dip18_Brief2011-12

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Extended Brief 2011 – 2012 AA diploma 18 – The Energy Attack Unit

The Basque Culinary Center, Particle Simulation – Cloud 9, 2009

Introduction Architecture is the number one cause of Global Warming, being responsible for 40 % of the CO2 released into the atmosphere. In his book, The Third Industrial Revolution, Jeremy Rifkin determines five pillars, which are to set the ground for a novel paradigm in the discipline of architecture. They are: 1.) shifting to renewable energy, 2.) understanding buildings as power plants, 3.) developing means of storing energy, 4.) creating distributed energy system and 5.) switching to electric, hybrid and fuel-cell transportation. Besides technological and infrastructural innovation lies empathy; this human quality connects all human beings and encourages awareness towards our environment. Diploma 18 will engage with Global Warming scenarios by developing a body of research that transforms the role of the architect into one of a “green army” activist.

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Methodology The unit methodology is driven by research. Today research is not about a linear progression where A leads to B leads to C and eventually ends up at E; instead it is a multi-directional process where A, B,C,D,E develop simultaneously to each other.

Diploma 18 Research Structure

As a result, the unit is rooted in deep self-sufficient research comprised of independent research “silos�. The silos employ diverse research tools such as literature review, empirical physical testing or particle simulation. Thus the conclusion of each silo gets presented in different media from printed graphics to theatrical performance to digital animation. The knowledge collected in the silos leads to the development of an individual portfolio proposal.

Diploma 18 Unit Structure

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Silo 1 is a retrofitting case study that results in a collective multimedia projection on the AA buildings. Silo 2 is a bubble research that includes a workshop with the Catalan artist Pep Bou in Barcelona and is carried out as individual experiments. Silo 3 is a research project of an UN-listed Global Warming scenario. Students will analyse and present deep knowledge of a geographical site and climatic context. Silo 4 is the study of the science behind a climatic occurrence through Maya simulation on a particle level. Doing research as self-sufficient investigations creates a global awareness in our minds; consciousness is the first step towards design. This frame of mind and attitude is the basis of the portfolio proposal, which consists of a performative energy driven architectural system located within the studied global warming scenario context. Empathy will always be at the core of the portfolio proposal. “Empathy is the capacity to recognize and, to some extent, share feelings (such as sadness or happiness) that are being experienced by another sapient or semi-sapient being.” Source:www.wikipedia.org

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Research Silos R 1_Retrofitting Case Study Research Silo 1 is a collective intervention using the buildings of the AA as a case study of a retrofitting project. The conclusion of this investigation will be a performance in which a particle animation featuring the energetic mechanisms of the building will be projected onto the façade of the AA. The event will be supported by a lecture and book-launch by Jeremy Rifkin. This building energy study will help each student to develop an environmental consciousness which throughout the year will form a vision of a green culture that leads to a green architecture. This green awareness developed by each student throughout the year will need to be present in the portfolio proposal. During the full length of the project, Diploma 18 will be able to count on the help of architects Nora Graw and Konrad Hofmann who will share with us their experience in Jeremy Rifkin’s five pillars and digital knowledge in Maya and editing software.

Image of projection, by Nora Graw.

A New Green Deal – Arts Santa Monica, Barcelona 2009

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiqpUjyCY5I>

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R 2_Soap Bubble Research Bubbles are membranes; they engage with the issue of lightness, enclosure, technology, chemistry, physics, structure, but also with performance, ephemerality, fragility and equilibrium. A workshop with Catalan artist Pep Bou in Barcelona, will serve as an introduction into the domain of bubbles or soap films. We will learn from his experience, his soap recipes, his tools, his movements. After a performance from Bou, serving as introduction, students will be immediately asked to create some bubbles themselves under the artist’s and tutor’s supervision. Back in London, the unit will organize the unit space as a half-laboratory-half-theatre space for experiments with soap films. Later in the term, juries and presentations will be also hosted in the space.

