Exploring Algorithmic Tectonics by Penn State Stuckeman School

EXPLORING ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Algorithmic Tectonics is a course on creative computing in architecture and design. By learning to create computational design artifacts (such as experimental software, responsive objects and robotic fabrication applications) participants explore computation as a territory for speculative, critical and poetic thinking about design (rather than merely as an instrument of production or representation). Departing from the conventional approach of programming courses based on lectures and problem-sets, the course introduces each topic in a project-oriented fashion through design questions. Organized in three modules, design, visualize and make, the class prompts students to develop an appreciation for current developments in computational design, and to create their own projects with an incremental degree of sophistication: from simple interactive computer graphics to architectural robotics applications. This book reports on the course as taught for the first time at Penn State in the Spring of 2015. It is not a conclusive work but rather snapshots of an ongoing process. Together, the assignments, projects, and their descriptions, reflect a fledgling imaginary of design that continues to evolve around software and other technological infrastructures. In combination with the online code repositories and blogs that accompanied the course, this book may be useful for others confronting questions about pedagogies of computing in design.

ISBN 978-1-941659-01-4

9 781941 659014

EXPLORING ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

51295

A course on creative computing in architecture and design

Design Ecologies Laboratory 2014-2015

EXPLORING ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

A course on creative computing in architecture and design Design Ecologies Laboratory | Stuckeman Center for Design Computing Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture The Pennsylvania State University

Spring 2015 Class Participants

The Design Ecologies Laboratory at the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing at Penn State

Design Ecologies Laboratory

instructor Daniel Cardoso Llach collaborators Ardavan Bidgoli Shokofeh Darbari Jamie Heilman students Dhaval Chedda Clarissa Ferreira Albrecht Xiao Han Matthew Kenney Rohan Mohana Vernelle Noel Vina Rahimian Nastaran Tebyanian Angela Urbano Seth Waldman

EXPLORING ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Spring 2015 Class Participants

The Design Ecologies Laboratory at the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing at Penn State

Design Ecologies Laboratory

EXPLORING ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

The Design Ecologies Laboratory is a design research group exploring computing in the built environment through a transdisciplinary lens. Through novel approaches to software, interactive artifacts, spaces, data, and theory, we interrogate design as a performative ecology of human and non-human actors, and challenge conventional arrangements between design, technology and society. The SCDC is a multidisciplinary center devoted to advanced design research and learning in computational design. Exploring computation as a subject of creative and scholarly inquiry, SCDC researchers engage different design scales and methods: from the territorial to the micro, from the theoretical to the material, and from the applied to the speculative and critical. Spring 2015 Algorithmic Tectonics Class Instructor Daniel Cardoso Llach, Ph.D. Collaborators Ardavan Bidgoli Shokofeh Darbari Jamie Heilman Students Dhaval Chedda Clarissa Ferreira Albrecht Xiao Han Matthew Kenney Rohan Mohana Vernelle Noel Vina Rahimian Nastaran Tebyanian Angela Urbano Seth Waldman Report design Xiao & Daniel

Cover Image Project by Clarissa F. Albrecht and Dhaval Chheda. Photo credit: Ardavan Bidgoli. Design Ecologies Lab Director Daniel Cardoso Llach, Ph.D. Researchers Ardavan Bidgoli, Shokofeh Darbari, Xiao Han, Vernelle Noel Alumni Veronica Patrick, Seoug Oh, Dimitar Dimitrov, Anish Anand, Shunran Liao SCDC Executive Committee Daniel Cardoso Llach (chair) Felecia Davis David Goldberg Tim Johnson Peter Lusch

CONTENTS Preface

007

Algorithmic Tectonics - Syllabus

009

Module One - Design Explore current developments in computational design Explore the aesthetics of repetition Use modularity to create parametric variation Imagine a design machine: expressive CAD Project One - Develop an experimental CAD system

014

Module Two - Visualize Explore current developments in data visualization Read and visualize data Interrogate the notion of â&#x20AC;&#x153;dataâ&#x20AC;? Project Two - Develop a critical data visualization

056

Module Three - Make Explore current developments in Architectural Robotics Imagine a Robotic Tool Tell the robot to draw with light Project Three - Develop an Architectural Robotics application

082

Open House

136

016 026 028 032 038

058 060 064 072

084 086 098 104

EXPLORING ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

CONTENTS Preface

007

Algorithmic Tectonics - Syllabus

009

014

056

Module Three - Make Explore current developments in Architectural Robotics Imagine a Robotic Tool Tell the robot to draw with light Project Three - Develop an Architectural Robotics application

082

Open House

136

016 026 028 032 038

058 060 064 072

084 086 098 104

MAKE

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

DESIGN

VISUALIZE

PREFACE

The greek word Tekton —carpenter— reminds us that material articulation and joinery are central to architecture. This etymological trait reflects an image of the architect as someone who makes: a master craftsman, and a builder. With the twentieth century development of digital computers, a new way of building became possible: linked to the postwar emergence of programming languages for data processing and numerical control, new ways to manipulate artifacts both in computer screens and in the physical world through computation radically transformed design practices, turning them into human-computer interaction endeavors. To build creatively within this context, a new tectonic sensibility is to be nurtured among architects, designers and artists by engaging the new forms of craftsmanship linked to computation. No longer as mere users, but rather as makers of computational tools and artifacts, this disciplinary transformation has already begun. Either via free and open source programming languages such as Processing and Arduino, scripting languages such as RhinoScript, MEL, or Blender/Python, or through visual programming platforms such as Grasshopper, computational approaches to design, visualization, and fabrication have entered the collective imagination of architects and designers as avenues to learn about, conceptualize, appreciate and build our world. Addressing these technical and cultural reconfigurations, the Algorithmic Tectonics course is an introduction to computer programming intended specifically for architects and designers. Taught for the first time in the Spring of 2015 at Penn State, the course departs from the conventional approach of programming courses based on lectures and problem sets, introducing each topic in a project-oriented fashion as a design question. Organized in three modules, design, visualize and make, the class prompts students to develop an appreciation for current developments in computational design, and to create their own projects with an incremental degree of sophistication: from simple interactive computer graphics to architectural robotics applications.

Robotic Light Drawing by Vernelle Noel

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Collectively authored by all the class participants, and only lightly edited, most of this book’s content is simply a “frozen” selection of the live repositories used to document the work of the course (throughout the course students maintained the course’s blog (http:// sites.psu/algotecton) as well as their individual github accounts). Thus, our purpose is not to be canonical but rather to to provide a point of reference for future discussion and development.

MAKE

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

DESIGN

VISUALIZE

PREFACE

Robotic Light Drawing by Vernelle Noel

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Daniel Cardoso Llach, Ph.D. University Park, July 19, 2015

Algorithmic Tectonics is a course on creative computing in architecture and design. By learning to create their own computational design artifacts (such as experimental software, responsive objects and robotic fabrication applications) participants explore computation as a territory for speculative, critical and poetic thinking about design (rather than as a mere instrument of production or representation).

VISUALIZE

Syllabus

Algorithmic Tectonics Arc 497k

Creating an environment where students write their own software, the course seeks to challenge conventional approaches to computation in architecture and to expand the design imagination. By the end of the course students are familiar with and able to formulate computational approaches to design exploration, analysis, visualization and numerically controlled fabrication.

NOTES * This Design Ecologies 2014-2015 report should make note of works that have been published elsewhere during this period. Among others, these include: Cardoso Llach, Daniel. Builders of the Vision: Software and the Imagination of Design. London, New York: Routledge, 2015. ———. “Software Comes to Matter: Towards a Material History of Computational De sign.” DesignIssues 31, no. 3 (Summer 2015): 41–55. doi:10.1162/DESI_a_00337. Bidgoli, Ardavan, and Daniel Cardoso Llach. “Towards A Motion Grammar for Robotic Stereotomy.” Emerging Experience in Past, Present and Future of Digital Architecture, Proceedings of the 20th International Conference of the Association for Computer-Aid ed Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA 2015) / Daegu 20-22 May 2015, Pp. 723-732, 2015. http://cumincad.scix.net/cgi-bin/works/2010%20+dave&hits=2:/ Show?caadria2015_226.

Design Ecologies Laboratory

This is a course on creative computing. By learning to create your own compu computational design tools (such as experimental software, responsive artifacts and robotic applications) you will explore computation as a territory for speculative, critical and poetic thinking about design—rather than as a mere instrument of production or representation. By learning to write your own software for creating and manipulating geometry, data, images, robots, and other objects, you will challenge the paradigms of conventional tools and expand your design imagination. You don’t need any prior programming experience. By the end of the course, you will be able to formulate and pursue computational approaches to design exploration, analysis, visualization and numerically controlled fabrication. Because learning to create computational tools requires constant practice (just like learning a new language), the most important aspects of the course are showing up and the timely submission of the weekly assignments designed to reinforce the class’s topics. No experience required. The course is open to graduate and undergraduate students. Time: TUESDAYS 9AM-NOON. Course number: arc497K

Instructor: Dr. Daniel Cardoso Llach, dzc10@psu.edu

The chief objective of the class is to learn to think of software as a medium for original designing, visualizing, and making. Its second objective is to expose students to an expanding landscape of computational design practices, and to instill a sensibility for their appreciation and criticism. Instructor: Daniel Cardoso Llach, Ph.D. Collaborators: Ardavan Bidgoli, Shokofeh Darbari

COURSE DYNAMICS The course explores three big themes through software writing: designing, visualizing, and making. In exploring these themes, participants are expected to explore the state of the art, become comfortable with certain specific technological tool kits, and use them to create an original project. At the end of the course, students participate in an Open House at the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing where they interact with faculty and peers. Each of the three themes develops as a project spanning roughly five weeks. Each starts with a preparatory assignment and a technical component. The preparatory assignment asks students to explore existing computational design practices related to each theme through documentation and reflection. The ensuing hands-on assignments prompt students to develop skills writinh original computer code through design ideation. Following these assignments, each module ends with a final project.

DESIGN

This is not a conclusive work but rather snapshots of a journey. Both the projects and their descriptions reflect a fledgling computational imaginary of design that continues to evolve around technological infrastructures. In combination with the course blog and the online code repositories, these notes may be useful for others confronting questions about pedagogies of computing in design.

ALG O RI TH M I C TECTO N I CS

Image Credit: Travis Creighton

The report, as the class, ends with a visual account of a social event: the first SCDC Spring Open House, which gathered students and faculty from around the College of Arts & Architecture, as well as special guests, for an exhibition of student and faculty computational design work. The Open House also hosted a conversation with special guests about design practices emerging across disciplinary boundaries. A record of this conversation can be found in a separate publication: “Design Across Boundaries.”

MAKE

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Daniel Cardoso Llach, Ph.D. University Park, July 19, 2015

VISUALIZE

Syllabus

Algorithmic Tectonics Arc 497k

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Instructor: Dr. Daniel Cardoso Llach, dzc10@psu.edu

DESIGN

ALG O RI TH M I C TECTO N I CS

Image Credit: Travis Creighton

MAKE

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

The class is three credits meets on Thursdays between 9 am and 12 in the SCDC Laboratory.

CALENDAR

MAKE

Open House (20 points): During the semester’s last week, you will choose one your projects (can be more than one), and push it forward to a higher level of technical and conceptual sophistication. The projects will be exhibited and demoed in the first SCDC open house, which will be showcase your work as well as the work of other SCDC researchers and students. The whole School attends this event and thus all projects must be functional, interactive, and compelling.

VISUALIZE

Because learning to create computational things requires constant practice (just like learning a new language), the most important aspects of the course are showing up and the timely submission of the weekly assignments reinforcing the topics. No prior programming experience is required, but an interest to explore computation as a creative practice (and the willingness to work hard) are crucial.

