Premise: any systems can be understood as sum of primitives – theory & science argues that ”the whole can be greater then the sum of its parts” – MARC FORNES / THEVERYMANY™ has been interested to translate such ideas into architecture up to its physical realm. The research is based on a simple but extreme premise: the exploration through DIY design and production of structures made of MANY parts. Such quest involves the development of computational protocols for the generation of compound morphologies and descriptive geometry, both combined with a necessary logistic of production. As based on numbers (units, time,…) both are constantly evaluate through efficiency in order to make it happen.

Design intend : the quality of such aggregates structures is depending on population / numbers. In order to reach the inherent qualities of distributed field condition one needs MANY singular elements.

Geometry test : (the continuum of a long series of investigation) – minimum of primitives, maximum of diversity.
a minimum of primitives has an interesting property in terms of logistic: it allows to afford molding techniques – as the efficiency for a mold is exponential with number of replicate (due to the original effort and cost needed to develop one).

Material test : written within a series of installation investigating Do It Yourself modes of production, looking into ways to reduce time of production for a single elements in order to be able to produce many. The premise of the research was seeking a time cap less than 30 mins to produce one single finished element of certain complexity in terms of geometry.

The pavilion’s form is derived from the structure of a tree and intends to provide shade to the immediate area. a triangular footprintwith crisp planar walls begins to unfold at the roof plane into a series of pleats. the hyplane structure is comprised of white metal panels in the shape of isosceles triangles. the bends create a curving wall which reflects and introduces a soft light into the interior.

“I wondered what would happen if the walls were to keep growing upwards and present an uneven surface like ‘pleats’. Pleats resemble a tree in the way that they spread out and capture the sun and I felt that they would produce a bright, impressive exterior. I also thought that the space beneath this surface would present a relaxed atmosphere, similar to that of tree shade that would be an ideal quality for an exhibition space.”

Flight Assembled Architecture is the first installation built entirely by flying robots. Designed as an architectural structure on the scale of a “vertical village” of 600 meters, Assembled Architecture Flight tests a new paradigm of design and manufacturing, through a physical process of automated dynamic training. This project builds on the simultaneous use of multiple mobile agents. Considered as tools for adaptive production, these flying robots are programmed to interact and to capture, transport and assemble the modules to build architectural structures. They synthesize and the pragmatism of Gramazio & Kohler Architecture and visionary approach to Raffaello D’Andrea in engineering dynamics. The FRAC Centre supports this new project, which will ad up to its collection devoted to experimental architecture. This collaborative project will be exposed in the FRAC Centre in Orléans.

In the fall of 2010 Joris Laarman Lab was commissioned by the High museum Atlantato develop a kinetic installation that would illustrate a direction of future design. The installation is part of the exhibition “modern by design” that also features Nendo’sVisible Structuresand works from the High’s growing collection of contemporary design that showcases late twentieth- and early twenty-first century design. Next to that the exhibition will feature a selection of works chronicling three key moments inThe Museum of Modern Art’s design collection and exhibition history—”Machine Art” (1934), “Good Design” (1950–1955) and “Italy: The New Domestic Landscape” (1972).

Digital Matter was inspired by development of digital nanomaterials, parallel to rapid innovations in computer graphics. An approximation of a rococo console with voxels (3d pixels) suggests that the state of the art in digital materials has it’s counterpart in low resolution graphics from early computer games. Michal Piasecki collaborate in the project with development of parametric models and scripts in Rhino which aid the modeling of roccoco console made of voxels in three sizes: 3, 5 and 10 mm. Digital Matter was manufactured using a 7-axis robotic arm.

Making of – Digital Matter from anita star on Vimeo.

t of the exhibition “modern by design” that also features Nendo%E

It is inspired by the beauty of nature systems with their inherent efficiency and performance. The project explored on-site fabrication of monocoques structures, thereby integrating skin and structure, along with services and infrastructure, with a household technique like knitting. It thus embodies a self organized micro system of textures and a macro system of structure. The book elaborates how the numeric aspects of a textile technique were used, first to digitally imitate the process of assembly and further exploited to develop and visualize a novel fabrication system, based on material research and technical experimentation. The digital machinic system was then deployed on a test site to demonstrate the tectonic capacity of the method developed.

SOFTlab has come up with a need project , a large outdoor installation for The San Gennaro North Gate located at on Mulberry St. between Houston and Prince St in New York. The piece was produced by Two Bridges and supported by St.Patrick’s Old Cathedral.

The geometry was engineered in collaboration with Matt Clark at ARUP and all of the building connections were designed by Nathaniel Stanton of CRAFT Engineering.

Installation will be up until September 25th, 2011

Design Team: Michael Szivos, Carrie McKnelly, Sean Madigan

Installation: Elliot White, Brandt Graves, Sarah Hunter, Liz Kelsey, Brandon Bartle, Sonal Patel, Simon Kristak, Henry Choi, Julia Schleppe, Katherine Salamat, Anthony Buccellato

All this time has been a total roller coaster , the office is relatively small considering the amount and scale of projects being developed so I´ve been jumping in and out of projects the whole time. the part I like about being few people is that I feel that my the ideas and work I´ve developed have really been having big relevance in the overall projects design , thing that may be difficult to achieve working for 100+ employee company for example.

