Charter school workshop: architecture + geometry

Last week I was fortunate to have the opportunity to run a workshop on architecture + geometry for a class of sophomores from the perspectives math + science academy in Chicago.  I started with a presentation introducing them to the world of contemporary architecture and some of the key players that can be found in and around Chicago, followed by systematic thinking with geometry and then how we interface with geometry through digital media. 

After the presentation we ran an exercise like one we use with my grad students, in which students used only a compass and straight edge to construct fields of triangles.  It was quite thrilling to see these students go from struggling with the basic operations to the "Ahhh Hahh" moments when they started uncovering both 2d and 3d relationships of simple geometry, while also exploring their creativity. 

I was very impressed by the attention span and the politeness of teacher, Renee Albrecht-Mallinger's great group of students.  Hopefully some future architects growing in the bunch.

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Advanced Studio: Affordable Dream

With the present state of the economy and continuing crisis in real-estate markets + financing, it is critical that we re-examine the nature and design of affordable housing. Be it rural, suburban or urban, families and individuals of middle or lower incomes face growing divides between the supposed ideals of American living (most often portrayed damagingly by bloated housing of bad design) and what is available to them.

Student Work by Camille YuThis studio focused on developing critical and progressive strategies for the problem of affordable housing through the design of prototypical single family housing solutions. The goal was to design projects within a 100k (+20) budget, where the (+20) was used specifically for a special condition or technologies that will advance the living experience beyond contemporary standards. Emphasis was placed on architecture which addressed and promoted the expression of identity, both of the architecture itself (material identity) and the inhabitants (personal identity) as a direct critique of the blighted American housing landscape and it’s beige boxes. A smaller than average square footage was seen as a positive move away from bloated McMansion aspirations, where a smaller footprint is more environmentally friendly and hopefully added value to the cost per sq foot of the living conditions. For the studio, the smaller size enabled students to take a more intimate approach to design and detailing, ultimately seeing the documentation of the project further than a typical semester would allow. As alluded by the +20, the studio promoted the integration of advanced technologies, be they sustainability systems with increased upfront costs usually out of reach for affordable housing, or embedded digital/interactive technologies that transform the way a house is occupied.

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With the present state of the economy and continuing crisis in real-estate markets + financing, it is critical that we re-examine the nature and design of affordable housing. Be it rural, suburban or urban, families and individuals of middle or lower incomes face growing divides between the supposed ideals of American living (most often portrayed damagingly by bloated housing of bad design) and what is available to them.

Advanced Studio: Collabstudio

student work CollabstudioIn the collab studio we used a mixed use, multi-unit, creative business incubator program as a framework for investigating approaches to a flexible, extensible or collaborative architecture. From the underlying premise that a rich common space (from positive interaction between local and visiting community members) is the essential life line for this type of structure, we will focus our attention on the thresholds which delineate public and private space. Ideologically, the studio begins with the Metabolist movement in 1960′s japan (Tange, Kurakawa, Maki, etc..). Utilizing a bottom-up process of development and a systems approach to building, students developed unique architectural strategies which fit collectively within a group framework. The objective of exploring these methodologies was to find the possibilities of a “living” architecture, where a collective identity can emerge from the rich expression of the individual while also taking a critically introspective look at the collaborative nature of the design process. Conceptual and technical lectures and workshops in digital environments, interactive technologies and CNC fabrication will supported the efforts of the studio.

Following an initial individual project where students researched precedents/technolgies and developed unique ideas to serve to inform the direction of the second project, the studio collaboratively developed a single proposal for the public cores and infrastructural backbone of the incubator utilizing 3d digital world building tools from the on-line world second life.

Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely created by its Residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by millions of Residents from around the globe “- linden labs www.secondlife.com. In second life, beyond the major entertainment and corporate forces which have made a presence, architects have begun to use its physics enabled, scriptable world building tools to collaboratively create environments both for simulation of real world conditions and for inhabitation by uses “in-world” For this studio it will enable simultaneous multi-user digital design/build. Lessons in world building and interactive scripting will be done in studio to enable the project, students interested in exploring the theory and application of digital environments in greater depth should enroll in my class arch 497 – simultaneous occupation.

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