Cumincad : CUMINCAD Papers : Search Results

CumInCAD is a Cumulative Index about publications in Computer Aided Architectural Design
supported by the sibling associations ACADIA, CAADRIA, eCAADe, SIGraDi, ASCAAD and CAAD futures

PDF papers
References

Hits 1 to 20 of 491

Reformat results as: short short into frame detailed detailed into frame

_id	acadia08_340
id	acadia08_340
authors	Chalmers, Chris
year	2008
title	Chemical Signaling as a Model for Digital Process in Architecture
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.340
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 340-345
summary	The role of the architect is quite literally one of assembly: synthesizing the various parts of a project into a cohesive whole. It is a difficult job, often requiring the architect to weave many seemingly contradictory concerns into a solution that benefits them all. It is not surprising then, that the many elegant and effective systems found in nature should be inspiring to the architect. Emerging fields like biomimicry and systems dynamics model the patterns of interaction between organisms and their environments in terms of dynamic part to part and part to whole relationships. ¶ Observations of real relationships between organisms and their environments, as they exist in nature, reveal complex feedback loops working across multiple scales. These feedback loops operate by the simultaneous action of two observed phenomena. The first is the classic phenotypic relationship seen when organisms of the same genetic makeup instantiate differently based upon differences in their environment. This is the relationship that was originally proposed by Charles Darwin in his theory of natural selection of 1859. Darwin’s model is unidirectional: the organism adapts to its environment, but not the other way around. It operates at the local scale as individual parts react to the conditions of the whole. (Canguilhem, 1952). ¶ The second phenomenon, which sees its effect at the global scale, is the individual’s role as consumer and producer in the flows of energy and material that surround it. It is the subtle and incremental influence of the organism upon its environment, the results of which are often invisible until they reach a catastrophic threshold, at which point all organisms in the system feel global changes. ; The research presented in this paper addresses the dialectic between organism and environment as each responds reciprocally to the others’ changing state. Such feedback loops act in a non-linear fashion, across nested scales in biological systems. They can be modeled to act that way in a digital design process as well. This research is an exploration into one such model and its application to architecture: the simple communication between organisms as they affect and are affected by their environments through the use of signal chemicals.
keywords	Biology; Cellular Automata; Feedback; Material; Scripting
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:55

_id	acadia08_208
id	acadia08_208
authors	Griffiths, Jason
year	2008
title	Man + Water + Fan = Freshman: Natural Process of Evaporative Cooling and the Digital Fabrication of the ASU Outdoor Dining Pavilion
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.208
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 208-213
summary	To the east of Johnson City TX is the Lyndon B. Johnson’s family home. Part of the Johnson Estate2 is given over to a working farm circa 1870 that presents various aspects of domestic practice from the era. This includes a desert fridge which is a simple four-legged structure with a slightly battered profile that’s draped in calico. Its principle is simple; water from an upturned jar is drawn by osmosis down the sides of the calico where it evaporates in wind currents drawn though a “dog run” between two log cabins. Cooled air circulates within the structure and where cheese and milk are kept fresh during the summer. The desert fridge is a simple system that reaches a state of equilibrium through the natural process of evaporation. ¶ This system provides a working model for a prototype structure for an outdoor dining pavilion that was designed and constructed on the campus of Arizona State University. The desert fridge is the basis for a “biological process”3 of evaporative cooling that has been interpreted in terms a ritual of outdoor dining in arid climates. The pavilion is intended as a gathering point and a place of interaction for ASU freshmen. The long-term aim of this project is to provide a multiple of these pavilions across the campus that will be the locus of a sequence of dining events over a “dining season”4 during the fall and spring semester. ; This paper describes how the desert fridge principle has been interpreted in the program and construction of the dining pavilion. It explores a sequence of levels by which the structure, via digital production process, provides an educational narrative on sustainability. This communicative quality is portrayed by the building in direct biological terms, through tacit knowledge, perceived phenomena, lexical and mechanical systems. The paper also describes how these digital production process were used in the building’s design and fabrication. These range from an empirical prognosis of evaporative cooling effects, fluid dynamics, heat mapping and solar radiation analysis through to sheet steel laser cutting, folded plate construction and fully associative variable models of standard steel construction. The aim of the pavilion is to create an environment that presents the evaporative cooling message at a multiple of levels that will concentrate the visitor in holistic understanding of the processes imbued within the building.5
keywords	Communication; Digital Fabrication; Environment; System
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:51

