Favorite Buildings - Copenhagen Harbor Bath...

A few photos of the Copenhagen Harbor Bath by BIG, visited this chilly April (thus there are no people enjoying the pool as of yet)...

Hotel Room Views Nos. 1-5 (+3)...

Outside view of the ski-slope at Emirates Mall in Dubai...

This is the first submission of a future series showing various hotel room views, taken during some of my recent trips... Often quite bland, other times memorably exciting, the view from one's hotel window is often an important, but somewhat underestimated, element in hotel (room) design. It's usually the second thing I check out after first gaining an initial overall impression of a room... Granted there's often not much a designer can do to improve the view itself, however, how it is framed, directed (angled), shaped, tinted, shaded, etc. does allow one to manipulate and direct the gaze, the quantity and quality of the light that enters, and which features of the view the room's user should be intuitively drawn to...

For earlier impressions taken from hotel rooms click here for Turkey, here for Australia, and here for a different view of Dubai...

Night view over Tokyo's Shinjuku district...

A Copenhagen view, with the Finnish Embassy opposite...

A view across the Salmiya shoreline in Kuwait...

Above and below: My view in Venice, with the Grand Canal to the right, and one of the city's multitude of smaller canals to the left. The hotel was located opposite a school...

Industrial Crane & Truss Structure, Copenhagen...

Exquisite Corpse Laser-Cut Totem Workshop...

A somewhat delayed submission about my workshop held at the last Tasmeem Conference this March. A summarized brief for the workshop is included below:

The workshop performs as an updated adaptation of the Surrealist game, ‘Exquisite Corpse’ - where a set of participants each contribute a segment in a consecutive sequence of either words or images into an collated assemblage. In this instance the string of images or words are replaced by a set of laser-cut cardboard profiles, each about half a meter tall and roughly 70 cm wide, which, when stacked, in unison would result in an over 3 meter tall, totem-pole…

The workshop will involve maximum 15 participants divided into groups of two (and one individual or a group of three). Each of these small groups (pairs) will fabricate an stretch of a totem. The design of each segment of the totem is up to the group, the only constraints are determined by the basic structural concerns and the need for a uniform ‘link’ (connection point) between the totem’s segments. The actual sequence for where each groups segment is positioned along the stretch of a totem will only be decided during the concluding assembly stage, thus the form, function or look of each section of the totem is up to its designer and each totem will be a reflection of all the groups, all the workshop participants’, collective efforts...

Examples of the process and end result can be viewed below. The final piece is currently standing in the hallway outside the ground floor workshops at VCUQ...

The initial conceptual phase...

Assembly of the individual laser-cut units...

A few examples of some of the individual units...

The Totem assembly process (click on the image to see its larger version)...

The completed Exquisite Corpse Laser-Cut Totem...

Some details of the assembled totem...

A big thank you also has to go to Ben Jurgensen without whom's invaluable help the workshop would not have run as smoothly as it did...

First Year at VCUQ Concluded...

Cover of the MFA.DESIGN. brochure showing the current MFA Faculty. From left to right (with names and fields of know-how): Diane Derr (Time Based Media), Saied Farisi (Graphic Design/ Typography), Constantin Boym (Department Head; Product/ Furniture/ Concept Design), Richard Lombard (Materials Library Curator), myself. Mike Wirtz (MFA Research Librarian) is missing from this photo...

Photo by Markus Elblaus.

The Spring Term, and my first academic year at VCUQ, has now concluded. Well, more or less, as I've still going to be teaching during the upcoming Summer Term from mid-May until the end of June... All together it's been a very interesting period, and I'm truly excited about both ongoing and upcoming research and other design projects, the preparation of new courses, preparation of updated renditions for existing courses, and numerous other events... We're also expecting a new faculty member, as well as a fresh batch of six new graduate students to join us this coming Fall...

Fun, fun fun, below a dusty sun, sun, sun...

Questioning the Gated Compound - Looking for Urban Conviviality in the GCC...

Examples of gated compounds in Doha (images sourced from Google Maps)...

We are not running out of land. We are running out of urban spaces.

