Performative Archtiecture Studio 2011: Outline

PERFORMATIVE ARCHITECTURE STUDIO 2011 SYNOPSIS This studio will produce a full-scale, functional installation, combining an inflatable structure with interactive media. The installation will be designed as a system of small-scale enclosures and wearable elements. It will be developed and staged as a public performance within a theatrical or gallery space. The students will be free to invent the

FIELD OF KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING APPROACH

form and program of the installation but will be asked to base their

Paper-based workflows constrain architecture

the generative capabilities of computing, the studio will demonstrate

into conventional types that rapidly become en-

that outcomes of architectural design can be usefully understood as

vironmentally and morally unsustainable. New

dynamic and responsive performances rather than static and passive

digital design methods focus on processes in

objects. The process of designing with new digital/physical materials

preference to static schema and seek to stage

will invite students to explore and critique a broad range of concepts and

dynamic performances rather than produce

techniques pertaining to digital architectural design. This learning can

objects. This change of focus reconfigures the

be useful as an essential foundation for many purposes: sophisticated

conventional relationships between 1) ideation

site and behaviour analysis, environmentally responsive architecture,

and making and 2) form and material.

cradle-to-cradle making, etc. Complex form explorations are currently

Responding to these fundamental issues, the 2011 Performative Architecture studio will explore: 1) Ideation, by experimenting with generative capabilities of computers including agentbased systems 2) Making, by engaging with digital fabrication from the outset and designing thorough functional interactive prototypes 3) Form, by utilising non-intuitive parametric/ associative geometries; and 4) Material, by utilising dynamic digital data along with physical/chemical objects.

designing on generative approaches to form-making. By emphasizing

very fashionable in architecture and the interactive technologies become increasingly ubiquitous. Yet, successful integrations of complex geometry and interactivity at the architectural scale are rare. Innovation in this area has been constrained by a lack of relevant knowledge in the architectural profession. Performative Architecture Studio seeks to address this gap by educating its participants in an interdisciplinary and innovation-oriented environment that integrates the learning of concepts into the process of making.

For additional information, links and examples see the dedicated studio website (updated regularly): http://scripts.crida.net/gh/pas Similarly to our previous work in this area, the studio outcomes will be disseminated online on a dedicated website and submitted to leading design publications. They will also be exhibited publicly and submitted to international festivals and exhibitions in the area of digital creativity (such as ISEA, DEAF, Ars Electronica, FutureEverything or GA) or conferences and workshops in architecture (such as ACADIA or SmartGeometry).

KEYWORDS performative places, generative approaches, interactive, emergent, procedural, parametric, critical, experimental, ubiquitous computing, physical computing, creativity, authorship, analogue making, digital making

In the photo: Amococo by Architects of Air, 2008

LEARNING OUTCOMES The studio will provide its participants with a strong foundation in digital design that will be essentially useful across all computational tools and software types. It will discuss the contemporary understanding of creativity and will enable its participants to explain and defend their design decisions.

FLOW 6 week of individual work on two themes: 1) Geometry: Material system → Complex topology → Rationalised geometry → Fabricated prototype; and 2) Behaviour: Agent system → Diagram → Behavioural system → Interactive prototype.

6 weeks of collaborative work on the final installation development and construction.

TOOLS AND MATERIALS

Among other things, the studio will introduce:

The students will have exclusive ac-

1) Architecture as performances (events, nar-

cess to a unique set of hardware and

ratives or play);

software tools that have been espe-

2) Emergence in design;

cially assembled for the experimen-

3) Parametric modelling/associative geometry/

tation within the studio, including:

form-finding/complex geometry;

Dedicated design and experimenta-

4) Digital fabrication/construction;

tion spaces within the faculty and in the Arts Faculty building (audiovisual studio with blue screen and sound booth, dance studio with controlled lighting and Open Stage

5) Real-time digital sensing/computer vision; and 6) Augmented/responsive/interactive environments.

Theatre with all of its technical systems).

Tools for flexible control of digital environments (visual/textual programming, in particular: Grasshopper, MAX/MSP/Jitter + VisualBasic/ Java/JavaScript /Processing); Tools for recording, designing and presenting temporal events (video recording, animation, editing and compositing software, in particular: Adobe Premiere and AfterEffects)

SUBMISSIONS As outcomes and for evaluation the students will be asked to produce functioning prototypes of responsive installations and contribute to the construction of the full-scale implementation.

They will also have to document and exhibit their work using online publishing, technical/crea-

BIOGRAPHIES As an architect, artist and researcher, Stanislav Roudavski studies and designs technologically sustained places. Currently a Lecturer in Digital Architectural

Tools for complex form making (in

Design at the University of Melbourne, he holds degrees of MArch/MFA from the

this case - inflatable textile systems,

Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg (Russia), MSc CABD from the University of

fans and sewing machines)

Strathclyde (UK) and PhD from the University of Cambridge (UK). Before arriving to

Tools for constructing interactive

Melbourne in 2009, Stanislav worked on research projects at the University of Cam-

environments (computer-controlled

bridge and practiced in several European countries. His current interests include

lights; computer-vision systems;

generative designing of complex architectural geometries, bioinspiration, virtual

video cameras; laser emitters/

and augmented environments, place and performance studies, spatial narrative,

light sensors, non-standard high-

practice-based research methodologies and participatory, distributed creativity.

resolution projection systems and

Roger Alsop teaches audio and interactive technology courses at the Victorian

multi-speaker, computer-controlled

College of the Arts and Box Hill Institute. His creative practice includes video,

sound systems)

still, interactive, and sonic works; and his collaborative practice ranges across

tive journals and moving image

all areas of the performing arts. He holds a Master of Arts in Composition from

presentations.

La Trobe University and has recently completed his PhD in Media and Communication at RMIT. Gwyllim Jahn completed his B.EnvDes at the University of Western Australia before completing his Masters of Architecture at RMIT in 2010. He leads workshops and studios at RMIT, Melbourne and Monash universities. He practiced at Minifie Nixon architects and currently collaborates at LAB Architecture Studio. His design expertise includes complex architectural geometry and behavioural systems, parametrics and digital fabrication.

In the photo: SPOTS by realities; united, 2005