Archinect - News

Princeton University explores algorithm-based construction design with New York-based research group The Living

2019-07-18T13:51:00-04:00

Commissioned by Princeton University, this project is simple in form but sophisticated in function. It involves an “open source building” to host research on the future of construction and computation. Just as biologists use an electron microscope to study organisms, architects will use this structure to study buildings.

The idea of algorithms designing buildings may sound exciting to some and concerning to others. However, after decades of attempts at harnessing this process, companies like The Living may have cracked the system to automatically generating building designs. The New York-based research studio focuses on computation, sustainability practices, and biology to explore variations of building prototyping.

Image courtesy of Pablo Marvel/Nova Concepts

Image courtesy of Michael Moran/Michael Moran Photography, Inc.

In a recent news release from the studio, the team shares their new collaborative project with Princeton University. "The Embodied Computation Lab is a building that includes new sustainability and low-carbon features, and the facade involves the use of custom algorithms trained to detect knots in wood—bringing the power of machine learning to the physical world."

With technology rapidly changing the way architects, designers, and construction teams work together, The Living has i...

David Benjamin of The Living and Kate Orff of SCAPE make Rolling Stone's list for the "25 People Shaping the Future in Tech, Science, Medicine, Activism and More"

2017-11-29T20:27:00-05:00

Architect David Benjamin of The Living and Kate Orff of SCAPE have both been selected by Rolling Stone as some of the "25 People Shaping the Future in Tech, Science, Medicine, Activism and More."

Benjamin, a previous YAP winner and "socially conscious mad scientist" according to Rolling Stone, is known for his innovation and experimentation in building materials. Past notable projects have included organic bricks made from mushrooms and unusually light airplane parts made from algorithms based off mold growth.

Also making the list, Orff, who runs the landscape-architecture and urban design firm SCAPE, is a recent recipient of the 2017 MacArthur Grant. The Genius is known for her eco-sensitive approach that integrates urban design, landscape design, and architecture in order to address issues of climate change, loss of biodiversity, resiliency, and culture. She is currently working on a project in Kentucky that will turn the footprint of a polluted creek into an interactive path spot...

Editor's Picks #385

2014-09-18T17:50:00-04:00

The latest entry in the Showcase: series featured Barkow Leibinger 's Stadthaus M1, located in the "sustainable model district" of Vauban in the already so-called "green city" of Freiburg.

Plus, Nicholas Korody looked at Factory Berlin, a "start-up campus" hosted by Google, built on a site where "a section of the Berlin Wall...once housed a German Democratic Republic (GDR) watchpost". Chris Teeter recommended "if you want to keep the political going in your architecture crit, you could probably look at what I have considered the 3 downtowns of Berlin; look at them historically maybe - Kuferstendamm (west), Alexander Platz (east), and Potsdamer Plat (unified)".

News
Mildred Friedman, a curator at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in the 1970s and ’80s who helped both the museum and the contemporary design and architecture it celebrated become objects of international acclaim, died on Sept. 3 in Manhattan. She was 85.

Until October 31, the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation is...