Après les vacances d’été, nous reprenons aujourd’hui avec un post qui fait le point de la situation de complexitys.
Il y a un an nous avons lancé ce blog  sans trop savoir comment s’en servir. Nous avions juste eu l’intuition que, quelque part, il aurait pu nous être utile.  Comme le graphique ci-dessus montre, ça nous a pris environs un mois pour que le blog commence fonctionner un peu et, un an après, nous en sommes satisfait et nous avons envie de continuer et de faire mieux.

Au début, nous avions naïvement imaginé le blog comme un simple outil pour diffuser ce que nous faisions à l’agence. En gros, il nous apparaissait comme un site internet de l’agence facile à mettre jour. Après quelques mois d’expérience, nous avons compris que ce travail aurait pu avoir des résultats moins prévisibles mais beaucoup plus intéressants.

Par exemple, le fait de mettre par ecrit certaines réflexions, de publier certains projets ou références, nous a obligé à clarifier nos positions, à préciser une direction de travail et, enfin, à définir notre domaine spécifique d’action et à développer un discours théorique qui puisse supporter et donner de la force aux travaux de l’agence.

Ce discours théorique est bien résumé, par exemple, dans la présentation de la conférence Vers Une Architecture Parametrique que vous pouvez retrouver ci-dessous.

Conference “Vers une Architecture Paramétrique”

Parmi les autres effets remarquable du travail effectué sur le blog, il faut surement rappeler les network effects, c’est à dire une capacité accrue de rentrer en contact très facilement avec des personnes qui travaillent au même sujets que nous. Nous en parlons ici, en anglais,  à propos de notre rencontre avec Geometry Gym.

Enfin, je voudrais aussi parler du concept de “marketing interne”: travailler sur le blog et les reseaux permet à tout le monde, dans l’agence, de s’impliquer à sa manière, et de provoquer un changement assez important dans la perception que, dès l’intérieur, nous avons du bureau. Vu que nous participons à ces activités, nous sommes capable de façonner l’image de la boite et de la rendre ainsi moins abstraite et plus proches de nous et de nos envies. Parallèlement, avoir le retour des lecteurs et des collègues, et le fait d’expérimenter cette sensation d’être “en réseaux” est assez encourageant pour notre travail.

Pour cette nouvelle année qui se prépare, nous voulons continuer avec le blog, en lui donnant plus de régularité, ainsi que continuer à travailler avec d’autres outils tels que flickr, issuu et twitter…à ce propos nous venons de lancer une antenne twitter HDA à Madrid, avec le compte @HDA_Madrid que vous pouvez suive ici. L’objectif est d’étendre notre réseau en Espagne, pays avec le quelle nous avons développé dernièrement pas mal de connexions.
L’Espagne est riche et réactive dans plusieurs des domaines qui nous intéressent de très près, tels que l’architecture paramétrique (vous pouvez suivre  Arquitextonica et Frikearq), l’innovation et l’écologie en architecture (agence Ecosistema Urbano) et la recherche architecturale et l’activisme ( Ethel Baraona Pohl , Urbanohumano, Cesar Reyes).

Ci-dessous, je conclus avec un document en une page (an anglais), résumant l’approche que nous avons défini pour HDA, aussi au cours de cette dernière année. Vous pouvez aussi visiter notre page web, sortie il y a quelques mois: hdaparis.com et n’hésitez pas à faire des commentaires et des critiques.

In the last month, we’ve often read about Politecnico di Milano and its recent activities, especially in field of innovation and technologies.

We have already talked in this blog about the Urban Hybridization conference about hybrid public spaces, organized by prof. Fabrizio Zanni, and we would like to talk today about an interesting project called DECODE.

The 22nd of June, the project has been presented at Politecnico by the two founders, Luca Dal Cerro and Valerio Bonora, during a conference specifically dedicated to innovative technologies for the construction industry.

