Construction, Material, Technology_WS 2008/9
Studio Teachers | CMT_Barch_3
Michelle Howard + Werner Skvara
Studio Teachers | CMT_MArch
Hiromi Hosoya + Christina Condak
Course Teachers
Peter Bauer, Helmut Hempel, Hiromi Hosoya, Michelle Howard, Jochen Käferhaus
Studio CMT_Barch_3 | Michelle Howard + Werner Skvara
Task
The central theme this semester within the Academy is the City and this semester the students in CMT are asked to design a shelter for a chosen archaeological site in the ancient city of
Objectives
The objectives here are twofold.
1. The exploration of light and ventilation in architecture in its simplest manifestation i.e. the shelter is climatically open, and the discovery of how this exploration can shape an architectural concept.
2. All the greatest cities since
Building Fast
We will continue to pursue the theme of building fast; how to construct buildings or spaces for a world where we continually change our idea of what a space should be or provide. How many times have exquisitely planned spaces become redundant by the time they are finished? The tailor-made building has been and gone, in an era of globalization where even large landmark buildings have become repetitive in their spectacularity, the time has come to build fast and then “tweak”.
In order to do this you are asked to think about methods of construction which lend themselves to building fast such as (but not necessarily) prefabrication. You should use the knowledge gained in digital and analogue production to explore the myriad possibilities of repetitive elements as a sort of tweaking or, as today’s buzzword puts it, mass customization.
| Mitsuhiro Kanada / Arup,
This studio is the third in a series of research inquiries about creating something unexpected from a singular starting point. Through research, design, and fabrication, we will explore the potential, the structural use, and the life cycle of contemporary building materials. Aside from addressing the history of technology and the production of materials in the context of modernity, this research studio will look at flexible, changing, and modular systems, using aluminum as a main structural element.
With new fabrications and production technologies, and recent progress in engineering, it is possible to assemble parts that are individualized and customized spanning the scale from industrial design to architecture. With this in mind, it must be possible to rethink architecture as new interrelations between material, shape, structure, assembly, space, and performance. What are their impact to our society and environment? Aluminum is in union with these questions because it is a malleable material not constrained to simple forms. Wide ranges of operations from casting to folding are available, freeing the constraints of traditional materials.
In this studio, we will question the following points:
1) What is the modular system made of?
2) How is the modular system created?
3) How does the modular system interact with the environment?
4) How can the modular system be used?
5) How can the modular system be constructed or assembled?
The results of the studio shall prove that the performance of the modular system does not have to be based on high-tech solutions. These structures can be built from simple but smart method combining with economical materials. Elements with certain degree of differentiation can have a complex and dynamic capacity.
As this studio can be part of a larger investigation and collaboration with manufacturers, the aim is to create a body of research and a set of ideas that can be communicated to a larger audience.