MArch Graduate Architectural Design (GAD) 2014

h c r A M D GA e t a u d Gra ectural t i h c r A n g i s e D 4 1 0 2 2013–

The Bartlett School of Architecture UCL

h c r A M D GA e t a u d Gra ectural t i h c r A n g i s e D 4 1 0 2 2013–

The Bartlett School of Architecture UCL

Contents

4

6

Introduction Frédéric Migayrou, Bob Sheil B-Pro: MArch Graduate Architectural Design Alisa Andrasek

Research Clusters

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

10

26

42

58

74

90

108 112 114

2

Research Cluster 1 Synthetic Constructability: Increased Resolution Fabric of Architecture Alisa Andrasek, Daghan Cam Research Cluster 2 Augmented Dexterity Isaïe Bloch, Moa Carlsson Reasearch Cluster 3 Interactive Architecture Lab: Flights of Fancy Ruairi Glynn, Christopher Leung Research Cluster 4 Deep Substance Manuel Jimenez Garcia, Gilles Retsin Research Cluster 5 Applications of Robotics to Discrete and Continuous Spatial Lattices Philippe Morel Research Cluster 6 Crafting Space Daniel Widrig GAD Staff Biographies Staff & Consultants B-Pro Lectures

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

B-Pro Show 2013

3

Introduction

Professor Frédéric Migayrou Chair, Bartlett Professor of Architecture Director of B-Pro

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

B-Pro, Bartlett Prospective, is a global postgraduate entity within the School of Architecture currently composed of two advanced courses: the MArch Graduate Architectural Design (GAD), led by Alisa Andrasek, providing access to the most sophisticated research in design and fabrication; and the MArch Urban Design (UD), directed by Adrian Lahoud, opening critical and theoretical strategies in urbanism and offering new approaches to creating cities.

The one-year B-Pro programmes welcome a diverse international student cohort and offer highly structured access to the realisation and application of research, and to the production of new schemes of conception and construction in architecture and urbanism. B-Pro has developed numerous lectures, seminars and workshops to underpin these ideas and promote a broad dialogue.

To this end, the 2013-2014 MArch GAD course was organised around six Research Clusters driven by their respective tutors. These Clusters featured specific research in a number of domains, and offered the opportunity to gain access to new computational tools and a new culture of scripting, directly connected to tools of fabrication. Inspired by, and directly related to, the current scene of international architecture creation, the teaching of supercomputing, and software packages such as Maya, Grasshopper, Arduino, Processing and other generative platforms, comes from the perspective of an innovative idea of conception and fabrication in association with new digital production facilities (robots, SLS printing, advanced CNC tools etc).

MArch UD is organised around two sections, UDI: ‘The Project for the Mediterranean’, led by Adrian Lahoud and UDII: ‘Urban Morphogenesis’, led by Claudia Pasquero. Based on a global overview of the Mediterranean context, the 2013-2014 MArch UDI course offered new theoretical schemes to analyse this complex social, cultural, economical 4

and political territory. Alternative proposals based on new morphological concepts and protocols were developed in response to urban field studies. The MArch UDII course engaged urban design as a computational practice to prefigure alternative models of the city represented as a complex dynamic system. The ambition of the stream is to stimulate a transdisciplinary discourse that reaches wider academic research networks as well as scientific organisations involved in the study of the city as a living system, and in the development of future bio-digital technologies.

The Bartlett International Lecture Series – with numerous speakers, architects, historians and theoreticians and sponsored by Fletcher Priest Architects – presented the opportunity for students to encounter the main streams of research that will be influential in the near future. The school’s production facilities were enhanced by B-Made, a global entity for fabrication which launched in 2014. Students’ work evolved through different crit sessions and the B-Pro Show at the Royal Ear Hospital, with the presentation of drawings, models and animations, all of a very high quality, which clearly demonstrate the intense activity undertaken throughout the year.

Through the federative idea of creative architecture, B-Pro is an opportunity for students to find a way to participate in a new community and to affirm the singularity and originality of individual talents. These programmes are not only an open door to advanced architecture but also the base from which each student can define a singular practice and invent a strategy to find a position in the professional world.

Looking ahead, 2014 will mark a very particular year in the School’s history, as we move into refitted temporary premises at 140 Hampstead Road while UCL invests over £40m in extending and refurbishing Wates House. The next two years will bring unprecedented opportunities for renewal.

For the first time, B-Pro will be housed alongside the School’s professional programmes, presenting greater opportunities for collaborative working.

Introduction

Professor Bob Sheil Director of The Bartlett School of Architecture Taking over as Director of The Bartlett School of Architecture in January 2014 has allowed me the privilege to witness the intense energy and excited ambition of staff and students on the B-Pro programmes. Over the last three years (a very short space of time), Professor Frédéric Migayrou has led the revitalisation and reinvention of advanced architectural research, from the digital bites of dynamic models to the tactile blocks of cities, infrastructure, and materials in the B-Pro project.

Change is an immensely powerful agency in research and education. It must be, and is here, both provocative and risk-taking – two qualities that have underpinned the School’s immense success across the past three decades. I therefore applaud all staff involved in making this year, this show, and this book a success, and most of all I congratulate all graduating students on their inspiring efforts that have raised the bar once again.

5

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

We will have at our disposal better workshops than ever before, as well as essential social spaces. B-Pro is currently developing links with The Bartlett’s MArch Architectural History Programme, to stimulate new exchanges between History and Theory, and Design and Technology, and thereby extend the field of research between each area. Finally, in 2016, it will be 175 years since architectural education first started in the UK following the appointment of Thomas L. Donaldson as UCL’s first Professor of Architecture in 1841. We will be planning and announcing a series of celebrations soon, not least the opening of our new building on Gordon Street.

The September 2014 B-Pro exhibition and the publication of this book provide an excellent overview of the depth of quality and the intensity of the teaching of The Bartlett’s tutors. What they also showcase is the passion of all the students involved.

B-Pro: MArch Graduate Architectural Design Programme Leader: Alisa Andrasek

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

The Masters programme in Graduate Architectural Design (GAD) is a 12-month full-time postprofessional course, leading to a Masters of Architecture (MArch) degree. It is part of B-Pro, the umbrella structure for post-professional Masters programmes at The Bartlett School of Architecture, directed by Professor Frédéric Migayrou. The Six GAD Research Clusters deliver diverse yet focused strands of speculative research, emphasising the key role computation plays within complexity of design synthesis.

Technological invention in virtually all the disciplines is revolutionising the design and materialisation of built environments. While data visualisation exposes the hidden beauty and complexity of observed systems, data materialisation can produce such beauty and complexity within new synthetic fields. The boundaries of disciplines are increasingly porous, giving architecture and design an expanded agency at the centre of open synthesis, with a multitude of applications.

Through computational resources, architects have increased access to the physics of materials and structures at different orders of scale. These physics of matter are embedded in innovative design processes, incorporating the constraints and inputs of manufacturing and constructability.

GAD Research Clusters explore the latest approaches to robotics, CNC fabrication, 3D printing, supercomputing, simulation, generative design, interactivity, advanced algorithms, extensive material experiments and links to material science.

GAD engages critically with such developments, which are already radically changing the landscape of architecture, its social and economic role and its effectiveness as an active agency, particularly within urban ecologies.

The programme is structured so that students are introduced to theoretical concepts through lectures and initial design projects supported by computational and robotics skill-building workshops.

During the second stage students work in small teams or individually, according to the methodology of each Cluster, allowing the student to focus on 6

their individual interests in advanced design research and the development of a design project.

There is a continuous evaluation of work via tutorials with regular design reviews organised between Clusters which include external critics.

Alongside cutting-edge research, GAD hosts a series of public events, which this year included Plexus, Material Matters and n_Salon. Apart from in-house events open to the larger community, the exceptional GAD team includes some of the most prominent young practitioners and researchers in the field and beyond.

B-Pro Director Professor Frédéric Migayrou B-Pro Deputy Director Andrew Porter MArch GAD Programme Leader Alisa Andrasek Research Clusters RC1: Alisa Andrasek, Daghan Cam RC2: Isaïe Bloch, Moa Carlsson RC3: Ruairi Glynn, Christopher Leung with William Bondin, Ollie Palmer RC4: Manuel Jimenez Garcia, Gilles Retsin RC5: Philippe Morel with Guan Lee, Thibault Schwartz RC6: Daniel Widrig with Stefan Bassing, Soomeen Hahm Report Coordinator Stephen Gage We are grateful to our sponsors Lighting: iGuzzini RC3: Sto Werkstatt RC5: Grymsdyke Farm International Lecture Series: Fletcher Priest Trust

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

RC5 students working on a 3D Printed Clay Casting project at Grymsdyke Farm 7

RC4 field trip to Los Angeles, USA

RC1

Synthetic Constructability: Increased Resolution Fabric of Architecture Alisa Andrasek, Daghan Cam

Students Konstantinos Alexopoulos, Esteban Castro Chacon, Trinidad Guzman, Jingya Huang, Marcin Komar, Tu Lu, Aikaterini Papadimitriou, Francesca Silvi, Tao Song, Liaoliao Xi, Sai Xiao, Daying Xie, Yilin Yao

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

Project Teams Rheobotic Trinidad Guzman, Francesca Silvi, Sai Xiao River Hydrologies Konstantinos Alexopoulos, Jingya Huang, Tao Song, Liaoliao Xi Resolution Tu Lu, Daying Xie Fibro.City Esteban Castro Chacon, Marcin Komar, Aikaterini Papadimitriou, Yilin Yao Report Tutor: David Andreen Thanks to our critics, consultants and assistants: Jan Dierckx, John Frazer, Andy Lomas, Amirreza Mirmotahari, Gennaro Senatore, Thibault Schwarz, Vincente Soler, Rob Stuart Smith, Jingjun Tao

10

The recent arrival of supercomputing in architecture and design, finer grains of computational physics deployed through simulations, highly resilient Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) and large data sourced from a plentitude of material and immaterial domains, are opening new spaces of synthesis for architecture.

This architecture draws on large data from the finer-grain physics of matter – matter as information, enabled by computation. These tendencies do not only expand on technically enriched material formations, but also activate previously hidden material powers towards designs beyond our anticipation in both formal imagination and performance. Finer grain physics simulations disrupt the blueprints of architecture, resulting in structures with increased resilience, plasticity and malleability of complex interrelated systems – in short, increased design-ability within complex ecologies.

Worldwide, we are on the brink of additive manufacturing occurring and going mainstream at a 1:1 scale. Multi-material deposition introduces the concept of material continuum and blending material states, with the capacity to increase the resolution of material performance, including minimising the weight and volume of structures while maximising their strength; introducing mass customisation at any level of detail; and yielding novel aesthetics.

Aspects of those advances are explored by the research of RC1, resonating material complexity found in natural systems, and going away from the logics of assembly and mechanical joints which characterise previous construction paradigms. Physics of matter are harnessed directly through properties such as gravity, friction and fluid dynamics. Clever synthesis of geometry and the physics of matter, fortified by principles of self-organisation, is allowing designers to engage to Materialisation prior to Materialisation.

