Lecture's IaaC

Apr-Jun 2009 - Jurgen Mayer, France / 3rd of April - Mauro Costa, Spain / 17th of April - Theo Spyropoulos, U.K. / 24th of April - MONAD Studio, United States / 25th of May - Gramazio & Kohler, Zurich / 5th of June

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24_04_09 “Systemic Play” Theodore Spyropoulos / Minimaforms Theodore Spyropoulos co-directs the Architectural Association Design Research Lab [DRL] (London). He directs the experimental architecture and design studio Minimaforms with Stephen Spyropoulos. He is a visiting Research Fellow at MIT since 2006 and curates the AA New Media Research initiative. He has taught in the graduate schools of the University of Pennsylvania and the Royal College of Art. He has studied at the AA, Bartlett School of Architecture and the New Jersey Institute of Technology graduating cum laude. He has worked as a project architect for the offices of Peter Eisenman and Zaha Hadid Architects. The lecture will examine role of experimentation in architecture and design through the work of Minimaforms and the AADRL. Image caption: Vehicle: Theodore Spyropoulos and Krzysztof Wodiczko

http://www.minimaforms.com/

17_04_09 “Biological analogies for architecture – from forms to processes” Mauro Costa Architect Mauro Costa is a Ph.D. professor, fulfilling his doctoral investigation with outstanding. His research concerns the analysis of functional analogies between biology and architecture with special emphasis in architectural mass customization proposals based in sustainable processes that can be simulated and constructed by CAD/CAM methods. New theoretical contents in complexity studies, mainly provided by biology and cybernetic fields, allow the use of biological analogies as a valid approach to architectural design and it may offer new tools to organize and optimize models. The beginning of bionic applications in architecture, as well as its contextualization, is presented, giving a special attention to geometric and structural methods inspired by living beings. Scientific and philosophic concepts provided by biology are analyzed and considered in a prospective way. Finally, the attention will be focused in how the complex scientific concepts provided by the observation of biological processes may be connected to architecture professional practice by the creative use of digital technologies.

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03_04_09 “re:activators” Jurgen Mayer Founded in 1996 in Berlin, Germany, J. MAYER H Architects’ studio focuses on works at the intersection of architecture, communication and new technology. From urban planning schemes and buildings to installation work and objects with new materials, the relationship between the human body, technology and nature form the background for a new production of space His work has been published and exhibited worldwide and is part of numerous collections including MoMA New York and SF MoMA. National and international awards include the Mies-van-der-Rohe-Award-Emerging-Architect-Special-Mention-2003 and Winner Holcim Award Bronze 2005. Jürgen Mayer H. has taught at Princeton University, University of the Arts Berlin, Harvard University, Kunsthochschule Berlin, the Architectural Association in London, the Columbia University, New York and at the University of Toronto, Canada. Image caption: \"Metropol Parasol\" in Seville, Spain

http://www.jmayerh.de

26_03_09 “Recent work” Fermín Vázquez Huarte-Mendicoa Fermín Vazquez founded b720 Architects in 1997 and he is currently the Managing Partner. Since then, the practice has carried out projects in major cities in Spain, in the architectural field and in urban planning, and has won numerous competitions. Nowadays, Fermín Vázquez combines practice with teaching. Among most recent and relevant projects, b720 Arquitectos (practice with more than 60 professionals working at offices in Barcelona and Madrid) highlights among its recently completed projects: the building of the America\'s Cup (Valencia), the corporate headquarters of Indra in Barcelona, recovery of Plaza del Torico in Teruel, and an office building at 22@ (Barcelona) and La Mola, a hotel and conference center in Terrassa (Barcelona). Among his current projects are distinguished: Lleida’s airport, the construction of a Casino (Lloret, Girona), the remodelling of the College of Quantity Surveyors of Alicante, and a promotion of social dwelling in Mieres (Asturias). In 2008, b720 Arquitectos has won the competition for the construction of the new Encants Market in Barcelona, a tower of offices in Sevilla and the new World Trade Center of Igualada (Barcelona). Image caption: Refurbishment of Torico\'s Square. copyright by Tomás da Silva.

http://b720.com/

20_03_09 “Swarm Urbanism” Neil Leach Neil Leach is Professor of Architectural Theory at the University of Brighton, and Visiting Professor at the University of Southern California. He has also taught at the Architectural Association, Columbia GSAPP, Cornell University, Dessau Institute of Architecture and SCI-Arc. He is the author, editor and translator of 18 books, including Rethinking Architecture, The Anaesthetics of Architecture, Designing for a Digital World, Digital Tectonics and Camouflage, and was co-curator of the (Im)material Processes: New Digital Techniques for Architecture exhibition at the Architecture Biennial Beijing 2008.

