BJ Parametric Design Workshop

Link to the Workshop website (in Chinese and English)
http://www.pm.tsinghua.edu.cn/jypx_news_detail.aspx?id=224

The work of all 83 workshop participants created during the 4 days is viewable here:
http://nodedesign.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html

More content to be posted soon!

SmartGeometry 2007 New York

Information to be added very soon!

SmartGeometry 2008 Munich

The 2008 SmartGeometry Conference featured a day long agenda focused on advanced computational and parametric design. Industry leaders discussed the issues of design, technology, and methodology through their presentations. Parametric design tools and consequential manufacturing technology are allowing new forms of architectural and structural expression which are changing radically the world of the built environment. Sessions also included a selection of highlights from the four day workshop that preceded the conference — providing a wonderful immediacy to the issues and concepts discussed.

GenerativeComponents Workshops

The Workshop was held February 29 – March 3, 2008 at the Arabella Sheraton and consisted of four days of hands-on activity, with tutors drawn from practicing professionals from the industry. The goals of the workshop were to explore in depth what can be done with computational design tools by the attendees. It created a critical forum based on professionals who actually practice the skill of parametric and computational geometry.

Alumni Summit

This full day event which was held March 4, 2008 at the Arabella Sheraton  provided an extraordinary opportunity to learn what SmartGeometry alumnae are now achieving in practice and provided a unique networking opportunity for those directly involved in computational design.

Conference and Reception

This event was held on March 5, 2008 at the BMW Welt.The day long agenda was filled with inspiring sessions where tutors shared the work from this year’s Workshop, and they were joined by presentations from industry leaders and SmartGeometry Directors.

SmartGeometry 2009 San Francisco

San Francisco 25th March – 1st April 2009

The SmartGeometry Group is pleased to announce that the annual SG event will take place in San Francisco 25th March – 1st April 2009. The event will be the key event in the year for discussing, learning and networking about the emerging practice of digital parametrics within the AEC community.

The event will come in five parts, a GenerativeComponents pre-training session (25th-26th March), a Workshop (27th-30th March), a public Alumni Summit (31st March) and a public Conference and Reception (1st April). These events follow the highly successful previous SG events, Munich 2008, New York 2007, London 2006 and multiple preceding events. Venue details will be posted on this web site as soon as they are available.

The Workshop, applications for which will open on-line on smartgeometry.org on 1st December 2008 and close on 19th January 2009, provides a unique opportunity to work with the most established experts in the world on digital parametric design. The 22 tutors come from world-renowned firms and leading Academic Institutions in this emerging cutting-edge technology. Applicants will be notified of results on 30th January 2009.

The Workshop number of attendees will be limited to 105. The application process will be on-line on this site. The primary goal in identifying attendees is their submission of interesting and challenging design ideas in architecture and engineering. In previous years the Workshop has been hugely oversubscribed and potential attendees are encouraged to apply as early as possible. Scholarships for Student applicants will be available as well as reduced fees for young professionals.

In these uncertain times there is only one certainty: skills matter. Knowledge of an emerging niche market, such as digital parametrics, is vital not only for individuals but practices as well. Only cutting-edge skills and technology will ensure survival; this is the event where you can acquire and meet those who already practice it.

The Workshop will be using one consistent parametric platform, GenerativeComponents (GC) from Bentley Systems. Bentley as the principal sponsor of the event will make the software available to all workshop attendees. Attendees and applicants will be encouraged to familiarize themselves with the software either by direct use or by attending one of numerous tutorial sessions (generally during January 2009) which will be available world-wide at various Institutions, details will be announced on this web site. There will also be a pre-training 2 day session in San Francisco immediately preceding the workshop.

The most successful of the Workshop attendees will have their work shown at the SG 2009 Conference and will also have an opportunity to attend a Master Class where top architects, engineers and educators will give in-depth critique of the work.

The Alumni Summit is designed for practices to show-case projects designed using GC in whole or in part. With GC as a commercial product an ever-increasing cutting-edge projects use the product and this day is designed to exchange ideas between practice, research and academia.

The Alumni Summit presentations will be selected from on-line proposals on this site and applications to present must be received by 17th January, and applicants will be notified on or just after 3rd February 2009.

The Public Conference on the 1st April highlights the design issues surrounding this new technology.  Attending the Conference also gives you access to the Reception as well as the Alumni Summit. New architectural form is not just a case of smooth curvature, it is an issue of choices within an infinite design space. How do we go about making architectural and system choices within the new paradigm of digital parametrics? SG will invite a wide variety of well-known speakers and experts from adjoining fields to discuss this fundamental issue.

The complete event will gather together the most important players in the industry and is an essential event for networking with practice, research and academia.

We expect to see you there.

Lars Hesselgren KPF - SG Director
Hugh Whitehead Foster+Partners - SG Director
J Parrish ArupSport - SG Director
Shane Burger Grimshaw - SG Tutorial Committee
Jeroen Coenders Arup - SG Tutorial Committee
Axel Killian Delft University - SG Tutorial Committee

SmartGeometry 2010 Barcelona

The SmartGeometry Group is pleased to announce that the annual SG event will take place in Barcelona 19th – 24th March 2010. The event will be the key event in the year for discussing, learning and networking about the emerging practice of digital parametrics within the AEC community.