The introduction of robotics, with its multi-axial capacities and vectorial algorithmic capture of complexified degrees of freedom of production, opens the doors for innovative systems, since – unlike the use of robotics in manufacturing which was hyper-optimised and deterministic – architects are deploying the capabilities of industrial robots in a multitude of creative innovative ways. The experience of new designers with the universality of computational code, and therefore its polymorphic possibilities, is now migrating to the universality of robotics. Boundless opportunities open by coupling robotics with material behaviours and the ability to design various extensions for robotic arms via 3D printing.

The four research projects developed within the cluster range from topics such as the robotic extrusion of phase-changing high density polymers (with application to other viscous materials); robotic weaving of lightweight and extreme intricate carbon-fibre structures; the use of computational physics for form finding and spatial engineering; and redesigning endangered coastal ecologies with the use of simulation and supercomputing.

Research Cluster 1 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

1.1

11

Research Cluster 1 1.3

1.4

1.5

Figs. 1.1 – 1.13 Fibro.City A project based on fibrous formation at an architectural scale, and on the use of carbon fibres. This material guarantees high performance through discreteness and could be applied to the construction industry. The project’s design and fabrication methods create a new language for expressing architecture by retaining its structural elements. Reconfiguring these parameters, the project achieves unique and aesthetically advanced high resolution results, and reconfigures the potential of the materiality of the structure. The behaviour of the structure is programmed. It creates optimising algorithms that read the environment and read themselves. Anchoring point configurations and weaving agents cooperate for the connection of the simulation to the fabrication process in situ. No human intervention is needed

after the design process: the fabrication uses algorithms and ABB robotic arms.

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

1.2

12

Research Cluster 1

1.6

1.7 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

1.8

1.9 The project aims to create architectural shapes that emerge define the result. Problems can provide the feedback for from the properties of the carbon fibres as a material while intricate, diverse and interesting results, and create new rules. applying organic morphogenesis principles into the process.

Two main constraints need to be considered to achieve architectural scales: structural capabilities and fabrication constraints. Carbon fibres work mainly in tension and their strength relies on additional strands, the orientation of the threads, cross links within the fibre network and the distribution of material throughout the system. The better those characteristics are applied, the stronger the system is.

The systematic values that the fabrication needs are slightly predetermined, since the robotic arm is not able to pass under the structure and create nodes for this moment. The sequence that needs to be created is underlined by some rules that 13

Research Cluster 1 1.10 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 1.11

1.12

The first step is to generate the agent flocking conditions fabrication are mapped and placed onto these polygonised which read the environment and interact with it. This is the surfaces. The locking points are simplified according to pre-process for the generation of locking points. Out of fabrication rules, and create the scaffold of the total process. simulations with agents, points are extracted. The trajectories of the agents give particles (locking points) their initial position.

Particles’ positions change, they collide and start to give a character to the system. When the system comes to a relative equilibrium state, scripts generate evaluation processes and provide information for the weaving robotic agent. The third process includes the rough generation of a shape which will be used as a design board for fabrication. The outer particles that have been frozen into position are translated to a complex geometry which is then simplified for fabrication. Boards are used at real scale during the fabrication. The metal rods of the 14

Research Cluster 1 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

1.13

15

Research Cluster 1 1.14

1.15 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 1.16

1.17

Figs. 1.14 – 1.17 Resolution High resolution – containing massive information in architecture, both in terms of structure and ornamentation – can create a great number of geometric forms, patterns and spatial impressions. Changes in the scale and density of resolution at different levels of human visibility create various experiences. The aim of this project is to develop a computer-based approach to matters and algorithms related to creating high resolution architectures such as the process of erosion and subdivision, and simultaneously explore subtractive manufacturing with CNC milling machines and robots. The final architectural proposal is a museum design for the Guggenheim Helsinki, concerning the convergence and distribution of visual information in terms of changes in resolution fabric of architecture.

In order to achieve the synchronisation formed by subdivision and space, the parts with more details are pulled up in the process of quadrangulation. This increases the stereoscopic impression of surface when subdividing the planer, making more abundant details and layering of architecture.

Following the area analysis and access routes analysis, a network is built among the required functional spaces, including the exibitions, programme, events and multi-purpose zones. A simulation is run to create local subdivision patterns by setting an agency flowing above the initial form, calculating the neighbor node poisition on the form, subdividing and carving the surfaces at the same time. Galleries are in the semi-open columns. Visitors can go through these columns and enter them and may go to other levels via the steps inside

16

Research Cluster 1 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

the column. The open exhibition space enables visitors to choose their own routes through the museum. Space truss structures support the roof and walls at the same time. Each ornamental panel is milled into ideal form by a CNC milling machine before being assembled on the structure.

17

Research Cluster 1 1.18 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 1.19 Figs. 1.18 – Fig. 1.24 River Hydrologies This research elaborates on synthetic ecologies within the dynamic field of rivers. Floods and rising sea levels are taken into consideration while there is a reallocation of the local conditions of rivers’ velocity dynamics for re-mineralisation, and potentially for decentralised energy capture. A fabric of a new self-organised system is introduced in different time phases, for the generation of an ecological strata as an extension of the coastline. Conditions of buoyancy, flows and tides contribute to the adaptation of the system.

The porosity and intricacy of the created fabric accelerates the desired synthetic nature, evolving and hybridising this system over time time, to create a new inhabitation land for local ecologies’ symbiosis. Aggregation is the preferred method of coastal management construction. It can offer self-organising 18

properties while behaving as a fluid body. The project begins by testing various units with large population numbers, both in physical and digital simulations. Properties such as stability, porosity, intricacy and articulation potential can be tested.

Research Cluster 1 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

1.20

19

Research Cluster 1 1.21 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 1.22

1.23

The units on their own are not enough to be controlled by water and form the structure. Another agent is introduced, a fixed structure which is like a skeleton structure that collects the passing units and the flesh is formed by them. The structure is assembled in parts and then the assembled clusters are put precisely into the water by a robot. In order to ensure that the aggregation on the fixed structure is made throughout the depth of the river, the units have different densities for buoyancy. Different sizes are also desired for different densities according to the parameters: density is required for protection; energy requires porosity. Tidal forces make the aggregation on the fixed structure more dynamic while completing the ‘flesh’ on the structure. Aggregate granules with various densities can form self organising

bodies in fluid ecologies. Their porous and intricate resolutions do not block rivers and their various densities can create different fluid behaviours. Moreover, sediment is easily trapped in the microscale of these fabrics, creating ideal conditions for a synthetic ecology over time.

20

Research Cluster 1 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

1.24

21

Research Cluster 1 1.25 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

1.26

1.27 Figs. 1.25 – Fig. 1.29 Rheobotic This research framework involves the study of substances which present dynamic properties in their behaviour: materials that are able to change over time as a result of external inputs and particular internal characteristics. Its objective is related to the study of substances that present morphological adaptability – property oriented towards the concepts of self-organisation and self-optimising morphologies. The project investigates the use of high density polymer: a plastic substance which is malleable and changes from liquid to solid and, vice-versa. It deals with material extrusion as it actively engages with the concepts of phase changing properties in a material. Ultimately, it allows the exploration of anti-gravity morphologies dispensing the use of any type of framework. The material used is ABS 22

filament, which is extremely light, solidifies quite quickly and enables a porous spacial arrangement. The way the filament unwraps layer after layer ‘personalises’ the inherent behaviour of the material and demonstrates the ‘noise’ of the material in a wide range of possible patterns that can respond to different input data. The linear extrusion, associated with the fast movements of the robot, enables the creation of cables where a structural reinforcement is needed. The combination of the two languages determines a global resistant structure which works with multiple local connections. The dialogue between the two micro-systems of fabrication is associated on a large scale with fluid simulation, from which it is possible to extract data that will affect differently, zone by zone, the robot’s behaviour.

Research Cluster 1 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

1.28

23

Research Cluster 1

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

1.29

24

Research Cluster 1 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

25

RC2

Augmented Dexterity Isaïe Bloch, Moa Carlsson

Students Xulu Bai, Jieru Ding, Yuhua Ge, Ahmed Lawal Alhassan, Li Liu, Lu Liu, Yuyang Wang, Zheng (Hans) Wang, Tsung-Lun Wu, Chang You, Yang Zhao, Wangshu Zhou, Chun (Novia) Zhu Report tutor: Bruce Davison

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

Thanks to our critics and consultants: Alisa Andrasek, Stefan Bassing, Corneel Cannaerts, Mollie Claypool, Marjan Colletti, Michail Desyllas, Kristof Gavrielides, Soomeen Hahm, Manuel Jimenez Garcia, Tobias Klein, M PlummerFernandez, Andrew Porter, Gilles Retsin, Federico Rossi, Patrik Schumacher, Theodore Spyropoulos, Rob Stuart-Smith, Davide Quayola, Daniel Widrig Special thanks to our field trip lecturers: Jose Carlos Lopez Cervantes, Wolf D Prix, Wolfgang Tschapeller

The rise of digital fabrication is a complete game-changer for crafters of all stripes. The enterprise of craft and design is in a state of flux, evolving through processes of adjustment and mutation in reaction to constantly changing social, technological, cultural, and economic conditions. However, due to the introduction of new technologies, this conceptual landscape is undergoing profound shifts that stir up radical transformations of the field. Digital fabrication has altered the way we think about design and raised the expectations of quality and precision in our work, but it does come at a price. As Frank Lloyd Wright illustrates in The Art and Craft of the Machine (1901), this conflict between analogue and automated generative processes, is by no means a recent development. Early critics like John Ruskin argued for the supremacy of the human hand in opposition to the mechanised perfection possible through the use of machines. Ruskin argued that an imperfect object was inherently more valuable because it demonstrates a flourish of human expression, stating that ‘imperfection is in some sort essential to all that we know in life. It is the sign of life in a mortal body, that is to say, of a state of progress and change.’ 1

It is widely acknowledged that any application of digital fabrication gambles with predictability, i.e. outcomes dictated by explicit processes.

While not imperative to digital processes, predictability is all too often the norm rather than an exception. When not critically evaluated, digitally fabricated objects often suffer from prototypical perception, due to their conception from a combination of readily identifiable processes and material compromises.

The question to be asked is how to eliminate that singular reading of objects and how to augment custom character in digitally fabricated artefacts? We believe that by seeking and exploring specific manufacturing and material ‘misfits’ as design opportunities, unique character within digitally manufactured outcomes can be generated. Our aim is not to design ‘misfits’ per se, but rather to integrate these as characteristic parts of the design and manufacturing process. By following a multifaceted object/material/fabrication approach we we demonstrate that a combination of these can lead to better output results in terms of typology, performance, material and cost efficiency, mass customisation and part/material behaviour.

RC2 designed and fabricated a range of different objects/genotypes that are utilitarian as well as performative, as proof of the underlying research.

