Academic Portfolio

Pablo Kobayashi Academic Portfolio 7 Years Teaching 3 Graduate Programmes 10 Undergraduate Programmes 350+ Students 5 Universities Master in Arts Emergent Technologies and Design Architectural Association School of Architecture

http://www.materia.com.mx pablo@materia.com.mx +52 1 55 1473 6464

Generative Design Processes Emergence, Generation and Production

Diploma graduate programme // Universidad Iberoamericana http://generativo.materia.com.mx

19 Students 150 Hours 8 Tutors Lecturer: Manuel DeLanda Lecturer-Tutor: Jalal El-Ali/Buro Happold Guest Teachers: Carlomaria Ciampoli/LaN Mariano Arias-Diez/a10studio

01

There is an undeniable urgency for deeper understanding of the implications of the use of digital technologies in the design process, from conceptualization to fabrication. This urgency is more evident in a technological and economic context like the Mexican one. Not only do we need to embrace the possibilities these new tools give in terms of process optimization, but we also have to find ways of merging them with traditional, more accesible techniques and materials.

This course originated in this argument, emphasizing two fundamental paradigms:

The first one is the integration of the digital tool not as a merely representative resource but as a generative design tool. Its adoption should even be integrated into the mental visualization process, where computational language should embedded to any form imagined. The use of parametric modelling software has opened a new spectrum of possibilities in terms of form generation, questioning the very core of how we define our roles as architects and designers.

The second is the conception of the whole as a result of the interaction between its parts, and not the direct sum of these parts. The concept of emergence gives theoretical and phylosofical foundations towards a design methodology more congruent with the tools it utilizes and the problems it faces.

The programme presents different approaches, following them as integral and evolutive, exploring bottom-up strategies, emphasizing the significance of interaction between agents rather than the agents themselves. It focuses on process references rather than morphological ones, understanding that the result will be evaluated with the same systemic rigor followed during its generation process, leaving aside subjective aesthetic criteria and seeking a direct information between material expression and the obtained form.

The Materiality Of The Virtual Physical Tests Digital Exploration Hands–on Tutorials Pin–ups Lectures

The Pavilion Form from Rules Rules From Materiality Digital–Physical Loop

Manuel DeLanda Neo-Materialist Approach Emergence and Design Material Expression

Design as Research The Construction Of The City From A Single Concept Fourth Year Design Studio // Universidad Iberoamerciana

25 Students per Semester 6 Hours per Week 2 Tutors per Group Pablo Kobayashi Hugo Sรกnchez

02

The initial approach of the course was to question the concept of sustainability in order to create conceptual awarness and give a firm selection criterion to the students. We discovered that this lack of criterion not only made them prone to shallow interpretations of trendy terms but also affected their capacity to structure a coherent design research, turning this stage of their design process into mere information gathering.

We decided to dedicate the whole course to notion of research and how design can be derived from it. As a personal interest, I suggested that we used the concept of emergence as a departing methodology towards a research structure. The students are asked to choose a single concept; abstract and detached from architecture. A broad, universal, concept but that gives them a single particularity to start making a connection matrix. This concept is related to five others whichs are related to five others and so forth. The extent and depth of the research is determined only by time. Our task as tutors is to guide them in this conceptual wander, reminding them to let themselves be guided by the research and avoid any subjective agenda or value judgement. We become agents of the objectiveness.

This task involves a deep process of unlearning, questioning their inherited principles and knowledge not only regarding research and architecture, but their mind structure itself.

Often, complete loss of direction and a certain level of dispair mark the beggining of the research weaving process, where connections become clear and the documentation process is not ruled by a chronological logic, but by a field of intensitys and connections.

The final task is to structure this whole process as a coherent, solid starting argument for a project directly related to the city and its dynamics.

The Rules: Choose One Concept Let Research Guide You Have No Agenda Always Show Your Work Always Give Opinions Think

The Criteria: Coherent Structure Non-Linear Analysis Clear Expression Seek Objectivism Avoid Common Places

The Tools: Mind Mapping Brainstorming Unlearning The Project as a Consequence

Emergent Design Processes

Digital Tools in Conceptualization and Fabrication Universidad Iberoamericana Centro de DiseĂąo, Cine y Television Universidad de la Salle BajĂ­o Universidad Cristobal ColĂłn Workshops

15 Students per Semester 1 Group per University 4 Hours per Week

03

This course is focused not only in teaching a specific parametric modelling tool like Grasshopper, but in stating the theoretical background of these tools and their implications and limitations.

Students are encouraged to question their own design methodologies and to engage in a material research process that informs the digital exploration and vice-versa. They are also asked to wonder in a philosophical about the issues related to the virtual vs the real, the construction vs the representation, the form vs the performance and the creation vs the generation.

The Rules: Use The Tools Defy Their Limitations Engage With The Physical Embrace The Accident Theorise

The Criteria: The Digital Tool is a Design Tool Different Implications Bottom-up Strategies Emergent Results

The Tools: Modelling in Rhinoceros Generate with Grasshopper Laser Cutting CNC Milling Rapid Protoyping

The Aims: Learn From The Material Use Your Hands Inform The Digital Understand The Results Go Back to Basics

Pablo Kobayashi

http://www.materia.com.mx