baltimore Calling has been designed to effortlessly transform<br />
over time with zero maintenance. Materially, installations will<br />
continually weather from gold-to-amber-to gray, while the habitats<br />
themselves will grow into a network <strong>of</strong> micro-environments that<br />
change from season-to-season and year-to-year. Birdhouse, informal<br />
telecommunications outpost, or morning glory trellis--such roles<br />
suggest only three potentialities for the installations. As a source <strong>of</strong><br />
both curiosity and delight, Baltimore Calling proposes a time-relevant<br />
construct that activates, supports, and responds to its immediate<br />
environment. The concept <strong>of</strong>fers the potential to make Baltimore<br />
a more environmentally-connected place that actively carves<br />
out space for natural systems to merge with the city.<br />
connections<br />
Baltimore Calling will connect the natural world and humans within<br />
an urban context. Just pick up the phone and receive up-to-date<br />
information regarding MTA construction delays and transit information,<br />
as well as details on area attractions and cultural events.<br />
Each phone will <strong>of</strong>fer a touch-tone directory <strong>of</strong> resources including<br />
arts, historical data, neighborhood details, and special events<br />
specific to the location <strong>of</strong> each installation.
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
Design Continued<br />
Ornate Screens<br />
Daniel Baerlecken, Georgia Institute <strong>of</strong> Technology<br />
The project “Ornate Screens” investigates ornamentation <strong>of</strong> 3-dimensional<br />
surfaces through <strong>digital</strong> tools, which allow the re-introduction<br />
<strong>of</strong> variation. Ornament has been abolished by the avant-garde in the<br />
first half <strong>of</strong> the twentieth century and ornamentation has been replaced<br />
by material aesthetic. With this project we will argue that ornament<br />
is not a parergon, an unnecessary accessory, but that the parergon,<br />
the ornament, actually becomes the ergon, the main element.<br />
In that sense ornament becomes performative in two ways. Firstly,<br />
ornament performs in a perceptual way. With Ernst Gombrich we argue<br />
that aesthetic enjoyment is guided by the “sense <strong>of</strong> order” “as an<br />
active agent reaching out toward the environment, not blindly and at<br />
random”, but structured. Ornamentation allows “Einfuehlung” - empathy,<br />
the identification with an object.<br />
Secondly, we argue that ornament can perform on the level <strong>of</strong> the<br />
ergon as structural system.<br />
The project has two design foci: the first focus is the design <strong>of</strong> a series<br />
<strong>of</strong> lights, which are fabricated through STL and SLS technologies. The<br />
objects are brought to life primarily as single objects without joints or<br />
seams as ‘additive fabrication’. By that, the objects can be produced<br />
directly from <strong>digital</strong> information as unique pieces. Each light can be<br />
different from the other, but still belong to the same family. Changing<br />
variables in the original script allows creating a different light, which<br />
still can feed back to a greater family. Mass production is replaced<br />
with mass customization. One can create unique objects by manipulating<br />
the parameters.<br />
The second project is an installation, a CNC fabricated wood construction<br />
that demonstrates how a pattern based geometry can be<br />
optimized structurally through a set <strong>of</strong> iterations. The tessellationbased<br />
project is adapted in order to achieve a maximum <strong>of</strong> structural<br />
strength. The structural calculation model contains not only geometry<br />
but also loads resulting from various sources.<br />
The design <strong>of</strong> a series <strong>of</strong> lights demonstrates the potential <strong>of</strong> CAAD<br />
and CAAM tools for a design object and shows how these tools allow<br />
us to re-think the relationship <strong>of</strong> author and user: Through parametric<br />
tools each user can design its own light within certain constrains. The<br />
second project shows how parametric tools can be used to optimize<br />
geometry to achieve a structural performance.<br />
Ornament can be re-introduced as ergon that allows strengthening<br />
empathy between subject and object and that allows solving problems<br />
<strong>of</strong> performance. Ornament becomes necessary again.<br />
the NEXT curtain<br />
Virginia San Fratello, San Jose State University<br />
The inherent nature <strong>of</strong> 3D printing opens new possibilities for shaping<br />
materials and it’s my belief that this process will reshape the way we<br />
design and fabricate architectural and interior building components.<br />
Digital materiality, a term coined by Italian and Swiss architects Fabio<br />
Gramazio and Matthias Kohler, describes materiality increasingly enriched<br />
with <strong>digital</strong> characteristics where data, material, programming<br />
and construction are interwoven (Gramazio and Kohler, 2008). The<br />
designs for these two curtains were created as an exploration into the<br />
rapid manufacture <strong>of</strong> interior building components that are not only<br />
made through the process <strong>of</strong> 3D printing, but are all also responsive<br />
to the environment.<br />
Unique, one <strong>of</strong> a kind building components, generated quickly and<br />
economically, from advanced 3 dimensional modeling s<strong>of</strong>tware were<br />
explored. These 3D printed curtains were studied in conjunction with<br />
solar conditions throughout the day and year and <strong>of</strong>fer an alternative<br />
to traditional curtains and blinds, one that is responsive to weather, to<br />
views and to interior programming.<br />
Exploration #1: The WAVE curtain is a passive solar curtain that is<br />
designed to admit the low winter sun into the building interior and restrict<br />
the direct, intense summer sun in order to help keep the interior<br />
cool. The curtain does this through the use <strong>of</strong> cylindrical tubes that<br />
vary in width and depth along the length <strong>of</strong> the window. Because the<br />
cylindrical tubes are hollow one always has access to exterior views<br />
-even when the sun is being blocked - unlike a typical shade or curtain.<br />
The curtain is 3D printed <strong>of</strong> white poly lactic acid from renewable<br />
resources such as corn starch.<br />
Exploration #2: The HEX curtain is designed to open and close automatically<br />
in response to natural day lighting conditions. Each row <strong>of</strong><br />
the HEX curtain is composed <strong>of</strong> hexagonal shaped apertures that are<br />
covered by 2 operable shields. The 2 shields have the ability to pivot<br />
open and closed. The shields are hinged at the bottom and threaded<br />
at the top. The top thread connects each shield to the one next to<br />
it. At the end <strong>of</strong> each row a rotary motor pulls the thread and slowly<br />
opens or closes the shields in tandem. The rotary motor is driven by<br />
an arduino microcontroller connected to a solar sensor so on a sunny<br />
summer day the shields remain closed and on a sunny winter day the<br />
shields are automatically opened to allow sun to enter the interior and<br />
warm the space.<br />
The HEX curtain is constructed <strong>of</strong> laser sintered nylon and is 3D printed<br />
in 27” x 22” panels.<br />
The Next Generative Infrastructure for Detroit<br />
Constance Bodurow, Lawrence Technological University<br />
Detroit has a wealth <strong>of</strong> empty space, though little intelligence or understanding<br />
<strong>of</strong> it. There is a global, morbid fascination with Detroit’s<br />
emptiness. The media and design disciplines have mythologized it<br />
in imagery and obsessively mapped and quantified it (the reported<br />
yet disputed 40,000 parcels). Vacancy perpetuates entrenched<br />
social, economic and environmental disparities and inequities, but,<br />
in the midst <strong>of</strong> formal ‘right sizing’ and informal urban agricultural<br />
initiatives, a constructive civic dialogue about the role <strong>of</strong> vacancy in<br />
the future <strong>of</strong> the city has yet to begin.<br />
Our transdisciplinary design research lab wishes to prompt the dialogue.<br />
We believe that a new urban geography and ecosystem are<br />
required to balance the benefits and impacts <strong>of</strong> both shrinking and<br />
rapid urbanization and leverage the assets and complex combinations<br />
<strong>of</strong> forces <strong>of</strong> the city-scape. We look at vacancy as a new infrastructure<br />
for the city. We see vacancy, as it manifests: in land,<br />
buildings and infrastructure, as generative. Vacancy provides an<br />
armature for collective dialogue, design intervention and policy. We<br />
recommend a variety <strong>of</strong> productive, temporal uses for vacancy, to<br />
generate the next urban form <strong>of</strong> the city. In the same manner that<br />
the grid and infrastructure become a generator <strong>of</strong> urban form and<br />
use (Smithsons, Varnelis, Belanger, et al), vacancy can guide future<br />
urban form in Detroit.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 43
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
Design Continued<br />
We define infrastructure networks as the systemic and complex<br />
overlay required to support a city and its associated urbanized region.<br />
Infrastructure exists in service to an urbanized region, is a<br />
key determinant <strong>of</strong> future urban form, and plays a significant role<br />
in establishing a more desirable and sustainable condition for urban<br />
growth and change. We have created a Systemic Overlay to<br />
understand the pr<strong>of</strong>ound connections between neighborhoods,<br />
city, and regional and international context. These connections occur<br />
largely through blue, green, gray and white infrastructure networks<br />
that span geographic, ecological and political boundaries.<br />
Vacancy emerges as the ubiquitous infrastructure in each <strong>of</strong> these<br />
typologies.<br />
This poster describes aspects <strong>of</strong> our current project to create a net<br />
zero energy community, and the central role which vacancy plays<br />
in achieving that goal. In one neighborhood <strong>of</strong> Detroit, we have<br />
identified approximately 1,500 acres (635 hectares) <strong>of</strong> vacancy,<br />
in three categories: Vacant (V); Vacant w/abandoned structures<br />
(A); and Vacant w/occupied structures (O). This new armature,<br />
in close proximity to infrastructure systems, supports our recommendations<br />
for generative uses for vacant and decommissioned<br />
land, buildings and infrastructure. These interventions include hybrid<br />
alternative (renewable) energy, targeted density, water cycle<br />
management, and reforestation. Our recommendations focus on<br />
Detroit’s most iconic examples <strong>of</strong> vacancy (e.g. Michigan Central<br />
Station), those juxtaposed to economic stability providing opportunities<br />
to engage partners and remaining residents in joint ownership,<br />
training and management (e.g., Condon Neighborhood), and<br />
proposed regional/international infrastructure investment (e.g.,<br />
DIFT). Each envisions an alternative, equitable, and sustainable<br />
ecosystem for the city.<br />
While Detroit serves as the context for our first design intervention,<br />
we believe that our design methodology is scalable and replicable<br />
to prompt dialogue and guide the future form <strong>of</strong> urbanized regions<br />
across the globe.<br />
44 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
Disaster<br />
School for Darfurian Refugees: Building as a Teaching Tool<br />
Jeanine Centuori, Woodbury University<br />
Artur Nesterenko, Woodbury University<br />
This project began with a study <strong>of</strong> material and human resources.<br />
Through an examination <strong>of</strong> indigenous building practices <strong>of</strong> Sub-<br />
Saharan Africa, a material palette was created. This included a<br />
family <strong>of</strong> earth construction techniques such as compressed mud<br />
bricks, rammed earth, thatch ro<strong>of</strong>ing, recycled metals, and minimal<br />
amounts <strong>of</strong> concrete, and steel work.<br />
The process <strong>of</strong> developing a design that would be transmitted to<br />
a local population on the ground in Chad involved the alternating<br />
process <strong>of</strong> full scale materials testing with designing through scalar<br />
models and drawings. A sequence <strong>of</strong> brick and rammed earth<br />