_id	acadia08_458
id	acadia08_458
authors	Hemsath, Timothy; Robert Williams; Ronald Bonnstetter; Leen-Kiat Soh
year	2008
title	Digital CADCAM Pedagogy Model: Intelligent Inquiry Education
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.458
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 458-463
summary	Prototype manufacturing as an educational tool has been very successful at the college level in architecture and engineering design. This paper discusses an innovative inquiry-based learning approach rather than the problem-based learning models commonly utilized by other similar programs. For example, several research-funded technology projects (e.g., Cappelleri et al. 2007) look at involving students in problem-based learning exercises (e.g., building robots); however, these exercises (while providing valuable experiences) have predetermined outcomes ingrained by the teachers, the project structure, and the components used to construct the devices. Therefore, inquisitive and creative problem solving is limited to the “kit-of-parts” in their approach to solving the problem. The inquiry-based CADCAM pedagogy model is more concerned with the process of solving a problem through the vehicle of prototyping than with the specificity of the design project itself. This approach has great potential. First, the need to solve the problem drives learning on multiple levels, integrating interdisciplinary ideas into the problem and solution. Second, the problem interlocks disciplines through inquiry knowledge building in team exercises. Finally, it encourages diversity and flexibility by allowing students to look at problems from multiples perspectives and points of view.
keywords	CAD; Education; Evaluation; Pedagogy; Rapid Prototyping
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:49

_id	acadia08_332
id	acadia08_332
authors	Marin, Philippe; Jean-Claude Bignon ;Hervé Lequay
year	2008
title	A Genetic Algorithm for Use in Creative Design Processes
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.332
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 332-339
summary	This paper deals with natural growth mechanisms applied to architectural design processes. We implement a genetic algorithm as part of a digital tool to be used in the creative design process. This evolutionary process is evaluated by means of environmental parameters, passive solar qualities and the designer’s individual requirements. A morphogenetic process is put forward, based on a “metamorphosis strategy”.
keywords	Algorithm; Analysis; Environment; Genetic; Performance
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:59

_id	acadia08_134
id	acadia08_134
authors	Peters, Brady
year	2008
title	Copenhagen Elephant House: A Case Study of Digital Design Processes
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.134
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 134-141
summary	This paper outlines the digital design processes involved in the design and construction of the new Elephant House at Copenhagen Zoo. Early design concepts for the canopy were tested using physical sketch models. The geometric complexity of these early physical models led to the involvement of the Specialist Modelling Group and the use of the computer to digitally sketch 3D CAD models. After many studies, the complex form of the canopies was rationalised using torus geometry. A computer program was written to generate the canopy glazing and structure. This parametric system was developed to be a design tool, and was developed by an architectural designer working with the team. Through its use the team were able to explore more design options, and alter the design farther along in the design process; however, this generative tool was created largely as a CAD efficiency tool. Another series of computer programs were written to generate and populate a shading system based on environmental analysis. Unlike the computer program that generated the structure and glazing, this program was not developed to make the generation of complex geometric structures more efficient, but developed to explore computational approaches that would have been impossible without the computer. Most of the canopy’s design was communicated to fabricator through a geometry method statement, a method that has been proven to be effective in the past. The project completed in June 2008.
keywords	Complex Geometry; Computation; Design; Generative; Sustainability
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 08:00

