Direct Manipulation

Authors: Matthew Blackshaw, Anthony DeVincenzi, Dávid Lakatos, Daniel Leithinger, Hiroshi Ishii For more information please contact recompose@media.mit.edu.

Recompose is a new system for manipulation of an actuated surface. By collectively utilizing the body as a tool for direct manipulation alongside gestural input for functional manipulation, we show how a user is afforded unprecedented control over an actuated surface. We describe a number of interaction techniques exploring the shared space of direct and gestural input, demonstrating how their combined use can greatly enhance creation and manipulation beyond unaided human capability.

http://kiwi.media.mit.edu/recompose/

abandoned-future-city

PRIPYAT - NICKY LARKIN from MART on Vimeo.

Prypiat - The city has a special status within the Kiev Oblast being the city of oblast-level subordination (see Administrative divisions of Ukraine) although it is located within the limits of Ivankiv Raion. The city also is being supervised by the Ministry of Emergencies of Ukraine as part of the Zone of alienation jurisdiction.

Prypiat was founded in 1970 to house the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant workers, officially proclaimed a city in 1979, and was abandoned in 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster. It was the ninth nuclear-city, "атомоград" (atomograd) in Russian, literally "atom city". Its population had been around 50,000 before the accident. Annual Rate of natural increase was estimated at around 800 persons, plus over 500 newcomers from all corners of the Soviet Union each year. It had been planned that the Prypiat's population should have risen up to 78,000 in the nearest future. Prypiat had a railroad link to mYazov station (Kiev railroad line) as well as a navigable river nearby.

As architecture evolves we often assume the infallibility of modern design. San Zhi, Taiwan is an abandoned future city which shows us that jumping on trend too quickly can result in failure. Curious.

“The area is called San Zhi. There are no named architects since the whole site was commissioned by the government and several local firms. They were trying to create a posh luxurious vacation spot for the affluent and rich streaming out of Taipei. Now this is where things get weird. The local papers say there were numerous accidents during its construction, and as news spread to the urbanites of the island state, nobody wanted to vacation there, much less visit. Locals say the area is now haunted by those who died in vain and because they are not remembered, they linger there unable to pass on.” - Transim

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/abandoned-future-city-san-zhi-taiwan

http://villageofjoy.com/chernobyl-today-a-creepy-story-told-in-pictures/

Aether Architecture (est 2001) is an entity where Adam Somlai-Fischer (read full bio) creates projects in collaboration with others (aka peer production). Aether Architecture Ltd is a company as well helping the above processes

http://www.aether.hu/

Daniel Rozin Mirror

Trash Mirror from Michel Jansen on Vimeo.

Daniel Rozin is an artist, educator and developer, working in the area of interactive digital art. As an interactive artist Rozin creates installations and sculptures that have the unique ability to change and respond to the presence and point of view of the viewer. In many cases the viewer becomes the contents of the piece and in others the viewer is invited to take an active role in the creation of the piece. Even though computers are often used in Rozin's work, they are seldom visible.

http://www.smoothware.com/danny/

RESPONSIVE KINEMATICS

RESPONSIVE KINEMATICS

This is an architectural design project that began through conversations with Ron Resch in December 2008 regarding kinetic and kinematic structural systems. The goal was to create a mutable structural surface out of rigid bodies that can be controlled to adapt to changing conditions and parameters. Unlike much parametric design that is pre-adapted to a given desire, this system offers the potential for continual adjustment. While much kinetic architecture relies on elastic membranes to provide for deformation between bodies, Responsive Kinematics can maintain a constant seal throughout its transformation due to its geometric integrity. For this reason it is an ideal modular system of form, order and control with many architectural and construction process capacities.

Creators: John Hobart Culleton and Anthony Diaz

Blog link: http://responsivekinematics.blogspot.com

Special thanks for help and guidance to:
Ron Resch - http://www.ronresch.com/
Jason Johnson - http://www.future-cities-lab.net/
Arduino - http://www.arduino.cc/
CCA - http://mlab.cca.edu/

kinetic Pavilion

http://www.kineticpavilion.com/

Vray

See here for Vray tutorials, a good start may be found here, and a free vray library can be downloaded here.

Swindon Twinned with Disney World

To some visitors, perhaps the only vaguely magic thing in Swindon is the seven-island road junction beside the fire station, which is so baffling it has been branded the "magic roundabout". But that hasn't stopped Disney World in Florida selecting the Wiltshire town as the first twin town in its 38-year history.

