codelab

CoDeLab

Presentation: It is now a fact that computer use in the design world has brought about a complete, irreversible transformation. Computers open up a new way of working which is not only more efficient, but also offers new options. It allows us to research, experiment and create systems that self-organise or emerging systems.

Design: On this postgraduate course we will focus on the relevance of these new digital paradigms in the design process. The programme offers morphogenesis processes (form and space design), experimenting with genetic engine software and operating with scripting and parametrics. With these digital tools we will establish a guide for creating formal systems, which will become habitable architectural spaces.

Production: New technologies also lead us to new production processes (rapid manufacturing and digital fabrication), which result in non-standard architectural formulations. Mass production processes no longer depend on repetition, but rather on a digital mechanical system that is constantly reconfigured. We will study all of these production techniques and apply them to our projects and designs.

Thought: A far cry from the modernist movement and architectural rationalism in the strictest sense, words such as postmodernism, deconstructivism and minimalism have lost their contemporary resonance.

There is no sign of any dominant style on the horizon that may be taken as a reference. Meanwhile, every day we are witnessing a clear revolution in the design of form creation and information control processes, in both material and virtual terms, which is clearly caused by the digital era. It appears that if we go into these new design and creation scenarios in a digital environment, they will lead us to the new avant-garde.

We therefore have international teaching staff who are experts in the subject and have made major contributions to the design scene and contemporary architecture.

Objectives: -Provide students with a competitive and innovative professional profile that combines the latest criteria, trends and project tools.

-Provide students with the theoretical grounding enabling them to speak about space and architectural design strategies, going into the new paradigms of the digital environment.

-Stress the predominant role of studying digital manufacturing and production systems, which are less conventional and more innovative, but widely used in fields as developed as the motor industry and aeronautics.

-Encourage research and exploration of the project process to produce new project results and therefore open up new areas of thought or reflection.

CoDeLab Begoña Gassó Palop

2010_2011

Direction of the Master: Jordi Truco Licensed Architect from the ETSAB. MArch Emergent Technologies and Design in the Architectural Association School of London.

Codelab Teaching Staff: Marco Verde

Marcel Bilurbina

Civil engineer from the University of Cagliari.

Master in Biodigital architecture from the UIC. Director Hyperbody Research Team at the University of Architecture of Delft.

Licensed Architect from the ETSAB. Master in Digital art from Pompeu Fabra University.

Programming expert

Roger Páez Pau Solá de Morales Licensed architect from ETSAB. Doctor in architecture from Harvard.

Professor in the University of Rovira i Virgili.

David Lorente Graphic designer in Actar-Birkhauser.

Licensed architect from the ETSAB. MArch GSAPP in Columbia University

Gorka de Lecea Licensed architect from the University of Pamplona.

Master in Advanced Design and Digital Architecture from Elisava and Pompeu Fabra University.

Speakers: Marta Malé Licensed architect from the ETSAB. Acting Director in IAAC. Principal in Malé-Alemany Architects.

Neil Leach Architect and theorist.

Professor of architecture and aesthetics at the University of Brighton.

Professor at South California School of Architecture.

Lluis Ortega Architecture critic.

Master in Advanced Design and Digital Architecture

In the first part of the thesis - biodelab - emergence was studied as a phenomenon of selforganization in the materia. Understanding self-organization as a dynamic and adaptive process through which systems are able to maintain the structure without external control.

The study of these processes of self-organization of material systems aims to achieve the optimization of forms and their performance capabilities.

In the second part of this thesis - codelab - emergence is studied through computer techniques. By developing a dynamic system of agents interacting through simple rules we are trying to generate intelligent behaviour in the project area. We say that an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that increase their chances of success. In computer science, the “evolutionary computation” is a sub field of artificial intelligence. This is the general term for several computational techniques that are based in some way in the evolution of biological life in the natural world. Of course the future of computational processes will be fully involved on the “evolutionary computation”, for their clear utility in the selection and optimization progress.

Our aim to generate this intelligent agent, is to optimise solutions for the urban proposal.

Focusing on these processes, we try to achieve self-organization of systems, and generation of complex solutions from simple rules. We let the system govern to generate this results.

These two studies about emergence in architecture, are two different approaches to developing adaptative complex systems in our cities.

The research is described through a theoretical and a practical approach in which all the knowledge acquired is applied.

genetic versus generative

computacional laboratory

digital morphogenesis

digital fabrication program training

GENERATIVE ARCHITECTURE The new generation from Peter Eisenman to Greg Lynn

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THE GENETIC CODE Biological and Philosophycal approach

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GENETIC ARCHITECTURE

DATA COLLECTION AND SITE STUDY Site interest 15 hours filming Comparing two video frames Motion analysis with Processing Video/reality correspondance points Information units Pixel/area equivalence

211 215 217 219 223 224 227

emergent system Scenario and settings

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DIGITAL TECTONICS Tectonics studies Structural studies Porosity studies Porosity control. solar analema Thermoforming casts

Architecture as a complex reality

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Autonomous agents and behaviours Visualization of the system Emergent system Processing states Pulsant equilibrium

235 237 239 240 245

INTELLIGENT PATTERNS Diachronic analysis Strategies Intelligent patterns states Area of intervention

249 251 253 257

URBAN STUDIES 265 267 268 272 273

From data to tectonics Urban intervention Urban morphology Topology New connections Program distribution Urban sections Views of the proposal

277 278 281 283 285 287 288 290

LABORATORY OF DIGITAL FABRICATION Cad/Cam systems Rapid prototyping Laser cut Milling process Final model

300 301 302 304 306

PROCESSING Computer Programming Architectonic examples

314 315

BIBLIOGRAPHY Codelab Bibliography

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genetic Vs generative

Since the Modern Movement began to fade away, which happened at the same time as markedly stylistic historicist revisions, architectural theory has shown great interest in positivist design methodologies.

Studies of architectural complexity and dynamic systems have stirred renewed interest in networks, bottom-up methods, adaptive systems, genetics and the automatic creation of form as the fundamentals of a new generation of design techniques.

Furthermore, the universalisation of digital technologies in the last decade has made it possible, once and for all, to make the necessary verifications and produce clear results of all this research.

The seminar will focus on new methodologies that offer a wider range of possibilities for architecture and set up solid bridges between theory and praxis, by providing new ways of designing.

Pau Solรก Morales, Introduction to design and computation theory

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genetic Vs generative! generative architecture

GENenetic versus GENenerative Genetic and generative concepts, are two related but different concepts. By studying these concepts applied to architecture is intended to show how the foundations of generative architecture are based in the modern tradition, while the genetic approach proposes the foundation of a new contemporary architectural thinking.

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GENerative In generative grammar, language is considered as a finite set of rules that can produce or generate an infinite number of sentences that can occur in any natural language.

The generative design is the method by which a design is generated by a set of rules (algorithm).

Applied to architecture, generative methodology consists of the recombination of architectural elements and their transformation recursively: given one or more initial forms and a set of predefined transformation rules, new forms can be generated by applying the rules to the initial forms, and can apply these or other rules to each of the intermediate forms on until reaching the final forms. This generative machinery is what is known a formal system.

generative grammar

Shape grammars formalism

form al s ys t e m A formal system is a mental device, an invention of logic and mathematics, which tries to capture the essential peculiarities of a given context.

Composed of: A) a finite set of symbols. ABCDE ....

B) Syntax: Symbol strings and string formation rules.

C) Grammar: Production rules to generate new strings.

D) Axioms, not produced but assumed as part of a system.

The Turing machine is a formal systems and is the simplest concept of a computer. The concept was invented in 1936 by Alan Turing.

