an Urban Toy

BLOOM is what its designers call an “urban toy.” It is a “distributed social game and collective ‘gardening’ experience that seeks the engagement of people in order to construct fuzzy BLOOM formations.” These formations are aggregate volumes composed of repeated, identical parts, which the designers refer to as “cells.” These “cells” are designed and fabricated by the designers themselves, Alisa Andrasek of Biothing, and Jose Sanchez of Plethora Project, in London. Meant to contribute an air of jovial democratized design in relation to the 2012 London Olympic Games, BLOOM is representative of the artistic, collective act. Each individual component, as the designers explain, can do nothing on its own, but instead, reach their full and limitless potential when arrayed en masse.

Each of the BLOOM pieces has three potential sites for connection along its outline, enabling it to be compiled both two and three dimensionally. This embedded form of connection, however, is all that is provided to the user, who is free to use as few or as many pieces as they choose to construct an installation. It is the simple combinations inherent between these cells that can potentially produce many different mutations. This project is emblematic of democratic design as seen through the lens of digital fabrication, aggregation, and repetition.
 

a Literal Movement

Breakfast New York City is an interactive installation in Midtown Manhattan that both mimics and responds to interactive movement. Located that the intersection of 32nd Street and 6th Avenue, this installation is a revival of an antique sign technology that utilizes over 40,000 metallic spinning dots on a computerized surface to broadcast messages, including scrolling text and images. Because of its analog technology, the mechanism that is analogous to digital pixels, actually mimics the movement and rotation of pistons on a mechanical engine. The dots are either black or white, depending on which side is exposed, creating a binary that, when taken in aggregate and seen from afar, render images and text. This literal movement, however, from black to white, is done so through mechanical means, creating various clicks, like those made on a typewriter.

The digital systems, however, interrupt the analog by allowing the interface to respond to movement located directly in front of the display. Through these means, the display is able to respond to passersby, traffic, and all manner of stimuli, which then interrupt and dematerialize the scrolled information. This system creates a highly unique, ever-changing display of information that takes on the character of urban life. This project features highly-tactile, digitally derived displays that are manifested through analog, mechanical movements. The installation responds to spontaneous urban life through the articulation and juxtaposition of these digital processes and analog displays. The following video previews the installation in greater detail.

vertical Fragmentation

Border Conditions is an academic and hypothetical project by Manuel Torres, Dimitrie Stefanescun that utilizes parametric folding to achieve complex form in an urban housing project for Utrecht, Netherlands. This project, ‘embodies a virtual study of the process of folding with its conjectural actions (re-folding, unfolding);’ creating architecture from a meta-analysis of the folding technique. 
 Here, form is achieved through the interrelation and formalization of different variables, labeled as: ‘horizontal fragmentation,’ ‘proportion blurring,’ ‘vertical fragmentation,’ and ‘plane abstraction.’ These variables are mapped across the site to create points of reference which are then extrapolated into lines and planes. These planes, when merged with circulation routes, generate form and space. The resulting spaces are then further manipulated by varying the points of connections between planes with regards to connection degree, length, and overall number of connections. This form is then deconstructed; unfolded, laid out, and related to the urban site.
 This project focuses on the digital manifestations- parametric form- that result from an analog process- folding and unfolding- and hows these opposing approaches to making can result in varied architectural space. Through  a process of iteration dependent of parametric values, the designers are able to achieve an architectural complexity based on physical variables that is then overlayed on an existing urban fabric.

vertical Towers

Drawing on Shenzhen’s interconnected qualities, Morphosis‘ 2009 proposal for the Four Towers Into One competition pushes the conventional urban grid to organize a complex system of four interwoven towers. The competition asked for an urban plan that would unify the Headquarters of Shenzhen Media Group, China Construction Bank, China Insurance Group, and Southern & Bosera Funds–the new global faces of Shanghai’s Financial District. Instead of vertically extruding their isolated 2D site footprints to four individual skyscrapers, the strategy of transferring air rights helps to extend the zoning envelopes of each of the projects through an interlaced system resembling a traditional Chinese puzzle.

These otherwise vertical towers overlap at the base, creating multi-dimensional traffic through meeting, office, and green spaces that presents a new icon and philosophy within the Financial District. Like the Chinese puzzle, each project retains its original identity and form while still engaging with the surrounding projects. While Steven Holl won this competition, Morphosis’ intention to create a composition greater than the sum of its parts is successful in the implementation of metaphor and manipulation of the urban grid, symbolizing Shenzhen’s financial potential in the global spectrum.

a Muscle Ski sequence

The Big Sky Ski Lodge designed by Nikita Troufanov at the Illinois Institute of Technology takes cue from the muscle system. Actions of tension, overlap, pushing / pulling are explored both formally and programatically. Working from coarse to fine grain, linear program ‘muscle’ chunks fuse and overlap and then tesselate into cellular aggregations. Spaces and structure are placed in a feedback loop where each informs another, evolving until a desired amount of coherence and unity is achieved.

