Aarhus School of Architecture Studsgade Auditoriet17.-19.01.2011

GENERATIVE LOGICShOw TO GROw

WorkShop / SeminAr

CRAFTING

research network 2009 - 2011

DIGITAL

A research network supported by The Danish Council for Independent Research, Humanities.

Organisers:Mette Ramsgard ThomsenClaus Peder PedersenMartin Tamke

Participants: Centre for IT and ArchitectureAarhus School of ArchitectureKolding School of DesignTechnical University of DenmarkDanish Technological InstituteThe Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory

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Workshop 04 How to grow..........................04

Seminar 04 Generative design thinking....06

Day 01 / Workshop......................................08

Day 02 / Workshop......................................09

Day 03 / Seminar........................................10

Biography workshop leader.........................11

Biographies presenters................................12

Prerequisites.................................................14

CONTENTS

17.-19. January 2011

This workshop/seminar will investigate the role of distributed agency within the design process. Algorithmic logic will be used as platform for developing intensive modes of formation. By exploring the structures by which this logic is shaped, the workshop queries how concepts such as generative design and emergence can lead to new models of organization and form in architectural design.

The workshop/seminar focuses on the potential of algorithmic techniques. Through simple rule based systems it is possible to create complex formations similar to behaviors and patterns found in the nature, such as flocking formations, swarm behaviors and plant growth pat-

terns. These systems can then be used as a generative process in the development of the form and organization, where the task of the designer becomes more about setting up rules and parameters that ef-fects the form generating process, rather than explicitly defining form itself. In this lies a possibility for the designer to focus on the tectonic logic of the project as a starting point, moving towards a bottom-up approach to architectural formation. Algorithmic methodologies enable archi-tects to engage emergence, self-organiza-tion, and swarm intelligence in the design process, linking the work of architects and designers to developments in biology and computation.

The workshop will introduce tools to en-gage with self-organization and swarm-

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WorkShop 4GENERATIVE LOGICS : hOw TO GROw

based design using the Processing pro-gramming language. Processing is an open source platform developed mainly for graphic designers and artists, who want to operate algorithmically without the overhead of advanced programming. It has a simple and playful functional-ity while also remaining powerful, being largely based on the well-known program-ming language, Java. The participants of the workshop will be introduced to some of the logics in programming and tem-plate applets will be used as a starting point for exploring some of the possibili-ties in agent-based form generation and self-organization.

Workshop questions:

What is the potential of using algorithmic methods in the design process?

How can terms, such as emergence and swarm intelligence, be operative in the de-sign process?

What are the implications for authorship within algorithmic design methodolo-gies?

How can tectonic concerns be seeded at a local level in facilitating the realization of the project?

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WorkShop 04A

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SeminAr 4

GenerAtive deSiGn thinkinG

Date: January 19th, 2011Venue: Studsgadeauditoriet

Presenters: Roland Snooks, Jan Henrik Hansen, Chris-tian Derix and Åsmund Gamlesaeter.

Generative processes based on algorith-mic techniques offers new possibilities to the design process. These techniques en-able the exploration of spatial and struc-tural configurations that are inaccessible through traditional architectural design methodologies. Through these design ap-proaches new potentials for informing and specifying architectural space becomes available. At the same time they raise a se-ries of challenges to traditional notions of representation, of authorship, of control of the design intent and outcome.

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SeminAr 04A

Seeking out external influences, specific examples, lines of thoughts the seminar discusses the potentials, strategies and challenges of such algorithmic design ap-proaches.

dAy 1wORkShOp - 17.01.2011

11.00 Introduction and lecture. Roland Snooks: an introduction to multi-agent design

12.00 Object Oriented programming concepts

13.00 Lunch

14.00 Agent Algorithm 1: Vector Motion - Agents that move based on vectors.

15.30 Agent Algorithm 2: Information Exchange - Agents with simple motion that are capable of exchanging information.

16.30 Experimentation: Algorithms will be experimented with through the manipulation of parameters and addi- tional functions.

18.00 Opening of student exhibition at Morphogenetic Studio Nørreport 17, first floor.

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dAy 2

wORkShOp - 18.01.2011

09.15 Agent Algorithm 3: Steering Behaviors Multi-Agent systems

10:30 Development of individual algorithms.

12.30 Lunch

13.30 Lecture Martin Tamke, followed by discussion

«What are the implications and poten- tials of algorithmic design?»

«Does agent based systems introduce different hierarchies in the design process?»

14.30 Coffee

14.45 Agent Algorithm 4: Agency of What? Experiments with a series of applets that encode agency in various substrates.

18.00 End of workshop program

19.00 Dinner (self paid)

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dAy 01/02A

dAy 3 SEmINAR - 19.01.2011

09.15 Presentation and discussion of workshop results

10.30 Introduction to the seminar by Roland Snooks and Claus Peder Pedersen

10.45 Lecture 1 – Roland Snooks

11.30 Lecture 2 – Jan Henrik Hansen

12.15 Lunch

13.15 Lecture 3 - Christian Derix & Åsmund Gamlesæter

14.00 Discussion

15.00 Coffee

15.30 Sum up and discussion of further network activities

16.00 End of Seminar

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Roland Snooks

Roland is a Design Director and a Founding Partner of Kokkugia. He holds a masters in Advanced Architec-tural Design from Columbia Univer-sity where he studied on a Fulbright scholarship and is a graduate of RMIT University (B.Arch). Roland teaches graduate studios and seminars at the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University and is the George Isaac Dis-tinguished Fellow at the University of Southern California (USC). Roland has previously directed design studios and seminars at UCLA, SCI-Arc, Pratt Insti-tute, RMIT, and the Victorian College of the Arts. Roland has considerable experience in the design and construc-tion of high profile projects while work-ing in the offices of Reiser + Umemoto, Ashton Raggatt McDougall and Minifie Nixon, prior to founding Kokkugia. Roland’s design research is focused on emergent design methodologies involv-ing agent-based techniques.

