Shape To Fabrication | STF#6 | April 2016

While the ongoing development of CNC manufacturing and fabrication technologies continue to enable higher degrees of diversity and local customization, architectural envelopes comprised of a profusion of diverse components challenge conventional approaches to design, computation, documentation, coordination review and assembly. Two case studies presented explore and demonstrate the application development and file-to-factory workflow employed for building envelopes. Based on 3D printing technology from WinSun Global, insight behind the design process and technology used for the first 3D printed office building in Dubai is presented. Integration of building systems, material research and digital collaboration are some of the topics discussed. Also explored and presented is the study of a building envelope comprised of over 50,000 unique façade panels. This skin’s perforated aluminum panels, and the corresponding node connections are discussed in terms of the challenges and constraints unique to their respective geometry, fabrication processes and performance criteria. In addition, alternate node designs developed to accommodate the constraints of 3D printing are compared. Both projects demonstrate the efficacy of 3D printed alternatives, the viability of 3d printing as a fabrication method, and key developments that must be realized in order to demonstrate feasibility.

Image credits: © Gensler

Jorge Barrero - Vice President/Senior Designer - HKS

Jorge Barrero is a Senior Designer and Vice President with global architecture firm HKS. He has 18 years of experience in the field of architecture design, visualization, computation and fabrication. Previously, he worked at Gensler as a Senior Designer and Firmwide Digital Design leader. He has served as adjunct faculty at Harrington College of Design teaching a digital design studio. He has been a word contributor for 3D World Magazine and his work has been published in the EXPOSE digital art book series. He has participated in various speaking engagements, most recently at the inaugural Design Visualization LIVE event at Autodesk University as well as Xconomy, CTBUH and Vray Days events.

His project experience is varied, ranging from aviation projects to high performance building towers. One of his most recent projects while working at Gensler, he was the design leader for the first 3D printed building currently under assembly in Dubai. This unique project presented many opportunities and challenges to explore the limits of 3D printing technology in the architecture and construction industry. He continues to explore the process of design aided by digital tools and technology in order to create a design solution that creates a better user experience for all.

While the ongoing development of CNC manufacturing and fabrication technologies continue to enable higher degrees of diversity and local customization, architectural envelopes comprised of a profusion of diverse components challenge conventional approaches to design, computation, documentation, coordination review and assembly. Two case studies presented explore and demonstrate the application development and file-to-factory workflow employed for building envelopes. Based on 3D printing technology from WinSun Global, insight behind the design process and technology used for the first 3D printed office building in Dubai is presented. Integration of building systems, material research and digital collaboration are some of the topics discussed. Also explored and presented is the study of a building envelope comprised of over 50,000 unique façade panels. This skin’s perforated aluminum panels, and the corresponding node connections are discussed in terms of the challenges and constraints unique to their respective geometry, fabrication processes and performance criteria. In addition, alternate node designs developed to accommodate the constraints of 3D printing are compared. Both projects demonstrate the efficacy of 3D printed alternatives, the viability of 3d printing as a fabrication method, and key developments that must be realized in order to demonstrate feasibility.

James Warton - Associate - HKS LINE

James Warton is a researcher and computational designer engaged in cutting-edge manufacturing with specialized concentration in high-resolution additive processes. He is currently focused on design-to-fabrication workflows and optimization strategies for mass-customized and highly-articulated metal structures, and is committed to the implementation of additively manufactured building-scale assemblies. He balances research pursuits and professional practice as a member of HKS|LINE and as a PhD candidate within SMU’s Research Center for Advanced Manufacturing. These efforts represent a cumulative contribution to professional and academic discourse surrounding computational design and digital fabrication, as well as serve to further application and advancement in real-world construction scenarios while expanding the field’s awareness of emerging technologies.

James received a Master’s Degree in Architecture and Urbanism from the Architectural Association’s Design Research Laboratory (DRL) and is currently enrolled as a PhD student in SMU’s Mechanical Engineering Department. He holds a research assistantship through the Research Center for Advanced Manufacturing (RCAM), and began doctoral research to investigate technologies that will significantly reshape the building and construction landscape and its relationship to design.