Is important to highlight, however, that the formal system is defined only based on an internal logic, and that it only establishes a mechanical operation for self-generation. There is therefore no indication of the significance of each of the members of the system. There are in formal systems no indication of the relationship they have with the phenomena they represent, they are arbitrary and unmotivated.

r= shape rule 1

r= shape rule 2

Generation of shape using the shape grammar

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genetic Vs generative! generative architecture

The concepts of symbol, string and grammar can be extended to the formal field of architecture. An example of such formal system is the classical orders (Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, etc..), Where the elements (columns, pilasters, walls, capitals and mouldings several) can be combined with each other to form larger pieces, such as porches, sheds, walls, gables, etc.. , And eventually entire buildings.

The system is fully determined by the choice of a specific order, including the rules of formation of the elements, including combinatorics and the proportions between the parties. The axiom of classical order would be a module that sets the rules to generate all elements proportionately.

f ro m Pe t e r Ei s e nm an n to Greg Lyn n This technique called generative has benefited historically great popularity in architecture from the s. XV, and has been used by architects and writers from Palladio to Le Corbusier, from Alexander to Durand.

Albertian usage of columns, archs and entablatures.

Palladian Villas

Crossing styles and periods, we might add the architecture of the commonly named “New York Five�: Peter Eisenman, Robert Graves, Charles Gwathmey, John Hejduk and Richard Meier. Their works, especially Eisenman designs for houses I to X, are based on autonomous geometric shapes that are distorted and transformed according to the dictates of grammar, as is shown in his generative diagrams.

Eisenman Houses I-X

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More recently, a new generation of young architects have used the calculation power of computers to make a quantum leap in the application of generative techniques to create “computer-generated forms.” Are paradigmatic examples of this tendency organic forms architectures by architects such as Greg Lynn, Hani Rashid, Ben van Berkel, Lars Spuybroek or even Peter Eisenmann. The software used in the automobile industry, aerospace and cinematographic, with geometrical great power, has made possible to generate forms entirely innovative, supposedly breaking the rationalist tradition of the box and the “form follows function.”

fo r ma l Revo lu tion The concurrence of new geometric formulas (such as meshes, NURBS, patches, and other tools of differential geometry) and the doubled power of computers has meant a formal revolution. However, this higher generative power and this freedom for representation, has been interpreted as a change of paradigm and as the emergence of a new architecture.

This lack of boundaries in practice, has allowed also an extolling of the technology itself, having been baptized this “new” architecture as digital architecture, virtual, cyber-architecture or hyper-architecture. Although formally exists in these trends a rupture with Modernity tradition, there is no such fracture in the background, but only a vast expansion of the space of possibilities decisively facilitated by the use of digital computers.

But the widespread use of these digital devices has not yet released the architect of the modern tradition as is intended, but rather the contrary.

For its own internal logic, and the acceptance of a number of assumptions, the computer has assumed these generative architectures even more in the model of modernity.

There is still much of linear, simple, rational, formal, static, closed and logical in the current flows of generative architecture. And very little of complex, dynamic, chaotic, informal, adaptive, open, different, or rhizomatic.

BlobWall, Greg Lynn

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genetic Vs generative! the genetic code

GENetic Although genetic and generative shared a distant root ([gen-]: to produce, engender, be born), both terms refer to two different paradigms referred to a more or less automatic generation of objects.

The concept of genetic is significantly different and may suggest ways totally unexplored, bringing new ideas to the methodology and the creative process.

B i ology a pproach . Frijtof C apra Fritjof Capra (born February 1, 1939) is an Austrian-born American physicist.He is a founding director of the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, California, and is on the faculty of Schumacher College.

Capra is the author of several books, including The Tao of Physics (1975), The Turning Point (1982), Uncommon Wisdom (1988), The Web of Life (1996), and The Hidden Connections (2002).

His work is about a new understanding of life, based on the concepts of non-linear dynamics.

Frijtof Capra

t he li v i ng s yst e ms All life consists of cells. The simplest living cell is a bacterial cell.

Which are the defining characteristics of life?

1_ A cell is a metabolic network.

2_ It is bounded by a membrane that distinguishes it from the external environment.

3_ The cellular network is materially and energetically open. This means that the cell cannot live alone with no context.

4_ It needs a continuous flow of energy and matter to be produced, to be regenerated and to perpetuate itself.

5_ It operates in a state of non-equilibrium, where new structures can emerge spontaneously and new forms of order. The state of nonequilibrium means that there is a continuous flow of energy and change of its components, but there is also stability.

6_ A bigger flow of energy can produce instability and consequently can emerge new structures and forms. This is evolution! f ro m ge ne t i c t o e pigen etic The genetic term has been always associated to the generative term.

This is because of the connection between the genetic dogma and the formal system.

We can describe the genetic code as: bases (ATCG) that are strings (genes) that are copied into mRNA, which is carried to the ribosomes where proteins are made according to existing instructions table. The resulting generative system has the virtues of being easily formalizable.

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But, in the living system there is not only a genetic system but also an epigenetic system. The genetic system is linear and is about the unitary elements, while the epigenetic system is about the context. It is a nonlinear, dynamical and chaotic system. It is possible to outline its components but very difficult to determine its outcome.

Ph i lo so p h y a pproach. Deleuze a nd G uat tari Deleuze (1925–95) was a professional philosopher, and Guattari (1930– 92) was a psychiatrist and political activist. When they collaborated, their individual voices cannot be separated out and they seem to dissolve into one another.

They wrote together two volumes with the title Capitalism and Schizophrenia – volume 1, Anti-Oedipus (1972); volume 2, A Thousand Plateaus (1980).

Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari use the term “rhizome” and “rhizomatic” to describe theory and research that allows for multiple, non-hierarchical entry and exit points in data representation and interpretation. r hiz o m e “The rhizome is an acentered, nonhierarchical, nonsignifying system without a General and without an organizing memory or central automation, defined only by a circulation of states”.

The rhizome is characterized by six principles (“approximate characteristics”) – all active simultaneously – described in the introduction chapter of Thousand Plateaus: Principles 1_ Connectivity – the capacity to aggregate by making connections at any point on and within itself.

2_ Heterogeneity – the capacity to connect anything with anything other, the linking of unlike elements.

3_ Multiplicity – consisting of multiple singularities synthesized into a “whole” by relations of exteriority.

4_ A signifying rupture – not becoming any less of a rhizome when being severely ruptured, the ability to allow a system to function and even flourish despite local “breakdowns”, thanks to deterritorialising and reterritorialising processes.

5_ Cartography – described by the method of mapping for orientation from any point of entry within a “whole”, rather than by the method of tracing that re-presents an a priori path, base structure or genetic axis.

6_ Decalcomania – forming through continuous negotiation with its context, constantly adapting by experimentation, thus performing a non-symmetrical active resistance against rigid organization and restriction.”

Félix Guattari and Gilles Deleuze

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genetic Vs generative! the genetic code

t ree Vs r h i z o m e The rhizome as a root system that spreads endlessly not according to an arborescent model with vertical and linear connections, but with horizontal and trans-species connections.

The model of the tree is hierarchical and centralised, whereas the rhizome is proliferating and serial, functioning by means of the principles of connection and heterogeneity. The rhizome is a multiplicity.

Grass would be an example of a plant that exhibits rhizomatic behavior in its capacity to spread.

Tree

Rhizome

ra b b it war re n A rhizome, specifically, is an underground stem different from the root, instead of clinging to the earth, is mobile and difficult to catch. Thus the rhizomatic model suggests thinking that any element of a structure can affect each other no matter their position or rank.

Rhizome has no beginning or end; it is always in the middle, between things, interbeing, intermezzo.� A Rhizome has multiple entrances and connections.

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ge ne ra t i ve gram mar Vs cut-up Generative grammars described by Noam Chomsky in the 1950s are a set of rules that will correctly predict which combinations of words will form grammatical sentences, and the rules will also predict the morphology of a sentence.

According to this view, a sentence is not merely a string of words, but rather a tree with subordinate and super ordinate branches connected at nodes.

