.

2011-07-12T12:28:00.002+01:00

moved out / nova casa : http://nihilistarchitect.wordpress.com/

Secção: insólitos menos em Braga

2010-03-29T23:31:00.001+01:00

Fabricação Digital para todos!

Vem mesmo a calhar este post, logo após a referencia à visita ao Iaac.

Um dos melhores centros de cópias da cidade de Braga dispõe já há alguns meses de um serviço próprio de fabricação digital!

Interessante é a forma inteligente e e vernacular que encontraram para lucrar e ao mesmo tempo dar a conhecer esta “nova” ferramenta ao cidadão menos atento. Não é todos os dias que temos oportunidade de ver de perto o potencial de uma CNC laser.

Aqui está um dos produtos pioneiros da fabricação digital em Braga:

Estas peças fazem, desde já, história!

P.S. O centro de cópias está realmente de parabéns, a sério.

Iaac - Solar House Commencement /Exhibition

2010-01-21T18:10:00.001Z

Barcelona – 21 Jan de 2010

Iaac – Institut d’ arquitectura avançada de Catalunya, a oportunidade de ver o lançamento oficial da fabricação da proposta ao Solar Dechalon Europe e falar com alguns dos estudantes ligados ao projecto.

Iaac - Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, the chance to attend the Ceremony of Launching Fabrication of the first Solar House of Barcelona, the Fab Lab House, within the frame of the solar Decathlon 2010 Competition.

It is perhaps the first time ever, that an entry in this competition results from a computational process, relying in parametrization – Grasshopper being one of the tools – and digital fabrication.

Talvez seja a primeira entrada neste concurso que recorre, por um lado, a processos de parametrização – sendo o Grasshopper uma das ferramentas utilizadas – e por outro, a fabricação digital, grande parte da qual será feita nas instalações do próprio Instituto, recorrendo a uma fresa.

Apesar de ser ainda incompleta a informação facilitada, segundo os autores, teoricamente esta casa, ou melhor, este processo computacional, resulta em infinitas soluções, optimizadas para qualquer localização do globo. Apesar de ser um exemplo de mass costumization, na verdade trata-se de um protótipo. O elevado preço por metro quadrado e tanto quanto foi possível perceber, uma série ainda limitada de inputs considerados, são alguns dos pontos a contornar.

Certamente que há uma série de questões a levantar mas talvez seja esse o grande mérito deste projecto: trazer e centrar discussões. Se o resultado prático pode ser discutível, indiscutível é a capacidade do Instituto ao longo de poucos anos, reunir conhecimento, recursos humanos e materiais para desenvolver este projecto.

Da filosofia do FabLab, de destacar a preocupação em trazer o acto de construir para as mãos das pessoas, dos futuros moradores até, investindo em sistemas e materiais de construção simples, leves.

A Topogia do Novo Arquitecto p.1

2010-01-15T20:11:00.001Z

Workshop – Processos Digitais de Modelação 3D.

Duas edições realizadas comprovam o crescente interesse por jovens arquitectos e futuros arquitectos, por novas formas de pensar arquitectura, neste início de século. Pragmaticamente falando a maioria dos participantes procuram conhecimentos em Rhinoceros, um software cada vez mais reconhecido entre nós. O workshop pretende expor, na prática, as principais valias deste software, explorando um primeiro leque, já bastante abrangente, de comandos e operações. O modo como se desenha em sistemas tradicionais assistidos por computador é colocado lado a lado com soluções de desenho paramétrico nomeadamente através do plugin Grasshopper.

Paralelamente, uma breve base teórica é fornecida, permitindo aos formandos contextualizarem estas ferramentas.

“Topologia” é palavra chave neste workshop, entendida como um processo transversal, dinâmico e abrangente de uma nova forma de projectar em arquitectura.“(…)

“topology is ultimately about relations, interconnections within a given spatial context, and not about specific forms - a single topological construct is manifestable through multiple forms (and those forms net not to be curvilinear). (…)Thus, in (uninformed) architectural discourse “topologial” often means “curved” and vice versa.(…)” Branko Kolarevic in Architecure in the Digital Age

SEED

Workshop - Processos Digitais de Modelação 3D

2009-11-09T11:10:00.001Z

Confere 8 horas (credito) exigido pelo R.I. na formação complementar opcional “formação obrigatória em matérias opcionais de arquitectura”, pela Ordem dos Arquitectos.