The other parallels are equally hard to fathom – the Orlando theme park counts Mickey Mouse, Pluto and Snow White among it denizens, while Swindon boasts Melinda Messenger, Mark Lamarr and Billie Piper. But Disney executives chose Swindon ahead of 24 other British towns, including Blackpool, which at least has a rollercoaster, and Brighton, which has a helter-skelter and a ghost train.

Perhaps tellingly, the Disney executives picked Swindon not by visiting, but by watching a video slideshow produced by resident Rebecca Warren, 20.

She managed to draw implausible but ingenious parallels between a local zoo and the Animal Kingdom section of Disney World, her local cinema and Disney's vast Hollywood Studio, and the famous roundabout and Disney's teacup ride.

In January, Disney World sent a parade of characters to "bring a whole lot of Disney magic" to the town. The opportunity to claim twinned status only lasts a year.

"I can't believe that Swindon has won despite the bad press," said Anne Snelgrove, the South Swindon Labour MP, who was quick to try to turn the announcement to political advantage. "I am sure I could nominate seven Tory councillors to play the seven dwarves. Their budget-setting is totally Mickey Mouse!"

What the pm thinks ...?

Have your say!

Oil Stones: A Soviet City in the Middle of the Sea

In 1940s and 1950s, right after the World War 2 Russia had to recover from the consequences of the Nazi invasion. Lots had to be done and as we know to complete something you need to have enough energy. And energy at that times as well as it is much likely now meant oil.
At that times the known oil reserves differed from what people in Russia know about it now. The main places to drill for oil was Southern Russia on contrary to frozen Northern Siberian regions as it’s for now. And the gemstone of the Soviet Oil production was Caspian sea region, mainly the territories that are an independent state of Azerbaijan now.
So after a massive attack of oil thirsty state the lands of this previously oil-saturated region little by little got exhausted of the black mineral treasure and the need for new sources of it arouse. Now it’s not clear who was that this genius who first came up with an idea of getting the oil right from the sea bottom where it was still plenty of it and for this purpose to build a real city 42 km (25 miles) off the coast right in the middle of the sea, but what we know is that this idea came into play and by some crazy chance it got support from that times Soviet leaders who leveraged it with the all support the biggest (by the territory) state could offer at that time. What this meant is that in a matter of just a few month a real town was built right in the middle of the nowhere on giant steel blocks coming from the sea bottom, from as deep as hundreds of feet down. And they called it “Oil Stones”.

See link for more information.

Printing Roads

Bldgblog discusses the potential of "printing brick and cobblestone streets through rural villages".

Death by Architecture

For links to competitions, conference calls and recent articles check out Death by Architecture

Scripting Tutorials

Here are some links to scripting tutorials online which will help you get to grips with scripting basics.

Maxscript
1) Several videos which give a good overview of the basics
2) Allan McKay has provided some 'crash course' videos here
3) Scriptspot is a useful resource
4) Bobo has provided some useful videos on youtube

Rhinoscript
1) McNeel's RhinoScript 101 definitive document
2) Kokkugia's RhinoScript Fundamentals here
3) David Rutten's vb and RhinoScript for Beginners

In addition to this you may wish to check out Maya's MEL script, Rhino's Grasshopper, Digital Project and Generative Components.

For some interesting introductions to these any others see design reform

Century Of Self. Adam Curtis 1-1 Happiness Machines

The story of the relationship between Sigmund Freud and his American nephew, Edward Bernays. Bernays invented the public relations profession in the 1920s and was the first person to take Freud's ideas to manipulate the masses. He showed American corporations how they could make people want things they didn't need by systematically linking mass-produced goods to their unconscious desires.

Bernays was one of the main architects of the modern techniques of mass-consumer persuasion, using every trick in the book, from celebrity endorsement and outrageous PR stunts, to eroticising the motorcar.

His most notorious coup was breaking the taboo on women smoking by persuading them that cigarettes were a symbol of independence and freedom. But Bernays was convinced that this was more than just a way of selling consumer goods. It was a new political idea of how to control the masses. By satisfying the inner irrational desires that his uncle had identified, people could be made happy and thus docile.

It was the start of the all-consuming self which has come to dominate today's world.

Structural Ornament – Michal Piasecki

Structural Ornament is a project created between Michal Piasecki and Malgorzata Mozolewska ,it has the objective of embedding algorithmic aesthetics into structural logic.

Michal was the responsible of the software development created in processing. It usesan arbitrary shaped mesh as an input. The user is then able to assign the forces. The software then conducts a series of steps to generate a 3d printable infill responsive to the forces present. First is a structural analysis using a direct stiffness method. An outcome of this is a 3-dimensional array of voxels, each containing data on the forces and displacement. This data is used to generate a grid of points which becomes denser where forces are greater. Then the infill is generated based on this grid, thus it becomes responsive to the forces present.

http://designplaygrounds.com/deviants/structural-ornament-michal-piasecki/

Hull Site Visit: Changes to Meeting Place

On Friday please meet us on Nelson Street at 11:30 rather than at 'the deep'.