William Burroughs, subverted received narrative through ‘Cut Up,’ THAT IS: The familiar made strange, prescribed meaning denied.

We can consider “Cut Up” techniques as a form of a rhizome.

“Linear readings deprive us of countless daydreams”, Gaston Bachelard

Noam Chomsky generative grammar

William Burroughs

d a d a p o e t ry We can even do dada poetry with computers: to simulate rhizomatic lecture with transformation rules. turns:

into:

Take a newspaper.

Take a pair of scissors.

Choose an article as long as you are planning to make your poem.

Cut out the article.

Then cut out each of the words that make up this article and put them in a bag.

Shake it gently.

Then take out the scraps one after the other in the order in which they left the bag.

Copy conscientiously.

The poem will be like you.

And here you are a writer, infinitely original and endowed with a sensibility that is charming though beyond the understanding of the vulgar.

gently. charming them Then. each words the Cut are. cut scraps in Then article. order it make with. pair planning newspaper. article endowed understanding. are original Shake vulgar that. out in an And. out make be the and. as to this in scissors.. will other the the sensibility. out as of bag. take the. that Choose writer,. is the article. one a poem put.

Take the Copy you your long a. you. the after like bag. and left up. which infinitely a though Take poem. they. beyond here The a of of a.

“Recipe for making a dadaist poem” .Python script to turn text into dada poetry. Tim Vets, 2009

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genetic Vs generative! the genetic code

“Auto cut-up�, Tim Vets, 2009

t he Wo r ld W i d e We b http: //www

The World Wide Web can be seen as a rhizome: it has a no direction, there is not a single direction of lecture when you surf on the internet, it operates with hyperlinks connected.

It is a global system of interconnected computer networks, and has no central governance. It has enabled or accelerated new forms of human interactions.

NewYorkTimes Cascade visualization of news sharing on Twitter

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p e rs o na l ne t works As CAPRA said, a living being or a CELL cannot exist isolated but in relation with others and with its context, DELEUZE assert that the individual identity doesn’t exist without his social relations.

1. Colors represent the place of residence of the alteri: Black = Sevilla White = Alcalá Grey = Other 2. The size of the nodes correspond to the multiplexity of support provided by each alter.

3. The size of the links corresponds to the strength of the relationship between alteri.

[Network data visualized with NetDraw]

Representative sample of personal networks of General Population residing in Alcalá de Guadaíra (Seville, Spain)

An example of a auto organized system can be seen in the recent Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions: there was no single leader, that they were all leaders contributing to the goal of change in Egypt.

Often people define arborescent as strong ties versus weak ties of the Rhizome and the network, but they miss that rhizomatic formations are precisely strong, the difference is the form of organization. Rhizomes are tied to every node, for one.

Wael Ghonim a Google Executive in Egypt, he recently said that:

“Our revolution is like Wikipedia. Everyone is contributing content, [but] you don’t know the names of the people contributing the content. This is exactly what happened. Revolution 2.0 in Egypt was exactly the same. Everyone contributing small pieces, bits and pieces. We drew this whole picture of a revolution.

And no one is the hero in that picture.”

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genetic Vs generative! genetic architecture

r hizo m at i c ur b an i sm Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari write little about urbanism, and yet the notion of the city somehow reinforces much of their thinking. For Deleuze and Guattari, the city operates as a complex form of material computation that “represents a threshold of derritorialisation”. They describe the city as a network, a phenomenon of transconsistency that “exists only as a function of circulation, and of circuits”. For cities themselves must be understood as amalgams of “processes”, as spaces of vectorial flows that “adjust” to differing inputs and impulses, like selfregulating system.

The model of the rhizome has much to contribute to a discourse on urbanism. What makes the rhizome so suggestive is that it is always relational. It has to do with an interaction.

Central to the principle of rhizome is the principle of “becoming”, of forming a relationship with the other, where the one deterritorializes the other. By extension, we could understand the city as forming a rhizome with its inhabitants. This opens up an intriguing way of understanding the relationship between humans as “agents” within this system and the fabric of the city as a form of exoskeleton to human operations. We need to distinguish between the city as a site of material composition –as an amalgam of traces of construction- and the city as the site of spatial practices. The former can be read in terms of an accretion of material deposits, and the latter can be read in terms of choreographies of agents whose freedom of movement is constrained by these material deposits.

There is, therefore, in Deleuzian terms, a form of reciprocal presupposition between city and occupants. The city modifies its occupants, no less Rio de Janeiro, Favela Rocinhaa

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than the occupants modify the city. Over time fabric of the city evolves through interaction with its inhabitants, and-conversely-the inhabitants evolve through interaction with the fabric of the city.

The task of design therefore would be to anticipate what would have evolved over time from the interaction between inhabitants and city. In we adopt the notion of “scenario planning” that envisages the potential choreographies of use within a particular space in the city, we can see that in effect the task of design is to “fast forward” that process of evolution, so that we envisage the way in which the fabric of the city would have evolved in response to the impulses of human habitation. These impulses are likewise constrained and influenced by that fabric in a form of unending feedback loop between inhabitants and city, than echoes the relationship between wasp and orchid.

What makes such a model so provocative for urbanism is that it suggests that we need to challenge the commonly held opposition between a notion of a static model of the city and a mobile model of its habitants.

For what their model suggests is that the city itself should be viewed as a part of a dynamic process of interaction.

G EN etic A rc hi t e c t u re a rchi t e ct u re a s a compl ex system We can contemplate the architecture (and especially the creative process) as a complex information system, where a multitude of simple elements interact with each other to make emerge a more complex system. For this purpose, we can use computational simulation techniques.

Although simulation is a closed formal system, its interpretation and meaning is a higher level organization.

The properties of complex systems are: 1_ Are formed by a large number of components interacting each other: network pattern.

2_ Properties of any network: non linearity, interaction and feedback loops.

3_ Stable network are not in equilibrium but are not chaotic systems.

4_ Are open systems, complex adaptative systems. Exchange matter and energy with the environment.

5_ Are dissipative systems. This exchange of energy/matter requires of more energy.

The system steals “order” from the environment and yield disorder.

Seen this way, we can envision new ways of generating forms based no longer on generative systems, but an approximation to the complex, so that we learn to create (not just form, but architecture) in non-linear, dynamic and open contexts.

computacional laboratory The whole research project presented here has been done in collaboration with Belén López Torres The tutoring of the project was carried out by: Marcel Bilurbina, Roger Páez i Blanch, Jordi Truco

It is already well accepted that the sudden growth in computing in the field of design has marked a definitive point. The computer opens us up to its own logic, enabling us to operate not only in a more optimal way but also to move into new forms of logic. It enables us to research, experiment and create emergent systems and those that self-organize. We can even design systems that perceive their environment and perform actions that increase their chances of success.

We already are far away from the continental modernistic tradition, and even farther from the European rationalism in architecture. At a time when words like postmodernism, deconstructivism and minimalism have lost their contemporary ring and no new dominant styles have been glimpsed on the horizon to serve as benchmarks, an unprecedented transformation is, however, taking place in the core of architectural practice. And the causes include the impact of technology, information systems and production processes. Theoretical manifestos seem to have only a relative influence, if any at all, on new architectural trends, which appear to be guided mainly by the effects of the economic and social systems, along with constantly evolving production demands. The new markets that are emerging all over the world and the transformation of the social context combined with these new techniques have enabled us to include new design possibilities in our approach to architectural practice. These techniques allow us to develop proposals based on methodologies such as “thinking while experimenting”, which bring us back to the Deleuzian concept of “thinking as doing”. So, it seems that as we enter into these new scenarios, we will be going into new ground-breaking territory.

At the computational design laboratory, we will focus on the relevance that these new digital paradigms have to the process of design. The program presents morphogenetic processes (design of shapes and spaces), and includes experimenting with genetic engine software, programming, operating with scripting and parametric. Using these digital tools, we will establish our own language for creating shape systems that become architectural and habitable spaces.

