News
New book: "Inside Smartgeometry: Expanding the Architectural Possibilities of Computational Design" Brady Peters and Terri Peters (Editors) John Wiley & Sons, March 2013
An edited hard cover full colour book featuring 23 original texts including reflections by the founders of Smartgeometry, and texts by Robert Aish, Martin Bechthold, Rob Woodbury, Chris Williams and Mark Burry, the book offers a critical state of the art of computational design for architecture. The book also includes chapters by practitioners from offices such as Foster + Partners, Grimshaw, SOM, Design2Production, CASE, and Populous. An informal international network of practitioners and researchers, the group meets annually to experiment with new technologies and collaborate to develop digital design techniques. SG was founded in 2001 by London–based architects and friends Hugh Whitehead (Foster + Partners), J Parrish (Aecom) and Lars Hesselgren (PLP). At the time there were little in the way of parametric tools for architecture. SG was founded to encourage development, discussion and experimentation relating to new digital design environments that could be driven by design intent rather than based on construction specifications. The need for new ways of design thinking led to the parallel development of software GenerativeComponents which was tested in the early years of the annual workshops. In response to the needs of designers, the ecology of these design environments has diversified to include multiple software platforms, as well as innovative fabrication techniques and interactive environments. SG calls for a re–consideration of the design process, where the creation of computational mechanisms become an integral part of designing – not a task done prior to or separate from the process. From pencil to algorithm, the tools that architects use directly influence their creative process. New design tools and new design environments therefore mean a requisite re–thinking of what architecture is, and can be. Inside Smartgeometry examines and contextualizes the work of the SG community: the digital spaces, prototypes, and buildings designed using bespoke tools created in response to architectural ideas. From interactive crowd–sourcing tools to responsive agent–based systems to complex digitally fabricated structures, this book explores more than a decade of advances that have influenced both the practice of architecture and the theory that drives it. SG has grown from a handful of experts to an international network of designers who are helping to define design environments of the future. Founded by digital pioneers it creates the algorithmic designers of the future. This book can be seen as a retroactive manifesto for SG, celebrating the varied approaches to computational design explored by forward thinking practitioners and researchers. Read more on the John Wiley & Sons website and and order from Amazon.
"Pop-Up Arkitektur Til Ol", Arkitekten, September 2012, (In Danish)
A report on the best temporary buildings for the London Olympics - do they add to the debate about "sustainable" architecture? How can we design these to be "temporary" without being "disposable"? The global spectacle of the London Olympic and Paralympic Games involved intense excitement and athletic performance but also an unprecedented level of consumption. In the short space of about four weeks at the new 200 hectare Olympic Park and at other UK venues, the Games generated the need for local and international travel for athletes and millions of visitors, upgrading of transportation infrastructure and new landscaping, the availability of food and drinks for millions, and huge expenditures for broadcasting, media and marketing rights. Architecture has been and continues to be a massive source of environmental and economic consumption. Athletic venues included Zaha Hadid Architects´ Aquatics Centre (£251 million), Hopkins Architects´ Velodrome (£87 million), Make Architects´ Copper Box (£41 million), Wilkinson Eyre´s Basketball Arena (£40 million), David Morley´s Water Polo Arena (£19 million), Allies & Morrison´s Olympics Broadcasting and Media Center (£295 million) Magma Architects´ Shooting Galleries (£33 million) and Populous Architects´ Olympic Stadium (£428 million). Another key project (all budgets from official Games statistics) is the entirely new Olympic Village, which provides accommodation and catering for the 17,000 athletes and was designed by various architects at a project cost of about £1.1 billion.... There are also many temporary buildings that will be used just for the Games. Aside from the expected necessary back-of-house facilities such as cleaning and waste compounds, equipment rooms, workforce areas, and staff canteens, 273 temporary buildings were constructed for the event. From an architectural perspective, the majority of these are not exceptional – but what is interesting is the rare times that reversible architecture has been attempted, in particular with the Olympic Shooting Venue, Water Polo Arena and the Basketball Arena. Here the designers were tasked to make something monumental, high quality and architectural - yet designed to be disassembled. Each project takes a different approach to strategies of reuse and transformation. The problem is that in each case there were no plans in place at design stage (and even now with the buildings finished) for the nature of the potential reuse, which means that likely these buildings could end up being disposable, not temporary, architecture. Read more in Danish in Arkitekten #9 September 2012