EVALUATION

DESIGN

Assignments must show a) understanding of the concepts, b) effort, and c) design sensibility/creativity. Coding assignments must include the code, an explanatory text, and at least one image. All assignments must be posted in the blog before class. Students are not expected to reach the same level of sophistication —if some students already know how to code, their assignments and projects should be above the level of others. Projects are expected to demonstrate each student’s command over the concepts introduced during the course, including programming syntax, data structures, control flow, object oriented programming, and a basic command of 3-D computational geometry, robotics, data-viz, etc. Your literacy and Final grades will be assigned as follows: 93 - 100 A 90 - 92.99 87 - 89.99 83 - 86.99 80 - 82.99 77 - 79.99 70 - 76.99 60 - 69.99 0 - 59.99

DOCUMENTATION The chief means of documentation, sharing and communication in the class is the blog http://sites.psu.edu/algotecton/. For each assignment and project, students include a written description, hand sketches, code, and screenshots or animated gifs of the software. Code and assignments can be found in: https://github.com/dcardo/Algotecton

GRADING POLICY Attendance: Each unjustified absence will subtract 8 points from your final grade/score. Assignments (80 points): Projects are 10 points. Guided explorations and State of the Art assignments are each 5 points (see Calendar).

Design Ecologies Laboratory

AB+ B BC+ C D F

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY This is a course on creative computing and thus it is crucial that you write original software. Limited sharing and reusing pieces of code are permissible as long as the author/s are properly credited. All assignments are individual. Working together, sharing tips, and learning together is encouraged, but you must write your own code. For example, it would be dishonest to take someone else’s code, do only minor changes, and present it as your own work. Penn State’s definitions of academic integrity can be found on the Faculty Senate Policy 49-20. Academic integrity is expected. Note Policy 49-20 in the University’s Policy and Rules for Students.

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

The class is three credits meets on Thursdays between 9 am and 12 in the SCDC Laboratory.

CALENDAR

MAKE

VISUALIZE

EVALUATION

DESIGN

Design Ecologies Laboratory

AB+ B BC+ C D F

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

NON DISCRIMINATION AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY The Pennsylvania State University is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to program, facilities, admission, and employment without regard to personal characteristics not related to ability, performance, or qualification as determined by University policy or by state or federal authorities. It is the policy of the University to maintain an academic and work environment free of discrimination, including harassment. PSU prohibits discrimination and harassment against any person because of age, ancestry, color, disability or handicap, national origin, race, religious creed, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status. Discrimination or harassment against faculty, staff or students will not be tolerated at PSU. Direct all inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policy to the Affirmation Action Director, PSU, 201 Willard Building, University Park PA 16802.

SOME REFERENCES EXAMPLES Princemio – Choreographic Coding http://www.creativeapplications.net/processing/pathfinder-generative-geometry-as-a-creative-impulse/ Generative/Computational Design Class in Porto http://jorgecardoso.eu/htmlblog/2014-05-17-Computational%20Design%20Projects%20-%202014.html Trace Modeler http://www.creativeapplications.net/openframeworks/trace-modeler-openframeworks/ Columbia Studio Projects “Studio Toys.” http://www.proxyarch.com/kaizen/ Columbia Laboratory developing Processing Libraries http://thecloudlab.org/processing/ Nervous System http://vimeo.com/38204725 http://vimeo.com/14813911 M. Jogan http://processing.org/exhibition/works/versionb/index_link.html N. Fischer http://vimeo.com/42144061

Design Ecologies Laboratory

MAKE

Generative Gestaltung http://generative-gestaltung.de/M_3_4_01_TOOL thecloudlab http://www.thecloudlab.org/kinect_digital_lathe.html

VISUALIZE

If you need any type of special accommodation, or have questions about physical access, please let me know as soon as possible.

Glitch-Mesh: M. Plummer-Fernandez http://vimeo.com/43848831

Axel Killian’s Catenary project http://designexplorer.net/projectpages/cadenary.html Postspectacular (Karsten Schmidt) http://postspectacular.com/

DESIGN

DISABILITY

All courses by Golan Levin http://golancourses.net/2015/ PROCESSING LIBRARIES - ControlP5 (http://www.sojamo.de/libraries/controlP5/) - Toxic Libs (http://toxiclibs.org/) - Unfolding (http://unfoldingmaps.org/) - Sudden Motion (http://shiffman.net/p5/sms/) - Leap Motion (https://github.com/heuermh/leap-motion-processing) USEFUL BOOKS Processing (C. Reas & B. Fry) Learning Processing (D. Shiffman) The Nature of Code (D. Shiffman) Algorithms for Visual Design (K. Terzidis) Generative Design (Harmut Bohnacker and Benedikt Gross) Form + Code (Casey Reas) VISUALIZATION RESOURCES - When Art and Analytics Overlap - Golan Levin - May 23, 2013, 2013. https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=T9EF35Cxvhc&feature=youtube_gdata_player. - Tufte, Edward R. Envisioning Information. Cheshire, Conn.: Graphics Pr, 1990. - Tufte, Edward R. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. 2nd edition. Cheshire, Conn: Graphics Pr, 2001. - Lima, Manuel, and Ben Shneiderman. The Book of Trees: Visualizing Branches of Knowledge. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2014. - Lima, Manuel. Visual Complexity: Mapping Patterns of Information. Reprint edition. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2013. Further references available in http://sites.psu/algotecton.

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Design Ecologies Laboratory

MAKE

Generative Gestaltung http://generative-gestaltung.de/M_3_4_01_TOOL thecloudlab http://www.thecloudlab.org/kinect_digital_lathe.html

VISUALIZE

If you need any type of special accommodation, or have questions about physical access, please let me know as soon as possible.

Glitch-Mesh: M. Plummer-Fernandez http://vimeo.com/43848831

Axel Killian’s Catenary project http://designexplorer.net/projectpages/cadenary.html Postspectacular (Karsten Schmidt) http://postspectacular.com/

DESIGN

DISABILITY

M OD U LE 1 : D E S IGNI N G

In recent years the number of architects, designers and artists exploring computation as a territory of creative thinking has grown significantly. Either via programming languages such as Processing, scripting languages such as RhinoScript, MEL, or Blender/Python, or through software environments enabling visual programming such as Grasshopper, computational approaches to design, visualization, and simulation have changed how we learn about, conceptualize, and appreciate architecture, design and the arts. In this Module, students explore this landscape of algorithmic practices, and acquire the fundamental skills to formulate their own approaches to programming interactive computer graphics, and designing computational design tools. Specific Learning Objectives - To get acquainted with the growing (and continually expanding) landscapes of computational design practices. - To understand basic computational concepts of iteration, modularity, encapsulation, and their fundamental role in enabling interactive computer graphics and generative design. - To gain familiarity with key open source technical kits for graphics programming. Project: An Experimental CAD System

Experimental CAD System by Dhaval Chedda

Design Ecologies Laboratory

M OD U LE 1 : D E S IGNI N G

Experimental CAD System by Dhaval Chedda

Design Ecologies Laboratory

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

E XP L OR E CUR R E N T D E VE L O P ME N T S IN COM P UTAT I O N AL D E S I G N

I’m Angela Urbano and I’m a third year majoring in B.S. IST (Information Systems: Design and Development) with a minor in Architecture Studies. I was in the B.Arch program here at Penn State for the last 2.5 years. In that time, I learned that design is really a matter of problem solving; to design means to improve through careful analysis. With that said, I am excited to explore the field of creative computing in this class.

VISUALIZE

Assignment 1.1

MAKE

ANGELA URBANO: ALL SORTS OF CALCULATORS

My coding experience so far has been limited to basic C++ and web design with HTML and CSS. I taught myself C++ years ago just out of curiosity and used it to program all sorts of calculators.

This assignment is intended to cover preliminary aspects of the course, such as the blog, an introduction to your work, (very) basic aspects of the Processing language, and a first exploration of the state of the art in computational design practices.

I am Ardavan Bidgoli, a graduate student in Design Computation Cluster at Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. My current research is mostly focused on the Architectural Robotics and its affordances.

Write an introductory blog post in the course’s blog. Use this part of the assignment to become familiar with the Wordpress platform, and introduce yourself and one computational project you have developed using computer code (it can be as simple as a website you coded, or a script you wrote for manipulating). Introduce the project with a description of the ideas and motivations behind it, as well as a technical section about the technologies/languages you used. Add a section about what you think is more interesting about the project, and a critical section saying what you would now do different now, and the pitfalls you encountered. Document the project with images, videos or animated gifs of the project. If you haven’t worked on a project involving computer code, write a post about a project that you would like to create using code. Include a text describing the project conceptually and technically, as well as sketches, drawings, links, etc. Tag the project with both your name, and the tag “Introductions.”

a) Data Manipulation

Cast a wide net in search of computational design projects that are interesting to you. You can use the links below as starting points (but ideally you should explore more). The projects of your choice must fall broadly within the category of “experimental CAD systems:” computational tools that enable a way of designing or producing shapes that departs from conventional CAD systems and metaphors. The projects of your choice must also involve original software. Choose three different projects and explain why you chose them. Try to choose different projects and in your documentation/analysis, try to explain how you think they work.

Processing has proven itself as a powerful tool in the hand of amateur developers, artists and obviously architects to benefit from both computer based facets and the artistic opportunities it provides. It is even expanded beyond the software limits, towards hardware and microcontrollers by Arduino platform as an open source movement.

DESIGN

ARDAVAN BIDGOLI: ROBOTIC AFFORDANCES

Ardavan Bidgoli Graduate Student in Design Computation

During Spring 2014, as a part of our design studio project, our team developed a toolkit to record site environmental data in real-time, which later helped us in the decision making process. Since the site was a vast land of 20×10 miles, it was impossible to collect any meaningful data using conventional methods. Thus, we suggest a system to read data continuously while being mounted on a truck, running across the site.The toolkit was made by an Arduino Uno board programmed in Arduino environment (basically a distribution of Processing) which could process the signals being generated by connected CO2, Air Quality, and Temp. sensors. The processed signals then sent over a 2.4 GHz data transmitter to another Arduino Uno board, where through a USB cable our laptop could receive and allocate them to a CSV file.

Lastly, download Processing into your computer (http://processing.org). Get familiar with the fundamentals. Write your first Processing program making sure that you understand the basics of shapes, color, and mouse interaction. If you have no experience programming, don’t be afraid of starting with the basics. Daniel Shiffman has a basic intro that is very easy to follow: “Hello Processing” tutorials (http://hello.processing.org). Get familiar with the concepts of syntax, variables, and data types. Be prepared to discuss these concepts during next class. Introductory Project by Ardavan

Design Ecologies Laboratory

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

E XP L OR E CUR R E N T D E VE L O P ME N T S IN COM P UTAT I O N AL D E S I G N

VISUALIZE

Assignment 1.1

MAKE

ANGELA URBANO: ALL SORTS OF CALCULATORS

My coding experience so far has been limited to basic C++ and web design with HTML and CSS. I taught myself C++ years ago just out of curiosity and used it to program all sorts of calculators.

a) Data Manipulation

DESIGN

ARDAVAN BIDGOLI: ROBOTIC AFFORDANCES

Ardavan Bidgoli Graduate Student in Design Computation

Design Ecologies Laboratory

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

MAKE

There were several technical issues in front of us, including background noises which interfered with signals, unstable b | environmental situation and superimposing collected data over location data. We could reduce the problems but couldn’t eliminate them completely.

.2013.798919#.VL1hrVqppFJ). Yoon and Howeler work with participatory environments, interactive architectures, and public space projects combining architecture, media, and landscape to propose new modes of public practice in the contemporary city (http:// www.hyarchitecture.com). Loop.pH work speculates on near and far future scenarios as a way to probe at the social and environmental impact of emerging biological and technological futures synthesizing living materials with digital tools at an urban scale. They promote innovative public engagement initiatives that deal with big issues such as Food, Energy and Water in an urban context (http://loop.ph/studio/).

VISUALIZE

Later using Processing, we represented the data in a set of charts and graphs which made it much easier to read and understand.

