Apr '04 - Aug '07
Alas... some of us have gotten a little sleep. ZzzZzzzz.... Huh? Why am I typing again? Oh ya... midterm.
2GAX: Interminate Architectures (From the course catalog)
Programmatics, geotechnics, structure, mechanics, commerce and environment are among the many fields which enable architecture to operate and perform. These technologies react to create an `Architecture of Indeterminacy', which favors multiple and temporal approaches to design over planning and orchestration, and allows architecture to participate in and reorganize our constantly shifting culture. This studio looks at the contemporary architectural platform and operates as a laboratory for finding new possibilities of integrating a wide range of techniques and technologies. Conventions and standards in architecture are challenged through a rigorous examination of other models of design and production, such as fashion, art, film and industrial design, creating a nonlinear process that can respond to a number of parameters, while exposing the disparate strategies and technologies inherent in the production of architecture. Students are also exposed to issues concerning the relationship of the part to the whole, repetition and structure, as well as the notion of variation and systemic manipulation through topological evolution.
That about says it all! Yes, we are using Maya heavily. Yes, we are using animation techniques and cinematic effect to broaden our process. For me, the semester is beginning to make a lot more sense. The first half has been about new digital techniques and current design trajectories; the last part of the semester will be about multiple levels of refinement, including: surface effect, program curation, and blurring the boundary between landscape and building even further. As I'm writing, this studio is starting to make perfect sense -- just as there are a landscape of possibilies in the field of design, blurring architecture into this "design landscape" is becoming an ever increasing mandate.
Any and all comments are appreciated...
Landscape + Building | Street 1 : eyelevel
Landscape + Building | Street 2 : aerial
In + Out | Path 1 : outside
In + Out | Path 1 : inside
9 Comments
steve, man, i loves your renderings!
i might not be into the aestethincs of it, but very nice modeling.
What specific commands are you using in MAYA to create those sweeps - just curious. Any links, course website, etc? Looks sexy.
Thanks, Richard.
Pete... blendShapes, animationSnapshots, duplicateCurves, lofts, lattice, and a script called createTubes. Website should be coming soon, I think. Be on the lookout for another post after Thursday regarding our SoftTECH seminar. I'd like to post a picture of everyone's project from the seminar (with their approval).
Steve,
Just wondering ... How do they integrate 'teaching' of software into curiculum at sci-arc? Is it a seperate course, is it workshops, or is it taught in studio as part of studio course?
Mason,
We have a visual studies course, "SoftTECH" as it is now referred, that initially teaches us about software and then helps us to form a critial argument about our geometry/exploration. During our studio desk critiques, additional software techniques are diseminated on a per group basis when they are relevant to opening new paths of investigation. Whereas SoftTECH is more about a rapid fire presentation of techniques, studio is about architectural refinement of selected techniques to make buildings/landscape. For instance in SoftTECH, we've been working at the object scale and have been producing some fabulous, non-traditional "objects-d'art" to explore the limits of technique, and in studio, we are producing a 12,000 sf greenhouse program that needs to integrate technique with building/landscape.
The answer to your questions is both separate course (theoretical) and studio (architectural).
Steve you should add that Hernan is a pretty good Maya tutor since he gets down and dirty to show you how to make your modeling techniques cleaner, faster and more efficient.
I think it’s pretty nice to have a professor that knows about the software that he wants you to deal with.
Similar case but in a totally different level is Greg Lynn (my studio critic right now).
Ah yes... I guess that we take his skills for granted. Hernan has a deep level of knowledge when it comes to Maya/Rhino. So, learning from a master produces masters :)
FDB - How's Greg compared to Hernan with studio & software critiques?
To be honest, it is a little unfair to put them on the same level. Greg Lynn is much smarter, his understanding of architecture, theory, and design overall are at a higher level altogether. The drawback is that he is not around as much as Hernan used to be back when I had him during the Spring semester. At the same time, Hernan is trying to make a name for himself and Greg has been doing this for more than 10 years so he has no need to prove himself to others at this point in his carreer.
Potential project title?: 3XOH
(TRIPLE overhead....emerald green 76°F water....NO one out....possible oil spill??) ;)
Love the rendering and the mid melding surf incorporation.
You’re making me jealous...
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