JEFF MAESHIRO DESIGN PORTFOLIO
JEFF MAESHIRO
jeffmaeshiro@gmail.com // maeshirodesign.com Katsushika-ku, Tokyo // 080-3012-1438
WORK EXPERIENCE
EDUCATION
PUBLICATIONS
Future Cities Lab - San Francisco, CA, USA Associate Designer + Business Development Director June 2014 - Present
California College of the Arts - San Francisco, CA, USA Master of Architecture 2012 - 2014
_Cover Photo: Interactive Architecture: Adaptive World, edited Michael Fox, 2014 _Battle of the ‘Bots, Architect Magazine, 2014
_Project Manager: Developing large-scale, outdoor, permanent public art sculptures, optimizing construction drawing production, prototyping digital fabrication techniques, interfacing with clients. _Business Development Lead: Crafting written and visual packages, successfully acquiring public art opportunities with budgets up to $600,000. _Parametric Digital Modeller: Writing Grasshopper scripts to generate buildable, full-scale projects. _3D Printing & Digital Fabrication Specialist: Lead fabrication of 3D printed objects for presentation and temporary installations, prototyped techniques to integrate CNC milling, laser cutting, welding and other methods to construct artworks. _Content Developer: Utilizing Grasshopper and TouchDesigner to generate 2D and 3D animations, graphic patterns, and visualizations for LEDs, screens, and projection mapping. _Photographer/Videographer: Directing and editing video and photography shoots, one photograph becoming the cover of the architectural publication “Interactive Architecture: Adaptive World”.
_Alpha Rho Chi: Marketing Director _AIAS: Social Media Director
SKILLS
University of Hawaii at Manoa - Honolulu, HI, USA Bachelor of Architecture 1998 - 2003
_3D: Rhinoceros 3D, Grasshopper, AutoCAD, GIS _2D: Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Maxwell, Octane _4D: Premiere, TouchDesigner _Programming: Python, HTML
AWARDS
LANGUAGES
_CCA MArch Thesis Prize Winner, 2014 _CCA All School Jury Prize Winner, 2014 _AIAS Certificate of Academic Excellence, 2014
_English: Fluent _Japanese: Conversational ( JLPT N2)
Sou Fujimoto Architects - Tokyo, Japan Design Intern July 2008 - December 2008 _Design Intern: Oversaw preliminary design inception on multiple projects, meeting daily with principal architect to produce concepts, models, and drawings.
Walters, Kimura, Motoda, Inc. - Honolulu, Hawaii Project Manager + Graphic Designer October 2002 - March 2006 _Project Manager: Landscape design for large scale resort, working with architect and consultants to determine planting species and quantities, producing final drawings and specifications.
COMPETITIONS _Project Lead: Oakland Underpass Public Art Winner, $500,000 (with Future Cities Lab), 2017 _Project Lead: New York MTA Public Art Winner, $450,000 (with Future Cities Lab), 2015
EXHIBITIONS _Featured Project: The Protocols of Agency, ACADIA, 2015 _Graphic Design + Editing: Urbanism From Within, SPUR San Francisco Gallery, 2014 _Featured Project: Geoweaver, Possible Mediums, University of Michigan Taubman College, 2014 _Featured Project: Geoweaver, ACADIA, 2014
LIGHTWEAVE Roles
Artist Location Budget Year Materials
Lattice design algorithm writer / Fabrication drawing algorithm writer / Welding jig designer / Construction drawing lead / Construction manager / Oculus Rift to TouchDesigner VR walkthrough integration lead Future Cities Lab (project link) NoMa, Washington, D.C., USA $500,000 2018 (Awaiting Installation) Steel tube, Aluminum channels, LED Neon
Lightweave is a large-scale, permanent, outdoor, interactive public art piece to be installed beneath a train overpass in Washington, D.C. Lightweave senses the city through motion and vibration sensors, reacting to people and trains passing by with cascades of colored light, while also providing an ambient light source for daily safety and use. The piece consists of six, 65-foot groups of steel suspended below the underpass, each unique in shape and character.
170’-0”
80’-0”
Above Left: Rendering of Lightweave seen from the street, Below Left: Rendering from within tunnel, Above Right: Site plan.