At the outset explored at furniture and component scales, the studied misfits were subsequently explored at larger architectural scales. In the process we combined the use of computational design tools with hands-on material experimentation. The final project was developed in the context of a real world site, chosen with particular consideration to the material or fabrication ‘misfit’ in question.

1. John Ruskin, ‘The Nature of Gothic’ in The Stones of Venice (1892) 26

Research Cluster 2 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

2.1

27

Research Cluster 2 2.3

2.4

2.5

Fig. 2.1 Wang Zheng This project explores present and speculative 3D printing technology at an architectural scale.

By incorporating the neccessary support material of 3D printing – typically considered a temporary waste product, into the final design, an intricate topography is formed, to guide and distrubute liquid plaster over and inside of printed matter. Figs. 2.2 – 2.7 The material and/or technological ‘misfits’ identified at the beginning of the year were all results of methods and phenomena that occur in the ‘real world’.

The first task was to bring these findings into a digital design space and use them as key generative mechanisms for design, making the misfit an integrated part of the design process.

These mechanisms are specific but applicable to different design situations, not just one. The mechanism will allow the

‘mass-product’ to be developed with a very personal and bespoke character due to the nature of its embedded misfit.

The first step in this assignment was to involves a translation of these specific misfits into a set of simple rules that can be implemented digitally. These rules were to become the design drivers and parameters that allow the students to model different states of that phenomena. The second step of the assignment was to design and model multiple products, utilising the researched misfits. Fig. 2.2 Li Liu Fig. 2.3 Yuyang Wang Fig. 2.4 Jieru Ding Fig. 2.5 Zheng (Hans) Wang Fig. 2.6 Wangshu Zhou Fig. 2.7 Chun (Novia) Zhu

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

2.2

28

Research Cluster 2

2.6

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

2.7

29

Research Cluster 2 2.8 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 2.9 Figs. 2.8 – 2.11 Zheng (Hans) Wang, Lu Liu Figs. 2.8 – 2.9 Besides the intricate ornamental effects generated, the plaster is also a means of fusing different 3D printed parts together, reinforcing these to form a complete self supporting structure.

Exploring the extremes of the parameters that dictate the need for support material, the 3D printed form is controlled to meet both local and global programmatic, functional and aesthetic constraints. Fig. 2.10 The resulting architecture is a sequence of high-resolution spaces, proposed as a redevelopment of, and extension to the Winchester Palace Ruins in London. Fig. 2.11 Exterior courtyard rendering showing a clear integration of support structure as part of an overall design approach, operating on a structural/fabrication level as well as being part of the aesthetics of the project.

30

2.10

Research Cluster 2 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

2.11

31

Research Cluster 2 2.12 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 2.13 Figs. 2.12 – 2.15 Tsung-Lun Wu An investigation of ‘wrapping’, as both a literal material system using EFTE (plastic), and a philosophical strategy for a hybridising programme. Fig. 2.12 With the aim to generate a ‘mutant’, both literally and metaphorically, Embankment Station in London is transformed by the wrapping of new and existing elements. The wrapping of ETFE provides three main benefits. First, it replaces the existing enclosures of the building in order to bring daylight into the interiors and underground. Second, and as a result of the increased light levels, it brings the greenery of adjacent Victoria Park into the station. Third, it generates a new intricate network of interior and exterior spaces by using multiple layers of wrapping surfaces.

32

Research Cluster 2

2.14

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

2.15

33

Research Cluster 2 2.16 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 2.17 hydroponic vertical gardens are located; and protects the Figs. 2.16 – 2.18 Jieru Ding, Wangshu Zhou Fig. 2.17 The temple from increased wear due to tourism. project explores the relationship between material properties of solid wood and CNC milling technology. By investigating the physical effects of drilling in wood, including traces and residue biproducts, a design system is proposed in the proposed extension of the Hanging Temple, in Datong city, Hunyuang county, China. Fig. 2.16 New interior spaces and a new circulation path are created. The modular system of wooden components, interlocked with traditional Chinese mortise-andtenon joints, aims to challenge the typically high material wastage of milling, as well as the relationship between buildability and mass customisation. Fig. 2.18 The existing timber structure is protected from water damage due to rain; guides rainwater to specific locations of the temple, where new 34

Research Cluster 2 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

2.18

35

Research Cluster 2 2.19 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

2.20

2.21 Figs. 2.19 – 2.22 Yuhua Ge, Chang You This project explores the possibilities of incorporating wrinkles, creases and folds as both structural reinforcement and ornamental effects.

By casting sheets of mixed plastic with concrete, in various proportions, a flexible concrete sheet is created, that hardens over time. Fig. 2.19 The wrinkles define circulation or ramps, enclosed space, inner courtyards and diverge circulation within the open floor plans created inside the existing building.

Figs. 2.20 – 2.21 Different iterations of wrinkles define the ornate character of the spaces and create local disturbances in the split-level interiors. Fig. 2.22 The wrinkling effect creates different hierarchies of density and direction. By controlling these surface modifications different types of spatial behaviour occur.

36

Research Cluster 2 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

2.22

37

Research Cluster 2 2.23 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

2.24

2.25 Figs. 2.23 – 2.25 Ahmad Lawal Alhassan, Yuyang Wang Challenging the conventional separation of supporting structure and sheet cladding, this project explores the possibilities of incorporating wrinkles, creases and folds, as both structural reinforcement and ornamental effect.

By casting sheets of plastic and concrete mixture in various proportions, a flexible concrete sheet is created that hardens over time. The project is a pavillion located outside of the National Theatre, London, designed to host outdoor performances viewed by an audience. The design is erected via the support of a temporary scaffold that helps form structural creases which coincide with the overlap between different sheets of material, as well as a secondary structure which helps generate the ornamental wrinkles of the design.

38

Research Cluster 2

2.27

2.28

2.29

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

2.26

Fig. 2.26 – 2.29 Xulu Bai, Chun (Novia) Zhu This project explores the potentials of (de)forming plastic to generate both moulds for concrete casting, in the context of existing structures, and as a transparent material system for interior space organisation. Operating on the Flak Tower in Vienna, Austria – an extreme concrete typology common in postwar Europe – the project proposes a redesign of the original cellular space configuration, in the form of a distributed gallery programme. Focusing on transitions from the original building to new form, materialised in various surface articulations of concrete and plastic, the new gallery provides a novel strategy for the redevelopment of existing structures.

39

Research Cluster 2 2.30 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

2.31

2.32 Figs. 2.30 – 2.32 Yuyang Wang, Yang Zhao This project explores the combination of soft and hard moulds for the casting of concrete. Using flexible ETFE membranes provides lightweight and inexpensive formwork, suitable for casting natural tension geometries that use significantly less material than conventional formworks. The soft moulds are locally reinforced to control material expansion, by a network of resin channels, cast in-between layers of the soft mould. Situated in Embankment Station, in London, the project aims to open up the existing building, to bring daylight into the station interiors and underground. In addition, the project proposes the addition of a gallery space connected to an existing disused underground tunnel, located adjacent to the current tube network.

40

Research Cluster 2

2.33 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

2.34 Figs. 2.33 – 2.34 Li Liu This project investigates transitions between linear, surface and solid conditions, materialised by the controlled/uncontrolled flocking of linear elements through architectural space. Using linear elements in form of steel rebar provides a generative design strategy similar to ‘drawing’ in 3D space, as opposed to the conventional addition or subtraction of matter. The project redevelops the Flak Tower in Vienna, Austria – a solid postwar concrete structure with 2-metre thick walls. The existing structure provides a framework for the new design – a new gallery and aquarium distrubuted along a central spiralling circulation route. By focusing on the transition between existing concrete and the new steel rebar, a new aesthetic expression, in form of a visual metaphor of ‘natural breaking’ and ‘ruins’, is reached.

41

RC3

Interactive Architecture Lab: Flights of Fancy Ruairi Glynn, Christopher Leung with William Bondin, Ollie Palmer

Students Chen Feng, Gejin Gao, Jaimme (Yu) Guan, Fang Han, Eizo Ishikawa, Ran Lu, Tamon Sawangdee, Min-Shan Tsai, Ran Xie, Bijing (Becky) Zhang, Lin Zhang

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

Thanks to our partners: Clinical Sciences Centre, Medical Research Council; MA Textile Futures, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London; Data Science Institute, Imperial College London Thanks to our sponsors, Sto Werkstatt Thanks to our critics and consultants: Francesco Anselmo, Julia Backhaus, Gemma Barton, Paul Bavister, Chiara Ceci, Natsai Chieza, Alexandre Colle, Carole Collet, Amy Condgon, Sam Conran, Illugi Eysteinsson, Stephen Gage, Fred Guttfield, Usman Haque, Christine Hawley, Timothy Ireland, Anab Jain, Manuel Jimenez Garcia, Kieren Jones, Sebastian Kite, Rolf Knudsen, Aimilia Kritikou, Diony Kypraiou, Tony Langford, Will Laslett, Lola Lely, Francois Mangion, Ellen Page, Claudia Pasquero, Bakul Patki, Elliot Payne, Aleksandrina Rizova, Richard Roberts, Caspar Rogers, Peter Scully, Wei Shan, Bob Sheil, Catrina Stewart, Akari Takebayashi, Ling Tan, Caroline Till, George Tsakiridis, Chryssa Varna, Matt Wade, Marc Winklhofer, Melissa Woolford, Fiona Zisch

42

The Interactive Architecture Lab is a multidisciplinary Research Cluster interested in the behaviour and interaction of things, environments and their inhabitants. Areas of focus include adaptive responsive environments, kinetic design and robotics, multisensory interfaces, the internet of things, theatre, and performance, biological and material computation.

Each year’s theme is intended to drive early research exploration and the development of core skills. The studio actively encourages students to break out and over the course of the year develop their own research agendas.

Students are supported to publish projects of exceptional merit in conference papers and journals, and leading design and technology publications.

This year’s studio was structured in three parts: Term 1. Project Icarus In Greek Mythology, Daedalus, the architect of the Labyrinth, built wings for his son Icarus from wax and feathers. Youthful ambition, ignorance, and fearlessness led Icarus to fly too close to the sun and fall back to earth.

In this introductory term we encouraged students to fail: to push materials to destruction; to push their own technical capabilities to new levels; and gather along the way a rich set of analogue and digital skills in design and making to support their studies for the rest of the year. Through built prototypes we examined the relationship between the technologies of flight and those of architecture. From the design of lightweight composite materials and structures, to dynamic control systems; from computational fluid simulations and aerodynamic design to aerial robotic choreography.

Term 2. Bio-Design Workshop: ‘Fabrics of Life’ Collaborating with the Medical Research Council and the MA Textile Futures programme at Central Saint Martins, we worked with some of the UK’s leading scientists in fields of epigenetics, bespoke genomics, neuroscience, bio-molecular and clinical sciences exploring how biology offers designers new ‘living’ technologies to expand the practice of design. With the power to create new life forms, we explored the ethical implications of ‘playing god’ and speculated on the future applications to the built environment.