:: Calendário:
25 e 28 de Novembro, 1 e 5 de Dezembro:

:: Horários:
25 Nov: 14h30 – 17h30
Restantes dias: 9h – 13h e 14h30 – 18h30

:: Carga horária: 27hrs

:: Local: Escola de Arquitectura da Universidade do Minho

:: Público-alvo: Estudantes de arquitectura, arquitectos, desenhadores e interessados na área de desenho tridimensional digital.

:: Perfil Inicial: Jovens ou adultos com conhecimentos gerais de desenho 2d e 3d em ambiente digital.

:: Perfil Final: O formando deverá ser capaz de: Identificar e reconhecer as particularidades inerentes aos processos digitais de desenho aplicados na fase de concepção em arquitectura. Produzir modelos 3D e 2D com base no software Rhinoceros e no plugin Grasshopper.

:: Objectivos: O desenvolvimento deste workshop tem como objectivos:

- Elucidar os formandos das particularidades e diferenças dos processos de computorização e computação.

- Dotar o formando de competências técnicas introdutórias, na manipulação de softwares de modelação livre (Rhinoceros) e de modelação paramétrica (Grasshopper) orientada à concepção de objectos 3D.

:: Orientação: Estúdio SEED e Krfr

:: Formadores: Arq. Adriano Faria e Amílcar Ferreira

:: Número de vagas:
- Número máximo de alunos: 15
- Número mínimo de alunos: 10

:: Preço:
– Estudantes e estagiários: 155€ + IVA
- Profissionais no activo: 180€ + IVA

Formulário para inscrição: http://workshop09.wufoo.com/forms/processos-digitais-de-modelaaao-3d/

mais informações: seed.portugal@krfr.org e http://seed.cat

Contactos telefónicos:
Adriano: 934378810 Amílcar: 967448786

Eficiência Energética em Edifícios Industriais

2009-09-01T11:48:00.001+01:00

Recentemente fui gentilmente convidado pela Prof. Olívia Pereira e Mariana Henriques a apresentar uma aula introdutória aos alunos de Engenharia Biológica da Universidade do Minho, sob o tema Eficiência Energética em Edifícios Industriais. Numa primeira parte foram apresentados alguns dos momentos mais importantes do movimento ecologista moderno e alguns dados sobre a evolução do conhecimento das condições ambientais da Terra. A sustentabilidade no sector foi abordada de um modo total, tendo sido abordadas questões básicas de ordenamento e localização do parque industrial, a aspectos construtivos, utilização do edifício e processo industrial, até ao fim de vida do edifício e dos produtos/resíduos. Contacte-me e poderei facilitar PDF da apresentação.

I was kindly invited by Prof. Olívia Pereira and Mariana Henriques to lecture recently an introductory class to Biological Engineering students at Universidade do Minho, under the title: Energy Efficiency in Industrial Buildings. Started out by mentioning key moments in the modern ecologist movement and presenting some information about the recent state of global environment. Sustainability in the Industrial sector was treated as a global effort, starting with basic issues related to regional territorial planning, to construction aspects, as well as the actual building occupation, the industrial process itself all the way to the end of the life cycle of the building and the outputs of the industrial process. Contact me if interested in a PDF version (Portuguese only)

Worshop - Desenho Paramétrico Orientado a Projectos Sustentáveis

2009-09-01T11:34:00.001+01:00

Organizado por mim e pelo finalista Amílcar Ferreira, em parceria com o SEED - Estúdio de Arquitectura, Desenho e Programação Experimental de Barcelona, realizou-se com êxito na Escola de Arquitectura da Universidade do Minho. Acreditamos ser a primeira formação prestada no país sobre Grasshopper para Rhinoceros. Estão a ser programadas novas formações. Contacte-me para informações.

Organized by me and senior student Amílcar Ferreira, in partnership with SEED – Architecture, Design and Experimental Programing Studio in Barcelona, the workshop at the School of Architecture of Universidade do Minho, was a positive experience. We believe this to be the first ever workshop about Grasshopper for Rhinoceros in Portugal. New workshops are being prepared. Please contact me if interested.

Libeskind:17 words of architectural inspiration

2009-07-03T11:44:00.001+01:00

As usual, and first of all it is amazing the speed he talks. I wonder how is like to have an argument with him. I would like to have the chance to do it. I remember the first time I saw his work and a documentary on him. I was totally drawn and inspired by his poetics and by the meaning he attaches to his buildings.

This talk is a call for a new future vision, in which architecture for him is optimistic and far from the neutrality and the explainable architecture of modernity.

The following are the dichotomies he presents along side my own comments except for direct transcriptions in “ “ .

