Digital Play - 3rd May - Munich

By the use of more and more complex building automation and communication technologies architecture increasingly turns into adaptive systems, which react to the environment and the user. Architects and designers have to use these technologies also as a design medium and develop a digital sensuality which is more than the simulation of our physical environment.

At the occasion of the launch of the book Digital Utopia, We-are-plan-A is organising an evening talk at the Technical University of Munich entitled Digital Play. Together with´Fabian Hemmert (Design Research Lab, Berlin), Conny Freyer (Troika, London) and Dr. Silke Claus (bayern design), I will address the playful and sensual experiences and possibilites offered by digital technologies.

 This evening is the last of a total of 4-part series of events linked to the publicaiton of "Digital Utopia - On dynamic architectures, digital sensuality and spaces of tomorrow" to be released in May 2012 by the Academy of Arts, Berlin.

Digital Crafting Consequences: Symposium

Today digital technologies inform all levels of building practice. As a link between representation, design, analysis and production, digital technologies are both practical tools by which to optimise existing practice as well as speculative media by which to explore its future. By facilitating exchange and feedback between the different knowledge fields of design, engineering and crafts, digital technology holds the potential to effect new answers to the complex challenges of contemporary building practice.

The second Digital Crafting symposium will discuss the future perspectives for a new integrated digital practice. Inviting practitioners from the fields of architecture, engineering and theory to share their experiences and present recent work, the symposium aims to unfold new visions for thinking the links between design, analysis and fabrication. With a focus on interdisciplinary collaboration, bottom up thinking and complex modeling we ask how the shared digital platform can create new material strategies for design.

Digital Crafting is hosted by CITA Centre for IT and Architecture, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Design and Conservation.

Date:                     25. Nov 2011 - 10.30h - 17.30h

Venue:                 Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Design and Conservation Google maps

Auditorium - Rhytmisk Musikkonservatorium

Leo Mathisens Vej 1, Holmen, Copenhagen

Program:

10:15                     Registration and coffee

10:45                     Welcome and introduction Martin Tamke

11.00h Session 1:  Consequences for making

chair: Phil Ayres (CITA)

Antoine Picon - Harvard Graduate School of Design / Cambridge

Fabio Gramazio – ETH / Gramazio Kohler architects / Zuerich

14.00h  Session 2:  Consequences for material practice

chair: Christoph Schindler (schindlersalmeron)

Jan Knippers – TU Stuttgart / Knippers Helbig Engineers / Stuttgart - New York

Marta Malé-Alemany – IAAC Barcelona / AA London

16.00h Session 3:  Consequences for design practice

chair: Mette Ramsgard Thomsen (CITA)

Tobias Nolte - Gehry Technologies / Paris

Reinhard Kropf – Helen Hard Architects / Stavanger / Norway

17.30 Closing remarks and and of Symposium

The DigitalCrafting symposium addresses practitioners, researchers and students from the fields of architecture, engineering and construction. The symposium is open to the public and free of charge. Due to demand and to support organisation we ask you email your participation: martin.tamke@karch.dk

Yard Gallery Architectures Day's

Copenhagen's Gallery Yard is presenting a selection of interesting works by young architects reflecting on how public spaces can be transformed into vibrant, participative and even environmental oasis in the city. Come and discover this exciting work byCity Sleeps (US), Filipa Valente (PT) Jacob Riiber (DK) Byen Sover (DK) and Anders Christiansen (DK) - who is also curator of the show. The opening is friday the 30th of september at 17h.

More info

YARD gallery
Refshalevej 163 A, st. th
DK – 1432 Copenhagen K

Ambience Conference 28-30 November 2011

The University of Borås is hosting a very promising conference and exhibition next fall, gathering researchers, artists, designers and architects who challenge the boundaries between art, design and technology. With a foundation in artistic practice the conference will be organized as a meeting place where art, design, architect and technology communities can come together to discuss and share ideas on the interfaces between art and technology development; a place where art, design, architecture and technology can meet and interact, to inform each other, and to bring new ideas back to their own community.

The full programme is about to come but I can already let you know that Jane Scott and I will respectively present a paper. All the details for the conference are available on the conference's website. Looking forward to seeing you there.