The conference, organized by Prof. Ingrid Paoletti and Elena Magarotto [Building Environment Science and Technology Department], was a presentation of current state of the art methods in innovative design and construction technologies, focusing on all aspects linked to projects, industrial processes and scientific research, highlighting the fruitful synergies.

DECODE is a young company deeply involved in the Discretization of Complex Projects (also the title given to Luca and Valerio’s speech). The role of this specialised cell can be defined as a technical intermediary between all the professionals participating in the development and realization of a complex project. Architects, engineers, façade specialists, constructors, all these categories produce data inputs related to specific aspects of the project and require data outputs in order to check the quality of their contribution. All this information has to be merged into a single and complex “4D digital model” (3D + dynamic data base).

The intervention at the Politecnico di Milano was particularly focused on the advantages provided by complex 3D models in order to verify a wide series of problems which are difficult to evaluate through 2D drawings and documents, which do not help in the comprehension of the complexity and intricacy of a tridimensional structure. Moreover the use of BIM and IFC technologies allows the implementation of the model with a series of information which may not be necessary for architects and engineers (where already known) but define all those technical aspects which have to be understood from the constructor.

In this sense, at the end of the whole process, the 4D model as realised constitutes a powerful instrument for the management and the comprehension of complex projects, which reveals itself as very useful in order to optimize the construction process through time and cost reduction.

Currently DECODE is working on a project by the architect Patrick Berger’s, La Canopee – Les Halles (image below), supporting the engineering company INGEROP to develop the data needed to optimise the production processes and construction phases.

Source image: Le blog du Forum des Halles Paris
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For more info, you can contact:
Conference scientific coordinator, Ingrid Paoletti |   ingrid.paoletti  [AT]  polimi  [DOT]  it
and Luca Del Cerro, Directeur Generale of Decode |   decode.ldalcerro[AT]gmail  [DOT]  com

We often talk about relevance of network effects in our jobs: networking dynamics can  be acheived both virtually and phisically. We first “met” Jon Mirtschin on his blog Geometry Gym, then we discovered he also was on twitter and finally we met him at HDA, thanks to Rhinoforyou.

We invite you readers to discover some interesting topics and posts we have selected from the Geometry Gym blog:

Exchanging Structure Models to/from Rhino3d (BIM and Analysis)

Generation of Structure Models from Grasshopper3d

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Minimal Surface Exploration

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Tesselation

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Geometry Gym is  a company based in the UK, formed by Jon Mirtschin, a structural engineer of 10 years experience.
Geometry Gym is aiming to provide innovative design tools within rapid response time frames needed by projects.

As a graduate engineer, Jon joined Connell Wagner (now Aurecon) in Melbourne, having graduated from the University of Melbourne with a double degree in Civil Engineering and Computer Science.  Projects he worked on included Eureka Tower (300m tall residential tower), the Melbourne Cricket Ground Northern Stand Redevelopment (MCG) and Wembley Stadium.  All projects challenged the capability of the software used to analyze, design and document these structures, and Jon frequently found himself developing custom and innovative scripts and spreadsheets to link and automate generation, processes and data information flow.

In 2005, Jon left Melbourne bound for a working holiday in London, an agency sent him to an interview at Expedition, which is not a typical engineering consultancy.  Jon discovered Rhino3d, and the fantastic development and design platform it provides. Infinity Footbridge (IStructE Champion Award Recipient), the 2012 Olympic Velodrome and 55 Baker Street are great examples of efficient form finding and trail blazing design and documentation.  All heavily utilized programs and plug-ins developed by Jon, in the evolutionary state of the plug-ins available today.

Late 2009, Jon left Expedition to form Geometry Gym, as a means to act as a sub-consultant and to distribute the software tools to the wider design industry (although the tools were also externally beta tested during the 10 months prior on some fantastic projects).  Why the name Geometry Gym? Well gyms challenge and demand their visitors aspiring to achieve goals and improvements.  And geometric manipulations and modifications take up so much time of consulting engineers and architects that all improvements are for the benefit of the industry.

