PEDRO VENEGAS RODRÍGUEZ
/ PORTFOLIO
PEDRO AMADOR VENEGAS RODRÍGUEZ
pvenegasr@pucp.edu.pe pedro_venegas_@live.com +51 993715007 369 Brasil Avenue Lima 15083, Peru https://linktr.ee/pedrovenegas place of birth Lima / Peru date of birth 22.06.1989 languages spanish: native english: advanced
Rhinoceros Grasshopper Cinema4D Maya Blender HoudiniFX Zbrush Lumion Arnold Renderer Vray Render Unreal Engine Quixel Mixer Archicad Arduino Processing Dialux Adobe Photoshop Adobe Illustrator Adobe InDesign Adobe Premiere
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EDUCATION 2006-2011 Ricardo Palma University - (BArch degree) Bachellor in Architecture and urbanism 2014 Ricardo Palma University - Presentation of Architecture Thesis 2018 Best Business Support (BBS Academy) - Archicad BIM Software Designer 2019 Architectural Association Visiting School Lima - Participant in Adaptive Transport Machine V.02. 2021-Current DesignMorphine - Msc. Computational and Advanced Design
EXPERIENCE 2011-2013 Ricardo Palma University - (instagram.com/taller.baracco) Assistant Teacher for Design Workshop 2014-2016 Claudia Paz Lighting Design / Arquileds - (instagram.com/claudia_paz_lighting_studio) Lighting Designer / Visualization Artist 2016-2017 Latin America Arts and Science University UCAL - (instagram.com/arquitecturaucal) Assistant Teacher Physics and Mathematics for Architecture / Assistant Lecturer Structural Design Workshop 2018-2021 Arqus Architecture / InteriorDesign / Building Senior BIM Architect / Lighting Design Architect 2021-2022 Procedural Designer / Metaverse Artist Moonray PBC 2020-Current Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) - (instagram.com/taller5dunleb) (instagram.com/pucp) Professor in Computational Design and Digital Fabrication Workshop / Teacher Assistant in Design Workshop 2020-Current Lima Uno Academy - (instagram.com/lima.uno.e/) CEO / Professor for Parametric Design Software / Research in Computational Design Field
ACADEMIC PUBLISHING 2009 4th International Architecturel Biennale Rotterdam Open City: Designing Coexistence - “How to Build CO=Existence?” Participant Catalog 2012 Ricardo Palma University - Baracco Workshop Baracco15 Talleres2012 - Professor Participant Catalog 2013 Ricardo Palma University - Baracco Workshop Baracco15 Talleres2012 - Professor Participant Catalog 2015 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space Peruvian Team - Sound Designer Participant Catalog 2021 Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) - Computational Design And Digital Fab Workshop. Laboratorio de Construccion 1 PUCP Academic Catalog
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About me. I was born in Lima, Perú. Graduated in Architecture and Urbanism from Ricardo Palma University. My relationship with cutting-edge technology and computational design thinking comes from my curiosity about computers, digital systems, robotics, spaceships and even games, not only since I was a kid but with all the knowledge I gained at university where it starts my obsession with computational design softwares and robotics. Since I finished my undergraduate studies I’ve been strongly related with the academic field, working with students, with tutors and so on. These gave me a lot of motivation for taking my steps forward and always keeping me learning new skills, new tools and software, new ways of thinking in the architectural field taking me out of my confort zone. I believe that nature can give us tons of information and lots of formulas for inspiration and creation, however I also believe in the power and potential that lie in the human brain, the strongest tool ever existing but less understood. We can agree that humans have been really fascinated in mimicking nature maybe our whole life in history but what fascinates me the most is this idea that now that we can mimic nature in some many ways, now it’s time for us to teach machines to mimic us, not only in our natural way of being but in the way we think and create. That’s why I made some experiments with Artificial Intelligence as a tool for designing and predicting spatial situations. I believe in the power of data as a material for designing. I think we have learned a lot from AI maybe even more than from nature, just because the A.I. is more a reflection of ourselves than the nature is. Nevertheless, maybe we will find our answers in the way we believe in nature systems and sinthetic tools, analog and digital coexisting in a new kind of ecosystem, or maybe something even more than it. My current academic work with my undergraduate students are based in the experimentation with materials, natural and sinthetic, as a laboratory scientists. In order to understand them in a very deeper way. Seeing them as living systems more than a simple chemical structures that we use to build, in the pursuit of this idea that we can grow buildings. Buildings that can repair itself, that can assemble autonomously, learn from context, adapt through time and even replicate themself. One step at a time. I see myself as a curious kid, dissatisfied and disruptive in many ways. Always open for listen to new ideas and discuss all the new ways of seing not only architecture but a lot of other disciplines that can contribute the architectural thinking. In a nutshell, to learn how to see because everything in this world connects to everything else.