When science talks about design

Today, DTU's Chemical Engineering Department is celebrating the still unusal collaboration between scientists and designers with an article dedicated to my last responsive installation called Reef, fruit of a collaboration with electro-active polymers' specialist Guggi Kofod and interaction designer David Gauthier. Discover this nice feature entitled 'Shaping reality with electro-active polymers' in their 2010 annual report.

Reef exhibited at 1:1 research by design

Reef is the design of a self-actuated ceiling questioning how adaptive minimum energy structures can contribute re-establishing home in a synergic relationship with nature. Composed by an archipelago of electro-active modules, Reef constantly re-designs its own landscape as its modules change shape according to the exterior. Like a sail, they open and close gradually following the pulse of the wind, materializing the invisible flow of energy that connects the inside with the outside. Like corals, Reef is calcifying over time as the supporting technology is becoming obsolete, transferring its actuation back to the inhabitant as natural airflow is invited to come in.

Reef is currently displayed as a part of the 1:1 research by design, an exhibition by Institute 4 at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Copenhagen until the 10th of April 2011. All the details about the exhibition here.

Design: Aurélie Mossé
Collaborators: Guggi Kofod, David Gauthier
Photography: Mathilde Fuzeau

With the precious help of Kristine Agergaard Jensen, Anca Gabriela Bejenariu, Lucie Benech, Aude Béranger, Liv Elbirk, Vibber Hermansen, Bori Kovacs, Jessica Meek, Paul Nicholas, Matteo Oliverio, Brady Peters, Martin Tamke.

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

Fabricate / Digital Fabrication Conference

FABRICATE is an internationally peer reviewed conference to be held at The Building Centre in London from 15-16 April 2011. With presentations and conversations between pioneers in design and making within architecture, construction, engineering, manufacturing, materials technology and computation. FABRICATE has emerged as the first in a series of focused events from the highly successful Digital Architecture Conference and Digital Hinterlands Exhibition in London September 2009.

FABRICATE will assess the progressive integration of digital design with manufacturing processes, and its impact on design and making in the 21st century. Discussion on key themes will include: digital craft, representation and realization, material performance and manipulation, off-site and on-site construction, interdisciplinary education, economic and sustainable contexts, automated fabrication, and associated theory.

Organised by The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London in collaboration with The Building Centre London, this conference intends to frame discussion around the presentation of built or partially built works by individuals or collaborators in research, practice and industry selected from submissions through our Call for Works (deadline 10 September 2010).

Representing the broad disciplinary spectrum from design to production, the presentation of built work will contribute alongside leading invited speakers from Australia, Europe, North America, and Asia. A significant and supportive context for the event will be provided by London’s extensive network of global creative consultancies, many no more than a short stroll away from the venue.

We welcome original, innovative and pioneering projects for the Call for Works and we would also encouraged works in progress to enter too. Submission requirements emphasise strong and informative visual material with succinct analytical text and project synopsis. A major publication based on selected conference submissions together with articles from keynote speakers will be launched in time for the conference.

We hope you will join us in London on 15-16 April 2011.

Bob Sheil & Ruairi Glynn
Co-Chairs of FABRICATE 2011

Digital Relations in Architecture

A PhD Symposium organized by CITA to investigate the impacts & challenges of digital technologies on the way we build and understand space.

I have been part of the organization and I can't wait to present my work in such a context where 17 PhD from three research centres concerned with IT & Architecture: SIAL (Australia), Bartlett (Uk) and CITA (Dk) will be gathered in dialogue with key researchers in the field including, among others, Mark & Jane Burry, Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen or Sean Hanna.

New Technologies in Digital Architecture

A bit far away to join but this sounds like a very interesting event for anybody concerns with the impacts of digital technologies on the way we build. Of particular interes is the speech by Ayelet Karmon as it involves textiles !

Architectural Knitted Surfaces II : workshop

I am very excited about this coming workshop on architectural knitted surfaces in which I will take part at Shenkar Univerisity (Israel). There is still some places left so come and join us !