studies informed the design <strong>of</strong> the school. A non-verbal pictorial<br />
construction manual complemented the drawings as a communication<br />
tool.<br />
Building as a Teaching Tool<br />
The Vocational Academy Building Project serves as a classroom<br />
space and a learning tool for matriculating students. In addition to<br />
housing classrooms for teaching reading and writing subjects, its<br />
construction is meant to serve as a practicum in sustainable building<br />
practices. Students enrolled in the program will participate on<br />
building teams to erect portions <strong>of</strong> the structure.<br />
It is a building that combines indigenous building practices with<br />
state-<strong>of</strong>-the-art sustainable ethics. A simple rectangular open floor<br />
plan accommodates approximately 80 students (40 male and 40<br />
female students). It employs a double ro<strong>of</strong> structure with a thatch<br />
pyramidal ro<strong>of</strong> that is covered with a second metal ro<strong>of</strong>. The large<br />
metal ro<strong>of</strong> canopy acts as a shade device to protect the interior<br />
from the intense heat.<br />
The main structure is made <strong>of</strong> compressed mud bricks using a<br />
compression machine with a hand lever. There is a minimal amount<br />
<strong>of</strong> concrete and steel rebars needed for beam construction. The<br />
infill walls between the columns are non-structural rammed earth<br />
that is made <strong>of</strong> soil, and a small amount <strong>of</strong> cement. These walls are<br />
ventilated with fiber cement cylindrical tiles that may be made by<br />
the students on the site.<br />
This single volume building is designed as one classroom space,<br />
and is intended to accommodate one gender. It is anticipated that<br />
two volumes will be built, along with smaller open-air canopies that<br />
serve as shade devices, lunch areas, and prayer spaces. Additionally,<br />
composting toilet structures will be built on the site.<br />
This building acts as a tool by which students will learn sustainable<br />
building practices. This is a prototype structure that may be<br />
duplicated and adapted to many other sites in the Darfur region<br />
as repatriation takes place. Student/builders <strong>of</strong> the school will<br />
acquire skills such as brick making, rammed earth construction,<br />
thatch and metal ro<strong>of</strong>ing, installing composting toilets, and water<br />
management and conservation. These skills will be the foundation<br />
to entrepreneurial ventures as resettlements begin to take place.<br />
SunShower SSIP House<br />
Tiffany Lin, Tulane University<br />
Judith Kinnard, Tulane University<br />
The SunShower SSIP House was the winning entry in an invited<br />
sustainable design competition sponsored by OceanSafe. The program<br />
called for a disaster relief house that uses Steel Structural<br />
Insulated Panels (SSIPs) and prescribed a highly specific kit <strong>of</strong> materials<br />
and equipment that could be transported in a standard shipping<br />
container.<br />
The design <strong>of</strong> this house is a modest single-level home that uses<br />
its ro<strong>of</strong> forms to serve seemingly opposing roles, providing shelter<br />
from the elements while collecting solar energy and water. The<br />
higher “sun-ro<strong>of</strong>” is angled to the South to maximize efficiency for<br />
solar collection while a lower sloping “shower ro<strong>of</strong>” channels water<br />
into a catch basin and cistern. The house is divided into public and<br />
private zones and designates areas for wet (utility) and dry (leisure)<br />
living. Lightweight SSIPs can be assembled without special<br />
equipment and the house is weather tight before any finishes are<br />
applied. Innovative use <strong>of</strong> SSIPs in this project <strong>of</strong>fers sliding panels<br />
that extend the living space on to a shaded deck. Shaped cut-outs<br />
in exterior panels allow for a moment for individual expression at<br />
the entry <strong>of</strong> this prototype. Solar panels and a wind turbine provide<br />
the necessary renewable energy and enables the house to operate<br />
<strong>of</strong>f-grid when electrical service is interrupted.<br />
A prototype <strong>of</strong> the SunShower SSIP House is currently under construction<br />
in the Lakeview area <strong>of</strong> New Orleans, slated for completion<br />
in the Fall <strong>of</strong> 2011.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 45
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
Ecology<br />
Global Benchmarking for Low Carbon Urban Design<br />
Perry Yang, Georgia Institute <strong>of</strong> Technology<br />
The project was produced by the ecological urbanism studio, a performance-based<br />
urban design studio conducted in Spring <strong>of</strong> 2011 for both<br />
School <strong>of</strong> City and Regional Planning and School <strong>of</strong> <strong>Architecture</strong> at the<br />
Georgia Institute <strong>of</strong> Technology. It is a model <strong>of</strong> studio teaching that connects<br />
urban design and energy-related carbon and solar analyses. Seven<br />
global cities and their central urban districts were chosen for mapping the<br />
urban physical structure, energy- carbon footprints and solar availability.<br />
Design strategies for carbon reduction were then tested by proposing alternative<br />
scenarios <strong>of</strong> density and ecological urban block design.<br />
Based on selected downtown or midtown urban settings from North<br />
American and East Asian cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, Macau, Manhattan,<br />
Shanghai, Tokyo and Vancouver, the analyses involve the mapping<br />
<strong>of</strong> density, diversity, urban block structure as well as the performance<br />
measures <strong>of</strong> urban visibility, solar availability and energy-related carbon<br />
footprints from large (L), medium (M) to small (S) scales.<br />
We began the investigation <strong>of</strong> sustainable urban form by gathering basic<br />
statistics for each city—such as land use, land cover, population density,<br />
and per capita consumption rates. Next, to better understand each city’s<br />
greater context, we mapped each city’s urban spatial structure, landscape<br />
patterns, and transportation network within each large [L] 10 km x 10 km<br />
study area. At this level <strong>of</strong> analysis, city-level patterns <strong>of</strong> use and density<br />
begin to emerge.<br />
For each city, the studio chose medium [M] 1 km x 1 km study areas that<br />
are representative <strong>of</strong> the urban form <strong>of</strong> individual city’s central district. For<br />
those cities with several distinct character areas or districts, we analyzed<br />
multiple [M] scale study areas. For each 1 km x 1 km site, we did a comparative<br />
study <strong>of</strong> each city’s existing urban framework and mapped building<br />
density, mix <strong>of</strong> land uses, spatial configurations, transportation connectivity,<br />
green space, and building typologies.<br />
At the small [S] scale, we completed a typological study <strong>of</strong> building types<br />
for each city. Building archetypes were sorted and classified based on<br />
building height, area, and shape. Ultimately, 60 building typologies were<br />
established and categorized based on height and massing. We then compared<br />
these typologies based on characteristics such as height, massing,<br />
surface-volume ratio, floor area ratio, carbon emissions, total solar availability,<br />
and carbon <strong>of</strong>fset potential.<br />
We aim to derive a set <strong>of</strong> principles <strong>of</strong> low carbon urban design through<br />
the mapping <strong>of</strong> global urban settings to benchmark their performance<br />
measure and criteria. The global cities benchmarking provides a basis<br />
for proposing a hypothetical framework <strong>of</strong> designing a new ecologically<br />
sensitive urban district. In the case <strong>of</strong> Chicago Loop, we propose a future<br />
urban block design that would reduce 69.2% carbon <strong>of</strong> the existing<br />
operation based on those low carbon design principles by reconfiguring<br />
the current block structure to have better energy-carbon efficiency and<br />
greater solar availability over the solar-powered urban surface and building<br />
envelop. Each hypothetical proposal includes both design and its corresponding<br />
performance measure based on L, M and S levels <strong>of</strong> spatial<br />
analyses and visualization techniques.<br />
46 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
Landscape<br />
Balmart: Reclaiming Public Space<br />
Mo Zell, University <strong>of</strong> Wisconsin-Milwaukee<br />
Marc Roehrle, University <strong>of</strong> Wisconsin-Milwaukee<br />
This design proposal combines three distinct network conditions: 1)<br />
s<strong>of</strong>tball league network, 2) road infrastructure network and 3) bigbox<br />
retail recast from the capitalist catalyst to public space network,<br />
all in an effort to reframe development opportunities in big-box retail<br />
parking lots using landscape as the method for redevelopment.<br />
The big-box retail parking lot provides opportunities for new types <strong>of</strong><br />
public/private partnerships that use landscape as the creative venue<br />
for crafting public space. This proposal capitalizes on the quantity<br />
and consistency <strong>of</strong> big-box retail parking lots within Wisconsin and<br />
proposes to create a series <strong>of</strong> public s<strong>of</strong>tball fields that support district,<br />
regional and state games. The public/private partnership calls<br />
for the redevelopment <strong>of</strong> about 100 parking spaces (roughly an<br />
acre <strong>of</strong> land for games and spectators) into a pervious surface that<br />
doubles as parking during the <strong>of</strong>fseason. The partnership provides<br />
a new location for the public, capitalizing on the number <strong>of</strong> citizens<br />
visiting big-box retail, ample parking, and an overabundance <strong>of</strong><br />
empty space within the development area. As a result <strong>of</strong> the s<strong>of</strong>tball<br />
games, more activity takes place, previously underutilized portions<br />
<strong>of</strong> the parking lot are occupied during non-peak times, sustainable<br />
land strategies are deployed using public space, safety is increased<br />
with “more eyes on the street [parking lot]”, and a major reduction<br />
in driving (reduced number <strong>of</strong> errands since play and shopping are<br />
in the same place). This fluid framework anticipates and welcomes<br />
new development patterns in the future.<br />
Details: The field is marked by poles that double as lighting for the<br />
parking lot and supports for a series <strong>of</strong> flexible yet taut nets that are<br />
dismantled during the <strong>of</strong>fseason. The backstop and benches remain<br />
in place during all seasons as their position on the edge <strong>of</strong> the parking<br />
lot would not interfere with daily parking usage. The grass <strong>of</strong><br />
the s<strong>of</strong>tball field, as well as native prairie grasses lining the outfield,<br />
provide filtration to minimize the quantity and increase the quality<br />
<strong>of</strong> water run<strong>of</strong>f from the adjacent parking lot.<br />
Chicago REDOX: Reduction/Oxidation<br />
Mo Zell, University <strong>of</strong> Wisconsin-Milwaukee<br />
Marc Roehrle, University <strong>of</strong> Wisconsin-Milwaukee<br />
The consequence <strong>of</strong> positioning single program mega-structures<br />
into urban centers in the 1970’s has resulted in a glut <strong>of</strong> large-scale<br />
underutilized buildings scattered amongst vast parking areas. In the<br />
past, responses to these mega-structures have included demolition,<br />
inserting new program or adaptive reuse. We propose a radical reformation<br />
<strong>of</strong> the existing building components to create new public<br />
space.<br />
REDOX: reuse. Our design reconsiders the embodied energy (intellectual,<br />
cultural, material, economic) <strong>of</strong> Gene Summers’ McCormick<br />
Place (1971), optimally situated on Chicago’s lakefront. Given the<br />
public position <strong>of</strong> McCormick Place (the base situated 40’ <strong>of</strong>f Chicago’s<br />
lakefront), we propose a spatial manifestation <strong>of</strong> the biological<br />
process redox (the portmanteau <strong>of</strong> reduction-oxidation). By subdividing<br />
the site laterally, two new surfaces for outdoor public space<br />
capitalize on the existing building’s embodied energy. We propose<br />
removing, launching, and floating the ro<strong>of</strong> super-structure into Lake<br />