Jordi Truco, Introduction to computational design laboratory

DATA COLLECTION AND SITE STUDY Plaza Lesseps, Barcelona

“Cartography is a practice which, in its efforts to describe reality, is revealed to us as a partial, specific and concrete interpretation. Any representation of reality is simply one possible representation of reality, one manner (intentional or not) of reducing reality to one limited aspect, making certain traits or characteristics evident.

But it is precisely by virtue of this partiality, specificity and limited quality, that the mapped reality becomes apprehendable”.

Roger Páez i Blanch, Operative Cartographies and Behavioural Maps

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computacional laboratory! data collection and site study

[ Plaรงa Lesseps, 25th of may of 2011]

Our first feeling about Plaรงa Lesseps was the absolute chaos: people, buses, cars, everything seemed to be moving.

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[ Plaça Lesseps, 25th of may of 2011]

SIT E A N D F I R ST I D E AS movement analysis The idea for the analysis of Plaça Lesseps was to study Change or Motion.

As motion is a dynamic data, we thought to save the data with an animated device as a webcam. We looked for open live webcams in Plaça Lesseps, as security cameras, to get real time data. But we couldn´t find any.

Plaça Lesseps is quite a big space, to be able to capture all with the focus of the camera we had to film from two different points in the plaza. From the terrace of the highest building in Plaça Lesseps and from the balcony of one building located in the east side of the plaza, we prepared all the devices and computers for the filming.

Then, we decided to record videos of Plaça Lesseps and store the data.

We did 15 hours of filming, from 5:30 am To 20:30 pm.

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Creative webcam 1,3 Mp.

Logitech webcam 1,3 Mp.

Sony handicam SLP 3Mp.

Computer to save data

Filter for the cameras

Gadgets to fix the cameras

Recording simultaneously with three different devices.

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CAMERA 1

CAMERA 2

Sony Handicam and Logitech webcam recording

Creative webcam recording

Original information: 640 x 480 pixels Frames per second: 15 fps [307.200p = 307Mp]

Original information: 640 x 480 pixels Frames per second: 15 fps [307.200p = 307Mp]

15 hours video filming [2011.03.23 from 5:30am to 20:30pm] We tried to avoid differences working with two different videos, by doing the same steps for both: as filming with the same quality and same frames per second.

We also tried to avoid problems of overexposed and problems of humidity (rainy days), by using proper filters for the cameras.

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FRAME2

FRAME1

Thereshold 80

Thereshold 70

Thereshold 60

Thereshold 50

Thereshold 40

Thereshold 30

Thereshold 20

Thereshold 10

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comparing 2 video frames The idea of motion analysis is to compare pixel variation between a frame and the previous one with Processing.

tions of colour red, green and blue.

Consequently, we are able to avoid the noise produced by the shadows and the light.

Changing the threshold of the programming in Processing it is possible to control the amount of difference between the func-

As a result, we got a really interesting way of measuring the movement by using a recorded video.

//If colour or alpha of a pixel has changed, then there is MOTION in that pixel, then paint it in black//

640 x 480 pixels

80 x 60 pixels

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motion analysis: first and second step of the Processing code

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motion analysis: third and fourth step of the Processing code

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computacional laboratory! data collection and site study

noise

useful data original information 1 frame 640x480p 1 information unit = 1pixel

noise

useful data compressed information 1 frame 640x480p 1 information unit = 8x8pixels

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video/reality correspondance points

useful data

1 information unit = numer of pixels that have changed in one frame 1 information unit = 8x8pixels

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information areas 1 pixelated frame 640x480p

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information units / % dynamism Each information unit of the video (each pixel) has a correspondence area in the reality.

(all WHITE).

So we mapped this numbers from zero to one hundred percent.

The video frame measures (640) six hundred and forty by (480) four hundred and eighty pixels, it was divided in quadrants of (80) eighty by (40) forty, that is (3200) three thousand and two hundred pixel areas.

Then we obtained a percentage of pixel variation for each quadrant, this number can be read as motion or amount of motion in one area, but has no direction or velocity.

So we named it as amount of dynamism inherent or characteristic of each area in certain analysed time zone.

Frame by frame, the maximum number of pixel variation in one quadrant is (3200) three thousand and two hundred (all BLACK), and the minimum variation is (0) zero

We started to intuit motion patterns related to time.

221

dynamism n.

1. Any of various theories or philosophical systems that explain the universe in terms of force or energy.

2. A process or mechanism responsible for the development or motion of a system.

3. Continuous change, activity, or progress.

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computacional laboratory! data collection and site study

Perspective machine [Albercht D端rer, 1952]

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pixel /area equivalence After collecting and processing all the data, we translated the information areas of the video to the correspondent areas of the site in plan.

Thus we obtain the distorted frames and quadrants to transfer the information extracted from the video to the project area plan.

We applied a perspective distortion to the plane video frame. First, we applied a distortion of the Y axis according to the proximity to the cameras. And after, we applied a distortion of the X axis with the perspective of the camera focus.

As each quadrant distorted has a different size, we transform the data into a grid of 10 x 10m.

From this point we manage motion values related to an equal area.

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computacional laboratory! data collection and site study

camera 1

camera 2 plaรงa Lesseps plan 0

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dynamism data 287 data Points

EMERGENT SYSTEm Analysis with Processing

Emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. Emergence is central to the theories of levels of organization and complex systems.

Centered on these processes, we work to achieve self-organization of systems, and generation of complex forms from simple rules. This required working with programming and establish rules and digital algorithms. Therefore we let them govern the systems to generate these results.

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computacional laboratory! emergent system

229

路 boundary limits the action space (camera recorded area)

路 dataPoints position= 10x10grid of points of (100m2 areas) value= motion data result of the analysis with Processing of Plaza Lesseps

路 Boids initial position = 250 points from the boundary initial velocity = (0,0,0)

路 site 500 x 500m

scenario and settings 32% of dynamism

Visualization of dynamism data

dataPoint

0% of dynamism

After having analysed the dynamism in Plaza Lesseps, we introduced this data in the virtual scenario that we made in Processing.

This scenario is composed of 287 dataPoints which are the dynamism data localized in a grid of 10x10m and 250 boids which are autonomous agents with a initial velocity of (0,0,0) starting from the boundary, which is the limit of the action space recorded with the video camera.

The autonomous agents are generic simulated flocking particles and are used to simulate natural complex behaviours .

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computacional laboratory! emergent system

processing state 1. boids acceleration

autonomous agents An autonomous agent is a computational system that acquires sensory data from its environment and decides by itself how to relate the external stimulus to its behaviours in order to attain certain goals.

structural flexibility, reliability through redundancy, adaptability, and reconfigurability in real-world tasks, some researchers have started to address the issue of multiagent cooperation.

Responding to different stimuli received from its task environment, the agent may select and exhibit different behavioural patterns. The behavioural patterns may be carefully predefined or dynamically acquired by the agent based on some learning and adaptation mechanism(s). In order to achieve

Broadly speaking, the power of autonomous agents lies in their ability to deal with unpredictable, dynamically changing environments. Agent-based systems are becoming one of the most important computer technologies, holding out many promises for solving real-world problems.

231

v1

v0

d1

boid radius v2

boid radius d2 d3

v3

1.boids flock position

2.boids velocity and direction

3.check distance between boids

vR boid radius

4.keep cohesion

boid radius

5.avoid collision with other boids

boid radius

6.seek target

autonomous agents rules and behaviours Our flocking model consists of three simple steering behaviours which describe how an individual boid maneuvers based on the positions and velocities its nearby flockmates: F1 · KEEP SEPARATION BETWEEN BOIDS AND AVOID COLLISION The boids start moving with our first function : “When a boid is close to another one, keep a distance between both and avoid collision”. This function gives movement to the boids, and force them to stay within a minimum of separation between both.