Term 3. Project Daedalus Bringing together the amassed skills and experiences of the first two terms, we focused on and formed distinct research goals for students’ projects.

Agendas were clarified with interesting and challenging aims set for developing interactive objects and installations. From these projects we hope to not just achieve great Masters projects, but lifelong passions that drive successful and distinct practices.

Research Cluster 3 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

3.1

43

Research Cluster 3 3.3

3.4

3.5

Fig. 3.1 – 3.5 Fang Han, Min-Shan Tsai ‘Lotus: Passive Deployable Canopy’. Unlike typical kinetic structures that use electrical energy and control systems to move, this project examines the potential of passive actuators (in this case wax pistons which expand and contract as they heat up and cool down) to create environmentally responsive shelters. Fig. 3.1 Physical prototype tested to confirm the range of physical transformation of the structure in response to changing temperatures. Fig. 3.2 An illustrative collage of multiple Lotus canopies installed in a town square. Fig. 3.3 The physical configuration of canopies is driven by local environmental conditions and occupancy. Figs. 3.4 – 3.5 Renders of the final canopy design. Fang Han’s research considers a passive dynamic approach to operating deployment mechanisms

inspired by natural living systems. Min-Shan Tsai’s research examines the uncertainty of computer simulation and the gap between physical outcomes and simulated results.

Recognising that simulation cannot fully represent all of the changing variables in the physical environment, her thesis explored the potential of building passive environmental response into the core of a design approach. As a strategy for compensating for its unpredictability, the passive kinetic prototypes were evaluated and discussed, examining future applications.

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

3.2

44

Research Cluster 3

3.6

3.7 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

3.8

3.9 Figs. 3.6 – 3.9 Bijing (Becky) Zhang (in collaboration with Francois Mangion), ‘Soft Pneumatic Pavilion’. Exploring a softer approach to kinetic design, architectural scale inflatable structures are proposed following a thorough study of smaller scale silicone prototypes. Fig. 3.6 CNC milled aluminium casting moulds for silicone air muscles. Fig. 3.7 Lizard tongue-like motion from blue silicone air muscles. Fig. 3.8 Red silicone air muscle module. Fig. 3.9 Sectional cut through an architectural pavilion to be built from a combination of hard spine like structures and soft silicone kinetic elements.

45

Research Cluster 3 3.10 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 3.11 Figs. 3.10 – 3.16 Lin Zhang, Ran Xie ‘Eye Catcher’. Lin Zhang’s research explored the reflexive nature of human interaction to motion and specifically to eyes. Ran Xie’s research looked at the range of expression and emotion possible in human eyes as a means of communication. Figs. 3.10 – 3.11 The frames on the wall seem to magically follow people who walk past it catching their attention. Fig. 3.12 Behind the magic wall an industrial robot arm moves the frame using powerful magnets.

46

Research Cluster 3 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

3.12

47

Research Cluster 3 3.13 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 3.14 Fig. 3.13 Hidden within the frame a camera uses facial recognition to observe people’s expressions and respond reciprocally with its own expression. The project explores how these exchanges could evolve over time to create compelling interactions using simple expressions. Figs. 3.14 – 3.15 Close-up view of the changing emotions of the turbulent eyes.

The eyes are made from a magnetic material called ferrofluid which allows them to be manipulated by magnets behind the wall. Fig. 3.16 Custom robotic rig which magnetically manipulates the frame and its ferrofluid eyes from behind the wall.

48

3.15

Research Cluster 3 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

3.16

49

Research Cluster 3 3.17 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 3.18 Figs. 3.17 – 3.19 Jaimme (Yu) Guan ‘First Element’. A spherical robot designed to interact with the public and modify the flow of people through space. Figs. 3.17 – 3.18 Renders highlight the exquisite mechanics involved in building these novel robots. Fig. 3.19 Fully operational aluminium spherical robot 600mm in diameter. Central control by Arduino Uno. Drive system using continuous servos. Wireless communication with RF receiver. This research builds upon proxemics, HRI, and autonomous robotics research. It also builds upon 20th century architecture’s interest in mobile and responsive architecture, often featuring primitive and spherical morphologies. A series of experiments demonstrated the possibility of using architectural robotic elements to manipulate physical proxemics in the built environment.

50

Research Cluster 3 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

3.19

51

Research Cluster 3 3.20 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

3.21

3.22 Figs. 3.20 – 3.22 Chen Feng ‘Bricolage’. A project mixing material research and speculative design. Feng has explored the use of biodegradable materials as fundamental building blocks to an open source community constructed architecture.

The ambition being that the new bio-brick, conceptually based on the simple Lego™ brick, evolves and becomes a new open source industry to support the housing of Chinese migrant city workers and their families left behind to farm crops. Chen Feng’s thesis focused on the potential of ‘constructive play’ in child development and adult life. He demonstrated the positive role creative construction can have in people of all ages and argued that such research indicates the importance in creating scenarios in which people can actively take part in socially cohesive and interactive methods of construction.

52

Fig. 3.23 Ran Lu ‘Flock’. A playful virtual reality game where you can inhabit UCL’s main courtyard, the Quad, and choreograph the flight of hundreds of birds sculpting dynamic behaviour in virtual space around you. Ran’s research grew out of initial questions about how people perceive space and how visual perceptions can be shaped through illusions made by virtual reality environments. It then went on to explore how human gesture can start to manipulate those illusions to create compelling interactive experiences.

Research Cluster 3 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

3.23

53

Research Cluster 3 3.24 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 3.25 Figs. 3.24 – 3.26 Eizo Ishikawa, Tamon Sawangdee ‘CRAF’.

The project explores the physicalising of social media through a performative machine. A giant metallic folded aeroplane acts as a production line turning tweets into folded paper planes to fire upon the public from its elevated position. The project is intended to be deployed to strategic sites and engage the public as an interface for communication, interaction and exchange on public issues of debate. Tamon Sawangdee’s thesis examined the use of ubiquitous computing as an instrument for dissent, to manifest public awakening through the dissemination of conversational projectiles. Eizo Ishikawa’s thesis investigated ways of understanding machine ‘performance’ making three key sub-categorisations: product, efficiency and display. Within the context of each of these he 54

investigated their effects on observer engagement. He identified that Western society currently overlooks the latter characteristic, emphasising the former two notions associated most often with industrial operations. The underlying reasons for this were explored through a series of experimental design projects leading to CRAF which aims to, in part, reemphasise the notion of performative display in machines.

Research Cluster 3 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

3.26

55

Research Cluster 3 3.27

3.28 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 3.29 Figs. 3.27 – 3.30 Gejin Gao (in collaboration with Wang Yujiang, MSc/MRes Adaptive Architecture and Computation), ‘Cellular Reticulations’. An installation made up of independent cells which communicate with their neighbours through light.

The lines that these devices produce create gates through which inhabitants can roam and interact with the interactive installation. The complexity of behaviour, not programmed, but emerging from the interaction of multiple participants in a complex environment. Gejin Gao’s thesis examined the use of cellular automata principles in the design of dynamic space to provide unpredictable novel occupant experiences.

56

3.30

Research Cluster 3 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

57

RC4

Deep Substance Manuel Jimenez Garcia, Gilles Retsin

Students Zeeshan Ahmed, Maho Akita, Ornruja Boonyasit, Yichao Chen, Wenzhao Gao, Xuan Huang, Nan Jiang, Wei Liu, Syazwan Rusdi, Wonil Son, Yiwei Wang, Xin Wen, Yihuan (Tony) Xie, Kehan Zhang

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

Project teams Filamentrics Zeeshan Ahmed, Yichao Chen, Nan Jiang, Yiwei Wang MicroStrata Maho Akita, Ornruja Boonyasit, Syazwan Rusdi, Wonil Son ClayWare Wenzhao Gao, Xuan Huang, Wei Liu WeaveShake Xin Wen, Yihuan Xie, Kehan Zhang Report Tutor: Tom Trevatt Thanks to our critics and consultants: Stefan Bassing, William Bondin, Mario Carpo, Ermis Chalvatzis, Mollie Claypool, Marjan Colletti, Michail Desyllas, Benjamin Dillenburger, Tommaso Franzolini, Soomeen Hahm, John Harding, Xavier De Kestelier, Katya Larina, Guan Lee, Andy Lomas, Tim Lucas, Igor Pantic, Alan Penn, Davide Quayola, Mustafa El Sayed, Peter Scully, Vicente Soler, Theodore Spyropoulos, Rob Stuart-Smith, Sam Welham Special thanks to our field trip lecturers: Bot & Dolly, Mark Burry, Nataly Gattegno and Jason Kelly Johnson, Kreysler & Associates, Andrew Kudless, Greg Lynn and Julia Koerner, Oyler Wu Collaborative, Jonathan Proto & Brandon Kruysman, Jose Sanchez, Sci-Arc, Marcelo Spina 58

With an exponential increase in the possibilities of computation and computercontrolled fabrication, architecture faces a new challenge. As architects, we can design for infinite resolution and density of information, controlling the deposition of millions of material particles. Yet there is a lack of design methodology to harness the full potential of computational power and computercontrolled fabrication. When compared to historic architecture, for example the Gothic, computational experimentation is still not able to successfully generate the same level of fine detail, hierarchy and information density.

RC4 researches computational design methodologies for large-scale 3D printing with industrial robots, taking logistical, structural and material constraints as opportunities to generate non-representational architectural spaces with extreme information density. The Cluster investigates the tectonic problems associated with the idea of 3D printing and makes them inherent to the design.

Computational models develop as strategies to organise material in space, in response to specific structural and logistical inputs. Computational methodologies are tested on architectural chunks, questioning the spatial effects of the proposed fabrication methodology. Students are asked to situate their research in relation to fundamental structural paradigms and strategies such as space frames, lattices or vaults to then subsequently challenge the existing model. Finally, students are asked to 3D print a three-metre physical chunk model and design a speculative larger scale inhabitable chunk.

Gothic Prosthesis During the first term, students were introduced to computational techniques, learning a variety of scripting and modelling tools such as Processing, Grasshopper and Zbrush. This newly acquired knowledge was tested on the design of a ‘gothic prosthesis’, a speculative intervention in a Gothic church were a scripted material organisation had to inherit qualities from the Gothic.

Auflösung A workshop with Benjamin Dillenburger introduced a computational interpretation of gothic ideas of hierarchy and recursion.

Thesis Research Research was produced into a variety of large-scale robotic printing methods and design strategies, such as vectorial plastic extrusion and 3D printed sandstone in combination with cast aluminium. Other research investigated ceramics, engaging the material properties of clay. Strategies for printing were translated into computational models which organise complex toolpaths for robots. Prototypical architectural chunks were investigated, ranging from highly differentiated, heterogeneous space frames to finely articulated compressionoptimised domes. Students also successfully constructed their own tools, tweaking the industrial robots to become building-scale 3D printers.