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Index. Research / Workshops 01. Deepdesign: Architecture & 3D Neural Networks / DigitalFutures - University of Michigan 02. Intricacy // Zbrush Workshop / Futurly.Space 03. HyperSkins v1.0 / DesignMorphine 04. Spatial Synthesis v1.0 / DesignMorphine 05. Procedural Assemblies v.10 / DesignMorphine
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Contests 06. Calle Las Pizzas - Urban Ideas Contest Miraflores Lima 07. IRRADIA MALI Digital Art Pavillion - Lima Art Musem 08. Concurso Nacional de Ideas Plaza 3 - San Isidro Lima
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Procedural Experiments 09. Polymodeling and Procedural Design Experiments: Maya.Zbrush.Arnold 09.1. Architectural Metaverse Landscapes 09.2. Procedural Displacements 09.3. Human Prosthesis 09.4. Procedural Inception 09.5. Bacterial Performance 1.0 10. Polymodeling and Procedural Design Experiments: Gh.HoudiniFx.Arnold 10.1. Procedural Trees 10.2. Landscape Mountain Assets 10.3. Lighting Loots 10.4. Ancient Topologies 10.5. Bismuth City 10.6. Fractal Topologies 10.7. Grow Topologies 10.8. Procedural Landscapes 10.9. CyberCity Deployment
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Institute Academic Projects 11. Introduction about Institute 11.1. Rhinoceros Workshop 11.2. Pufferfish Workshop 11.3. Wasp Workshop
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Msc. Computational and Advanced Design 12. Chapter 1 - Prosthesis 13. Chapter 2 - Corpuscle 14. Chapter 3 - Amalgamation 15. Chapter 4 - Kinesis
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Research / Workshops
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All the works related to researching and learning about computational design, digital fabrication, artificial intelligence and software.
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01. Deepdesign: Architecture & 3D Neural Networks / DigitalFutures - University of Michigan Tutors: Matias del Campo, Sandra Manninger, Alexandra Carlson, Danish Sayed, Dongseop Mike Shin. Student: Pedro Venegas Rodríguez “The goal of the DeepDesign workshop was to introduce us, uninitiated in the use of Artificial Intelligence in Architecture, to two specific methods of design with Neural Networks. The 2D-2D Neural Styletransfer technique allows to interrogate the ways that machines see the world. With this in mind, the method can be used to mine the repository of the architecture discipline (facades, silhouettes, massing, forms and programs). The cross-pollination of architectures that can be achieved using Neural Networks forms a novel provocation, as the results are strangely familiar but but still oddly alien. The examination of these architectural artifacts ignite discussions on aspects of agency, authorship and sensibility in a posthuman world. In continuaiton of this technique students learn how to jump from 2D to 3D, using 2D-3D Neural Style” (DeepDesign Team) For this purpose we worked with Fast.ai and Paperspace console.