F5 · SEEK TARGET The boids are attracted by the datapoints ( value = % dynamism ).

There is a proportional relation between the attraction and the movement data value.

F6 · ADD VELOCITY WHEN A BOID PASS THROUGH A DATAPOINT Each time a boid pass near a datapoint, it gets an increment of velocity proportional to the datavalue. It is a movement field.

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computacional laboratory! emergent system

processing state 2. boids and data Points interacting

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frame1, beggining of the proccess, plain

frame20, plain

frame40, plain

frame60, perspective

frame80, perspective

frame100, perspective

frame120, section view

frame140, section view

frame160, section view

visualization of the system Series of images of the emergent system, in which boids/autonomous agents and dataPoints are interacting. DataPoints start the process with an original data (media of dynamism in Lesseps Square) but change of value depending on the behaviour of the boids.

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computacional laboratory! emergent system

vD

vD

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vB

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>>>

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>>>

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data Point value affects the velocity of the boids NEGATIVE FEEDBACK velocity of the boids affects the data Point value

feedback loops Feedback is a mechanism, process or signal that is looped back to control a system within itself. Such a loop is called a feedback loop. In our process feedback loops are really important, because each time a boid and a data Point interact there is a reaction and consequently the system get new information. The system get a higher level of organisation.

3

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data Point original value

data Point value ++

data Point value - -

data Points: 10x10m grid

BOIDS <> DATAPOINTS INTERACTIONS a 路 Change dataValue when a boid pass through a datapoint b 路 Each time a dataValue is changed by the Boids, an opposite reaction takes place in a aleatory dataPoint to keep the characteristic dynamism of the site, we don't increase the average dynamism of the site but we redistribute it.

EMERGENT SYSTEM Due to the interaction between boids and data Points, and the randomness that we have introduced in the system, we have developed an emergent system. A system that arise out of simple interactions between elements, and generate an intelligent behaviour.

The aim of the system is to get an equilibrium state of dynamism between the data Points and the boids!

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computacional laboratory! emergent system

frame1, beggining of the proccess, plain

frame20, plain

frame40, plain

frame60, perspective

frame80, perspective

frame100, perspective

frame120, section view

frame140, section view

frame160, section view

processing state 3. motion equilibrium In this state boids are connected depending on the distance, in order to get density patterns.

Red colour means distance smaller than 10m, green colour means distance smaller than 20m and yellow colour means distance smaller than 30m.

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frame1, beggining of the proccess, plain

frame40, perspective

frame80, perspective

frame120, perspective

frame160, perspective

frame200, perspective

frame240, perspective

frame280, perspective

frame320, perspective

processing state 4. infinite values In this state boids are connected depending on the distance and the dynamism Value is visualized in Z. Each time a boid pass through a data Point there is an increment in its value. Consequently, boids start leaving the Plaza and a new pattern start to emerge.

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computacional laboratory! emergent system

processing state 5. motion equalizer

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frame1, beggining of the proccess

frame40, perspective

frame80, perspective

frame120, perspective

frame160, perspective

frame200, perspective

frame240, perspective

frame280, perspective

frame320, perspective

processing state 5. motion equalizer In this state dataPoints [z = dynamismValue] are connected in rows to get a topography based on the velocity.

This is an easy way to see the develop of the system from the beggining to the equilibrium state.

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computacional laboratory! emergent system

flock cohesion

d1 min Boids distance

boid radius d2 d3

Boids position

maximum connections of one Boid

maximum connections of one Boid = 6

250 Boids x 6 = 1500 max connections overall

frame10, desequilibrium

frame50, desequilibrium

frame120, desequilibrium

frame160, instant equilibrium

frame200, desequilibrium

frame240, pulsant equilibrium

241

pulsant equilibrium

equilibrium state > 80% of the Boids are connected < 80% of the Boids are connected

INTELLIGENT PATTERNS Emergent Pattern Finding

We focus our design strategy on the creation of three-dimensional patterns by computational processes based on the animation elements.

Will an animate approach to architecture subsume traditional models of statics into a more advanced system of dynamic organizations?

computacional laboratory! intelligent patterns

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RELATIVE DYNAMISM = Maximum Dynamism in a dataPoint - Minimum Dynamism in a dataPoint

1_First we study the relative dynamism of the dataPoints, which is the dynamism over time from the beggining of the process to the state of equilibrium. maximum data

minimum data

2_We compare the relative dynamism of each dataPoint with the global average (inherent dynamism).

inherent dynamism = 3.5

3_We got the motion values with a dynamism relative smaller than the inherent dynamism.

diachronic analysis Study of relative dynamism, which is the probability of a motion value to change in a frame of time.

For instance, a motion value localized in the middle of the road where cars are passing all the time will have a data of dynamism relative very little while a motion value localized in a point with different movements during the day will have a data of dynamism relative very high.

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computacional laboratory! intelligent patterns

Relative Dynamism > X Relative Dynamism < X and > Inherent Dynamism Relative Dynamism < X and < Inherent Dynamism

Relative Dynamism in Plaza Lesseps... ... before the analysis with processing

Relative Dynamism visualized in Z, perspective of the plaza before the analysis with Processing

... after

Relative Dynamism visualized in Z, perspective of the plaza after the analysis with Processing

initial data / data after processing This is a visualization of the Dynamism in Plaza Lesseps, before and after the emergent system made with the code in Processing. This views represent how dynamism have to change from the initial desequilibrium state to the utopic equilibrium state. Areas with the smallest relative dynamism will be suitable for the architectonic program while areas with the biggest relative dynamism will be suitable for the public paths and ways.

247

Relative Dynamism < X and < Inherent Dynamism

processing data ---> new layers in plaza lesseps initial data ----> contact to the ground

initial data ---> Relative Dynamism < X and < Inherent Dynamism processing data ---> Relative Dynamism < X and < Inherent Dynamism

Chosen data from the analysis before and after Processing.

s tthe r aanalysis t e g i eofs plaza Lesseps, the areas with less motion were vertical planes In the data that we obteined from (facades, streetlights, etc) or changes of planes.

In the data that we obtained from the analysis of plaza Lesseps, the areas with less motion were vertical planes (facades, streetlights, etc) or changes Our project will emerge inofthe areas with less motion values transforming these areas from planes.

horizontal to vertical.

Our project will emerge in the areas with less motion values transforming these areas from horizontal to vertical.

computacional laboratory! intelligent patterns

248

simple connections

multiple connections

New Layers

New Layers

Contact to the ground

Relative dynamism < 6 maximum distance = 20m

plaça Lesseps plan 0

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plaça Lesseps plan 0

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plaça Lesseps plan 0

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Contact to the ground

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plaça Lesseps plan 0

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Relative dynamism < 8 maximum distance = 25m

plaça Lesseps plan 0

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Relative dynamism < 8 maximum distance = 30m

plaça Lesseps plan 0

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Pattern generated by the connection (with a maximum distance allowed) of dataPoints with relative dynamism < 6 before the analysis with Processing and afterwards

plaรงa Lesseps plan 0

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Intelligent Patterns. state 1 After having analysed the relative dynamism, we start doing a research about the emergent patterns we have obtained .

The first pattern we got was the result of connecting the initial data ( contact to the ground ) with the data after processing (new layers in plaza Lesseps).

The result is a 3D pattern with different densities and connections depending on the relative dynamism.

computacional laboratory! intelligent patterns

250

simple connections

multiple connections

New Layers

New Layers

Contact to the ground

Relative dynamism < 6 maximum distance = 20m

plaça Lesseps plan 0

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plaça Lesseps plan 0

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plaça Lesseps plan 0

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Contact to the ground

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plaça Lesseps plan 0

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Relative dynamism < 8 maximum distance = 25m

plaça Lesseps plan 0

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Intelligent Patterns. state 2 & 3 The second pattern obtained was the result of connecting the initial data (contact to the ground) with the areas of 10x10m corresponding to the points from the analysis with Processing. We got a first attempt to an architectonic proposal.