The event will come in three parts, a Workshop (19th-22th March), a public Shop Talk (23rd March), and a public Symposium and Reception (24th March). These events follow the highly successful previous SG events in San Francisco 2009, Munich 2008, New York 2007, Cambridge/London, UK 2006 and multiple preceding events.

Workshop: ‘Working Prototypes’

Annually, the SG workshop attracts an impressive group of tutors and attendees from across the world of academia, professional practice as well as many of the brightest students. The workshop is open to 100 applicants who come together for four intensive days of design and collaboration. Admission to the workshop is based on selection by the SmartGeometry Group.

The application deadline was extended to Jan. 24, 2010, and has now closed.

The 2010 SmartGeometry Workshop is organised around the challenge ‘Working prototypes’. Working prototypes are functioning prototypes developed for the purpose of proving and testing a concept and design. In 2010 the workshop will be held in the great industrial space at the IAAC in Barcelona. This allows possibilities for fabrication on even a 1:1 scale, of creating material stress, physical thinking and mental gymnastics. This puts the physical at centre stage in challenging participants to design, assemble and test working prototypes.

Detailed information about each Cluster can be found here

Information about training in GenerativeComponents can be found here

Conference Day One: shop talk (noun):

1. conversation about a craft or occupation, particularly outside of working hours
2. specialized vocabulary concerning a particular craft or occupation

The SmartGeometry workshop has for several years been followed by an Alumni Summit. This year, reflecting the theme "Working Prototypes", the Alumni Summit has become Shop Talk: a moment after intensive days of innovative work to reflect on what has been accomplished and where the discipline is headed. This event will feature informal discussions between leading practitioners and emerging talent in digital design, offering an inside perspective on how design prototypes are conceived, created, and tested. Shop Talk provides a rich context for the following day's Conference program, showing how the state of the art is forged in the studio.

Conference Day Two: Symposium

Day Two of the conference will feature leading researchers and practitioners in the field of computational design. Confirmed presenters include Adrian Bowyer (Senior lecturer, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath), Mark Burry (Director of the Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia), Enrico Dini (Chairman of D-shape), and Rupert Soar (Director of Freeform Engineering Ltd.).

Click here to Register for the 2-Day Conference (Shop Talk and Symposium)

Sponsors

The SG2010 Workshop + Conference would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors:

SG 2010 Barcelona

EXCLUSIVE TOUR OF SAGRADA FAMILIA

We are very pleased to announce exclusive tours of Gaudi's masterpiece, Temple Expiatori Sagrada Familia, with Mark Burry, Executive Architect and Researcher. Three tour times are available the day after the Symposium on 25th March 2010.

Date: March 25
Three time slots: 10.00, 11.00, 12.00
Duration: 2 hours
Fee: Euro 14

The fee includes:

• General introduction of the TSF professional guides (First Hour)
• Guided tour by Professor Mark Burry, RMIT University (Second Hour)
• Wander around the building (At Will)

Each tour is limited to 20 people - so sign up early!

More information about the building can be found here.

To register for the tour, email events@smartgeometry.org with your preferred tour time. Payment will be due in cash upon your arrival at SmartGeometry 2010.

BARCELONA COLLABORATIVE MAP

Join us in creating a collaborative map of places to visit in Barcelona. Architecture, history, restaurants and cafes, whatever you want to post.



Click to see a larger view and add more links to the SG2010 Barcelona map here...

SG 2010 Exhibition

Design Museum Barcelona (DHUB) will be exhibiting the prototypes produced during the SG2010 workshop ‘Working prototypes’ in May 2010. This will be part of a larger exhibition focused on fabrication and digital manufacturing curated by Marta Male-Alemany.

SG 2010 Reception

Following the 2 Day Conference, a Reception will be held at Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalunia (IaaC) in Barcelona. In the great space at IaaC, you will be able to view the range of prototypes developed by each Cluster.

The reception will commence at 7:00pm and end around 9:30pm.

IaaC
Carrer de Pujades, 102
08005, Barcelona, Spain

SG 2010 Shop Talk

shop talk (noun):

1. conversation about a craft or occupation, particularly outside of working hours
2. specialized vocabulary concerning a particular craft or occupation

The SmartGeometry workshop has for several years been followed by an Alumni Summit. This year, reflecting the theme "Working Prototypes", the Alumni Summit has become Shop Talk: a moment after intensive days of innovative work to reflect on what has been accomplished and where the discipline is headed. This event will feature informal discussions between leading practitioners and emerging talent in digital design, offering an inside perspective on how design prototypes are conceived, created, and tested. Shop Talk provides a rich context for the following day's Conference program, showing how the state of the art is forged in the studio.