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The main objective of this research was to train a neur al network with images of peruvian mountainous parks in order to explore new formal results in peculiar urban conditions. This specifically urban condition was one of the most iconic peruvian slum. San Cosme slum is so important in peruvian history because it was the first case of private property illegal massive invasion (1946). The Neural Network was trained with satellite images of “Lomas de Lachay”, a peruvian mountainous natural park. The main goal was to use that satellite image as an “style” image, in order to reimagined the “content” image of San Cosme slum satellite image. The more data we introduced in the neural network the better results we got. It was important to notice that “weight” was a really significant parameter to be tweaked. In the image above we can see al the inputs and output we got from the AI during the process.
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These other explorations was base in the idea of reimagined Lima Historical Buildings, basically 60s Modern Buildings and other Republican 20s Buildings, from the perspective and analysis of Zdzislaw Beksinski’s paintings. The main question here was: Could the AI identify significant traces in a artist drawing in order to reimagine architecture? The interaction between “style weight” value and “content weight” value results in different visions for the building analysis. This phase of the research give us more information for the inspiration and initial process for designing. Some of the outputs were treated as information maps, basically displacement and normal maps in order to evaluate their 3D caractheristics. As these images are outputs from satellite pictures, they were used inside render engines to create some 3D topographical models, this process were usefull to see how AI could convert 2D to 3D information to create spatial situations. For this particular outputs, Cinema4D render engine were used.
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In order to obtain better resolution outputs, it was necessary to subdivide inputs images. Better input resolution images result in better resolution output images. In this exploration we used again Zdzislaw Beksinski cathedral painting as “style image” in order to reimagined Lima Cathedral, a 16th Century Building in Lima, Peru. The final outputs we put together in Photoshop software in order to create a bigger canvas, obtaining an astonishing image with an unique style.
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The final process of the research was to explore 2D to 3D style transfer. ‘This project uses the neural 3D mesh renderer by H.kato, Y.Ushiku, and T.Harada to achieve dreaming and style transfer in 3D.’ (DeepDesign Github)
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02. Intricacy > Pixologic Zbrush Workshop / Futurly.Space Tutor: Vamsi Krishna Vemuri Student: Pedro Venegas Rodríguez This nested workshop operated on a series of subdivision modeling and sculpting strategies using Pixologic Zbrush. Detailing, Ornamentation and aesthetic articulations are a prime focus area. The first phase dealed with familiarizing with the UI and various sculpting and extraction strategies (Alphas, Masking, arrays, Zmodeler, Booleans). Using this arsenal, we explored the destabilization of forms, creating ornamental extensions, connectivity, and creating monumentality to various architectural elements. We also dived into meshing retopology techniques using dynamesh, remesher, and decimation. The goal of this session was to achieve more intricate singular compositions using a series of techniques. In the last phase, we expanded on the techniques we learned and extend it to spaces. Live booleans, snapshot modeling, advanced kitbash workflows and exploring the creation of complex symmetrical configurations. We also experimented with surface-level detailing of forms, using maps/alphas and deformers. The final result was intricate architectural composition reflecting elegant monumental characteristics.