Hospitality and patrol programs are overlapped and placed in spatial tension against each other through connecting views and geometry. Hospitality space is distributed on 3 half-stories that step up to gain views out into the valley, creating a spatial sequence with plateaus of specific activity and experience.

Site-cast concrete structure becomes expressed by adapting to spacial conditions. Alternating between slab and frame behaviors, deep beams become shallower until they fuse and become slabs, and slabs in turn splinter into beams, branching out and weaving through the building.

across Le Corbusier

The vision of the New Sky Condos by Los Angeles based B+U Architects is to develop a unique spatial experience for each condo unit by, on the one hand, utilizing an L‐shape sectional diagram that maximizes double height spaces and outdoor areas through interlocking the units in plan and in section (an evolution on the Le Corbusier cross section of L’Unite d’Habitation) and simultaneously developing a window typology that aims to dissolve the edges of the window frame creating a unique view to the outside. The window itself is not just a flat aperture but a three dimensional spatial object that shapes the interior walls and aims ones view to key features of the surrounding cityscape. For example it allows for views towards the San Isidro Golf Club to the north and the Ocean to the south even from spaces along the east and west facade of the tower.

The building massing was the result of intersecting several cone shaped towers dividing each floor plan into four discrete segments that coincide with the division of the program on each floor and maximize the exterior surface. The articulation of the exterior of the building is a direct result of the placement and the aiming of the apertures and their relationship between the interior spaces and points in the city. The linear extensions along the window frames create the effect of a “soft” building edge that aims at dissolving the sharp lines of a typical building skyline and creates an iconic addition for Lima.

for Congested Urban Areas

For the green innovative house, architects Achawin Laohavichairat, Montakan Manosong, and Peerapon karunwiwat designed a building that provided infrastructure, urban facilities, green area, and living space. They designed the house for congested urban areas in this case they choose “Metropolitan Bangkok”. Ecological living uses of clean, non-pollution energies, gathering of organic and inorganic waste, creation of green spaces. The green innovative house is designed with self-sufficient considerations planed to take care of the management of energy.

Bangkok area is a congested urban area; there are many types of building such as low-rise building, mid-rise building, and high-rise. The design proposed to use existing building as high rise building that produced the waste pollutions as waste water, rubbish and also use more energy in the day. From the research, the high-rise building produces the waste water 30,000 liter/day. So, according the result, we proposed to design a self-sufficient house that use the waste products to support itself, it becomes a “Zero Energy Living”. It becomes a self-sufficient as “Zero Energy Living” by using the waste products those come from the existing building to support itself in term of energy. In essence a mechanism for living, breathing, producing energy, reusing the waste products, and recycling the waste products those are come from the existing building.

an Apple option

Launched in 2009, Uncommon‘s mission is to offer its clients the option to individualize Apple product accessories with unique designs. Currently, customers have the option to print their own digital photos or featured designs by a selection of artists onto their accessories. Uncommon is the first manufacturer to offer mass customization with proprietary 3D TATT® printing on plastic to customers. Clients may also buy ready-made cases.

For an average price of $40, Uncommon features case designs that are not commonly available in the market. Established in the design world, featured artists Izak Zenou, Yellena James, and Jill Bliss, to name a few, offer a wide selection illustrations easily adored by the typical Apple product user.

Recently featured illustrator Izak Zenou, known for his chic and fun illustrations featuring Paris street life, has a collection of pre-made iPhone cases ready to buy on Uncommon’s website. The cases are examples of Zenou’s iconic illustrations that convey a breezy, fashionable lifestyle–a fresh print to have on beloved Apple products. Uncommon helps promote the work of the best designers in the market, revolutionizing individual expression in everyday accessories through art.

qualitative Values

The studio’s ( Varouzhan Torosdamy, Evan Emery)journey started from investigating some certain aesthetical and architectural qualitative values within a series of 2d drawings derived from a digital scripting software . After some manual modification in the script,  certain qualities were achieved,  that were based on the initial drawing, next step was to  transit those drawings into a  2 ½  D surface and from there forth, into a project scale proposal on a corner site located in west Hollywood California.