Luca Biselli

Luca Biselli is an Italian Designer holding a MSc in Architectural Engineering. Having worked in Italy, UK, Australia and China, he has been involved in a variety of projects characterised by a high degree of innovation, ranging from commercial buildings to underground metro stations, bridges, housing and even scientific stations in Antarctica. He has a particular interest in the exploitation of innovative technologies to explore new forms, often borrowing inspiration from the product design process. Luca currently holds the position of Associate Designer at Sadler Brown Architecture, working also on his own projects, with the aim of investigating advanced use of timber technologies in residential architecture for private clients, through computational design.

Eco-friendly house in Pately Bridge, Yorkshire

This innovative house is the first new dwelling in Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to have won unanimous and uncontested approval from Harrogate Borough Council, under Paragraph 55 of the National Planning Policy Framework. This section allows homes to be built in the country side only under exceptional circumstances. Scope of the presentation is to show the workflow used to develop the 3D documentation for the planning application, starting from loose conceptual hand sketches.

Passive House in Somerset

This new dwelling is an unusual elliptical curved shaped two storey building currently being built in a little valley in Somerset, aiming for Passive House Certification. Scope of the presentation is to show the evolution of two different concepts presented to the Client, characterised by a different level of geometrical complexity.

www.sadlerbrown.co.uk

Image credits: © Luca Biselli

As a world-premiere NVIDIA is presenting and demonstrating the new Iray for Rhino plug-in. This plug-in enables Rhino users to create physically based renderings, see attached image. The plug-in comes with a catalog of materials, called Material Definition Language materials (MDL). The presentation shows how the plug-in is integrated into Rhino and how the rendering can be accelerated by using NVIDIA Iray-server and NVIDIA VCA technology.

For more information please visit http://www.nvidia.com/object/iray-for-rhino.html

Tom-Michael Thamm – NVIDIA Germany

Tom-Michael is Director for Software Product Management at NVIDIA Advanced Rendering Center (ARC) in Berlin, Germany and is responsible for all commercial software products, such as NVIDIA mental ray, NVIDIA Iray plus plug-ins, and NVIDIA IndeX. He is managing and coordinating with his team the customer support as well as the general product definition and positioning. Mr. Thamm is working for NVIDIA ARC, and before for mental images, for over 25 years.

Mike Walsh – NVIDIA UK

With a background in the semi-conductor design and electronic design automation industries Mike has been at NVIDIA for over 8 years. As a Senior Solutions Architect for Northern Europe his role covers technical pre and post sales activities for NVIDIA’s range of enterprise graphics and virtualization products.

The presentation will show an overview of the new VisualARQ 2.0 version, focusing on the BIM features it adds to Rhino:

1. The option to work with parametric architectural objects
2. The dynamic 2D documentation generation, linked with the 3D model
3. IFC import & Export features
4. Integration of VisualARQ with Grasshopper

Francesc Salla

Francesc Salla is an architect graduated at the ETSAV (UPC) in 2008 and joined Asuni in 2010. Francesc is the Product Manager of VisualARQ and Lands Design, the two main products of Asuni.

VisualARQ

VisualARQ Grasshopper Components

The ubiquitous full colour, high resolution digital display is capable of showing us crisp, exquisite imagery. However, the material construction, form and optical qualities of modern displays can be inappropriate for use as a digital skin in an architectural context.

The Disruptive Displays project has been reimagining the display as a form of material rather than as an unyielding device. Such materials could be shaped into freeform surfaces, scaled seamlessly, and integrated with the built environment, affording multiple new avenues for design and expression. These new materials suggest new contexts of interaction, but also the need for new design tools for printed circuits and optics. Such tools would require engagement with something not normally seen in electronics fabrication - randomness.

Human Experience & Design - Microsoft Research https://hxd.research.microsoft.com

David Sweeney

David Sweeney is an interaction design engineer with Microsoft Research. He focuses his research on tangible interfaces to the digital world, and explores emerging opportunities related to new sensors and advanced computational techniques. A particular interest is the development of digital display technologies, and how such technologies might blur the line between aesthetic expression and the communication of legible information.

Image credits: © David Sweeney / Microsoft Research

At KPF we use a developed set of applications on most projects for design exploration and development, from small scale furniture studies to large project construction coordination. We focus on interoperability between the typical architectural software and the use of parallel applications from various industries to assist in design, analysis and visualization.