www.kokkugia.com

BIOGRAphy Workshop leader:

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dAy 03/BioA

BIOGRAphIES Invited presenters:

Jan Henrik Hansen

Jan holds a Master of Architecture from the Swiss Federal Institute, Zurich. Since 2002 he is a founding member and CEO of WHIST Architects in Zurich. He has been teaching and researching at the Chair for Architecture and Digital Fab-rication with Professors Gramazio Koh-ler at the Swiss Federal Institute of Tech-nology, Zurich and gained considerable experience with high end robotic fabri-cation strategies and infrastructure.

2010 he founded Studio Jan Henrik Hansen to create an independent ter-ritory for his art projects and collabo-rations with architectural offices as an artist. His artistic work focuses in par-ticular on the transformation of music into space with a unique and patented digital technique he has been develop-ing since 1999. Jan’s sculptures relate to their musical source on a subjective as well as on a objective level, dealing with the wide spectrum of music, from single sounds to whole arrangements. 2010 his artistic work was shown at the Swiss Ar-chitecture Museum in Basel.

www.janhenrikhansen.com

www.whist.ch 12

Martin Tamke

Martin is Associate Professor at the Centre for Information Technology and Architec-ture (CITA) at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture in Copenha-gen. He is pursuing a design led research on the interface and implications of com-putational design and its materialization. Based on a deep understanding of archi-tectural design and computational tech-niques he developed his research practice between the speculative and its realization. This took place in collaborative projects of different scales: from installations, compe-titions and interiors, as the realization of a virtual news studio for the television com-pany RTL to architectural projects. A 70m organic shaped infrastructural hub in Hamburg became Building of the year in 2010. Martin joined the newly founded re-search centre CITA in 2006 and shaped its design based research practice. Projects on new design and fabrication tools for wood production, curved creased surfaces or fractal systems led to a series of digitally fabricated speculative probes, prototypes and 1:1 demonstrators. He has taught workshops at Vienna, Berlin, Barcelona, St. Petersburg, Hamburg, Istanbul, Mos-cow, Copenhagen and Aarhus.

cita.karch.dk

Christian Derix

Leading Aedas’ Computational Re-search and Design Group, Christian De-rix is responsible for overseeing the de-velopment of the R&D initiative where innovative and new design methodology is developed from a blend of computing science and other disciplines. Through a range of highly technical research applications, he has helped to develop designs and digital applications for ar-chitecture, urban design, interiors and furniture.Christian was instrumental in the de-velopment of the modular shelving project VITA in Milan, which gained acclaim as a pioneer in web 2.0 design. He has also been recognised for his Dig-ital Masterplanning initiatives for urban planning. The occupants’ interior vis-ibility and perception methods for the World Trade Centre Memorial Museum are one of his many visual analysis ap-plications. Christian teaches at several universities and is published widely on computational design.

www.aedasresearch.com

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BiographiesA

Åsmund Gamlesæter Åsmund has been working as Computa-tional Design Researcher at Aedas since May 2007. In this time he has been in-vestigating new forms of furniture de-sign, architecture and urban planning through code. This has resulted in a set of tools and sketches implemented in design projects both inside and outside Aedas. Åsmund graduated with an MArch from NTNU, Norway in 2006. After complet-ing his studies he started working with Pablo Miranda Carranza on spoorg, a project by the architecture group servo, for which they were responsible of the interaction design. In 2006-2007 he worked as an Assistant Designer at Stockholm office of Kram/Weisshaar. From 2006-2009 he has been part of the visiting faculty at Konstfack University College of Arts Crafts and Design. There he has held a series of Open Studios, as well as advising Master students at the Experience Design program at the same school. He has also held graduate level seminars at the architecture schools of NTNU and University of East London.

www.aedasresearch.com

All material and tools for the workshop will be provided. Special skills in CAD or scripting programs are not required, but some experience in scripting will be an advantage. Participants are asked to bring their laptops along with the open source programming language ‘Processing’ installed. In order to have a smooth start we ask you to check that everything is running perfectly.

Processing can be obtained here: http://www.processing.org

pREREquISITES

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Digital Crafting Research Network

Photo, IllustationKokkugia(Cover) Kokkugia(Page 04-05)Jan Henrik Hansen (Page 06)Kokkugia(Page 07-09, 11)Christian Derix (Page 13)

Graphic DesignNiels Martin Larsen & Claus Peder Pedersen based on layout by Ines Burkhardt

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Aarhus School of Architecturenørreport 208000 Århus Cdenmarkt. +45 8936 0000F. +45 8613 0645a@aarch.dk