Research Cluster 4 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

4.1

59

Research Cluster 4 4.2 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 4.3

4.4

Fig. 4.1 Filamentrics ’15m Chunk Model’. This research focuses on 3D printed spaceframes with a high degree of differentiation in material organisation. Scripted procedures negotiate structural concerns with optimisation of complex robotic toolpaths in 3D space. The spaceframe is optimised in response to material articulations ranging from pure spaceframe packing to solid layered structures and more complex vectorial extrusions with a high ornamental character.

Fig. 4.2 ClayWare ‘Recursive Vault’. This is the result of a computational workshop with Benjamin Dillenburger.

A recursive process operating with Bezier-curves reorganises a gothic vault. Fig 4.3 Filamentrics ‘Gothic Prosthesis’.

Speculative proposal for a gothic ceiling structure, generated with agent-based algorithms which negotiate structural and

ornamental qualities. Fig 4.4 ClayWare ‘Chunk’. Initial studymodel investigating particle spring based computing to generate heterogeneous and porous ceramic structures.

Fig 4.5 Filamentrics ‘Recursive Dome’. Result of the workshop with Benjamin Dillenburger, looking at computational strategies with gothic qualities.

60

Research Cluster 4 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

4.5

61

Research Cluster 4 4.6 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 4.7 Figs. 4.6 – 4.8 ClayWare ‘Funicular Clay’. Clayware interrogates the concept of a 3D printed ceramic building block or brick.

Material is organised in response to the fabrication constraints of wet clay, and engages material properties such as hanging arches and strands to generate both ornament and structural efficiency. Physics simulation is used to predict collapse and optimise the structure within a generative process.

62

Research Cluster 4 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

4.8

63

Research Cluster 4 4.9 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 4.10 Figs. 4.9 – 4.12 WeaveShake ‘Textology’. Investigating robotically fabricated textile formwork. A basic frame structures toolpaths for a robotic unit, resulting in a doublelayer textile which becomes formwork for a thin concrete shell.

Micro-articulations in the textile reinforce the surface to increase its rigidity and strength during the casting process.

Further developments of the project look into high-pressure spraying of concrete on the wires.

64

4.11

Research Cluster 4 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

4.12

65

Research Cluster 4 4.13 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 4.14 Figs. 4.13 – 4.14 Filamentrics Robotic extrusion prototypes.

With further experiments with the extruder prototype, a catalogue of nozzles was developed and tested for different design conditions. Figs. 4.15 – 4.16 Multi-axis printing strategies evolved from more lattice-like structures to more linear extrusions of bundles.

66

Research Cluster 4

4.15

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

4.16

67

Research Cluster 4 4.17

4.18 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 4.19 Figs.4.17 – 4.18 Filamentrics Computational model.

Processing code generates toolpaths for an ABB robot.

Fig 4.19 Filamentrics Digital prototype for a latticed dome structure. Fig 4.20 Filamentrics 15-metre chunk prototype produced from a computational model.

68

4.20

Research Cluster 4 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

69

Research Cluster 4 4.21 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 4.22 Figs. 4.21 – 4.26 MicroStrata ‘Pixelstone’. Microstrata works on 3D printed compression-based materials with cast tension networks, as an alternative to reinforced concrete.

Compression material is deposited leaving cavities to cast tension elements and air-vents. Using biological binders, a part of the material is removed afterwards. The project takes advantage of the dialectic quality between cast steel and sand – a strange subtraction where the negative is different from the tool used to subtract.

70

4.23

Research Cluster 4

4.24

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

4.26

4.25

71

Research Cluster 4 4.27 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 4.28 Figs. 4.27 – 4.30 MicroStrata ‘Pixelstone’. Digital scenario produced by high resolution computational model.

72

4.29

Research Cluster 4 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

4.30

73

RC5

Applications of Robotics to Discrete and Continuous Spatial Lattices Philippe Morel with Guan Lee, Thibault Schwartz

Students Hua-Jung Chang, Yang He, Kelvin Ho, Wen-Yu Hsieh, Jaejin Jang, Ipek Kuzu, Wanjiao Lei, Yi-Hsuan Liu, Wonho Moon, Jian Ni, Namkyoo Park, Sandra Sifakis, Jiashuang Sun, Sihan Wang, Zhe Xing, Dan Li Yu, Chiara Zaccagnini

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

Thanks to our critics and consultants: Abi Abdolwahabi, Mario Carpo, Justin Dirrenberger, Romain Duballet, Ruairi Glynn, Manuel Jimenez, Ulrika Karlsson, Tim Lucas, Frédéric Migayrou, Claudia Pasquero, Gilles Retsin, Peter Scully, Bob Sheil, Emmanouil Zaroukas Special thanks to the Grymsdyke Farm team Sponsors: Grymsdyke Farm

The past ten years of architectural research have highlighted a massive use of discrete mathematical models. Whether through cellular automata and (multi) agent-based modelling, or simply due to the intrinsic discrete nature of modern computational processes, the way we deal with mathematics has radically evolved. Nevertheless, this evolution has not been fully addressed within the discipline of architecture which remains largely influenced by continuous models of geometrical thinking. Beyond the fact that architecture is usually highly hybridised and component-based, our use of continuous models persists because of the phenomenology of our perception or due to diverse constructive traditions. Thus, many of us have a tendency to perceive a brick construction as continuous and homogeneous while it is discrete and heterogeneous, and to perceive a construction made of steel beams and columns as discrete while, thanks to welding, it can become rather continuous. Even if contemporary approaches inspired by rapid prototyping techniques allow us to envision a more perfect continuous future, it seems that in architecture discrete and continuous logics are still highly intricate and therefore that the ‘discrete vs. continuous’ problem cannot be escaped.

This confrontation between contradictory logics lies at the heart of the Research Cluster 5. By following Henri Poincaré’s conventionalist viewpoint in his philosophy of mathematics, asserting that ‘one geometry cannot be truer than another, it can merely be more convenient’, This year, RC5 challenged the architectural and constructive relevance of various branches of geometry, including Digital Geometry.1 First created in order to overcome the limits of ‘the usual notions of Cartesian geometries and also the notions of approximate mathematical analysis’ in image analysis, this branch is gaining importance due to the massive amount of images on Internet.2 Indeed, in more and more fields associated with materiality the adequacy between the reality of the geometric object and its digital model is crucial. Even if we are not entirely convinced that ‘one day we will think and calculate in a single geometry, which will be totally discrete and totally adapted to discrete machines’, we can admit that the contemporary and exponentially growing refinement of the discrete is producing a new phenomenology.3 Beyond the speculative aspect of such a phenomenology, which is ‘subversive because it contests the absolute reign of the continuous in geometry’, RC5 focused on its practical consequences in architectural design and construction, through the use of programmes such as Mathematica, RealFlow, Grasshopper and HAL.4

1. Henri Poincaré, ‘Non-Euclidean Geometries’ in Science and Hypothesis (Paris: Editions Flammarion, 1902) 2. Jean Françon, foreword to Géométrie Discrète et Images Numériques (Paris: Editions Lavoisier, 2007) 3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

74

Research Cluster 5 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

5.1

75

Research Cluster 5 5.2 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

5.3

5.4 Figs. 5.1 – 5.2 Kelvin Ho, Jiashuang Sun, Sihan Wang ‘Clay Robotics’, 2 metre high concrete column. Clay Robotics is a proposed fabrication system that hybridises existing concrete casting techniques with additive manufacturing processes through the use of six-axis industrial robotic arms.

It is a speculative approach on using clay as a sustainable, environmentally-friendly and low-cost casting mould material.

The material is widely accessible, and the cost of filtering and treating to be used for construction is low. Fig. 5.2 Preliminary casting tests with various 3D printed clay moulds.

Figs. 5.3 – 5.5 Zhe Xing, Dan Li Yu ‘Three-Dimensional Fabric Formwork System: Study on Space-Filling Polyhedron Rigid Clamps Cooperated with Fabric Formwork’. The project aims to explore the possibilities of making fabric formwork in 76

three-dimensional spaces and the potential application of this concrete space frame for architecture. The images here show computer simulations of various cross-sectional details with their physical equivalent. Fig. 5.5 A small 3D lattice prototype made of thin UHPFC sections.

Research Cluster 5 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

5.5

77

Research Cluster 5 5.6 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 5.7

5.8

Figs. 5.6 – 5.9 Wonho Moon, Hsieh Wen-Yu ‘CymaticSkin: Self-supported Cladding System of Free-form Geometries for Acoustic Treatment’. The first part of the project starts with the merging of a concrete-based architetural design and the use of cymatics-related patterns. According to Cymatics theory, each sound frequency produces a specific pattern. These were researched in order to obtain a three-dimensional geometry and the material was investigated to optimise the free-form geometries. The outcomes of these studies were applied to acoustic treatment, with geometric and material developments associated with heterogeneous Catalan vaults, through the principle of dissociation of layers and a mass-spring-mass system. While this material strategy can be used for the treatment of sound for interior spaces, it can also be

considered as a fully self-supported cladding system. Fig. 5.8 Preliminary research. In order to compare the variation of modes of vibration (i.e. with different frequencies in hertz) different materials were chosen. Each material was tested individually whilst attempts were also made to assemble distinct combinations in this experiment. Fig. 5.9 Selfsupported cladding system of free-form geometries for acoustic treatment. Explanation of the sound and heat insulation principles.

78

Research Cluster 5 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

5.9

79

Research Cluster 5 5.11

5.12

5.13

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

5.10

Figs. 5.10 – 5.14 Hua-Jung Chang ‘Reinforced Unites: Luffa’.

The project explores the development of an innovative natural material – Luffa (also known as the Loofah sponge) as an architectural material. It investigates the possibility of using Luffa as an the eco-friendly architectural material. The research examines the characteristic of composites of Luffa combined with natural resin and various reinforcement material. Fig. 5.12 Structural profiles made of compressed (and pre-stressed) engineered Luffa sections. Fig. 5.13 Compression tests made at The Bartlett. Fig. 5.14 Tensile stress tests (with EU Standard samples) made at the UCL Department of Mechanical Engineering.

80

Research Cluster 5 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

5.14

81

Research Cluster 5 5.15 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 5.16 Figs. 5.15 – 5.17 Namkyoo Park, Jaejin Jang ‘Gyroidal Structure: Finding an Optimised Minimal Surface Structure’.

This research aims to find and fabricate optimal structures based on gyroids, through computational and physical prototyping. It demonstrates its potential for architectural applications, especially when it is associated with an advanced logic of assembly and geometrical self-reinforcement. Here one can see different wireframe conceptual models as well as the logics of connectivity between the sub-components.

Prior to this, to find optimal geometries of the modules, diverse units with varying curvatures and thicknesses, have been generated and evaluated both through computational simulations and real experiments. Fig. 5.16 Mechanical tests of 3D printed samples.

82

Fig. 5.17 A 1:5 concrete prototype of a spatial lattice module (made of surfacic sub-components).