During this presentation, Cobus will show the use of Rhino at KPF as computative and collaborative tool, as well as data analysis and data visualization, on various projects ranging from pre-planning to construction.

Cobus Bothma

Cobus Bothma became an Associate Principle in 2009, after joining Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) in 2008. An industrial designer by qualification, Cobus is involved in many aspects of design and advanced geometry at KPF. Having worked on numerous projects and competitions, he has an efficient and visual approach to design and geometry challenges with a practical BIM approach to data coordination.

Michal’s presentation will be divided between two of his long-term parametric projects: Tylko.com is a start-up with a mission to digitize furniture industry. We aim at delivering perfectly fitted furniture in the easiest possible way. All of Tylko’s pieces are made on-demand with cnc machines. Parametric design with grasshopper is at the very center of the company. It enables data drive feedback and iterating products on a daily basis to optimize for users expectations as well as manufacturing and shipping conditions. Microlattice series developed for Joris Laarman Studio contains three 3d printed chairs where functional conditions are addressed through parametric cells. In aluminum chair the degree of cells openness is a response to forces present in the base shape. Gradient chair is printed in thermoplastic polyurethane, opening of cells enables flexibility, while the closed areas provide rigidity. Adaptation chair is inspired by L-systems and is made from cells than branch out from solid legs at the bottom towards an intricate seat surface.

Michal Piasecki

Michal works within the fields of parametric design, creative coding and computationally aided manufacturing. He is a co-founder of Tylko, a start-up which is out to reinvent the designer furniture industry. As a parametric design consultant Michal worked with award-winning designers including Joris Laarman for whom he created scripts for a series of 3d printed chairs which are now part of collections at Moma and Vitra Design Museum. Michal tutored numerous workshops and is currently a lecturer at School of Form in Poznan. He graduated from Iaac and the Bartlett.

http://tylko.com/
http://michalpiasecki.com/

Photo Credits: 1-5: tylko.com
Photo Credits: 6-8: Microlattice series, fot. Joris Laarman Studio, Friedman Benda Gallery, Adriaan de Groot

Chaos Group will preview the latest developments in their physically-based rendering software V-Ray for Rhino. With the addition of interactive GPU rendering, easy VR output, and support for VRscans – Chaos Group’s patented material scans – designers will be better able to create photoreal visualizations as part of their daily workflow. For studios working with multiple design applications, Chaos Group will demonstrate how to share data between V-Ray for Rhino (Windows and OS X)and V-Ray for Grasshopper, 3ds Max, Maya, and Revit.

Matthew Newberg

Matthew Newberg is the Lead Developer for V-Ray for Rhinoceros and works out of Chaos Group`s Baltimore office. He has over 11 years of experience in CAD and Product Visualization. For the past 3 years he has been with Chaos Group working on V-Ray For Rhinoceros 2.0 and 3.0. Prior to working for Chaos Group, he worked for Gemvision/Stuller creating the parametric Rhinoceros 3d Jewelry plugins Matrix and CounterSketch, which both implement Chaos Group's V-Ray technology.

The Digital Technologies Department at Herzog & de Meuron is not developing VR hardware nor low-level software, it would probably fall into the category of early VR adopters. In the talk Steffen & Mikołaj will explore some thoughts about where and how they see potential for this technology as tool in the architectural practice. Currently HdM is using VR in a growing number of projects. In doing so, they've discovered different variations and degrees of virtual reality and its possible application in the design process. VR comes in many different “flavours”. Many of them are currently overlooked, as the of majority of users is turning their attention to high-end and photo realistic scenes for presentation mode. However they are trying to explore the value of VR as a design tool as well, rather than for pure representation.

Analogies can be drawn to other design tools like, sketching, drafting, classic visualisation and especially to physical model making. Physical and digital models allow them to work with varying degrees of abstraction. Using models makes it possible to investigate many different aspects of the design and construction process. Jumping between scales and levels of detail can be seen as one approach to focus on certain aspects of the design. HdM often studies space, materiality, light, scale or assembly of components in purpose-built models. In the same way they see great potential for the application of VR in project teams at all stages - not only presentations. The equipment needed is becoming broadly accessible, both in terms of hardware and software. This talk will illustrate how VR at Herzog & de Meuron started, progressed, and where it's heading now.