AGENDA

08:30 - 09:00 Registration

09:00 - 09:20 Welcome
Adam Davis SmartGeometry Group
Huw Roberts Bentley Systems

09:20 - 10:00 Make Sense: Learning How to Learn
Discussing the use of constraints and prototypes for experiments in art and design.
Eric Ellingsen Species of Space / Institut für Raumexperimente

10:00 - 10:40 Make a Difference: Educated Guesses
How do innovative prototypes affect design education? Can new ways of teaching be prototyped?
Rob Woodbury Simon Fraser University
     Panelists:
     Eric Ellingsen Species of Space / Institut für Raumexperimente
     Axel Kilian Princeton University
     Earl Mark University of Virginia

10:40 - 11:05 Coffee and Tea Break

11:05 - 11:45 Make Do: Programming Prototypes
Increasingly, designers are becoming digital toolmakers. How does this trend affect the prototypes they create and use?
Makai Smith Bentley Systems
     Panelists:
     Flora Salim RMIT
     Sean Ahlquist University of Stuttgart
     Sawako Kajima Adams Kara Taylor
     Przemek Jaworski Foster + Partners

11:45 - 12:25 Make it Add Up: Approaching Net Zero
How do mathematical models interact as prototypes and how are they tested?
Joy Ko RISD / Brown
     Panelists:
     Peter Liebsch ASTUDIO
     Judit Kimpian Aedas

12:25 - 13:55 Lunch Break

13:55 - 14:20 Research and Visions Update
Volker Mueller Bentley Systems

14:20 - 15:00 Makework: Manufacturing Procedures
Pioneers in digital manufacturing are prototyping new ways of making
Xavier de Kestelier Foster + Partners
     Panelists:
     Richard Buswell Loughborough University
     Bart Van der Schueren Materialize
     Enrico Dini Monolite
     Rupert Soar Free Form Engineering
     Tobias Bonwetsch ETH

15:00 - 15:40 Make Some Noise: Sounding Out Possibilities
Controlling the auditory environment through physical design artifacts.
Brady Peters Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture
     Panelists:
     Martin Tamke CITA
     Xavier Serra Universitat Pompeu Fabra
     Ralph Bartschi ETH
     Jose Manuel Berneguer Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

15:40 - 16:05 Coffee and Tea Break

16:05 - 16:45 Make It or Break It: Structuring Prototypes
How do prototypes function within the engineering and the design of structures? Do design prototypes succeed through failure?
Jeroen Coenders Arup / TU Delft
     Panelists:
     Will Laufs Thornton Tomassetti
     Pavel Hladik Arup
     Sam Joyce Bath University / Buro Happold

16:45 - 17:25 Make it Snappy: Tectonic Prototypes
Innovations in assembly are changing design at all scales
Axel Kilian Princeton University

VENUE

The 2010 SG Shop Talk will be held at the Petit Palau:

Petit Palau
PALAU DE LA MÚSICA CATALANA
Palau de la Música, 4-6
08003, Barcelona, Spain

Click here to Register for the 2-Day Conference (Shop Talk and Symposium)
Discounts are available for Academics and Students by contacting Bentley at this link.

SG 2010 Sponsors

The SmartGeometry 2010 Workshop + Conference has been developed by the SmartGeometry Group, who have organized the workshops, provided workshop tutors and external speakers for the 2 day Conference.

Our Primary Sponsor is Bentley. Comprehensive software solutions for the infrastructure lifecycle: from buildings to bridges, transit to utilities, clean energy to clean water, Bentley is Sustaining Infrastructure.

Our host in Barcelona is IaaC, providers of the Workshop Venue and Digital Fabrication.

Learning Sponsor and location of the future SG2010 Exhibition

Platinum Sponsors

Gold Sponsor

Silver Sponsor

SG 2010 Workshop

WORKSHOP

The 2010 SmartGeometry Workshop is organised around the challenge ‘Working prototypes’. Working prototypes are functioning prototypes developed for the purpose of proving and testing a concept and design. This puts fabrication and the physical at centre stage in challenging participants to design, assemble and test working prototypes.

The SG workshop is a unique creative cauldron attracting attendees from across the world of academia, professional practice as well as many of the brightest students. The workshop is open to 100 applicants who come together for four intensive days of design and collaboration.

CLUSTERS

The 2010 workshop will be organised around Clusters. Clusters are hubs of expertise. They comprise of people, knowledge, tools, materials and machines. They will facilitate the development and testing of working prototypes. The Clusters provide a focus for workshop participants working together closely in design resolution, exchange of ideas, processes and techniques.

There are ten clusters formed for SG2010, which embrace a rich spectrum of approaches. Each Cluster is championed by at least two tutors who are pioneers in their field. Clusters will form around 8-16 people.

more...

TUTORS

Tutors for SG 2010 have close relationships to fabrication and the challenge ‘Working Protoytpes’. They are drawn from across the world of academia, leading architecture and engineering practices as well innovative design and fabrication companies:

Arup, Foster + Partners, Buro Happold, KPF, Grimshaw, PLP Architects.

Delft University of Technology, ETH Zurich, Architectural Association, University Stuttgart, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts – school of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania, Simon Fraser University, University Ghent.

Facit, robofold, Evolute

VENUE

The 2010 SG workshop will be held at Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalunia (IaaC) in Barcelona. IaaC is located about 20 minutes walk from the centre of Barcelona.