The next pattern we got was the result of connecting the initial data (contact to the ground) with the area proportional to the relative dynamism in each point.

Relative dynamism < 8 maximum distance = 30m

plaça Lesseps plan 0

10

50m

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simple connections

multiple connections

New Layers

New Layers

Contact to the ground

Relative dynamism < 6 maximum distance = 20m

plaรงa Lesseps plan 0

10

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plaรงa Lesseps perspective

Contact to the ground

Relative dynamism < 6 maximum distance = 25m

plaรงa Lesseps plan 0

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50m

Relative dynamism < 6 maximum distance = 30m

plaรงa Lesseps plan 0

10

50m

computacional laboratory! intelligent patterns

252

simple connections

multiple connections

New Layers

New Layers

Contact to the ground

Relative dynamism < 6 maximum distance = 20m

plaรงa Lesseps plan 0

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50m

Intervention area = 6951 m2

Contact to the ground

Relative dynamism < 6 maximum distance = 25m

Relative dynamism < 6 maximum distance = 30m

plaรงa Lesseps plan 0

10

plaรงa Lesseps plan

50m

0

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10

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Intervention area = 7698 m2

intelligent pattern . state 4 The last pattern studied was a result of connecting the initial data ( contact to the ground ) with themselves and with the data obtained from the analysis of Processing. It was interesting because we started to get polystructures.

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areas < 500m2

areas < 500m2

areas > 500m2

Section

area of intervention Finally, we chose the density of the pattern according to the area of intervention needed for the architectonic project. The program must have an overall area of 10000m2 and an intervention area of 7000m2.

digital morphogenesis The whole research project presented here has been done in collaboration with Bel茅n L贸pez Torres The tutoring of the project was carried out by: Marcel Bilurbina, Fernando Gorka de Lecea, Jordi Truco

Digital morphogenesis is a process of shape development enabled by computation. In architecture, digital morphogenesis is a group of methods that employ digital media for form-finding and adaptation in an aspiration to respond to contextual processes.

Morphogenesis pertains not only to the development of form and structure in an organism, but also to an organism´s evolutionary development over time.

By studying the complex and dynamic exchange between organisms and their environment a new model for architecture is beggining to emerge.

In this inclusive understanding, digital morphogenesis in architecture bears a largely analogous or metaphoric relationship to the processes of morphogenesis in nature, sharing with it the reliance on gradual development but not necessarily adopting or referring to the actual mechanisms of growth or adaptation.

Recent discourse on digital morphogenesis in architecture links it to a number of concepts including emergence, self-organization and form-finding.

Achim Menges, AD â&#x20AC;&#x153; Techniques and Technologies in Morphogenetic designâ&#x20AC;?

DIGITAL TECTONICS From data to tectonics

This part of the Design studio focuses on the development of morphologies with Grasshopper to achieve volumetric and spatial response related to the interaction between site and system.

We define a rule to convert in 3d surfaces the polystructures we already have as a system. By applying a new algorithm we simplify even more the diagrams and make them more comprehensive in terms of form.

This new polysurfaces start defining better the resultant morphologies in the site; which start having some tectonic qualities.

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digital morphogenesis! digital tectonics

step1, initial data and processing data

step2, volume generated

step3, connections

step4, 2D structure

step5, 3D structure

step6, 3D structure

Final digital tectonic

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tectonic studies

right view

left view

back view

front view

Perspectove view

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digital morphogenesis! digital tectonics

Origami structure

2D structure

Origami structure + textures

2D structure + texture

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structural studies Catalogue of structural solutions depending on the techniques of construction and the materials. >Origami structure >2D structure (plain surfaces) >3D structure (unroll surfaces) >3D structure (digital fabrication, CNC)

Plan view

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digital morphogenesis! digital tectonics

porosity studies The hyperbolic paraboloid is a doubly ruled surface, and thus can be used to construct a saddle roof from straight beams.

Series of studies of the porosity of the skin, using techniques in 2D and 3D.

Paraboloid A

Paraboloid B

Paraboloid C

Serie of paraboloids B

Serie of paraboloids A

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Structure + Skin

Texture A

Texture B.1

Texture B.2

Texture B.3

Texture C.1

Texture C.2

Texture C.3

Texture D.1

Texture D.2

Texture D.3

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structural studies

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1 2 0

Proposal of an unrolling structure.

Template of the structure for the laser cut.

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Renders of the structure

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porosity control An algorithm was made in Grasshopper to control the porosity of the skin in order to get the desire amount of light inside the space.

Solar analema, plan view

Solar analema, perspective view

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thermoforming casts Study of the porosity of the skin. A big effort was made to get surfaces that could be uncasted, to could use techniques of fabrication such as thermoforming ( vacuum) and CNC machines.

sections, front view

sections, front view

Solar analema > sun position > texture opening > num components U > num components V sections, back view

sections, left view

URBAN STUDIES Plaรงa Lesseps Metamorpho

The site chosen for the research is Plaรงa Lesseps by its complex road junction, its complex urban situation and for its confusing functional program.

We therefore have the opportunity to work the micro scale (components) , medium scale (building, skin, structure, system) and the macro scale (urban system and road system).

The proposal focus on the redefinition of the square central space, where a proliferation of a multifunctional architectural system is proposed as a new facility for the city.

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digital morphogenesis! urban studies

Control scenario

First Project Parameter: Relative Dynamism

Second Project Parameter: Max and Min Height

example, Min height:0 Max height:4o

example, Min height:0 Max height:5o

Third Project Parameter: Distance of connection

example, Min distance: 20 Max distance: 50

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example, Min distance: 20 Max distance: 30

example, Min distance: 10 Max distance: 50

Fourth Project Parameter: Height of floors

Intersection of planes

Fifth Project Parameter: Public and Private areas

Result: Intervention area

Each time we run processing a different solution is generated

Result: Overall Built area

from data to tectonics All the process was controlled with Grasshopper (plugin of Rhinoceros).

Grasshopper is a graphical algorithm editor tightly integrated with Rhinoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 3-D modelling tools. Works with association between parameters not with fixed data.

This is really useful, because each

time we change a parameter all the proposal change according to the new necessities.

The data extracted from Processing is converted into graphic information in Grasshopper. The data is organized systematically through a set of algorithmic and trigono-

metric operations, which define the structure and morphology of the proposal. Changing the maximum height of the proposal, or any of the control parameters instantly we get another formal reorganization.

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urban intervention Maximum Dynamism relative of the intervention: 20% Maximum Height: 30m Minimum Height: -10m Maximum distance of connection: 40m Minimum distance of connection:10m Height of floors : 4/8m Overall built area : 8065 m2 Intervention area : 2519 m2 Green area : 2500m2

Architectonic proposal, axonometry

Contact to the ground, axonometry

First Project Parameter: Relative Dynamism

First Project Parameter: Relative Dynamism

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Opened Out Axonometry

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Architectonic proposal perspective

Contact to the ground, perspective

urban morphology The result of dynamic forces in Plaรงa Lesseps has generated a new typology of urban forms. Patterns of motion and movement before the intervention will change to a more equilibrated ( in terms of dynamism ) space.