Steffen Riegas - Head Digital Technologies - Herzog & de Meuron

Steffen Riegas joined Herzog & de Meuron in 2010 as an architect in the Digital Technologies Group (DT), which supports project teams with the integration of digital tools in design and building processes. Working in this role on various projects, he was particularly involved in the realization of the Messe Basel New Hall and the Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux. After two years gaining experience in other international offices he became Head Digital Technologies in September 2014.

Steffen graduated from the Muenster School of Architecture in 2007. Prior to his collaboration with Herzog & de Meuron, he gained experience working with UNStudio in Amsterdam and 3XN in Copenhagen. He continues to lecture at universities and conducts workshops on the application of digital design tools in the architectural practice.

Mikolaj Bazaczek - Visual Artist (VR) - Digital Technologies - Herzog & de Meuron

Mikolaj Bazaczek is an architect, programmer, web designer and photographer. He joined the Digital Technologies Group (DT) in 2015 as VR developer to support the team of Visual Artists, to push this technology further and help to integrate it into the design processes in the projects.

Studying architecture at the University of Technology in Gdańsk; Poland he pursued his interest in computers and games, especially games, that allowed him to build virtual worlds

https://www.herzogdemeuron.com/

Moving designs from conceptual modeling to documentation platforms has been a thorn in the side of AECO for years, often requiring specialist knowledge, bespoke tooling, workflow hacks, and a little bit of black magic. However, recent shifts in geometry exchange paradigms have made interoperable workflows more accessible to project teams. From the definition of limited Revit element categories via specialized Grasshopper add-ins, to the transfer of lower-level object types made possible by Dynamo and Rhynamo, to the dynamic exchange of any and all model data via Flux’s cloud-based service, interoperability has become more seamless than ever as an integral aspect of project delivery.

Interoperability is about more than just data exchange, it’s also about model accessibility. Recent examples of custom user interfaces for visual programming environments including the Grasshopper Remote Control Panel, Human UI, and the Dynamo Customizer exhibit a trend toward increasing users’ access to the model, no matter their computational skill, team role, or point at which they engage in the project. The presentation will conclude with the various successes and pitfalls of the Woods Bagot Global Design Technology Team’s integration of interoperable workflows on several globally significant projects over the past year, emphasizing the importance of being able to simultaneously design, document, and deliver at any stage of the project.

Brian Ringley - Design Technology Platform Specialist, Woods Bagot

Brian Ringley is a platform specialist on the Global Design Technology Team at Woods Bagot, where he leads efforts on computational workflows for model interoperability, environmental analysis, geometric rationalization, and architectural fabrication. Brian provides platform training, bespoke toolsets, and intensive support for Woods Bagot's globally significant projects. He has taught at the University of Cincinnati, the City University of New York, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the AA Visiting School, and currently teaches courses on VR/gaming, parametric modeling, workflow convergence, and automated manufacturing at Pratt Institute’s Graduate Architecture and Urban Design (GAUD) program. Prior to Woods Bagot, he worked for R&Sie(n), Dellekamp Arquitectos, and Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. Brian is an Authorized Rhino Trainer and, together with Zach Downey of FC Modular, runs the design technology education website and podcast Designalyze.

Image courtesy of Andrew Heumann, NBBJ

Image courtesy of Brian Ringley, Woods Bagot

Image courtesy of Brian Ringley, Woods Bagot

Image courtesy of Brian Ringley, Woods Bagot

Image courtesy of Brian Ringley, Woods Bagot

Image courtesy of Brian Ringley, Woods Bagot

Image courtesy of Brian Ringley, Woods Bagot

http://www.woodsbagot.com/
http://twitter.com/brianringley
https://www.pratt.edu/academics/architecture/grad-arch-urban-design/
http://designalyze.com/

Creative collaborations between architects, fabricators and engineers, are taking on a more research based design strategy. New design methodologies are triggered by challenging relationships between elements and their performance in terms of fabrication, and our understanding and ability to model and predict structural behaviour.

Collaboratively there is a search for new design solutions that are unique yet predictable and easy to fabricate. An overlap between design drivers that affect structure as well as material, form and aesthetics. Sometimes these solutions are driven or enabled by new technologies, sometimes old ones are reinterpreted.

