FABRICATE 2011 Conference

I very recently had the chance to attend the Fabricate 2011 conference organized by the UCL. “A strong shot of Digital Fabrication” I would describe it, since some of the most innovative and respected researchers, practitioners and thinkers in the field of Digital Fabrication and Digital Architecture in general presented us their recent projects at the same time as leading an extensive discussion concerning the future directions of Digital Fabrication research.

Just mentioning a few names: Mark Burry, Matthias Kohler, Neri Oxman, Marta Male-Alemany, Phillip Beesley, Mette Ramsgard Thomsen.

Along with meeting and getting into interesting discussions with old or new friends and collaborators from all over the world, and a sunny couple of days in London, it was one of the events I would sure want to follow in the future. Looking forward to the next edition!

For more information check the conference’s website http://www.fabricate2011.org/

apomechanes exhibition

Εδώ είναι μερικές φωτογραφίες απο την έκθεση apomechanes: nonlinear computational design strategies την οποία  με μεγάλη μου χαρά επιμελήθηκα. Η έκθεση φιλοξενήθηκε στο Ίδρυμα Μιχάλης Κακογιάννης από τις 10 ως τις 31 Ιανουαρίου 2011 και παρουσίασε επιλεγμένα έργα από τα εργαστήρια αρχιτεκτονικής σύνθεσης apomechanes 2009 και 2010.

Το apomechanes είναι ένα διεθνές εντατικό εργαστήριο αρχιτεκτονικής σύνθεσης, που πραγματοποιείται κάθε καλοκαίρι στην Αθήνα από την ahylo lab, και είναι αφιερωμένο στην προώθηση τεχνικών και εννοιών των αλγοριθμικών διεργασιών, ως μέσο για το σχεδιασμό και την κατασκευή.Ο αλγοριθμικός σχεδιασμός ορίζει διαδικασίες που επιτρέπουν τη γενετική ανάπτυξη πολύπλοκων δομών και μορφών, με τη χρήση απλών συντακτικών κανόνων.

Ο κατάλογος της έκθεσης κυκλοφορεί από τις εκδόσεις asprimera και παρουσιάζει τα έργα που σχεδιάστηκαν και κατασκευάστηκαν κατα τη διάρκεια των εργαστηρίων apomechanes 2009 & 2010, εμπλουτισμένα και υποστηριζόμενα απο έργα και θεωρητικά άρθρα των Karl Chu, Carla Leitao, Kokkugia και Ahylo, τα οποία διερευνούν τον υπολογιστικό σχεδιασμό και τα πεδία εφαρμογής του.

Parametric Synthesis Istanbul 2010

Parametric Synthesis Istanbul 2010 is a youth exchange workshop that will take place in Bilgi University Istanbul between 1-7 of September. Twenty one creative people from Greece, Turkey and United Kingdom will meet to establish an exchange of experiences, information knowledge and expertise in architecture and parametric design.

read more and apply

Fabrication without age limit

New generations of kids have opportunities that even people of our age didn’t come up with so easily. I’ m talking about the development of IaaC’ s initiative to bring kids in touch with digital fabrication. It started with a one-day workshop last year and ended up in regular weekly classes for teenagers with great results (see older post, and last year’s class here). This year, the initiative is growing, since FabLabkids is an independent branch of Fab Lab Barcelona, with its very own program and approach to fabrication. It gives in my opinion a great opportunity to youngsters of 9-16 years old to get in touch with high end technology, to have fun, and-why not- discover great scientific potential that might have gone to waist without the proper stimulation. Keep up the nice work guys!

Villa FAB-ulosa

One of the things children love to do is to create their personal world. That is exactly what Villa FAB-ulosa did, using high end technology. In other words… how can we make digital fabrication easy to perceive and pleasently useful in everyday life? Make children use it! And be sure that they will learn fast. A first trial of that concept was carried out on a Sunday afternoon in FAB-LAB Barcelona,   when a dozen of 11 year-old boys had the opportunity to laser cut their own press-fit houses, assemble them, and then decorate them using stencils with their names that they fabricated by themselves. The mini workshop was led by Tomas Diez with my assistance and it was a first, recyclable effort to make an inspiring interchange between heavy machinery and innocent creativity. Of course they were all very keen on listening to how the process works, and enjoyed every bit of it. By the end of the show though, the winner was once again…football !!!

Venice Biennale workshop@IaaC

On July 7th started at IaaC the workshop for the Installation of Vicente Guallart in the Venice Biennale. The aim of the firs two weeks was to design a press-fit system of structure and the furniture prototypes in transparent acrylic of 10mm, from which will be made all the furniture of the Installation “Hyperhabitat-Reprogramming the world”. After several design trials and fabrication tests, the system that will be used is almost ready. Here are some examples. For more information on the workshop check the IaaCBlog

furniture designed and laid out for fabrication

pieces ready for assembly

furniture prototype

test on the integration of leds and nodes

Parametric Dome_Design + 1:1 Fabrication

“A dome is a common structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere”

This project was developed during the third term of the MAA_IaaC 2007-2008, by a group of 20 students, under the tutorship of Marta Male-Alemany and with the assistance of Shane Salisbury.

The objective of the project was to design a dome-shaped pavilion and fabricate it 1:1 using the facilities of the FAB-LAB Barcelona, and to prepare an exhibition about the whole process.

The modeling was done in TopSolid – parametric and associative design software, which links entirely the design with the fabrication process, as every change in the model gives new updated fabrication files. The fabrication was done with a laser cutting machine (Spirit GE 100W). The materials used were 3mm corrugated cardboard and plastic zip ties for the connections. The final pavilion is about 3.5m (radius) by 2m (h), and consists of about 1000 different triangles, needing 5 days and 20 people working in shifts all 24 hours to cut and assemble. The pavilion has integrated motion sensors and leds that light up according to the amount of people around it. A really interesting project that put us all the way into the world of digital fabrication.

The process was very demanding from the very first moment, since each decision made would affect and be affected by time and materiality issues. The decision about the final size of the dome, the number of the components, were directly linked with the strength and the price of the material, the time it would need to cut and assemble, the people needed to attend and carry out all that. One very important and frustrating at moments fact was that the final design was mostly developed taking into consideration the capabilities of the lasercutting machine we would use ( the bed is 450x900mm and it cannot cut metal). But even that, was one of the greatest lessons about CAM fabrication!

The final presentation was articulated in three parts, consisting of a:the process of design and fabrication, b:the detailed presentation of the final product and c:the process of work in terms of team work and organization. All that of course were completed by all the initial models produced during the design and fabrication research, and a video demonstrating the soul of the project.

Check out the whole process of the project: The Dome @ IaaCblog

prefabricated housing case study _ 1:1 The Digital House

Long after the idea of digitally customizing and producing your house was initially launched, Bell Travers Willson are introducing us to a whole new level through their project, 1:1 Making the Digital House. After two and a half years of research they presented it in an exhibition at The Architectural Foundation’s Yard Gallery in London in March 2007.

The Digital House is produced using an explicit 3D model that contains all of the construction elements up to every single assembly detail. The elementsare cutout in engineered timber using CNC technology and then assembled into lightweight hollow cassettes, which can be filled with recycled newspaper to achieve a high level of insulation and air tightness. Due to the technology used all the parts can be customized to each individual’s requirements, moving away from the standardization that has previously been an economic driving force in prefabricated systems so far and at the same time offering speed and quality of production.

The architects have set up a new company, FACIT, to be a one stop shop providing the complete building service from design, planning, and digital production through to on site assembly. So you can now design and order your own house and get it in a box ready to be put together; easily, quickly and low cost.

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