DHAVAL CHHEDA: PARAMETRIC ARTIFACTS

b) Simulation We hired Phytoremediation methods to overcome soil contamination crisis in the above-mentioned site, we proposed different types of plant and microorganisms to be planted on the site, where they could invade toxic and contaminations. They could consume unwanted materials to break their molecules to nonhazardous small ones or collect them in their body, where we could later harvest and bury them underneath the earth in abandoned mine tunnels, where they belonged to earlier. The project we mentioned above, required us to predict the site changes during the next 30-40 years, thus we used processing to roughly simulate the growth of the microorganisms and plants and abstractly demonstrate the way they could consume sources of contamination.

My name is Dhaval Chheda and I have completed my undergraduate studies in Architecture. Dur-ing the course of undergraduate studies I had mainly employed grasshopper for one particular project . The idea behind the project was to select an everyday object or tool and understand its various parameters. These parameters were to be then used for developing an system or any artifact wherein they could be manipulated. The object selected for his project was a fountain pen and three main parameters were analysed for the same, namely, the nib, the slit above the nib and the shape of the nib. The flow of ink depends on these parameters and we tried to develop an artifact with multiple nib points that would drip ink onto a piece of paper at different intervals to create a certain kind of drip art.

DESIGN

Introductory Project by Ardavan

Dhaval Chheda Graduate Student in Design Computation

During the physical fabrication of this piece we encountered problems such not getting the ink flow accurately . Fabrication probably required a more detailed second look.

CLARISSA F. ALBRECHT: AUGMENTED GREEN SPACES

Clarissa F. Albrecht PhD Student in Design Computation

My name is Clarissa F. Albrecht da Silveira. I am a PhD Student in Architecture at Penn State University. My research is related to digital augmentation projects for green open spaces in high-density urban areas. I am looking for possibilities of enhancing the aesthetic expression of the space through digital design in addition to the augmentation of the user’s experience of the space. Therefore, I consider projects with a responsive environment which informs environmental data highlighting nature’s processes and patterns and contributing to sustainability, urban ecology while allowing social, cultural, human-nature and human-machine interaction. In this context, I would like to create a project that reflects these ideas using programming language via Processing. It could be a system that is responsive to environmental data, i.e., people’s presence and interaction, temperature, wind, sunlight, rain, snow, vegetation, humidity, pollution etc. It would translate data about environmental conditions through movement, light, color etc. Considering the sustainability concern, it would require renewable energy and environmental friendly materials to operate. Some designers that work in a field related to what I am talking about are Karen M’Closkey, Yoon and Howeler, Loop.pH etc. More about M’Closkey’s work can be found on the article “Synthetic Patterns: Fabricating Landscapes in the Age of “Green,” Journal of Landscape Architecture, 2013 (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/18626033

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Introductory Project by Dhaval

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

MAKE

VISUALIZE

Later using Processing, we represented the data in a set of charts and graphs which made it much easier to read and understand.

DHAVAL CHHEDA: PARAMETRIC ARTIFACTS

DESIGN

Introductory Project by Ardavan

Dhaval Chheda Graduate Student in Design Computation

During the physical fabrication of this piece we encountered problems such not getting the ink flow accurately . Fabrication probably required a more detailed second look.

CLARISSA F. ALBRECHT: AUGMENTED GREEN SPACES

Clarissa F. Albrecht PhD Student in Design Computation

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Introductory Project by Dhaval

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Matthew Kenny Graduate Student in New Media

Part 1: This composition is a data sonification of changes in the Antarctic Ice over 400,000 years. This sonification was created in collaboration with Professor Mark Ballora, and performed at Penn Stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Polar Day in collaboration with the Polar Center. The intent was to create a soundscape, abstracted from but in reference to sounds one might hear in the Antarctic. This soundscape is driven by Antarctic Ice data and data projections covering a span of 400,000 years. I created this composition using the audio synthesis language Supercollider (http://supercollider.sourceforge.net/). Data variables include ice surface area, ice surface volume, floating ice area, floating ice volume, solar radiation, basil temperature, and sea level. The data for each variable is read into an array and mapped to a unique instrument. The data is used to control multiple dynamics for each instrument. Each data set is then run through a task to produce the sonification.

MAKE

Having completed the first assignment for this class, I can openly say that I have felt such a wealth of possibility and closeness to programming with Processing; compared to things I have done previously. There is something about object and graphic oriented programing that is so exciting and directly creative. I would like to work on projects that use simple ideas, and evolve them into bigger and more useful creative tools.

VISUALIZE

My name is Matt Kenney and I am a New Media MFA in the School of Visual Arts. I work across several mediums, however the main medium of output for my work has been composition and working with sound. I am excited to take the bits of creative coding I have learned working with sound and apply it to a more visual output in this class. Recently Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been exploring algorithmic composition and data sonification as an art practice, however I have started to work in digital fabrication as well.

done a little programming a while back, it was mostly computer simulations of material systems using a combination of programs like MatLAB, MaterialStudio and Visual Molecular Dynamics. For example, I would use code to extract data from a structure that I visualized or had drawn in MaterialStudio or Visual Molecular Dynamics (VMD).

SETH WALDMAN: IMPROVED MODELING My name is Seth Waldman and I am a 5th year architecture student. I am currently the Revit PSU Beehive tutor for the architecture program. My primary interests lie in Revit and how we can become more efficient computer modelers through modeling standards and workflows. Web Design During my 3rd year in the architecture program, I took on the task of learning my way around Adobe Flash Professional CS5 and Actionscript 3.0 in order to create a website to display my portfolio.

DESIGN

MATTHEW KENNEY: COMPOSITION ACROSS MEDIA

Seth Waldman 5th Year Student in Architecture

Introductory Project by Matthew https://soundcloud.com/matthewbay/polar-ice-sonification

This project was created for aesthetic output rather than scientific inquiry. It required constant tweaking of the instruments to produce the aesthetic that I was looking for. In some places, the dynamics of the data are difficult to discern. In future projects I would be interested in producing a cleaner, more audibly accurate depiction of the data for use in geoscience fields.

ROHAN MOHANA KRISHNAN: TOOLS FOR CREATIVITY Rohan Mohana Senior Student in Material Science

Design Ecologies Laboratory

My name is Rohan Mohana Krishnan. I am a Material Science and Engineering major in my senior year here at Penn State. My interests are mainly in the realm of electronic material science, battery technology, product design and interior design. Although I have

Introductory Project by Seth http://sethwaldman.com/

Being accustomed to using other Adobe programs (along with already having Adobe Flash on my computer) I decided to use Flash to create my website instead of using HTML or another language. The project uses non-linear navigation to allow for the file to act as a website rather than an animated video. Non-linear navigation turns visual components such as text or images into clickable buttons using Actionscript 3.0. This allows you to jump from frame-to-frame, with each frame having different graphics and buttons. The home page of the website uses a simple slideshow animation and some graphics have hover animations.

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Matthew Kenny Graduate Student in New Media

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MATTHEW KENNEY: COMPOSITION ACROSS MEDIA

Seth Waldman 5th Year Student in Architecture

Introductory Project by Matthew https://soundcloud.com/matthewbay/polar-ice-sonification

ROHAN MOHANA KRISHNAN: TOOLS FOR CREATIVITY Rohan Mohana Senior Student in Material Science

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Introductory Project by Seth http://sethwaldman.com/

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

During my internship this past summer at Gensler’s NY office, I was a member of the digital design team. The office’s sustainability group had been requesting a way for project teams to be more aware of their artificial lighting design. Specifically, the power (wattage) output of their designs. Lighting designs need to comply with standards set by ASHRAE. Besides ASHRAE, Gensler is a proponent for the 2030 Challenge which seeks to reduce buildings’ GHG emissions and become carbon neutral. (http://architecture2030.org/)

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After the digital design process comes the fabrication. I would like to be able to fabricate the designs generated. This might involve having to design tools to attach to current digital fabrication technologies, creating new digital tools and physical tools to increase the human intellect at the interfaces of these tools. It might also involve embedding connections/ interfaces that bring the digital and human possibilities for fabrication together. For example, creating connections with digital fabrication tools that “accept” human made connections – plug and play pieces?

VISUALIZE

Revit Tool

Part B: MAKING

What if the Kinect could scan a physical tool or object that one makes and is able to make that tool digital and one of the tools used to alter the digital material and design. Let’s say I have already made something, can I scan it into the digital world and work on it there, then 3d print it?

DESIGN

An issue I ran into using Flash is the website load time. Depending on internet speed, the website can take a very long time to load since all of the information is compiled into a single web address. If you attempt to navigate the site before it finishes loading, the navigation will become random. Since I have not updated the website in two years, I am looking to redo it shortly. Besides changing the design, I will look into ways to speed up the load time.

Physical —> digital —> physical —> digital —> physical Working with another member of the digital design team who creates custom Revit tools for the office and company, using Revit API, we created a tool that analyzes the lighting fixture families in a project. The tool takes each lighting fixture in the model, analyzes the room in which the fixture is located and the wattage parameter of the fixture. Using schedules in Revit, the tool takes the wattage and room properties such as the area, perimeter, height, and room type to calculate performance for each room and the entire building as compared to the standards set by ASHRAE. Rooms that exceed the allowance set by ASHRAE become red in both RCPs and the schedule in order to narrow the search for poor performing spaces if the total building exceeds ASHRAE’s standards. The tool working properly is contingent on all lighting fixture f amilies b eing m odeled properly w ith t he correct w attage v alue, a nd accurate representation, boundary creation, and height of rooms.

VERNELLE A. A. NOEL: DIGITAL AND PHYSICAL MAKING PROJECT ONE – PHYSICAL & DIGITAL: DESIGN & MAKING Part A: DESIGN

Vernell A. A. Noel PhD Student in Design Computation

Design Ecologies Laboratory

My name is Vernelle A. A. Noel. Projects I would like to create: I would like to generate designs using the mouse, the movement of the hands and/ or the body using Leap Motion and/ or Kinect. Through the addition or subtraction of material designs are created. I would particularly like to focus on using lines in the designs and fabricating lines in designs as opposed to only solids. These designs can be manipulated and produced using physical tools that have digital representations. For example, one shall be able to scan the hands or a glue gun, which they can then use in the digital world to manipulate their design. Other tools might include hammers, pliers, pens, chisels, and/ or glue guns. If I am looking at a particular case of wire bending, users shall be able to change the types of materials (wire, fiber glass rods, flats, etc.), sizes, and manipulations (bending, hammering, fastening) to name a few.

PROJECT TWO – FROZEN FABRIC-CATION I will like to create digital fabrics. I then want to simulate movement of these fabrics under different forces (wind, water, objects, tearing, etc.) generated by natural and human forces. The resulting dynamic 3D forms in digital space should be able to be captured/ frozen moments in time. These frozen moments can be represented via a mesh structure in the screen, edited and changed, tested, simulated and fabricated using 3D printing technology or a composition of digital and analog fabrication techniques.

VINA RAHIMIAN: PERSUASIVE INTERFACES I’m Vina Rahimian, as second year master student in architecture. My thesis research includes both fields of computation and sustainability. I’m working on the creation of a network centric computational model which provides dynamic incentives for re-balancing shared use energy resources in a small community microgrid. As I mentioned in the first session of the class, I’ve been learning processing with online tutorials but while not practicing, I’ve forgotten it a lot. However, the project I would like to develop for this class would probably be something related to energy data and human’s interaction with it. Studies have shown us that visualizing energy consumption data is valuable and necessary in providing consumers with real-time information and making them control their consumption, but it’s not enough in making them committed to life-long behavior change. Thus, it’s not only about visualizing the energy data, but how we engage people in manipulating and also generating data based on their consumption behavior. Thus in this class, I believe I’d be prototyping persuasive interfaces for balancing shared-use energy resources influenced by crowd-source intelligence. The interface in my opinion should go beyond 2D and be three dimensional as it could understand space. John Underkoffler’s talk about virtual computer interfaces which are operated as we operate on the real world, and how these two have merged into each other, is an inspiration for me.