Soap Bubble Performance, photo by Valerie Bennett

To comply with the character of a laboratory, instruments and equipment will be stored in the space being constantly available to all students. Instruments and equipment may consist of tools to create the bubbles, but also of sensors, steam machines, heaters, fans and student made rigs. The room is painted black and arranged to manage the best conditions for the experiments and their documentation. The documentation of the process, filming and photography will be the principal media. At the end of this R 1 phase, students will present their work in a compiled 60 to 120 seconds carefully edited film and a collection of images.

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Soap Bubble Artist Pep Bou at Work

Soap Bubble Workshop

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Soap Bubble Project, Chisung Lee, Dip 18 2010-11

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R 3_Global Warming Scenarios The goal of R 3 is for students to gain deep understanding and knowledge a Global Warming Scenario. The Global Warming Scenario consists of a man-made or natural hazard which happens in a geographical context. Examples include abandoned villages in Sudan, grass desert in China, water vapour steam in Iceland, methane sheep in Mongolia, deep water oil spill in Louisiana, mudslides in Brazil and chains of events such as melting glaciers in the Himalayas that cause erosion and landslides in Nepal, water contamination in India and flooding in Bangladesh. Scenarios to be studied will be discussed further and decided upon by tutors later on in the year. Students will carry out in depth research both in the climatic phenomenon and in the geographic context. The local hazard will be analysed as a physical phenomenon, studied at a particle scale, depicting its causes, anatomy, consistency, behaviour, physics. The geographical context will be explored through a very broad list of topics which will include energy, demographics, culture, economy, geology, resources, climate etc.

Logos of Relevant Geopolitical and Environmental Organizations

Action of Salt on Antarctica’s Ice Shelves, Agnes Mun Khwan Yit, Dip 18 2010-11

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Mediterranean Naval Traffic and MPAs, Joo Hyun Cho, Dip 18 2010-11

Caribbean Hurricane Suppression Pods, Kasang Kajang, Dip 18 2010-11

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R 4_Particle Animation Research Silo 4 is related to R 3 in that it studies and simulates a climatic occurrence of the Global Warming Scenario in depth and high resolution. Energy, CO2, methane, hurricanes, water, evaporation, pollution and materials or phenomenon that happen dynamically at a particle scale. We understand architecture to be alive and therefore needing to be animated at this particle scale with the use Maya. Knowledge of the software will have been acquired during Silo 1 in workshops by Nora Graw and Konrad Hofman. Our environment consists of particles. Any corpus or substance can be examined as small elements that are bonded together by different types of bonds. Their configuration can easily be changed. Understanding matter as particles will enable us to intervene at a very local scale, potentially microscopic, which can have its effect in a much larger realm. The unit will develop, from very early in the year, digital tools that will enable us to work on at particle scale. We will use Maya to simulate and to model material behaviour as solid, liquid and gas. This tool will help us to understand and to influence different natural or artificial phenomenon which is a key aspect of Dip 18’s agenda.

Particle Animation of the Ebro Delta, Eugene Duck Jong Lee, Dip 18 2010-11

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Particle Animation of Taipei Flooding Pattern, Sung Kwon Jung, Dip 18 2010-11

Particle Animation Antarctica, Danecia Sibingo, Dip 18 2010-11

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Portfolio Proposal (and Silo Conclusions) The portfolio proposal will be informed by the deep self-contained research carried out in the four silos. The deliverables concluding each silo are of equal value and are as important as the portfolio proposal. A successful project will not merely come out of a well articulated portfolio proposal but rather by achieving excellence in each one of the given tasks. While the unit will be using many different supports such as animation, simulation, physical experiments and digital imagery, the project will be compiled in a book which we will start to be developed on day 1. Each book will consist of various chapters which will match the silo chain given in the brief.