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03. Hyper Skins v1.0 > Autodesk Maya Workshop / Design Morphine Tutor: Aleksandar Bursac Student: Pedro Venegas Rodríguez
Hyper Skins V1.0 focused on polygonal modeling techniques on the human body to develop new and interesting body typologies. It started with an introduction into Maya low poly modeling looking into the importance of topology and advantages of procedural modelling. We inspected how procedural modeling greatly increases output in iterative design in a controlled manner through easily reproducible stages of transformation. The focus was to gain a basic understanding of the logic behind working with meshes in Maya with the focus of progressively adding detail and exploring workflows with parent meshes and patterning as a means to introduce complexity into the sculpting process. A further exploration into the control of both low poly and high poly meshes with the use of deformers and other basic Maya toolkits that follow non destructive and reversible workflows was developed. We experimented with a workflow that contributes to the easy creation of a multitude of options that belong to the same family of objects that sequentially diverge and differentiate into different modelling outcomes during the design process. (DesignMorphine Team)
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04. Spatial Synthesis v1.0 > Autodesk Maya, Rhinoceros 6, Grasshopper Workshop / Design Morphine Tutor: Alejandro García Gadea Student: Pedro Venegas Rodríguez
Spatial Synthesis V1.0 focused on polygonal space morphing by way of low poly meshes and non destructive morphing techniques utilizing Maya and Grasshopper to generate living cell typologies. The combination of Maya low poly polygonal modeling along with parametric Grasshopper programming makes the perfect workflow for iterating through various versions of spatial situations and combinations. Geometry iterating was performed by various morphing, blending, and deforming workflows as well as user interactions. The proposed procedural and algorithmic approach allowed us to explore different exterior and interior habitable architecture conditions which express controlled freeform fluidity in their transitions. Upon arriving at acceptable clean mesh geometries we learnt to apply details, textures and patterns onto them driven by numerous data field conditions to complete the vision of new living units in a way which blends elegant form, fluent spatial functionality, and bespoke details. These living cells were combined with discrete modularity and fabrication in mind to create grouped architectural units. (DesignMorphine Team)
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05. Procedural Assemblies v1.0 > Rhinoceros 6.0, Grasshopper Workshop / Design Morphine Tutor: Alejandra Rojas Student: Pedro Venegas Rodríguez
Procedural Assemblies V1.0 explored the opportunities provided by aggregation and growth algorithms with Grasshopper plug-ins in an effort to investigate how multiple living cells can create clusters based on bottom up deployment strategies. We focused on iterative processes which allow the creation of custom workflows to simulate, quantify and visualize the living cells acting together as a system. The primary tool used in this webinar was the Wasp plugin for Grasshopper which lets you design generatively via discrete elements that aggregate together based on spatial fields and stochastic sets of part to part connection graph instructions. We designed multiple low poly aggregation units which will represent the bounds of more detailed units. The low poly aggregation units were assigned sets of connection rules and run through Wasps solver to generate multi orientable aggregated unit clusters. Multiple iterations of result clusters were generated and evaluated by running Wasp with various fluctuating parameters. Detailed living cell units then were transferred to their corresponding low poly aggregation units in the clusters to result in refined architectural systems. (DesignMorphine Team)
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Contests
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All the works related to contests as a participant and team leader. National Contests Only.
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06. National Contest of Ideas in Calle Las Pizzas > Calle Las Pizzas / Miraflores Lima Peru Team: Pedro Venegas, Micheline Remy, Indira Almonacid, Gino Lermo, Kevin Abanto.
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07. IRRADIA Digital Public Spaces > Museo de Arte de Lima x Fundacion Telefonica / MALI Lima Peru Team: Pedro Venegas, Micheline Remy, Erick Maldonado, Cesar Requejo, Kevin Abanto.
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08. National Urban Idea Contest > Plaza 3 / San Isidro Department Lima Peru Team: Pedro Venegas Rodríguez
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1. The top structure of the project is cover with some low water consumption climbing plants. In this particular situation the project works with bougainvillea spactabilis, trachelospermum jasminoides, passiflora edulis.
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2. The construction of the metal structure proposed, grows in relation with the growth of climbing plants. For this purpose the project is made with circular steel tubes and steel cables. 3. The project works with a territory designed with steps like platforms with different dimensions and curves. Insiped by the peruvian andean “Andenes”. The maximun height of the platform goes along the main street in order to reduce the urban noise inside the project.
4. The project reuse 13 of the original parking lots that help general logistic services of the stores around.
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5. All the new stores proposed in the project are designed to be attached inside the territory. The same with the bicycle parking lots. 6. All the lighting design project is based in LED lightning. Decorative and Technical luminaries are LED technology IP67.
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Procedural Experiments
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All the experiments made with procedural workflows as the main base.
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09. POLYMODELING AND PROCEDURAL DESIGN EXPERIMENTS MAIN TOOL: MAYA + ZBRUSH + ARNOLD Artist: Pedro Venegas Rodríguez
Architectural Metaverse Landscapes A set of experiments made through Polymodeling, Parametric and Procedural Design. On this experiments I explored the digital exhuberance. A set of processes through manual and computational work in all scales, from human to planetary scale.
