petebooth[iaac]

Georgia and I completed our parametric house presentation as a part of our Research Studio_ Digital Tectonics class. We were very happy with the final results, receiving great comments form the jury.

download the presentation here

In emergency housing situations the manner in which solutions manage the cost and timing of deployment is perhaps one of its most critical factors. The Instant House, project developed for MIT’s Separtment of Architecture, by Marcel Botha and Lawrence D. Sass, tries to achieve a fast, cost effective system relying on digital technologies. This example studies the nature in which design and digital fabrication can be utilized as a relief effort for natural disaster areas, refugee camps or any other improvised emergency human habitat. It promotes the use of a system that is rapidly deployable and scalable, while fostering individuality within the larger rebuilt community.

Botha and Sass intend to create an atypical solution in large quantities for emergency, transitional and developing contexts, while giving agency to the end user, through generative computational methods and CNC fabrication techniques. The process lends itself to customization, embodying principles of lean production, flexible computer-integrated manufacturing strategies and reduced cycle times. A direct instantaneous link can be established between generative design and fabrication and evaluation system. The end user can participate in this decision process, without incurring cost beyond the initial technological infrastructure.

The Instant House ships as a flat packed structure ready for implementation. A generative system that mechanizes the interaction between user, designer and fabrication, attempts to effectively deploy customized dwellings without incurring a cost premium. It is not intended that the process proliferates cosmetic change, but more importantly structural and spatial variation.

More information can be found here and here.

Georgia and I presented our progress within our Digital Techtonics Research Seminr today.  The semesters project is to create a house within a defined set of rules, that can me modified into an infinite number of variations.

The conceptual beginning of the project deals with subtracted space within a solid form and its ability to define spatial parameters inside without the need for additional internal elements.  We used a series of houses by Japanese architect Chiba Manabu as a case study reference as his traditional methods of building conception also deal with subtractive space.
The images above and below explain the set of constrained rules that we created in order

Click on the images to see a larger version with a more detailed explanation of the parameters and possible variations.

After 11 days in Tassie and a whole lot of flying I’m back in Barcelona, ready to take on the new year and the new semester.

We received our class allocations today and i got almost all the ones that i wanted which is great. So for the next 8 weeks or so I will be studying the following:

Research Studio - Digital Techtonics
Seminar 1 - Internet zero
Seminar 2 - Parametric Design
Seminar 3 - Scripting (rhinoscript)
Seminar 4 - Complex Systems