Research Cluster 5 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

5.17

83

Research Cluster 5 5.18 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 5.19 Figs. 5.18 – Fig. 5.20 Jian Ni ‘Dynamic Casting: Towards a Flexible Mould’. To close the gap between free-form modelling and manufacturing, over the years a number of studies have been carried out with reconfigurable moulds which manufacture double curved panels. The idea of a reconfigurable mould is that the mould’s surface can be easily adjusted into different shapes. Thus with one mould many different curved elements can be produced. The research on reconfigurable moulds in construction is still very fresh and necessitates much more development. Reconfigurable moulds not only provide the possibility for a more economical alternative, but can also promote sustainable development due to the elimination of the waste flow, giving such systems a new social relevance. Therefore the aim of this research is 84

to promote a mould technique capable of producing double curved concrete elements in an economical and sustainable manner. Reconfigurable moulds have the potential to be a competitive alternative to other existing moulding techniques for low-frequency double curved concrete elements. The principal research question is formulated as follows: How can pre-cast double curved concrete elements be manufactured with reconfigurable mould technique? These images show prototypes of double curve concrete panels produced with the reconfigurable casting machine. Fig. 5.20 View of the fully automated and reconfigurable casting machine.

Research Cluster 5 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

5.20

85

Research Cluster 5 5.21 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 5.22

5.23

Fig. 5.21 Ipek Kuzu, Sandra Sifakis, Chiara Zaccagnini ‘Interstitial Iterations’. The project challenges the perception of concrete shell structures as a flat thin surface without any openings, as well as their basic forms and the idea of covering big spaces without subdivisions. It proposes to create a 3D perforated ‘thick concrete shell’ that generates a system and can cover functional, structural and formal needs. The research began by investigating the potentials of natural shells (nuts) and cellular structures (foam structures) as a strategy for design. Understanding the cellular structure of foam led to the exploration of the relationship between solid and void spaces.

Figs. 5.22 – 5.23 Yi-Hsuan Liu ‘Making Skin with FormResistant Structure Alive: On the electrifying tectonics of modern architecture’. This project explores an alternate

process for constructing a form-resistant structure. It discusses how the shape of concrete can change its performance when charged with electricity. By fabricating a range of modules with different elements, this project utilises existing materials to create new tectonics. Fig. 5.24 Ipek Kuzu, Sandra Sifakis, Chiara Zaccagnini ‘Interstitial Iterations’. Computer simulation of different sphere packing (and density) and pouring strategies according to programmatic constraints. Fig. 5.25 Yang He, Wanjiao Lei ‘Bionic Double-layered Concrete Structure with Rubber-based Fabric Formwork’. The project, based on the study of natural double-layered structures, makes use of highly innovative (rubber formworks) casting strategies, providing naturaly adaptive varying concrete thicknesses.

86

Research Cluster 5 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

5.24

87

Research Cluster 5

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

5.25

88

Research Cluster 5 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

89

RC6

Crafting Space Daniel Widrig with Stefan Bassing, Soomeen Hahm

Students Yana Andreeva, Xiyangzi Cao, Youngseok Doo, Chaoran Du, Na Li, Shuo Liu, Kazushi Miyamoto, Theodora-Maria Moudatsou, Zhongping Peng, Tomas Santacruz, Despoina Tsalagka, Zeyu Yang, Ling Zhu

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

Project Teams Augmented Skin Youngseok Doo, Miyamoto Kazushi, Theodora Maria Moudatsou Crystallisation Na Li, Ling Zhu TecKnit Yana Andreeva, Tomas Santacruz, Despoina Tsalagka Knobbly Branch Chaoran Du, Zhongping Peng SandPrint Xiyangzi Cao, Shuo Liu, Zeyu Yang Thanks to our critics and consultants: Alisa Andrasek, Andrew Porter, Frédéric Migayrou, Federico Rossi, Gilles Retsin, Isaïe Bloch, Manuel Jimenez Garcia, Moa Carlsson, Patrik Schumacher, Tobias Klein, William Firebrace

90

In many ways, rapid manufacturing and robotic applications in architectural academia increasingly mirror industrial production lines, in which man designs and machine executes. While conforming to the zeitgeist, projects entirely relying on such workflows often simply fail on a sensual level. Not only do designers spend more time communicating with machines than with their peers; automated manufacturing can still limit designers to work within certain scales and geometric systems and force users to chose from a limited range of off-the-shelf materials. With little space to manoeuvre, iterations of projects very similar in form, color and texture emerge every year.

Far from rejecting state-of-the-art manufacturing or romanticising the handmade, Research Cluster 6 explores the idea of the architect-maker and the potential of ‘freehand self-production’ in the age of computational design.

With a strong interest in traditional craft, the arts, hands-on manufacturing and state of the art computation the Cluster pursues last year’s Crafting Space agenda arguing for experimental making as catalyst for the creation of new forms, objects and spatial concepts. Set up as an open research platform free from conceptual dogmas, the Cluster provides students with theoretical backing and in-depth technical skilling, enabling them to develop individual design strategies, in which digital and physical workflows blend into one artistic process.

Interested in the idea of self-initiated, low-budget production methods, RC6 traditionally works in multiple scales throughout the year. With a particular focus on physical production, the Cluster’s output ranges from sculptural objects, fashion, experimental furniture pieces to spatial installations and architectural proposals. Based on previous year’s explorations of 3D printing and its potential for the development of alternative casting processes, RC6 intensified its research in experimental casting this year, particularly focusing on flexible, reusable mould systems and composite materials. This year’s student projects include complex sand-cast lattice structures, woven building parts built along inflatable moulds, cast vaults materialised through self-supporting, flexible membrane formwork as well as organic, component based metal structures manufactured with customised lost wax casting appliances.

Research Cluster 6 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

6.1

91

Research Cluster 6 6.2

6.3 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 6.4

6.5

Figs. 6.1 – 6.5 Augmented Skin Fig. 6.1 Structural skin study.

Fig. 6.2 Digital diagramming. Spatial component deployment through diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA). Fig. 6.3 Sectional study. Fig. 6.4 Interior view. Augmented Skin proposes a customised, low-budget casting process for the creation of intricate objects and building parts. Stretching over an internal stick structure, membrane sleeves form a thin, resin impregnated skin. This semi-rigid, self-supporting tension system serves as formwork for concrete casting. The mould becomes part of the structure, providing building parts and objects with leathery, skin-like qualities. Built along the ruins of St. Francis Dam in San Francisco, the project features a series of interlacing vaults, domes and spatial sequences providing space and ambience for a landscape museum and additional

cultural facilities. Fig. 6.5 Chair prototype (front/side view).

Multiple furniture-scale objects test the structural integrity of the proposed materials in relation to the applied geometric systems.

92

Research Cluster 6 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

93

Research Cluster 6 6.6 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

6.7

6.8 Figs. 6.6 – 6.9 Crystallisation Fig. 6.6 Bench prototype.

Fig. 6.9 Close-up view of acrylic lattice, structurally enhanced Initially set up as a flexible acrylic lattice, the structure gradually through articulated salt encrustation. solidifies through the crystallization of a salt solution poured over the object over the course of two weeks. The thickness of the structure can be controlled through parameters such as, airflow, temperature, and the consistency and flow of salt solution. Fig. 6.7 Digital study investigating gradual densification of lattice systems. Fig. 6.8 Digital mock-up.

A seating object generated through parametrically deformed component arrays. The project proposes the deployment of various structures at an architectural scale along the coastline of the Dead Sea, Israel. Once in situ, the natural salinity of the local water will trigger crystal growth along the structures, gradually merging the objects with the existing salt banks.

94

Research Cluster 6 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

6.9

95

Research Cluster 6 6.10

6.11 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 6.12

6.13

to reconnect Sofia’s vibrant city centre and its adjacent, Figs. 6.10 – 6.13 TecKnit Fig. 6.10 Initial physical experiments, currently disconnected, quarters. exploring various knitting, braiding and weaving techniques.

Fig. 6.11 Digital weaving. Particle-based simulations inform the layout of architectural elements. Fig. 6.12 Prototyping.

TecKnit’s low-tech fabrication pocess facilitates the production of articulated, full-scale architectural building parts. During fabrication, inflatable tubes covered with resin-impregnated fabric sleves are braided within a wooden matrix resulting in a precise, highly versatile composite. This approach can be used to manufacture lightweight building parts as well as lost formwork to cast large-scale, intertwining concrete structures.

Fig. 6.13 Close-up view of internal space. Based in Sofia, Bulgaria, the project proposes a series of cultural hubs spanning across an existing urban canal. TecKnit attempts 96

Research Cluster 6 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

97

Research Cluster 6 6.15

6.16

6.17

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

6.14

Figs. 6.14 – 6.20 TecKnit Fig. 6.14 Fabrication. Built within a wooden matrix, the handcrafted system allows for the production of precise, durable building components, intricate moulds and articulated objects. Fig. 6.15 Surface study.

Fig. 6.16 Seating object. Inflatable formwork. Fig.6.17 Digital model of rocking chair. Based on the project’s initial research into braiding, weaving and knitting, the chair was designed and built to test the structural potential of TecKnit’s composite material system in relation to the project’s intricate design language. Fig. 6.18 External view. Spanning across an existing canal the project proposes a series of vault-like cultural hubs reconnecting Sofia’s city centre and its adjacent disconnected quaters. Figs. 6.19 – 6.20 Experimental studies investigating exoskeletal surfaces for walls and flooring.

98

Research Cluster 6

6.18

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

6.20

6.19

99

Research Cluster 6 6.22

6.23

6.24

Figs. 6.21 – 6.27 Knobbly Branch Fig. 6.21 Line-to-structure studies. Digital simulation of optimised path system and generation of base meshes. Fig. 6.22 Analogue computing.

Experiment testing the self-organising behavior of wool threads in liquid wax as a diagram for potential structural layouts. Fig. 6.23 Prototype production. Bundles of styrofaom spheres connected with wool threads are repeatedly dipped into liquid wax. Based on parameters, such as temperature, dipping frequency and wax consistency, the project can be parametrically controlled and used to create organic yet precise wax patterns that can later be used for lost-wax casting of building parts and furniture pieces. Fig. 6.24 Seating object.

Final view of the proposed stool, ready to be cast in aluminium through lost-wax casting. Fig. 6.25 Object scale. View of a

lounging bench as part of a larger, architectural proposal.

Knobbly Branch imagines the design of a permanent, metal-cast structure, a hybrid between public sculpture, urban furniture and architectural folly situated in Hyde Park, London.

Fig. 6.26 Physical model investigating the interior ambience of the proposed installation. Fig. 6.27 Bird’s-eye view. Cast in multiple pieces and various metal alloys, the project features a gradually changing, camouflaged surface showcasing different patina and multiple states of erosion.

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

6.21

100

Research Cluster 6

6.25

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

6.27

6.26

101

Research Cluster 6 6.28 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 6.29

6.30

Figs. 6.28 – 6.35 SandPrint Fig. 6.28 Hands-on making.