"Independent Thinking: A Research Team at the Danish Architecture Firm 3XN is producing some cutting edge results" Metropolis Magazine, July 2012
From the July Issue, both in print and online: 3XN is a 70-person practice known mainly for cultural and educational projects. In 2007, the firm created the GXN team to stay competitive in the areas of material design, digital design, and new production processes. This research mandate expands as the team grows—it currently has eight architects, an engineer, and a psychologist. GXN’s latest project is BioBuild, a European Union–funded network of 15 companies with a $6 million research budget for developing biocomposite materials in the building industry. Guldager explains that GXN became involved in the initiative because of the success of a pavilion at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark in 2009; the outdoor sculpture had samples of 20 green materials that people could walk on, touch, and explore. “We are starting to specify the actual material requirements in terms of both architectural and engineering criteria. Not only the look and feel, but also structural requirements,” says Morten Norman Lund, GXN’s project manager for BioBuild. “The aim is to design our desired performance.” The team’s interest in materials extends to waste and recycling. Another ongoing collaboration is with William McDonough + Partners for the Green Solution House, a convention center and hotel to be built on the Danish island of Bornholm. Following the development of a building manual on Cradle-to-Cradle principles (funded externally by Realdania, and to be published in late 2012), GXN has been working on the Green Solution House as a test project for zero-waste and restorative concepts. “Some of our regenerative goals are that the buildings will produce cleaner water than they receive. They will produce more energy than they use,” Guldager says. “I think this is where we can be really innovative in architecture.” The project has not yet broken ground, but it has received a lot of keen interest. “We are meeting next week with the climate minister, key players in the building industry here are supportive, and we are trying to enlarge this network,” he says. Read more at Metropolismag.com and in the July 2012 Print Issue.
"Report: SmartGeometry 2012" Arkitekten, July 2012 (In Danish)
A report from SmartGeometry 2012 workshops in Troy, New York, published in Danish by Arkitekten. Designed as an unique venue for sharing research and
creating new knowledge in both digital design and fabrication, the
Smartgeometry community is an international
network of academics and professionals who hold annual workshops and conference
days around the world relating to architecture, new technologies and digital
design. The multi-disciplinary workshops are structured into 10 clusters and are run with mix of competition and community. It is the open and experimental culture of these workshops that makes SmartGeometry unique from other design workshops and architecture conferences. Now in its ninth year, each event brings an increased focus on not only digital experiments and designs, but also on 1:1 physical experiments. The participants are design tutors, architects, researchers, computer science students and engineers and aside from paying a fee, in their applications, they have to have to explain how their own work will be an asset to the cluster. The workshops do not have a traditional student-teacher dynamic, and one year an attendee might lead a cluster, and the next year participate in another one, and vice versa. For example, a workshop could be led by a team including computation experts from top international architecture and engineering offices and the participants could include other high profile architects from leading international offices such as Zaha Hadid, 3XN, SOM or UN Studio, and also instructors and professors from architecture schools such as the Architectural Association in London, Harvard GSD or California College of the Arts. The article discusses the emerging role of the material designer in architecture, taking a cue from this year´s workshop theme "Material Intensities". I attended the workshops and conference days and my report includes interviews with three Danish participants: Tore Banke from 3XN, Kristoffer Negendahl from Grontmij and Paul Nicholas from CITA. Read more in Danish in Arkitekten´s July 2012 Issue and see the PDF below.
arkitekten_smart_geometry.pdf | |
File Size: | 1653 kb |
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Organizer and Speaker at Upcoming lecture at the Architectural Association in London, Ecological Design Research and Computation Day, 30 April 2012.
Ecological Design Research and Computation Symposium
April 30 2012, 10.00-5.30, Architectural Association, London, Main Lecture Hall
In conjunction with the AA School's Masters Programme in Sustainable Environmental Design, the Symposium brings together eight contributors to Architectural Design's special issue "Experimental Green Strategies – Redefining Ecological Design Research", edited by Terri Peters and published by John Wiley and Sons 2011.
