Syllabus

FIU S C H O O L O F A R C H I T E C T U R E

ARC 5176C – ADVANCED DIGITAL DESIGN Summer 2013

Instructor: Alex Lozano

Description

Study of advanced digital techniques as generative tools for design and representation. Focus on surface and spatial modeling and parametric relationships.

Pre-requisites

ARC 4058

Course Objectives

The class seeks to build on digital design skills developed in ARC 4058. It introduces techniques of generative design using a ‘composite organizational strategy’ to execute an assembly that is critical to making and theory. This strategy embodies a graphic blending of space, structure and skin into a fluid thickness that is capable of responding tactically to environmental, topographic and programmatic criteria as well as configurability at multiple scales.

Grounded in this approach is a set of tooling techniques that optimize ‘commonality’ while being capable of accepting data that may form irregular, varied and intricate relationships.

Learning Outcomes

Students will learn 3D modeling techniques based in NURBS and polygon tools that will allow them to generate and control the geometry of complex topologies and spatial arrays.

The goal of the course is the ordering of space and form through the process of digital design so as to create a bridge between thought and practice, through digital techniques.

The sequence of tutorials and exercises will progressively equip the students with the capacity to identify potential for the direct application of the learned skills in a studio project.

Major Topics

Three-dimensional use of generative techniques for the production of space

Modeling of complex geometries

Procedures for spatial aggregation

Transformation and editing of sophisticated tectonic surfaces

Design versioning as iterative process

Applied Software

Autodesk Maya 2013, Rhinoceros 4, Autodesk AtuoCAD, Adobe Illustrator

3D – Digital Modeling Techniques

It is impossible to think design and mathematics as separate terms after the advent of digital design into architecture; calculus is embedded in the operations that gave rise to a new way of performing in design. The digital field allows its calculating power to engender an extensive array of formal manipulations, at the same time the digital environment transforms the understanding of the object by collapsing the vertical and horizontal. Via simultaneously rendering plan, section, elevation and perspective, the three-dimensional device enables spatial analysis and design to become congruent. The tool does not represent, it engenders; it is a technical apparatus that inserts a generative mechanism, a technique.

Techniques are behaviors and procedures that are systematic, repeatable, and communicable. Over time and as contexts change, existing techniques may become inadequate, stimulating users to develop new methods through experimentation; over time, users develop new techniques for exploiting the technology, and the technology itself is adapted and transformed.

Techniques are the specific means by which architects can harness and direct the powerful potential of new technologies toward the shaping of architectural design, research, and manufacturing. Techniques are process-driven; they often grow out of trial and error, evolving and undergoing continual adjustment.

Contemporary technological practices employ scaleless techniques that can be applied equally well to the design of products and cities, whereby details are retained from the largest to the smallest scale; digital design strategies operate across different scales and contexts –from the molecular scale of materials to the scale of the body, from the dimensions of a building to those of the city-.

Iterative processes: Transformation logics

As dynamical systems, transformational techniques allow technological practices to access the virtual. Transformational methods entail the manipulation of continuous surfaces or objects through procedures such as cutting, folding, and stretching. The objects are structured as sets of interconnected points in such a way that operating on one area of the object induces changes to all other areas. The precise manner in which an individual change will be redistributed over the whole cannot be predicted.

Each transformational procedure applies a pressure on the surface that generates other transformations across the surface. The interactions between these transformations comprise the ‘versioning’ power of the technique.

Procedure: 1 Performance ground – 2 Pair – 3 Back ground – 4 Field membrane

1. Performance ground is a spatial module generated from the analysis and manipulation of a primitive, either a polygon or nurbs geometry.

The module is embodied with the performance of a ritual, and a scale of a large piece of lounge furniture is assumed to start and manage the geometries and resultant module in relation to the human scale.

2. Two consecutive modules produce a ‘pair’ related by a spatial joint, a hinge that may encompass space in itself, as it creates a spatial and material contact/continuity between the 2 modules.

3. The joining and regeneration of modules generate a ‘background’ or chain of modules.

4. The field membrane is a structural matrix of topological variation, generated by aggregation of multiple components, adding chains to extend in more than one direction, thus producing an intensively ornate membrane.

The semester will be devoted to the development of an incremental system that goes from one module to a pair, and then on to form chains and extended membranes with spatial intricacy.

It will be supplemented by digital lectures/tutorials in which we will discuss how tooling and prototyping can be explored in architecture. Students will work on the design of shapes and techniques for their fabrication, organized in groups of 2 individuals with specific expectancy of expertise development. In addition to intensive work with the computer, students will be expected to produce physical models to test both the precision and feasibility of their proposals. These digitally developed models may be produced through a computer-numerically assisted fabrication process. Using 3D software and rapid-prototyping technologies, we will analyze and catalog a multitude of techniques for the management and fabrication of complex shapes.

Meeting Time

Saturdays x:xx to x:xx, room #135, PCA

Course Evaluation

Students will be evaluated upon performance in the assignments. While a satisfactory grade in the course may be attained by the completion of all work required to the satisfaction of the professor, individual initiative and investigation of design and research issues that extend beyond the basic requirements are strongly encouraged.