We tried many different approaches including warping the 2 ½ D surface around the programmatic generic volumes, but eventually decided it best to  start applying some certain features [some of which are as follows: Specific Edge network system, Deep pleats, de-lamination, face transition, and etc…] from the 2 ½ D surface to a Primitive such as a cube. After some versions we agreed upon mutilating only a corner or one side of the cube rather than the whole object. In order to create an open public plaza, we decided to lift the cube off the raised ground condition in order to open space on the ground level . As a  direct result of this move object  would barely touch the ground; only through some edges and points, which along the cloth like surrounding  edge network and the deep caverns , razor sharp  meandering edges , nested hierarchies within the dome like negative inflations in the bottom surface would create a mesmerizing effect as one would experience in major middle eastern mosques under their domes. In order to maximize the desired effect we decided to reflect our initial drawing from bottom to top of the building contrasting the very formation of the object itself.

online Way

Τα λήμματα της online εγκυκλοπαίδειας που έχει στα σκαριά η αμερικανική εταιρεία Raytheon BBN μοιάζουν με αυτά της Wikipedia, αφού κάθε καταχώριση - για ένα ιστορικό γεγονός, ένα διάσημο πρόσωπο ή κάποιον δημόσιο και ιδιωτικό οργανισμό - περιλαμβάνει ένα λεπτομερές κείμενο, γραμμένο σε απλά αγγλικά με ελάχιστα συντακτικά ή εκφραστικά λάθη. Ωστόσο, το εντυπωσιακό είναι ότι σε καμία καταχώριση δεν έχει παρέμβει ανθρώπινο χέρι, για να προσθέσει τις εκατοντάδες πληροφορίες που αυτό περιέχει.

Αντίθετα, όλα τα λήμματα έχουν δημιουργηθεί από το λογισμικό που έχει αναπτύξει η Raytheon, το οποίο για αυτό τον σκοπό αντλεί στοιχεία από περισσότερα από 40 δημοσιογραφικά σάιτ, αγγλικά, κινεζικά και αραβικά. Μάλιστα, εκτός από το να συντάσσει νέες καταχωρίσεις, το λογισμικό εμπλουτίζει συνεχώς τα ήδη υπάρχοντα λήμματα, από ειδήσεις που εμφανίζονται στις ιστοσελίδες.

Το μόνο ίσως αρνητικό είναι πως η εγκυκλοπαίδεια αυτή δεν θα είναι ανοικτής πρόσβασης. Αντίθετα, αυτοί που θα ξεκινήσουν να τη χρησιμοποιούν σε λίγους μήνες, είναι οι αναλυτές των διάφορων υπηρεσιών πληροφοριών των ΗΠΑ. Με σκοπό οι αναλυτές να εξοικονομούν χρόνο όταν ετοιμάζουν τις μελέτες τους, θα μπορούν να συμβουλεύονται την εγκυκλοπαίδεια για να πάρουν μία ιδέα για τα άτομα, τα κράτη ή τις οργανώσεις που εμπλέκονται σε κάθε ανάλυση. Μάλιστα, σύντομα το λογισμικό θα αντλεί υλικό από εκατοντάδες ιστοσελίδες, και από ακόμη περισσότερες γλώσσες. Επίσης, θα αξιοποιεί μία τεχνολογία αναγνώρισης φωνής, για να «ενημερώνεται» και από τηλεοπτικούς σταθμούς.

Αν και μπορεί κάλλιστα κανείς να αμφιβάλλει για τα οφέλη από τη συγκεκριμένη εφαρμογή του λογισμικού, η αλήθεια είναι ότι το πρόγραμμα αποτελεί ένα σημαντικό επίτευγμα στην προσπάθεια των επιστημόνων εδώ και δεκαετίες να «προικίσουν» τα μηχανήματα με νοημοσύνη, για να διαβάζουν όπως περίπου και ο άνθρωπος. Το πρόγραμμα αναπτύχθηκε με χρηματοδότηση της Υπηρεσίας Αμυντικών Προηγμένων Ερευνητικών Προγραμμάτων (Darpa) και αντιλαμβάνεται κάθε κύριο όνομα, περιοχή ιστορικό γεγονός ή περιοχή ως «οντότητα».

Αυτό του δίνει τη δυνατότητα να αντιπαραβάλλει διάφορες «οντότητες», βρίσκοντας τις μεταξύ τους σχέσεις. Έτσι, για παράδειγμα μπορεί να καταλαβαίνει ότι η φράση «η Μαρία Ζάννου είχε παντρευτεί τον Γιώργο Σεφέρη» είναι ισοδύναμη με την «η Μαρία Ζάννου ήταν σύζυγος του Γιώργο Σεφέρη», και δεν τις συγχέει.

Βέβαια, υποστηρίζει η Raytheon, το πρόγραμμα χρειάζεται βελτιώσεις όπως, όταν εντοπίζει σε διάφορα σάιτ αντιφατικές πληροφορίες για το ίδιο λήμμα, να καταφέρνει να κρίνει ποιες από αυτές είναι οι αξιόπιστες. Επίσης, το «στοίχημα» στο μέλλον είναι να μπορεί να καταλάβει πότε μία ανάρτηση περιέχει ψευδή στοιχεία επειδή αυτός που την έγραψε ήθελε να κάνει χιούμορ ή απλώς να υπερβάλλει. Βελτιώσεις που μακάρι να οδηγήσουν και σε περισσότερες εφαρμογές, όπως σε εκπαιδευτικά πρότζεκτ.