Pratt Institute School of Architecture and Latin Pratt will be hosting host a symposium titled “New Latin American Architecture: A Critical Panorama” on Monday, November 7, 2011, from 6 to 9 p.m. in Higgins Hall Auditorium at 61 Saint James Place. The symposium will be free and open to the public and will focus on the development of architecture in Latin America during the last decade and the future of architecture in Latin America.

The symposium will feature a panel discussion moderated by Ivan Rumenov Shumkov, Ph.D., adjunct associate professor at Pratt Institute and principal of Ivan Shumkov Architects; with panelists Barry Bergdoll, the Philip Johnson chief curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art and professor of architectural history at Columbia University; Alfredo Brillembourg, co-founder of Urban-Think Tank and chair of architecture and design at Zurich Institute of Technology; Ana Maria Duran Calisto, architect, researcher, and co-principal of Estudio A0; Kenneth Frampton, author, architect, and Ware Professor of Architecture at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University; and Giancarlo Mazzanti Sierra, architect and a faculty member at Los Andes University in Bogotá, Colombia.

Please remember to bring your Pratt I.D. to gain entrance into the auditorium.

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

Monday November 15th at 6pm Pratt Institute School of Architecture will host the symposium “Factory Cities” in Higgins Hall Auditorium in conjunction with the exhibit “Vertical Urban Factory” at the Skyscraper Museum.

On the panel will be Nina Rappaport, Professor Yale University, Andrew Ross, Professor at New York University, and the documentary filmmaker, Emmanuel Picardo. Do not miss what should prove to be a unique discussion.

Vertical Urban Factory

Through ongoing interviews that we have been conducting at core.form-ula, we have decided to highlight one video in particular for digital futures. We sat down with William Katavolos and got an incite on his experience as a Professor with over 50 years teaching at Pratt.

As we transition from one period to another, understanding the history becomes critical in building upon some of the rich pedagogies within the school and charting a path into the 21st century.

“More or less we have finished with “A”, we are now finishing with “B”, you better pull the “A”/ “B” together before you lose it but you better start on the new “C” and then of course you will have the “CA”, “CB”, the “ABC” and then we will have ourselves a great school” WK

You will be able to see parts 1-12 on core.form-ula over the next three weeks, in addition, digital future will be posting a lecture William Katavolos gave in 1994 that Gamal El-Zoghby has graciously extended to us.

COMMUNITY CENTER FOR AQUATIC SPORT AND LEISURE

PROGRAM SCENARIO
The Community Center for Aquatic Sport is a mixed use and Leisure facility housing Olympic swimming and diving pools, gymnasium, community areas, press areas and administrative spaces in which to serve as a social condenser and venue for water sport events and training. The facility will serve both local Borough competition events at the level of public and private schools, and regional events. The proposal will comprise 115,000 sq. ft. of enclosed space, and approximately 100,000 sq. ft. of outdoor space whose program will be developed during design. Potential programs include: on site water catchment, swimming areas, amphitheater, public plaza, park recreational space and play ground facilities, 160,000 square feet of Parking and Bus loading and unloading areas. This facility will become a premier aquatics community center for Brooklyn located on a 375,000 sq ft site in McCarren Park at the site of the McCarren Park Pool in Greenpoint Brooklyn. This public assembly space will provide a venue for both local city wide events as well as serve as an important community center for the Williamsburg/ Greenpoint area of Brooklyn. The facility will hold classes and serve as a field trip venue for the public (as well as private) school system, year around. In addition to the facilities function as a city destination for aquatic recreational sport the facility will house community facilities that serve the other leisure sport venues for McCarren Park and the Greenpoint /Williamsburg community.

SITE SCENARIO
McCarren Park in GreenPoint Brooklyn is bounded by the neighborhood of Greenpoint to the North and East, a traditionally Polish community now transitioning with an increasing influx of high end condominium development in advance of the proposed extension park redevelopment along the East River to the North, and by Williamsburg to the West which is currently home to the „Hipster Movement‟ along with upscale condominium development and gentrification after the original influx of artists seeking cheap industrial space formerly typical of this area, and finally by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to the South. The site exists along an intersection in several urban Grids that developed from historical land parcels. The park land itself was the site of an undevelopable marsh and flood plane with tributaries that feed into the East River. McCarren Pool is currently an abandoned structure since 1984 when it became the site of extensive problems surrounding gang violence and drug sales that ultimately blighted the surrounding neighborhoods. It was the eighth of eleven New York City pools built during the depression through the WPA program, under the leadership of Robert Moses and Mayor La Guardia. It was said that Moses was an avid swimmer. Built in the summer of 1936 the McCarren Park Pool accommodated 6,800 swimmers of the 66,000 swimmers the eleven pools collectively accommodated. Until recently the pool has been used to accommodate music events after the influx of artists and „Hipsters‟ to the Williamsburg/ Greenpoint neighborhoods. Currently the primary monumental building has been Historically Registered and is under restoration with plans for a new pool.