The portfolio proposal will be articulated around the following topics: 1. System Logics The proposal is unfolded in the general context, on the scale of the region or continent. The ecological or environmental implications on the context are understood and quantified. A generic strategy is elaborated, which rests on the understanding of environmental forces which enables to act on them, having an influence on existing phenomenon. The strategy does include an infrastructure as a set of technical solutions, but is nor located nor defined scale-wise. Although generic, this strategy forms the guidelines of the intervention. Not relying on one system. The proposal works autonomously energetically. We define the parameters for a pilot project which can then be applied many times. Develop one instant for the project, which proves the working/efficiency of the project, but the project consists how this intervention would be repeated various times with various scales to form the intervention. 2. Energy What is the driving energy of the proposal? Which environmental forces are used? What is their relationship to the proposal and to the context? Can an intervention sustain without the contribution of an exterior source of energy, can it be off grid, can it generate a surplus of energy that is then distributed in the general network? 3. Communication and Education What are the effects on the social, environmental, architectural and economic context? Both direct and indirect effects have to be tackled and assessed. How is the intervention affecting the consciousness of the local occupant and user? Develop a language that communicates with the user. How does the project express specificities of the intervention, such as the ones defined in the above chapters? How do we develop Empathy?

The portfolio project will be a performative architectural system which is a fictitious proposal for the year 2050.

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Project Proposal, Kasang Kajang, Dip 18 2010-11

Project Proposal, Valeria Garcia, Dip 18 2010-11

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Unit Trips The students will travel to Barcelona to attend the bubble workshop with Catalan artist Pep Bou. Unit trips will be related to Silo research and portfolio proposal and may include visits to the locations of the Global Warming Scenarios. The unit trips will be discussed further as a group.

Unit Trip, Dip 18 2010-11

Technical Studies Thesis The technical Studies Thesis will be developed with the help of London based engineering firm Buro Happold. This will be the occasion to develop cutting edge work in the field of energy and technology. Embedded in a highly empirical methodology, each student will select an area of interest related to the field of renewable energies or geo engineering technology. We will build thorough knowledge from case studies which will range from the latest equipment used in real projects or in investigation centres as well as well as basic experiments or devices found on the market. We will use the knowledge of these case studies to set up simple physical experiments which will be developed over several generations of tests which will be analysed carefully. The outcome of the Thesis will consist of a Machine performing the tasks set up by the student. It will be accompanied by a dossier reflecting the process and conclusions of the work. The interim jury for the TS thesis will be in Term 2, Week 9; the final document hand-in is on rd April 23 by 1.00pm (Term 3, Week 1).

TS Project 2010/11, Eugene Duck Jong Lee, Dip 18 2010-11

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Calendar of the Year Silo 1: AA Retrofitting Case Study th

Term 1 / Week 1 – 7, Public Event (Projection and book launch) on Nov 7 2011. Week I: Introduction with Dip18 Tutors, Workshop with Nora Graw Week II: Workshop with Konrad Hofmann Maya: Interface, Modeling (poly, nurbs, subdi), dynamics (particle, hair, fluids) Rendering (lighting, materials, render engines), Animation (kinetics, key frame, deformer) After Effects: interface, color grading, key frames, import /export QuickTime: import/export Storyboard Week III: 3d model & data mining Workshop with Nora Week IV: Animation and Rendering Workshop with Konrad Week V: Editing in AE Week VI: Compiling overall movie Setup Workshop with Nora & Konrad Week VII: Public Event: Projection, book launch and lecture by Jeremy Rifkin

Silo 2_Soap Bubble Research Term 1 / Week 7-9 th Interim Jury / Presentation on Nov 25 2011 (tbc)

Silo 3_Global Warming Scenarios Term 1 / Week 10-12 th Jury on Dec 16 2011 (tbc)

Silo 4_Particle Animation Term 2 / Week 1-3 th Interim Jury on Jan 27 2012 (tbc)

Portfolio Proposal Term 2 / Week 4 until Term 3 / Week 9 Jury Term 3 / Week 4 Diploma Committee and Diploma Honours Presentations Term 3 / Week 8 AA External Examiners Term 3 / Week 9