Jon is particularly driven and interested in improving repetitive and time consuming tasks in consulting design, and in reducing the amount of replicated modelling work requiring coordination and checking. The premise of BIM (Building Information Modelling) and exchanging/extracting models for particular purpose and needs is core to the development.

A significant differentiation of the service provided to users of the Geometry Gym tools is prompt support and custom development.  Typical CAD/Software firms have lead times of months and years to implement customer suggestions and requirements, making them redundant for active projects, Geometry Gym endeavours to assist within days or weeks.

The Geometry Gym Blog provides demonstrations, insights and examples of how to use the Rhino3d tools being developed.  Jon’s take on how to explore the geometry of some well known projects including the Beijing Water Cube, 2012 Olympic Stadium and British Museum Great Court Roof have been popular with designers and students.

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A special thanks to Jon for sharing with us these high-quality contents every day!

What is the architect doing?
He is by the riverside
What is he thinking out there?
He is committing egocide
Now isn’t that a strange thing?
Well to him it feels just
Well we guess a person’s gotta do,
What a person feels he must

He said:
I won’t throw myself from the pier
I’m gonna go home and shut up for a year
And when the year is over I’ll reappear
And have a solution
I’ve reason to believe that what I find
Is gonna change the face of human kind
And all these years before well I was blind
That’s my conclusion
Cause I’m the architect
Cause I’m the architect
Cause I’m the architect

Now the man has understood
That outer space is overrated and too
About all the problems on this earth we should
Worry now to solve them later
And so he’s brooding and alluding on a perfect design
He thinks that working on behalf of himself is a crime
He flushes out by the water, a view so divine
He’s the architect of his own fate, a man in his prime

He said:
I won’t throw myself from the pier
I’m gonna go home and shut up for a year
And when that year is over I’ll reappear
And have a solution
I’ve reason to believe that what I find
Is gonna change the face of human kind
And all these years before well I was blind
That’s my conclusion
Cause I’m the architect
Cause I’m the architect
Cause I’m the architect

And so he drew himself a pentagon
Thinking it through a geodesic dome
From the coast of Tahiti, to the hills of Rome
Step aside cause the man will take the Nobel prize home

He said:
I won’t throw myself from the pier
I’m gonna go home and shut up for a year
And when that year is over I’ll reappear
And have a solution
Now if these aspirations bother you
Well you are just you, you don’t have a clue
I’m sticking to the plan I will see it through
Let there be no confusion
Cause I’m the architect
Cause I’m the architect
Cause I’m the architect

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The Architect is a song by dEUS, taken from their last album “Vantage Point”

Fractals video by xlace. Thanks to @generatorx and @subblue for sharing this on twitter.

Situated at the foot of the entrance to Trinity Bellwoods Park, a fluorescent dome serves as a beacon and threshold between Park and City. It is universal in form and origin. Utilizing fluorescent tubes and Tesla Coils, its modes of construction and illumination pay tribute to the ambitions of Buckminster Fuller and Nikola Tesla: To provide universally accessible models of architecture and energy distribution.

F30T8 Fluorescent Tubes, Aluminum Nodes, Tesla Coils
24′-0″ DIA x 18′-6″
2007

Michal Maciej Bartosik was born in Walbrzych, Poland. He studied Architecture at the University of Toronto School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, and at the Politechnika Krakowska in Krakow. He works
mutually between his interests in Urbanism, Architecture,Art and Design.

