Greg Lynn reading

Greg Lynn
Blob Techtonics

Greg Lynn says blobbiness will be treated in three regards: first in the images of science fiction horror films; second in the philosophical definition of vicious composite entities; and last, in contemporary construction techniques. Tectonic practitioners argue that humans have always structured themselves as standing upright and so should building. Greg Lynn argues that the idea that buildings must stand erect is already discredited by two hundred years of gravity studies. Also that as structural engineers have for centuries, architects might consider more complex analogies of support than the simplistic, bankrupt, and highly overrated notion that building should stand vertically. Unlike structural engineers, architects are expected to be simple, crude, and upright in their approach.

interior cube transformations

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Tierney Therese Reading

In this reading Tierney Therese makes a good point, that to design is to risk, to experiment. She states how results that are not immediately understood or applicable should not be denied their importance. This translates over to computer experimentation. The purpose of experimenting in computer design is to explore the structures and properties of the programs, how they can be manipulated and their formal products. The analysis is able to focus on form generation through interacting with a number of different computational and subjective processes. Tierney Therese says what is to be explored is the way the notion of the virtual that is neither conventional nor populist, not even a simplistic spatial or graphical illusion. Instead that she wants to suggest that architectural expression intrinsically, though not exclusively virtual. In comparing to a photograph an architectural concept is imageless. It does not exist before its representation. Using computer programs they take information and input it into the computer that takes it and combines it in numerous ways. All the internal programmatic and all of the external site related pressures create animations of forces by means of a communicative process of action based relationships. Over time informational feedback is gathered and patterns emerge.

3D Transformations

Larry Sass Lecture

Larry Sass is a professor of digital design at MIT. He worked on prefabricated houses for New Orleans. He is anti factory, his vision for digital fabrication is no factories and self guide assemblies. His design interest are to design and construct culturally sensitive community based design. His master thesis was African American Architecture. He says a green economy is not possible with old homes. He said problems in construction are errors in construction and imprecise measures = cost per square foot.

Ali Rahim reading

I liked this reading for a couple of reasons. It was not only interesting but informational. I learned about things I didn’t know even existed. Its basically that architecture would not be where is at today with technology. Technology has allowed us to become more efficient. But with technological advances we need feedback to allow us to advance even further and become efficient. The technology has only made the modeling and hand drawing more efficient for visualization and documenting. Now these computer programs allow us to not only design the building, but figure out structural engineering, fabrication, mechanical, electrical, and cost estimation all at once.
Another thing I learned from this was the technology that the Eameses used in the design and fabrication of their furniture. It was very interesting to see the techniques used to create the furniture. Different pieces of furniture were created through techniques discovered in different fields of work. The Eameses combined advances from their disciplines with their own inventions to make new technologies and techniques. They invented a device made out of items found around the house to form heated plywood into chairs.

Context Effect A2

Ali Rahim Presentation

Reading abstract 1

The aide of computers advances in past years has led to many opportunities. New digital programs allow us to design and produce very complex forms that would have been very hard to produce without these programs. These technologies have also allowed the construction and assembly cost to go down. Architectural curvilinearity and contemporary architecture are due to the digital technology. The design and production of products today is completely different. Now these products are completely designed using digital technology. Without all the computer aided design technology the world would be a completely different place.

Pattern formation

GLYNND_DAP

Established by Ali Rahim, Contemporary Architecture Practice uses a completely digital system to portray and create their work. Rahim, who works with partner Hina Jamelle, focuses mostly on the development of new technologies for fabrication and design. The use of digital programming allows for more concise detail, and gives a level of control over the design quality. The use of digital rendering also enables the client to interact with the program and visualize more design options.
New ways of thinking about architecture is a key concept at this firm. The vision for Contemporary Architecture Practice is to “…develop social situations in informing our designs through inhabitants interacting with the spatiality of [their] projects.” The firm has a vision of dramatic spaces, and each of their projects demonstrates this. An example of this is in the Residence for a Fashion Designer. An exterior wall illuminates the walkway inside with continuous rows of small windows. This creates highly variable and intense lighting inside, and hence creates a dramatic and dynamic space. In addition, the utilization of potentially conflicting functions, such as a hallway made into a catwalk, help create and diversify spaces.
Rahim emphasizes that one can put as much detail as possible using digital techniques, yet the better designs are often the ones with a simple yet elegant design. The mastery of digital technique allows him the freedom to assume a more sophisticated relationship with the creation of space. This mastery creates an algorithm that facilitates processes regarding fabrication and structure.