//LIGHTWEAVE
Inner steel loop
Connection plate with identifier label
Aluminum channel with LED neon tube inside
Outer steel loop
Train tracks above
Opening in underpass
Steel columns and beams installed on site
Lightweave consists of 312 unique, welded, stainless steel tubes with custom extruded aluminum channels and laser cut steel ID plates, all CNC bent and welded in house and assembled into 156 individually programmable LED fixtures woven through the underpass. Lightweave attempts to meld infrastructure, lighting, and public art into a seamless work, embedded with a fluid, skeletal energy flowing overhead. Above Left: Exploded axonometric detailing components of Lightweave, Below Left: Site axonometric, Above Right: Final steel alignment testing, Below Right: Final LED testing in studio before shipping.
//LIGHTWEAVE Rivet nuts for aluminum to steel connections
Welds for steel to steel connections
Identification/ connection plate
Lightweave would not have been possible without total integration of algorithmic design and fabrication prototyping. The tight fabrication schedule required us to constantly streamline and edit the final form while also automatically re-generating updated fabrication shop drawings, allowing us to continue to tweak the final design even as the steel and aluminum were being bent and welded. Final shop drawings were required for every step, from steel and aluminum bending to welding to drilling and wiring, all output from Grasshopper. We were asked to develop an interactive VR walkthrough of the project for WIRED’s 25th anniversary event in San Francisco. A team member and I worked for two weeks to pull Lightweave into TouchDesigner, animate it, integrate it with two Oculus Rifts with remote controls and a projection screen, and deploy it for an audience of several hundred of San Francisco’s top designers and makers.
Above Left: CNC milled welding jig for accurate framing of steel, Below Left: Welding ID plate to steel loops.
Above Center: Sample welding drawing for steel tubes with lenghts and bend angles.
Above Right: Guiding viewers through VR experience at WIRED event, Below Right: TouchDesigner integration of animations and interactive elements.
THE PROTOCOLS OF AGENCY RELATIONAL CAMP PLANNING // PRINTED DISPLACED SETTLEMENTS
Roles Location Year Awards Publications
California College of the Arts (CCA) MArch Thesis Zaatari, Syria 2014 CCA 2014 MArch Thesis Prize, CCA Fall 2014 Jury Prize ACADIA 2015
The Protocols of Agency reconceives the future potential of building scale 3D printing as a means for refugees to reclaim agency in structuring their community. The conditions at the Syrian refugee camp in Zaatari were studied to understand the incredibly difficult real world metrics camp planners deal with in the face of disasterous and uncontrollable circumstances, to tackle displaced populations, a problem the UNHCR has called the “new 21st century challenge.”
Above Left: Aerial rendering of camp, Below Left: Render of camp on the ground, Above Right: Printer robot prints moving laterally, accomodating user input/feedback
Camp Parameters families
1,500
refugees
=
communities
96
blocks
24
1,200-1,500
20,000-30,000
2,400-3,000
shelter units
20,000-30,000
120,000
20,000-30,000
water taps
latrines
sectors
6
camp modules
1
administrative center
24
6
health centers
24
community centers
distribution points
6
6
18
80
1
12
shelters
=
shelter
6
feeding centers
markets
18
shelters
=
referral hospital
24
schools
1
family
refuse drums
1
=
//THE PROTOCOLS OF AGENCY
=
village
villages
=
1
people
6
1
neighborhoods
1
neighborhood
village
1
1
1
library community school center
libraries
1
1
administrative food center distribution
00
Location chosen
DAYS
First refugee arrivals (in tents)
07
DAYS
Begin material harvesting
08
DAYS
14
Begin shelter printing
DAYS
01
Villages grow radially
MONTH
Villages near 6,000 unit max.
03
MONTHS
District expansion
04
MONTHS
Next district center established
06
MONTHS
Repatriation
??
Initial tent campgrounds Eraser robot removes and returns material to site
Tents
01 Harvester DAY
Immediate repsonse still tents
Liquid binding agent
INDETERMINATE
08 Manufacturer
DAYS
Harvested print material storage
Print mat’l storage
14 Eraser
DAYS
Liquid binding agent
Liquid binding agent solvent
14
DAYS
Recyled material
Print head Treads for print stability
Harvests, pulverizes material on site for printing
Expand to next village
6 MONTHS
07 Printer
DAYS
Material scraped from site and processed into print base Lightweight, easy to store, cheap to ship, but susceptible to environment
New administrative center and scrape site
Prints large shelters with harvested material mixed with binding agent
Print bed
Prints new panels, furniture, products, etc.
