Bio Plastics Formfinding Workshop Cologne

At the Architecture Biennale PLAN12 in Cologne a bioplastics formfinding workshop, inspired and supported by the Materiability Resaerch Network, Superartitecture, Dingfabrik e.V. (FabLab Cologne), responsive design studio and architect Mauricio Rodriguez (MAS ETH) was held at the exhibtion space and studio of design and architecture office "Superartitecture".

During 5 hours students from Cologne Universities and Plan12 visitors produced bio plastic in different variation and processed the self made material in various techniques in order to create shapes, sheets and bubbles.

The goal of the workshop was to research opportunities of bio plastics for its potential use in the fields of design and architecture

Exhibtion Catalogue "Architectural Particles" available

Hans Sachs from responsive design wrote an article - "digital crafting" - about the design process and development of the exhibition's architecture.




















The catalogue also contains articles by Prof. Oliver Fritz from Adaptive Architektur , Dr. Petra Hesse, director of the MAKK and Aysin Ipekci from Studyo Architects, curator of "Architectural Particles" and a comprehensive overview of the exhibited projects and objects.

x_shelf

x_shelf is a generatively designed bookshelf, made entirely from CNC-milled Alucobond boards, that were folded into modules to form a self-supporting system.

The design is based on David Rutten's "Substrate" component in Grasshopper, the Rhino McNeel Plugin, which has in turn be inspired by the processing works of Jared Tarbell.
The component was then coupled to Grasshopper's internal solver Galapagos, in order to adjust the minimum and maximum volume and height of each cell based on average book sizes.

Once the cells were defined the overall geometry was extruded towards three intersecting planes that provide the shelf with additional depth and stability. All parts were digitally fabricated and joint into three parts, each color representing one, to allow for simple dis- and reassembly.

Exhibition Design for "Architekturteilchen"

Responsive Design Studio developed and realized the exhibiton design for "Architecture Particles" in collaboration with Studyo Architects, Grossgestalten (graphics) and with kind support by Bayer Material Science and  Ligaproduction.

The exhibition design concept is based on a sphere packing method known from molecular structures of metalls, such as i.e. silver and gold. In the arrangement of non-overlapping spheres result octahedral and tetrahedral gaps. Based on these platonic solids combined with principles of generative design, a modular system was developed to present exhibited objects and projects on print media and integrated video screens. Our main objective was to develope a dynamic, recognizable design which refers to the exhibition theme and complys with the historic MAKK building by Rudolf Schwarz.

Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln




Special Thanks to Johann Eckartz, Michael Lautwein, Marc Over, Max Salzberger,
Moritz Winkler and BlickPick

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.