Michigan, creating a new destination for Chicagoans, the ISLAND.<br />
What remains becomes the INLAND, a mat-form flexible program<br />
below an expansive new surface that hosts seasonal public amenities.<br />
This proposal expands 800,000 SF <strong>of</strong> under-utilized megastructure<br />
into 1.6 million SF <strong>of</strong> public space.<br />
(RED)OX: reduction<br />
The 800,000 SF plinth becomes the INLAND, a large, flexible open<br />
space with 270-degree views (not found anywhere else on Chicago’s<br />
waterfront at this scale). The southern portion, a labyrinth <strong>of</strong><br />
bioreactors, <strong>of</strong>fers maximum solar exposure to enhance algae production<br />
as well as filtered light to the laboratory below. The maze<br />
<strong>of</strong> ramps penetrating the INLAND mat allow for multiple entrances<br />
to this laboratory, and to the open-air amphitheater (preserving<br />
the footprint <strong>of</strong> the 1958 Arie Crown theater). A grand staircase<br />
slices the mat building connecting lakefront (and Museum Campus<br />
amenities) to city center. The eastern edge, a ‘water zone’, boasts<br />
public swimming pools and new linear aquarium (highlighting<br />
specimen from the Shedd Aquarium) that activates the existing<br />
promenade along the lakefront.<br />
As a flexible surface/skin, the INLAND hosts active and passive<br />
activities including several soccer matches, or s<strong>of</strong>tball games, or<br />
20,000 picnickers or 40,000 spectators watching fireworks. The<br />
raised platform provides a ‘privileged position’ along the waterfront<br />
for the public. Commercial activities and water-based think<br />
tank slide underneath the skin without compromising the public<br />
virtues <strong>of</strong> the site, its edges, or views. A new “ceiling,” created by<br />
stringing lights and shading devices from the remaining columns,<br />
reemphasizes the spatial and scalar parameters <strong>of</strong> the original volume<br />
without the omnipresent ro<strong>of</strong>.<br />
RED(OX): oxidation<br />
This destination barge (the ISLAND), created by floating the existing<br />
ro<strong>of</strong> into Lake Michigan, adds 18 acres <strong>of</strong> new waterfront to the<br />
city, while the submerged web <strong>of</strong> structural steel transforms into a<br />
freshwater reef. An algae farm <strong>of</strong> shallow rink-like ponds increases<br />
the quality <strong>of</strong> declining algae species native to Lake Michigan while<br />
a recreational platform to the north provides lake-style swimming,<br />
diving, and beaches in the summer with ice-skating, ice fishing, and<br />
curling in the winter all with unique views <strong>of</strong> the metropolitan skyline.<br />
A dock and boat slip along the west alleviates boat congestion<br />
in Burnham Park Harbor.<br />
Diasporic Landscapes<br />
Gregory Marinic, Universidad de Monterrey<br />
Greater Houston is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the United<br />
States. Over the last 30 years, the region has witnessed an unprecedented<br />
expansion. Dramatic growth and demographic shifts<br />
have transformed the city into a thoroughly international place.<br />
With over 90 languages are spoken, Houston is undeniably a multicultural<br />
region and home to an estimated 1.1 million foreign-born<br />
residents. Offering two international airports and a major seaport,<br />
the city provides a natural base for the nation’s third-largest concentration<br />
<strong>of</strong> consular <strong>of</strong>fices representing 86 countries.<br />
Houston’s unzoned land use policy promotes inherently fluid occupancies.<br />
Accordingly, cultural shifts register considerably faster in<br />
Houston than in cities governed by more conventional regulation.<br />
With demographic diversity and free market commercialism as a<br />
filter, it may be argued that a singularly Western perspective has<br />
become increasingly irrelevant. If architecture and landscape reflect<br />
culture, how can contemporary architects engage influences<br />
that more accurately convey recent flows and influences on the<br />
region? How might we engage the cultural, territorial, and temporal<br />
memory <strong>of</strong> the ‘new’ Houstonians? How might we appropriate<br />
aspects <strong>of</strong> their experience into the built and natural landscapes<br />
<strong>of</strong> the city?<br />
This visual presentation conveys individual student interpretations<br />
<strong>of</strong> diasporic architectural influences embedded into the Houston<br />
landscape/mindscape.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 47
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
Open<br />
Biomimetic Explorations<br />
Susannah Dickinson, University <strong>of</strong> Arizona<br />
“The waves <strong>of</strong> the sea, the little ripple on the shore, the sweeping<br />
curve <strong>of</strong> the sandy bay between the headlands, the outline <strong>of</strong> the<br />
hills, the shape <strong>of</strong> the clouds, all these are so many riddles <strong>of</strong> form,<br />
so many problems <strong>of</strong> morphology, and all <strong>of</strong> them the physicist can<br />
more or less easily read and adequately solve.”<br />
D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson<br />
On Growth and Form<br />
This submission focuses on a ‘Biomimetics’ Seminar Class held in<br />
the spring <strong>of</strong> 2011.Biomimetics is the study and application <strong>of</strong> biological<br />
principles as essential design parameters. This study needs<br />
to go beyond a metaphor; it is not about mimicry, but about understanding<br />
the nature <strong>of</strong> the material itself, looking at our environment<br />
and its interconnections as a way to move forward. Negotiating<br />
design and performance with engineering and fabrication is<br />
one <strong>of</strong> the central topics <strong>of</strong> architectural discourse; driving this is a<br />
growing awareness <strong>of</strong> ecology and sustainability which this course<br />
intended to address.<br />
The main areas <strong>of</strong> focus were:<br />
i. Understanding the concepts <strong>of</strong> nature and technology and their<br />
connection.<br />
ii. The study <strong>of</strong> generative design strategies for complex geometry;<br />
parametric design, emergence, self-organization, swarm intelligence,<br />
data integration and agent-based design.<br />
iii. Research in the area <strong>of</strong> how architecture can perform more ecologically;<br />
integrating performative tools and simulation into the design<br />
process to ensure more appropriate environmental adaptivity.<br />
iv. ‘Material is an active participant in the genesis <strong>of</strong> form’ (Manuel<br />
De Landa) - studying options <strong>of</strong> how materiality becomes one <strong>of</strong><br />
the design parameters.<br />
Linkages between <strong>digital</strong> technology, biomimetics and sustainability<br />
were made as all stem from the same aspiration in the study<br />
<strong>of</strong> systems. This was fundamental in the use <strong>of</strong> parametric modeling<br />
tools where students began to think in terms <strong>of</strong> relationships<br />
verses single objects. Ecological, inter-connected systems in the<br />
natural world have no separation <strong>of</strong> form, structure and material:<br />
they all act on one another and cannot be predicted by the<br />
analysis <strong>of</strong> any one separately or in a different context. Isn’t this<br />
how architecture should be; critically sensitive to its region and<br />
holistic? The goal <strong>of</strong> the course was to focus on process, recursive<br />
design and experimentation; technologically and environmentally,<br />
looking at ways to ‘find form’ rather than ‘make form’ and create<br />
valid feedback loops. The course became a research lab, initially<br />
studying precedent work and processes in this field, but culminating<br />
in two group projects which created original, collective fabricated<br />
work. Of the fifteen students most were third and fourth<br />
year undergraduates, with two Master <strong>of</strong> Science students. One<br />
group created ‘Data Scape’; a biomimetic surface installation, while<br />
the other group created ‘Performative Porosity’; a research project,<br />
designing an evaporative cooling wall for an arid climate with<br />
ceramic foam.<br />
48 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
Entrepreneurship in <strong>Architecture</strong><br />
Nathan Richardson, Oklahoma State University<br />
Architects <strong>of</strong>ten frame their pr<strong>of</strong>essional identity with almost exclusive<br />
respect to the buildings they design. In reality, few architects<br />
have ventured far from a common conception <strong>of</strong> practice in<br />
which they provide design services to a client who intends to build.<br />
However, the changing nature <strong>of</strong> society and the issues it confronts<br />
should compel more architects to reconsider their expertise and the<br />
manner in which it is deployed. Given the current economic distress,<br />
environmental strain, and geopolitical unrest, there is growing pressure<br />
on societies to find creative solutions to vast, complex, and<br />
acute issues that transcend the design <strong>of</strong> the built environment itself.<br />
Clearly, the built environment and those that shape it are critically<br />
important, but it isn’t the only venue for architects and designers<br />
to make meaningful contributions to society. One key to exploring<br />
enhanced productivity for architects may reside in the pr<strong>of</strong>ession’s<br />
self-conception and its relationship to entrepreneurship. 1 Consider<br />
the following. “Entrepreneurship is a process by which individuals…<br />
pursue opportunities without regard to the resources they currently<br />
control.” 2 While this definition was conceived in a business oriented<br />
body <strong>of</strong> research, it bears a striking resemblance to the activities <strong>of</strong><br />
an architect. In other words, architects are adept at pursuing opportunities<br />
to shape the built environment without much deference<br />
to their relatively limited control <strong>of</strong> the capital resources employed<br />
in building.<br />
Another commonly cited definition <strong>of</strong> entrepreneurship frames it as<br />
the process <strong>of</strong> creating value by bringing together a unique combination<br />
<strong>of</strong> resources to exploit an opportunity. 3 This statement can<br />
likewise be understood in the context <strong>of</strong> architectural practice; architects<br />
are no doubt skilled in leveraging opportunities by bringing<br />
together a diverse combination <strong>of</strong> resources to create value through<br />
architecture. Even though architecture can be understood as an entrepreneurial<br />
endeavor, entrepreneurship isn’t <strong>of</strong>ten an explicit part<br />
<strong>of</strong> architectural practice or education. As such, architects rarely view<br />
themselves as active entrepreneurs or leverage their entrepreneurial<br />
potential in any venue other than architectural practice.<br />
This poster explores cases <strong>of</strong> entrepreneurship in architecture and<br />
corollary industries. Not only does an expanded understanding <strong>of</strong><br />
architecture and entrepreneurship promise to make architects more<br />
effective within standard modes <strong>of</strong> practice, but it also represents latent<br />
opportunities for architects to pursue unconventional methods<br />
<strong>of</strong> practice to address an expanding array <strong>of</strong> societal, economic, and<br />
disciplinary challenges.<br />
1. Robert Gutman argues a related point in an essay included in: Dana Cuff and<br />
John Wriedt eds., <strong>Architecture</strong> from the Outside in: Selected essays by Robert<br />
Gutman, “<strong>Architecture</strong>: The Entrepreneurial Pr<strong>of</strong>ession,” (New York: Princeton<br />
Architectural Press, 2010), 32-42.<br />
2. H.H. Stevenson and J.C. Jarillo, “A Paradigm for Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurial<br />
Management,” Strategic Management Journal, no. 11 (1990): 17-27.<br />
Quoted in, Vesa P. Taatila, “Learning Entrepreneurship in Higher Education,”<br />
Education + Training, 52 (1), 48-61. and Heiko Haase & Arndt Lautenschläger,<br />
“The ‘Teachability Dilemma’ <strong>of</strong> Entrepreneurship,” International Entrepreneurship<br />
and Management Journal, 7 (2), 145-162.<br />
3. H.H. Stevenson and David E. Gumpert. “The heart <strong>of</strong> entrepreneurship,” Harvard<br />
Business Review 63, no. 2 (March 1985): 85-94. Retrieved from EBSCO<br />
host (accessed September 6, 2011).
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
Open Continued<br />
NYC 2 LV: Shifting Pedagogies Between Park and<br />
Playground<br />
Glenn Nowak, University <strong>of</strong> Nevada, Las Vegas<br />
Andrea Limpede, University <strong>of</strong> Nevada Las Vegas<br />
To get at something provocative requires us to take a carefully<br />
scrutinized projection <strong>of</strong> the near future and extrapolate it far<br />
beyond its initially intended scope. PlanNYC 2030 was created<br />
(by Mayor Bloomberg and 25 City agencies) to improve the infrastructure<br />
<strong>of</strong> New York City as well as enhance the daily lives <strong>of</strong> its<br />
residents. It is estimated that by 2030, NYC will accommodate an<br />
additional 1 million people, yet by 2111 there will be an additional<br />
12 million in NYC. Recognizing that daily living in the Big Apple is<br />
enhanced by the park system and, most notably, Central Park; this<br />
poster questions the toll population growth and land value metrics<br />
will have on such spaces <strong>of</strong> the built environment. While analysis<br />
suggests that parks will not disappear, an architectural ebb and<br />
flow may see development encroach on such real estate. Displaced<br />
park space may then be re-appropriated or constituted in<br />
fashions that address evolving definitions <strong>of</strong> hospitality, proximity,<br />
and priority.<br />
As cities evolve (and in many cases cycle through extended periods<br />
<strong>of</strong> growth and decay) other cities across the country or around<br />
the world may adapt to take advantage <strong>of</strong> shifting markets or<br />
mode <strong>of</strong> making. Though the poster presents this notion through<br />
the specific example <strong>of</strong> park space (structures supersede Central<br />
Park, and Las Vegas capitalizes on yet another icon), the idea may<br />
be extended to any archetype, urban fabric, or design discipline.<br />
Projections<br />
Rami el Samahy, Carnegie Mellon University<br />
Adam Himes, Carnegie Mellon University<br />
Question<br />
If all design can be read as attempts to predict and shape the future,<br />
then no specialization looks further into the future than urban<br />
design. The timeframes common to the field are <strong>of</strong>ten so long—up<br />
to a hundred years or more—that they can at best provide a robust<br />
framework for future decisions. So how are projections made this<br />
far into the future?<br />
The material here represents the initial stages <strong>of</strong> a research and<br />
design project to gather as many sources as possible pertaining to<br />
predictions <strong>of</strong> the future. Cataloguing, cross-referencing and visualizing<br />
this archive has allowed us to speculate with regard to the<br />
future and our relationship to it.<br />
In making sense <strong>of</strong> these competing visions <strong>of</strong> tomorrow and how<br />
they relate to cities, we have posed a series <strong>of</strong> questions:<br />
What are the likely parameters <strong>of</strong> ecological, technological and social<br />
changes to come?<br />
What can past conjectures tell us about our present?<br />
Where will future design opportunities lie?<br />
Method<br />
The project not only looks to the future <strong>of</strong> urban design and architecture,<br />
but also examines how recent technologies can be used to<br />
drive design research through an interrelated process with multiple<br />
feedback loops whereby several efforts are used to move the project<br />
forward.<br />
It intelligently utilizes an everyday tool—the blog—to organize research<br />
so that it reveals trends and potential avenues for further<br />
investigation.<br />
Similarly, the open source tool <strong>of</strong> Processing literally makes visible<br />
some <strong>of</strong> the trends uncovered through research, temporally<br />
positioning each to make apparent the visions for and fears <strong>of</strong> the<br />
future as they developed through successive eras.<br />
The blog creates an opportunity for open-source research via an<br />
undergraduate college seminar that allows students to build upon<br />
existing avenues <strong>of</strong> research in potentially new directions.<br />
The course also acts as a first pass at applying the themes developed<br />
via the blog to architectural and urban design projects, thus<br />
leading the way to the eventual generation <strong>of</strong> design parameters<br />
based on a number <strong>of</strong> projected criteria that could be applied in<br />
the development <strong>of</strong> future cities.<br />
Preliminary Findings<br />
Technological changes will have a pr<strong>of</strong>ound effect on the way we<br />
will live, from the growing ubiquity <strong>of</strong> information technology, to<br />
the increased reliance on automated processes (robotics), to the<br />
remarkable potentials <strong>of</strong> nanotechnology.<br />
But will the cities <strong>of</strong> the future look like the ones we live in today,<br />
except more connected to a greater number <strong>of</strong> people, or will<br />
these technological changes necessitate a more substantial morphological<br />
and programmatic evolution?<br />
It’s also evident that the future promises significant environmental<br />
and sociological change. While the extent <strong>of</strong> either’s impact remains<br />
unclear, it’s impossible to deny that significant transformations<br />
will occur in both areas. There is no shortage <strong>of</strong> design opportunities<br />
as a response to either outcome, whether the goal is<br />
to mitigate a worst-case eventuality or to adapt to a soon-to-be<br />
situation.<br />
ROPE Pavilion<br />
Kevin Erickson, University <strong>of</strong> Illinois, Urbana-Champaign<br />
In Winnipeg, the Assiniboine River Trail is the worlds longest naturally<br />
frozen skating rink, beginning in the city center it stretches<br />
nearly 10km west. With an estimated 450,000 visitors annually,<br />
the trail provides an alternate route to access downtown by foot,<br />
skates, and skis, while events such as hockey, curling, and sledding<br />
take place on the river and along it’s banks. Each year the City <strong>of</strong><br />
Winnipeg sponsors a competition to design and build a series <strong>of</strong><br />
warming huts, located every kilometer along the trail, ROPE pavilion<br />
was selected for construction in January 2012.<br />
Through the combination <strong>of</strong> simple materials, ROPE pavilion, creates<br />
a highly articulated form and space while nestling itself into<br />
the Assiniboine River Trail’s landscape. Its relationship <strong>of</strong> skin – manila<br />
rope and structure – birch frame, merge to form a warming hut<br />
whose dense shell blocks winter winds while still being perforated<br />
for light and views. The wood interior creates a sense <strong>of</strong> warmth<br />
through color and texture and it’s multilayered rope exterior collects<br />
snow, further embedding it within the site. The hut’s domelike<br />
form is optimized for heat retention, bifurcating only for an<br />
entry threshold and oculus to the sky above.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 49
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
Open Continued<br />
The structural system consists <strong>of</strong> vertical ribs and horizontal hoops.<br />
The ribs act as beam-columns to provide primary support for the<br />
pavilion. They are curved in elevation to define the rope’s surface<br />
geometry and span to a continuous compression ring at the top <strong>of</strong><br />
the pavilion. At the base, floor beams act as horizontal ties, bracing<br />
the ribs at the bottom while allowing the structure to internally resist<br />
horizontal thrust forces from gravity loads. The vertical ribs are<br />
laterally braced by horizontal hoop members. The hoop members<br />
restrain out-<strong>of</strong>-plane movement resulting from bending in the ribs.<br />
An arch frames the entrance and supports a vertical rib above the<br />
opening. The arch further contributes to the stability by transferring<br />
horizontal loads in the interrupted hoops through triangulation<br />
to the base. This triangulation acts in conjunction with the vertical<br />
and horizontal members to resist lateral loads due to wind and<br />
other applied forces, while providing a load path to the structural<br />
base at the floor diaphragm.<br />
Each layer <strong>of</strong> rope is attached at alternating vertical ribs, through<br />
CNC milled notches, creating additional horizontal striation. In all,<br />
there is over 6,000 linear feet <strong>of</strong> inch rope used for the exterior<br />
cladding. On the interior a series <strong>of</strong> rope stools – created from<br />
3-inch rope fold into a continuous loop and bound with a steel belt<br />
– provide seating. Overall, the thesis behind ROPE pavilion is to<br />
create simple, yet highly refined artifact that provides an enhanced<br />
visual and tactile experience to those traveling down the Assiniboine<br />
River Trail.<br />
The Sustainable Cities Initiative: Universities as<br />
Catalysts for Sustainability<br />
Nico Larco, University <strong>of</strong> Oregon<br />
Many communities and cities are desperately interested in moving<br />
toward a sustainability and livability context. Simultaneously, there<br />
is a tremendous amount <strong>of</strong> energy and know how about such issues<br />
embedded within Universities, from faculty research to courses<br />
across disciplines that address some aspect <strong>of</strong> the built environment.<br />
Thus, there is great potential to match the community need<br />
with University resources, and even though there are many applied<br />
courses and other engaged applications, the connections between<br />
town and gown are <strong>of</strong>ten quite weak and isolated by discipline.<br />
The Sustainable Cities Initiative (SCI) is an effort to radically alter<br />
the function <strong>of</strong> the public university to serve the public good by<br />
catalyzing community change specifically related to the emerging<br />
livability and sustainability agenda. SCI is cross-disciplinary,<br />
bringing together students and faculty in architecture, landscape<br />
architecture, urban design, planning, public policy, business, law,<br />
and journalism, to work together and to work directly with communities<br />
to help accelerate changes toward livability that the nation<br />
so desperately needs. This work is carried out through a variety <strong>of</strong><br />
efforts, including:<br />
•Sustainable City Year (SCY): This is a program that asked<br />
a simple question: “what would happen if existing courses across<br />
a University that had some connection to livability and the built<br />
environment all worked with the same city over an entire academic<br />
year?” The result <strong>of</strong> the SCY 2010-2011 program was that 27+ pr<strong>of</strong>essors<br />
from ten disciplines dedicated 30+ courses to work with the<br />
City on a variety <strong>of</strong> urban design, architecture, transportation and<br />
other livability projects. In all, it is estimated that nearly 80,000<br />
50 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
hours <strong>of</strong> student and faculty time were given to this city, which<br />
has been significantly impacted through the diversity and depth <strong>of</strong><br />
work and ideas. Projects ranged in topics from streetscape design,<br />
light rail and public transit planning, urban ecology, and economic<br />
development.<br />
•Policy Engagement: SCI has been directly engaged in national<br />
policy issues, reviewing legislation for key members <strong>of</strong> Congress,<br />
submitting White Papers to federal transportation agencies,<br />
and meeting directly with Congress members and staff about key<br />
upcoming legislation focused on livability.<br />
•Research: SCI faculty enjoys a national reputation as experts<br />
on urban design, transportation and livability. A recent White<br />
Paper on “Transit Livability” prepared for the FTA has recently<br />
been turned into funded research with the goal to provide a series<br />
<strong>of</strong> performance metrics for assessing how well the nation’s transit<br />
systems serve the livability needs <strong>of</strong> their communities. This research<br />
bridges urban design, planning, and transportation design.<br />
In short, the Sustainable Cities Initiative is a cross-disciplinary effort<br />
integrating research, education, service, and public outreach<br />
around issues <strong>of</strong> sustainable city design.<br />
SCI represents an original and fairly radical re-conceptualization<br />
<strong>of</strong> the research university as catalyst for sustainable community<br />
change. The truly multi-disciplinary, applied learning, and engaged<br />
community orientation makes SCI a potential model for Universities<br />
interested in collaborative, multidisciplinary, and applied service<br />
learning as a key component <strong>of</strong> their curriculum.<br />
Towards [gu] Growing Urbanism<br />
Gundula Proksch, University <strong>of</strong> Washington<br />
Josh Brevoort, zeroplus<br />
Lisa Chun, zeroplus<br />
[gu] Growing Urbanism is the future <strong>of</strong> our cities. It is a new paradigm<br />
for cities that blurs the boundaries between nature and our<br />
built environment. [gu] a vision for Seattle in 2036 that embraces<br />
the re-emergence <strong>of</strong> natural systems in a symbiotic relationship<br />
with human developments on multiple scales throughout the city.<br />
Based on their geological, ecological, and social history, three different<br />
city zones - ‘water’, ‘tidal’ and ‘dense’ cities - are defined<br />
and developed to function in reciprocal exchange encouraging and<br />
harnessing their inherent characteristics for maximum benefit to<br />
the greater whole. Within these three city zones, micro-infrastructures<br />
including a natural, closed-loop water system, an ecological<br />
permaculture food system and an alternative, smart energy network<br />
are propagated to thrive as one biological organism. These<br />
micro infrastructures <strong>of</strong> [gu] are made possible by the emerging<br />
datascape <strong>of</strong> information, gathered through sensors and users<br />
augmenting our intelligence so that we may fully understand the<br />
complexities <strong>of</strong> the symbiotic relationships we are proposing each<br />
piece slowly growing together.<br />
On its smallest scale, [gu] is a hybrid, biological building system<br />
and flexible envelope controlling enclosure and microclimate<br />
through adaptive sensing mechanisms as well as providing water,<br />
energy, light and food. Ultimately [gu] is a self-generating and selfsustaining<br />
synthetic biology that will change the definition <strong>of</strong> nature<br />
and what we build.<br />
[gu] rethinks developments and trends <strong>of</strong> the current sustainability<br />
debate and takes them further towards a more integrated, holistic<br />
symbiosis between the natural and built environment.
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
Open Continued<br />
TWICC:Two-Way Insulating Composite Cladding<br />
Jefferson Ellinger, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute<br />
Two-Way Insulating Composite Cladding is a customizable tile system<br />
that provides insulation to a facade with both the tile’s foam<br />
filled eco-resin fiberglass shell and an exterior layer <strong>of</strong> stagnant air<br />
generated by the surface geometry.<br />
Critical to the secondary insulate performance <strong>of</strong> the system is<br />
both the shape <strong>of</strong> the tile itself and the layout <strong>of</strong> a field <strong>of</strong> differentiated<br />
tiles. Careful articulations <strong>of</strong> both the tile and the field<br />
pattern are designed to create a rippled or textured surfaces. In<br />
this test case, a designed depth <strong>of</strong> 4 inches was used to generate a<br />
layer <strong>of</strong> stagnant air along the facade. This layer <strong>of</strong> stagnant air is in<br />
addition to the typical air film layer on the exterior surface <strong>of</strong> a wall<br />
and will act as another layer <strong>of</strong> insulation, much like the airspace<br />
in a wall cavity, retarding the thermal flows between interior and<br />
exterior. Testing is currently underway to determine the equivalent<br />
R-value; however, the initial C.F.D. (Computational Fluid Dynamic)<br />
analysis results verify the existence <strong>of</strong> a substantial stagnant air<br />
layer generated by the geometry at the building surface in both the<br />
2-D and 3-D simulations. This has been verified across a large range<br />
<strong>of</strong> air flow velocities and directions. We expect the value to be substantially<br />
greater than the R-value <strong>of</strong> 0.17 for an exterior air film and<br />
the air layer generated should achieve an R-value near 1.0. The primary<br />
insulation property is, <strong>of</strong> course, generated by the composite<br />
material assembly and has been calculated to achieve an R-value<br />
<strong>of</strong> approximately 7.0 yielding a combined R-value <strong>of</strong> nearly 8.0<br />
for the cladding system. When used in combination with a proper<br />
drainage plane, this substantially adds to the insulation capacity<br />
<strong>of</strong> the wall assembly at the most desirable position; the outermost<br />
level. A full scale mock up <strong>of</strong> the system has undergone weather<br />
testing and maintained positive water shedding under hurricane<br />
force conditions. The current iteration <strong>of</strong> the system shown here<br />
has recently been installed on a small structure for further field<br />
testing and verification.<br />
Equally as important to the insulation performance is the architectural<br />
effect and visual performance that is generated. In this installation,<br />
the designed pattern is constrained to using only six different<br />
tiles to expedite manufacturing, but this was clearly enough<br />
variation to generate a gradient visual pattern and dynamic play<br />
across the facade. The interplay between light and shadow give an<br />
unexpected depth to the wall surface, adding a substantial visual<br />
dynamic to the system at a very personal scale. The pigmentation<br />
is integral to the casting process. It is extremely durable and UV<br />
resistant allowing the project to maintain this look with minimal<br />
effort. The project shown represents a fine tuning <strong>of</strong> the system as<br />
a response to the local wind conditions balanced against maximizing<br />
the visual effects. Effects that reflect and re-contextualize the<br />
local landscapes through the seasons; summer and winter, buttes<br />
and moguls.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 51
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
Society<br />
[Fab]ricating Habitat: From Digital Design 2<br />
Fabrication // a Habitat for Humanity Prototype<br />
Alexis Gregory, Mississippi State University<br />
Jonathon Anderson, University <strong>of</strong> North Carolina, Greensboro<br />
Digital fabrication has become more and more influential in the architecture<br />
and construction industry and so must be explored to<br />
better understand the benefits for the future <strong>of</strong> the field. The goal <strong>of</strong><br />
this project was the investigation <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> fabrication as a detailing<br />
tool to better understand the benefits <strong>of</strong> high tech manufacturing<br />
processes. There is a unique opportunity with <strong>digital</strong> fabrication to<br />
facilitate an ease <strong>of</strong> construction that lends itself to projects such<br />
as those required by organizations like Habitat for Humanity. The<br />
cost limitations experienced by Habitat for Humanity necessitates<br />
volunteers to help with construction that have either limited or no<br />
construction skills and experience. The ability <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> fabrication<br />
to detail and establish a “kit-<strong>of</strong>-parts” that can be put together by<br />
every skill level gives architects and contractors the capacity to<br />
push the limits <strong>of</strong> design past the boundaries <strong>of</strong> currently available<br />
volunteer construction techniques. Three building sections were<br />
constructed by the students instead <strong>of</strong> an actual house due to the<br />
cost and space limitations <strong>of</strong> the institution and client. However,<br />
the full-scale sections gave viewers an understanding <strong>of</strong> what the<br />
space would feel like through a view <strong>of</strong> the materials utilized both<br />
inside and outside <strong>of</strong> the building envelope, and how the building<br />
would be constructed using Computer Numeric Controlled mills<br />
that generated the parts needed for assembly.<br />
Social media has proliferated among today’s millennial students as<br />
an important communication tool and therefore is important to be<br />
explored as a communication tool in an educational setting. On his<br />
blog site, Andy Carvin <strong>of</strong> the Digital Divide Network, explains how<br />
“social networking in education opens doors to an unprecedented<br />
array <strong>of</strong> learning opportunities in an environment where educators<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten feel freer to express themselves, share their ideas and be a<br />
catalysts for change” (2006). The use <strong>of</strong> social media and other<br />
<strong>digital</strong> tools as a major source <strong>of</strong> communication in an architecture<br />
design studio is an important issue to discuss and develop as current<br />
students and the students entering our programs already use<br />
these tools and will only gain from the implementation within their<br />
curriculum. This exploration <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> tools for both architecture<br />
and architectural communication is important for architects, contractors<br />
and especially organizations like Habitat for Humanity so<br />
that they can see how current and developing technologies like<br />
<strong>digital</strong> fabrication can not only help generate good design through<br />
detailing, but how it can also save money, be volunteer friendly and<br />
therefore help establish a home.<br />
Mi Casa es Su Casa<br />
Javier Gomez, Texas Tech University<br />
Open House: “<strong>Architecture</strong> and Technology for Intelligent Living<br />
envisions the house <strong>of</strong> the future as a place for new spatial experiences,<br />
new systems <strong>of</strong> sustainability and new sensory enhancements”<br />
1 .<br />
The cookie cutter house is an emblematic ‘status quo’ symbol, for<br />
the twenty-first century middle class in America. The post-war<br />
American Dream House no longer represents family patrimony, nor<br />
financial security. Neither the nest where the family remains united<br />
with all their moral and behavioral values. It is an iconic representation<br />
<strong>of</strong> success. “I own an MTV Crib, therefore I exist”. To have<br />
52 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
some validity, the iconic palace <strong>of</strong> post-modernity should look as a<br />
romanticized French Villa full <strong>of</strong> toys and gadgets… granite counter<br />
tops in the kitchen, a sparkling hut tub, and as many flat screens as<br />
possible. The scenographic Venturian mask from glittering Vegas<br />
mutates via HGTV inside the most intimate living spaces. Culture<br />
and class have been replaced by mediatic iconic symbols. Being<br />
tacky is fashionable. Rather than looking like Prince William, better<br />
looking like Jay-Z. There are new definitions for the culture <strong>of</strong><br />
“bad taste”, everything is valid, and no one accepts the criticism for<br />
lacking good taste.<br />
After researching on different typographies <strong>of</strong> suburban singlefamily<br />
dwellings, students made critical art-design-projects <strong>of</strong> two<br />
or three bedroom houses to be located in Lubbock Texas. Intended<br />
to be “case study houses”, prototypes were intended to be critical<br />
and transcendental. The outcome encompassed a multifaceted<br />
research initiative.<br />
By understanding and manipulating ordering systems extruded<br />
from existing case study houses, students created a series <strong>of</strong> progressive<br />
architectural apparatuses by combining both languages<br />
‘rational’ versus ‘expressionist’.<br />
Precision drawings, sectional diagrams, computer animations, and<br />
a series <strong>of</strong> models were required. A process that went from analog<br />
to <strong>digital</strong>, and “vice versa”.<br />
1 Catalogue: Art Center Open House exhibition, Pasadena CA,<br />
2006.<br />
Reappropriation: Abandonment Adapted<br />
Gregory Marinic, Universidad de Monterrey<br />
This project for the Mercado La Victoria (Victoria Market) in central<br />
Monterrey reprograms an abandoned lumber mill as a public<br />
marketplace serving residents in the urban core <strong>of</strong> Mexico’s second<br />
largest metropolitan area. Rather than considering the market as a<br />
self-contained environment, this proposal transforms a neglected<br />
building into a fluid extension <strong>of</strong> a central city landscape.<br />
Operating under this axiom, Mercado La Victoria draws pedestrian<br />
activity and the urban fabric itself into the structure, and thus<br />
creates a densified node within a characteristically decentralized<br />
downtown. Examining sprawl urbanism and resulting outward<br />
economic flows over time, potential was revealed for the systematic<br />
expansion <strong>of</strong> central city retail. Further study informed the<br />
development <strong>of</strong> a market providing regionally grown organic produce<br />
and handcrafted dry goods. The program organizes these<br />
functions within the two-level existing building. New architecture<br />
and landscape, inserted into the Art Deco context, activates the<br />
space both formally and performatively. The new public market<br />
provides enhanced amenities for downtown residents, while drawing<br />
increased flows from suburban districts. An underused and forgotten<br />
district <strong>of</strong> the central core is reappropriated as social space<br />
for future generations, while the memory <strong>of</strong> its abandoned state<br />
remains incorporated into the design itself.