27 June – 1 July 2010

Following the success of the first "Architectural Knitted Surfaces – Digital/Physical" workshop last year, Shenkar University is hosting a second international workshop on the topic in the last week of June 2010. The workshop explores the potential of three-dimensional knitted surfaces as models for thinking about the architectural environment. This year, it will further examine how composite textile surfaces can reflect on the material practices of architectural fabrication. We will develop bespoke computer defined textiles as frameworks for the incorporation of computational attributes; transforming knitted surfaces into robotic membranes by imbedding sensing and actuation into their skin. Combining advances in intelligent textiles with parametric modeling we ask how these new technologies have impact on the way we think, design and make architecture.

The workshop is based on a long-term collaboration between Dr. Eyal Sheffer of the Knitting Laboratory, the department of Textile Design in Shenkar and architect Ayelet Karmon of the Department of Interior – Building and Environment Design in Shenkar. This year we will also extend our collaboration with the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Denmark, by hosting Associate Professor Mette Ramsgard Thomsen, MAA, PhD, Head of CITA, Centre for Information Technology and Architecture, as part of the teaching team.

This 5-day workshop is open to students and professionals from textile design, interior design, architecture, interactive and media design and other related fields.

Further details and registration forms on Shenkar University Website

Climate & Architecture

Climate and Architecture is an exhibition organized by the Royal Academy of Fines Arts, School of Architecture, Copenahgen to address the challenges related to climate change in the field of Architecture. Beyond direct challenges and immediate solutions, the exhibition is embracing the complexity of the question by addessing issues related to ‘human interrelations with physical design, technology, resources & the surrounding climate’. The exhibition presents two major pieces: New Olduvai Gorges by Philippe Rahm and the Sargasso Cloud, the outcome of the CITA (Centre for IT & Architecture) Summer School by Philip Beesley & Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen. The first one is an installation, emblematic of Philippe Rahm's approach, exploring how concepts such as cold, warmth and daylight can determine a new type of meteorological architecture engaging the five senses rather than limitating itself to pure visual experience. The Sargasso Cloud, -an interactive sculpture where two architectural layers, a forest-like ceiling and a geo-textile structure made out of silk and bamboo interlacing, start to interact and exchange energy as well as responding to human behaviours- investigates how concepts of interactivity and responsiveness can suggest new relationships between buildings and environments.

But enough talking, you should go and see for real these poetic installations not only because I took part in the design and making of the Sargasso but especially because the secret resides in experiencing these experimental architectures with the five senses . The show will be on till the 20th of december 2009 and will be with a symposium on atmospheric architecture on the 10th of december. Soon more about it!

Details
Royal Academy of Fines Arts, School of Architecture
Philip de Langes allé 10, Copenhagen 1435
12h-20h

ISEA 09

I am off to Belfast, Ireland this week to  the International Symposium of Electronic Art 09 where I will be presenting my first academic paper! 

The ISEA is a non profit organisation promoting interdisciplinaritythrough academic discourse and promoting a dialogue through the disciplines of art, design, science and emerging technologies.

I will be presenting in the third Interactive Textiles category which explores collaboration, cross-disciplinarity and consumption. My paper reviews participatory design methods for fashion support by digital media and sustainability will be a central theme throughout my presentation.

I'm really excited to be attending this event as they have some really amazing key note speakers lined up.  Clive van Heerden , the Senior Director of Design-Led Innovation at Philips and responsible for leading the Philips Design Probes program will be presenting on Wednesday and Thursday will host  Moritz Waldemeyer, the engineer behind Hussein Chalayan's futuristic fashion creations. 

The are a series of Fashion and Textiles sessions exploring time and form, materiality and wearability and lastly, adoption and collaboration, cross disciplinarity and consumption.

And that's just a summary of the Textile categories, there are many more presentations and workshops within other disciplines. I cant wait to experience this action packed week!  

Running parallel to this digital exploration I am going to try out another digital experience  - twitter! I will try my hand at some micro blogging photos and comments live from ISEA09 for the duration of the week... visit my "considerate clothing blog' or sew considerate on twitter for updates.

Bye, bye and tweet to you later!

Digital Textile Design

I have just received a new book from amazon: Digital Textile Design by Melanie Bowles. 

This book is beautifully illustrated showcasing students from Chelsea College of Art & Designs work. It provides expert knowledge and "know how" with detailed instructions for Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. I loved how there is a balance between the process and the practice as it presents a sense of how each technique can be applied.

Being from a Constructed Textile background I think this will be a great tool for my practice and research. I can't wait to work through some of the methods!