_id	acadia08_382
id	acadia08_382
authors	Peters, Brady; Xavier De Kestelier
year	2008
title	Rapid Prototyping and Rapid Manufacturing at Foster + Partners
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.382
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 382-389
summary	Over the last 15 years, rapid prototyping has been an integral part of the design process in the car and aerospace industry (Brad Fox 2006). Recently the architecture profession has started to use these techniques in its design process (Greg Corke 2006), and some architecture schools have begun experimenting with these technologies. ¶ Foster + Partners have been one of the first architecture practices to fully integrate rapid prototyping within its design process. The technology was initially seen as a sketch model making tool in the early stages of the design, in particular for projects with complicated geometries. It surpassed this purpose within a year and it is now seen an essential design tool for many projects and in for many project stages. The office’s rapid prototyping department now produces about 3500 models a year. ¶ Besides, or perhaps because of, rapid prototyping, Foster + Partners have started to experiment with rapid manufacturing. This first was done through the design and manufacture of a Christmas tree for the charity organisation Save the Children.
keywords	Complex Geometry; Design; Generative; Process; Rapid Prototyping
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 08:00

_id	acadia08_214
id	acadia08_214
authors	Schlueter, Arno; Frank Thesseling
year	2008
title	Balancing Design and Performance in Building Retrofitting: A Case Study Based on Parametric Modeling
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.214
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 214-221
summary	Retrofitting the existing building stock will become one of the key fields of action for architects in the future. Due to the raised awareness of CO2 emissions related to the energy consumption of buildings, architects have to increasingly consider parameters influencing the energy performance of their retrofit designs. This is a complex task especially in the early design stages as multiple dependencies between building form, construction and technical systems influence overall energy performance. The inability to cope with this complexity often leads to simple solutions such as the application of massive insulation on the outside, neglecting aesthetic expression and design flexibility. Digital models storing multidisciplinary building information make it possible to include performance parameters throughout the architectural design process. In addition to the geometric parameters constituting the form, semantic and topological parameters define building element properties and their dependencies. This offers an integrated view of the building. We present a case study utilizing mulit-parametric façade elements within a building information model for an integrated design approach. The case study is based on a retrofit project of a multi-family house with very poor energy performance. Within a design workshop a parametric building model was used for the development of the designs. An integrated analysis tool allowed an immediate performance assessment without importing or exporting building data. The students were able to freely define geometric and performance parameters to develop their design solution. Balancing between formal expression and energy performance lead to integrated design sketches, resulting in surprising solutions for the given design task.
keywords	BIM; Integrative; Parametric; Performance; Sustainability
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:57

_id	acadia08_118
id	acadia08_118
authors	Cabrinha, Mark
year	2008
title	Gridshell Tectonics: Material Values Digital Parameters
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.118
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 118-125
summary	This paper begins with a simple proposition: rather than mimicking the geometric structures found in nature, perhaps the most effective modes of sustainable fabrication can be found through understanding the nature of materials themselves. Material becomes a design parameter through the constraints of fabrication tools, limitations of material size, and most importantly the productive capacity of material resistance—a given material’s capacity and tendencies to take shape, rather than cutting shape out of material. ¶ Gridshell structures provide an intriguing case study to pursue this proposition. Not only is there clear precedent in the form-finding experiments of Frei Otto and the Institute for Lightweight Structures, but also the very NURBS based tools of current design practices developed from the ability of wood to bend. Taking the bent wood spline quite literally, gridshells provide a means that is at once formally expressive, structurally optimized, materially efficient, and quite simply a delight to experience. The larger motivation of this work anticipates a parametric system linking the intrinsic material values of the gridshell tectonic with extrinsic criteria such as programmatic needs and environmental response. ¶ Through an applied case study of gridshells, the play between form and material is tested out through the author’s own experimentation with gridshells and the pedagogical results of two gridshell studios. The goal of this research is to establish a give-and-take relationship between top-down formal emphasis and a bottom-up material influence.
keywords	Digital Fabrication; Form-Finding; Material; Pedagogy; Structure
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:54