Optimism vs Pessimism – to be an architect you must be an optimist unless you want to say “architecture is dead” in a grand gesture as Stark’s “design is dead”. Architecture is not dead, in fact, one might argue that architects are once again gaining more control over their work as the distance between design and building is becoming shorter. Computers are bringing a whole new paradigm. Architects are again surprising engineers. However, we might also argue that architecture is pretty much still a luxury, and in some cases, if not all the most visible ones, architecture is a spectacle. If architecture must answer questions for any particular time in history, this spectacle is questionable, because today the main question is sustainability from the stand point of a single building, urbanism, whole territory planning, and also social sustainability. The spectacle of Dubai for example, is it really as shiny as it looks like? Would it be possible to build that desert dream without the exploitation of thousand of workers?

Expressive vs neutral – neutral is good sometimes.

Radical vs conservative – radical helps to get to a new level.

Emotional vs cool – enough with “the cool”. The whole Americanized world is trying nothing else to be cool. Rich kids in India are dressing like every other American kid.

Inexplicable vs understood – understood is easier to make the cheap architectural mags.

Hand vs computer – He doesn’t seem to mention that computers are not only tools to draw, but, and in my opinion, an extension to one’s mind as it helps the design process.

Complex vs simple – simple is good sometimes, but yes, complexity is more alive.

Political vs evasive – “a private house is a political act”. It should always be a statement.

Real vs simulated – we cannot simulate the heart. “the reality of architecture is visceral”.

Unexpected vs habitual – Habitual= stability Unexpected= full of tension, “the old cathedrals will always be “unexpected”, Frank Gehry’s buildings will continue to be unexpected”.

Raw vs refined – “Raw= untouched by luxury and expensive materials”. I love this one and deeply believe in it. It is not about exotic woods. Architecture begins when you feel something special as you look at the naked structure on a construction site.

Pointed vs blunt – a pointed building is a powerful thing. “it often takes just a building to change our experience of what could be done…”.

Memory vs forgettable - “I rather play something completely unheard off, and even with flaws, then repeat the same thing over and over which has been hollowed by its meaningless.” Buildings that one remembers.

Communicate vs mute – Architecture is not about silence".

Risky vs safe – risk of creating a dizzy building…

Space vs fashion – my own wish. Fashion is to go with the sheep. It is about having no personality. And as it changes all the time, one can ultimately say it can be environmentally unsustainable. Fashion is having a new ikea room every year.

Democratic vs authoritarian - its about consensus and compromise.

Workshop – Desenho Paramétrico Orientado a Projectos Sustentáveis

2009-06-29T10:58:00.001+01:00

:: Descrição do Curso
Este curso dará aos participantes uma visão clara sobre a importância e utilização de ferramentas paramétricas e programação para desenho de formas e estruturas arquitectónicas e industriais. Serão dadas bases para a utilização de Rhinoceros, Rhinoscript, Grasshopper, phyton e visual basic script.

Data
De 20 a 24 de julho de 2009
-Total horas: 20 hrs
-Total de dias: 5 días / 4hrs cada dia

-Horário:
Turma da manhã: 9:00 – 13:00 hrs
Turma da tarde: 15:00 – 19:00 hrs

-Número mínimo: 10 pessoas por turma
-Número máximo: 15 pessoas por turma

:: Local
EAUM – Escola de Arquitectura da Universidade do Minho, Guimaraes.

Confere 8 horas (credito) exigido pelo R.I. na formção complementar opcional “formaçao obligatória em matérias opcionais de arquitectura”, pela ordem do Arquitectos.

PROPINA TOTAL 152 + IVA (16%)
-Inscriçao: 95 euros (mediante transferencia electrónica bancaria o mediante ventanilla en el banco)
-Al iniciar: 57 euros + IVA (16%) (pago el primer día del workshop en efectivo o con anterioridad mediante transferencia bancaria)

:: Inscrições::
Mail para mais informaçao
Formulario para el inicio de inscriçao
Dados para pagamento

Floorplan Definition

2009-05-23T16:56:00.001+01:00

This definition takes a surface like a skyscraper shell and draws the floor slabs based of free height between floors and thickness of slabs. Outputs total floor area, surface area to volume ratio and the contour curves for each floor. Comments and improvements are welcomed. Dowload

Crochet and Topology? How?

2009-05-17T18:21:00.001+01:00

Margaret Wertheim is an Australian science writer and among other things she is cofounder of the Institute for Figuring, an educational organization dedicated to enhancing the public understanding of figures and figuring techniques. The Hyperbolic crochet coral reef project is based on the work of Daina Taimina from the department of Mathematics at Cornell, and is the main topic in this interesting talk at TED 2009.