In 2010 the workshop will be held in the great industrial space at the IaaC in Barcelona.

In addition to the main space the SG workshop will have access to smaller break-out rooms and facilities onsite including the Fablab – fabrication laboratory.

IaaC
Carrer de Pujades, 102
08005, Barcelona, Spain

Information about training in GenerativeComponents can be found here

SG2010 Cluster: Curved folding: from Craft to Rapid Manufacture

	This custer explores the opportunities that arise from iterative approach to form/function optimisation when working with curved folding. It takes advantage of rapid manufacture of large metal 3D forms offered by developable surfaces. The cluster will use a development process that transitions in and out of the digital realm – with the 3D scanner as input mechanism and vinyl cutter/laser cutter as output. GC will be used as the artifact interpretation and manufacturing preparation tool and building with GC tools for modelling curved folding. The end goal is to optimise designs for manufacture, followed by folding of metal sheets into the final form.
	Gregory Epps is CEO of RoboFold Ltd, a technology start-up that develops software to enable industrial robots to form sheet metal. This is a revolutionary manufacturing process which suggests new approaches to design and production. Based on the principles of curved folding, the technology replaces hands that fold with robots that fold – simple but elegant translation from craft to rapid manufacture.
	Simon Flöry is research assistent at the Geometric Modelling and Industrial Geometry (http://www.geometrie.tuwien.ac.at/geom/fg4/) group at Vienna University of Technology. His research interests focus on geometry processing and geometric optimization with particular emphasis on applications in production technologies and architecture.

SG2010 Cluster: Deep Surfaces

Articulation and Fabrication of Spatial Systems from Tensioned Fabric Elements

	With the aid of efficient solvers for force-active structures, the design of tensile membrane systems can move towards the creation of complex multi-layered, interconnected assemblies defining both localized volumetric conditions, and global multi-dimensional deep surfaces. In this cluster, it is intended to design and fabricate such intricate spatial assemblies through the use of force-simulation algorithms in Processing, and deduction of fabrication information in GC. To instrumentalize the use of tensioned fabrics in the making of complex forms, the flow of structural force will be closely examined. In Processing, the design of the overall form shall occur through the constant editing and re-calibration of tension-force characteristics. A structural computational mesh will then be translated into a series of stitched, pre-tensioned fabric patches. The force values, from the spring-based model in Processing, shall be read to provide the necessary structural information regarding the degree of pre-tensioning required for fabrication of the prototype. The prototyping process will take advantage of automated methods for the marking and cutting of fabric elements. Analysis of variable stitching methods shall be done to determine the proper stiffness in the sewn edges between fabric patches. The assembled structure will occupy a space of approximately 2m x 2m x 2m.
	Professor Achim Menges is an architect and director of the Institute for Computational Design at Stuttgart University. Currently he also is Visiting Professor in Architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and Visiting Professor for the Emergent Technologies and Design Graduate Program at the Architectural Association in London. Achim Menges' research focuses on the development of integral design processes at the intersection of evolutionary computation, algorithmic design, biomimetic engineering and computer aided manufacturing that enables a highly articulated, performative built environment. His research projects have been published and exhibited worldwide and received numerous international awards.
	Sean Ahlquist is a Research Associate and PhD Candidate at the Institute for Computational Design at Stuttgart University. He holds a Masters in Architecture from the Emergent Design and Technologies Program at the AA in London. Prior to attending the AA, Sean founded the firm, Proces2, in San Francisco, while also teaching at the University of California Berkeley and California College of the Arts. Sean’s current research is examining the combined use of deterministic and non-linear methods in evolutionary computation to realize feedback-oriented generative processes for multi-objective design, utilizing increased levels of specificity in material, structural and performance-based behaviors.

SG2010 Cluster: Design To Destruction

	In this workshop we plan to control/optimise a design through a recursive process of computational analysis, small-scale prototyping and physical testing. The aim is to integrate this analysis into the design process using testing as a validation of the design. Ultimately the goal is to test each final design to destruction at full scale. To concentrate the workshop our challenge is for all participants to make a CNC milled 1.2m timber cantilever, which will undergo a calibrated structural test; the ‘winner’ being the design with the lowest self-weight but highest loaded capacity. The wider aim of the workshop is to enter a dialogue about the practice of engineering alongside the process of design to get a feeling about truly how accurate engineering practice is and needs to be. Furthermore to question what makes good design in terms of form and function. Participants of all abilities and backgrounds are encouraged, analysis tools will be provided and guidance offered to those unfamiliar with the techniques. Additionally, more advanced participants can come and bring there own analysis and optimization techniques to develop during the workshop.
	Sam Conrad Joyce is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Bath with Chris Williams, whilst working within the SMART group in Buro Happold. His work focuses on examining and re-evaluating the position of engineering and engineers within the design process. This is achieved by developing more streamlined approaches to engineering through applying computational techniques and by understanding the broader context of building design. Sam has previously worked in the Specialist Modeling Group in Foster + Partners as a ‘tame’ engineer as well as tutoring in computational design at Bath University, Smart Geometry and Chalmers University Gothenburg.
	Dr Al Fisher is part of Buro Happold’s SMART group, a team of analysts and engineers concerned with advanced modeling, analysis and simulation. Whilst at Buro he has been involved in developing approaches to form finding, rationalisation and optimisation for projects including timber grid shells, tall buildings and sports stadia. Most recently he has developed an integrated structural, environmental and façade optimization for the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Al previously studied for his masters and PhD in Civil and Architectural Engineering at the University of Bath where he developed novel approaches to advanced surface modeling and CFD.

