Master's Degree in Advanced Design and Digital Architecture

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MODULE_1 MATERIAL TECHNOLOGIES

Unit 1.1 Seminar: BIG FABRICATION/Manufacturing diversity

As we already have pointed above, in our constantly developing society, with its demanding market, the use of new production technologies in fields such as engineering is becoming more frequent, and research is conducted to create state-of-the-art materials, such as composites, which open up new possibilities of use and performance, and contain the logic of living materials.

On the other hand in the field of the product design, automation industry, and aircraft industry it is common designing and producing complex geometries, and products totally reliable for market uses. Nowadays the digital fabrication processes allow us producing a remarkable amount of assembling differentiated pieces without the need of mass production to achieve a reasonable cost.

Unit 1.2 Seminar: BIOMIMETICS/Emergence in natural systems

With a series of lectures by relevant designers, researchers and theoreticians the seminar will focus its interest on observing how biological organisms achieve complex emergent structures from simple components. The structures and forms generated by natural systems are analyzed and understood as hierarchical organizations of very simple components (from the smallest to the largest), in which the properties arising in an emergent manner are rather more than the sum of the parts.

MODULE_2. GENETIC VERSUS GENERATIVE

Unit 2.1Seminar: DESIGN AND COMPUTATION

Since the Modern Movement began to fade away, which happened at the same time as markedly stylistic historicist revisions, architectural theory has shown great interest in positivist design methodologies. Studies of architectural complexity and dynamic systems have stirred renewed interest in networks, bottom-up methods, adaptive systems, genetics and the automatic creation of form as the fundamentals of a new generation of design techniques. Furthermore, the universalization of digital technologies in the last decade has made it possible, once and for all, to make the necessary verifications and produce clear results of all this research.

MODULE_3 BIODESIGN LAB

Uni t 3.1 Workshop: INTEGRAL ENVELOPES

The aim of the studio is to explore an integral design approach towards multi-performative material system. The current practice of architecture typically tends to address different performance criteria with the articulation of mono-functional systems and subsystems in hierarchical orders, such as a primary structural system, a secondary skin as a climatic threshold, a tertiary system as a light filter, etc.

In this research process, we work by experimenting and learning from the material, applying the various techniques of form finding. This new approach to the creation spaces through knowledge of material, and of its “intelligent” behavior, complemented by the use of parametric software and advanced modeling, will enable us to produce designs that are not only totally innovative in material, form and behavior, but also able to adapt to their environment. In short, we will learn that the limit between natural and artificial (or man-made) has been reconsidered from the perspective of biomimetic

Unit 3.2 Workshop: RESPONSIVE ENVIRONEMENTS

The goal of that workshop is learning to think designs we're going to produce as a live systems able to react to an alive environment, adapting to it. In that way it will be possible to imagine and design systems that feel, observe, listen, react, learn or interact.

That design process implies to learn to communicate physical systems. Students will be taught to use sensors, to take data on the environment, how to process the data using microcontrollers and how to translate the processed data to the actuators that take part of the active system.

This course will introduce basics of electronics and programming, learning to work with sensors and actuators, and will finish with the construction of a prototype.

MODULE_4 ADVANCED GEOMETRY STUDIES

Unit 4.1 PARAMETRIC SOFTWARE AND PROGRAMMING

For designers who are exploring new shapes using generative algorithms, Grasshopper is a graphical algorithm editor tightly integrated with Rhino’s 3-D modeling tools. Unlike Rhino Script, Grasshopper requires no knowledge of programming or scripting, but still allows designers to build form generators from the simple to the awe-inspiring.

The program presents the creation of complex morphologies by the manipulation of the material properties (design of shapes and spaces) therefore to define this material constrains we will use a parametric software, and we will operate a little programming our routines. Using these digital tools, we will establish our own language for creating shape systems that become architectural and habitable spaces.

MODULE_5. TOOLING

Unit 5.1 Workshop: DIGITAL FABRICATION LABORATORY

The objective of the workshop CADCAM and Rapid Tools is to provide the students with the knowledge to be able to fabricate some of the material produced during the course with digital manufacturing tools. With mentioned tools we want to explore CADCAM properties and results, both visual and tectonic. We know that what is produced today by CADCAM is certainly impressive, but we do not want to lose some critical approach about some of these productions, which are sometimes, from our point of view, too partial and superficial. It is not about producing definitive objects, but the tool CADCAM constantly inform us during the design process. The CADCAM manufacturing should help us to rethink the design process. As a result, we will see what it means mass production of differentiated non standard objects. The course, theoretical and practical, is to introduce students to digital production and the possibilities it offers to designers, both as a platform for testing ideas such as production of final objects.

MODULE _6 FINAL PROJECT

Unit 6.1 ABIOTIC ARCHITECTURE

Based on this line of research and investigation the aim of the course is developing a Radical Innovative Architectonical proposal that will consist on a building or a properly justified and advanced part of it.

The program will be a interactive house that dialogues permanently with the environment during its life, therefore reset all transformable elements to compensate and readjust environmental conditions to comfort habitable pre set up conditions.

The proposal can be an hybrid system with 90, 80, 70 per cent of adaptable structural membrane and a secondary structure that can focus on other necessities of the building.

To sum up, we can say that we are learning to view the architecture that we design as a living system, with the ability to react to an also living environment and adapt to it. Consequently, we can think about designs that feel, observe, listen, react, propose, learn and interact.

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