6 posts tagged “conference”

On invitation by the ESARQ, Sandra and I joined into the SIMAE Conference in Barcelona. The intense, three day conference covered a wide range of issues involved in the field of contemporary architecture design. The speakers could be devided into three categories: Practitioners of the Architecture discipline, Theorists and figures involved in 

the information of the Architecture field. Whilst Ali Rahim, head of the New York based company CAP and Evan Douglis definitely belong into the first category, Neal Leach, Michael Winestock and Bernard Cache belong to the second. (Yes, I know, Bernard Cache is fabricating a lot around this days, but I still don´t consider him an entrepreneur.)

The 4 day long conference of the IASS (International Association of Shells and Spatial Structures) in Venice turned out to be a very interesting venue. The enormous amount of lectures included lectures about the strucutural engineering of complex obejects, advanced material applications, computational design methods for complex geometries, programmable molds for glass and concrete casting and more.

Some of the lecturers: Manfred Grohmann (Bollinger Grohmann), Werner Sobek, Rivka Oxman,  Sawako Kaijima and many more. Our paper Moments of Transition was accepted for publishing and oral presentation within the conference. It was interesting to join some discussion sessions dealing with contemporary approaches in architecture and engineering. Apparently there is a confusion in the discourse regarding the terminology. For example the meaning of the term Freeform Design: does it mean that it is free of form, as a result of the form finding process induced by the ideal mathematical, or physical models? Or does it mean that they are freeform because of the architects hand inducing an object freely with form? I tend to the first opinion, and tend to be suspicious about the second, as it lacks precision in the description of the form, especially in terms of computational design. Along with the presentations and the discussions the organizers of the conference put together a splendid program including a visit to the Guggenheim Museum Venice and a great Gala Dinner outside Venice in a Palladio Villa.

I´m back in town from a conference about Interactive Architecture in Budapest, Hungary. It was my first time in Budapest, and unfortunatly there was no time left to peek around in the city. I would have love to see more of the city, but I´m sure there will be another chance to do so. Actually the conference consisted of a series of presentations of various practices from fields such as media art, material research, design and architecture. The invited speakers included Tomasz Jaskiewicz, Christian Friedrich, Bernard Sommer, Jelle Feringa, Matias del Campo, Adám Somlai-Fischer and Charlotte Lelieveld. Each presentation was discussed with Kas Oosterhuis and Marcos Novak in depth.

Today we received good news: The paper "Gradient Transition" that Sandra and myself wrote on the issue of apertures in complex curved geometries, and the various phenomena around it, was accepted for oral presentation at the IASS conference 2007. The conference will take place in Venice. No, not the one in LA, and neither the one in Las Vegas, but the real thing! Well, I´m curious for the other speakers, hoping for more insights in some of the issues we are interested into, as the conference addresses implications of, as they call it "free- form design of shells and spatial structures". This a crucial issue within the body of work of our practice.
Guess the after work action will include some Gondola riding and the visit of the Palladio Villas....

The Bauhaus Dessau staged a conference on the issue of Digital cities. Following an invitation by Neil Leach I was happy to join the board of speakers of this venue. The other speakers included:
Gisela Baurmann - Büro NY, New York, Alain Chiaradia - Space Syntax, London, Jürgen Mayer - J. Mayer H Architects, Berlin, Yusuke Obuchi - DRL Architectural Association, London, Kas Oosterhuis - ONL Architects, Rotterdam, Neri Oxman - MIT Computation Group, Boston and François Roche - R&Sie(n), Paris and Neil Leach, who presented the body of work his students elaborated troughout the period he acted as a visiting professor at the Bauhaus. The conference was an inspiring gathering of experts in the field of advanced, contemporary architecture. To mention some of the issues that were presented

within the daylong lectures: Alain Chiaradia presented some examples of the analytical software space syntax that works as a information retrieval software for urban structures. Some of the information that can be gathered precisely with this software include sustainability, accessibility, social cohesion & exclusion and more. Neri Oxman showed some examples of her work that rely on generative algorithms and material behaviour. It is staggeringly beautiful how results from natural science inform processes of architecture creation, as with the application of L systems for the creation of branching objects. Neris work definetly share some topics with the field of interet present within my own work, though we use different tools to achieve the results. In general it can be stated that the work of the panelists shared a common ground in the way how the obsession with the novel inform their work. The definition of the novel, on the other hand, is up to the individual practices.