SG2010 Cluster: Explicit Bricks

	In this workshop we intend to research the logic of a specific fabrication process combined with a constructive system as the main driver of architectural design. We will apply robotic processes that unlike common CNC machines not only allow the control of the machines movement, but the actual fabrication process itself. Rather than defining a specific geometry, the students in the workshop will generate their designs by programming specific material manipulations.
	Tobias Bonwetsch is senior researcher at ETH’s Laboratory for Architecture and Digital Fabrication chaired by Gramazio & Kohler. He studied architecture and graduated from the Technical University of Darmstadt. After gaining working experience as an independent architect, he completed his postgraduate studies at the ETH Zurich with a specialisation in Computer Aided Architectural Design. His research is concerned with integrating the logic of digital fabrication into the architectural design process, with a special focus on additive production methods. Currently he is completing his doctoral thesis at the ETH.
	Ralph Baertschi studied theoretical physics at the University of Zurich and received a PhD in mathematics at the ETH. He worked for several years as a software engineer mainly in the field of railway noise protection planning and GIS-systems. Since 2006, he is senior researcher at ETH’s Laboratory for Architecture and Digital Fabrication, Gramazio & Kohler, where he is mainly responsible for research on room-acoustics as well as various programming tasks.

SG2010 Cluster: High Tech Design - Low Tech Construction

	This cluster focuses on a process that combines the design of parametric models with rapid, manual construction techniques. This set is coupled with digital setting out strategies and results in a 1:1 prototype. The task is to devise a method of translating complex digital projects into real scale models, using logical geometric thinking, inventive production planning and self organization principles. The goal is to design and build a real scale, functional habitat. This structure will be of fast deployment defined by simple components and their precisely articulated relations. Components will be fabricated of standardized material. The design intelligence will go into the development of innovative connection types and assembly strategies. To achieve this, we will devise a translator craft using easily available technology, such as a conventional desktop printer, projectors and laser beams to articulate, scale and set the design in space. Applicants to this group should be inventive, hands-on designers with a combination of digital and building skills. They will learn to use advanced geometric modelling and algorithmic processes to develop and realize complex designs. Ultimately, the practical application and use of these tools can be better understood, and replicated in future projects, uninhibited by limited resources or technologies.
	David Kosdruy works in the Computational Geometry Group at KPF, designing and developing complex and challenging geometries for several projects. Using scripting techniques on various platforms, he has developed generative design systems as well as analysis and management tools. David graduated in 2008 from the TU Munich as one of the best students of his year. He has taught at the TU Munich, he presented at the SG event 2008, and ran GC tutorials on several occasions in London. David’s work was rewarded with several prices like the Pininfarina Design Award and the Steel Construction Award and was exhibited on several occasions across Europe.
	Juan E Subercaseaux is Associate Principal at KPF, as part of the Computational Geometry Group he focuses in high profile buildings, environmental performance and research. He taught in the Architectural Association between 2006 and 2008 in Diploma and Graduate Schools accomplishing 2 full scale projects built in Patagonia. Also he has taught and presented at several associative modelling workshops. Juan graduated as an Industrial Designer from the UCV School of Architecture and Design in 1997, between 1998 and 2004 he worked independently designing and building in various scales from objects to museums. Juan holds a Master in Architecture with distinction from the AA School of Architecture (EmTech MArch 2006).

SG2010 Cluster: Inflatable Fabric Envelopes

	The goal of the workshop group is to explore the use of inflatable fabric envelopes using the dual membrane principle used in inflatable tube kites where tension resistant membrane and air tight bladders are separated allowing for lightweight, strong structures with a relatively high level of shape control and the ability to use standard sewing techniques for construction. Participants are encouraged to experiment with new uses for those techniques in the architectural and engineering context such as possibly inflatable molds or lightweight structures and build prototypes to test them by combining parametric and computational modeling techniques with digital fabrication and sewing. (No prior experience with sewing necessary)
	Axel Kilian studied Architecture at the University of the Arts Berlin and specialized in Design and Computation for a Masters of Science, a Ph.D., and a post-doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been teaching workshops in computational design and design studios and has lectured widely on the topic of generative design at universities, in architectural practices and as a tutor in the smart geometry group workshop series since 2003. From 2007 to 2009 he was an Assistant Professor in Design Informatics at Delft University of Technology. Since 2009 he is an Assistant Professor for Computational Design School of Architecture of Princeton University.
	Adam Davis is an Associate in the Foster + Partners Specialist Modelling Group, where he has worked since 2006. His recent research focuses on analyzing and form-finding architecture based on light transmission (visibility and radiation). Adam worked as a web technologist for internet and open source software companies before attending the University of Pennsylvania School of Design, where he received Master of Architecture and Master of Landscape Architecture degrees. He teaches parametric and computational design as a scripting technologist (U Penn), workshop tutor (AA D-Lab) and consultant tutor (AA Diploma Unit 2).