16_03_09 “Projects+Technologies: MP3s, Supercomputers and Fiber Placed Composites” Michael Silver This lecture covers new research into contemporary technologies and their effect on architecture. It attempts to push the boundaries of theory and practice through the application of new materials, computer codes and methods of fabrication. The talk will explore the shift from the appropriation of software to the creation of homemade tools, and investigate the implications of increasing speed and power in the move towards ‘supercomputing’. In order to promote socially responsible research the project as a whole examines these systems in relationship to a sustainable design process. Michael Silver is a LeFevre’ 29 Research Fellow at Knowlton School of Architecture in Ohio, and Sanders Fellow at University of Michigan. He was Director of Digital Media at Yale and has taught at Harvard. He directs a multidisciplinary design laboratory in New York and continues research in digital mapping, advanced composite manufacturing and software development. He is author of Pamphlet Architecture #19 Reading / Drawing / Building, AD’s Mapping in the Age of Digital Media and Programming Cultures (Wiley and Sons).

27_02_09 “re thinking public space” IaN+ Established in 1997, IaN+ materializes around its three core members with different professional background and experience: Carmelo Baglivo and Luca Galofaro, design and theory; Stefania Manna, engineering. IaN+ participates in many national and international architectural competitions, obtaining awards and honourable mentions. Their projects were selected for numerous exhibitions in Italy and abroad: ArchiLab; the Biennial of Valencia, 2003; Architopia, 2000; the Venice Biennale, 2000 and 2004; the Beijing Biennale, 2004. In 2007 the FRAC Centre in Orléans devotes the solo exhibit New Ecology of the Living Systems to IaN+. Image caption: Re-living the Historic Center

http://www.ianplus.it/

13_02_09 “ArupAGU -Advanced Geometry Unit- The New Thinking: from Fractal to Fabrication” Francesco Sacconi Francesco Sacconi is a member of Arup AGU unit from year 2007 The Advanced Geometry Unit (AGU) is a research-focused design group within consultant engineers Arup. By examining the structural dynamics of everything from geometric shapes and patterns to naturally occurring phenomena, AGU strives to create exciting new architectural forms and solutions. Arup deputy chairman, Cecil Balmond, founded the AGU. It developed out of Balmond’s interest in the genesis of form and the overlap of science with art, using music, numbers and mathematics as vital sources The AGU’s approach is far from the narrowness of a formal Cartesian Modernist mind-set. Instead, Balmond welcomes irregularity, complexity, richness, in a way that is almost Baroque. He explains, “The Cartesian world is a limiting space, even though it is a good space: we use it and inhabit it. However, we know that there are other geometries. I want to resurrect geometry, in the best sense of the word, in the Greek sense, as a living organizational idea, with a philosophic root.” Image caption: AGU - Advanced Geometry Unit

http://www.arup.com/

06_02_09 \"Experimental seeds - Resist, rise your hands and create!\" Marco Galofaro To leave a sign we make use of the hand’s acceptance of agility and memory. Building a model has nothing to do with the practice of architecture. The first step exists before the project; it is a neutral space that is home to the first seed. This space is without borders, there are no walls, it exists only to capture intentions and other energies. It does not have the direct responsibility that the project will assume later, that of ensuring results. Entering into this field has meaning if we are seeking fragments. The seed is composed of two opposites, both long lasting: the ability to absorb nutrients from the soil and the ability to include part of its future and that of others in its evolution. It under¬stands evolution without demanding the right to survive at all costs. The seed inhabits this ‘before’, in which there is no wrong or reason; reason is an enclosed capsule that uses its voice to be heard. Seeds have no voice. They can become present only in the mind. MODELAB Modelab was founded in 2002 by the architect Marco Galofaro. Modelab is about the investigation and use of new, experimental materials, such as resin and rubber 3d printer, in the construction of architectural and design models with the more traditional materials of plastic, wood and plaster. Our primary objective is the construction of architectural and urban planning models; our primary concern is the creation of objects that are capable of surprising both our¬selves and our clients through the continuous reinvention of combinations and treatments of materials. Image caption: IaN+ | Tomihiro museum - Japan

http://www.modelab.it/