So, here it is, the highly official invitation to the panel discussion.
If there are any neighbours in LA, would be a pleasure to meet you there.

The MAK Center for Art & Architecture, Los Angeles presents:
 
SYNTHETHIC ECOLOGIES
Saturday, February 10, 2007 1-3 pm
Admission: free with general $6/7 admission to the Schindler House
 
Panel Considers Crossbreeding of Architecture & Science
Organized by MAK Center Architects in Residence Matias del Campo and Sandra Manninger, known as SPAN, the panel will include Greg Lynn/FORM, Michael Speaks, Hernan Diaz Alonso (Xefirotarch), Marcelyn Gow (SERVO)  and Neal Leach.  Matias del Campo will moderate.

Inspired by recent advances in the life sciences, many of today’s architects are exploring new design techniques, structures and materials.  The Gen(H)ome Project, on view at the MAK Center for Art & Architecture through February 25, 2007, presents projects that utilize the methodologies of nanotechnology, climatology, cell physiology, robotics and algorithms to create “genetic modifications” of the Schindler House.  Complementing the exhibition, the panel discussion will explore how evolutionary systems, organisms, populations and emergent behavior have engendered new possibilities for architecture.
 
Ecology studies living organisms and their interrelations, from the level of nucleic acids to proteins, cells, individuals (in botany, zoology and similar disciplines), and finally at the level of populations, communities, and ecosystems, including the biosphere as a whole.  A multi-disciplinary science, ecology draws heavily on geology and geography, meteorology, chemistry and physics. Thus, ecology is considered by some to be a holistic science, one that over-arches older disciplines. This holistic approach makes ecology an interesting model for architecture. Through digitally-driven design, experimental architects are creating synthetic, computer-generated ecologies, in which architectonic entities lose their static qualities in favor of animated, “living”  systems.

The synthesis of various fields within the architecture realm, such as genetic engineering, computer science, biology, geometry, mathematics and, more recently, the medical field, offers a new architectural paradigm. The panel will discuss issues emerging from the crossbreeding between architecture and the idea of the synthetic ecology.  Among the topics to be considered are: the cultural consequences of the creation of species, evolutionary systems and populations in architecture; the simulation of biologic processes such as structure, growth, reproduction and metabolism; and the contribution of tissue engineering to the field of architecture.

The Panel

Greg Lynn/FORM is at the cutting edge of computer-aided design.  Lynn’s projects, publications, teachings and writings have been influential in the acceptance and use of advanced technology for design and fabrication.  Established in 1994 in New Jersey, the office relocated to Venice, California in 1998 to take advantage of the research and technological resources in Southern California’s manufacturing and entertainment industries.  As well as local projects, Greg Lynn/FORM works on international projects ranging from the recently designed Alessi “Supple” coffee cup to Sociopolis, an apartment complex and center for art and music in Valencia, Spain.  Lynn has designed private houses such as the Slavin and Bloom houses in California and is currently renovating the Kleiburg Block, a 500-unit, 1970s housing complex in Amsterdam.

Hernan Diaz Alonso is the principal and founder of the award-winning firm Xefirotarch, with studios in Los Angeles and New York.  His recent work deals with the emerging aesthetics of the horrific and the grotesque.  Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he received Architecture degrees from the National University of Rosario, and from Columbia University’s AAD Program. Diaz Alonso has worked as a designer in the office of Enric Miralles in Barcelona (1996), and for Peter Eisenman Architects in New York (2000-2001).  His projects, which have been widely published, range from academic research and private commissions to national and international competitions. In 2005, Xefirotarch won the competition to design a temporary installation in the courtyard at PS1 MOMA in New York.