Vina Rahimian Graduate Student in Design Computation

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Revit Tool

Part B: MAKING

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VERNELLE A. A. NOEL: DIGITAL AND PHYSICAL MAKING PROJECT ONE – PHYSICAL & DIGITAL: DESIGN & MAKING Part A: DESIGN

Vernell A. A. Noel PhD Student in Design Computation

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Vina Rahimian Graduate Student in Design Computation

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

PROJECTS OF INTEREST

In 2011, I worked on a eco-park design using conventional design tools. I not only provide a place for people to relax and enjoy the sea view of the park sites, but also include the night markets, esplanade street, ecological food and beverage, audiovisual entertainment, cultural exhibitions, bicycle roads and so forth. People cannot see the whole scene at first glance, but it is layer-by-layer to show off. Additionally, it is not an isolated island, but a multi-connection. If I re-design this project with programming, I might use parametric design and shape grammars to deal with the site planning. It is also possible to use processing for the element design making it more interactive with local people.

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Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m Xiao Han. This is my second semester in post-professional architecture program at PennState. Before I joined design computing cluster, I was always interested in the application of Information Technology on traditional architecture. After one semesterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s study, I focus more on computation than architectural design now. I think computation is the means rather than the ends. So the main goal for me in this semester is to improve skills of computation so as to better serve in design.

The SOL Dome by Loop.pH http://loop.ph/portfolio/sol-dome/

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Xiao Han Graduate Student in Design Computation

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XIAO HAN: DESIGN THROUGH COMPUTING

Colouring in the Spatial Organization by LUSTlab www.creativeapplications.net/processing/lustlab-colouring-in-the-spatial-organization-of-schilderswijk/

Introductory Project by Xiao

Reverberating Across the Divide by Madeline Gannon http://vimeo.com/75886159

Design Ecologies Laboratory

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

PROJECTS OF INTEREST

VISUALIZE

The SOL Dome by Loop.pH http://loop.ph/portfolio/sol-dome/

DESIGN

Xiao Han Graduate Student in Design Computation

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XIAO HAN: DESIGN THROUGH COMPUTING

Colouring in the Spatial Organization by LUSTlab www.creativeapplications.net/processing/lustlab-colouring-in-the-spatial-organization-of-schilderswijk/

Introductory Project by Xiao

Reverberating Across the Divide by Madeline Gannon http://vimeo.com/75886159

Design Ecologies Laboratory

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ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Assignment 1.2

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E XP L OR E T H E A E S T H E T I C S O F R E P E T I T I ON

Assignment 1.2 by Vernelle DESIGN

Assignment 1.2 by Seth

Assignment 1.2 By Matthew

Works by Vera Molnar (1968), Georg Nees (1968)

Write code that uses iteration, conditionals, and the random function, to produce results that show a comparable balance between randomness and control. Write about what you were trying to accomplish. Visual quality and aesthetic sensibility are important criteria for this part. Once your code is working, modify it to interact somehow with the user. Use the techniques we covered in class regarding conditionals, buttons and keyboard interaction.

Assignment 1.2 by Clarissa

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Assignment 1.2 by Vina

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ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Assignment 1.2

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E XP L OR E T H E A E S T H E T I C S O F R E P E T I T I ON

Assignment 1.2 by Vernelle DESIGN

Assignment 1.2 by Seth

Assignment 1.2 By Matthew

Works by Vera Molnar (1968), Georg Nees (1968)

Assignment 1.2 by Clarissa

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Assignment 1.2 by Vina

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US E M OD UL A RI T Y T O C R E AT E PA R A M E T R I C VAR I AT I O N

Taking the code from the previous point, re-write it to be Object Oriented (i.e. write a class for your object: remember to include a) data, b) constructor, and c) functions). See the lecture notes for reference. Use a loop to instantiate many objects of the class you defined. Add extra functions to your object and explore the potential of OOP to create a dynamic system.

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Assignment 1.3

This assignment asks you to explore visually the concepts of modularity and parametriuc variation. Take one of your previous sketches; modularize it by creating functions for drawing the element and defining its behavior. Think about what the element’s parameters are, and what kind of “design space” they configure. Navigate that design space using a loop and iteratively calling the function with different parameterizations. (Make it architectural if you wish).

DESIGN

Lastly, choose one Processing library and use it to expand the functionality of your program. For example, you may want to learn how to use the ControlP5 library to allow for more user-friendly interactivity.

Assignment 1.3 by Vina

Face transformations by Albert Durer inspired mathematician, biologist and scholar D’Arcy Thompson, who studied morphological variation in nature in “On Growth and Form.”

Design Ecologies Laboratory

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

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US E M OD UL A RI T Y T O C R E AT E PA R A M E T R I C VAR I AT I O N

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Assignment 1.3

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Assignment 1.3 by Vina

Face transformations by Albert Durer inspired mathematician, biologist and scholar D’Arcy Thompson, who studied morphological variation in nature in “On Growth and Form.”

Design Ecologies Laboratory

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Assignment 1.3 by Clarissa

Assignment 1.3 by Rohan

Assignment 1.3 by Dhaval

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Assignment 1.3 by Matthew

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ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

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Assignment 1.3 by Clarissa

Assignment 1.3 by Rohan

Assignment 1.3 by Dhaval

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Assignment 1.3 by Matthew

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IMA GI N E A D E S I G N MAC H I N E : E XP R E S S I V E CAD

ROHAN-3D TEXT MAP

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Assignment 1.4

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COURSEWORK

Assignment 1.4 by Rohan

The idea is to have a 3D connection type data structure that I would possibly like to implement as a new kind of presentation/teaching tool. Assignment 1.4 Sketch by Vernelle Noel

Pseudo-Code Beginning from concept sketches, start developing your ideas for this module’s final project: an experimental CAD system, or design machine. Envision a kind of interaction (Is it through the Keyboard? Sound? Mouse? Gestures? Data-Driven? All or none of the above?), the geometry (is it 3-D? 2-D? something else?), and the behavior/personality of the system (is it Rule-Based? Erratic? Autonomous? Obedient? Precedent-Based? Confrontational? Hostile?). Think of the output. Is the main result an image? A file for fabrication? A 3-D model? You can get inspiration from other projects, but keep in mind that you need to produce an original piece.

1. Ball and line connection (similar to what I did in last assignment). 2. Inputting data into structure (Hierarchy type data). 3. Linking the ball to some data. 4. Generating new data structure when a ball is clicked. 5. Repeating those steps with each ball containing different data. 6. Being able to zoom in/out, pan, rotate. (Peasycam)

Once you have developed your concept, write the pseudocode for your project. You want the pseudocode to help you identify the program’s main components, key variables, objects, the external libraries you will need, etc., without necessarily having to program it all. Be as detailed as possible in your pseudocode, so that you can start doing research into the parts of your program you don’t know how to implement. Lastly, create a blog post with your concept and pseudo-code in the blog.

Design Ecologies Laboratory

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

DESIGN

IMA GI N E A D E S I G N MAC H I N E : E XP R E S S I V E CAD

ROHAN-3D TEXT MAP

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Assignment 1.4

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COURSEWORK

Assignment 1.4 by Rohan

The idea is to have a 3D connection type data structure that I would possibly like to implement as a new kind of presentation/teaching tool. Assignment 1.4 Sketch by Vernelle Noel

Design Ecologies Laboratory

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

SETH: FROM PROGRAM TO SHAPE

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CLARISSA-ELEMENT

Assignment 1.4 by Clarissa

Element translates carbon dioxide levels in the air into color and 3D form in a digital screen. This concept is based on the consideration that high levels of carbon dioxide in the air is harmful for living beings and contributes to global warming. This is supposed to make people aware of one of the elements responsible for the air quality allowing them to change behavior. In this context, the system is configured to work for indoor and outdoor environment data. It is a reactive system that change its pattern based on the amount of carbon dioxide available in the air. The software is set to work for the optimum amount of CO2 available in the air, which is between 300 to 400 ppm for outdoors and 600 to 800 ppm for indoors. Indoor environments presenting around 1000 ppm of CO2 indicates that they are probably inadequately ventilated with heavy occupation. Values around 1500 to 2000 ppm are likely to be found only on unusual circumstances, like industrial workspaces. And if an environment reaches 5% of CO2 in the air, then the environment is toxic and hazardous. Considering these values, the system will display a soft and smooth design while the conditions of the amount of CO2 in the air are good. The colors for this pattern will vary between white, green and blue. As the level of CO2 in the air increases the pattern becomes to change creating angles and changing the colors for warm and intense colors, varying around red tones. Pseudo-Code 1. background color should change randomly among the colors related to the value of CO2. 2. waves and points are drawn and their color change randomly as the background. 3. points should look like they are emitting light. 4. ControlP5 will be used to allow experimenting the variation of CO2 values.

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Assignment 1.4 by Seth

My experimental CAD system is a tool to visually represent building program adjacencies early in the design phase to help users better understand the potential building organization. I envision the interaction to be data-driven, importing a spreadsheet of the building program requirements into processing. The output would then be a 3D Rhino model of the program elements. Processing would read the square footage of each space and translate it into a proportionate sphere. It would also read the room name and display it in text on each sphere. Additional parameters can also be set to color code the spaces, specify the number of floors, and constrain the spheres to a building perimeter. The most difficult part will be to code how the adjacencies are read and interpreted. Pseudo-Code 1. Use the XlsReader library to import the spreadsheet into Processing. 2. Extract columns as separate sets of data. 3. Take square footage data and convert into a 3D sphere. 4. Apply room name to spheres. 5. Color coordinate spheres with different types of spaces. 6. Establish spatial relationship / adjacencies (possible use of boolean expressions?). 7. Add functionality for specified number of levels. 8. Add functionality to import a curve from Rhino / AutoCAD (.dwg) to serve as building perimeter profile. 9. Export to Rhino.

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SETH: FROM PROGRAM TO SHAPE

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CLARISSA-ELEMENT

Assignment 1.4 by Clarissa

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Assignment 1.4 by Seth

ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

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VERNELLE: A GESTURAL MODELING SYSTEM

My system will be a 3D interactive environment created using gestures and music as input 1. Generation and manipulation of 3D form using human gestures as input. [Gestural] 2. Movement and manipulation of 3D form based on music (sound) as input. [Sound] 3. The 3D object dances and changes color [Behaviour] 4. Images and video of object as [Output] 5. 3D CAD file for Architectural Visualization [Output]

Assignment 1.4 by Vernelle

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Assignment 1.4 by Vernelle

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VERNELLE: A GESTURAL MODELING SYSTEM

Assignment 1.4 by Vernelle

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Assignment 1.4 by Vernelle

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ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Project 1

Project 1 by Xiao

Project 1 by Ardavan

Project 1 by Clarissa

Project 1 by Matthew

Project 1 by Dhaval

Project 1 by Angela

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D E V E L OP A N E X P E R I ME N TAL CA D S Y S T E M

Develop the system you outlined during our previous assignment. Ideally, the result of your efforts should be an original design machine: an “experimental CAD system” that creates digital form and/or a material result. You will likely face many small difficulties as you develop something from concept to resolution—things you don’t know how to code, libraries you don’t know how to use, or problems in the code that seem intractable. Try to identify the problems and move forward. See our blog for some advise on debugging. Remember that originality and courage to tackle (small) challenges is a key part of programming Upload your working code to your github account. Use comments to make it readable and easy to maintain. Write a post to the blog. As part of your blog post, include either a video (1 min max) or an animated gif of your program working.