_id	acadia08_292
id	acadia08_292
authors	Celento, David; Del Harrow
year	2008
title	ceramiSKIN: Digital Possibilities for Ceramic Cladding Systems
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.292
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 292-299
summary	CeramiSKIN is an inter-disciplinary investigation by an architect and a ceramics artist examining new possibilities for ceramic cladding using digital design and digital fabrication techniques. Research shown is part of an ongoing collaborative residency at The European Ceramics Work Centre. ¶ Ceramics are durable, sustainable, and capable of easily assuming detailed shapes with double curvature making ceramics seemingly ideal for digitally inspired “plastic” architecture. The primary reason for the decline in complex ceramic cladding is that manual mold-making is time-consuming—which is at odds with today’s high labor costs and compressed construction timeframes. We assert that digital advances in the area of mold-making will assist in removing some of the barriers for the use of complex ceramic cladding in architecture. ; The primary goals of ceramiSKIN as they relate to digitally assisted production are: greater variety and complexity, reduced cost and time, a higher degree of accuracy, and an attempt to facilitate a wider range of digital design possibilities through the use of a ceramics in architectural cladding systems. ¶ The following paper begins with an overview discussing double curvature and biophilia in architecture and their relationship to ceramics. This is followed by detailed commentary on three different experiments prior to a concluding summary.
keywords	Biomorphic; Collaboration; Complex Geometry; Digital Fabrication; Skin
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:55

_id	acadia08_126
id	acadia08_126
authors	Cook+Fox Architects
year	2008
title	The Generation of a Smart Cloud
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.126
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 126-133
summary	This paper presents the process by which Cook+Fox Architects responded to a design challenge that was part metaphorical and part practical. The project involved providing an environmental response to the natural world existing almost 800 feet above the ground, on the second-highest occupiable floor of New York City’s second-tallest building. Environmentally-responsive features at the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park are expected to make it the first LEED-Platinum high-rise in the world. The fiftieth floor was conceived as a headquarters for the fashion designer Elie Tahari, the south facing portion of the floorplate was to house a highly adaptable showroom that needed to be adaptable to complement and enhance each season’s particular aesthetics. Additionally, the ceiling in the showroom space needed to allow for optimized height in an environment where structural, mechanical, electrical and sprinkler systems were all designed to be concealed. A combination of numerous computer-aided design scripts took into account various input variables and finally led to the generation of a Smart Cloud.
keywords	Analysis; Behavior; Generative; Optimization; Performance
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:56

_id	acadia08_300
id	acadia08_300
authors	Doumpioti, Christina
year	2008
title	Adaptive Growth of Fibre Composite Structures
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.300
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 300-307
summary	The core idea of this research is the incorporation of the morphogenetic principles found in natural systems in the generation of fibre-composite structures by exploiting, at the maximum, the intrinsic performative capacities of the material system in use. The intention is the integration of form, material, structure and program into a multi-performative system that will satisfy simultaneously several, even conflicting objectives, in order to achieve an optimal compromise. This process involves the combination and implementation of concepts and methods based on precedent studies in the field of biomimetics, as well as form-finding digital and physical experiments that inform a coherent design methodology, leading to a structural system able to be fabricated using cutting-edge technology.
keywords	Adaptation; Composite; Fiber; Integrative; Morphogenesis
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:55

_id	acadia08_182
id	acadia08_182
authors	Gibson, Michael; Kevin R. Klinger; Joshua Vermillion
year	2008
title	Constructing Information: Towards a Feedback Ecology in Digital Design and Fabrication
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.182
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 182-191
summary	As strategies evolve using digital means to navigate design in architecture, critical process-based approaches are essential to the discourse. The often complex integration of design, analysis, and fabrication through digital technologies is wholly reliant upon a process-basis necessitating the use of a design feedback loop, which reinforces critical decision-making and challenges the notions of how we produce, visualize, and analyze information in the service of production and assembly. Central to this process-based approach is the effective and innovative integration of information and the interrogation of material based explorations in the making of architecture. This fabrication ‘ecology’ forces designers to engage complexity and accept the unpredictability of emergent systems. It also exposes the process of working to critique and refine feedback loops in light of complex tools, methods, materials, site, and performance considerations. In total, strategies for engaging this ‘ecology’ are essential to accentuate our present understanding of environmental design and theory in relation to digital processes for design and fabrication. ¶ This paper recounts a design/fabrication seminar entitled “Constructing Information” in which architecture students examined an environmental design problem by way of the design feedback loop, where their efforts in applying digital design and fabrication methods were driven explicitly by material and site realities and where their work was executed, installed, and critically explored in situ. These projections raise important questions about how information, complexity, and context overlay and merge, and underscore the critical potential of visual, spatial, and material effects as part of a fabrication-oriented design process.
keywords	Digital Fabrication; Ecology; Environment; Feedback; Performance
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:51