SG2010 Cluster: Manufacturing Parametric Acoustic Surfaces

	The design intention of this workshop is the exploration of new forms and materials of architectural surfaces used to modify acoustic space. The precise specification of a geometric structure together with an understanding of its material properties allows for the prediction of its acoustic performance. New potentials for the creation of architectural space and its perception emerge when the understanding of manufacturing technique and material properties are embedded in the underlying parametric model. Through the linking of acoustic theory, the parametric design of material and geometry, and the digital fabrication of these structures, true "working prototypes" will be created and evaluated. The group will focus on two acoustic behaviors: resonant absorption and sound scattering. Subgroups will study these through investigations of modulating surface geometry, perforated composites, and folded clusters. A library of working prototypes will be produced, and combined in a large frame structure. Through the exchange of data between Generative Components and the ODEON acoustic analysis software students will be able to "hear" their geometric creations using the software's auralization capabilities.
	Brady Peters is a PhD Fellow at the Centre for Information Technology and Architecture (CITA), and an architectural researcher with JJW Arkitekter and with Grontmij/CarlBro Engineers. His PhD research focuses on the acoustic performance of complex surfaces. Brady has previously worked for the London office of Buro Happold, and at Foster + Partners, where he was an Associate Partner with the Specialist Modeling Group. He has taught architectural design at the University of Nottingham, digital design and fabrication at the University of Ghent, and has been a tutor for numerous SmartGeometry conferences.
	Martin Tamke is Associate Professor at the Centre for Information Technology and Architecture (CITA) at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture in Copenhagen. He is pursuing design-led research on the interface and implications of computational design and its materialization. He has realized collaborative projects at a variety of scales: from exhibition pieces, competitions and interiors, to architectural projects. Martin Tamke joined the newly founded research centre CITA in 2006 and has led research projects on the design and fabrication for wood production, on curved creased surfaces and fractal systems, and the recently completed It’s a small world exhibition at the Danish Design Centre. He has taught workshops at Vienna, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Hamburg, Istanbul, Moscow, Copenhagen and Aarhus.

SG2010 Cluster: Nonlinear Systems Biology and Design

	This workshop situates itself at the nexus between architecture and systems biology to gain insight into dynamic living systems for the development of novel computational design tools and material systems that are at once natural and artificial. Generative design techniques emerge with references to natural systems, not as mimicry but as trans-disciplinary translation of flexibility, adaptation and complexity into realms of architectural manifestation. Systems Biology is a new field that focuses on the systematic study of complex interactions in biological systems, thereby using a new perspective (integration instead of reduction) to study them. This approach examines the nature of nonlinearities, emergent properties and loosely coupled modules that are cardinal features of 'complexity’. Design tools found useful in analyzing nonlinear biological systems provide new models for addressing contextual topics such as performance and change in architecture. Through the analysis of biological design problems in specialized 3D designer microenvironments, students will be exposed to new modes of thinking about design ecology through an understanding of how dynamic and environmental feedback specifies structure, function and form. This workshop will consist of two parts: 1) Scripting and Simulation 2) Fabrication and Production of a 1:1 physical structure composed of 3D printed components and connections.
	Jenny E. Sabin’s research and design practice investigate the contextual, material and formal intersections between architecture, textile tectonics and biology. She is the first non-scientist member of the Institute for Medicine and Engineering (IME), University of Pennsylvania, where she is collaborating with the Jones Lab, most recently initiating a research LabStudio (www.sabin-jones.com) between the IME and the School of Design together with Peter Lloyd Jones. She currently teaches design studios and elective seminars within the graduate Department of Architecture at PennDesign. She has exhibited internationally most recently at the Siggraph 08' and 09' Design and Computation Galleries and at Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria.
	Peter Lloyd Jones is a Cell & Developmental Biologist and Associate Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a lecturer at PennDesign, and Director of the Penn-CMREF Center for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Research at The Institute for Medicine & Engineering (IME). He teaches at the graduate level in the Schools of Engineering, Medicine & Design, most recently initiating a research LabStudio at the IME together with Jenny Sabin. Jones's research work on the molecular and architectural control of lung development, vascular disease, and breast cancer has been published in more than 50 peer-reviewed journals and books.