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Procedural Displacements Building-Scale design made based on procedural textures with Jsplacement. Experiments made with Maya and Zbrush with Displacement Maps. Experiment made for high resolution detailing. Assets made for Metaverse inception. All rendered in Arnold.
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Human Prosthesis
Procedural Inception
Procedural workflow designed to extract data from high-poly meshes to create prosthesis on human skin. Procedurally made with nParticles and Procedural workflow made in Maya and MASH to controled-distributed volumetric units in a polar orbit. Subsurface Scattering method applied in exhuberant detail in Zbrush. All rendered in Arnold. texturing process. All rendered in Arnold.
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Bacterial Performance 1.0 Procedural workflow designed to grow particles on a volume made with polymodeling in Maya and painting with nParticles. UV mapping created after modeling to control a procedural texture. All rendered in Arnold. Additional models exported from Mixamo were used for final details.
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10. POLYMODELING AND PROCEDURAL DESIGN EXPERIMENTS MAIN TOOL: GRASSHOPPER + HOUDINI FX + ARNOLD Artist: Pedro Venegas Rodríguez
Procedural Tree Procedural workflow for conceptual artistic tree. Special workflow between Grasshopper (Culebra) and HoudiniFx. Light was and important part of the general design. All rendered in Arnold.
Landscape Mountain Assets Procedural workflow for conceptual assets for landscape design. Workflow: Grasshopper Culebra 2.0 + Grasshopper Monoceros + Grasshopper Dendro. All rendered in Vray for Rhinoceros. -42-
Lighting Loots Procedural workflow for loots. Based on minerals, this idea behind this loots is to be scatered on fields. All made in HoudiniFx and rendered in Arnold.
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Ancient Topologies
Procedural work on cubic forms, particular situati in Karma with fir
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Bismuth City
kflow for conceptual buildings in metaverse. Based Procedural workflow for conceptual crystal city, the idea was to create a minecraft-feel inside this insiped by bismuth minerals mathematical logic. ion. All workflow made in HoudiniFx and rendered Workflow: Grasshopper Monoceros + HoudiniFx. rst tests in MaterialX. All rendered in Arnold.
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Fractal Topologies Procedural workflow for different topologies on different scales. From stone scale to building scale. Fractal logic was introduced here. All made in HoudiniFx
Grow Topologies Procedural workflow for growing elements. Different noise types were applied here. All made in HoudiniFx.
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Procedural Landscapes Procedural workflow for landscape design through Heightfield component in HoudiniFx.
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CyberCity Deployment Procedural workflow for City Design. Insiped by CyberPunk style, the idea was to deploy a system that can user control building scale and surroundings. All made in HoudiniFx.
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Institute Academic Projects
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Students works and Personal research from Institute of Computational Design And Digital Fabrication L.I.M.A. in Peru. Working as CEO/Founder, Professor (Rhinoceros, Grasshopper, Pufferfish, Wasp, Cinema4D, Archicad) and Researcher.
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Some models of our students during our January Program. In the institute we teach student how to use software as a tool of design. We use our platform to teach our perspective of the computational design. We teach about Analog Thinking, Digital Thinking and Parametric Thinking. We use softwares as Rhinoceros 7, Grasshopper, Archicad, May, Vray, Cinema4D and so on. Plugins as Pufferfish, Kangaroo, Wasp, Weaverbird, Silkworm and other more. We are interested in teach not only how to use software as a tool but make the computational design real through 3d Printing. -52-
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Some exercise of our students for our February Program.
Some exercise of our students during our December Program.
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Basic model made to teach student basic ideas of aggregation with Pufferfish. All the objectives of the workshop is the student to understand that every model we do through software can be 3d-printed. In the academy we explore two different systems: FDM and DLP 3d printers in order to understand how materials can be transformed.