_id	acadia08_094
id	acadia08_094
authors	Helms, Michael E.; Swaroop S. Vattam; Ashok K. Goel; Jeannette Yen; Marc Weissburg
year	2008
title	Problem-Driven and Solution-Based Design: Twin Processes of Biologically Inspired Design
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.094
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 94-101
summary	Biologically inspired design uses biological systems as analogues to develop solutions for design problems. We conducted a cognitive study of biologically inspired design in the context of an interdisciplinary introductory course on biologically inspired design in Fall of 2006. The goal of this study was to understand the processes of biologically inspired design. This paper provides a descriptive account of twin biologically inspired design processes, problem-driven and solution-based, and highlights the similarities and differences between them.
keywords	Biomimetics; Design; Evaluation; Material; Process
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:49

_id	acadia08_088
id	acadia08_088
authors	Hynes, Hugh
year	2008
title	When The Going Gets Tough, The Pluripotent Get Going: Resilient Developmental Models
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.088
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 88-93
summary	Mechanisms of biological development, such as in embryogenesis, offer promising models for resilient architectural systems well-suited to volatile or unpredictable contextual conditions. The resilience of embryonic development as a process is such that successful development—“success” defined here as that which results in the birth of an organism that can survive—can sustain extreme shifts in a normal developmental process, triggered by mutations, environmental pressures, injury, or experimental intervention. More specifically, biological development combines mechanisms of standardization with mechanisms of customization to create open-ended or what biologists call pluripotent systems—poised (“-potent”) to develop into a wide range (“pluri-”) of potential forms—which we can endeavor to reproduce mimetically. ¶ This paper considers biomimesis less a matter of replicating these developmental mechanisms physically or formally, but rather borrowing aspects of the mechanisms’ operation in order to test project outcomes digitally. The discipline of developmental biology affords a virtually ready-made conceptual framework and terminology to guide an open-ended digital methodology, in the hope of incorporating increasing degrees of resilience into the resulting design work. Searching for a capacity to sustain a similar fluidity of differentiation afforded by organisms in early development, we explore a pluripotent architecture for which differentiation might occur over time, and which might be better able to absorb volatility.
keywords	Adaptation; Differentiation; Morphogenesis; Resilience; Scenario
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:50

_id	acadia08_286
id	acadia08_286
authors	Khan, Omar
year	2008
title	Reconfigurable Molds as Architecture Machines
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.286
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 286-291
summary	In The Architecture Machine (1970), Nicholas Negroponte postulates the development of design machines wherein the “design process, considered as evolutionary, can be presented to a machine, also considered as evolutionary, and a mutual training, resilience, and growth can be developed.” The book, dedicated to “the first machine that can appreciate the gesture,” argues for developing machines with human like qualities. This paper aims to develop an alternative trajectory to the “evolutionary” architecture machine, this time not towards anthropomorphism but responsiveness. The aim on one level is the same: to create machines that appreciate the gesture. However our approach is tied to more modest aims and means that bring current thinking on evolutionary processes and the forming of materials together. The reconfigurable mold (RCM) is an architecture machine that produces parts that can be combined to create more complex organizations. The molds are simple analog computers that employ various continuous scales like volume, weight and heat to develop their unique components. Parametric alterations are made possible by affecting these measures in the process of fabrication. An underlying material that is instrumental in the molds is rubber, whose variable elasticity provides unique possibilities for indexing the gesture that remains elusive for industrial processes.
keywords	Casting; Digital Fabrication; Generative; Material; Morphogenesis
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:52