See you then.

Hull Site Visit

On 15/10/2010 we will be visiting Hull.

We will meet you at 'The Deep' at 11:30 on Friday morning. We will then initially explore the waterfront fruit market area, which is currently undergoing regeneration, before looking at the wider context for opportunities that may facilitate novel structures for future living.

Symposium Presentations

On 13/10/2010 we will be having our symposium beginning at 10:00 in studio. Please ensure that you have prepared a 15 minute presentation which is structured as follows:

(1) 10 minutes - outlining the group texts and discussing the important aspects.
(2) 5 minute discussion of how the 3 group texts relate to the core texts and your understanding of an ‘emergent urbanism’.

The challenge is that of editing! Please think about how you might clearly and concisely present lots of ideas in very little time. You may find Pecha Kucha a useful format.  

To end your presentations we would like you to open a unit discussion by posing a question that relates to your group theme and new territories for urbanism.  

We look forward to hearing your (polished and well structured) presentations!

D + V

Sebastian Seung: I am my connectome | Video on TED.com

Sebastian Seung: I am my connectome | Video on TED.com

Sebastian Seung: I am my connectome | Video on TED.com

Sebastian Seung: I am my connectome | Video on TED.com

Inverted Infrastructural Monuments

Inverted Infrastructural Monuments

Prompted by an excellent text entitled "Three Doors to Other Worlds" by Andrew Crompton in the JAE from last November, we are following him down the rabbit hole. (Get the complete PDF here.) Crompton positions architecture within the cognitive sciences with a fancy for the grotesque / Baroque. In this particular text Crompton is seeking to chart and qualify architectures that elude description through drawing or photograph, instead requiring something more, err, cognitive. A tall order, and possibly one that were it actually taken to task would be a very short list in architecture, though maybe longer in art and media, and surprisingly engineering. One case in point in Crompton's search is the architectural equivalent of a black hole. It is a bellmouth spillway. In particular Crompton refers to the Ladybower bellmouth constructed in 1935 near Sheffield.

U is for Utopia

NOW from Antti Seppänen on Vimeo.

Helsinki-based architect Tuomas Toivonen raps (yes 'raps'!) about the history of urbanism and systemic change! For more information and other great posts like this, check out Dan Hill's CityofSound.

Making Future Magic

Making Future Magic: iPad light painting from Dentsu London on Vimeo.

Here is an amazing video (that I found on Bldgblog) which uses quite low tech processes to construct 3D light structures. The process uses 3DS Max to construct simple animations which can be converted into 2D sections - the sections are combined to make a second animation which is then played on an ipad - and this is then filmed with a long exposure camera.

Enjoy!

Meeting_00

Please meet us in room 706 on Friday 1st October at 10:00.

See you then.

Field Trip 2010

Something we forgot to mention in our unit presentation today:
We will be having a field trip this year! We will be joining Re_Map on a field trip to Braunschweig, Germany.

eVolo Skyscraper Competition

We will be taking part in the eVolo 2011 skyscraper competition this year.
Here is a link to last years winners.

"The annual eVolo Skyscraper Competition is a forum for the discussion, development, and promotion of innovative concepts for vertical density. It examines the relationship between the skyscraper and the natural world, the skyscraper and the community, and the skyscraper and the city.
The exponential increase of the world’s population and its unprecedented shift from rural to urban areas has prompted hundreds of new developments without adequate urban planning and poor architectural design. The aim of this competition is to redefine what we understand as a skyscraper and initiate a new architectural discourse of economic, environmental, intellectual, and perceptual responsibility that could ultimately modify our cities and improve our way of life.
The use of new materials, technologies, aesthetics, and novel spatial organizations, along with studies on globalization, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution are some of the multi-layered elements that the participants should take into consideration. This is also an investigation on the public and private space and the role of the individual and the collective in the creation of a dynamic and adaptive vertical community.


There are no restrictions in regards to site, program or size. The objective is to provide maximum freedom to the participants to engage the project without constraints in the most creative way. What is a skyscraper in the 21st century? What are the historical, contextual, social, urban, and environmental responsibilities of these mega-structures?"

Neri Oxman: On Designing Form

Neri Oxman: On Designing Form from PopTech on Vimeo.

Neri Oxman discusses the use of computational design methodologies to design multifunctional architectural forms which are efficient, performative and based on biological principles of ecology.

Check out her blog: Material Ecology for more