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Reading and Resource List Books Bach, Klaus; B. Burkhardt; F. Otto (1988). IL 18, Seifenblasen. Krämer, Stuttgart ; ISBN 3-7828-2018-5. Beukers, Adriaan; E. van Hinte (Ed. 2005) Lightness: The Inevitable Renaissance of Minimum Energy Structures. 010 Uitgeverij, ISBN 978-9064505607. Lovelock, James (Ed. 2000). Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth. Oxford Paperbacks, ISBN 978-0192862181. Lovelock, James (Ed. 2000). The Ages of Gaia: A Biography of Our Living Earth. OUP Oxford, ISBN 978-0192862174. Lovelock, James (2006). The Revenge of Gaia. Penguin Books, ISBN 978-0141025971. Name unknown (year unknown). Il 19 Growing and Dividing Pneus. ISBN 3-7828-2019-3 Otto, Frei (2005). Complete works: lightweight construction - natural design. Birkhäuser, ISBN 3764372311. Pearman, Hugh; A. (Ed. 2003). The architecture of Eden. Eden Project Books, ISBN 1 903 919150. Rifkin, Jeremy (to be released Nov 2011). The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World. Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 978-0230115217. Rifkin, Jeremy (Ed. 2004). The Hydrogen Economy: The Creation of the World Wide Energy Web and the Redistribution of Power on Earth. Jeremy P Tarcher, ISBN 978-1585422548.

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Ruiz-Geli, Enric (2010). Media-ICT Building. Actar, ISBN 978-8492861026. Tesla, Nikola (Ed. 2006). My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla. Filiquarian Publishing, ISBN 978-1599869940. (tbc)

Movies Avatar Director: James Cameron Twentieth Century Fox et al., 2009 Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within Director: Hironobu Sakaguchi Columbia Pictures, 2001 Silent running Director: Douglas Trumbull Universal Pictures, Trumbull/Gruskoff Productions, 1972

Internet Climate Change: Nasa <http://climate.nasa.gov> *sientific maps on climate change Global Dialogue: Allianz Knowledge Site <http://knowledge.allianz.com/> * Knowledgebase of global issues Biogeosciences <http://biogeosciences.net/> * Public Peer-Review & Interactive Public Discussion Global Issues <http://www.globalissues.org/> *"Social, Political, Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All" Munich Re Touch <http://www.munichre.com/touch/naturalhazards/en/natcatservice/focus_ analyses.aspx> * Knowledgebase of global issues

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Swiss Re Center for Global Dialogue <http://cgd.swissre.com/global_dialogue/topics/sustainability/> * Knowledgebase of global issues The Energy Report, 100% renewable energy by 2050 <http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/climate_carbon_energy/energy_solut ions/renewable_energy/sustainable_energy_report/> *Research report of WWF in collaboration with ECOFYS and OMA/AMO

Energy resources and consumption: Europe’s Energy Portal <http://www.energy.eu/> * european official statistics on energy (consumption, sources, prices, routes etc) Greenpeace <http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/climatechange/energyrevolution/> * greenpeace energy statistics National Atlas <http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/people/a_energy.html> * US government statistics on energy (consumption, sources, etc) Wikipedia on World Energy Resources and Consumption <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_resources_and_consumption> * wiki entry: genral overview

Science: Yale Open University <http://oyc.yale.edu/> *open yale university, physics etc. See youtube vid below as sample. Yale Open University, Fundamentals of Physics <http://oyc.yale.edu/physics/fundamentals-ofphysics/content/sessions/lecture23.html> * Yale University Open Course: "Fundamentals of Physics" Yale Open University, Second Law of Thermosynamics <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeNBWsZHXTE> * Sample: Second law of Thermodynamics, fundamentels of physics, Yale University (approx 61 min) Yale Open University, Global Problems of Population Growth <http://oyc.yale.edu/molecular-cellular-and-developmental-biology/globalproblems-of-population-growth/content/sessions/lecture18.html> * Yale University Open Course: "Global Problems of Population Growth"

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Database of real world sensors Pachube <http://www.pachube.com/> *ip network/database of real world sensors

