FLUX Workshops / Exhibition 2009March 20092 daysSan Francisco, California USCalifornia College of the ArtsHosted by CCA MEDIAlab

FLUX: Architecture in a Parametric Landscape was the first project of the CCA MEDIAlab. It consisted of four interrelated components: an exhibition documenting over fifty projects that have helped to form our contemporary understanding of digital design and architecture, a lecture series, seven two-day workshops in advanced digital design tools and techniques, and a forthcoming publication documenting the entire event.The FLUX workshops brought together many beginner and expert users in various parametric modelling and design software in order to understand how different techniques contribute to the overall body of research. The workshops attempted to cover the range of ways in which parametric modelling is being used within the design and architecture disciplines: from more exploratory generative design using Rhinoscript to more BIM focused techniques using Revit. The seven workshops were:Introduction to Rhino Modelling (Instructor: Pascal Golay)Introduction to Grasshopper Modelling (Instructor: Andy Payne)Advanced Grasshopper Modelling and VB.Net Scripting (Instructor: Ronnie Parsons, Gil Akos, and Rjaa Issa)Introduction to RhinoScript (Instructor: Marc Fornes)Beyond Parametric Modelling with solidThinking (Instructor: Darren Chilton)Knowledge Patterns in Digital Project (Instructor: David Gerber)Associative Modelling and Formula Driven Geometry using Revit Architecture (Instructor: Nancy Clark Brown)

The FLUX exhibition was generated in conjunction with this year’s CCA Architecture Lecture Series focused on the integration of digital practices and design, CCA MEDIAlab’s digital workshops and the International Smart Geometry conference held in San Francisco in the spring of 2009. The exhibition focused on the emerging field of advanced digital design. In the last two decades of architectural practice, new digital technologies have evolved from being simply representational tools invested in the depiction of existing models of architectural space to becoming significant performative machines that have transformed the ways in which we both conceive and configure space and material. These tools for design, simulation, and fabrication, have enabled the emergence of new digital diagrams and parametric landscapes—often emulating genetic and iterative dynamic evolutionary processes—that are not only radically changing the ways in which we integrate disparate types of information into the design process, but are also significantly altering the methodological strategies that we use for design, fabrication and construction. After the early digital explosion of the 1990’s, new forms of rigour and production have entered into the field of architecture, supporting the emergence of parametric and building information modelling and the enhanced use of computational geometry and scripting that together represent the second critical wave of digital design practices.  That our current models of space are far more continuous, variant and complex, is specifically a result of the tools we are using to produce them, an inevitable byproduct of the ever-expanding capacities of digital computation and related fabrication technologies as these intersect with theoretical trajectories that long ago dismantled the social, functional and technological truths of the early part of this century. 

The content of the exhibition was organised through a series of thematic categories each of which explored a set of spatial logics that have been transformed through advanced digital practices: Stacked Aggregates, Modular Assemblages, Pixelated Fields, Cellular Clusters, Serial Iterations, Woven Meshes, Material Systems, and Emergent Environments. In this exhibit, these themes were elaborated through the presentation of 50 built works and experimental architectural projects, and were expanded by analytical diagrams and 3D printed models generated by CCA architecture students.

The FLUX installation, developed by a team of CCA faculty and students, also explored the possibilities of parametric modelling and digital fabrication through the production of the exhibition armature.  Produced using CCA’s new CNC router and advanced parametric modelling techniques, the undulating structure expanded and contracted as its volume extended down the center of the long nave space.  Through the use of parametric modelling and a series of custom designed scripts, the installation design could be quickly updated to address new design criteria.  From the thickness of the ribs to the overall twisting geometry and perforated skins, the spatial form of the armature was controlled through a complex set of relationships defined by its formal, performative, and fabrication constraints.

Materials and machines

 None

Software 

Rhino, Grasshopper, VB.Net (in grasshopper), RhinoScript, solidThinking, Digital Project, Revit Architecture

Participants
Tutors:- Introduction to Rhino Modelling: Pascal Golay- Introduction to Grasshopper Modelling: Andy Payne- Advanced Grasshopper Modelling and VB.Net Scripting: Ronnie Parsons, Gil Akos, and Rjaa Issa- Introduction to RhinoScript: Marc Fornes- Beyond Parametric Modelling with solidThinking: Darren Chilton- Knowledge Patterns in Digital Project: David Gerber- Associative Modelling and Formula Driven Geometry using Revit Architecture: Nancy Clark Brown
OutcomeThe FLUX exhibition focused on the emerging field of advanced digital design. In the last two decades of architectural practice, new digital technologies have evolved from being simply representational tools invested in the depiction of existing models of architectural space to becoming significant performative machines that have transformed the ways in which we both conceive and configure space and material. The content of the exhibition is organised through a series of thematic categories each of which explores a set of spatial logics that have been transformed through advanced digital practices: Stacked Aggregates, Modular Assemblages, Pixelated Fields, Cellular Clusters, Serial Iterations, Woven Meshes, Material Systems and Emergent Environments. In this exhibit, these themes were elaborated through the presentation of 50 built works and experimental architectural projects, and were expanded by analytical diagrams and 3D printed models generated by CCA architecture students.

Notes

Some of the most exciting features of hosting a workshop series in which 7 different workshops all explore parametric modelling are methodological similarities and differences that emerge between different software packages. Many of the workshops approached issues of generative design and geometric differentiation through highly different strategies, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. By surveying the various tools and techniques in this way, it is easier to understand how and when to choose the right software for a particular design problem. 

Thoughts

Both students and professionals highly benefit from the workshop experience. In both academia and practice, the short yet intense nature of workshops allow attendees to quickly upgrade their skill sets and apply these new tools to increasingly complex design projects. 

Contact

Email: mlab.cca.edu
Mail: California College of the Arts 1111 8th Street San Francisco, CA 94107 
United States