This lecture discusses a range of projects, where there is an overlap between rules that affect structure, material and form, convincing in new structural material strategies. Projects include a structure made of seaweed, and paper pulp and a brick necklace facade. The interest here lies in how geometry, fabrication and structural design inform one another and the process of design. Through feedback loops there is an integrated design philosophy.

Manja van de Worp - Principal NOUS Engineering London

Manja van de Worp is a trained Architect and Structural Engineer from the Netherlands and completed a postgraduate in Emergent Technologies and Design at the AA in 2007. Her expertise lies in the translation of an idea into a working structural design, relating fabrication, materiality and geometry, working closely with architects and artists.

She has worked for Arup in London in the Advanced Geometry Unit and at the Advanced Technology and Research group in ARUP, designing structures with a complex geometry and moveable structures.

Manja has Launched NOUS engineering LONDON in 2013 an engineering consultancy bearing extensive knowledge of advanced structural analysis tools, complex structural systems, materials and fabrication technologies. Current projects involve a FRP shell and a modular steel roof structure.

Manja holds a permanent teaching position at the Architectural Association and the IAAC in Barcelona and teaches various workshops to architecture students, engineers and fashion designers worldwide.

NOUS Engineering

With offices in London and Los Angeles, NOUS Engineering offers sophisticated bespoke engineering solutions to architects, artists and developers.

We seek out synergies between engineering and design, and are continually adapting to engage with advanced simulation software and cross-platform links between design, structure and fabrication. Our recent work includes projects in Africa, China, the US and UK, ranging from public art to architectural installations to community based projects to large-scale residential and high-rise construction.

Our collaborative approach, sound technical experience and commitment to innovation are reflected in the value we bring to each and every project.

1. Ruins studio: Dumfries Scotland: LilyJencks_Nathanael Dorent [2016]

2. Coachella: Paper pulp Pavilion, Palm Springs, USA BallNogues [2015]

3. Oki Naganode: Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Julia Lohmann [2013]

Image credits: © Manja van de Worp / NOUS Engineering

Rhino enables you to model the most complex geometries so wouldn't it be great if you could re-use this work in a BIM environment. Now you can with BIMobject's unique techology of LENA/ BIMscript.

Alan Baikie - BIMobject UK Ltd

Over the course of my career I have worked in senior management positions in several industries, mainly with an Information Technology bias.

I became involved in BIM 12 years ago, initially with software supplier Graphisoft, then more recently at Solibri and now as the Managing Director of BIMobject UK.

I am a member of BIM for Manufacturing and Manufacturers (BIM4M2 – http://bim4m2.co.uk/). This organisation has been established by the UK Government’s BIM Task Group to encourage and support construction product manufacturers and installers to transition to BIM. I am the Chairman of the BIM4M2 Product Data Work Group which educates and mentors Trade Associations and manufacturers on what is required to be UK BIM Level 2 compliant.

Apart from a keen interest in cars, and most things mechanical, I also keep English Longhorn cows and Tamworth pigs.

“If we could design a million buildings in our sleep…” - Parametric analysis at the cutting edge of glass design.

Automated manufacturing techniques have driven façade panels to myriad of complex shapes in recent years. This is particularly noticeable in glass, where curved or angular geometries are now commonplace in high profile projects.

Such a transition requires engineers to not only have detailed knowledge of structures and materials, but also be able to develop digital tools to rapidly analyse and investigate schemes.

In this presentation, James Griffith explores and demonstrates the benefits of delivering this combination on recent glass projects in Arup. By developing detailed parametric structural analysis tools, rapid input to geometrical and materiality decisions can be provided at early stages of the design and incorporated into a full exploration of design options.

James Griffith

James Griffith joined Arup as a structural engineer in 2014 after graduating in Engineering from Cambridge University. Working with the Façade division, he has been heavily involved in researching and developing the parametric structural analysis capabilities of the group and applying them on projects around the world. James has a strong interest in structural glass and digital design.