SG2010 Cluster: Parametrics and physical interactions

	This cluster is enabling and encouraging the use of physical/tangible interfaces, sensor devices, and their integration in the design process. As parametric relationships between the virtual and physical reality are bridged and can be simulated, situational variations of parameters that exist in the physical realm can be reflected in the virtual parametric model. For example, parametric models can adapt to external circumstances (e.g. air movement, solar radiation, surrounding objects, spatial conditions, and user interaction patterns etc) and generate real-time feedback through the connected physical devices. In this way architectural models can be created, simulated, and directly informed by this interaction. Special set of libraries, plug-ins and features for interaction with GC will be created before the workshop. During the workshop these will be used to create installations. The installations will consist of parametric architectural model(s) defined in GC and an external set of hardware components (Arduino, Wii-motes etc, sensors) that ‘capture’ parametric relations in the physical environment. A physical response will be an integral part of the installation.
	Hugo Mulder is a Senior Engineer with Arup’s Advanced Technology + Research London Group. He graduated from TU Delft in 2003. He has been in Arup since 2002 and was involved in various projects including the European Extremely Large Telescope enclosure design. Hugo's interests include responsive architecture and responsive structures. In SmartGeometry 2009, he developed a system for interactivity between the physical and the virtual worlds. Using an Arduino, a servo, and a camera, he designed GenerativeComponents forms that are responsive to human's physical gestures.
	Flora Dilys Salim is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory (SIAL), RMIT University. She holds a PhD in Computer Science. She is now working on a major Australian grant about assimilation of architectural and services design. Her focus in the project is to establish a framework for software interoperability and transdisciplinary information sharing between parametric design and energy analysis software. Her research interests are context-aware systems, conceptual modelling, data mining, and adaptive systems. In SmartGeometry 2009, she developed a mechanism for Nintendo Wii Remote (Wiimote) to interact with parametric forms in GenerativeComponents. She is a lecturer in numerous postgraduate Computer Science courses, teaching distributed computing, database systems and .NET programming.
	Przemek Jaworski (pronounced Pshemek Yavorski) is a Computational Designer at Foster+Partners and a member of Specialist Modelling Group since 2006. He graduated from Bartlett, UCL (Adaptive Architecture and Computation Course), and Wroclaw University of Technology (MSc in Architecture and Urban Planning). In the past he was involved in demoscene movement (1995-2000) as a coder and graphic designer, programming 3d real-time effects in C++/OpenGL. His interests include semi-intelligent and self-organizing systems, real-time simulations and physical computing. During SmartGeometry 2009 Master Class he co-developed generative growth system for data visualisation of waste disposal and collection in New York (agent based). His experience encompasses GC, Microstation VBA, Processing, Arduino and Open Frameworks.

SG2010 Cluster: Rapid R&D to Rapid Assembly - snap fit, push on....

	The prevalence of digital fabrication technology gives rise to new methods for connecting one element to another. Historically building assemblies have been lead by the available technology from post and peg systems of green oak framing to mass manufactured fixings such as nail plates, bolts and screws of the past 100 or so years. If we take a look at other manufactured goods such as cars or phones there are countless snap on elements that make the assembly quicker and ultimately cheaper – can the same be true of buildings? The new technology effectively allows us to get rid of intermediate connectors (screws bolts nailplates) by integrating them into the part to be fixed much in the way plastic products use snap fixings and integral hinges. This workshop is an experimental study with the aim of designing, prototyping and refining new concrete shuttering and reinforcement components & connections using lazer and 3 axis cutting. The key aim is to achieve a rapid assembly: snap fit, push on and instant connections that will produce a better and more complex end result but reduced site time. To achieve this we will need to harness the potential of the fabrication technique and the properties of the materials: the spring and sharp edge of the steel and flexibility in the timber etc.
	Bruce Bell is founder and managing director of FACIT, overseeing all aspects of the company and is actively involved with software manipulation, parametric design, digital fabrication and architectural design, drawing on a broad education and work history. An artist by training Bruce joined Foster and Partners in 1999 providing 3D design development and imaging for key projects such as Albion Riverside and Chesa Futura. After completing Design Products MA at the Royal College of Art he worked with Ron Arad, Arup Associates, artists Olafur Eliasson and Antony Gormley. From 2004 to 2009 Bruce ran the architectural partnership Willson & Bell before leaving to head up FACIT.

SmartGeometry 2010 Barcelona

The SmartGeometry Group is pleased to announce that the annual SG event will take place in Barcelona 19th – 24th March 2010. The event will be the key event in the year for discussing, learning and networking about the emerging practice of digital parametrics within the AEC community.

The event will come in three parts, a Workshop (19th-22th March), a public Shop Talk (23rd March), and a public Symposium and Reception (24th March). These events follow the highly successful previous SG events in San Francisco 2009, Munich 2008, New York 2007, Cambridge/London, UK 2006 and multiple preceding events.

Click here to Register for the 2-Day Conference (Shop Talk and Symposium)
Discounts are available for Academics and Students by contacting Bentley at this link.

WORKSHOP

The 2010 SmartGeometry Workshop is organised around the challenge ‘Working prototypes’. Working prototypes are functioning prototypes developed for the purpose of proving and testing a concept and design. This puts fabrication and the physical at centre stage in challenging participants to design, assemble and test working prototypes.

The SG workshop is a unique creative cauldron attracting attendees from across the world of academia, professional practice as well as many of the brightest students. The workshop is open to 100 applicants who come together for four intensive days of design and collaboration.