Arduino: Physical Computing Firefly Experiments <http://www.fireflyexperiments.com/> *grasshopper plugin how to connect ARDUINO phsical computing plattform Arduino <http://www.arduino.cc/> *open source electronic prototyping Jeremy Rifkin <http://www.foet.org/JeremyRifkin.htm> *president of the Foundation on Economic Trend <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Rifkin> *wiki sumup <http://books.google.com/books?id=jbxALGnqobAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=rifkin +empathic+civilisation&hl=en&ei=ikzFTIj3OIntsga7rbDTCA&sa=X&oi=book_result& ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false> *Recent book from J.Rifkin: "The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis" <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AWnfFRc7g> *RSA animation illustrating a Jeremy Rifkin lecture explaining emapthy (approx 10 min) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-7BjeHepbA> *Jeremy Rifkin speech on empathy (approx 50 min)

Screenshot of Jeremy Rifkin speech on empathy

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Resource Samplers

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Unit Staff Tutors: Enric Ruiz Geli studied architecture in Barcelona. In 1997 he founded Cloud 9, an interdisciplinary architectural team which works at the interface between architecture and art, digital processes and technological material development. Cloud 9 is based in Barcelona. Enric Ruiz Geli has completed several buildings such as the Media-ICT in Barcelona, Villa Nurbs in Emporiabrava, Plaza del Milenio in Valladolid and Villa Bio in Figueres. The office is currently working on the El Bulli Foundation in Rosas. The work of Cloud 9 has been published in the Financial Times, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, El Pais as well as in various architectural magazines such as Icon, Dwell Magazine, GA House, Wired, Verb and Domus. The work of Cloud 9 has been shown in exhibitions around the world including the Venice Architecture Biennale. Work of Cloud 9 has been acquired by the MoMA collection in New York as well as the ArchiLab FRAC collection in Orleans. Enric Ruiz Geli has been lecturing in various universities such as the Columbia University, UCLA, Princeton University, the Architectural Association and the Bartlett School of Architecture. Edouard Cabay graduated from the Architectural Association in 2005. He has worked for Foreign Office Architects and Anorak and is currently working in Cloud 9 as internal director, where he has been running various international projects. Juliane Wolf is an architect based in London and studied environmental design at the AA. She worked for Studio/Gang/Architects in Chicago and is co-founder of büro blickpunkt, a research team focusing on material expression and identity.

Collaboration: Nora Graw graduated from the Master Class of Greg Lynn at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna and within the Cloud 9 team compiles and conducts the research agenda contained in the Third Industrial Revolution to develop design strategies for Cloud 9’s projects. Konrad Hofmann graduated from the masterclass Zaha Hadid Studio Vienna in 2008. He has worked for Cloud 9 as project architect on international projects such as the Bahrain Polytechnic University of the Audi Urban Future Awards. He teaches parametric computation as a visiting lecturer.

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Thomas Koetz has a Masters in Landscape Ecology, a Master in Ecological Economics and a PhD in International Environmental Politics. He has worked in overseas development projects in Peru, Mexico and India and as consultant for the United Nation Environmental Programme. He is currently working for the European Commission responsible for environmental research policy. Buro Happold offers leadership and strategic consulting for the built environment that incorporates the technical expertise of a high level engineering firm and the business and economics skills of a management consultancy to deliver integrated projects Pep Bou began his theatrical career in the second half of the seventies and came to found several companies until 1982, he began to perform solo with the drama of soap bubbles. Tecnalia is the largest Research & Technology centre in Southern Europe, working in R+D in a 20 different business units, from Industrial systems and processes to Sustainable Development, from Transport & Mobility to ICT. The Construction Business Unit, as part of the Sustainable Development Division, is heavily focused in the linkage of cutting-edge technology and expertise in a wide range of knowledge areas in order to develop products, processes and know how to achieve a more sustainable urban environment, in scales ranging from the nano to the territory. Enric Ruiz Geli belongs to the scientific Research Committee since 2006.

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