Researching just a little more I ended out coming across crocheted Möbius Scarfs and Klein Bottle hats… I can see this becoming a fashion between architects, physicists and mathematicians.

Further: Making Mathematics with Needlework: Ten Papers and Ten Projects by sarah-marie belcastro and Carolyn Yackel

Programming: music graphics and architecture

2009-05-03T18:15:00.001+01:00

Music was just played.

Music was written on pieces of paper.

Midi was born.

We started writing music in electronic sheets. The bulky synthesizers became smaller and smaller and finally they live inside the personal computer.

Computers became fast enough to allow anyone to make music with the help of a digital audio workstation package (DAW) such as Cubase or FL Studio.

Recently a friend of mine studying composition in Holland told me how most of his work is being done with Csounds. Music is entirely written by programming. You define the “instrument” and “the score” itself.

Graphic designers are also becoming more and more fed up with the limits of the packaged software studios and are looking away into new tools that promise a new level of freedom such as Processing. And information architects are using I have no idea which tools to make complex network information visually accessible.

It is interesting to see how architecture is not alone in this new paradigm in which process is the core moment of design.

“Honesty is a scary place…”

2009-04-23T12:19:00.001+01:00

I was watching this video on Gestalten TV about Dutch designer Marcel Wanders. Regardless of the fact I don’t really enjoy his work, I really enjoyed the natural and honest way he finishes off this video:

“If you are able to be truly honest to who you are, to what your dreams are, to listen to what is inside, and what are your dreams, you will find out there is something very special there.

Honesty is a scary place, and is a place (you know) that people are afraid of and is a reason why people choose different…which is fine…”

Dutch designer Marcel Wanders is undeniably one of the most prolific and celebrated international designers today, with his theatrical approach to design, being both decorative and minimal.

How Daniel Libeskind is coping with the economic crisis

2009-04-21T11:10:00.001+01:00

but most importantly in the little video interview he puts it very clearly how he regards the relationship between commerce and culture. As an architect he explains there is no difference designing a museum or a shopping mall. They are both about business and mostly about people. So:

“erase the line… between commerce and culture (…)”

interview on BusinessWeek online

xp 03 iteration fractal

2009-04-21T00:25:00.001+01:00

This is a simple experience I did a while ago. I wanted to come up with a structure that could be used as a space partition, but basically it was all about transforming a 2d iteration fractal. I started with a dragon curve like fractal. Simple extrusions and ocTree like subdivisions. Seriously is all about being not too serious a deal.

Dragon curve fractal was the first fractal I used in a school project. Back then I drew it in CAD without any scripting.

Modernism déjà vu

2009-04-09T19:19:00.004+01:00

I guess there is some sort of bitter in the following words. I admit it.

I've worked with other architects but for some reason I was unable to correspond to what was expected. Everyday I would feel completely tired from just sitting in front of a computer, making lines in CAD.

I realized that to some extent, ideas are not that welcomed. The Eureka moment, after a careful process of creation was not shared.

It is a fact that after five years out of architectural school, I have not built a single building I designed. This is a good thing if we consider the environmental problems we face. I guess i could say that I personally haven't contributed with another building to the increase in CO2. But I could also look at it and think:

all the buildings I did not build...someone else ended out designing them.

So, unless all those potential buildings are being built by very eco-conscious designers (architects and all sorts of other professionals that design buildings in my country) I feel I have been missing out the chance to do some good, my little share of the good.

I think this is a time of reflection for me. I came to realize I don’t really like the buildings I have designed so far. They are the product of a narrow view of architecture I am trying to break. They are still the product of a poor architectural education I had and gave myself.

I believe architecture should absolutely reflect the time we live on. Today first of all, I would place environment as a main preoccupation.

So:

the Avant-garde architect must incorporate environmental sustainability as a serious vector of his work.

All architectural critics should look carefully into this vector. Environmental sustainability should be a focus point for architectural critic today.

The time of the eco-fashion, eco-marketing of non serious approaches should be over.

Avant-garde architecture starts with sustainability.

All architecture produced today that does not address sustainability seriously is outdated.

I haven’t done it seriously yet, so as far as this goes, it is a good thing my projects never became reality.

Modernism, spatial and temporal conceptions up until and including Einstein are dead.

New geometries and the computer are opening new horizons.