Removes and recycles printed surfaces
According to the UNHCR all camps require a particular number and type of aneminites per refugee. In the event of a disaster, whether natural or man-made, that displaces a large population, a specific timeline must be held to. The first and immediate solution must be tents, but tents are an unsustainable housing solution over the long term. Thus, more permanent and customizable shelters are required to permit refugees some beginning ability to reform broken communities.
REPATRIATION
Begin printing shelter superstructure
Print material scrape site
4 MONTHS
Lay out infrastructure
3 MONTHS
1 MONTH
8 DAYS
14 DAYS
1 DAY
7 DAYS
Administration center
0 DAYS
Displacement event occurs
Village Expansion Print Timelines
//THE PROTOCOLS OF AGENCY Water spouts
Printer robot
Rally/prayer space
First floor passages
Market School, community center, library
“While strength is the natural quality of an individual seen in isolation, power springs up between men when they act together and vanishes the moment they disperse.” -Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition
Read from bottom right to upper left, the axonometric timeline at left illustrates the sequence of occupation from site preparation to initial neighborhood printing to customization and finally to repatriation, if and when that ever occurs. Semicircular courtyards of varying size allow the communities housed within to become centers of differing program, all radiating out from the center of major village amenities.
Above Left: Axonometric timeline of camp printing, from site prep to final repatriation, Above Right: Site plan of a single “village.”
//THE PROTOCOLS OF AGENCY
Built-in furniture
Rain catchment
Rain water collection
Roof access
Roof top community space
Outdoor seating / shade
Sun shade
2nd story walkway
Outdoor community seating
Privacy buffer
Privacy buffer / light well
Light well
Each loop of the neighborhood shapes a public space of community interaction and tension. The individual units are an open space with partition walls and a separate structural system to which the skin attaches, allowing for interachangeable exterior panels that can be recycled and re-printed by residents. This allows for maximum flexibility of the interior spaces, attempting to address the major issues of overabundance of free time and a sense of being lost within the larger power structures of the UNHCR and host country. By exploiting the printing path (see below right) to create gradients of public space while accepting user input to improve the design as it grows over time, this project aims to be a non-productive, impermanent city that outlines the potentials within what controversial theorist Hakim Bey called temporary autonomous zones, which replce the desire for the utopia that proceeds revolution with revolution un-ending. The Protocols of Agency is a new kind of city that leans on coming fabrication technologies to create an urbanism of plurality and constant re-creation.
Rows: 50% Wasted Movement
Blocks: 75% Wasted Movement
Courtyards: 0% Wasted Movement
Above Left: Customizable print types to accomodate differing spatial requirements, Below Left: Render of interior, Below Center: Render of public space use. Above Right: Compairson of optimal 3D robotic printer print paths.
ANEMONE Roles
Artist Location Budget Year Materials
Lattice and panel design algorithm writer / 3D model to fabrication drawing algorithm writer / Jig algorithm designer / Prototype fabrication lead / Final fabrication manager Future Cities Lab (project link) Albany, California, USA $120,000 2017 Powder coated steel tube, CNC milled corian
The Anemone shade canopy’s three gravity-defying lattices never touch, yet form a vaulted space between them. The panel designs incorporate a circle-packing algorithm whose cast shadows create the sense of a light-dappled forest. We designed and fabricated the entirety of Anemone in our studio space, a combination of highprecision digital fabrication and complex pipe welding techniques.
Above Left: Aerial photo, Above Center: Panels cast shadows on passersby, Below Left: CNC-milled jig held steel in place during welding, Below Center: Shadow study model, Above Right: Tesselation plan.
WAVEFORM Roles Artist Location Budget Year Materials
Topography algorithm writer / 3D model to fabrication drawing algorithm writer / Prototype fabrication lead / Final fabrication manager Future Cities Lab (project link) Denver, Colorado, USA $115,000 2017 CNC milled plywood, acrylic diffusers, DMX controlled LEDs, powder coated steel frames
Waveform, suspended in the lobby of an aerospace and engineering school, captures the pattern of overlapping waves of energy through air, while also recalling the snow-capped ranges of the surrounding Rocky Mountains. Waveform’s slowly pulsating animations accent the peaks and valleys throughout the day.
1
2
3
4
Above Left: Photo of final installation, Below Left: Uncrating individual panels for final installation, Below Right: Standing in front of piece, Above: Diagram of wave pattern.