Digital Textile design demonstrates how printed textile design is evolving through new technology and would be a great tool for designers, students and lecturers. There is a blog launched for the book with further details and examples...

DIY Designer Clothing and Accessories

The Guardian and The Observer have launched a DIY Eco Fashion section online

They have collaborated with designers to create step-by-step "how to" guides illustrated with beautiful photographs taking the maker on a journey of marking out, cutting and sewing to create bespoke fashion and accessories.

Allowing you to make your own:

Celia Birtwell stencil print bag
Jade Jagger bracelet
Stephen Jones hat
Vivienne Westwood dress

This offers insights into the design process and allows consumers to create bespoke goods at affordable prices. The hands on approach also allows us to engage in craft and DIY at a time when we are questioning our consumption, providing an alternative to mass produced goods that don’t cost a fortune. Its also a great example of open source fashion allowing designs to be downloaded and re-created independently.

Aurélie in Milan - 22/27 of April

Extraordinary Wallpapers by Aurélie Mossé, photo: M. Fuzeau-Quesnel

Spring without a visit to the Milan Furniture Faire Trade is not really spring ! And this year you have a more than good reason to come as I am exhibiting my extraordinary wallpapers - a collection of wallpapers to sculpt-, with Puff and Flock on the stand of Designers Blocks from 22 till 27th of April.

For all the details, please check here !

Collaborative Upcycling - Repair Manifesto

Platform 21 are based in an old cathedral in Amsterdam, which they call their public design lab. They organise lectures, exhibitions and events to engage industry experts and the public to contribute through real time or digital environments. 

Their venture and platform allows people to collaborate to explore bold concepts, thinking and practice. One of their latest projects entitled "Repair Manifesto" encourages people to share creative concepts and methods to repair existing clothing/ products. This collaborative approach to upcycling encourages people to share ways to re-invent or re-use existing objects. 

DIY Fashion - Make Do and Mend Trend

Is the recession encouraging people to adopt DIY methods?

Reports by several retailers show that there has been a huge increase in sewing machine and haberdashery sales within the last twelve months. According to John Lewis ( march, 2009) sales of knitting and dressmaking equipment are powering ahead - knitting needles are up by 7 per cent and sewing machines by 34 per cent.

There is also a growing trend in dressmaking classes and knitting / sewing groups as people are opting to make their own rather than buying. Following the "make do and mend" ethos similar to that introduced during the war effort, people are becoming more creative and resourceful. I think this is an exciting time, as people are adopting traditional craft techniques that were so close to becoming lost due to the fast and disposable nature of high street fashion.

I have posted a short video by Etsy called "The Handmade's Tale" which shows how craft provides an alternative to mass production.

Craftivism - Who Stitched up Bansky?

I read an interesting piece in the London Metro this morning that I thought I would share...

"Who Stitched up Banksy?"
Through a movement called anti-craft or sometimes referred to as craftivism, people use hand craft methods to promote social and environmental issues. The Metro article showcased  a group who are re-producing a series of cross-stitch designs which replicate a series of Bansky works.

With the help of google, I have found several online groups who are using cross stitch as a new graffiti medium.
Radical Cross Stitch
Fuldesign
Craftivism

The craftivism method has been explored through research by designer and PhD student, Otto von Busch.

Fashion Hactivism

I have been following the work of Otto von Busch, designer, theorist and atctivist. Hew has just completed his PhD entitled Fashion-able, Hactivism and Engaged Fashion Design at the University of Gothenburg.

Through >self_passage< he collaborated with other designers to challenge tradtional fashion design through a series of workshops to produce a series of open source toolkits of a "how to nature" - inspiring people to hack tradtional fashion methods.

His work is provactive and inspires people to actively engage in the fashion cycle to take ownership. By making things our own - we can create new ways to produce, consumer and adorn fashion. I find his work empowering and his approach challeneges us to re-evaluate fashion and find ways to relate to our clothing at a time when we are becoming disassoicated and things convey less value.

I love his newly coined terms of Craftivism (craft meets political activism), Shopdropping (the art of reverse shoplifting), or Swap-o-Rama-Rama workshops.

His thesis and toolkits are available to download via www.selfpassage.org/