Lubricated rubber tube patterns are embedded in boxes filled with moist sand. After compacting, tubes can be pulled out.

Three-dimensional imprints remain captured in the sand.

Materials such as plaster, metal or fibre-reinforced concrete can be poured into the voids. The process allows for the production of precise, highly complex components without the need for complicated wax patterns or high-energy appliances commonly used in traditional sand casting. A sustainable production method, this approach facilitates unlimited reusage of all materials involved in the production pipeline. Fig. 6.29 Digital diagramming. Flocking simulations generate possible layouts for columns and structural bundles.

Fig. 6.30 Unearthing the product. Removal of sand after casting a chair. The wood, sand and tubes can be reused for further production. Fig. 6.31 Prototyping. First generation sand cast chair.

102

Research Cluster 6 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

6.31

103

Research Cluster 6 6.32

6.33 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014 6.34 Fig. 6.32 Bridge, close-up. Located in a costal city in Shandong Province, northern China, SandPrint proposes a series of sand cast pavilions embedded in a local waterfront park. Fig. 6.33 Yard, close-up. Nesting along dunes, the buildings include beach bars, dressing rooms and leisure spaces. The structures encourage the formation of green spaces in and around its adjacencies by providing shadow, moisture and wind protection. Fig. 6.34 Node, close-up.

Prototype of full-scale structural node. Fig. 6.35 Exterior view of the architectural proposal located in a costal city in Shandong Province, northern China.

104

6.35

Research Cluster 6 The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

105

B-Pro Show 2013

GAD Staff Biographies

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

Professor Frédéric Migayrou B-Pro Director Frédéric Migayrou is Chair, Bartlett Professor of Architecture at The Bartlett School of Architecture and Deputy Director of the National Museum of Art, Centre Pompidou in Paris. He was the founder of the Frac Center Collection and of ArchiLab, the international festival of Prospective Architecture in Orléans. Apart from recent publications and exhibitions (De Stijl, Centre Pompidou, 2011; La Tendenza, Centre Pompidou, 2012; Bernard Tschumi, Centre Pompidou, 2013; Frank Gehry, Centre Pompidou 2014), he was the curator of Non Standard Architectures at the Centre Pompidou in 2003, the first exposition devoted to architecture, computation and fabrication. More recently, he co-organised the exhibition Naturalising Architecture (ArchiLab, Orléans 2013), presenting prototypes and commissions by 40 teams of architects working with new generative computational tools, defining new interrelations between materiality, biotechnology and fabrication.

In 2012 he founded B-Pro, The Bartlett’s umbrella structure for post-professional architecture programmes.

Andrew Porter B-Pro Deputy Director Andrew Porter studied at The Bartlett School of Architecture and has collaborated in practice with Sir Peter Cook and Christine Hawley CBE. In 1998 he and Abigail Ashton set up ashton porter architects, they have completed a number of award winning commissions in the UK and prizewinning competitions in the UK and abroad. Andrew is co-leader of The Bartlett’s MArch Architecture Unit 21, and has been a visiting Professor at the Staedel Academy, Frankfurt and guest critic at SCi-Arc, Los Angeles and Parsons New School, New York.

108

Alisa Andrasek GAD Programme Leader, RC1 Tutor Alisa Andrasek is a director of Biothing and Bloom Games. She is a Reader at The Bartlett, and Professor at the European Graduate School.

She has taught at the Architectural Association (AA), Columbia, Pratt, UPenn and RMIT. Her work has been exhibited at the Centre Pompidou, Paris; New Museum, New York; Storefront, New York; FRAC, Orleans; and TB-A21, Vienna. She curated exhibitions for the Beijing Biennial 2006, 2008 and 2010, and is a co-curator of the PROTO/E/CO/ LOCICS Symposium in Rovinj, Croatia.

Daghan Cam RC1 Tutor Daghan Cam is an architect and a researcher whose work is focused on supercomputing. He holds an MArch degree from the AA. Previously, he worked for Zaha Hadid Architects and taught at AA Visiting Schools and on various other workshops.

Isaïe Bloch RC2 Tutor Isaïe Bloch is a Belgian architect and founder of Eragatory, a creative company with a focus on design for 3D printing and creative fabrication.

His ongoing research and design ambitions are focused on the correlation between craftsmanship and additive manufacturing within several creative domains including architecture, fashion and plastic arts.

Moa Carlsson RC2 Tutor Moa Carlsson studied at Lund Technical University, Sweden and Vienna Technical University, Austria.

She has taught and worked in London and Vienna at practices including Coop Himmelb(l)au, Alsop Architects, John McAslan & Partners, Arup and PLP Architecture. Moa is a PhD candidate at the Department of Architecture, MIT.

Manuel Jimenez Garcia RC4 Tutor Manuel Jimenez Garcia holds an MArch from the AA (AADRL) and has previously taught at the AA, Universidad Politecnica Madrid and Universidad Europea Madrid. As well as teaching on GAD, he is Unit Master of MArch Unit 19; co-curator of the Bartlett Plexus and co-founder of Emeidiem, an architecture practice based in London.

Dr Christopher Leung RC3 Tutor Christopher Leung trained as an architect at The Bartlett and earned a doctorate from UCL for his work on passive thermal actuators applied to environmental control in buildings. His work explores the relationship between machines, occupants and buildings, and has been published in peer-reviewed journal articles, together with his collaborations in the sixteen*(makers) group.

Gilles Retsin RC4 Tutor Gilles Retsin’s work investigates new architectural models which engage increased computational power in design and fabrication. He is interested in the impact of computation on the core principles of architecture – the bones rather than the skin.

Prior to founding his own practice, he worked in Switzerland with Christian Kerez, and in London with Kokkugia.

William Bondin RC3 Tutor William Bondin is a Maltese architect and creator of Morphs – a reconfigurable interactive architectural system developed under the supervision of Ruairi Glynn. He completed his professional studies in Malta (UoM) and then undertook The Bartlett’s MArch GAD. His design practice takes a fabricationoriented approach towards architectural performance and behaviour.

Philippe Morel RC5 Tutor Philippe Morel is an architect and theorist, and co-founder of EZCT Architecture & Design Research.

He is Associate Professor at the ENSA ParisMalaquais and has taught at the Berlage Institute and at the AA. He has published essays and books and curated exhibitions, and his works acquired by the FRAC and Centre Pompidou.

Ollie Palmer RC3 Tutor A graduate of the MArch GAD, Ollie Palmer taught in RC3 from 2011-14. He is currently pursuing a PhD

by Design at the Bartlett, entitled ‘Mind Control in Architecture’. Besides design, he has hitchhiked across Iceland, taught computer skills in the Amazon, and sometimes plays with ants.

Dr Guan Lee RC5 Tutor Guan Lee graduated with a BSc in Architecture from McGill Montreal, and received a Diploma and MA in Landscape Urbanism from the AA. He holds a PhD in Architecture by Design from The Bartlett School of Architecture. His practice, Grymsdyke Farm, is set in the Chilterns in Buckinghamshire.

109

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

Ruairi Glynn RC3 Tutor Ruairi Glynn is The Bartlett’s Lecturer in Interactive Architecture. Alongside his teaching and research he practices as an installation artist, exhibiting at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, and Tate Modern, London. He is co-founder of the Fabricate conference series and directs the Interactive Architecture Lab.

Thibault Schwartz RC5 Tutor Thibault Schwartz is an architect based in Paris and London. He explores the evolution of architectural design practices in relation to generative algorithms and automated fabrication processes. He is developing several tools for robot-assisted construction and design, including the ‘HAL | Robot Programming & Control’ Grasshopper plugin for multi-robot control.

Professor Stephen Gage Report Module Coordinator Stephen Gage studied at the AA and has worked in the UK and California. He has taught at The Bartlett since 1993, where he is Professor of Innovative Architecture. He has been an external examiner at The University of the Arts and the University of Liverpool; he is part of the RIBA architectural course validation panel.

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

Daniel Widrig RC6 Tutor Daniel Widrig founded his studio in London in 2009.

After graduating from the AA, Daniel worked for several years with Zaha Hadid. He has received international critical acclaim and has been published and exhibited internationally. He is a recipient of the Swiss Arts Award, Feidad Merit Award and the Rome Prize.

David Andreen Report Tutor David Andreen is currently in his final year of the VEIV EngD programme at UCL and has a background as architect and engineer. His multidisciplinary research investigates the morphogenesis and function of sub-Saharan termite mounds, and the potential implementation of such mechanisms and processes in architecture through digital fabrication and design.

Soomeen Hahm RC6 Tutor Soomeen Hahm is a senior designer at Zaha Hadid Architects. Her interests are focused on generative and algorithmic design through the use of computer coding. She is also involved in various educational projects, such as Plethora-project.com – where she is Director for China, as well as being Director of the AA Seoul visiting school.

Mollie Claypool Report Tutor Mollie Claypool is a writer, designer and theorist with research interests in mechanisation, production and fabrication, the philosophy of science and computational methodologies. She is a Teaching Fellow in Architectural Design at The Bartlett, where she is the BSc Architecture Programme Leader and runs MArch Architecture Unit 19.

Stefan Bassing RC6 Tutor Since completing the architecture and design programme at the State Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart, Stefan Bassing has been involved in numerous national and international design projects.

His work is focused on contemporary design methodologies involving computation and objectorientated research for the capacity to comprehend and respond to architecture at a multiplicity of scales.

Tom Trevatt Report Tutor Tom Trevatt is a London based writer, lecturer, curator and PhD candidate at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He is an Associate Lecturer at Goldsmiths, The Bartlett and University of Creative Arts. His research revolves around the intersection of neoliberal politics and economics, the environmental impact of fossil fuels and contemporary art.

110

Bruce Davison Report Tutor Bruce Davison is CEO of INSITYOU software.

Prior to founding INSITYOU, Davison was a Board Director at AL_A where he worked closely with several Fortune 500 companies helping them to strategize, conceive and deliver innovative master plans and HQ projects. He has taught at Columbia GSAPP and at Syracuse University.

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

Sam McElhinney Report Tutor Sam founded MUD Architecture in 2012 as a vehicle to bring together strands of research, teaching and practice. Sam currently runs the MA Architecture course at the Canterbury School of Architecture and is a member of the ‘Space Group’ at UCL. His research work is focused on developing real-time and motive spatial analytic models.

Dr David Scott Report Tutor David Scott is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Architecture at the University of Westminster, and Director of the Westminster Digital Fabrication Laboratory. His research combines an interest in social theory and the psychological, with experimentation in materiality and making, and especially on developing new uses for digital fabrication within architecture.