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Experiments with new Rhinoceros7 and SubD design. The objective was to test 3d printed systems from SubD and Multipipe tools from Rhino 7
All the designed model made in Rhinoceros 7, then was 3d printed in resin with a LCD 3d Printer, to test minimal details in resin models with the students -57-
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With our students we do some experiments with pufferfish, in order to learn how to control tweens, averages, tranformations and so on. we use this a a first step to start designing with agreggation systems. Through Pufferfish we experiment with design, we explore formally. We use this tool as inspiration for the seeking of the ideal design and model. we use it in abstract exercises and more “orthodoxal” models.
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For our intermediate students we work with WASP, in order to explore discrete aggregation systems. We use some theory postulations as Theodore Spyropoulos’s book “Adaptive Ecologies” to understant the relationship between Unit, Cluster and Collective. We are about to open our last module related to Digital Fabrication, where we explore 3d printing systems and use some theory books as “Digital Fabrication” by Neil Leach, Achim Menges and Neil Leach. “Scripting Cultures” by Mark Burry, “Digital Tectonics” by Neil Leach, David Turnbull and Chris Williams, “3D-printed Body Architecture” by Neil Leach and Behnaz Farahi, among others.
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Msc. Computational and Advanced Design
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Academic projects made during DesignMorphine and UACG Msc.Computational and Advanced Design Period. (Still on going).
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Chapter 1 - Prosthesis The first module of the program commences with the students envisioning the fundamental element – the body, and the technological future the body will operate within. The prime focus area revolves around Prosthesis (technological & cultural) – cyborgs, half human – half machines, exoskeletons & augmented beings. The students will develop a specific prosthetic apparatus that serves as a design element & a technological augmentation. Upon extensive research and a series of case studies, they conceptualize a speculative scenario/problem statement to pursue during the course of their Master’s program. Using the theoretical apparatus, they shall be equipped with poly- and mesh-based modeling techniques to develop their prosthetic extensions. They will be exposed to various design strategies in Maya & Zbrush, in terms of hard & soft surface modeling, advanced subdivision modeling, mesh sculpting, manipulations, and deformations. Source: DesignMorphine
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Chapter 2 - Corpuscle The second stage of the program revolves around the living conditions and spaces that the body developed during the first stage requires and demands. During this period, they will have to answer questions (ephemerality, mobility, adaptability, transformability) regarding what kind of residence such a body calls for or how the technology enhancements will affect the already built ones and transform them. This also leads to a better understanding of how the body we currently have and operate on creates the spaces around us; how its limits produce the forms we are familiar with and, thus, how to bypass them. Using the theoretical frame already developed in the first stage, the students design and produce either a space, a device, or a habitat that will cover the body’s housing needs as well as act as the starting cell of the future city. Source: DesignMorphine
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Chapter 3 - Amalgamation This stage is an expansion of the previous one since its objective is to conceive and explore the way living cells developed in the second stage create communities and clusters. The very question of what constitutes a community of people, the need that people feel to come together and live together, will be seen in a new light since again it’s directly connected to the way our bodies operate and the means they give us for communication. The students are required to develop not only the final form of what they envision as the new community but also the logic and process that can produce a multitude of forms based on the parameters their imaginary body will supply them. This acts as a feedback loop that will provide further insight into how they changed the first module of the world, the human body, which affects the way the city, for example, is produced. Source: DesignMorphine -68-
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Chapter 4 - Kinesis The fourth stage of the program is aimed at inter-knitting the theoretical and design systems built in the previous modules of the body, dwelling units, and clusters in the forms of neighborhoods. This entanglement of various complex systems is weaved together by transportation and mobility systems (horizontal, spatial systems, pneumatic systems, underground, organic growth-based systems, etc.). Students research and understand the urban modules and clusters developed in the previous module(s) and strategize a mobility network that operates within these clusters. They research and understand various systems and will be guided to design a comprehensive mobility network. Source: DesignMorphine
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Lima - Peru - 2022