ALIVE2013 Pictures and Videos

Pictures and Videos of the ALIVE2013 - international symposium on adaptive architecture are now online.



ALIVE2013 was hosted at the Chair for CAAD, ETH Zürich on July, 8th 2013.

Speakers included:
- Prof. Ludger Hovestadt (ETH Zürich, CH)
- Prof. Philip Beesley (University of Waterloo, CA)
- Prof. Kas Oosterhuis (TU Delft, NL)
- Martina Decker (DeckerYeadon, US)
- Claudia Pasquero + Marco Poletto (ecoLogicStudio, UK)
- Manuel Kretzer (ETH Zürich, CH)
- Tomasz Jaskiewicz (TU Delft, NL)
- Jason Bruges (Jason Bruges Studio, UK)
- Areti Markopoulou (IAAC, ES)
- Ruairi Glynn (UCL, UK)
- Simon Schleicher (Universität Stuttgart, DE)
- John Sarik (Columbia University, US)
- Stefan Dulman (Hive Systems, NL)
- Alex Haw (atmos studio, UK).

More info on the event can be found here: alive2013.wordpress.comThe videos are located here: vimeo.com/lecture

ALIVE2013 - international symposium on adaptive architecture

July 8th, 2013 / 9:00 - 18:00
Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design, ETH Zürich-Hönggerberg, HPZ Floor F

Speakers include:
Prof. Ludger Hovestadt (ETH Zürich, CH), Prof. Philip Beesley (University of Waterloo, CA), Prof. Kas Oosterhuis (TU Delft, NL), Martina Decker (DeckerYeadon, US), Claudia Pasquero (ecoLogicStudio, UK), Manuel Kretzer (ETH Zürich, CH), Tomasz Jaskiewicz (TU Delft, NL), Jason Bruges (Jason Bruges Studio, UK), Areti Markopoulou (IAAC, ES), Ruairi Glynn (UCL, UK), Simon Schleicher (Universität Stuttgart, DE), John Sarik (Columbia University, US), Stefan Dulman (Hive Systems, NL)



 More info on the speakers, the detailed program, location and registration can be found on the event's website: alive2013.wordpress.com

 The symposium is free of charge however registration until July 3rd, 2013 is obligatory. Seats are limited. alive13.eventbrite.com

 The event is organised by Manuel Kretzer and Tomasz Jaskiewicz, hosted by the Chair for CAAD and supported through the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Tong Zi Dan

Tong Zi Dan is a series of generatively designed vases made from dental gypsum.

The objects were produced during the CAAD Wahlfach Praxis Course Chinaware, ETH Zürich. The shapes were designed together with Knut Brunier and produced with the help of Tom Roberts.

The initial egg design gets randomly populated by a cloud of points which form the center for surfaces that trim the shape perpendicular to its curvature. A generative algorithm (Galapagos) is then used to create the area of all faces within a certain min/max range. Finally the faces are unrolled and laid onto a flat sheet to allow the production of the mold with a laser cutter.




In our experiment the gypsum gets enhanced with thermochromic pigments in one mixture and phosphorescent in another. It is then poured into the sealed molds and pivoted for a few minutes until the gypsum solidifies. The process is repeated for two more times to ensure a minimum wall thickness



After the mixture has dried the vases can be removed from their enclosing molds. Since thermochromic pigments are heat sensitive, they change their color in response to a rise in temperature. The previously blue vase turns to white, the gypsum's base color, when exposed to a fan heater.



Another interesting effect is generated by the phosphorescent pigments. During daylight the vase looks normal, but in darkness it starts to glow and create a different atmosphere.

Modular Exhibition Design for "Kölner Design Preis International"

Most of the modular displays of the Exhibition "Architectural Particles" have been reassembled in various resulting displays, podiums and steles to present price winners of the "Kölner Design Preis International".


 
























The exhibition is presented at the MAKK, Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln from Oct. 26th until Nov. 18th 2012.  The modular "Particles" were designed, developed and configurated by responsive design studio in cooperation with Studyo Architects and the MAKK for the exhibition "Architectural Particles - modular constructions in the digital age". 

The organisation team of the KISD now developed a new, more compact configuration of the "particles" which generates a visually well connected but open and well arranged exhibtion space in the large exhibition hall of the MAKK.

Phototropia

Phototropia is part of an ongoing series on the application of smart materials in an architectural context and was realized in April 2012 by the Master of Advanced Studies class at the Chair for CAAD, supervised by Manuel Kretzer.

It merges self-made electro-active polymers, screen-printed electroluminescent displays, eco-friendly bioplastics and thin-film dye-sensitized solar cells into an autonomous installation that produces all its required energy from sunlight and responds to user presence through moving and illuminating elements. The generated energy is stored in batteries below the platform and then distributed via microcontrollers to the respective elements.

Phototropia finds its inspiration in participative and transient systems, proposed by visionaries like Yona Friedman or Constant Nieuwenhuys paired with a naive curiosity for self-made (smart) materials and an aversion towards mechanistic kinetic systems. It is a proposal for an experimental architecture that can decay while actively being renewed, as a response to our times of tremendous globalization, increased connectivity and digital identity within our information based society.

