Tuesday 30 November 2010

ArchiTextile. The Textile Medium in Architecture, Past to Present

Zurich, May 19-20, 2011

Concept:
The conference explores the textile medium, technology, material and metaphor in the history and theory of architecture from antiquity to the present. Contemporary experiments and phenomena in the architectural discourse open new perspectives onto the history and theory of architecture. Textile surfaces create architectural, social and topological spaces and are essential to the built space. Their qualities such as elasticity, foldability, plasticity, opacity and transparency are an important part of architectural language, but have not yet been studied systematically. The tension between the textile and the tectonic generates notions such as building as clothing and myths of the textile origins of architecture, and the ornamental grammar of textures connects building structures to the textus, the textual weaving. The textile medium connecting a variety of fields of human activity is equally open to historical, sociological, psychological, technological and aesthetic enquiries as it addresses issues of veiling and revealing and phenomena such as the fold, the fleece, the membrane, the curtain, the interface or the network. Historians and theorists of architecture are invited to reflect on the textility in architecture from a broad thematic and historical perspective as to contributing to a history of the textile medium.

We welcome papers that discuss subjects such as, for instance:

- Myths: textile myths of the origins of architecture (e.g. Moses' Tabernacle); anthropological origins (e.g. Gottfried Semper's Bekleidungsprinzip); nomadism in post-modern theory; modern and contemporary tent structures (e.g. Frei Otto, Herzog & de Meuron); history of the curtain wall

- Identities: sacred textile spaces (e.g. vela and cortinae in Christian, Jewish and Muslim architecture); textile display of power in the medieval and early modern period; gendered interiors (e.g. Adolf Loos, Henry van de Velde)

- Ephemerality: textile spaces in public display (e.g. medieval war tents, contemporary stadiums); theatricality of painted cloths; flexibility, changeability and performativity in contemporary architecture; mobile tents (e.g. medieval travel tents); foldable sails (e.g. antique stadium vela); tent interiors (e.g. Schinkel)

- Materials and Designs: from concrete to fiberglass; translucency of high-tech weavings; digital images and projections in space; texts printed and incised in architectural surfaces; textile geometry; CAD/digital textures; textile interiors; textile structures in urbanism

Please send your proposal for a 20 minutes paper (max. 300 words) together with a short CV and list of publications to mateusz.kapustka@access.uzh.ch. The deadline for the proposals is December 10, 2010. PhD candidates and young researchers are especially welcomed to submit their proposals.

Conference languages are German and English. The organizers will apply for funding as to cover travelling and lodging expenses. Selected papers will be published in a volume of conference proceedings.

Organizers:
Mateusz Kapustka (mateusz.kapustka@access.uzh.ch)
Laurent Stalder (laurent.stalder@gta.arch.ethz.ch)
Philip Ursprung (philip.ursprung@gta.arch.ethz.ch)
Tristan Weddigen (tristan.weddigen@khist.uzh.ch)

Institutions:
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
University of Zurich

Link

Monday 22 November 2010

Computation & Craft Symposium


The Digital Crafting Research network is organizing the first Digital Crafting symposium. It asks how the progressive integration of design, analysis and making challenges the knowledge spaces of design, engineering and craft. It seeks to investigate areas of collaboration and super-imposition, and to discuss the potentials for the discipline.

Leading practitioners and researchers from fields critical to the profession are invited. Designers engaging fabrication and computation within the design process, software developers integrating physical behaviour in design environments and engineers working on the integration of analysis and design will discuss the impact of computation on design from their perspective. Together we will work to synthesise a vision for design and making in the 21st century.

The DigitalCrafting symposium is open to the public and addresses practitioners, students as well as researchers.

Date: Friday 10.12.2010

Venue: Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture
Auditorium 2
Philip de Langes Allé 10
1435 Copenhagen K
Denmark

Program: 10.30 Registration
11.00 Intro to the Digital Crafting Symposium and Network - Mette Ramsgard Thomsen, Martin Tamke, Claus Peder Pedersen

11.15 Session 1: Computation and Fabrication – How to fabricate?

Enric Ruiz Geli (cloud9 / Barcelona) http://www.ruiz-geli.com
Martin Antemann (Blumer Lehmann AG/ Gossau) http://www.blumer-lehmann.ch
Fabian Scheurer (designtoproduction / Zuerich) http://www.designtoproduction.com

13.00 Lunch

13.45 Session 2: Computation and Simulation – How to Analyze?
Azam Khan, Autodesk Research (Toronto, Canada) http://www.autodeskresearch.com
Tristan Simmonds (Simmonds Studio / London) http://www.tristansimmonds.com
Sean Ahlquist (icd / University of Stuttgart) http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de

15.25 Coffee break

15.45 Session 3: Computation and Design - How to design?
Michael Meredith (mos-office New York) http://www.mos-office.net
Tobias Wallisser (Lava / AKA Stuttgart) http://www.l-a-v-a.net http://www.architektur.abk-stuttgart.de
Max Maxwell (Supermanouvre / London-NYC) http://www.supermanoeuvre.com/

17.30 Closing remarks and end of Symposium

Monday 1 November 2010

The role of Material Evidence in Architectural Design


This seminar, in which I will take part, is organized by DKAD, the Danish Doctoral School and will take place in the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, school of Architecture on the 3rd & 4th of November. PhD students will discuss the role of material evidences in their research in respect to the work of the guests panel, including Michael Hensel, Jonathan Hill, Billie Faircloth or Mikkel Kragh.

More info and program are available at this link.