Tomas Saraceno

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As we have often highlighted on this blog, flickr is one of the most important social networking tools for our office, as it allows us to keep in contact with many people and to share our work. One of the most successful operations we have carried out on flickr is the Passerella 2006 Flickr Group where we collect photos of our footbridge in Turin taken by people.
With this post we would like to share a small selection of pictures coming from our Flickr network. This is a good example of how networking is about learning and discovering things, rather than just advertising your own work.
While looking through our flickr contacts I noticed that most of them share their photos with an “all rights reserved” copyright. With the exception of those who are doing this for professional reasons, I think many people are simply not aware that they can choose their license. As a result Flickr chooses this copyright as the default license. I would invite people to check this and, if they can,  to use a creative commons license (for example this one that Tomas Saraceno is using) in order to make it easier for their pictures to circulate on the web. There are lots of amazing photos in our contacts gallery which we cannot publish here because they are covered by a copyright.

Kp6 and IMG_6424, Tomas Saraceno | we have already posted the artist’s work at Biennale of Venice here (in italian)

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Pratt CES HL-1, Pratt CES HL-5 and Prass CES HL-7, core.formula

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“No title”, “Mi sono rotto…. il gomito” and “microbios12-3565″, nachetz

We have already talked about Mårten Nettelbladt as a very interesting researcher on topics of complex geometries, and specifically the topic of developable surfaces.

His website, “Omkrets arkitektur”, and his blog The Geometry of Bending should be a reference for all those who are interested in the developability of surfaces, and in general for those who are trying to create and construct complex forms.

As I am explaining here in French, developability is a key concept to understand if you are trying to construct very complex forms that are easy to draw but difficult to build.

As Mårten says: “I am fascinated by organic shapes and have sought in my investigations to find forms on the dividing line between free-form and the geometric. I have also tried to find a balance between complexity and simplicity.” He also explains in a very simple way the purposes of his research blog:  “When you bend a thin strip of an elastic material you get a beautifully shaped curve. What geometry does this curve follow? Please help unravel this mystery by commenting on these posts!”

In a recent article (in French) about “Hybrid Archtiecture: sentient spaces and new design” we have been focusing on the complex relationship between the virtual model, the physical model, and the engineering calculation model. I think that developable surfaces are a central topic in these studies, as they are something that we must strongly consider if we want our complex virtual forms to become physical objects.

Image credits: Mårten Nettelbladt

This is why I think the work of Mårten Nettelbladt is especially relevant, as he’s always going back and forth between virtual models (using Rhinoceros and Grasshopper) and physical models (paper, plastic, rubber, etc). For example, he has developed an interesting Grasshopper definition to draw developable strips (you can download it here).

Image credits: Mårten Nettelbladt

Image credits: Mårten Nettelbladt

I find this strong relationship between paper studies (physical) and Grasshopper definitions (virtual) particularly interesting, as it gives evidence that developable forms are not merely abstract results of a virtual modelling, but that they have a strong physical meaning as well, as their forms are the results of forces of nature.

This could perhaps be a subject that we could work on one of our next Parametric Architecture Workshops.

‘The Alphabet’ is the name of the first joint project between ewo, the manufacturer of superior-quality lighting systems, and the inter-disciplinary team at JDS ARCHITECTS. The project in the ewoLAB series will be revealed to the public for the first time at Frankfurt’s Light+Building from 11.04.2010 to 16.04.2010.
The idea here was to develop a lighting system, which in terms of both form and technical specifications, meets project requirements.

Different places and spaces should be lit differently. How to adapt lighting to places without always changing design?
This lamppost family functions as an alphabet of light, where each configuration is a new letter to light up a specific context. The design is almost invisible, just a simple round steel profile perforated randomly to let let some light come out. The addition of elements composes the shape of the lamppost in an infinite range of combination to adapt to the light’s surrounding requirements.

Julien De Smedt, JDS ARCHITECTS:

Swedish designers Sanna Lindstrom and Sigrid Stromgren have collaborated to bring you the Grand Central table, an expandable piece of furniture inspired by a pop-up map of New York. Twenty-two different pieces unfurl to make the tabletop as the legs open from an L to an X, so the user can go from having this stowed in the corner to making it the center of the room.

Not just a CG-rendered concept, the Grand Central will be on display at Milan.

http://www.core77.com/blog/