Andres Duany

For the exception of some areas in Manama, I haven't come across many mixed neighborhoods within the GCC countries. Usually, particularly in the more recent developments, residential areas are usually fiercely separate (occasionally even by walls) from retail areas, commercial offices demarcated from green areas, etc. Neither is there much evidence of small, shared neighborhood parks or even playgrounds. One could argue this is partly due to cultural norms, where traditionally each residential unit's (freej's) privacy is partitioned from the adjacent buildings and areas, however, looking at even a half century old maps and photos from various regional cities, it becomes clear that this hasn't always been the case and this more stringent, hermetically sealed, demarcation between plots is a more recent development. The historical neighborhood template, which even though partitioned, nevertheless, with their narrow and shaded pedestrian paths (sikkat), allowed for a much more organic and less segregated neighborhood-scape to those evident today. There are an abundance of suggestive precedents, from places such as Southern Europe, Asia, Africa, along with the Middle-East (for images of an Omani example click here), for how such issues could be tackled without compromising either some of the levels of comfort we'd become accustomed today, whilst still allowing an evolution, of sorts, develop regarding what a city in this region (GCC, MENA) could/ should be. Moderation, or 'evolution instead of revolution' as Bjarke Ingels of BIG puts it, is still the key in implementing such, potentially even drastic, changes... But considering the changes this region has already been experiencing for a number of decades, such a additional diversion, which inevitably would be realized at relatively generous timeframes, shouldn't be an issue. However, the focus here shouldn't necessarily be on the notion of change, but the intention of providing urban options, something which are still somewhat limited in this region...

What this might entail will hopefully be something explored further through a number of proposed research projects as well as through this blog - so watch this space...

Men do not love Rome because she is beautiful; Rome is beautiful because men have loved her.

Leopold Kohr

A photo showing the 'freej' and 'sikkats' of a traditional urban neighborhood (image sourced from rudi.net)...

Responsive Acoustic Surfacing Cluster - Smart Geometry 2011, Copenhagen...

A (probably) final submission about a cluster from the latest Smart Geometry event, this time from a very interesting cluster titled Responsive Acoustic Surfacing, championed by Mark Burry, Jane Burry, Alexander Pena de Leon and Daniel Davis from SIAL at RMIT... Its introductory outline is included below:

This cluster aims to develop and evaluate a new generation of parametric tools that embed emergent behavior within parametric models. Swarming, Flocking, Cellular Automata, Genetic Algorithms and Dynamic Relaxation are examples of emergent tools that synthesise data-sets into solutions. In this cluster we will explore sound datascapes in order to investigate how surfaces with variable resonators can be used to reduce particular frequencies of sound in response to shifts within a particular soundscape.

After qualitatively and quantitatively measuring the sound and environmental conditions of selected situations, participants of this cluster will use emergent-parametric tools to search for doubly ruled surfaced forms that accentuate certain frequencies of sound and muffle others. The variable tunable Helmholz resonator is one example of how this can be achieved in association with the design of the surfaces. The emergent nature of our parametric tools allows them to synthesise acoustical analysis by setting up a real-time feedback loop between the data from the parametric model, and the analysis provided by acoustical analysis software: ODEON. The resulting designs will be prototyped at 1:5 using the hot-wire cutter, constraining the geometry to doubly ruled surfaces (the same vocabulary Gaudí used in his later years) and allows for the analysis of the parametric models’ accuracy. The resulting data including acoustic properties, aesthetics, material and manufacturing constraints, is then fed back into the parametric model to improve the next generation of prototypes.

The back of the 1:1 wall...

Agent Construction Cluster - Smart Geometry 2011, Copenhagen...

An additional submission of a workshop cluster from the recently concluded Smart Geometry event(s) in Copenhagen, this time of the Agent Construction cluster, run by Petra Jenning, David Andreen and Rupert Soar (my PhD advisor)... Brilliant stuff, that kept one one ones toes as the 'bottom-up', quasi-random, construction evolved and advanced...

An outline of the cluster brief is included below:

The cluster will be exploring a thoroughly bottom-up approach to construction, by placing ourselves as agents in an emergent system. The goal of the cluster is to demonstrate how ‘invisible’ processes (in this case air and energy flows) generated by the emerging structure can be visualised during the construction process and used to direct the ongoing fabrication process in real time.

Rather than pre-designing a blueprint, the cluster members will be agreeing on rules which will guide the assembly of a physical structure which will mimic some physical and formal characteristics of termite mounds. The role of the computer will be to analyse the emerging structure and simulate alternative rules which can then be applied to the ongoing construction process in order to effect - evolve - the outcome. During development extensive documentation of the rules which guided the construction, how these evolved based on performance feedback and simulations, and the corresponding physical emergence of the structure over time will be recorded and fed back.

Freeform Construction is a multi-disciplinary organisation exploring rapid manufacturing on an architectural scale and its implications for the industry. With an interest in adaptive structures and process integration and with extensive knowledge and expertise of rapid manufacturing, biological processes and innovative construction, they have attracted international media coverage and are collaborating with leading architects. Rupert, Petra and David are among the co-founders of Freeform Construction and together they teach in a diploma studio in architecture at Greenwich University in London which explores digital manufacturing and collaborative workflows.

Above & below: Close-ups of the cardboard 'crystals' as they are gradually assembled, initially from bottom-up, but also at later stages (literally) from top-down...

Occasionally the crystals entwined with various artifacts found it the collectives vicinity...

The Leica device used in the placement of the crystals...

Above & below: A few images from the process of assembly...