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digital morphogenesis! urban studies

Prototype U3 perspective

Prototype U3 plan

Prototype U3 front view

Prototype U2 L1 perspective

Prototype U2 L1 plan

Prototype U2 L1 front view

Prototype U4 perspective

Prototype U4 plan

Prototype U4 front view

Prototype L3 perspective

Prototype L3 plan

Prototype L3 front view

Index: -U ( Upper morphologies ) + nยบ ( number of elemetns) -L ( Lower morphologies ) + nยบ ( number of elemetns) -U ( Upper morphologies ) + L ( Lower morphologies ) + nยบ ( number of elemetns)

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Prototype U3 perspective

Prototype U3 plan

Prototype U3 front view

Prototype U3 perspective

Prototype U3 plan

Prototype U3 front view

Prototype U2 perspective

Prototype U2 plan

Prototype U2 front view

Prototype U1 L1 perspective

Prototype U1 L1 plan

Prototype U1 L1 front view

topology Topology is the mathematical study of the properties that are preserved through deformations, twisting, and stretching of objects. Each object have a hidden morphogenetic algorithm which is the same, applying parametric variations to it, we obtain changes in form but within the same topological object.

In the project the change of form and space is defined by the Dynamic vector field, responding to the analysis made in Processing. The resulting morphologies are a hybridization between formal response and reaction diagrams.

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digital morphogenesis! urban studies

Recurrent paths

BOIDS

10 x 10 grid. initial state

Magnetic field

Intervention magnetic field

Intervention magnetic field

North - South new connections

East - West new connections

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New Connections

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Upper typologies 36-50

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urban strategies. new connections The aim of the project is to reorganize the dynamism in Plaรงa Lesseps, by generating new connections for pedestrians and automobiles.

The new buildings are generated in the points of the square ( contact to the ground ) where less movement is likely to happen. As a consequence of this new constructions, dynamism change in the square. We create new connections in the points with more probability to have movement ( recurrent paths of the Processing emergent system ). So that dynamism is balanced in the square.

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digital morphogenesis! urban studies

4 level

3 level

2 level

1 level

0 level

-1 level

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dwellings type 1: studio single space · dwellings type 2: sheltering housing for elderly · dwellings type 3: twoo bedrom apartment · dwellings type 4: three bedrom apartment · dwellings type 5: loft · auditorium : two spaces · renting work studios · renting workshops · music essay rooms · exhibition area · meeting rooms · polyvalent space · bar and canteen · hall · kindergarten · parkland ·

0

376 m2 240 m2 317 m2 748 m2 820 m2 989 m2 780 m2 557 m2 230 m2 535 m2 202 m2 1064 m2 200 m2 207 m2 312 m2 5000 m2

10

occupation and program distribution The intervention focuses on the redefinition of the central space defined among all the facades that surround the square, an urban architectural intervention that respect and maintain a 30% or 40% of space without buildings, but treated as transit zones, leisure areas and parkland.

The program is dispersed without creating overcrowding in high densities. The typologies with more height correspond to the private program such us studios, apartments, etc. While the typologies in the square level correspond to the public program.

50m

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digital morphogenesis! urban studies

urban sections Series of sections defining the urban and architectonic proposal.

section a

section b

section c

section d

section e

section f

section g

section h

section i

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_c

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view1

view1

view2

view3

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view2

view3

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view of one building

view of a group of buildings

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section of one building

view of a group of buildings

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digital morphogenesis! urban studies

Render of the proposal

Render of the proposal

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laboratory of digital fabrication

Digital fabrication involves translation of a digital design into a physical object, allowing for new forms and aesthetics of space.

Digital technologies were firstly used to develop geometrically advanced structures and designs including parametric variation and adaptation (for instance, parametric, generative or evolutive designs). Nowadays, we are able to translate this designs into reality using digital fabrication techniques, such as rapid prototyping, stereolithography and laser cutting.

In architecture computer-aided-manufacturing ( CAM ) processes are playing a critical role in the shift from mass production, with its inherent standardisation, to the conception and production of differentiated building elements, mass customisation. Material practice is changing rapidly through the introduction of concepts of variation and differentiation that embrace and exploit the possible geometric uniqueness of each produced part in digital fabrication. There is a move towards varied building elements and systems that are similar in degree, together with an increasingly integral relation between building systems and elements that are different in kind. While computer-aided-manufacturing enables the production of differences, it still mainly serves to increase speed and precision, so preserving the facilitive character of the manufacturing process and the related protocols.

However, the far-reaching potential of computer numerically controlled fabrication becomes clear once it is understood as a key aspect of design approach based on the synthesis of materialisation and form-generation processes. Allowing for explorations of material self-organisation and assembly logics that remain coherent with the employed modes of manufacturing and production, thus offering the potential for genuine morphological differentiation.

Michael Hensel, â&#x20AC;&#x153; Towards an inclusive discourse on Heterogeneous architecturesâ&#x20AC;?

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laboratory of digital fabrication! cad/cam systems

CAD / CAM systems The computer-aided manufacturing, also known by the acronym CAM, involves the use of computers and computer technology to assist in all phases of product manufacturing, including planning and production process, machining, scheduling, administration and quality control, with minimal operator intervention.

The CAD / CAM systems provide an efficient combination of the computer as a design tool and component rationalization of the production tool or manufacturing. This combination allows the transparency of information from the design stage to the stage of planning to manufacture a product without having to manually re-capture the geometric data of the piece. The database is developed by the DAC is processed by the CAM, to obtain the data and instructions necessary to operate and control the machinery of production, material handling equipment and automated tests and inspections to establish the quality of product.This technology allows the manufacture of models or prototypes that can be machined with high precision in different stages, quickly and at reduced cost.

In this first stage of the course we started in the management of CAD / CAM technology to build a prototype, allowing us to approach the digital manufacturing methods.

digital manufacturing processes Nowadays, digital manufacturing processes are classified into three broad categories: subtractive, formative and additive: Subtractive processes include all cutting processes (2D) and milling (3D), and are characterized by subtracting mass of a base material to reach the way that was desired.

The formative processes includes procedures that neither add nor subtract material to form an object. Start from a starting material and deform it until the desired geometry is achieved. It comes of processes like folding, bending and molding, which are usually applied to metal sheets and tubular objects, since it can deform without breaking.

Additive manufacturing processes - generally known as rapid prototyping or solid freeform fabrication - are manufacturing processes in which the desired object is created by adding successive layers of a given material. From this constructive process by layers, additive processes enable you to create objects with a formal freedom which has no equivalent in other proceedings. For this reason, the additive manufacturing and 3D printing has particular relevance: whereas subtractive and formative processes are the result of the automation of manual procedures and techniques that were already known before the use of computer (cutting, bending, etc.), additives enable procedures in order to materialize particle by particle, according to information received from the computer.

The material is always optimized to the maximum, setting up structures of maximum resistance, as in nature.

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rapid prototyping The prototyping is an integral part of the design process. The prototypes allow designers to explore alternatives, test theories and confirm the performance of a new product or system.

Currently, it is usual to apply rapid prototyping techniques in the field of architecture. This allows architects to quickly provide design options for evaluation. With 3D printing technology, you can get in detail to design complex joints or the constructive logic necessary for its realization. A new field of research is emerging in architecture based on understanding each building as a 1:1 scale prototype.

Laser cut 2D Laser cutting is a technology that uses a laser to cut materials. Laser cutting works by directing the output of a high-power laser, by computer, at the material to be cut. Laser cutting machines can accurately produce complex exterior contours.

Materials: Steel (3mm), Wood (30mm), Methacrilate (30mm), Cardboard (40mm), Paper, Cloth, Acrylic not based on PVC. Cutting size: 1000mm x 800mm

Laser cut, Elisava workshop

3d printer 3D printing is a form of additive manufacturing technology where a three dimensional object is created by laying down successive layers of material.

Volume: 200mm x 250mm x 350mm Materials: High resolution special plaster.

3D printer, Elisava workshop

CNC Milling CNC mills can perform the functions of drilling and often turning. CNC Mills are classified according to the number of axes that they possess. Axes are labeled as x and y for horizontal movement, and z for vertical movement.

The maximum cutting size of the CNC machine is 2000x1220 mm.

The maximum thickness in all machines is 80 mm.