Michael Speaks completed a Ph.D. in Literature at Duke University in 1993. He is the founding editor of Polygraph, and served as Senior Editor at ANY magazine and Series Editor for “Writing Architecture” for MIT Press. He has published and lectured internationally on art, architecture, urban design and scenario planning. Speaks is a contributing editor for Architectural Record, on the editorial advisory board of A+U (Japan) and on the advisory board for the Storefront for Art and Architecture.  Currently Head of the Metropolitan Research and Design Post Graduate Degree at SCI-Arc, Speaks has also taught graphic design at Yale, and in the architecture departments at Harvard University, Columbia University, Parsons School of Design and The Berlage Institute in Rotterdam. He currently heads the Los Angeles-based urban research group, BIG SOFT ORANGE

Neil Leach is an architect and theorist. He has taught at the University of Bath, Architectural
Association School of Architecture, University of Nottingham, Columbia University, Cornell University, SCI-Arc, Royal Danish Academy of Art and Dessau Institute of Architecture. He was the co-curator (with Xu Wei-Guo) of the A2 Exhibition at the 2004 Beijing Architecture Biennial. Leach's theories were first set out in the "cultural reader" he edited, Rethinking Architecture (1997). The book contained a selection of well-known writings about architecture by thinkers within Continental Philosophy, ranging from Hermeneutics and Phenomenology to Structuralism and Deconstruction, prefaced by Leach's own introduction. Among the authors included were: Jacques Derrida, Martin Heidegger, Umberto Eco and Andrew Benjamin.

Matias del Campo and Sandra Manninger are the heads of the Vienna-based architecture practice, SPAN. To pursue their shared interest in digital fabrication, innovative material developments and the associated discourse, both joined the Doctorate program for architecture at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna and studied with Wolf D. Prix (Coop Himmelb(l)au), Klaus Bollinger and Greg Lynn.  SPAN has been repeatedly recognized, including the young-talent award for Experimental Tendencies in Architecture (awarded by the Federal Chancellery Austria), the University of Applied Arts Travel Scholarship and the MAK Schindler Scholarship. SPAN also designed successful competition entries for the “Ephemeral Structures competition” for the 2004 Olympic Games and the “Individuality and Seriality” competition on the innovative use of synthetic materials in architecture.

The Gen(H)ome Project is guest curated by Open Source Architecture (Eran Neuman, Aaron Sprecher and Chandler Ahrens) and MAK Center Director Kimberli Meyer. Participants include Greg Lynn FORM, Karl S. Chu, servo, Marcos Novak, ocean D, Weathers - Sean Lally, Philippe Rahm, Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau, and Open Source Architecture.  The exhibition is accompanied by a podcast and catalogue detailing the projects, along with essays by Martin Bressani and Robert Jan van Pelt, Marie-Ange Brayer, Helen Furjàn and Peter Lloyd, Christopher Hight, Aaron Sprecher and Eran Neuman.

One-day special! Catalogue for The Gen(H)ome Project will be offered on Saturday, February 10 at a 20% discount.
 
The MAK Center for Art & Architecture is located at the Schindler House, 835 N. Kings Road in West Hollywood. Public hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.  Admission to the Synthetic Ecologies panel is free with general admission to the Schindler House.  Regular Schindler House admission is $7/$17 with the guide book, Schindler By MAK; students and seniors, $6/$16 with book; free for Friends of the Schindler House and on Fridays, 4 to 6 p.m. 

Parking is available at the public structure at the northeast corner of Kings Road and Santa Monica Boulevard.  For further information, the public may contact www.MAKcenter.org   or call (323) 651-1510.

-- MAK Center for Art and Architecture
at the Schindler House
835 North Kings Road
West Hollywood, CA 90069
323 651 1510 phone
323 651 2340 fax
visit: www.MAKcenter.org
contact: office@makcenter.org