Tronso Kindergarten by 70N Arkitektur

photo by Ivan Brodey

Course Overview

The course continues an emphasis on the critical role and correspondence that site, program, material and structure offer as determinants of an architectural project by addressing a medium scale public building in a semi-urban context. Through a thorough analysis of preexisting site information, architectural precedents, theoretical models of significance to the program, and relevant social and cultural parameters, a critical conceptual approach will be articulated aimed at producing a comprehensive project.

Learning Objectives

This studio focuses on a broader examination of architecture and design through an investigation of the physical and programmatic requirements of public buildings and their larger site implications. Programmatic strategies are developed through analysis of conceptual and programmatic issues. Appropriate interventional and transformational site strategies are explored. Spatial and tectonic configurations are then structured to mediate the external forces related to a semi-urban fabric, natural systems and the internal complexities of building program. The end product of this process of investigation will be the fully integrated design of a kindergarten school located on a sloped semi-urban site

Resources:

Course Syllabus

Models & Theories of Child Education

Structures Lecture

Grade Easy: Principles and Practices of Grading and Drainage

Model:

Site Topo

Untitled , 2003

by artist Tara Donovan

Excerpt from Syllabus:

Established in 1974, Dia Art Foundation is internationally recognized as one of the world’s most influential contemporary art institutions. The name “Dia,” taken from the Greek word meaning “through,” was chosen to suggest the institution’s role in enabling visionary artistic projects that might not otherwise be realized because of their scale or ambition. Dia’s founders, Heiner Friedrich and Philippa de Menil, wished to extend the boundaries of the traditional museum to respond to the needs of the generation of artists whose work matured and became prominent during the 1960s and 1970s. Ever since, Dia’s mission has been to commission, support, and present site-specific long-term installations and single-artists exhibitions to the public. The original collection was assembled largely during the 1970s and early 1980s by Dia’s founders, Philippa de Menil and Heiner Friedrich, with Helen Winkler. It included works by Joseph Beuys, John Chamberlain, Walter De Maria, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Cy Twombly, and Andy Warhol among others. With the founding of Dia:Beacon the collection was augmented in the 1990s with works from artists of the same generation of the original collections. New acquisitions and commissions included works from Louise Bourgeois, Michael Heizer, Robert Irwin, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin, Robert Ryman, Gerhard Richter, Richard Serra, and Robert Smithson among others. Dia’s Commitment to promoting art that extends beyond a traditional exhibition framework lead to the commissioning and acquisition of large scale environmental works in the western United States, New York City, and Long Island including works such as Smithson’s Spiral Jetty. Architecturally, Dia pioneered the conversion of industrial buildings for the installation of contemporary art—a practice and aesthetic now widely adopted by museums and galleries internationally. Dia Beacon is located in a former printing plant built in 1929 by Nabisco (National Biscuit Company). With 240,000 square feet of long span exhibition space, and 34,000 square feet of sky lights the museum is sited on thirty-one acres on the banks of the Hudson River, and is adjacent to ninety acres of riverfront parkland. The renovation of Dia:Beacon was commissioned with American artist Robert Irwin and the architects OpenOffice. Dia:Beacon’s expansive spaces are uniquely suited to the needs of large-scale installations, paintings, and sculptures. In keeping with Dia’s history of single-artist, site-related presentations, each gallery were designed specifically for the art it contains.

The proposed museum for this semester, Dia Red Hook, extends Dia’s collection and mission to established contemporary artists whose visionary projects move beyond a traditional exhibition framework, and whose artistic works are an evolution in line with Dia’s founding collection. Each of the selected artists — Roxy Paine, Tara Donovan, El Anatsui, Tim Hawkinson, Doh-Ho-Suh, Martin Puyear, Anish Kapoor — produces work that is configured for the specific conditions of the environment in which it is installed. Drawing out relationships between artistic artifice, nature, and architecture; the works of the selected artists as with Dia’s current collection can be considered in light of Rosalind Krauss’ article “Sculpture in the Expanded Field”. Krauss summarized the development of American Sculpture in the 60’s and 70’s as following two developments that could be referred to as ‘through’ conditions: architecture/ not-architecture, and landscape/not-landscape. The two developments referred to the expansion of the “field” of sculpture practice, in the first instance, through the “field” of architecture leading to the development of the installation, and the latter embraced a broader nature/humanity space evolving into the form of land art. The program for Dia Red Hook, is to provide an environment for the public to engage with the work of the selected artists in consideration of the artists intent, and in consideration of the mission of the Dia Art Foundation.