_id	acadia08_000
id	acadia08_000
authors	Kudless, Andrew; Neri Oxman, and Marc Swackhamer, editors
year	2008
title	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008
source	Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008
summary	Biological processes, computing and design make an inconvenient mix, a mix that challenges us to broaden our academic horizons at a time when we are thirsty for creative solutions to unprecedented global problems and opportunities. More than a mixture, it is about forming rhizomatic connections between these three systems of knowledge, brought together through design, mediated by computing and inspired by the wisdom ensconced in biological processes that have evolved over billions of years. The last few years together represent a watershed time for ACADIA. Themes ranging from digital fabrication, smart environments, expanding bodies, and synthetic landscapes have been taken up in the recent past. This year’s conference marks yet another year of pushing the envelope with a subject matter that is still on the frontiers of the emerging (and emergent) knowledge. ACADIA is proud to play a vanguard role in leading and facilitating this discourse. To this end, the outstanding team of conference chairs has put together a unique and exciting program. I would like to thank the chairs for their boldness, hard work and resourcefulness in bringing together a remarkable array of people, things, systems, and topics to the table. All evidence points to the emergence of ACADIA as THE forum for vanguard explorers from multiple disciplines. I hope that the seeds of discourses sown at this remarkable conference at the University of Minnesota will grow into significant movements in the future. Thank you!
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:49

_id	acadia08_354
id	acadia08_354
authors	Vanucci, Marco
year	2008
title	Pluri-Potential Branching System
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.354
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 354-363
summary	In contemporary construction industry, parametric softwares are often employed in design processes of rationalization and post-rationalization where, given a certain project, the answer to specific problems is required to actualize the desired shape [problem-solving approach]. ¶ This paper outlines a research project intended to develop a generative approach to digital design where the employment of parametric and algorithmic tools provide the possibility to set up integral multi-parametric systems; organizational as well as geometrical and structural aspects are investigated and, in parallel, they inform each other. ¶ The paper unfolds through constant reference to natural systems and, more specifically, develops the notion of pluri-potential systems deriving principle from the interaction between biological processes and computation. ¶ The results address the shift from mono-parametric problem-solving approaches to a generative problem-caring process where the integration of multiple system logics contribute to the development of a virtual pluri-potential set up. ¶ Finally, the paper explore the generative interdependency between structural, geometrical, organizational and computational logics of a system studying the manifold potentials of branching structures in the attempt to explore the emergent synergy between biological processes, computation and architectural design.
keywords	Branching; Evolution; Generative; Open Systems; Parametric
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:58

_id	acadia08_390
id	acadia08_390
authors	Vrana, Andrew; Joe Meppelink; Ben Nicholson
year	2008
title	New Harmony Grotto
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.390
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 390-399
summary	With the expanding wave of contemporary architecture inspired and informed by biomorphic design and biomimetic processes, the re-evaluation of work of Frederick Kiesler has become immanent. Throughout the mid 20th century he became increasingly interested in the relationship of natural form and structure to architectural space and organization. The Grotto for Meditation proposed in 1963 for New Harmony, Indiana commissioned by Mrs. Jane Blaffer-Owen was the culmination of his life’s work. Though the project was not realized, it embodies all of the influences of his time from surrealism to biology and cybernetic theory. Through our university and the Blaffer Foundation, we engaged in formal research and tectonic resolution of the project employing digital modeling and fabrication technologies at our College and in Houston where Mrs. Owen lives when she is not in New Harmony. We based this project on the full catalog of archival material made available to us with support from the Blaffer and Kielser Foundations. Our exploration also was influenced by discussions with Mrs. Blaffer-Owen who is still very interested in realizing this profoundly interesting and enigmatic project. Our university has opened the door to the opportunity that our reinterpreted Grotto become a permanent fixture on the campus next to a wetland landscape that it is currently under construction. Our research into Kiesler has engaged his esoteric concepts of “co-realism” and “continuous tension” as well as his early use of recursive geometry and biomorphic form in design. From reverse engineering and digital fabrication via 3D scanning to generative structural articulation, we are experimenting with a structural/spatial system that closely aligns with Kiesler’s originally proposed tile patterning dilated into a minimal structure. Our prototypes and the final version will be fabricated by one of the largest commercially for-hire water jet cutter in country and assembled on the site.
keywords	Biomorphic; Digital Fabrication; Prototype; Structure
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:58

