research network 2009-2011 DIGITAL CRAFTING Workshop / Seminar GENERATIVE LOGICS how to GROW Aarhus School of Architecture Studsgade Auditoriet 17.-19.01.2011
A research network supported by The Danish Council for Independent Research, Humanities. Organisers: Mette Ramsgard Thomsen Claus Peder Pedersen Martin Tamke Participants: Centre for IT and Architecture Aarhus School of Architecture Kolding School of Design Technical University of Denmark Danish Technological Institute The Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory
CONTENTS Workshop 04 How to grow...04 Seminar 04 Generative design thinking...06 Day 01 / Workshop...08 Day 02 / Workshop...09 Day 03 / Seminar...10 Biography workshop leader...11 Biographies presenters...12 Prerequisites...14 3
WORKSHOP 4 GENERATIVE LOGICS : HOW TO GROW 17.-19. January 2011 This workshop/seminar will investigate the role of distributed agency within the design process. Algorithmic logic will be used as platform for developing intensive modes of formation. By exploring the structures by which this logic is shaped, the workshop queries how concepts such as generative design and emergence can lead to new models of organization and form in architectural design. 4 The workshop/seminar focuses on the potential of algorithmic techniques. Through simple rule based systems it is possible to create complex formations similar to behaviors and patterns found in the nature, such as flocking formations, swarm behaviors and plant growth patterns. These systems can then be used as a generative process in the development of the form and organization, where the task of the designer becomes more about setting up rules and parameters that effects the form generating process, rather than explicitly defining form itself. In this lies a possibility for the designer to focus on the tectonic logic of the project as a starting point, moving towards a bottomup approach to architectural formation. Algorithmic methodologies enable architects to engage emergence, self-organization, and swarm intelligence in the design process, linking the work of architects and designers to developments in biology and computation. The workshop will introduce tools to engage with self-organization and swarm-
AWORKSHOP 04 based design using the Processing programming language. Processing is an open source platform developed mainly for graphic designers and artists, who want to operate algorithmically without the overhead of advanced programming. It has a simple and playful functionality while also remaining powerful, being largely based on the well-known programming language, Java. The participants of the workshop will be introduced to some of the logics in programming and template applets will be used as a starting point for exploring some of the possibilities in agent-based form generation and self-organization. Workshop questions: What is the potential of using algorithmic methods in the design process? How can terms, such as emergence and swarm intelligence, be operative in the design process? What are the implications for authorship within algorithmic design methodologies? How can tectonic concerns be seeded at a local level in facilitating the realization of the project? 5
Seminar 4 Generative design thinking Date: January 19th, 2011 Venue: Studsgadeauditoriet Presenters: Roland Snooks, Jan Henrik Hansen, Christian Derix and Åsmund Gamlesaeter. 6 Generative processes based on algorithmic techniques offers new possibilities to the design process. These techniques enable the exploration of spatial and structural configurations that are inaccessible through traditional architectural design methodologies. Through these design approaches new potentials for informing and specifying architectural space becomes available. At the same time they raise a series of challenges to traditional notions of representation, of authorship, of control of the design intent and outcome.
A SEMINAR 04 Seeking out external influences, specific examples, lines of thoughts the seminar discusses the potentials, strategies and challenges of such algorithmic design approaches. 7
Day 1 Workshop - 17.01.2011 11.00 Introduction and lecture. Roland Snooks: an introduction to multi-agent design 12.00 Object Oriented programming concepts 13.00 Lunch 14.00 Agent Algorithm 1: Vector Motion - Agents that move based on vectors. 15.30 Agent Algorithm 2: Information Exchange - Agents with simple motion that are capable of exchanging information. 16.30 Experimentation: Algorithms will be experimented with through the manipulation of parameters and additional functions. 18.00 Opening of student exhibition at Morphogenetic Studio Nørreport 17, first floor. 8
A DAY 01/02 Day 2 Workshop - 18.01.2011 09.15 Agent Algorithm 3: Steering Behaviors Multi-Agent systems 10:30 Development of individual algorithms. 12.30 Lunch 13.30 Lecture Martin Tamke, followed by discussion 14.30 Coffee «What are the implications and potentials of algorithmic design?» «Does agent based systems introduce different hierarchies in the design process?» 14.45 Agent Algorithm 4: Agency of What? Experiments with a series of applets that encode agency in various substrates. 18.00 End of workshop program 19.00 Dinner (self paid) 9
Day 3 Seminar - 19.01.2011 09.15 Presentation and discussion of workshop results 10.30 Introduction to the seminar by Roland Snooks and Claus Peder Pedersen 10.45 Lecture 1 Roland Snooks 11.30 Lecture 2 Jan Henrik Hansen 12.15 Lunch 13.15 Lecture 3 - Christian Derix & Åsmund Gamlesæter 14.00 Discussion 15.00 Coffee 15.30 Sum up and discussion of further network activities 16.00 End of Seminar 10
A DAY 03/BIO Biography Workshop leader: Roland Snooks Roland is a Design Director and a Founding Partner of Kokkugia. He holds a masters in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University where he studied on a Fulbright scholarship and is a graduate of RMIT University (B.Arch). Roland teaches graduate studios and seminars at the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University and is the George Isaac Distinguished Fellow at the University of Southern California (USC). Roland has previously directed design studios and seminars at UCLA, SCI-Arc, Pratt Institute, RMIT, and the Victorian College of the Arts. Roland has considerable experience in the design and construction of high profile projects while working in the offices of Reiser + Umemoto, Ashton Raggatt McDougall and Minifie Nixon, prior to founding Kokkugia. Roland s design research is focused on emergent design methodologies involving agent-based techniques. www.kokkugia.com 11
Biographies Invited presenters: Martin Tamke Martin is Associate Professor at the Centre for Information Technology and Architecture (CITA) at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture in Copenhagen. He is pursuing a design led research on the interface and implications of computational design and its materialization. Based on a deep understanding of architectural design and computational techniques he developed his research practice between the speculative and its realization. This took place in collaborative projects of different scales: from installations, competitions and interiors, as the realization of a virtual news studio for the television company RTL to architectural projects. A 70m organic shaped infrastructural hub in Hamburg became Building of the year in 2010. Martin joined the newly founded research centre CITA in 2006 and shaped its design based research practice. Projects on new design and fabrication tools for wood production, curved creased surfaces or fractal systems led to a series of digitally fabricated speculative probes, prototypes and 1:1 demonstrators. He has taught workshops at Vienna, Berlin, Barcelona, St. Petersburg, Hamburg, Istanbul, Moscow, Copenhagen and Aarhus. cita.karch.dk 12 Jan Henrik Hansen Jan holds a Master of Architecture from the Swiss Federal Institute, Zurich. Since 2002 he is a founding member and CEO of WHIST Architects in Zurich. He has been teaching and researching at the Chair for Architecture and Digital Fabrication with Professors Gramazio Kohler at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich and gained considerable experience with high end robotic fabrication strategies and infrastructure. 2010 he founded Studio Jan Henrik Hansen to create an independent territory for his art projects and collaborations with architectural offices as an artist. His artistic work focuses in particular on the transformation of music into space with a unique and patented digital technique he has been developing since 1999. Jan s sculptures relate to their musical source on a subjective as well as on a objective level, dealing with the wide spectrum of music, from single sounds to whole arrangements. 2010 his artistic work was shown at the Swiss Architecture Museum in Basel. www.janhenrikhansen.com www.whist.ch
A Biographies Christian Derix Leading Aedas Computational Research and Design Group, Christian Derix is responsible for overseeing the development of the R&D initiative where innovative and new design methodology is developed from a blend of computing science and other disciplines. Through a range of highly technical research applications, he has helped to develop designs and digital applications for architecture, urban design, interiors and furniture. Christian was instrumental in the development of the modular shelving project VITA in Milan, which gained acclaim as a pioneer in web 2.0 design. He has also been recognised for his Digital Masterplanning initiatives for urban planning. The occupants interior visibility and perception methods for the World Trade Centre Memorial Museum are one of his many visual analysis applications. Christian teaches at several universities and is published widely on computational design. www.aedasresearch.com Åsmund Gamlesæter Åsmund has been working as Computational Design Researcher at Aedas since May 2007. In this time he has been investigating new forms of furniture design, architecture and urban planning through code. This has resulted in a set of tools and sketches implemented in design projects both inside and outside Aedas. Åsmund graduated with an MArch from NTNU, Norway in 2006. After completing his studies he started working with Pablo Miranda Carranza on spoorg, a project by the architecture group servo, for which they were responsible of the interaction design. In 2006-2007 he worked as an Assistant Designer at Stockholm office of Kram/Weisshaar. From 2006-2009 he has been part of the visiting faculty at Konstfack University College of Arts Crafts and Design. There he has held a series of Open Studios, as well as advising Master students at the Experience Design program at the same school. He has also held graduate level seminars at the architecture schools of NTNU and University of East London. 13 www.aedasresearch.com
Prerequisites All material and tools for the workshop will be provided. Special skills in CAD or scripting programs are not required, but some experience in scripting will be an advantage. Participants are asked to bring their laptops along with the open source programming language Processing installed. In order to have a smooth start we ask you to check that everything is running perfectly. Processing can be obtained here: http://www.processing.org 14
Digital Crafting Research Network Photo, Illustation Kokkugia(Cover) Kokkugia(Page 04-05) Jan Henrik Hansen (Page 06) Kokkugia(Page 07-09, 11) Christian Derix (Page 13) Graphic Design Niels Martin Larsen & Claus Peder Pedersen based on layout by Ines Burkhardt 15
Aarhus School of Architecture Nørreport 20 8000 Århus C Denmark T. +45 8936 0000 F. +45 8613 0645 a@aarch.dk