Many schools still prohibit the use of CAD and all other computer based workflows during most of the program. This is a total error. I firmly believe that all the modernist architecture we are educated to pursue “could fit” in no more than one year of school.

I wish Mathmatics and it’s true beauty had been part of my school education.

I wish Philosophy had been part of my school education.

I wish Geometry had been part of my school education. I wish I had figured out then that geometry is so much more than Descriptive geometry.

People often think of architects as “modern”, visionaries, “strange” … Most of the time this is not true. Architecture is a slow paced changing field. Architectural education is no different. We often have to look other ways, to other areas, other industries, to find new paths, and them bring them into our own field.

Portugal is to a certain extend under the SoutoMourization (Souto Moura) of architecture. The box is everywhere. The two floor orthogonal box scheme is everywhere. In my unbuilt work too. It is an amazing thing to deliver this early XX century model, when people desired complex, curved shaped cars and high-tech, high-definition flat screens.

Back from the Past. Negroponte 1984

2009-04-09T11:32:00.001+01:00

The founder of the MIT Media Lab, Nicholas Negroponte pushed the edge of the information revolution as an inventor, thinker and angel investor. Now he's the driving force behind One Laptop per Child, building computers for children in the developing world.

virtual sunbathing part II

2009-04-08T12:46:00.001+01:00

Original photo by dailydoseofkitten

I guess cats won't need it.

virtual sunbathing

2009-03-30T11:54:00.008+01:00

original photo by Booyahdesign

Hum.... ok, small spaces, crisis... Japan. Technology.

The traditional capsule hotel has individual tv’s and radios… the old windows. clearly the tv screen will give way to the PC. For the time being bring your own in your pocket or as small as possible under your arms.

The internet café made into guest room.

Common factor: the new window, the internet.

People get scared of visions of a future where a human being will spend a significant amount of his life connected to a realistic immersive world, sitting in a corner wearing a big helmet.

Guests in the capsules or in the cubicles of the internet café, most likely would enjoy that option today.
Lying in these tiny spaces, they could immerse in the beach of their dreams. They would get the virtual suntan on their virtual skins.

Merlove e WinXP

2009-03-26T00:38:00.006Z

Ultimamente tenho ouvido muito a radio online Wine and Dine Radio mais conhecida por iWineRadio sempre pela voz da jornalista vinícola Lynn Krielow Chamberlain. É a rádio que oiço geralmente pela manhã, enquanto tomo o pequeno almoço. Desperta os sentidos e agrada-me o tom calmo da conversa sempre à volta de vinhos e comidas. já ouvi muita coisa sobre vinhos espanhóis, italianos, franceses e americanos, especialmente de Napa Valley, na Califórnia. Além disso soa bem, ouvir um americano dizer: Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay,Merlot… especialmente Merlot. A sério soa mesmo bem. Há dias estava a ler sobre esta zona vinícola e percebi que muitos de nós, mesmo sem saber, está cansado de a ver no seu dia-a-dia.

Reconhecem este sitio? A fotografia acima foi tirada algures no condado de Sonoma, mesmo ao lado de Napa.

E esta reconhecem claramente, n? Pois… é Bliss,o mais famoso fundo de ecrã do Windows XP, da autoria de Charles O'Rear. A primeira foto é a recriação por Simon Goldin a 26 de Novembro de 2006, uma foto tirada no mesmo local da Bliss.

Confesso que dava por mim, por vezes, a pensar se a imagem do XP era verdadeira ou mais uma manipulação.

Sem saber, estávamos/estamos todos a olhar para o vinho da Califórnia.

Bliss no Google Maps

Nihilism

2009-03-24T00:43:00.000Z

From latin “nihil” = nothing.
It can be described as an escape from reality. The world is hard and crushes us. The nihilist architect creates imaginary refuges, new worlds, new life: an harmonious universe in which suffering, time and death are banned.
The nihislist architect realizes that it is from fear, that he creates the new world. He realizes that it was simply an answer to a question; cause and effect. This dualism and it’s inevitable system of values (true/false, spirit/mater…) must be broken.
Letting go of dualism and values is hard. The nihilist architect might feel lost and alone, but it is also liberating as dogma is left behind.
The nihilist architect has taken this journey. He is real enough to love, fear and escape, and to create anew. He is strong enough to destroy and rebuild. He is free to create. He seeks the true white sheet of paper. He is without prejudice.
There are days I love. Other, I fear. There are days I love.
The nihilist architect overcomes levelling and is reborn many times. Construction/destruction/construction
What does it mean to live your existence as if it was a work of art?