Symposium Speakers:
Simos Yannas, AA Graduate School: Adaptive Strategies for an Ecological Architecture, Robert Aish, Autodesk Research: Designing at t+n, Azam Khan, Autodesk Research: Simulation and the Future of Design Tools for Ecological Research, Kasper Jørgensen, 3XN Architects, Denmark: Architect as Material Designer, Judit Kimpian and Christian Derix, AEDAS: Research and Design Computation, Meredith Davey, Atelier 10: Ecologically Reflective Design, Irene Gallou and Giovanni Betti, Foster+Partners: Project-led Research, Terri Peters, AD Guest Editor: Experimental Green Strategies, Redefining Ecological Design Research
April 30 2012, 10.00-5.30, Architectural Association, London, Main Lecture Hall
In conjunction with the AA School's Masters Programme in Sustainable Environmental Design, the Symposium brings together eight contributors to Architectural Design's special issue "Experimental Green Strategies – Redefining Ecological Design Research", edited by Terri Peters and published by John Wiley and Sons 2011.
Symposium Speakers:
Simos Yannas, AA Graduate School: Adaptive Strategies for an Ecological Architecture, Robert Aish, Autodesk Research: Designing at t+n, Azam Khan, Autodesk Research: Simulation and the Future of Design Tools for Ecological Research, Kasper Jørgensen, 3XN Architects, Denmark: Architect as Material Designer, Judit Kimpian and Christian Derix, AEDAS: Research and Design Computation, Meredith Davey, Atelier 10: Ecologically Reflective Design, Irene Gallou and Giovanni Betti, Foster+Partners: Project-led Research, Terri Peters, AD Guest Editor: Experimental Green Strategies, Redefining Ecological Design Research
Upgrade 2012 in Aarhus, Denmark 26-28 April 2012, Speaker and Co-Organizer of the Research Day with Invited PhD Students
Upgrade Research Day April 26 2012, 10.00-16.00, Aarhus Architecture School, Denmark
Aiming to build a "bridge" between academia and practice, the Upgrade 2012 Research day invites six PhD students in Denmark to present their work and have discussions with invited guests and audience members. During the day and also during the Professional Conference Day on Friday 27th April, an exhibition of Posters of Research work will be on show, with a dozen researchers showing the state of sustainable transformation research in Denmark. The Research Day will be held in English, and the Conference in both Danish and English.
For more information visit Upgrade 2012 which has details of the Research Day (thursday April 26), Conference Day (friday April 27) and Site Visits (Saturday April 28).
Aiming to build a "bridge" between academia and practice, the Upgrade 2012 Research day invites six PhD students in Denmark to present their work and have discussions with invited guests and audience members. During the day and also during the Professional Conference Day on Friday 27th April, an exhibition of Posters of Research work will be on show, with a dozen researchers showing the state of sustainable transformation research in Denmark. The Research Day will be held in English, and the Conference in both Danish and English.
For more information visit Upgrade 2012 which has details of the Research Day (thursday April 26), Conference Day (friday April 27) and Site Visits (Saturday April 28).
Feature about the SmartGeometry workshops, Archinect, April 2012
SmartGeometry is an international community of academics and professionals who hold annual workshops and conference days at academic institutions around the world. Now in its ninth year, this year´s theme was Material Intensities and both the four-day workshop and conference day was held at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center in Troy, New York. Sponsored by software company Bentley, the next event will be held in London in 2013. Previous Archinect features reported on SmartGeometry 2009 in San Francisco and SmartGeometry 2011 in Copenhagen. This year, there were ten workshop groups and about 100 participants in the ten research “clusters”. Each cluster presented a challenge to its participants relating to an idea about materials, with the aim to develop digital tools and physical prototypes during the workshop. Rather than a traditional teacher-student workshop dynamic, the SmartGeometry groups are arranged as collaborations between multi-disciplinary designers based on their interests and expertise. Read more here.
Moderator of "Building Innovation" Panel Session at MIPIM 2012, Cannes, March 9, 2012
MIPIM is the world´s premier real estate event for professionals. Launched in 1990, MIPIM is the most global real estate event dedicated to professionals from all regions and sectors. In 2012, more than 19,000 attendees from 90 countries came to the four day event held at Palais des Festivals, Cannes, France. The Keynote Addresses by Architects on "Building Innovation" was held on 8th March 2012, co-organized by MIPIM and Lord Culture.
Presenters
Terri Peters, Moderator of the Session, Researcher and Guest-editor of Architectural Design, Kim Herforth Nielsen, Founder and Principal 3XN, Denmark, MA Yansong, Founding Principal, MAD Architects, China, Tobias Nolte, Director Gehry Technologies, Europe, Thomas Willemeit, Graft, Germany.