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SHOP TALK

One day of informal discussions between leading practitioners and emerging talent in digital design, offering an inside perspective on how design prototypes are conceived, created, and tested. Shop Talk explores how the state of the art is forged in the studio.

Shop Talk discussions will be moderated by:
Eric Ellingsen Institut für Raumexperimente, Brady Peters CITA, Xavier de Kestelier Foster+Partners/Syracuse University, Joy Ko RISD/Brown, Jeroen Coenders Arup/TU Delft, Rob Woodbury Simon Fraser University, Axel Kilian Princeton University, Makai Smith Bentley Systems, Jenny Sabin/ Peter Lloyd Jones LabStudio/University of Pennsylvania.

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SYMPOSIUM

Conference on Fabrication and Digital Manufacturing

Mark Burry RMIT
Enrico Dini Monolite D-Shape
Darren Davies Formula 1 car designers, Wirth Research
Rupert Soar Freeform Engineering Ltd.
Hanif Kara AKT
Adrian Bowyer University of Bath
Marta Malé-Alemany IaaC, AA
Jeroen Coenders Arup
Lars Hesselgren PLP Architecture

Reports and featured work from SG2010 Workshop Working Prototypes

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EXHIBITION

Design Museum Barcelona (DHUB) will be exhibiting the prototypes produced during the SG2010 workshop ‘Working prototypes’ in May 2010. This will be part of a larger exhibition focused on fabrication and digital manufacturing curated by Marta Male-Alemany.

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SG 2010 Symposium

Day Two of the conference will feature leading researchers and practitioners in the field of computational design.

Click here to view video from previous conferences in San Francisco, Munich, and New York

AGENDA

08:30 - 09:00 Registration
09:00 - 09:20 Welcome     Hugh Whitehead SmartGeometry, Huw Roberts Bentley Systems

RIPPLES IN TIME
09:20 - 09:55 Geometry as Gaudi Design Driver     Mark Burry RMIT
09:55 - 10:20 Full-size Stone 3D Printing     Enrico Dini D-shape
10:20 - 10:45 Choice material from workshops and personal observations     Gregory Epps RoboFold Ltd., Earl Mark Virginia University

10:45 - 11:15 Coffee and Tea Break

REALITY IS ANOTHER OUTPUT (1)
11:15 - 11:50 Racing Prototypes     Darren Davies Wirth Research
11:50 - 12:15 From Termites to Buildings     Ruper Soar Freeform Engineering Ltd / Loughborough Univerisity
12:15 - 12:40 Choice material from workshops and personal observations     Jonathan Rabagliati Foster + Partners, Rob Woodbury Simon Fraser University

12:40 - 13:40 Lunch Break

REALITY IS ANOTHER OUTPUT (2)
13:40 - 14:10 MACHINIC CONTROL: Design with customized CNC devices     Marta Male-Alemany IaaC
14:10 - 14:35 RepRap - The Replicating Rapid Prototyper     Adrian Bowyer Bath University
14:35 - 15:00 Choice material from workshops and personal observations     Xavier de Kestelier Foster + Partners, Achim Menges ICD / Stuttgart University

15:00 - 15:30 Coffee and Tea Break

COMPLEXITY AND SYSTEMS DESIGN
15:30 - 16:05 Engineering as Prototype     Hanif Kara Adams Kara Taylor
16:05 - 16:30 A Working Prototype of Networked Design     Jeroen Coenders Arup / TU Delft
16:30 - 16:45 Parametric Design Futures     Lars Hesselgren PLP Architecture
16:45 - 17:10 Choice material from workshops and personal observations     Axel Kilian Princeton University, Bruce Bell FACIT

17:10 - 17:35 Technology Update     Huw Roberts + Makai Smith Bentley Systems
17:35 - 18:00 Q&A with the Audience

The Conference will be followed by a Reception at IaaC, where everyone will be able to view the prototypes generated during the 4 day Workshop.

VENUE

The 2010 SG Symposium will be held at the Petit Palau:

Petit Palau
PALAU DE LA MÚSICA CATALANA
Palau de la Música, 4-6
08003, Barcelona, Spain

Click here to Register for the 2-Day Conference (Shop Talk and Symposium)
Discounts are available for Academics and Students by contacting Bentley at this link.

SmartGeometry Fall 2009: Open Platform

The SmartGeometry Group organized jointly with the Computation & Performance research group of the Faculty of Architecture Open Platform, a 3-day Workshop at TU Delft University on the 27th-29th of November. This event complemented Smart Geometry's annual workshop and conference event, bringing many of Smart Geometry's experienced tutors to guide participants in exploring computational design through a variety of technologies.

The event ran in two parallel streams: one stream featured training in Generative Components (GC) and Grasshopper, while the second was a workshop where participants had the opportunity to propose and work on individual design projects using a variety of software platforms. Both streams offered participants close interaction with tutors from practices and universities known for their accomplishments in computational design and analysis, and complex geometry. Additionally, the stream featuring GC and Grasshopper featured tutors from the companies behind each platform, Bentley and McNeel. In the evenings, participants and public attended presentations demonstrating the latest projects and research in computational architecture and engineering.