PROJECTS

Project 1 by Vernelle

Design Ecologies Laboratory

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Project 1

Project 1 by Xiao

Project 1 by Ardavan

Project 1 by Clarissa

Project 1 by Matthew

Project 1 by Dhaval

Project 1 by Angela

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D E V E L OP A N E X P E R I ME N TAL CA D S Y S T E M

PROJECTS

Project 1 by Vernelle

Design Ecologies Laboratory

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ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Ardavan

DESIGN

MOT I ON GE N E R AT O R My project is actually a small part of a bigger long-term project. So It needs a brief introduction. During the past few months, I was working on Hot Wire Robotic Fabrication. This fabrication method is restricted to the realm of ruled surfaces. I had the opportunity to work with Daniel on a fabrication grammar that would enhance the application of robotic hot wire cutting systems. As a part of that project, we needed to have a generative platform to generate the rolling lines. Back to this assignment, this interface is basically a point generator in a cubic solid form. Two different points walk on the surface of the cube and the lines that connect them represent a complex rolling surface. There are a series of controls that let us define the dimension of the box and the number of rendered lines. The code is optimized to adapt output to the changes. But, the most important key in the interface is responsible for sending data over OSC in order to let us receive it in grasshopper. Where we can use it to simulate the robotic fabrication process and generate RAPID code to be run on the robot.

Motion and Ruled Surface Generator by Ardavan

Design Ecologies Laboratory

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ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Ardavan

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Motion and Ruled Surface Generator by Ardavan

Design Ecologies Laboratory

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ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

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Design Ecologies Laboratory

Images 1-4: Motion and Ruled Surface Generator by Ardavan

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ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

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Design Ecologies Laboratory

Images 1-4: Motion and Ruled Surface Generator by Ardavan

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ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Images 1-8: Motion and Ruled Surface Generator by Ardavan

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ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Images 1-8: Motion and Ruled Surface Generator by Ardavan

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ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Matthew

DESIGN

BL OB M A CH I N E In my previous post I discussed creating organic-like shapes in processing. For my project, I create these shapes by bounding particles inside a box, adding springs and applying a flocking algorithm, and drawing a mesh around the particles as they move around the screen. The meshes can be exported as dxf files for further manipulation and/or fabrication. The processes of creating this project lead me through the majority of Daniel Shiffmans Nature of Code book. While I enjoy the shapes produced by my interface, I now have a much better understanding of how to proceed algorithmically for future exploration. Moving forward I would like to apply seek and recursive algorithms to the mesh to create more natural shapes.

Blob Machine by Matthew

Design Ecologies Laboratory

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ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Matthew

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Blob Machine by Matthew

Design Ecologies Laboratory

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ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Images 1-4 by Matthew

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ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Images 1-4 by Matthew

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ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Images 5-8 by Matthew 6

Design Ecologies Laboratory

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ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Images 5-8 by Matthew 6

Design Ecologies Laboratory

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ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Angela

DESIGN

STA XX The idea behind this program is to abstract a building or any 3D mass to pixels. One would start with a single 3D pixel and build from there on any axis. One would also be able rotate and pan around the model. Right -clicking would add a pixel to the model and keyboard functions would determine what axis the pixel is drawn on. I would also program it so that the user determines how many pixels are added at a time.

Staxx by Angela

Design Ecologies Laboratory

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Angela

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Staxx by Angela

Design Ecologies Laboratory

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ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Staxx by Angela

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Sketch by Angela

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ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

Staxx by Angela

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Sketch by Angela

M OD U LE 2 : VIS U AL I Z I N G

M O D U LE 2: V I SU ALI ZI N G As the human experience becomes increasingly mediated by digital interfaces, more and more of our lives are inscribed in electronic records and people, institutions, and inanimate artifacts increasingly leave behind digital traces: data. The collection, manipulation and visualization of these data is a growing field that has attracted the attention of designers, artists, journalists, writers and other creative disciplines. With the exponential growth of electronic records of all kinds, there are important challenges to tackle. To ethically collect, interpret and design for the legibility and usefulness of these large datasets, a new awareness is necessary. In this module, students gain familiarity with current trends in visualization, and acquire the fundamental skills to critically formulate their own approaches to programming interactive data visualizations that are meaningful, interesting, and/or beautiful. Specific Learning Objectives - To get acquainted with the vanguard of interactive data visualization practices. - To learn the fundamental technical aspects of collecting, normalizing, and manipulating data computationally. - To learn to produce an interactive data visualization based on real data, in a way that is meaningful, interesting, and/or beautiful. Project: A Critical Data Visualization

Data Visualization of a design coordination process by D. Cardoso 2012.

Design Ecologies Laboratory

M OD U LE 2 : VIS U AL I Z I N G

Data Visualization of a design coordination process by D. Cardoso 2012.

Design Ecologies Laboratory

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PROJECTS OF INTEREST

Assignment 2.1

Luminous Cities by Sarah Bagshaw http://www.tracemedia.co.uk/luminous/

DESIGN

Explore the state of the art in interactive data visualizationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;an emerging field with multiple applications in architecture, design and the arts. Cast a wide net in search of data visualization projects (with a focus on interactive) that are interesting to you. You can use the provided links (see blog) as starting points, but you should explore beyond this list. The projects you choose must involve original software.

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E XP L OR E CUR R E N T D E VE L O P ME N T S IN D ATA V I S UA L I Z AT I O N

Do the following: a) choose three different projects, b) document them, describe them, and explain why you chose them; c) describe the kind of data they are based onďź&#x203A; d) try to explain how you think they work.

Visualizing Global Economic Relations by Andreas Esche http://viz.ged-project.de/

NYCHenge http://nychenge.com/map.html#12/40.7412/-74.0368/5/12

Design Ecologies Laboratory

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PROJECTS OF INTEREST

Assignment 2.1

Luminous Cities by Sarah Bagshaw http://www.tracemedia.co.uk/luminous/

DESIGN

VISUALIZE

E XP L OR E CUR R E N T D E VE L O P ME N T S IN D ATA V I S UA L I Z AT I O N

Visualizing Global Economic Relations by Andreas Esche http://viz.ged-project.de/

NYCHenge http://nychenge.com/map.html#12/40.7412/-74.0368/5/12

Design Ecologies Laboratory

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Assignment 2.2

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R E A D A N D V I S U AL I Z E D ATA

Use your dataset and consider what may be interesting to explore visually in the data, and what graphical/visual/interactive strategies may help reveal it. Sketch some ideas and explore start researching a particular computational strategy or tool. You are free to use Processing, D3.JS or other visualization strategies/technologies (as long as they involve coding). Resources -https://processing.org/tutorials/data/ -http://d3js.org/ -http://www.amazon.com/Visualizing-Data-Explaining-Processing-Environment/ dp/0596514557

DESIGN

Mapping electricity coverage in Africa by Rohan

SETH-ARCHITECTURAL PROGRAMMING TOOL I will be using the same Excel spreadsheet of data as in my Experimental CAD System. The data consists of a list of rooms or program elements for a building along with areas. Each room also has a color or RGB value assigned to it in order to visually group program functions by color. I used the XlsReader library to collect the data from the spreadsheet. I then applied the different fields to the parameters defining a class to creates circles. The room area directly translates into the radius of the circle. The RGB values changes the color of the circle, and the room name is displayed over each circle. This visualization begins to show how much of the building is taken up by each of the program functions. In future development, I want to explore viewing the rooms as a part of a whole.

-https://github.com/dcardo/BOTV_DataViz

ROHAN-MAPPING ELECTRICITY COVERAGE IN AFRICA I used the data from the World Bank shown in assignment 2.1 to produce a map infographic that shows the access to electricity as a percent of the population for parts of the African region. The brighter the spots on the map indicate regions where a higher percent of the population has access to electricity. I used the unfoldingmaps library to map the coordinates to the data by the three letter country codes and adapted most of this code from an example in the unfoldingmaps library. Architectural Programming Tool by Seth

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Assignment 2.2

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Mapping electricity coverage in Africa by Rohan

-https://github.com/dcardo/BOTV_DataViz

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ARDAVAN-CONFERENCE KEYWORD EXPLORER This data visualization is partially related to my thesis and an old unfinished job.

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Cumincad is a web-based database that hosts a vast library of CAAD scholarship. It has indexed and shared almost all major CAD conference’s proceedings since a long time ago. As of March 2015, they have 11700 records from journals and conferences such as ACADIA, ASCAAD, CAADRIA and …. I think mining in this treasure island will help us understand the trends in the CAD society during the past few years.

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To begin, I tried to fetch the titles data from this web page and see which words were the most popular titles among these thousands of articles. But how it is possible? Let’s have a look at the Cumincad title index page:

Cumincad title index page

This is what the browser shows, but there is another format of this paper in the HTML language. We can set the browser to show that: Looking carefully we can recognize the pattern they used to show this word on the web page. Every word is coming after a specific phrase and there is a series of constant characters after. Using basic string functions in processing I could easily extract these words and the repetition value.

Conference Keyword Explorer by Ardavan

When the key is hit, processing will access the url and read the entire data to save them in an array. I used a simple random function to set word position, but the colors and sizes are dependent on the number of repetition. This sketch needs serious developments. First, I should find a way to look for the real keywords, rather than only words in the title. Secondly, I should relate these words to the years, authors, locations, and URLs. Third, I should eliminate unrelated words, including articles, prepositions and adverbs from the database. And finally I should design a meaningful representation of them.

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ARDAVAN-CONFERENCE KEYWORD EXPLORER This data visualization is partially related to my thesis and an old unfinished job.

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Cumincad title index page

Conference Keyword Explorer by Ardavan

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ROHAN Assignment 2.3

Beyond incorporating visual and interactive design concerns such as readability, legibility and purpose, data visualizations inscribe an ethical dimension. This assignment asks you to consider the notion of data critically, not as an objective truth but as interpretive and constructed artifact. First, take your basic visualization to the next level. Be prepared to show substantial progress regarding its use of data, visual technique, and interactivity. Second, read the “Humanities Approaches to Graphical Display” article by Johanna Drucker and answer the following questions: - Consider your data visualization project in light of Drucker’s distinction between data and capta. In what ways, if any, is your data constructed? In what ways the visualization strategy you chose shaped the knowledge it displays? Use images and videos of your datavis as illustrations. - Drucker’s project is to create a critical language that re-frames data visualization, a practice rooted in the sciences, for the humanities. Consider whether design fields such as architecture, media, landscape and urban design can benefit from this reframing? Explain how you see datavis in your own field of practice. Write your response as a brief essay (between 600 and 1000 words), and post to the blog. References: Drucker, Johanna. “Humanities Approaches to Graphical Display.” Digital Humanities Quarterly 5, no. 1 (2011). http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/5/1/000091/000091.html.

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IN T E R R OGAT E T H E N O T I O N O F D ATA

Assignment 2.3 by Rohan

This is my updated code for the week. I’ve decided to follow through with the access to electricity idea by adding more components relating to energy. These are just a few additions to the parameters I am messing with, I hope to one day be able to add enough data to this visualization to encompass the whole idea of energy and resource availability in a country. I’ve decided to move away from maps and create a visualization for a more app-like feel. I intend to base the data around a series of arcs that represent percentages to give a feeling of “goal completion”. I would eventually like to include swipe and touch/ sensor based gestures to navigate the visualization space. For example you could swipe on the interface and view an energy circle of the next country in alphabetical order within a region. Here is an idea of the energy circle, which shows the percent of the population with access to electricity as a yellow arc. And similarly, blue for access to water and green for % of electricity generation for renewables. Dark regions of the arcs are the are indicators of the remaining population with access to that particular commodity. Response to Drucker’s paper First of all I would like to begin by saying that this was a really difficult read for me. Not all of the conceptual ideas make much sense to me but I will try to do my best to discuss them in terms of my data. I would first like to summarize what I have done so far. So far, I have used data from the World Bank to map out the percent access to electricity for a population by country. I have used the transparency or opacity of the color yellow, which is visually associated to light for many people, to indicate a percentage of people that have access. In other words, brighter regions indicate a higher population of people with access to electricity whereas darker regions indicate places where people have less access to electricity. For my final datavis project, I have been trying to think of a more interesting way to show this data as well as combining other sources of data to see if any interesting correlations arise from this visualization. From the discussions in class, examples of other data that go hand-in-hand with what I currently have are population, access to clean water and percent of electricity production from renewable sources. Most of this data is made avail-

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ROHAN Assignment 2.3

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Assignment 2.3 by Rohan

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able from the World Bank. My idea for improving this is to associate the “percentages” as goals for completion. I think one of the most frequently used visuals for goal completion is rooted in the idea of going full circle as it establishes a sense of completion. I want the data to reflect a sense of completing a goal that motivates users to “go full circle”. After all, I think it is pretty much a universal desire/goal of people to see everyone have access to clean water, electricity, and to have that electricity be produced by renewable energy.

I think there is definitely a place for this type of thinking in most design fields. As far as engineering design is concerned, I think it is often required that the data be treated equal. Although many engineering approaches are seeking to better understand the variability of data by discussing the possibilities of the data as capta. The goal of the scientific method is often to simplify complex data and to make assumptions. Whereas, Joanna Drucker’s discussion is primarily aiming at adding complexity to simplified data. However, this type of reframing can allow researchers in the fields of science and engineering to express more aspects of data in a broader and less specific sense but still give observers the knowledge required to understand the data. Although I believe, that this reframing is possible, I think it is highly unlikely to merge with the highly standardized scientific method that generally requires many assumptions and ignores the idea of capta.

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In terms of Joanna Drucker’s comparison between data and capta, there are definitely some debatable points of the purely quantitative aspect of the data I’m choosing to visualize. For example the data does not actually specify how much energy it takes to make water clean, nor does it give a the person visualizing the data a good representation of exactly which parts of the population have access to clean water or electricity. As a controversial example, one might look at a country with 33% access to clean water and think that it is not good. However, the term “clean” is extremely relative and standards set by the World Bank or WHO when collecting the data are not necessarily universal. On the other hand, one may look at the data and think that by generating more electricity from renewables in an area with 33% access to clean water, there would be more electricity to purify or clean water, when in fact the observer may completely be ignoring the fact that producing solar panels, energy generation/storage facilities use up huge amounts of water that at least in the short term, will probably lower the populations access to clean water. As discussed by Joanna Drucker, the idea of spatiality is almost completely lost in the representation of the data when one incorporates the idea of transporting clean water, or electricity to areas that do not have access to it.

Assignment 2.3 by Seth

ARDAVAN

SETH Making progress with the data visualization tool, I have divided the three different program functions (colors) into 3 rings. The building program is for the new Agricultural and Biological Engineering Building on Penn State’s campus. The blue represents educational spaces such as classrooms and laboratories. The purple represents office space and the yellow represents collaborative / community spaces. Each colored arc fills each ring based on the percentage of the total building area that each program function takes up. In this case, each colored arc is hard-coded and is not reading the data in the spreadsheet.

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Assignment 2.3 by Ardavan

This time I was able to make my program dig deeper into the Cumincad database and extract selected articles. Major improvements are both implanted in GUI and the core code. The interface is simple and functional. It has a drop-down menu to select from the

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Assignment 2.3 by Seth

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Assignment 2.3 by Ardavan

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Finally, if the user hovers the mouse over the tiles, sketch will go deeper to the website and will check the exact article web page for abstract and keywords. Response to Druckerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s paper This is he hardest paper I have ever read since I met Daniel! The title says the whole story. I am still struggling to figure out a proper answer for the first question, but I have already prepared some points regarding the second question. Data visualization is deceptive by nature, there is no way to represent and interpret a phenomenon without the loss of some aspect and exaggeration of the others. Architects deliberately use this point in decision-making procedures and representation. Exaggerated diagrams and visualizations in feasibility reports besides the surreal renders and illustrations in the projectsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; catalogs are instances of this misuse of visualization. Representation is the critical issue in data visualization. Too much deduction will result in extremely abstract representation with low level of liability and functionality. On the other

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The result will be a list of articles, with basic data such as title, author(s) name and date.

hand, high level of ambiguity or uncertainty will crucially affect the ease of communication between the users and the visualization. Thus, there must be a balance or optimum range that these two end of the spectrum may reach an equilibrium. In contrast, a human approach to data visualization may help the decision makers decide based upon more reliable feeds, or it may help audiences understand the real effects of a design solution in the context. But, there is no warranty. This humanistic approach is merged with ambiguity, bringing about a new challenge, how audiences with different backgrounds and conceptions will interpret the graphics? If we accept the relationship between the data and its context, then we have no choice except believing in the ties between usersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; background and their interpretation. How can we make sure the visualization made by an artist will trigger the same feeling in the audience A and audience B? When she mentioned space of time is related to different factors, how can we say this factor will remain constant for different users? A simple example can depict the issue. Imagine an undeveloped zone in the suburb. During the last five years, a family occupied a portion of the land, made it their home. City council decided to destroy the house and build a brand new housing project. How does the time pass for the family? The parents are in fear because their house is going to be destroyed, time is extended for them. But for their children, it is nothing but a new game with new people and new big machines. Time is shrinking for them since they enjoy it! The author tried to explain this problem with the point of view trick, but once the artist selects its point of view, it is frozen forever. Even considering several point of views is not going to fulfill this issue. Multiple points of view will result in several interpretations of the same phenomena, but how can a group make a decision without a common ground?

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available databases, a vertical slider will let the user select how deep the sketch would search in the database, lower values will only let the procedure dig into early pages of the database, greater numbers will dig deep, but this comes at the cost of time. After this quick set-up, user should start fetching and then generation can be run!

Assignment 2.3 by Ardavan

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The result will be a list of articles, with basic data such as title, author(s) name and date.

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Assignment 2.3 by Ardavan

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The images of those I have interviewed are data since I actively chose which to show? What story or narrative am I crafting by choosing those images? What does the emotions and the elements in each photo say or craft a particular story? The emotion of the person? Their gender? Their race? Their age? Am I with them in the photo? Am I smiling? Are they smiling? Why did I choose to show photos that included me? Are those being interviewed Trinbagonians? Am I crafting a narrative that they are all Trinbagonians? What are their histories and how might this influence their positions as subjects of this interview? How is time measured in the context of Trinidad & Tobago? Our concept of time is, “Anytime is Trinidad time.” Did it apply here? Does their race matter? Does their ethnicity matter? Do they think if race and ethnicity as one and the same? When it comes to the images of their designs… What about the images I chose? Did I choose them? Or were they only the images I was able to find? What about those whose works were not available online? Does it speak to the higher or lesser quality of their work? What does it say about them marketing their work online? What does it say about people taking photos of their work? What does it say about the time in which the design was done?, archiving of such work in history? What do the artifacts included in the images say or tell or construct a narrative of? What does it tell me of the context of that day, time and times that the interview was constructed? Was it a sunny day? A day of stress for myself and/ or the designer? What does the term designer mean in this context? What is their educational background? Does what they are wearing tell a certain story? Was the interviewee busy and blocking out a specific amount of time for the interviewer? Were they flexible and made as much time as I wanted? Were they under stress by feeling that they should be working? How does my use of a circle to represent information differ from using a square, triangle or other shape? How does my use of color affect the narrative and the construction of knowledge? What does overlapping circles tell the viewer if anything at all? What complexities are concealed by this graphical presentation? The amount of funds they had available, the resources they had (human, material labor, bureaucratic, time, administrative issues, etc). What does it say about those NOT included here? What does it say about the fact that I too am Trinidadian and how this may have influenced the data that was collected and the images that I chose to show? Although the time spent doing interview was discrete, what does a temporal description of that time look like? What does it tell me and others about how long it took them to design that piece? Design, acquiring materials, labor, editing designs, dealing with obstacles and challenges, testing, presentation, stage conditions, weather conditions, performer skills, strengths and weaknesses?

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Data visualization is a field that offers a great potential of quickly informing and enhancing the comprehension of phenomena, facts, events, cases, systems and through creative visual graphics. The means of data visualization are enormous especially if all the complexity embedded in the data is explored and visually translated. This potential is found when data is understood as qualitative, ambiguous, partial, complex, relational, and not, as intrinsically quantitative, neutral, self-evident, statistical.

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Every single person can conceive their own desired point from the same set of data. I guess this is the critical point in which equilibrium shows its importance.

CLARISSA

This is the argument explored and explained by Johanna Drucker in the article “Humanities approaches to graphical design”. In this paper, she discusses about dealing with data as capta. In this context, she defines data as “a ‘given’ able to be recorded and observed” and capta as something “ ‘taken’ actively” (Drucker, 2011). Accepting data as capta is very appropriate in a humanistic approach aiming to display visually and graphically not only quantitative data, but also, qualitative data and constructed information. This is very appropriate while understanding the humanistic knowledge as “the interplay between a situated and circumstantial viewer and the objects or experiences under examination and interpretation” (Drucker, 2011).

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In this sense, visually displaying qualitative information using the conventional standards based on statistical information with a simplicity that hides related information is not appropriate. Therefore the proposal of thinking of data as capta requires shifting the terms from certainty to ambiguity in order to find creative and innovative means of expressing interpretative complexity. The graphical expressions for humanistic knowledge have got to be rooted in interpretative activity. Data visualization modeled within a systemic complexity with several variables that are interrelated approaching a humanistic interpretation favors design fields as architecture, landscape architecture and urban design. These design fields deal with systemic thinking, where many variables are in play, spatially and temporally. Therefore, representing data related to design requires a strategy that goes beyond the numerical statistics represented in the conventional standards of tables, bars, charts and pies that are used in reductive, precisely objective circumstances. Design data are usually represented in correlational matrixes, diagrams, maps with many layers of information, drawings and even through the use of art and installations. In architecture, the design of contemporary buildings with high technology embedded is made possible only through the evolution of data visualization and simulation, seen in this case as computer programs, that facilitates the design and coordination of all the different projects related and dependent of one another, as architectural, structural, electrical, HVAC etc.

With regard to the second question, keeping a steady eye on the researcher and his/ her construction of data visualization (myself included) and finding a way to display and keep my eyes open to how I construct knowledge and why it was constructed in that manner can add to knowledge about knowledge.

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Every single person can conceive their own desired point from the same set of data. I guess this is the critical point in which equilibrium shows its importance.

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VERNELLE

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Project 2

- Criticality: is your visualization revealing something new about the data, or generating new knowledge? Are you aware of the embedded assumptions in both your data and visual languages? - Technical resolution: your project should show an understanding of fundamental issues of computer programming such as iteration, loops, parsing data, and functions. - Quality of interaction: your project should be engaging. - References: Precedents and examples including portions of the code you are using from other projects, are properly acknowledged in comments in the code.

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ROHAN-VISUALIZATION OF ENERGY USE

Bring to completion and thoroughly document your data visualization project. Your aim is a “Critical Data Visualization” software that reveals unseen aspects of your dataset, and allows us to reflect upon the data themselves. From your conceptual sketches, drawings and pseudocode, develop an original piece of software that visualizes data interactively. As before, you will likely face many small difficulties as you develop something from concept to resolution—things you don’t know how to code, libraries you don’t know how to use, or problems in the code that seem intractable. Try to identify the problems and move forward. Document your visualization in the class blog. Your post should consider the categories of data visualization we discussed in class, as well as our discussions about Drucker’s paper, and address the following points: - Is your visualization is an information display, or a knowledge generator? Why? - What is the intellectual purpose of your visualization, and how does the visual language you chose address it? - Consider whether your visualization belongs in one or several of the following categories (as per Drucker): knowledge trees; dynamic systems; time-keeping; administration/ record-keeping; and space-making. - What were the main difficulties you encountered during the data-collection and analysis stages? Include sketches and previous versions. - In what sense was the data you chose/collected “constructed”? Discuss what interpretations or assumptions may be embedded in the data itself, as well as in the visual languages you chose to represent it. - Is your visualization making these interpretations and assumptions explicit, or visible? - Include a video in the blog (around 1 min) of your visualization (make sure you do not show your Windows desktop). - Upload your working code to your github account. Use comments to make it readable and easy to maintain. Grading criteria - Documentation: a) github post is complete, and b) the blog post is complete, well written, well illustrated, and includes a video of your visualization.

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Visualization of Energy Use by Rohan

My visualization is primarily an information display. It is essentially visualizing the concept of goal completion through arcs of a circle that represents 100%. It is simply using values from World Bank and translating them into a more visually appealing representation. Although, through some aspects of the visualization, it becomes somewhat apparent that this could in fact be an indirect knowledge generator, allowing the observer to formulate his/her own correlations between the data. Intellectually, this visualization seeks to represent data relating to energy and resources. So far, this visualization has included data on percent population with access to electricity, water and percent renewable energy source generation of total energy production. This visualization aims to raise awareness on the glaring issues of access to basic needs such as electricity and water, as well as implicating the responsibility of us to further produce electricity with renewable energy by recognizing that renewable energy uses less water overall in energy production. I believe, based on the Drucker paper, my visualization belongs to the dynamic systems category by dynamically animating the growth or changes in (datatype) at varying geographical regions. The display method is clearly a

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Project 2

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ROHAN-VISUALIZATION OF ENERGY USE

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Visualization of Energy Use by Rohan

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very subjective way of representing the data that could have been done quite differently in a number of ways.

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In the data collection stage, I was only interested in representing information in a very common way. As shown above, I did this by varying geographical region by color to represent various levels of access to electricity. This proved to be a rather simple task. However, I felt the visual results weren’t as appealing as I would have liked. The most difficult part of this stage was making the data file readable. In general, this remained true through all stages of the assignment. For some reason, the loadTable and loadString functions were not reading my .csv files properly. They would readily create the right number of rows, but would always read data with multiple columns as one column. I have still not solved this issue, and hence proceeded to manually load the data into the sketch, and decided to focus more on the visual interface of an instance as shown in the analysis stage below. The data is obtained from the various sources on the Internet. In its construction, I can only assume that many assumptions are made. Things such as population, a definition of clean water, and type of renewable energy sources included are highly debatable and are hardly constant with time. In addition to this, assumptions in the visual language used are also quite obvious. For one, it is assumed that the relationships between the data are independent of one another, although that is clearly not true. Electricity production is highly dependent on water availability and an increase in renewable energy production has a largely misrepresented ideology in its relation to water availability. This visualization cannot, due to limitations in data, relate the true dependencies of the data with one another and in many ways is an extreme simplification. I do not believe the visualization is making the assumptions explicit, simply because its correlations are too complex. The final visualization shows access to electricity as the yellow arc, access to water as a blue arc and % renewable energy production out of total energy production as a green arc. It also displays the name and a map of the region being observed. The LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys can be used to navigate between two instances of these data, one of the African region and one of Southeast Asian region. Some data for the SEA region is unavailable and is approximated from a variety of sources. The arcs are also “growing” each time the arrow keys are pressed to add an element of animation to the sketch. My data visualization project branches off of what I was trying to do with my Experimental CAD System. My Experimental CAD System tried to read a .csv file containing a bunch of program elements or rooms and information regarding each room. The goal was to transform each room into a sphere proportional to the room’s area and diagrammatically arrange the spheres based off of room adjacency requirements.

SETH-ARCHITECTURAL PROGRAM VISUALIZER This data visualization tool tries to do something similar but rather than arrange the rooms in 3D space, the building program is transformed into a 2D graphic. The building program is for the new Agricultural and Biological Engineering Building on Penn State’s campus. I divided the three different program functions (colors) into three rings. Blue represents educational spaces such as classrooms and laboratories. Purple represents office spaces and the yellow represents collaborative community spaces. Each colored arc fills each ring based on the percentage of the building area that each program function takes up.

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Architecture Program Visualizer by Seth

Looking at the data structure of the .csv file, we have “Room Name”, “Area”, “R Value”, “G Value”, “B Value”, and then a 2D matrix. The 2D matrix evaluates TRUE if 2 rooms are desired to be in close proximity or FALSE if they are not required to be near each other. I am much more focused on the relationships between the educational spaces than the rest of the program elements. Therefore, I have subdivided the blue arc into segments each representing one of the educational spaces. The size of each segment (or length of the arc) is directly proportional to the area of the room. If the 2 rooms evaluate to TRUE, then a line will be drawn between their respective points. This will create a web of lines in the center of the graphic. From here, we can determine which rooms are required to be near more rooms than others. For example, the Shared Instrumentation and Support Space is a shared lab space that needs to serve 9 other labs. With this information, we can begin to think about designing around particular rooms.

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very subjective way of representing the data that could have been done quite differently in a number of ways.

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Design Ecologies Laboratory

Architecture Program Visualizer by Seth

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gramming is no easy task. I am still unable to apply concepts such as arrays and other collection structure to store data that I want without entering them in manually. I want to make my software dynamic.

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One important goal for me in this project was building on previous knowledge. My goal was to use audio, video and images in my visualization. Another importance was the structuring of my files for variables, methods, etc. and structure, ie arrays. Step by step. I still have to understand loops better. I wasn’t able to figure out creating a Button class properly with the time and resources that I had.

Fieldwork Data Browser by Vernelle

My data visualization is an information display based on capta. The purpose of my visualization is both intellectual as well as informative. The following information is displayed graphically: 1. A photo of the person I interviewed. The photos of all but 2 (James Hackett and Clary Salandy) were taken either during or after the interview process. 2. A photo (or placeholder) of a photo of their design. In all but one case the final built artifact. “How the thing is” is captured in this image. 3. A video showing “how the thing moves.” The goal for the videos shown are for them to be videos of the artifacts captured in the photo. These three visual pieces of information should inform those outside the context of Trinidad Carnival to relate and combine three pieces of information, the person, the artifact and how a person dances the artifact. 4. The relative sizes of the circles are related to their number of years of experience in design in the Trinidad Carnival.

Fieldwork Data Browser by Vernelle

The following information is displayed in text: 1. The name of the person interviewed 2. Their area of expertise/ title 3. The length of my interview with them, and 4. The date on which the interview occurred. 5. Transcript of the interview Here time is written as a unit and displayed graphically, but it indicates nothing about time as a factor of being busy, time as a factor of being relaxed, time as a factor of anxiety, time as a factor of the spirit of Carnival. Being a beginner coder there are some difficulties, and many times it is frustrating. TIME is important. Having good resources to help me along the way as well as a project and data that is motivating encouraged me to push through this. Teaching one’s self pro-

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Fieldwork Data Browser by Vernelle

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Ardavan

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RE S E A R CH D B B R O WS E R I pushed the project forward by automating the data-collection procedure, which made it much easier to harvest data from the website. Basically, the code can go through every single paper in the different databases and collect the following fields: Author(s) name(s), title, keywords, publication year, and abstract. However, for most of the papers the keywords and abstract are not indexed, thus those items were not used in my further steps. Up until here, the sketch is pretty much the same. Adding some blocks of codes, I managed to export the collected data in csv files. Since the fetching process takes a considerable amount of time, separating data collection and data visualization process may save precious time for us. Managing the database, I import them in another sketch to perform the word analysis. To do so, I used hashMap to count the repetition of every word in the paper titles in every database in different years. The result is presented in the format of a circle, surrounded by rays of words. The length of rays and their brightness indicate the number if repetition of the word in that database/year. Hovering the mouse from left to right will navigate through the year in a specific database, while clicking on the screen will toggle through the databases. To keep the track of time and database, these two items are being shown at the center of the circle.

Conference Data Browser by Ardavan

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Conference Data Browser by Ardavan

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Conference Data Browser by Ardavan

Design Ecologies Laboratory

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Conference Data Browser by Ardavan

Design Ecologies Laboratory

M OD U LE 3 : M AK IN G

The education of architects and designers has traditionally focused on the production of design documentation. Through drawings, text, 3-D models and other design artifacts, designers learn to structure the work of others â&#x20AC;&#x201D;making it possible for a design proposition to become a material reality. With computation and numerically controlled fabrication, these disciplines confront new possibilities and challenges. Machines driven by software and code can precisely execute commands to manipulate, cut, bend, move, slice, or break, materials. Through code, architects and designers communicate with machines in ways that allow for high levels of precision and speed, and which open a new landscape of aesthetic possibilities (as well as new limitations). This module explores the work of contemporary architects, artists and designers who have explored industrial robots as creative instruments. Students design, install and test their own robotic tools for an ABB2400 robot, producing an actual example of architectural robotics. Specific Learning Objectives - To get acquainted with the vanguard of architectural robotics. - To learn the fundamental aspects of conceptualizing, simulating and executing code for a robotic tool. - To gain familiarity with the software environments for its simulation and control in an actual industrial robot. Project: Architectural Robotics Special thanks to Ardavan Bidgoli, Shokofeh Darbari and Jamie Heilman for their collaboration in this Module. Module 3 Project by Clarissa and Dhaval

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M OD U LE 3 : M AK IN G

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Assignment 3.1

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BOX by UCLA

Explore the state of the art in architecture and design robotics and (more generally) numerically controlled fabricationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a field with multiple applications in architecture, design and the arts. First, cast a wide net in search of architectural robotics and fabrication projects that are interesting to you. The projects you choose must involve the development of original software. Do the following: a) choose three different projects, b) document them, describe them, and explain why you chose them; c) describe the kind of data they are based on and d) try to explain how you think they work. There are many examples but you may start by looking at other university labs exploring architectural robotics, such as those at Michigan, CMU, MIT and others. Then, download the Lab Notes from the courseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s GitHub. Read it carefully and browse through the links included in the file. Then focus on the section on RobotStudio, and install it in your computer.

PROJECTS OF INTEREST

6-Axis KUKA+ABS 3D Bionic structure Printing by Tongji University

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Research Pavilion By ICD at University of Stuttgart

Robotic Brick Fabrication by Tongji University

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Assignment 3.1

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E XP L OR E CUR R E N T D E VE L O P ME N T S IN A R CH I T E CT U R AL R O B O T I C S

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BOX by UCLA

PROJECTS OF INTEREST

6-Axis KUKA+ABS 3D Bionic structure Printing by Tongji University

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Research Pavilion By ICD at University of Stuttgart

Robotic Brick Fabrication by Tongji University

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VINA AND ROHAN-ROBOTIC CLAY CARVING TOOL Assignment 3.2

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3-D model of robotic Hot-Wire cutter by Ardavan

So, we know that the robot can move, and we know that we can program the robot. So what? For this assignment, your goal is to design and build an imaginative robot-tool assembly. There are infinite possibilities to explore by defining new kinds of robotic tools to perform design and fabrication tasks. Individually or with a partner, design and prototype a tool to attach to our ABB robot’s end-effector, that takes advantage of its programmability. Depending on the kind of tool you will develop, you will have to learn about the Robot’s attachment’s plate. Make sure you model your tool precisely in 3-D, and learn to incorporate it into RobotStudio’s library. Bring your tool prototype to the class, and document in the blog your intent through a) sketches, b) a 3-D model, c) photos and d) a simple simulation in RobotStudio.

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Robotic Clay Carving Tool by Vina and Rohan

We decided to design a carving tool and work with clay for this assignment. We designed a holder for it to attach to the robot’s end effector. We designed it so that we could use any carving tool (there’s a really wide variety of carving tools out there) by putting it in the holder, screwing the holder to robot’s flange and it’s done! There are four carving tools, as well as the tools we used for designing and assembling the holder. We put a carving tool in the holder’s base, and then with two screws we fixed the tool on the holder. After this we screwed the holder to it’s plate which is going to be attached flange.

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VINA AND ROHAN-ROBOTIC CLAY CARVING TOOL Assignment 3.2

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3-D model of robotic Hot-Wire cutter by Ardavan

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Robotic Clay Carving Tool by Vina and Rohan

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CLARISSA AND DHAVAL-ROBOTIC DRAWING TOOL Assignment 3.2

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Robotic Drawing Tool by Clarissa and Dhaval

The tool we first proposed for the robot was a drawing tool that would work with two pens attached to the edges of a helix. The idea was to generate drawings on different sorts of surfaces while the helix rotated and the robot moved. As we progressed with the idea of having the robot drawing on a 3D surface, we had to simplify the tool. In this context, we proposed a simple drawing tool for the robot using a static pen attached tho the end of the robotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arm. Bellow you will find a description of the process from the first proposal to the second, and everything required to make the project feasible and successful. First proposal: two rotating pens The tool currently uses an arduino motor, to rotate the pen continuously. This will bring about an interesting change in the drawing, because although the path will be a series of line drawings, the output will be circular.

Robotic Clay Carving Tool by Vina and Rohan

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CLARISSA AND DHAVAL-ROBOTIC DRAWING TOOL Assignment 3.2

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Robotic Drawing Tool by Clarissa and Dhaval

Robotic Clay Carving Tool by Vina and Rohan

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VERNELLE AND XIAO-ROBOTIC WEAVING TOOL

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Assignment 3.2

Robotic Drawing Tool by Clarissa and Dhaval

Second Proposal: one single pen as a static tool For this tool, we had a marker attached to a string. To attach these two pieces we made two roles in the back on the pen and used steel wires wrapping them together. We developed a cylinder to hold the pen-string set to the wood piece that would be fixed in the end of the robot. We fabricated the cylinder using the laser cutter but the result was too delicate and not proper to our project. As a solution, we carved a cylinder from a wood box using a drill in the Wood Shop. Then, we placed the string and the pen inside this cylinder and glued the box to the wood piece that would be fixed in the end of the robot. Below, you can see the virtual prototype and the built tool. Robotic Weaving Tool by Vernelle and Xiao

Design Ecologies Laboratory

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Assignment 3.2

Robotic Drawing Tool by Clarissa and Dhaval

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Sketch by Vernelle

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Sketch by Vernelle

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Sketch by Vernelle

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Sketch by Vernelle

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4. Sanding the wood pieces, and using Drill Press to drill holes of the frame and robotic tool.

2. From digital to physical, measuring the dimension based on digital design in Rhino.

5. Installing the screws.

3. Using Miter Saw to cut four legs for frame structure, as well as one part of robotic tool.

6. Assembling the robotic tool and frame structure.

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1. Using CNC machine to cut the wood and MDF into piece, preparing the basic screws that we need, two inches and three inches.

Images by Xiao

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4. Sanding the wood pieces, and using Drill Press to drill holes of the frame and robotic tool.

2. From digital to physical, measuring the dimension based on digital design in Rhino.

5. Installing the screws.

3. Using Miter Saw to cut four legs for frame structure, as well as one part of robotic tool.

6. Assembling the robotic tool and frame structure.

Design Ecologies Laboratory

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1. Using CNC machine to cut the wood and MDF into piece, preparing the basic screws that we need, two inches and three inches.

Images by Xiao

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Robotic Weaving Tool by Vernelle and Xiao

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Robotic Weaving Tool by Vernelle and Xiao

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Assignment 3.3

Hint: Think creatively and computationally about your drawing. Use the concepts of iteration and modularity to create an interesting spatial drawing that takes advantage of the robot’s precision and automation.

This assignment asks you to get comfortable with robotic workflows, and to start imagining creative ways of using the robot in design. Using what you learned in class about Rapid and RobotStudio, and the LED device you saw in the lab today, create rapid code for the robot to make a light drawing in three-dimensional space. Your goal is a series of long-exposure shots of the robot drawing in 3-D space. You can use Rapid code directly, or use the RobotStudio interface. Remember the steps: once you have written the Rapid code, you must simulate the execution of the code in RobotStudio. Once you are satisfied with the simulation and the drawing, set a time with the robot to execute your code (for this, you will need to arrange a time with Jamie Heilman). You will have to run it first in manual mode first, before running it in automatic mode. You may have to do several tries and change the speed to make sure that you are getting a good long exposure shot. Document the process carefully in the blog, and post the long-exposure photographs of your drawing. If you are feeling adventurous, use your knowledge of Processing to edit the Arduino code driving the LED, in order to play with different values of color and intermittence.

Design Ecologies Laboratory

Klee’s “Pedagogical Sketchbook” offers a definition geometric languages based in motion.

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Assignment 3.3

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Klee’s “Pedagogical Sketchbook” offers a definition geometric languages based in motion.

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Assignment 3.3 by Xiao

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Assignment 3.3 by Clarissa

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Assignment 3.3 by Clarissa

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Assignment 3.3 by Vernelle

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Assignment 3.3 by Vernelle

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Project 3

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D E V E L OP A N A R CH I T E CT UR AL R O B O T I C S A P P L I CAT I ON

This assignment is a synthesis of the Architectural Robotics module. By designing, building and testing a tool for our robot, you will show your command over the fundamentals of architectural robotics, and open new possibilities for designing and making. Our goal is to design and build imaginative robot-tool assemblies.

The original turtle from “Mindstorms,” Seymour Papert, Basic Books, Inc., 1980.

First, develop your tool from the sketches and conceptual prototypes you developed in the previous assignment. Second, test your tool both through simulations and “dry runs” with the robot. Hint: start simple. Third, make something. Once you have tested your tool through simulations, edit the code make sure you book time with the robot to create something. Prepare your code. Lastly, document your project carefully in the blog. Include photographs, video, and descriptions. In your blog post, discuss whether the tool worked as expected. What failed? What surprises did you find? How would you improve the tool and the workflow?

Sketch by Vernelle

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Project 3

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The original turtle from “Mindstorms,” Seymour Papert, Basic Books, Inc., 1980.

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Vina and Rohan

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ROB OT I C CL AY C AR VI N G A simple gripper that can be easily adjusted to clamp most carving tools. The tool uses a 6mm diameter insert hole that is sufficient for most clay carving tools, with two additional bolts that can be tightened as necessary to clamp the tool in place. The tool is built using some spare metal jigs and MDF board that was CNCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ed into the desired shape. We use a wooden frame with a slide of plexiglass as the mold for ensuring our clay is in a set shape before aligning it with the provided table grid. 1. Before messing with any clay, we first test the robot arm path just with the frame + table with a 5%â&#x20AC;&#x201C;25% movement speed. 2. Once we know our frame position, we remove the frame from the table and insert plastic backing, to avoid the clay sticking to the frame. 3. Wet surface of plastic backing and clay, and begin to form into a flat surface. We use a plastic roller pin and mdf block to smoothen the surface although our fingers did most of the work. 4. Once the surface is flat in the mold, we proceed to wetting the surface slightly (possibly paint) and letting it dry for a few minutes. 5. We then place the frame on the table with the alignment as we determined earlier and proceed with our robot path. First, we developed the initial carvings produced by the tool and robot arm. Varying depth and warping of the clay are the two biggest issues that we faced in all our designs. Edges drying faster than center when exposed to air, resulting in a curvature that is difficult to account for. Next, we experimented with clay paint. Here is one of the final designs from those trials and our final video compilation of the whole process.

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Vina and Rohan

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Images 1-3 by Vina and Rohan 1

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Clarissa and Dhaval

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ROB OT I C 3- D D R AWI N G For this final project we had the idea of using the tool we developed to draw on a 3D surface. For that, we tested cutting an EPS foam block using the CNC machine. As we had a positive result with the association of the CNC and the EPS foam, we developed a curved 3D surface in Rhino and modeled it. In order to reduce the lateral movement from the pen we created four elements that were glued to the side of the wood box that contains the cylinder where the pen is placed. The drawing we developed to apply on the surface was created using Processing code. We save the product from Processing in pdf and then we imported it in Rhino and projected the 2D drawing on the 3D curved surface. from that point, we used Grasshopper/HAL to generate the code and perform the robot simulation.

Robotic 3-D Drawing by Clarissa and Dhaval

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Clarissa and Dhaval

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Images 1-2 by Clarissa and Dhaval 1

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Images 1-2 by Clarissa and Dhaval 1

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Robotic 3-D Drawing by Clarissa and Dhaval

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Vernelle and Xiao

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ROB OT I C S T R I N G WE AVI N G We are working on designing a tool that allows us to install string sculptures. The attachment shall: 1. Receive a spool of yarn 2. Guide the yarn to the end of the robot attachment 3. Robot will manoeuvre yarn into notches of scaffolding structure After making the tool, we dry ran the robot several times to finely adjust and determine the exact position of the structural frame. The most exciting part of this robotic tool was the “end effector”. At first, we intended to fix it on the tool. However, after several experiments, it turned out that this very “end effector” must be flexible enough so that it could weave nicely. We tried to find some keywords for this project: Robotics and weaving, textiles and surface, camera and selfie.

Robotic String Weaving by Vernelle and Xiao

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Vernelle and Xiao

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Robotic String Weaving by Vernelle and Xiao

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Sketch by Vernelle

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Sketch by Vernelle

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Sketch by Vernelle

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Sketch by Vernelle

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Sketch by Vernelle

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Robotic String Weaving by Vernelle and Xiao

Our robotic tool is called ROBO2WEAVE. In the prototype design, we only did two sides (a two dimensional surface) to test it. First, we tested the grasshopper script with the tool, and then we exported it into RobotStudio to test it again. The purpose of this work is to build several string sculptures which then are put together to create a light 3D installation. These strings can then form mathematical surfaces within defined boundaries. They are then put together according to different computations to result in designs.

Robotic String Weaving by Vernelle and Xiao

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Robotic String Weaving by Vernelle and Xiao

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Images 1-5 by Vernelle and Xiao 3

Robotic String Weaving by Vernelle and Xiao

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ROBO2WEAVE by Vernelle and Xiao

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ROBO2WEAVE by Vernelle and Xiao

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On May 5 2015, the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing (SCDC) hosted the first SCDC Spring Open House, featuring an exhibition of computational design research and coursework directed by Stuckeman School and School of Visual Arts faculty. Courses in the exhibition included Algorithmic Tectonics (the subject of this report) as well as courses by Felecia Davis, David Goldberg, Andrew Hyeronymi, Peter Lusch and Marcus Shaffer.

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The event gathered faculty and students from around the university as well as special guests, providing a space for conversations about (as well as practical engagements with) computational design. A separate document entitled Design Across Boundaries accounts for the Symposium in detail.

Photo credit: Henley Keme Module 3 Project by Clarissa and Dhaval

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Photo credit: Henley Keme Module 3 Project by Clarissa and Dhaval

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Photo credit: Henley Keme

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Acknowledgements Thanks to the students in the Algorithmic Tectonics Spring 2015 course, Clarissa Ferreira, Vernelle Noel, Ardavan Bidgoli, Xiao Han, Dhaval Chedda, Matthew Kenney, Angela Urbano, Vina Rahimian, Seth Waldman, Nastaran Tebyanian and Rohan Mohana for a semester of curiosity and hard work. Ardavan Bidgoli, Shokofeh Darbari and Jamie Heilman were crucial to the robotics module and in documenting the classâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; work. Special thanks to Mehrdad Hadighi for his encouragement and support. Thanks to Karen McNeal and Rynne Crissinger for key administrative assistance and to Henley Keme for great photographs and video documentation. Different aspects of the work presented in this report were made possible by generous support from the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing (SCDC) at the Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at Penn State. Thanks to the fellow members of the SCDC executive committee Felecia Davis, David Goldberg, Tim Johnson and Peter Lusch, for their wit and support in organizing the SCDC Open House and symposium. DC. Photo credit: Henley Keme

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Printed in July 2015.

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Printed in July 2015.

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EXPLORING ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

ISBN 978-1-941659-01-4

9 781941 659014

EXPLORING ALGORITHMIC TECTONICS

51295

A course on creative computing in architecture and design

Design Ecologies Laboratory 2014-2015