111

Staff & Consultants

MArch GAD Professor Frédéric Migayrou Director of B-Pro Andrew Porter Deputy Director of B-Pro Alisa Andrasek GAD Programme Leader Cluster Tutors and Teaching Assistants The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

RC1 Alisa Andrasek Daghan Cam RC2 Isaïe Bloch Moa Carlsson RC3 William Bondin Ruairi Glynn Dr Christopher Leung Ollie Palmer RC4 Manuel Jimenez Garcia Gilles Retsin RC5 Dr Guan Lee Philippe Morel Thibault Schwartz RC6 Stefan Bassing Soomeen Hahm Daniel Widrig Report Module Coordinator Professor Stephen Gage Report Tutors David Andreen Mollie Claypool Bruce Davison Sam McElhinney Tom Trevatt Dr David Scott External Examiners Professor Bart Lootsma Lola Sheppard Professor Mark Wasiuta Tom Verebes 112

Critics, Consultants and Technical Tutors Abi Abdolwahabi Francesco Anselmo Julia Backhaus Gemma Barton Paul Bavister Chiara Ceci Mario Carpo Corneel Cannaerts Ermis Chalvatzis Natsai Chieza Alexandre Colle Carole Collet Marjan Colletti Amy Condgon Sam Conran Michail Desyllas Jan Dierckx Benjamin Dillenburger Justin Dirrenberger Romain Duballet Illugi Eysteinsson William Firebrace Tommaso Franzolini John Frazer Kristof Gavrielides Fred Guttfield Usman Haque John Harding Christine Hawley Timothy Ireland Anab Jain Kieren Jones Xavier De Kestelier Sebastian Kite Tobias Klein Rolf Knudsen Aimilia Kritikou Diony Kypraiou Tony Langford Katya Larina Will Laslett Lola Lely Andy Lomas Tim Lucas Francois Mangion Amirreza Mirmotahari Ellen Page Igor Pantic Bakul Patki Elliot Payne Alan Penn M Plummer-Fernandez Davide Quayola Aleksandrina Rizova Richard Roberts Caspar Rogers Federico Rossi

Mustafa El Sayed Peter Scully Gennaro Senatore Wei Shan Bob Sheil Patrik Schumacher Vicente Soler Theodore Spyropoulous Catrina Stewart Rob Stuart-Smith Akari Takebayashi Ling Tan Jingjun Tao Caroline Till George Tsakiridis Federico Rossi Patrik Schumacher Theodore Spyropoulos Rob Stuart-Smith Chryssa Varna Matt Wade Sam Welham Marc Winklhofer Melissa Woolford Emmanouil Zaroukas Fiona Zisch

Professor Peter Bishop Professor of Urban Design Director of Enterprise

Bartlett School of Architecture

Professor Adrian Forty Professor of Architectural History MA Architectural History Programme Director

Chair of School Professor Frédéric Migayrou Bartlett Professor of Architecture Director of B-Pro Director of School Professor Bob Sheil Professor of Architecture and Design through Production Director of Technology

Professors, Visiting Professors and Stream Directors Robert Aish Visiting Professor in Computation Laura Allen Senior Lecturer Director of Publications & Public Events

Professor Iain Borden Professor of Architecture & Urban Culture Vice Dean of Communications Professor Mario Carpo Reyner Banham Professor of Architectural History & Theory Director of History & Theory Professor Nat Chard BSc Architecture Year 1 Co-Director Professor of Experimental Architecture Dr Marjan Colletti Senior Lecturer Director of Computing Professor Peter Cook Emeritus Professor

Professor Colin Fournier Emeritus Professor of Architecture & Urban Planning Professor Murray Fraser Professor of Architecture & Global Culture Vice Dean of Research Professor Stephen Gage Emeritus Professor of Innovative Technology Professor Christine Hawley Professor of Architectural Studies Director of Design Professor Jonathan Hill Professor of Architecture & Visual Theory MPhil/PhD by Design Programme Director

Professor CJ Lim Professor of Architecture & Cultural Design Vice Dean of International Affairs Dr Yeoryia Manolopoulou Senior Lecturer Director of Architectural Research Josep MiĂ s Visiting Professor Niall McLaughlin Visiting Professor Frosso Pimenides Senior Lecturer BSc Architecture Year 1 Co-Director Dr Peg Rawes Senior Lecturer Associate Director of Architectural Research MArch Architectural History Programme Leader (from 2014)

Peter Scully Technical Director of B-Made

Elizabeth Dow BSc Architectural Studies Programme Co-Leader Dr Penelope Haralambidou Lecturer in Architecture Coordinator of MPhil / PhD by Design Dirk Krolikowski Lecturer in Innovative Technology & Design Practice Associate Coordinator of Year 4 Design Realisation Dr Adrian Lahoud Reader in Urban Design MArch UD Programme Leader

Alisa Andrasek Reader in Advanced Architectural Computation MArch GAD Programme Leader Julia Backhaus MArch Architecture Programme Leader Matthew Butcher Lecturer in Architecture and Performance BSc Architecture Programme Co-Leader Dr Ben Campkin Senior Lecturer in History & Theory Director of UCL Urban Lab Coordinator of Year 3 History & Theory

Ruairi Glynn Lecturer in Interactive Architecture Tim Lucas Lecturer in Structural Design Yael Reisner Affiliate Academic Oliver Wilton Lecturer in Environmental Design

Research Fellows and Associates Izaskun Chinchilla Moreno Senior Research fellow

James O’Leary Lecturer in Innovative Technology & Design Practice Coordinator of Year 4 Design Realisation

Peter Guillery Senior Research Associate Survey of London

Dr Barbara Penner Senior Lecturer BSc Architectural Studies Programme Co-Leader MPhil/PhD History & Theory Programme Director

Helen Jones Research Associate Survey of London

Susan Ware Sub-Dean and Faculty Tutor Frosso Pimenides Director of Professional Studies Senior Lecturer Part 3 Programme Director BSc Architecture Year 1 Co-Director Mark Whitby Visiting Professor in Structural Andrew Porter Engineering Principal Teaching Fellow B-Pro Deputy Director

Programme Directors/ Leaders and Coordinators

Tom Dyckhoff Honorary Research Fellow

Dr Tania Sengupta Lecturer in Architectural History & Theory Departmental Tutor Coordinator of Year 4 History & Theory Mark Smout Senior Lecturer Coordinator of Year 5 Thesis Patrick Weber Senior Lecturer Coordinator of Pedagogic Affairs

Academic and Honorary Staff Yannis Aesopos Affiliate Academic Abeer Al-Saud Affiliate Academic Dr Marcos Cruz Reader in Architecture

Sally Hart Research Assistant

Communications and Website Laura Cherry Jean Garrett Michelle Lukins Finance and HR Sarah Clegg Stoll Michael Rita Prajapati Facilities Graeme Kennett Bernie Ococ

Bartlett Manufacturing and Design Exchange (B-Made) Abi Abdolwahabi Richard Beckett William Bondin Matt Bowles Bim Burton Inigo Dodd Richard Grimes Robert Randall Peter Scully Matthew Shaw Paul Smoothy Will Trossell Emmanuel Vercruysse Martin Watmough Sam Wellham

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

Professor Jane Rendell Professor of Architecture & Art

Mollie Claypool BSc Architecture Programme Co-Leader

Dr Hilary Powell Research Fellow Harriet Richardson Research Associate Survey of London Andrew Saint Principal Research Associate Survey of London Philip Temple Senior Research Associate Survey of London Andrew Thom Senior Research Associate Survey of London

Professional Services Professional Services Administration Meredith Wilson Academic Services Administration Izzy Blackburn Michelle Bush Emer Girling Eleni Goule James Lancaster Tom Mole Research Luis Rego

113

B-Pro Lectures

B-Pro has developed numerous lectures, seminars and workshops promoting a broad dialogue in the realisation and application of research in architecture and urbanism. This year’s speakers included:

The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014

Bartlett Plexus Isaïe Bloch, Evan Boehm, Daghan Çam, Arthur Carabott, Benjamin Dillenburger, Mostafa El-Sayed, Jelle Feringa, John Harding, Andy Lomas, Sergej Maier, Keiichi Matsuda, Mathrioshka, Andreas Müller, Matthew PlummerFernandez, Davide Quayola, Gilles Retsin, Rub-A-Dub, ScanLab, Thibault Schwartz, Vicente Soler, TeamRoto, Mike Tucker, Maria E. Villafañe, Melissa Woolford BioCities Mike Batty, Carole Collet, Ilaria Di Carlo, Marco Dorigo, Sara Franceschelli Melissa Sterry, George Jeronimidis, Patrik Schumacher In Dialogue Nabil Ahmed, Lindsay Bremner, Adrian Lahoud, Lorenzo Pezzani, Godofredo Pereira, Paulo Tavares Material Matters Bruce Bell (FACIT), Philippe Block (BLOCK Research Group, ETH Zurich), Daniel Bosia (P.ART, AKT), Ingo Ederer (voxeljet), Manfred Grohmann (Bollinger + Grohmann), Michael Hansmeyer (ETH Zurich), Benjamin Koren (One to One), Tim Lucas (Price & Myers), Ralph Parker (Price & Myers), Fabian Scheurer (Design to Production) n_Salon Giuseppe Longo, Luciana Parisi, Tom Trevatt Urban Practitioners Mark Brearley, Ben Campkin, Neil Deely, Michael Hebbert, Peter Rees, Chris Schulte, Robert Schmidt, John Worthington

114

International Lecture Series The Bartlett International Lecture Series features speakers from across the world. Lectures in the series are open to the public and free to attend.

This year’s speakers included: AY Architects Marie-Ange Brayer EcoLogicStudio Kees Christiaanse Carole Collet Peter Cook Verena Conley Thom Faulders Sara Franceschelli Usman Haque Go Hasegawa Manuel Herz Wes Jones Perry Kulper Ross Lovegrove Brendan MacFarlane Felipe Mesa Spyros Papapetros Alex Schweder Julien de Smedt Lars Spuybroek servo / Stockholm + Los Angeles Tom Verebes Ma Yansong The Bartlett International Lecture Series is generously supported by the Fletcher Priest Trust.

The printed version of this publication is available to buy at: bit.ly/Bbooks

Big Data workshop held in Term 2 by RC3 (Interactive Architecture Lab) and MA Textile Futures at Central Saint Martins, UAL

bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/architecture

Publisher Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL Editors FrĂŠdĂŠric Migayrou, Andrew Porter Graphic Design Patrick Morrissey, Unlimited weareunlimited.co.uk Editorial Coordination Laura Allen, Laura Cherry, Michelle Lukins Photography Stonehouse Photographic stonehousephotographic.com Virgilio Ferreira virgilioferreira.com Copyright 2014 The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN 978-0-9929485-0-4

For more information on all the programmes and modules at The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, UCL, visit bartlett.ucl.ac.uk The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL 140 Hampstead Road London NW1 2BX T. +44 (0)20 3108 9646 architecture@ucl.ac.uk

Team Filamentrics [Zeeshan Ahmed, Yichao Chen, Nan Jiang, Yiwei Wang], MArch GAD, RC4, ‘SpaceWires’, Rendering.

bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/architecture