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
Society Continued<br />
Spatial ConTXTs<br />
Anda French, Syracuse University<br />
Sibylline TXT (SP2009), What If… (SP2010) and SyrAsks (SP2011)<br />
are three text message based urban installations that explore how<br />
an emerging form <strong>of</strong> mobile communication and its attendant social<br />
models have and can shape the use and understanding <strong>of</strong> “public”<br />
space.<br />
These research projects identify a rapidly changing social-spatial<br />
landscape, which is only visible, comprehensible and accessible<br />
through direct experimentation. The work examines spatial practice<br />
which encourages public interaction. Speculation about the possibility<br />
to heighten, augment or reinforce this practice through the integration<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> communications is best served by testing in the public<br />
realm, using the devices directly.<br />
Part 1: Sibylline TXT, my own research project, began the sequence.<br />
This project dispersed a fictional story through 60 separate text messages,<br />
dispersed through 26 urban sites, over 30 days. The project is<br />
named for the Cumaean Sibyl at the Oracle <strong>of</strong> Cumae (seen in Virgil’s<br />
Aeneid). The Sibyl inhabits a cave with one hundred openings, and<br />
reveals her prophesies on a series <strong>of</strong> oak leaves within the cave. When<br />
a wind blows the oak leaves are scattered, thus re-sequencing the<br />
prophesy and creating potential through mis- and reinterpretation.<br />
The project explores the potential <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> communication to operate<br />
as a modern oracular mode <strong>of</strong> narrative grafted on to physical<br />
spaces in the city.<br />
Part 2: This “Spatial ConTXTs” course sequence was funded by an<br />
Imagining America Grant, meant to support courses pairing scholarly<br />
work with community engagement. These courses focused on the<br />
production <strong>of</strong> installation work that engages mobile communication<br />
technologies. The student installations, What If… and SyrAsks, both<br />
claim that a public can be gathered and encouraged to inhabit the<br />
city through urban “conversations.” These conversations were facilitated<br />
through the dispersal <strong>of</strong> physical installations within the city<br />
that act as collectors and markers <strong>of</strong> the discourse. What If… worked<br />
with vacant storefronts in the city as sites to ask citizens to send texts<br />
speculating on the possibilities for the city. SyrAsks created sculptural<br />
pieces fastened to existing infrastructure to pose questions, created<br />
through our workshops with 7th and 8th graders in one’s <strong>of</strong> the city’s<br />
schools and answered through text message. Both projects culminated<br />
in final projection events that invited all contributors to read the<br />
city’s responses, furthering the recursive nature <strong>of</strong> the work.<br />
As a forward-looking pedagogical model, for students these projects<br />
<strong>of</strong> spatial inquiry with minimal construction, enhanced by their <strong>digital</strong><br />
elements, can provide an opportunity for making the most immediate<br />
effect on the environment. This is work that is both theoretically speculative,<br />
and real and engaging as physical practice. These projects<br />
necessitate immediate engagement for students with the community<br />
and with urban conditions.<br />
The work combines the reality <strong>of</strong> the urban field with design techniques<br />
that rely on quick, fluid work to get on the ground as soon as<br />
possible. It is the experimentation and mobilization <strong>of</strong> theory, a powerful<br />
pedagogical tool, an important future model for the integration<br />
<strong>of</strong> studio teaching and field research within an increasingly complex<br />
set <strong>of</strong> urban conditions.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 53
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
Technology<br />
“S<strong>of</strong>t” Kinetic Network (SKiN)<br />
Vera Parlac, University <strong>of</strong> Calgary<br />
Richard Cotter, University <strong>of</strong> Calgary<br />
Todd Freeborn, University <strong>of</strong> Calgary<br />
Adam Onulov, University <strong>of</strong> Calgary<br />
The SKiN project consists <strong>of</strong> small scale prototypes <strong>of</strong> an adaptive<br />
kinetic surface capable <strong>of</strong> spatial modulation and response to<br />
environmental stimuli. The emphasis is on the nature <strong>of</strong> material<br />
systems in the built environment and their capacity for change and<br />
adaptation. Elements, structure, surface and performance <strong>of</strong> the<br />
developed networked kinetic material system are designed as integrated<br />
layers that make up a “tissue” capable <strong>of</strong> accommodating<br />
dynamic nature <strong>of</strong> human occupation.<br />
The “S<strong>of</strong>t” Kinetic Network (SKiN) surface is organized around<br />
the network <strong>of</strong> embedded “muscle” wires that change shape under<br />
electric current. The network <strong>of</strong> wires provides for a range <strong>of</strong><br />
motions and facilitates surface transformations through s<strong>of</strong>t and<br />
muscle like movement. The material system developed around the<br />
wire network is variable and changes its thickness, stiffness, or permeability<br />
within its continuous composite structure. The variability<br />
in the material system enables it to behave differently within surface<br />
regions; to vary the speed and degree <strong>of</strong> movement; to vary<br />
surface transparency; to enable other levels <strong>of</strong> performance such<br />
as capture <strong>of</strong> heat produced by the muscle wire and distribution<br />
<strong>of</strong> heat within the surface regions. The main idea is that variability<br />
<strong>of</strong> the material system can bring us closer to the seamless material<br />
integration found in biological organisms.<br />
Our focus on seamless material integration and capturing <strong>of</strong> emitted<br />
energy hints at our broader goal that architectural intervention<br />
should find a more productive place within larger ecologies.<br />
We are very much interested in suspending a challenge <strong>of</strong> finding<br />
a non-permeable and clearly defined boundary between inside<br />
and outside in exchange for a surface that fosters constant flow<br />
<strong>of</strong> information, matter and energy. One possible application <strong>of</strong> the<br />
SKiN is to provide a heated surface/street furniture/structure that<br />
is capable <strong>of</strong> mediating environment in cold climates in order to<br />
make outdoor public spaces active year-round. The Skin Surface<br />
has capacity to register weather conditions as well as number <strong>of</strong><br />
people around the structure and to adjust accordingly. Energy that<br />
structure uses to adjust its shape to the climatic conditions is captured<br />
and transferred into heat that in return mediates temperature<br />
around/on/below the surface.<br />
The developed SKiN prototypes are part <strong>of</strong> an ongoing research<br />
project in responsive systems in architecture. It is driven by an interest<br />
in adaptive systems in nature and a desire to explore the<br />
capacity <strong>of</strong> built spaces to respond dynamically and adapt to<br />
changes in the external and internal environment. “Smart” systems<br />
(sensors, actuators, and controllers) and kinetic parts (movable<br />
architectural components) are embedded into surfaces to enable<br />
spaces we inhabit (homes, workplaces, streets) to sense, respond<br />
and interact with us. The goal is to develop technologies and designs<br />
that are capable <strong>of</strong> transforming static building components<br />
into active responsive surfaces that produce added functionalities<br />
in architectural spaces. Buildings that could sense and respond to<br />
environmental changes and interact with their users can operate<br />
more synergistically within larger ecologies and therefore move us<br />
closer towards more sustainable future.<br />
54 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
Biomanufactured Brick<br />
Ginger Dosier, American University <strong>of</strong> Sharjah<br />
“People used to say that just as the 20th century had been the<br />
century <strong>of</strong> physics, the 21st<br />
century would be the century <strong>of</strong> biology... This would, inevitably,<br />
involve new technique, new vision, new models <strong>of</strong> thought, and<br />
new models <strong>of</strong> action.“<br />
Christopher Alexander, The Nature <strong>of</strong> Order<br />
What if we could grow architectural materials with microorganisms?<br />
The built environment is constructed using a limited palette <strong>of</strong><br />
traditional materials: concrete, glass, steel, and wood. These traditional<br />
materials contain a high-embodied energy, with components<br />
<strong>of</strong> concrete and steel mined from non-renewable resources.<br />
Forty-percent <strong>of</strong> global carbon dioxide is linked to the construction<br />
industry, primarily due to material production and disposal.<br />
Traditional brick manufacturing requires the use <strong>of</strong> energy intensive<br />
processes for vitrifying clay particles into hardened materials.<br />
It is estimated brick production alone emits over 800 million tons<br />
<strong>of</strong> carbon dioxide each year.<br />
Simple organisms create hard mineral composites in ambient temperatures,<br />
such as coral and calcium carbonate shell structures.<br />
Sporosarcina Pasteurii, a nonpathogenic common soil bacterium<br />
and naturally found in wetlands, has the ability to create a biocement<br />
material that can fuse loose grains <strong>of</strong> sand. A hardened<br />
material is formed in a naturally occurring process known as microbial<br />
induced calcite precipitation [MICP]. The material is made<br />
by mixing specific quantities <strong>of</strong> bacteria, urea and calcium chloride<br />
in a matrix <strong>of</strong> aggregate, and allowing the biological and chemical<br />
reactions to take place. The resulting material exhibits a composition<br />
and physical properties similar to natural sandstone, and takes<br />
a few days to complete. The manufacturing process is similar to<br />
hydroponic gardens, whereby bricks are grown similar to farming<br />
practices Current structural tests exhibit equal compressive<br />
strengths <strong>of</strong> clay fired brick.<br />
The bioengineering method for growing architectural materials is<br />
pollution free, with a low embodied energy, and can occur in a range<br />
<strong>of</strong> temperatures: 10-50 C. As traditional brick construction is heavily<br />
dependent on burning natural resources such as coal and wood, this<br />
reliance results in increased carbon dioxide emissions and a greater<br />
dependency on limited energy sources. The process <strong>of</strong> manufacturing<br />
biological building units is economical as the large portion <strong>of</strong> the<br />
raw materials are found on site. Experiments have been conducted<br />
using a variety <strong>of</strong> aggregate matrixes with large success; these include:<br />
sand, soil, recycled glass, fly ash and plastics.<br />
Biological brick manufacturing can be achieved utilizing traditional<br />
casting methods, or articulated by <strong>digital</strong> tooling to fabricate layered<br />
units with a programmed material composition.. The use <strong>of</strong> 3D printing<br />
technologies is economically driven as it generates little waste, accommodates<br />
a variety <strong>of</strong> potential materials, provides a high degree<br />
<strong>of</strong> accuracy, and allows for infinite variation. Digital brick models can<br />
be designed to specifically and precisely locate mineral templates for<br />
growth and different sizes <strong>of</strong> aggregate for structure.<br />
Employing bacteria to naturally induce mineral precipitation, combined<br />
with local aggregate and rapid manufacturing methods, this<br />
research seeks to define and commercialize a local, ecological, and<br />
economic building material for use throughout the global construction<br />
industry.
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
Technology Continued<br />
CFS - Cross Fabricated Scales<br />
Wendy Fok, University <strong>of</strong> Houston<br />
Sue Biolsi, WE-DESIGNS.ORG<br />
Cross-Fabricated Scaled is an investigative prototype <strong>of</strong> experimental<br />
cross-fabrications between geometry and materials research, serving<br />
as a crossover between architecture and art—with a high concentration<br />
on the developmental nature <strong>of</strong> experimentation and details, relating<br />
to the scalability <strong>of</strong> a singular, yet repeated, patterning unit.<br />
The emphasis <strong>of</strong> this piece is the seamless transition between scales<br />
<strong>of</strong> a composite geometry, which is an evolution <strong>of</strong> topologies, exploring<br />
the physical properties intrinsic within the technique <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> and<br />
analog design experimentations. In fostering the synthesis <strong>of</strong> repetition<br />
and variation within a scalable logic, Cross-Fabricated Scaled<br />
anchors its design experimentation in exploring the challenges <strong>of</strong><br />
producing a continuous surface condition through a composite unit<br />
which has the ability to seamlessly scale up through the minimized<br />
connection <strong>of</strong> parts.<br />
The form-finding investigation and evaluation included active lab<br />
testing <strong>of</strong> physical models, in conjunction with computer simulation<br />
and optimization processes through a CNC (3D) milled prototype <strong>of</strong><br />
each individual module, which attaches to a framing system. In addition,<br />
the fragility <strong>of</strong> the forms and differentiated materials were conceptually<br />
assessed through experimentation during the design development<br />
research process.<br />
The final [whole] wall is constructed <strong>of</strong> modular self-supporting aggregates<br />
that seamlessly unite through a minimal connection <strong>of</strong> parts,<br />
creating a gradient <strong>of</strong> tessellation across scales. The collective units<br />
could possibly scale ad infinitum, yet the perception <strong>of</strong> its parts is<br />
diffused through its design that expresses a maximum variation for a<br />
minimum amount <strong>of</strong> parts, which also allows for ease <strong>of</strong> transportation<br />