Image credits: © James Griffith / Arup

Image credits: © STEPHEN HOLL ARCHITECTS

Iris is a cross platform plugin for Rhino which works on Rhino 5 (Mac / Win) and Rhino WIP (Mac/Win). Iris allows you to export your Rhino models to a web based format which you can use to share online and view with any modern browser on any computer or mobile device. Iris is developed as a RhinoCommon plugin which has facilitated the process of creating a cross platform plugin which works on both OSX and Windows versions of Rhino.

Luis E. Fraguada investigates critical issues in architecture, design, and urbanism through various modes, including associative design, programming, and fabrication. Luis applies research in professional practice as Research Director of Built by Associative Data, an architecture studio with built projects in Beirut and ongoing projects internationally. In 2015, Luis joined the McNeel Euro / Asuni team to develop plugins in emerging sectors. Since 2008, Luis has taught computational design at the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, Masters of Advanced Architecture program.

Kangaroo is an interactive physics/constraint solver and Grasshopper plugin for designers

Daniel Piker will present Kangaroo 2.0, and its application to material and mechanical simulation, constraint based modeling, and geometry optimization.

Also introducing the Kangaroo solver library, allowing the scripting and customization of this functionality.

http://kangaroo3d.com/

This project, undertaken by Joseph Walsh Studio, focuses on the creation of two sculptural shelves, (each of which are almost 8m long) that will incorporate 14 tall glass oil lamps. Commissioned for a medieval private chapel near Verona in Italy, the project began in 2015 with physical sketch models created to understand the shape of the pieces and their relationship with the scale of the church. At this point CAD technology was introduced into the project and a form finding process led to a 1:1 template installation in December 2015. This enabled a greater understanding of the impact of the work on the church from both a physical and conceptual perspective. This ambitious project, designed to create an ethereal atmosphere in the church, has proved challenging for the studio.

Magnus Celesti

The title, Magnus Celesti, derives from the Latin words Magnus (‘Large' / ‘Great') and Celesti (‘Heavenly’). This series of work presents an opportunity for Joseph Walsh to address the relationship between form and function, as well as the artists' challenge to encourage viewers to see and experience a piece from different perspectives.

In the first piece, created for an exhibition at Roche Court in 2014, Joseph Walsh is conscious of the viewers' experience in the gallery while adhering to the creative language of collaboration between man and material. The large, free form sculpture, made from layers of ash, spiralled upwards from floor to ceiling. Emerging out of a desk form, the sculptural work expanded outwards to wrap the entire one-roomed space of the Artists’ House, coming to rest with a large shelf hanging on the side wall of the gallery.

Joseph Walsh

Joseph Walsh is an internationally renowned designer maker, whose work reflects an understanding and sympathetic use of material, an intimate relationship between finding forms and creating structures and a continuity and resolve from concept to making. He founded Joseph Walsh Studio in 1999 in Co. Cork, Ireland. The studio now employs an international team of master makers, design technicians and their assistants, who challenge existing practice in achieving the ambitious pieces realised.

Joseph Walsh's work can be found in many significant international museum and private collections and is regularly exhibited at major art and design fairs.

Miroslav Hlava

Miroslav Hlava is a Prague based freelance designer who specialises in using CAD/CAM technologies such as generative algorithmic modeling and multi-agent systems in architecture as a part of advanced form finding and designing in general. He is currently completing a Masters Degree programme at the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at Czech Technical University in Prague.
Collaborating on projects for Joseph Walsh Studio since 2015, he has employed algorithmic modeling techniques to analyze and simulate the behaviour of bonded wooden veneer based furniture as well as creating digital 3D models.

In 2015 Sundae A&D were commissioned to design a new retail concept for Microsoft that was to be deployed across 26 countries in 4 continents within a time frame of only 6 months from brief to completion.

In her presentation Caroline will give an introduction to her previous investigations in 3d scanning of the human body to design furniture and wearable artefacts but then go on to discuss the challenges of designing for global manufacture. Whilst Rhino and CAD inform her designs in the London studio, sometimes information needs to be worked back into orthographic drawings when a universal, global construction language is needed. The success of this project lay in gauging how best to provide design information and specifications that would translate successfully into the finished products regardless of locally available technology.

Caroline Lundin - Sundae Architecture & Design Studio

Caroline Lundin is co-founder and Design Director of Sundae Architecture & Design Studio. She holds a Masters and Graduate Diploma in Architecture from the Bartlett and stays involved in the academic world by teaching in an architectural unit at Oxford Brookes University.