Also the speed has been an interesting fact for me, stuff is going crazy fast all the time , It´s been challenging to keep up the step , but somehow I´ve been developing the capacity to provide several design solution in really short time spans , If somebody could showed me some months ago the amount of stuff being produced I would never believe it , the team working at the office its pretty awesome and that has really encouraged me to be a better professional.

At the end I feel very happy fortunate for being able to apply and develop my computational design skills and apply them to really meaningful and rewarding projects such as the Cineteca Nacional and some others which currently remain at a secretive state so I can´t talk much about them.

Designplaygrounds keeps being one of my top priorities we have continued giving some talks and Workshops across different Universities , Studios and Design centers we´ll keep up with that , also I´ve been working a lot of after hours under the hood of the website I´ve hired a couple of great people to work on the redesign of it.There are also some interesting personal projects going on of which I´ll speak in another occasion.

The concept of the competition is:
Where do ideas come from? The metaphor that can respond to this question can be an utopic project,a small-scale proposal, a big-scale urban design, a sketch that can contain an innovative solution for climate change. It can be whatever your imagination is able to draw. If we simply think on how we can use the potential that lies in our capacity to dream, we can enjoy participating in the challenge, where there are no limits… just 3 concepts to choose and start drawing!

The Experts:
Miralles-Tagliabue + Span + Patterns LA + Rojkind + AGENT Design. They have each chosen one of their projects and identified 3 concepts that can define it.

Participants must select 3 of these concepts—taking no more than one from each architect—and develop a new architectural design proposal based on these 3 selected concepts. Then they must share their design proposal via HP ePrint & Share directly with our experts! Both the Experts’ favorite and the people’s favorite will win!!

The prizes are:

The winner will win a prize consisting of a publication that will include the selected proposal plus additional work by the winner, edited by dpr-barcelona. Additionally:

- A trip to the exhibition’s Premiere in Barcelona
- An exhibition in Vallery gallery in Barcelona.
- An HP Designjet T790 ePrinter.
- A Full entrance to Autodesk University.

You can find more information HERE

The project started out as an ambitious student-powered endeavor to design and fabricate at a 1:1 scale the flagship pavilion for the ZA11 Speaking Architecture event in Cluj, Romania. While at the same time integrating into its historically-charged context, the design boasts a strong representational power which was much needed in order to fulfill its main goal: attracting passers-by to the event. The object tries to make legible the new ontology which is slowly defined by computational architecture and is a showcase for the processes empowered by it. At the same time, the pavilion offers a sheltered space for the unfolding of different social events pertaining to the corresponding architecture festival.The project started out as an ambitious student-powered endeavor to design and fabricate at a 1:1 scale the flagship pavilion for the ZA11 Speaking Architecture event in Cluj, Romania. While at the same time integrating into its historically-charged context, the design boasts a strong representational power which was much needed in order to fulfill its main goal: attracting passers-by to the event. The object tries to make legible the new ontology which is slowly defined by computational architecture and is a showcase for the processes empowered by it. At the same time, the pavilion offers a sheltered space for the unfolding of different social events pertaining to the corresponding architecture festival.

The process
The design was elaborated during a parametric design workshop specifically geared towards its production. We were faced with the harsh requirements of creating an actually working design with the material and tools available from sponsors (Graphtec, Holver) while at the same time fitting inside a budget dwarfed by its expectations. Therefore we constrained the creative exploration agenda to a relatively limited approach which, most importantly, was scalable in terms of materials and fabrication techniques. The final design consists of 746 unique pieces, which, once assembled, create a free-form ring which is subdivided into deep hexagons. This particular geometrical configuration allowed for the sheltering of the different planned events while at the same time inciting curiosity through its unusual, spectacular form. The realization of the design was made possible by advanced use of parametric design techniques, with the help of which the whole process was controlled from exact geometry generation to piece labeling, assembly logic and actual fabrication (CNC milling).

Conclusions
The ZA11 Pavilion emerged as a powerful urban attractor which managed to engage the local society on all levels. Interest was aroused in both young and senior citizens, both professionals and non-architects by the completed pavilion as well as during the act of its construction, thus proving to be more than an indifferent temporary shelter. Furthermore, it successfully provided a flexible and comfortable space for the different events pertaining to the event (temporary bookshop, open-air cinema, tea party, jam sessions and a small concert + sleeping in the sun) to unfold.

The installation sculptural form was generated through a gravity driven process in which three funneling forms of varying depths hang downwards. the surface contains more than 1400 battery powered LEDs, installed onto the mylar panels which make up the form, flickering and blowing in the wind with the intention of slowing down traffic through the experience, engaging and encouraging visitors to co-mingle and interact with the work.