Materials that can be used in the CNC machine are: High density foam, MDF, Plywood, Bluefoam, Other types of soft foam, Cast-acrylic, Modeling wax.

CNC machine, Elisava workshop

Thermoform machine Thermoforming is a manufacturing process where a plastic sheet is heated to a pliable forming temperature, formed to a specific shape in a mold, and trimmed to create a usable product. This process is commonly used with CNC techniques.

Vacuum , Elisava

,o

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laboratory of digital fabrication! laser cut process

laser cut process Perspective view 1

Laser cut template

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Left view

Back view Plan view

Perspective view 2

Perspective view 3

Front view

Right view

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laboratory of digital fabrication! cnc milling process

CNC milling process RHINOCAM The link for transmitting the information of the three-dimensional model to the numerical cutting machine, is provided by the plugin RhinoCAM of the software Rhinoceros, this tool allows you to program the sequence of steps to be performed by the machine on the material until getting the workpiece with the desired finish.

The first step is to break down this geomerĂ­a by the nodes or the stroingest joints , so we will have 11 smaller and less complex pieces that will be assembled to obtain the total model.

P_9

P_4 P_6

P_11

P_3

P_1

P_2

P_7 P_5

P_8

P_10

3d virtual model of the prototype to be milled.

To obtain the best results is convenient to study the path of the milling tool on each piece and thus be able to place it correctly in the Stock, so that there are no negative angles where the tool can not pass, thinking that the material has to be machined on both of their faces to finish the pieces.

Once the model is programmed in RhinoCAM and the machining simulation is performed to prove that there are no errors, we can proceed to prepare the material and assemble it on the machine.

In this case the model is milled with high density polyurethane foam, which is marketed in sheets of 2 x 1 meters with a thickness of 0.1 meters.

First, the material is located on the surface of the machine; then you introduce the coordinates of the origin of the material and its dimensions. After that, you have to calibrate the milling tools and you can proceed to start cutting the pieces.

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milling process The steps in the sequence of the milling are: 1_ Axis Pocketing: This step sweeps over the surface of the material so that is completely clean and level.

2_ Horizontal Roughing: This step uses a 12mm round drill that performs the function to quickly remove most of the material around the part to optimize the machining time.

3_ Parallel Finishing: This step introduces a mill a little thinner than the previous one, sweeps through the most vertical faces of the piece, giving a better definition of the form of the components.

4_ Horizontal Finishing: This step introduces a mill a little thinner than the previous one to sweep through the most horizontal faces of the piece, giving a better definition of the form of the components.

This is the final step of our milling and allows you to clean and define the contours of all the sides in the horizontal plane, leaving the material and the pieces lists for that face.

It is necessary to mark the position of the material on the surface of the table and flip the stock, to proceed to the opposite side.

Repeat all steps described above for the first side.

Pieces oriented for the stock

Preview of the first side of the stock

Detail of the horizontal finishing path

Detail of the axis pocketing path

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laboratory of digital fabrication! cnc milling process

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laboratory of digital fabrication! cnc milling process

View of the final model 1

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View of the final model 2

View of the final model 3

Final Review of the codelab laboratory, 14 of July of 2011

program training

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program training! processing

Processing is a programming language within a visual context based on Java open source, easy to use and that serves as a medium for producing multimedia projects and interactive digital design.

Processing started as a platform for introducing artists and designers to programming languages for the development of generative graphics , interactive applications and art pieces. However as the platform has evolved with the creation of several libraries that implement ever growing new features , some of them bringing whole new technologies to the programming environment , professionals from various fields have found in Processing a very powerful tool for developing projects.

Architects are not the exception given the great capacity of analysis and feedback it can offer for generative form finding and the ease of programming work environments that allows architects create their own software depending on the needs of an specific project.

In our case we used Processing for generating new cartographies in Plaza Lesseps. We developed a code that analized recordings revealing invisible data about the dynamism in each point of the plaza.

Afterwards, we used this data about the dynamism in Plaza Lesseps to generate a dynamic scenario with particles interacting in it. The aim of the project was to generate an equilibrium in Plaza Lesseps.

So far the majority of the works I have seen still are experimental and conceptual initiatives as it always is when using new technologies , however i think as this tool becomes more popularized and more specific libraries like Anar (processing library for parametric modelling ) begin to appear, we will start seeing real built projects using processing as part of their design process like Neil Leach urban proposals, or Alisa Andrasek works. The potential of Processing is to generate intelligent responses operating with huge amounts of data.

Here are some of the projects I have been studying for my training in Processing.

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Neil Leach A recent studio explored how the logic of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;emergenceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; could be used to generate urban designs using Processing.

Guided by basic artificial intelligence, computer-simulated characters explore the site looking for targets. The paths created are recorded and evaluated according to their intensity of use. The busiest pathways become attractors for new retail spaces. A genetic algorithm is utilised to generate the distribution of these retail spaces. Their new distribution at ground-floor level means new attractors for pedestrians. Optimal profiles for the buildings are bred based on space syntax logic of visibilities and sun-path diagrams.

Alisa Andrasek Meson Fabrics 2007-2009 In MF BIOTHING explored in-between algorithmic states by trans-coding 3 different algorithms. Electro-Magnetic Field developed through Biothingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s custom written plug-in for Rhino was initially distributed in order to develop structural trajectories for the roof condition. Resonating pattern was imprinted into the ground creating emitters for the second algorithmic logic _ radial wave interference pattern that formed global geography of the field. Finally, class 4 Cellular Automata was used to re-process wave data by imprinting micro-articulation of the ground. Zooming in and out of this field revels drifts in the character of the pattern. This effect is accelerated in the behavior of the CA pattern which drifts between distinct characters of rigid geometrical states and more organic states.

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program training! bibliography

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B I B L IO G R A P HY

genetic vs generative Egar Morin. “El paradigma de la complejidad” En introducción al pensamiento complejo. Gedisa, Barcelona, 1997 Frijtof Capra. The Hidden Connections. Doubleday, 2002 Gilles Deleuze. “Rizomatic”. Introduction to “Mil Mesetas: capitalismo y esquizofrenia” Greg Lynn. “New Variations on the Rowe Complex”. Published at Greg Lynn “Folds, bodies and Blobs: collected essays”.

Any Magazine, 7/8 Neil Leach, Roland Snooks. Swarm Intelligence. 2010 Peter Eisenman. El fin del clásico: el fin del comienzo, el fin del fin. Arquitecturas Bis, 1984 William J.Mitchell. The logic of architecture: design, computer and cognition. Mit Press, 1994

computacional laboratory Ali Rahin. AD Contemporary Techniques in Architecture. Willy Academy, 2002 John Frazer. Las Ciudades Invisibles: The Groening Experiment. Fisuras 5 Neil Leach. AD Digital Cities. Willy Academy, 2002 Roger Paez. Querido Publico: Cartografias Operativas y Mapas de Comportamiento. Ed. Cendeac Sigfrid Giedion. Mechanization takes command. Oxford University Press, 1948

digital morphogenesis Achim Menges. Techniques and Technologies in Morphogenetic Design. Wiley Academy. 2006 Neil Leach. AD Digital Cities. Willy Academy, 2002 J.B. Kennedy. Space, Time and Einstein. Acumen, 2003 Reiser, Umemoto. Atlas of Nouvel Techtonics. Princeton Architectural Press. 2006

digital fabrication Amanda Reeser, Ashley Schafer. New Technologies/New Technologies. Praxis. Isuue 6 Aranda-Lasch. Tooling, Pamphlet Architecture 27. Princeton Architectural Press, 2006 Beesley, Cheng, Williamson, Examining the Digital Practive of Architecture. Acadia, University of Waterloo School of Architecture in Cambridge Chris Lefteri, Making it. Manufacturing techniques for product design. ed. Blume

máster en diseño avanzado y arquitectura digital master in advanced design and digital architecture begoña gassó palop 2010_2011