Caroline has a diverse portfolio that includes explorations with digital fabrication, unconventional materials and responsive design. She also has considerable experience in working with digital media and in collaborating with artists.

Previously she has worked for ‘CRAB’ Peter Cook’s studio, winning the competition to design the RIBA European Award winning Vienna School of Economics. She has also received an RIBA award for her Bundle Bench and has had her work exhibited in London, Copenhagen and Stockholm.

Image credits:
Factory in India by Caroline Lundin
Exploded axo by Sundae A&D

www.sundaedesignstudio.com
twitter.com/sundae_studio

Made from CNC-milled walnut top and delicate 3D-prototyped legs ‘Transitional Fields’ table is dynamic, structurally challenging and inspiring. The project is envisaged as a spatial construct informed by the extensive use of emerging digital fabrication tools. The piece is light, fragile and ephemeral. It consists of a complex structural network of interlaced elements that together create an elegant coherent ensemble. The table performs in a natural-synthetic mode emphasised through the materiality between soft and hard, light and heavy. The design was carefully crafted on the computer allowing for greater precision and perfect fit between the 3D prototyped legs and the CNC milled top. The use of 3D modelling and 3D printing allows for easy future design modifications and the potential to produce at various sizes upon request.

Aleksandrina Rizova

Aleksandrina is ARB registered and RIBA chartered architect. She completed a Graduate Diploma/ Masters course in Architecture with Distinction at the Bartlett School of Architecture where she received the Ambrose Poynter Prize for Distinguished work in the Diploma Thesis in 2011. Her work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy of Art Summer Show, Clerkenwell Design Week and belongs to the largest European art and design collection at Centre National Des Arts Plastiques, Paris. Aleks is also teaching MArch Architecture Unit 15 at the Bartlett School of Architecture, London.

Aleks established ALEKSA studio – RIBA Chartered architecture and design practice in 2014. Based in the heart of Clerkenwell the practice portfolio ranges from residential and retail projects to installations and furniture design pieces. Our installations and product design pieces are informed by the extensive use of emerging digital fabrication tools. We combine hybrid techniques of making to produce highly complex, structurally challenging and environmentally adaptive spatial constructs. Our work is textural, tactile and ornamental – augmenting the boundaries between interiority and exteriority.

This presentation describes how various digital tools, including kinematic simulation and 3D scanning, were used to generate, fabricate and document the EKM Works “Grace” installation for Karen Millen.

Emma-Kate Matthews

Emma-Kate (EKM Works) is a London based Architect, Artist and Musician. In addition to her work with the multi-disciplinary engineering and design group, Geometrics, she is committed to a number of personal architectural, art, sculpture and furniture design commissions. In 2011, Emma-Kate graduated with distinction from unit 23 at the Bartlett school of Architecture; a unit committed to exploring experimental digital fabrication techniques and the process of “design through making”. She now teaches design to undergraduate students at the Bartlett. Her multidisciplinary approach is centered around the realisation of complex geometric forms using advanced fabrication techniques and technologies. Emma-Kate is also involved in a number of music composition and performance projects and she released two solo albums in 2015. She is currently collaborating with an experimental orchestra to prepare several of her original pieces for immersive, live performance.

www.ekm.works

Daghan Cam

Daghan Cam is the co-founder and CEO of AI Build. He is also a teaching fellow at University College London where he is teaching a graduate design studio and doing a research on GPU computing in coordination with Nvidia. He holds a masters degree with distinction from the Architectural Association. Previously, he worked at Zaha Hadid Architects in London. He lectured and exhibited his work internationally on large scale 3d printing and robotic fabrication technologies.

www.daghancam.com

AI Build

Ai Build is a London based startup that is preparing to manufacture hi-tech buildings and create environments with Artificial Intelligence. It is founded in 2015 by Daghan Cam, Alisa Andrasek, Michail Desyllas, Feng Zhou and Ningzhu Wang.

Current methods of construction are wasteful, labour intensive, unsafe and time consuming. They are also incapable of creating complex forms which are essential to increase a building’s performance. AI Build is driving innovation in design, robotics, computer vision and machine learning to automate fabrication processes and create high quality spaces with embedded Artificial Intelligence.

www.ai-build.com

This presentation will focus on innovative tools and processes used to transfer from design to fabrication for cladding support steel for the King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture, due to open shortly.