GEOWEAVER Roles Team Location Budget Year Materials Publications
Lead designer / Hexapod walking algorithm writer / 3D print algorithm writer / Robot prototype lead Jia Wu, Mary Sek (project link) San Francisco, California, USA $600 2013 Laser-cut plywood, servo motors, custom extruder, Arudino Uno, servo shield Architect Magazine, Architectural Review, Architizer, Possible Mediums Exhibition, Bay Area Maker Faire 2014, suckerPunch, Hackaday
Geoweaver is a hexapod, a six-legged walking robot, that extrudes thermoplastic as it walks to produce two- and three-dimensional objects. Scaling up, Geoweaver has the potential to bring satellite level intelligence to actors on the ground. By translating data into realworld parameters Geoweaver could incorporate weather patterns, soil movements, topographies, and other local conditions into it’s prints in real time. At this larger scale Geoweaver could lay down the infrastructure for future settlements, such as geotextiles, water catchment units and storage facilities, laying out entire cities with digital precision.
Above Left: Live demonstration of walking and printing, Above Center: Printing settlements, Below Left: Render of full-scale robot, Below Center: Laser cut plywood construction, Above Right: Axon with motor locations.
PHOTOGRAPHY/ VIDEOGRAPHY LIGHTSWARM Roles Artist Location Video
Photographer / Videographer / Editor / Motion Graphics Future Cities Lab (project link) Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA, USA vimeo.com/futurecitieslab/lightswarm
Above: This shot of Lightswarm has become one of Future Cities Lab’s most prominent images, being used as the cover of the book Interactive Architecture: Adaptive Worlds, edited by Michael Fox. Lightswarm’s video has became the template for all future videos for the office, melding video, explanatory diagrammatic animations and compelling music into a mesmerizing introduction to the project.
DATA MOIRÉ Roles Artist Location Video
Photographer / Videographer Synthesis DNA (project link) IBM Watson, San Francisco, CA, USA vimeo.com/215738980
Below: This commission for still images and video of a cylindrical, filigree installation at IBM’s Watson space required creative use of pans and closeup photography to precisely capture the immersive quality of the work. By utilizing the reflections of the glass to effectively double the distance from which to shoot the piece, the layering of the cityscape behind this shot captured the far-reaching and expansive data-crunching power of the Watson supercomputer and it’s elegant data-visualizing enclosure.
Above: Lightswarm by Future Cities Lab, Below: Data Moiré by Synthesis DNA.
PROGRAMMING 4480 PIXELS IN SPACE Roles Artist Venue
TouchDesigner programming / Custom data visualizing animations Future Cities Lab (project link), with programming consultants from Obscura Digital Survey Monkey HQ Lobby, San Mateo, CA, USA
Above Left: Visitors to the lobby of Survey Monkey are treated to a 40 foot tall LED installation displaying custom animated visualizations of the internet company’s API data. Above Right: A custom animation slideshow allows Survey Monkey to pause and skip animations, as well as upload their own video content.
SIDEWALK OF THE FUTURE Roles Artist Venue
TouchDesigner programming / Projection+Kinect sensor integration / Custom animations Future Cities Lab (project link) 2017 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, Seoul, South Korea
Below Left: Gallery visitors see the robot vision of the depth sensors as well as the corresponding animations being produced by their interactions. Below Right: Each visitor that walks across the projected surface of the “sidewalk” is given a name, number and color, which become their digital shadows that are projected on the floor and as colored LED lights in the “facade”. As visitors interact with each other these digital shadows meld and mix in playful ways, encouraging collaboration.
Above: 4480 Pixels in Space by Future Cities Lab, Below: Sidewalk of the Future by Future Cities Lab.
RENDERING LIGHTSTREAMS Roles Artist
Proposal lead / 3D modeling / Rendering (Maxwell) / Animation / Photoshop Future Cities Lab (project link)
Above: Rendering for a winning entry for $500,000 public art competition in an overground subway station on New York City’s N line, near the beaches of Coney Island. The concept of the rendering was to connect the encroaching foliage of the station surroundings with a new, digital nature, reflected as wave-like patterns of light that record and playback the movement of passengers throughout the day.
SAN JOSE LEVITT PAVILION Roles Artist
Rendering (Octane) / Photoshop Future Cities Lab (project link)
Below: This rendering of a $50 million winning proposal for a competiton to design a park and iconic pavilion in the heart San Jose, California needed to convey a sense of joy and warm relaxation by contrasting the dynamic lights and geometries of the radical pavilion with the soothing tones of a summer California sunset, mixing rendered people for crowd effects and composited people to add a mix of family friendly park ambience.
Above: Lightstreams by Future Cities Lab, Below: San Jose Levitt Pavilion by Future Cities Lab.