_id	acadia08_370
id	acadia08_370
authors	Wallick, Karl
year	2008
title	Digital and Manual Joints
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.370
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 370-375
summary	This paper considers the problem of detailing joints between manual and digital construction by tracking the provocations of KieranTimberlake’s SmartWrap research and the evolution of that knowledge into practical architectural instruments that can be deployed into more traditional construction projects. Over the past several years, KieranTimberlake Associates in Philadelphia has undertaken a path of research focusing on problems of contemporary construction systems and practices. One product of this research was a speculative wall system assembled for a museum exhibit. SmartWrap was to be a digitally prefabricated wall system with embedded technology. ¶ While they have yet to wrap a building with SmartWrap, KieranTimberlake have utilized a number of the construction principles and digital tools tested in the SmartWrap exhibit. One of the most important principles, prefabrication, was explored in a fast-track construction project at the Sidwell Friends School. The compressed schedule drove the design of an enclosure system which incorporated performative elements in similar categories to SmartWrap: insulation, an electrical system, view, daylighting, and a rainscreen. Besides being a prefabricated façade system, the rainscreen detailing became a formal system for organizing many other scales of the project including: site systems, thermal systems, daylighting systems, enclosure, and ornament. At a second project, a similar wood rainscreen strategy was used. However, at the Loblolly House the question of prefabrication and digital modeling was tested far more extensively: thermal systems were embedded into prefabricated floor cartridges, entire program elements – a library, kitchen, and bathroom were proposed as prefabricated systems of self-contained volume and infrastructure which were then inserted into the on-site framework. ; In all three projects the joint between manual-imprecise construction and digital-precise prefabrication became the area of richest invention (Figure 1). SmartWrap may not have yielded flexible, plastic architecture; but its conceptual and practical questions have yielded tangible implications for the design/construction processes and the built product in KieranTimberlake’s practice.
keywords	Construction; Design; Integrative; Prefabrication; Skin
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:58

_id	acadia08_376
id	acadia08_376
authors	Silver, Mike
year	2008
title	The Most Important Airplane In The History Of Architecture
doi	https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.acadia.2008.376
source	Silicon + Skin: Biological Processes and Computation, [Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) / ISBN 978-0-9789463-4-0] Minneapolis 16-19 October 2008, 376-381
summary	Composite structures consist of high strength carbon threads held together in a matrix of epoxy resin or thermoplastics. Surfaces made from these materials are typically 10 times lighter and 1.5 times stronger than aluminum. Both simple and highly contoured shapes possessing extreme strength can be produced using a computer controlled fiber placement machine (FPM). These incredibly thin, corrosion resistant membranes require little or no supplemental support to manage loads and enclose space. The computer’s ability to determine the precise location of each fiber strand in a fiber placed part also facilitates unprecedented control of its aesthetic and functional properties. Fiber placement technology integrates building components that would normally be separated into clearly distinct systems. Here ornament, structure and cladding are collapsed into one material process. This paper explores the architectural potential of a technology normally reserved for aerospace applications through research conducted in close collaboration with fiber placement engineers at Automated Dynamics in Schenectady, New York (ADC).
keywords	Composite; Digital Fabrication; Fiber; Skin; Structure
series	ACADIA
last changed	2022/06/07 07:56

For more results click below: