Sci-Arc Lecture: Emergent_Dragonfly

A couple of weeks ago a group of us went out to Sci-Arc to participate in the lecture series. Even though I only made the last 20 minutes (LA Traffic), it was a very interesting conversation between Tim Wiscombe and Eric Owen Moss on the Dragonfly exhibition. I believe the discussion was about how will this type of architecture be used, how can designers make it easy for others to understand, lighting effects, computers as design tools, and the process of the design. For those of you interested in learning more, you can check out www.emergentarchitecture.com, it should be one of the links that Wilson added to the forum. We hope more of you can join us in the next lecture. We find it educational to attend these lectures and then discuss it amongst ourselves. We discussed it over dinner at Roscoes Chicken and Waffles last time so the next would be Pink's Hotdogs, then I have a whole list of our eateries ready to go for future meetings in SoCal.

Næste møde

Our next meeting will be tomorrow, Thursday May 3rd, 2007

We'll split it up into two groups... one open discussion, and one on our thesis projects in progress. Hope to see you all there!

Thursday May 3, 2007
Vestergade 10A-21 (Bo's studio)
6:15pm

Vi ses

Transarchitecture

ie40 image: v4Dyzw

After our recent discussions on technology and society... and many conversations with Nikola, Jon, Meg and Matt today, the work of Marcos Novak came to mind...


here's a brief overview of his ideas:

in Short, we conceive algorithmically (morphogenesis); we model numerically (rapid prototyping); we build robotically (new tectonics); we inhabit interactively (intelligent space); we telecommunicate instantly (pantopicon); we are informed immersively (liquid architectures); we socialize nonlocally (nonlocal public domain); we evert virtuality (transarchitectures). He has also posited a new "Soft Babylon," a theoretical stance which posits that our digitized architectural palette is causing us to create a wired Situationist city, while we struggle with some of the massive paradigm shifts that our era will and must face. Whilst articulating highly fluent theory, he has practiced, producing beautiful ethereal architectures that flux and shimmer as his algorithms run their designed logics. They are, if anything, characterized by their generative complexities, simultaneously fragmented and fluid. Novak surfs on the Tsunami of technology, pushing the cyber envelope of the profession into the next century.
As we all know, definition, disciplines, institutions have become unstable and inadequate, and everywhere there are reevaluations of the structures by which we comprehend the world. These changes are not formless. They are characterized by the aspects of metamorphic change clustered under the prefix "trans":transmutation, transgression, etc. Everywhere present, this kind of change is most evident in the structures of our quest for knowledge. Novak's work is central to many conceptual cyber notions, and often he gets there first. His current work is to do with "eversion," his word for the casting of architecture in the future will be, in the crazy interstitial worlds where substance and absence are blurred.
--excert by Neil Spiller in 10x10

Something to think about... write some comments and share your views on transarchitecture, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, or anything relevant to future digital technology.

vi ses

tusind tak

I just wanted to thank everyone who came to our presentations yesterday for taking the time to listen and give good insight and feedback on our projects. Some of us have been going a little crazy trying to organize all of our material, and it really helps to get a different opinion on it.

We were going to have our next presentation tomorrow, but its a danish holiday and some of us wont be able to be there...

So! let me know whether Wed or Thurs will be better for the next meeting....

I'll post something more substantial later on because I need to get some studio work done now...

Vi ses

Sunday April 29, 2007

The Maya tutorial we had last Thursday was quite a success. Danny and I are currently working on grasping and understanding MEL Scripting and coding. If anyone is interested, check out this website:

http://www.arch.columbia.edu/DDL/cad/A4667/fall99/index.html

look at the commands and make yourself familiar with the syntax. Danny and I will continue where we left off next time, so feel free to join in. I'll post a specific date when we decide on the next session.


THIS SUNDAY:
We will be presenting our thesis work in progress with an emphasis on our second assignment
"Deep Planning"
Come and give us your insight and feedback

Sunday April 29th, 2007
3:00pm
Vestergade 10A-12


Vi ses

simulated reality

So the last discussion ended with some interesting speculations...

Growing up with certain technologies has changed our perception of reality significantly compared to that of the previous generations.

Some current video games digital technology are creating a virtual world which more and more people are incorporating into their daily lives. Public gatherings and even ceremonies such as marriage are occurring online through this new medium. Human social interaction is being drastically transformed by this wave of technology aimed at making life "easier" and creating a faster medium for communication. (check out second life, Millions of us and simulated reality)

There are some very positive aspects to this change. Ideas can be shared with a global audience and knowledge can be spread at a massive level much more rapidly.

When significant emotional experiences occur through a virtual medium, they are just as real to the individual than if they would have occurred through the physical world.

How are our social interactions changing and being redefined by digital technology? I would like to hear your opinions and insight on the topic. post some comments, or if you have a longer response you would like me to post, send me an email at wrodas@calpoly.edu

-and if you're interested in extreme futuristic theories, check out transhumanism and the links at the bottom of that article

first meeting

Thank you all for coming on Tuesday to our first official(informal) meeting. It was a very good turnout and exciting to see some new faces. It was a good beginning in my opinion, but for next time I think we need to break apart into smaller groups to have more participation. But yes! it is very promising... I'm excited to see where this will take us.

Being that there are only 3 weeks left in our wonderful stay in Copenhagen, and that the last week will be crazy with projects, I think we need to allow for there to be two meetings a week, but no obligation to go to both. Some expressed interest in doing this multiple times a week, so the option should be there for those who desire it. We talked about the best days for these meetings and decided on Tuesdays and Thursdays... So! for whoever is interested, I think we should continue this every Tuesday and Thursday after studio. Let me know what you think, but I like having the option there for those who want to talk some more.

We had a rich discussion on Jon's thesis ideas about "sacred space" and I was glad to see a discussion on historical, religious, psychological, and architectural issues related to the topic. It was great to see the conversation evolve and touch upon implications for contemporary society and the future. Good start indeed...

This Thursday (tomorrow) I'll be having a little very informal info session on basic Maya 8.0 digital modeling, rendering, and (if time permits) scripting... We'll be in Bo's studio in 10A-21 at 6pm, so feel free to join in and bring a laptop.

Once again, thank you all for your participation and I hope to be seeing more of you as the semester continues.

Vi ses

p.s. some interesting links I've encountered lately that may interest some of you:
Robo-builder
Turbulent Grid. Dirty Geometry
goats + spider genes
fractal architecture
second life
13 ways of looking at a blackbird
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