   

special thanks to:
Luke Franzke, Florian Wille / ZHdK IAD
Paul Liska / EPFL LPI
Andrei Prutaneu, Agostino di Figlia / TU Delft ES group
Jorge Ellert / ULANO Corp.
Beat Karrer / Studio Beat Karrer
John Meschter / G24 Innovations

"Architekturteilchen" at MAKK, Cologne

First and second day of installing the exhibition architecture (responsive design studio / STUDYO ARCHITECTS) which will guide visitors through the exhibition "architectural particles - modular construction in the digital age" (curatorship by Aysin Ipekci ). The exhibiton will open on upcoming Friday May 11th at 7pm at the MAKK, Cologne, Germany

Eindrücke vom ersten und zweiten Aufbautag der Ausstellungsarchitektur (responsive design studio / STUDYO ARCHITECTS) zur Ausstellung "Architekturteilchen - Modulares Bauen im digitalen Zeitalter" (Kuratorium: Aysin Ipekci ). Die Ausstellung startet am Freitag, den 11. Mai um 19:00 Uhr im MAKK, Köln

Molecular Utopia

Manuel Kretzer spoke about his research into "Smart Materials" at the Chair for CAAD, ETH Zürich to the 2011/12 MAS class as an introduction to their current module M6.

Autonomous Materials

Manuel will speak about "Autonomous Materials" at the Royal College of Art, School of Architecture, ADS1 on Tuesday, 03.04.2012 at 17:00.

Lecture at Hyperbody, TU Delft

Manuel speaks at Hyperbody, TU Delft on Monday, 19.12.11.

next generation materials

Manuel speaks at the Ambience Conference, Boras, Sweden on Tuesday, 29th November 2011.

SleepBox

SleepBox represents a contemporary furniture, designed for the demands of an increasingly urbanised environment. A human-scale object, which creates a space of comfort and relaxation within airports, offices or other semi public areas. The hard and uniform shell excludes the exterior and at the same time creates a soft and smooth interior. The project was designed by Caspar Lohner and supervised by Manuel Kretzer and Mathias Bernhard at the Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design, ETH Zürich and realized in collaboration with Kläusler Acrylstein AG.

The free-form shell is made from HI-Macs, an extremely robust solid surface material, which can be thermoformed and visually seamlessly connected. The necessary MDF moulds were produced on a three axis CNC mill at ETH Zürich’s Raplab and the flat HI-Macs sheets then formed into shape using vacuum. After the material cooled down it exhibited the same properties as before deformation and could be further processed similar to wood. The eleven individual pieces were finally glued together to create a single homogeneous object.

Design: Caspar Lohner
Supervision: Mathias Bernhard, Manuel Kretzer
Contribution: Andreas Aeschbacher, Vedren Brasnic, Nathalie Pietrzko, Bastian Schläpfer, Ankita Thaker, Alain Weber, Viviane Weber

Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design 
Prof. Dr. Ludger Hovestadt

Zufall und Strategie im Design

Manuel speaks at Inkjet Seminar, Winterthur on Friday, 14.10.11.

Actuated Matter Workshop

The Actuated Matter Workshop forms part of a recently started research initiative – a collaboration between the Zurich University of the Arts Interaction Design (DDE), Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (DMU), and the ETH Zürich’s Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design – that explores the application of smart materials in architecture with respect to their ability to transform architecture into an “Emotive Environment”, a space that relates to its inhabitants in an emotive and responsive way. The focus is placed on the capabilities and limitations of materials themselves in generating kinetic, visual and acoustic feedback.

Our goal is to endow artificial spaces with some of the qualities of a natural environment in which perceptual, behavioral, emotional and social processes are interrelated and arise from its intrinsic properties. Natural environments grow, evolve and internalize the history of the actions and situations that occur within them, whereas technological systems tend toward perfection, predictability and permanence. The question arises on how we could incorporate aspects of organic systems within the new materials and new architectures?
The production of the active elements, electroluminescent screens, electro-active polymers and flexible audio panels, was strongly driven by the curiosity and engagement of an interdisciplinary team of participants who had little or no previous experience of working with such materials. The workshop showed that highly sophisticated materials and structures could be emerge through participatory and collaborative strategies, thus reflecting our goal of developing an alternative, less rigid architecture of the future as a more connected, interlaced, entangled, responsive and responsible world.
“Emotive Environments” is an approach to enrich the predominantly static characteristics of architecture with responsive, adaptive and smart elements and thereby create a space that exhibits some of the dynamics that can be found in nature. The project aims to realize a prototypical architecture that dynamically responds to the presence and behavior of its inhabitants. These immediate responses, including kinetic movements, visual, acoustic and vibrational feedback, are based on algorithms that model the behavior of self-organized natural systems. Accordingly, the interaction is initiated locally and subsequently spreads across the architectural space. The inhabitants can augment and alter the movements and sounds that are already present in the space generating an enhanced and novel spatial and behavioral experience. Due to a symbiotic relationship among the inhabitants and the “Emotive Environments”, the design is strongly informed by the human experience.
Team:
MA. Dipl.- Ing. (arch) Karmen Franinovic, Interaction Design, DDE, Zurich University of the Arts
Dr. Nat. Sci. Daniel BIsig, Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology, DMU, Zurich University of the Arts
Dipl.- Ing. (arch) Manuel Kretzer, CAAD – Chair of Computer Aided Architectural Design, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
emotive environments blog

Floater Production Process

Floater Chaise Longue
Design: Manuel Kretzer, Mathias Bernhard
Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design, ETH Zürich

towards a new softness

Manuel speaks at the Adaptive Architecture Conference on Friday, 4th March 2011.