Resources:

Course Syllabus

ASGVIS/V-ray Resources

• Main
• Software Blog
• YouTube Channel
• Rhino Models and Materials _ Flying Architecture
• Free Material Downloads _ Luz Indirect

Maxwell Resources

• Material Downloads
• Sky Downloads
• Tutorials (Beginners)
• Tutorials (Advanced)
• Courses

Post Render Resources

• Cutout People _ vyonyx
• Common People _ all silhouettes
• Cutout Trees _ vyonyx
• Background Images _ vyonyx

Download Grasshopper

Official Grasshopper website:

• Main
• Library of Algorithmic Resources
• Video Tutorials

Additional Resources

• Grasshopper for Rhino: Visual Introduction _ McNeel
• Essential Mathermatics for Computational Design _ McNeel
• Grasshopper Primer _ LIFT Architects
• Generative Algorithms: Using Grasshopper _ Zubin Khabazi (pdf)
• Intro to Grasshopper Webinar _ David Rutten (zip)
• Grasshopper Basic _ DigitalToolbox
• Grasshopper Intermediate _ DigitalToolbox
• Grasshopper Advanced _ DigitalToolbox
• Grasshopper Tutorials and Resources _ design reform
• Grasshopper Workshops and Classes _ designalyze

Iteration, or “looping”, is a way of repeating a bit of code either a certain number of times (incremental) or until a certain condition is met (conditional).

The three types of iteration this primer will focus on are “Do While…”, “For Each”, and “For i…”

Download the Rhinoscript Files from modeLab.

The ability to quickly and efficiently manipulate data in Grasshopper is critical in order to increase design productivity.

This Primer incrementally creates a matrix of points whose addresses are contingent upon the negotiation of 3 Data Trees: X, Y, Z, respectively. The Graft, Simplify, and Flatten Components will be utilized in order to develop an introductory understanding of how Data Trees are created and manipulated.

Download the Grasshopper Definition (version 0.6.0019) from modeLab.

The ability to quickly and efficiently manipulate data in Grasshopper is critical in order to increase design productivity.

This Primer incrementally manipulates and rearranges a linear list of Data created by the Series Component. Additional visual feedback is provided by the Point List Component.

Download the Grasshopper Definition (version 0.6.0019) from modeLab.

The Logic Tab contains a variety of Components for creating and manipulating lists in Grasshopper.

This Primer introduces the Range, Series, and Duplicate Data Components through the use of numerical and gradient color feedback.

Download the Grasshopper Definition (version 0.6.0019) from modeLab.

As of Grasshopper 0.6, data can be stored in hierarchical structures not dissimilar to a branching tree.

Data is still stored in lists; however, each list now has a series of indices describing the unique position of the data within a larger data framework. This framework is not unlike a Data Dictionary in that it contains a list of all transactions in the Grasshopper Definition and the number of associated entities per transaction. In Grasshopper this framework is referred to as a Data Tree. It is important to remember that the Data Tree does not contain any of the actual data in the Grasshopper Definition, only bookkeeping information for managing it.

Data Trees can be visualized in Grasshopper using the Parameter Viewer in which you can toggle between the visualization of the Data Tree as a branching diagram or a per-Path address.

This Primer incrementally constructs a Data Tree- from trunk to leaves.

Download the Grasshopper Definition (version 0.6.0019) from modeLab.

Like Curves, Surfaces can be described both geometrically and numerically.

The numeric description of any NURBS Surface can be understood as the “Parameter Space” of the Surface. This space is two dimensional and not necessarily tied to the Euclidean space of the modeling environment but is always tied to the topology of the surface which is a consequence of the geometry that created that surface. The bounds of this space is called the “Surface Domain” which can be navigated numerically through the native domain or through a “Reparameterized” domain that forces both dimension’s bounds to be 0.0 and 1.0. The current value at which this navigation is possible is called the UV Coordinate.

This Surface Primer constructs surfaces and their unrolled counterparts allowing user interaction as well as generating live visual feedback.

Download the Grasshopper Definition (version 0.6.0019) from modeLab.