MATSYS

“Established in 2004 by Andrew Kudless, Matsys is a design studio that explores the emergent relationships between architecture, engineering, biology, and computation. Based on the idea that architecture can be understood as a material body with its own intrinsic and extrinsic forces relating to form, growth, and behavior, the studio investigates methodologies of performative integration through geometric and material differentiation. The studio’s work ranges from speculative and built projects to the crafting of new tools which facilitate an interdisciplinary approach to the design and fabrication of architecture.”

wetware.09

architectual experiments. “Wetware ’ 09 is Alisa Andrasek’s DRL Studio this 2009.”

SYNTHe

by Alexis Rochas, “In a city covered by over 4,000 square miles of asphalt and cinder block, the green roof movement may have just won a serious coup with SYNTHe, an urban rooftop garden prototype designed by SCI-arc professor and architect Alexis Rochas. [..] SYNTHe is a self-sufficient ecosystem that could offer a myriad of environmental benefits. Besides helping to filter pollutants, increasing thermal insulation of the roof, and reducing storm water runoff, the roof top garden sets forth a complete productive cycle. Food will be grown, consumed, and ultimately returned to the cycle in the form of compost on the premises.”

Twisted Architecture

Foster buildings mathematically revealed and explored by Chris Carlson and Mathematica. “Even this trivial parameterization of a scaled and twisted half-sphere yields an amazing variety of forms, each of which suggests interesting avenues to explore. The last of those forms brought to mind Norman Foster’s Swiss Re building in London, nicknamed by the locals ‘the Gherkin.’” via Wolfram blog and tomC@delicious

new territories

Francois Roche, Stephanie Lavaux. much to explore in the new territories.

Transitory Objects

Exhibition at Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna. “The specific architectural objects are derived from design practices—exemplified by the work of Alisa Andraschek biothing, Hernan Diaz Alonso Xefirotarch, Greg Lynn FORM, Neri Oxman MATERIALECOLOGY, Aranda\Lasch and R&Sie(n)—that utilize the performative powers of algorithms and advanced geometry.”

image: R&Sie(n) / François Roche and Stéphanie Lavaux thegardenofearthlydelights, 2008. Glass dripping in mould by cnc machine.

via seed magazine

biothing

founded by Alisa Andrasek in 2001. Andrasek is an experimental practitioner of architecture and computational processes in design. Biothing is a trans-disciplinary laboratory that focuses on the generative potential of computational systems for design.

image: Agentware research 06_09, directed by Alisa Andrasek, AA DRL Probotics student team with BIOTHING, long-span roofscape STL model

biothing@vimeo, biothing@flickr

new books

1 Modular Structures by Asterios Agkathidis.  ”this book examines morphogenetic processes based on a combination of digital and analogue modelling and manufacturing techniques. The introduction of the module, as the main instrument of geometric and structural determination, becomes crucial.”

2 Bio-structural. Analogues in architecture by Joseph Lim. “This book seeks to discover the architectural potential of biological structures as they can be found in nature. The structures that give biological forms strength, movement, firmness, and flexibility are studied, illustrated, and used as an inspiration for a huge number of design experiments of which the thinking, working, and final prototyping process are shown.”

Grid Index

by Carsten Nicolai, 2009. “Grid Index is the first comprehensive visual lexicon of patterns and grid systems. It is an essential reference book for designers, visual artists, architects, researchers and mathematicians.” Gestalten Verlag. short interview at XLR8R. Carsten Nicolai: Gridlocked.

InteractiveWall

a project by Hyperbody, a research group in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Architecture under the direction of Kas Oosterhuis, for festo.

“The emotive FinRay wall is composed of seven separate wall pieces, which can swing their body back and forth. Embedded in the skin of the FinRay are arrays of LED luminaries, which can be programmed individually to give personalized information or just to create an ambient luminescent atmosphere.” video

material formation in design

by Elijah Porter, 2008, Yale school of architecture. a surface cut out of  repatitive patterns seperated by little gaps and connected by tiny bridges. a yet semi-rigid plane transformed into a flexible surface - folded architecture. reminded by patrick.

Microcostas

“a series of man made islands located in Vinarós, Spain designed by Spanish architect Vicente Guallart.” takes me back in time, i spent a few summers there, pre-microcostas though.

via abitare

archigram revisited

by minimaforms, 2008. “Minimaforms was invited by Archigram’s David Greene to rethink and evolve his seminal projects the Living Pod and High-Rise Tower as part of a show called Imperfect works.” Exhibited at Mega-Structures Reloaded, Berlin (2008) / Imperfect Works, London (2008).

via minimaforms

bldgblog book

by Geoff Manaugh, blogging at bldgblog.blogspot.com - architectual conjecture, urban speculation, landscape futures. A book full of “stories about the past news about the present and speculation about the future of how humans shape their environment. [..] a book combining history urban exploration science fiction design climate change and city planning with the view that everything is relevant to architecture.” amazon

via bldgblog@twitter

Respect for blank space

kinetic architecture by autoxic. “This building does not have a definite shape. It is always changed by the occupation of people. The lifted up ground creates interior space for conference, lecture hall, theater, etc. This building is a new type of the monument disigned by human activity.”