Inoclad as a specialist facade consultant supported Seele (Main Facade Sub-Contractor) with the design and documentation of bespoke elements to permit a unique, landmark tower facade form like no other to date. A combination of Grasshopper, Python and Manual modelling in Rhino produced fabrication model detail in the .3dm file format. But this does not explicitly support steel fabrication processes including ordering, cutting and assembling on an tower project scale. Given that each steel element was unique in shape, size and orientation, "tracing" the model in fabrication suitable software would have likely resulted in program delays and been subject to human error in creating and reviewing the resulting model elements.

Geometry Gym supported Nurol Gulf with Grasshopper scripts and plugins to reverse engineer the .3dm files (primarily polysurfaces with meta data) into Tekla which is very proficient for digital fabrication.

When a second fabricator was engaged to accelerate fabrication program, Geometry Gym supported Inoclad to generate the fabrication model in the openBIM IFC format from Grasshopper, which could then be directly imported into Tekla, both processes using Geometry Gym plugins.

Jon Mirtschin, Director Geometry Gym Pty Ltd

Jon Mirtschin is a structural engineer with a computer science degree, and has been supporting Engineers, Architects, Builders and other AEC Professionals with tools and processes to permit model interchangeability and design transfer. An emphasis on OpenBIM exchange using advanced use of IFC has been central to these workflows.

As a structural engineer, Jon worked in London for Expedition Engineering on projects including Infinity Bridge, 2012 Olympic Game Velodrome and Torre Intesa Sanpaolo. Previously at Connell Wagner (now Aurecon) in Australia, projects included Wembley Stadium, Melbourne Cricket Ground Northern Stand redevelopment and Eureka tower.

He formed Geometry Gym in 2009 to focus on Software development and project support. The software tools primarily exist in the form of plugins for Rhino, Grasshopper, Revit, Tekla, Navisworks and a multitude of structural analysis applications.

All Images ©Snøhetta

London is in the grip of a housing crises. 50,000 new affordable housing units a year are required, and our construction sector is at capacity, producing nowhere near that number. The solution lies in industrialising construction which can be decentralised and allows the erection of multi-storey housing faster and with a reduced number of people and specialist skills.

We have developed a kit of parts approach to residential construction that is based on this concept, which uses the power of parametric design to ensure a maximum of flexibility for each project while achieving the necessary design resolution that allows prefabrication of predominantly flat pack elements for frame, walls and envelope, to tight tolerances for simple and fast erection on site. Utilising the existing supply chain but cutting out the loss of resolution in the handover from designer to contractor, the proposed approach will radically change the way we are designing and constructing residential buildings without being locked into the repetitive stereotypes of modular construction.

Dr Al Fisher - BuroHappold Engineering

Dr Al Fisher is an associate at BuroHappold Engineering, focusing on the application of novel approaches to design computation across projects. A structural engineer with a background in computational design, he has particular interest in the geometry of freeform architecture, where engineering efficiency and form are so inextricably linked. His research is now focused on realising truely integrated multidisciplinary computational engineering.

Previously Al studied for his masters and PhD in Civil and Architectural engineering at the University of Bath, completing his thesis on generative complex geometries, applying his work to both structural analysis and computational fluid dynamics.

Wolf Mangelsdorf - BuroHappold Engineering

Wolf Mangelsdorf was born and grew up in Germany.

After graduation in Architecture and Civil Engineering at Karlsruhe University and a research stay at Kyoto University he moved to Britain in 1997.

Since 2002 he has been with BuroHappold, where he is a partner. He is project principal for a number of major projects with leading architects both in the UK and internationally and responsible for structural engineering globally.

He has been teaching at the Architectural Association since 2000, and has been a guest lecturer and tutor at universities internationally.

Bob McNeel - President and Founder

Steve Baer - Senior Developer

Dan Belcher - Senior Developer

David Rutten - Senior Developer

Carlos Pérez - McNeel Europe Marketing Manager

We couldn’t hope for a more fitting end to Shape To Fabrication than a Q&A with the team from McNeel…come armed with your questions and pose them directly to the team.