Presenters
Terri Peters, Moderator of the Session, Researcher and Guest-editor of Architectural Design, Kim Herforth Nielsen, Founder and Principal 3XN, Denmark, MA Yansong, Founding Principal, MAD Architects, China, Tobias Nolte, Director Gehry Technologies, Europe, Thomas Willemeit, Graft, Germany.
"Experimental Green Strategies" launched at Autodesk University in Las Vegas, 30 November 2011
"Experimental Green Strategies: Redefining Ecological Design Research" will be featured at Autodesk University (AU) 2011, an annual event for designers, engineers, technologists, and architects with more than 9000 (!) attendees. Attendees at AU can take part in some of the 720 classes and labs relating to design and computation. AU workshops and lectures relate to innovation strategies, web, cloud, mobile technologies, workflows and process, visualization, sustainability, change management, design leadership and classes on Autodesk products and suites. One of the AU events is the Design Computation Symposium.
From the AU website: Explore the world of design computation through the ideas and experience of leading researchers, educators, and practitioners at the Design Computation Symposium. This year's symposium focuses on ecological design, and uses as its springboard “Experimental Green Strategies”, a title by Architectural Design (AD), and guest edited by architect Terri Peters. This year's theme is "AD@AU." Many of the symposium presentations will be made by the authors of the articles in AD, while other presentations during the symposium will take some of the ideas introduced in this edition of AD and develop related research themes, such as nanotechnology and digital fabrication. Chaired by Robert Aish, director of software development for Autodesk Platform Solutions, the symposium is organized into two sessions around the subjects of "Ecological Design Strategies in Architecture" and "Advanced Research." These are broken down into a series of 20-minute TED-style presentations from:
Presenters:
Architect Terri Peters, Guest-editor of Architectural Design, Peter Busby, Perkins+Wills Canada, Kasper Guldager Jørgensen, GXN
Azam Kahn, Gonzalo Martinez, and Carlos Olguin of Autodesk Research, Omri Drory, Genome Compiler Corporation, The symposium concludes with Carl Bass, Autodesk President and CEO.
From the AU website: Explore the world of design computation through the ideas and experience of leading researchers, educators, and practitioners at the Design Computation Symposium. This year's symposium focuses on ecological design, and uses as its springboard “Experimental Green Strategies”, a title by Architectural Design (AD), and guest edited by architect Terri Peters. This year's theme is "AD@AU." Many of the symposium presentations will be made by the authors of the articles in AD, while other presentations during the symposium will take some of the ideas introduced in this edition of AD and develop related research themes, such as nanotechnology and digital fabrication. Chaired by Robert Aish, director of software development for Autodesk Platform Solutions, the symposium is organized into two sessions around the subjects of "Ecological Design Strategies in Architecture" and "Advanced Research." These are broken down into a series of 20-minute TED-style presentations from:
Presenters:
Architect Terri Peters, Guest-editor of Architectural Design, Peter Busby, Perkins+Wills Canada, Kasper Guldager Jørgensen, GXN
Azam Kahn, Gonzalo Martinez, and Carlos Olguin of Autodesk Research, Omri Drory, Genome Compiler Corporation, The symposium concludes with Carl Bass, Autodesk President and CEO.
Book launch party for "Experimental Green Strategies: Redefining Ecological Design Research" on 11.11.11 in Copenhagen.
Architectural Design Guest-Editor Terri Peters and 3XN would like to invite you to a lecture and book launch of "Experimental Green Strategies: Redefining Ecological Design Research" at the 3XN offices at Strandgade 73, 1401 København K on Friday 11.11.11 at 16.00. The book is published by John Wiley & Sons Press and highlights the work of fourteen design offices from around the world that are pioneering experimental sustainable research and implementing these ideas in built projects. Featured offices include Atelier Ten (UK), Aedas (UK), Biomimicry Guild (USA), Foster + Partners (UK), 3XN/GXN (Denmark), Hoberman Associates (USA), Nikken Sekkei (Japan), Perkins and Will (Canada) and Rau (Netherlands) and others. Generously hosted by 3XN and sponsored by Campari, the event will feature special cocktails by Campari, a light installation by Electrotexture/ GXN, and a lecture by architect and Editor Terri Peters. There will be a limited number of copies of the book to buy at a special price.