and construction. In order to fully express the effect <strong>of</strong> the scalar<br />
transition, the repeated units are best viewed as a formalized wall partition<br />
system, which can divide or constructed within a taciturn space.<br />
Climate Changes: Thermal Response Verification <strong>of</strong><br />
a Building Envelope Using Transient Heat Transfer<br />
Analysis<br />
Kyoung-Hee Kim, University <strong>of</strong> North Carolina at Charlotte<br />
The rapid expansion <strong>of</strong> the world’s economies demands enormous<br />
consumption <strong>of</strong> fossil fuel and construction materials. According to<br />
2011 Energy Information Administration Data, world marketed energy<br />
consumption grows by 53 percent from 2008 to 2035. The rapid<br />
growth and increasing emissions <strong>of</strong> greenhouse gas are expected to<br />
accelerate global climate change. Scientists expect that the average<br />
global surface temperature could raise an additional 1 to 4.5° F within<br />
the next 50 years which are attributed by both human and natural<br />
causes.<br />
The environmental impacts <strong>of</strong> a building are alarming and it is important<br />
to understand how global warming in future is going to<br />
affect the energy performance <strong>of</strong> a building. Certainly, there are<br />
many building systems that can play a role in implementing sustainable<br />
concepts and mitigating impacts from climate changes.<br />
Among various building systems, a building envelope system - an<br />
immediate mediator between outdoor and indoor climate conditions<br />
– requires through understanding <strong>of</strong> its response to climate<br />
changes. The primary purpose <strong>of</strong> the presentation is therefore to<br />
address the impact <strong>of</strong> climate changes on the energy performance<br />
<strong>of</strong> building envelopes and further on the built environment. As a<br />
pilot study, a transient heat transfer analysis using finite element<br />
modeling was used to simulate the thermal response <strong>of</strong> a building<br />
envelope based on hourly recorded weather data in Charlotte.<br />
Further, the presentation also will discuss about challenges and opportunities<br />
using transient heat transfer analysis method in class or<br />
seminar environments as an efficient learning tool to visualize the<br />
dynamic nature <strong>of</strong> the built environment. Detailed analysis results<br />
will be presented in the conference meeting.<br />
Electropolymeric Dynamic Daylighting System:<br />
DisPlay Technology for Bio-responsive Mediated<br />
Building Envelopes<br />
Bess Krietemeyer, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute<br />
Increased awareness <strong>of</strong> the negative effects that limited natural<br />
light exposure has on the human circadian rhythm has drawn attention<br />
to the role <strong>of</strong> daylight in buildings. Human health and energy<br />
problems associated with the lack <strong>of</strong> control <strong>of</strong> natural light<br />
in contemporary buildings have further necessitated research into<br />
dynamic windows for energy efficient buildings. Existing dynamic<br />
window technologies have made moderate progress towards<br />
greater energy performance for curtain wall systems but remain<br />
limited in their performative response to dynamic solar conditions<br />
and variable user requirements for thermal and visual comfort. In<br />
contrast to existing façade technologies, emerging display technologies<br />
could actively reconfigure their basic patterns to respond<br />
to fluctuating bioclimatic flows while simultaneously adjusting to<br />
the changing visual desires <strong>of</strong> its occupants. Recent breakthroughs<br />
in the field <strong>of</strong> information display provide opportunities to transfer<br />
emerging display technologies to building envelopes that can<br />
achieve high levels <strong>of</strong> variety and control over the passage <strong>of</strong> solar<br />
radiation with immediate switchability. Electroactive polymers are<br />
one such emerging technology that, when deployed within insulated<br />
glazing units (IGUs), could significantly increase the range<br />
<strong>of</strong> solar heat gain coefficient, U-value and visible transmittance for<br />
windows. Integrating electroactive polymers within the surfaces<br />
<strong>of</strong> an insulated glazing unit (IGU) could dramatically improve the<br />
energy performance <strong>of</strong> windows while enabling user empowerment<br />
through the control <strong>of</strong> the visual quality <strong>of</strong> this micro-material<br />
assembly. The Electropolymeric Dynamic Daylighting System<br />
(EDDS) is a dynamic glazing technology that could respond to<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 55
SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012 - 12:30PM - 2:00PM<br />
Technology Continued<br />
variations <strong>of</strong> sunlight and temperature while allowing for view and<br />
varying degrees <strong>of</strong> user control. The EDDS is currently being developed<br />
by an interdisciplinary research team and tested with labscale<br />
prototypes to evaluate the energy performance according to<br />
dynamic environmental conditions, fluctuating building demands,<br />
and multiple user types. If electropolymeric shutters are applied<br />
in multiple layers <strong>of</strong> a pixilized array within the surfaces <strong>of</strong> an IGU,<br />
then this layered pixilation creates a geometric and spectrally selective<br />
two-axis tracking system that responds to both diurnal and<br />
seasonal fluctuations. Another significant benefit that the EDDS<br />
could provide is the modulation <strong>of</strong> heat gain through the building<br />
envelope in order to mitigate heating, cooling, and lighting loads.<br />
Through the switching <strong>of</strong> these surfaces and interception <strong>of</strong> direct<br />
solar rays, the EDDS is anticipated to have substantial energy savings<br />
over the course <strong>of</strong> the year in comparison to existing fixed<br />
layer systems. The EDDS also <strong>of</strong>fers the benefits <strong>of</strong> individual control<br />
to its building occupants and surrounding participants for the<br />
manipulation <strong>of</strong> visual effects along the IGU surface. The flexibility,<br />
immediate responsiveness, and remote switchability <strong>of</strong> electropoly<br />
meric display technology make individual choice over one’s shading<br />
density, privacy, views, and dynamic visual effects entirely<br />
achievable. Introducing design variability and individual selection<br />
over the visual quality <strong>of</strong> architectural envelopes and interior surfaces<br />
has the potential to satisfy the diverse needs <strong>of</strong> building occupants<br />
while reducing the energy consumption in buildings, responding<br />
simultaneously to bioclimatic, biological, psychological,<br />
and socio-economic needs and desires.<br />
Firefly: Propositions <strong>of</strong> Future Illumination<br />
Rashida Ng, Temple University<br />
Firefly, a winner <strong>of</strong> an international design-build competition invites<br />
the public to treasure the natural processes <strong>of</strong> the Earth while<br />
educating them in more sustainable ways to live in harmony with<br />
the environment. In addition to its use <strong>of</strong> well-established environmentally<br />
responsible principles such as design for deconstruction,<br />
use <strong>of</strong> reclaimed materials, and passive-design strategies, Firefly<br />
excites more provocative theories <strong>of</strong> integrated forms <strong>of</strong> illumination.<br />
The sun shelter utilizes a variable pattern <strong>of</strong> phosphorescent<br />
to provide shading during the day while emitting a passive emerald<br />
glow by night. As such, Firefly aspires towards the production <strong>of</strong><br />
light that replicates the efficiency, complexity, and beauty <strong>of</strong> the<br />
natural world.<br />
Firefly was designed to maximize <strong>of</strong>f-site fabrication, minimize<br />
material waste, and to allow for the reuse <strong>of</strong> its materials in the<br />
future. The triangulated design <strong>of</strong> the structure provided material<br />
efficiency by reducing the number <strong>of</strong> columns, while also providing<br />
lateral support to the shelter. Individual components were bolted<br />
together utilizing steel plates, which also provided additional reinforcing<br />
to the curved beam extensions. The joints were developed<br />
to facilitate the on-site assembly and disassembly <strong>of</strong> the components<br />
to allow the site to be easily returned to its natural state at<br />
the end <strong>of</strong> the project.<br />
56 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
As one moves into the shelter, multiple curvilinear surfaces encourage<br />
visitors to inhabit the floor as it slowly rises and falls. The undulation<br />
<strong>of</strong> the interior decking is created by subtle manipulations<br />
<strong>of</strong> each floor beam and their bowed extensions. The rhythm <strong>of</strong> the<br />
decking and its contoured surfaces provide a variety <strong>of</strong> places for<br />
children <strong>of</strong> all ages to comfortably rest. Converging in both plan<br />
and section, the interior space <strong>of</strong> Firefly is minimally defined and<br />
suggestive <strong>of</strong> infinite space. Blurring the lines between inside and<br />
outside, floor and wall, ceiling and sky, Firefly tempts its inhabitants<br />
to take pleasure in the sights, sounds, and smells <strong>of</strong> its surrounding<br />
context. From within the space, guests are encouraged<br />
to relax and enjoy the tranquility <strong>of</strong> the site’s scenic hillsides.<br />
The fabric ro<strong>of</strong> panels utilize a patterned layer <strong>of</strong> phosphorescent<br />
minerals printed onto cuben fiber, a semitransparent non-woven<br />
fabric, to produce a passive source <strong>of</strong> illumination within this elevated<br />
sun shelter. Phosphorescent minerals produce light through<br />
the slow re-radiation <strong>of</strong> previously absorbed luminous energy.<br />
Similar to the bioluminescence <strong>of</strong> fireflies, phosphorescent materials<br />
provide an energy-efficient and cool source <strong>of</strong> illumination. As<br />
such, Firefly transcends customary environmental design strategies<br />
in its proposition <strong>of</strong> a dematerialized manifestation <strong>of</strong> responsive<br />
light. Reactive to the setting sun, the pattern <strong>of</strong> minerals on<br />
each panel produces a glow each night for up to twelve hours. This<br />
moderately simple installation <strong>of</strong> phosphorescent minerals proposes<br />
extensive possibilities for future amalgamated illumination<br />
assemblies. The phosphorescent materials utilized in Firefly can<br />
be considered a proxy for alternative forms <strong>of</strong> solid-state lighting<br />
that will soon be available, such as organic light emitting diodes<br />
[OLEDs] and electroluminescent [EL] materials. As such, it suggests<br />
a future <strong>of</strong> light that is at once thin, flexible, touchable, translucent,<br />
passive, and responsive.<br />
GLS - Kitchen Tent<br />
Glenn Wilcox, University <strong>of</strong> Michigan<br />
Anca Trandafirescu, University <strong>of</strong> Michigan<br />
The GLS Kitchen Tent is a project that is situated on a rural site in<br />
south eastern Michigan. The design employs both high and lowtech<br />
methods in its development and subsequent fabrication.<br />
Structurally the project benefits from the traditional form <strong>of</strong> the<br />
arch and vault. Yet these forms are manipulated through parametric<br />
and scripted systems to allow for variation in the overall form<br />
in response to aesthetic and pragmatic conditions. The project will<br />
ultimately utilize CNC tube bending technologies in conjunction<br />
with 5-axis laser cutting to resolve the complex tube geometry, in<br />
combination with CNC fabric cutters and sail making technology to<br />
facilitate the construction <strong>of</strong> the projects skin.<br />
The projects form is in part a response to the program - the creation<br />
<strong>of</strong> a multi-purpose meeting, dining and food prep space, but<br />
is also shaped in response to particular views, negotiating mature
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surrounding trees, and creating ‘rooms’ with existing site features.<br />
The design <strong>of</strong> a computer based ‘system’ allows for continuous<br />
tweaking <strong>of</strong> the complex geometry throughout the design process<br />
- without having to remodel the form, for subsequent iterations.<br />
The overall form <strong>of</strong> the project can be manipulated through the development<br />
<strong>of</strong> a parametric system in the s<strong>of</strong>tware program Grasshopper.<br />
This allows variables such as the shape <strong>of</strong> the foot print,<br />
height <strong>of</strong> arches, and dimension and orientation <strong>of</strong> the oculi to be<br />
changed continuously throughout the design process.<br />
Once a parametric solution is selected - a series <strong>of</strong> control lines are<br />
output for each vault form. Following, a computer script - is run on<br />
the control lines, generating a triangulated frame based on a second<br />
series <strong>of</strong> variables including density <strong>of</strong> triangulation and pipe<br />
dimension. Also from these control lines the skin <strong>of</strong> the structure - a<br />
series <strong>of</strong> developable surfaces are produced.<br />
A physical model is used in conjunction with the computer model<br />
and s<strong>of</strong>tware to explore different patterning techniques <strong>of</strong> the<br />
structures skin - which will eventually be fabricated out <strong>of</strong> nylon<br />
sailcloth. A wire-frame armature <strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> the vaults is constructed<br />
and used as a type <strong>of</strong> dress form. Variations <strong>of</strong> the covering are<br />
patterned sewn and fitted to the model.<br />
Molecular City<br />
Roberto Bottazzi, Royal College <strong>of</strong> Art<br />
Description:<br />
Molecular City is an installation presented at the 2010 Future Places<br />
Festival in Porto, Portugal. By taking advantage <strong>of</strong> Augmented<br />
Reality technology, it challenges the tenets <strong>of</strong> contemporary planning<br />
by collapsing real and virtual experience.<br />
Concept:<br />
As technology increases in computational power and user-friendliness,<br />
portable devices will be completely tuned in people’s needs<br />
and desires to their environment. The future <strong>of</strong> augmented reality<br />
technology [AR] will be urban. However, if fields as diverse as music<br />
or the military have already capitalised on such radical advancements,<br />
architecture and urbanism are still largely unaffected by this<br />
revolution. Architects still see themselves as the solitary creators<br />
<strong>of</strong> static physical objects seeking to single-handedly control urban<br />
experience.<br />
Molecular City challenges this outdated vision by speculating alternative<br />
modes <strong>of</strong> planning and experiencing the twenty-first century<br />
city.<br />
Similar to how simple molecules can be aggregated to form complex<br />
organic compounds such as proteins, Molecular City imagines<br />
a condition in which the overall complexity and richness <strong>of</strong> the urban<br />
experience is the result <strong>of</strong> a multitude <strong>of</strong> diverse narratives and<br />
singular gestures. The construction <strong>of</strong> such environment emphasises<br />
contingency and discontinuity over exactness and stability.<br />
By taking advantage <strong>of</strong> AR technology, Molecular City allows the<br />
public to create their collective hybrid city by superimposing<br />
virtual architectures onto the existing city <strong>of</strong> Porto via computer<br />
projection. The physical space <strong>of</strong> Porto becomes a canvas constantly<br />
connected to the endless possibilities provided by virtual<br />
space. The role <strong>of</strong> the architect recedes to the background; the<br />
city transforms into a gameboard where cultural desires and needs<br />
can be seamlessly projected and negotiated. Conflations <strong>of</strong> place,<br />
scale, emotion and history overlay to give rise to a hybrid (half real,<br />
half virtual) urban condition. A library <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> architectural models<br />
to play with will be provided via either ADS1 student models or<br />
free downlodable models from the Internet.<br />
Banking on the ongoing four-year research on the relation between<br />
<strong>digital</strong> technologies and urban environments, Roberto Bottazzi has<br />
a long experience in creative academic work that hybridise virtual<br />
and actual domains. Our most recent exhibition – at the Royal College<br />
<strong>of</strong> Art in February 2010 – utilised AR to invite the visitors to<br />
play with students’ work to compose their own landscape <strong>of</strong> projects.<br />
Performance-Based Generative Design<br />
Ming Tang, University <strong>of</strong> Cincinnati<br />
This project investigated a collaborative research and teaching<br />
project between the University <strong>of</strong> Cincinnati, Perkins+Will’s Tech<br />
Lab and nD group, and the University <strong>of</strong> North Carolina Greensboro.<br />
The primary investigation focuses on the design and fabrication<br />
<strong>of</strong> building components, derived from performance-based<br />
parameters. The project examines various approaches including<br />
theoretical investigations and proprietary s<strong>of</strong>tware tools for parametric<br />
design.<br />
The project first gives a short historical and philosophical background<br />
to performance-based design, then describes the technical<br />
and algorithmic requirements, and concludes with the examples <strong>of</strong><br />
implementation. With two design courses taught in 2011, the authors<br />
discuss the “shared body plan” as an essential element for<br />
applying generative form-seeking methods in architectural design.<br />
Design methodologies, such as use <strong>of</strong> building performance simulation<br />
tools, genetic morphing, and fitness evaluations are discussed<br />
as new paradigms in generative, performance-based design.<br />
This project also investigates how the large quantity <strong>of</strong> iterations<br />
can be filtered and selected based on the feasibility <strong>of</strong> fabrication<br />
and materialization processes. Using several student projects in the<br />
poster, the authors intend to demonstrate the methods <strong>of</strong> mass<br />
customization and parametric iteration through physical prototyping.<br />
The parameters related with fabrication have been implemented<br />
to generate a large quantity <strong>of</strong> creative solutions, whereas<br />
genetic algorithm functions are introduced as optimizers.<br />
As a conclusion, this poster illustrated the formation process that<br />
nature permits in order to sustain a generative system. The project<br />
analyzes several design and prototyping procedures, and illustrates<br />
how these performance-driven design approaches can be<br />
used for innovative forms, utilizing benefits <strong>of</strong> performance-based<br />
influences in architecture beyond formal assumption and aesthetic<br />
experimentation.<br />
Digital Apptitutes + Other Openings - Boston, MA - 57
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Technology Continued<br />
Points + Clouds: Tactical Hermeneutics:<br />
Robert Yuen, University <strong>of</strong> Michigan<br />
“We hold to the idea that architecture is not simply reducible to<br />
the container and the contained but that there exists a dynamic exchange<br />
between the life <strong>of</strong> matter and the matter <strong>of</strong> our lives.”<br />
Reiser + Umemoto<br />
Device: an instrument or tool designed for a specific task or set <strong>of</strong><br />
tasks.<br />
Abstraction: the act, idea or concept that filters or extracts, manipulates,<br />
and distorts specific elements from the whole.<br />
Tooling: the process <strong>of</strong> engaging the tool itself within the design<br />
process.<br />
Apparatus: the collection or family <strong>of</strong> instruments, devices and tools<br />
designed for a particular purpose.<br />
Atmospheric: have an emotional quality that resembles that <strong>of</strong> air,<br />
wind, and cloud.<br />
Research-through-Tooling as an explicit vehicle, provokes interrogations<br />
and explorations <strong>of</strong> environments. It consistently reiterates<br />
the condition that minds the gap, situated between spatial representation<br />
and the built environment, informed through a series <strong>of</strong><br />
hermeneutic devices. The devices create the occurrence <strong>of</strong> mistruth,<br />
errors, holes, and mistakes that formulate poetic spatial possibilities.<br />
The potency <strong>of</strong> the unfamiliar and the unseen that lurks within the<br />
atmospheric construct is exploited. It is simultaneously ambiguous<br />
and specific to the slippage between spaces and realms. Defined<br />
tactics expand the traditional thinking <strong>of</strong> spaces and volumes as dualities<br />
<strong>of</strong> surfaces and solids to a notion <strong>of</strong> points and clouds: the<br />
atmospheric.<br />
Heremeutic Series<br />
Interpretation <strong>of</strong> spaces, and designing around techniques but not<br />
reliant on them to design transmissible, navigational properties <strong>of</strong><br />
space. Conceptualizing space between the dualities <strong>of</strong> surfaces and<br />
solids to a notion <strong>of</strong> points and clouds: the atmospheric, draws on<br />
the questions <strong>of</strong> authenticity and the infidelities. Producing a body<br />
<strong>of</strong> work that explores interpretation through representation <strong>of</strong> reality<br />
that is full <strong>of</strong> errors, distortions, gaps, and residue. The drawings<br />
act as markers for the next projective moments <strong>of</strong> this work.<br />
“Space becomes a background for interaction rather than a co-producer<br />
<strong>of</strong> interaction. But what takes place is, in fact, a double movement:<br />
the user’s interaction with other people co-produces space<br />
which in turn is a co-producer <strong>of</strong> interaction. Through focusing on<br />
our agency in this critical exchange, it is possible to bring our spatial<br />
responsibility to the fore.” Eliasson, Olafur<br />
58 - ACSA 100th Annual Meeting<br />
The research project exams and unveil this condition <strong>of</strong> space<br />
through the use <strong>of</strong> <strong>digital</strong> technology to map and project alternate<br />
realties that co-exist within. It draws a spatial condition in a different<br />
light prior to traditional techniques <strong>of</strong> 2D representation <strong>of</strong><br />
solid and void within the discipline <strong>of</strong> architecture. The project is<br />
a protagonist within the movement <strong>of</strong> spatializing conditions as<br />
atmospheric representations.<br />
It is ambiguity and specific.<br />
It is relational.<br />
It is real.<br />
It is meaningless but meaningful.<br />
It operates through modes <strong>of</strong> vehicles.<br />
It crosses technological bearings.<br />
It is a paradigm shift.<br />
It is within the discourse <strong>of</strong> spatial understanding and perception.<br />
Spider Cow: Design/Build Project for a Moveable<br />
Interior Partition System<br />
Craig Griffen, Philadelphia University<br />
This project was the main component <strong>of</strong> a 3-credit Design/ Build<br />
course <strong>of</strong>fered to 4th and 5th year architecture students. A newly<br />
renovated building on our campus had flexible lobby space that<br />
was planned to be open for exhibits and events but also needed<br />
to be partially closed <strong>of</strong>f to accommodate drawing courses. So<br />
the university asked the students to design and build a partition<br />
system that would provide visual privacy, be easily moved for spatial<br />
flexibility and be durable. An additional concern was the need<br />
to reduce the reflected noise created by many hard surfaces in<br />
a shared space so an acoustic dampening role was added to the<br />
program.<br />
For the main project each student created an individual design<br />
from which similar ideas were combined to form 4 groups <strong>of</strong> 3 students.<br />
These groups designed 4 unique partition systems and the<br />
winning entry was selected by faculty and studio vote for construction.<br />
The winner was selected in part because it had the greatest<br />
chance <strong>of</strong> success but also the greatest chance <strong>of</strong> failure, guaranteeing<br />
a challenge for the students.<br />
The idea behind the wall is a steel skeleton <strong>of</strong> welded rods and tubes<br />
that suspend acoustic foam panels to absorb sound with a translucent<br />
fabric cover stretched across the fame to protect the panels.<br />
A spider web-like grid <strong>of</strong> rods suspends 8 tubes in each 4 foot long<br />
rolling panel. The tubes extend beyond the face <strong>of</strong> the frame to<br />
keep the fabric in tension and prevent wrinkles. Initially the ends<br />
<strong>of</strong> the tubes were to be open to allow light to penetrate but connecting<br />
the fabric to the tubes ends would have resulted in a sloppy<br />
detail. Therefore natural light was substituted with artificial by using<br />
round LED lights (originally intended for customized automobile<br />
headlights) activated by a motion sensor when someone walks by.
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As only one student had welded before, the rest acquired a great<br />
education in the technique and the jigs they created to hold the<br />
steel in position while welding were as interesting as the finished<br />
product. The acoustic panels are constructed like a sandwich with<br />
upholstery foam on both sides <strong>of</strong> an inner core <strong>of</strong> quarter inch plywood<br />
to provide stiffness and a connection point for the hardware<br />
to the frame.<br />
The spider web-like steel rods were painted black to stand out and<br />
the tubes painted white to “disappear”(hence the moniker <strong>of</strong> Spider<br />
Cow). While there was concern the fabric cover was too delicate<br />
and would be ripped or stained quickly, it has held up very<br />
well over several months. Even so, it is designed to be easily replaced<br />
as needed.<br />
Even though our school lacks computer aided machinery, I think<br />
our students demonstrated how it is still possible to create beautiful,<br />
complex forms out <strong>of</strong> unfamiliar materials with the use <strong>of</strong> a little<br />
ingenuity.<br />
tetra | N<br />
Glenn Wilcox, University <strong>of</strong> Michigan<br />
Anca Trandafirescu, University <strong>of</strong> Michigan<br />
tetra | N project is driven by the impetus to design a generative<br />
self-supporting structure capable <strong>of</strong> variable form – through utilizing<br />
a single robust detail – one which could be fabricated out <strong>of</strong><br />
flat stock material. tetra | n project accomplishes this through two<br />
means. First is the development <strong>of</strong> part geometry based on a tetrahedron<br />
(see diagram) – structured in this way – the generation<br />
<strong>of</strong> more complex geometry through simple base geometry always<br />
produces well - formed planar objects. Additionally, coincident<br />
faces <strong>of</strong> adjacent tetrahedrons always produce continuous forms<br />
– joints always meet correctly – regardless <strong>of</strong> the position or scale<br />
<strong>of</strong> the next part. Secondly - through the utilization <strong>of</strong> Rhinoscript<br />
– highly complex variable formed structures <strong>of</strong> n tetrahedrons are<br />
possible. The script is simply ‘run’ on an assembled tetrahedral<br />
base structure – part generation, connective element generation,<br />
labeling, drill holes, and part flattening are integral functions <strong>of</strong> the<br />
script.<br />
tetra | N is formed as a single unified tower structure with an occupiable<br />
base that supports itself simply by standing on the ground.<br />
Depth and redundancy in the form develop not only a robust structure<br />
– but a level <strong>of</strong> complexity and intricacy found only in organic<br />
forms. The visual effect is <strong>of</strong> a structure that is, on the one hand,<br />
highly ordered, rigorous and geometric, and on the other degenerates<br />
into near chaos, simulates organic growth, and confounds<br />
clear distinctions between foreground and background.
Abstracts from the <strong>Association</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Collegiate</strong> <strong>Schools</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Architecture</strong><br />
100th Annual Meeting in Boston, MA<br />
Address 1735 New York Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20006<br />
Tel 202.785.2324<br />
Fax 202.628.0448<br />
Web www.acsa-arch.org