Grades:

94-100= A 87-89= B+ 80-83= B- 74-76= C 67-69= D+ 60-63= D-

90-93= A- 84-86= B 77-79= C+ 70-73= C- 64-66= D 0-59= F

Attendance Guidelines:

Attendance and class participation are required at all class meetings. (see Course Schedule) Every absence is 20% off the attendance and participation grade. Four (4) unexcused absences automatically result in a failing grade for the course. Every day you are late, you will receive half (1/2) an absence. An acceptable excused absence is defined by the student having missed class due to extraordinary circumstances beyond his or her control and must be accompanied with written proof. In the event that you have missed a class, you are responsible for all the material covered. If you have any questions you contact your professor at the above phone number or you may leave a message at the School of Architecture Main Office (tel. 305-348-3181) located at VH 212. A sign in sheet is made for each class. It is the student’s responsibility to write their initials next to their name. Failure to do so will be marked as an absence.

Student Work

The School of Architecture reserves the right to retain any and all student work for the purpose of record, exhibition and instruction. All students are encouraged to photograph and/or copy all work for personal records prior to submittal to instructor.

Students Rights and Responsibilities:

It is the student's responsibility to obtain, become familiar with and abide by all Departmental, College and University requirements and regulations. These include but are not limited to:

-The Florida International University Catalog Division of Student Affairs Handbook of Rights and Responsibilities of Students.

-Department Curriculum and Program Sheets

-Department Policies and Regulations

Student with Special Needs:

Students who may need auxiliary aids or services to ensure access to academic program should register with the Office Disability Services for Students.

Civility Clause:

Students are expected to treat one another with a high degree of civility and respect. Students can and should expect the same from the instructor. If a student fails to act responsibly or disrupts the

class or impedes instruction he or she may be asked to leave the class and will be held responsible for all the information missed through this absence.

Links and Resources:

* Autodesk Maya: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=7635018

* Autodesk Learning Tools: http://www.alias.com/glb/eng/learningtools/learning_tools.jsp

* The Gnomon Workshop: http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/

* Learning Maya: http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Maya-Foundation-

AliasTools/dp/1894893743/sr=1-1/qid=1159292645/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-60678712212819?ie=UTF8&s=books

* The Gnomon Workshop: http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/

* Maya Tutorial Database: http://www.learning-maya.com/index.php

* Highend3d: http://www.highend3d.com/

* CGSociety: http://forums.cgsociety.org/

* Generative Components: http://www.smartgeometry.org/

* Digital Fabrication: http://digfab.blogspot.com/

Textbooks – Digital Practices

Pulsation in Architecture (E. Goldemberg)

AD – Folding in Architecture (J.Kipnis – G.Lynn)

AD – Contemporary Techniques in Architecture (A.Rahim)

AD – Contemporary Processes in Architecture (A.Rahim)

AD – Versioning: Evolutionary Techniques in Architecture (SHOP)

Digital Tectonics (Leach, Turnbull, Williams)

PRAXIS – New Technologies:// New Architectures

Animate Form (G.Lynn)

NOX machining Architectures (Lars Spuybroek)

Phylogenesis Foreign Office Architects

Catalytic Formations: Digital Design in Architecture (A.Rahim)

Architecture in the Digital Age – Design and Manufacturing (Branko Kolarevic)

COLANI The Art of Shaping the Future (A.Bangert)

Diagram Diaries (P.Eisenman)

CODEX (P.Eisenman)

TRACING EISENMAN (P.Eisenman)

Course Schedule

Calendar dates are subject to change. Please contact appropriate offices for verification and updates. This calendar includes Official University holidays. Faculty is encouraged to make accommodations for students who wish to observe religious holidays. Students should make their request know at the beginning of the semester in writing. The instructor reserves the right to implement changes to this schedule as required.

**ALL ASSIGNMENTS ARE TO BE POSTED ON BLOGGER BEFORE THE START OF CLASS ON THE DUE DATE**

WEEK 1 Lecture: Precedents and General Introduction to Digital Techniques - Maya Interface. Polygon Primitives. nurbs modeling, Rendering

WEEK 2 Tutorial: Polygons modeling – editing and parametric control

WEEK 3 Tutorial: Polygons modeling – editing and parametric control

WEEK 4 Tutorial: Polygons modeling – editing and parametric control

WEEK 5 Tutorial: Boolean Commands - Calibration of joinery for component affiliation

WEEK 6 Tutorial: Component aggregation/chain deployment

WEEK 7 Tutorial: Component aggregation/chain deployment

WEEK 8 Component detail/ornament: structure + skin – part to whole relationship

WEEK 9 Tutorial: Rhino – import, export

WEEK 10 Tutorial: aggregation/chain deployment

WEEK 11 Tutorial: Blend shape and animated snapshot - Nurbs modeling – Basic spline geometry and editing

WEEK 12 Animation

WEEK 13 Final adjustment of projects

WEEK 14 FINAL REVIEW