Assets for Arch 302 SP10.

SYLLABUS

Arch 302 spr10_Final_10_01-12b Syllabus PDF > download

MODELS

Arch 302 McCarren Park Site Model Base> download

PROGRAM

Arch 302 Natatorium Program Template PDF> download

Arch 302 Program Templates Final> download

REFERENCE

Arch 302 Architecture of Watter +Humidity> download

Arch 302 Professional Consultants Guidelines V003 PDF> download

READERS

Arch302.04-Sarrach

Structure Form Movement > download

NetworksSwarmsMultitudesP1> download

NetworksSwarmsMultitudesP2> download

things themselves are lying > download

Notes: (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images)

ARCH 565.21

Course Description

Research course. Fillip Tejchman, with John Lobell
Wednesdays, 2 pm – 5 pm

During this research-based seminar, Students will perform a close reading of Course’s Exeter Library through a series of analytical studies directed by theoretical and historic texts. Particular attention will be paid to the material/spatial framework and the programmatic organizations emerging from this Interplay.¶ Kahn wrote extensively about the relationship between his architectural intentions in relation to light, context, history and material. Many of these ideas are described in Between Silence and Light: Spirit in the Architecture of Louis I Kahn which will serve as a theoretical reference for our work.

John Lobell, author of Between Silence and Light, will be present in the course to present the philosophical ideas in Kahn’s buildings.  Some of the work from the class will be used in a forthcoming book by Lobell.

On Thursday, November 19^th at 6pm, the second in a series of lectures by Pratt School of Architecture faculty will take place in the Higgins Hall Auditorium. Fabrications 2 Lecture with Professors Lawrence Blough and David Ruy will be focusing on specific projects that demonstrate new means of digital fabrication and material experimentation. Directly following the lecture, the Fabrications 2 Exhibit with reception will open in the Siegel Gallery.

Title- Fabrication I: 3D Printing

Description- The workshop will serve as an introduction to 3D Printing. Participants will be introduced to the most common issues and concerns one confronts as content is formatted for 3D Printing. Topics covered will include modeling strategies for preparing print files, proper proportioning of models to prevent structural failures during production and finishing, converting to STL format/ troubleshooting mesh irregularities, and file submission protocols. Emphasis will be placed on clean modeling and proper detailing to minimize errors in the printing process to ensure successful printing.

Conductors- Peter VanHage & Sebastian Misiurek

Location- HHN 416

Date + Time- 2009.11.02, 7-10pm

Requirements- Participants are required to bring a laptop with the following software installed:

Rhino3D (SR6)

Grasshopper (v0.6.0019)

Autodesk Maya 2009

Zprint XX.XXX (most recent update)

image credit: prefab china 2007  (Sebastian Misiurek, Alex Drabyk + Ivan Delgado)

Francois ROCHE of the Paris firm Sie(n) and a Professor at Columbia will be lecturing tomorrow evening, October 15^th at 6pm in the Higgins Hall auditorium.

Francois Roche is a French architect whose firm, R&Sie, is aptly pronounced “heresy.” Among his brainchildren is Dusty Relief, an edifice under construction in Bangkok which is surrounded by electrically charged wire that “grows fur” by statically attracting airborne filth. He has also conceived stealth habitats, hypothetical communities hidden from regulators and critics by vast sheets of camo netting. Architects are supposed to draw up plans, erect structures, and finish on time and under budget. Roche is exploring what happens when the usual constraints are allowed to fall away and things get wild and loose.

As a master of conceptual architecture, Roche likes to collaborate with installation artists. This tactic allows him to avoid hidebound European safety regulations when he proposes, for instance, a steel footbridge whose design, sketched using industry-standard CAD software, has been radically distorted by a computer virus. Ask Europeans to cross a buggy footbridge and they’ll balk, quail, and consult the 80,000 regulatory pages of the EU’s acquis communautaire. Tell them it’s art, and they’ll flock to it in droves, sit on it, and drink Beaujolais nouveau.

Roche’s latest project will appear in museums in Paris and Antwerp over the next three years. Titled I’ve Heard About Node 1, it’s as audacious as architecture’s peaks of weirdness in the ’60s; say, the Suitaloon, a combination garment and dwelling proposed by Michael Webb of the London hipster firm Archigram. And yet Roche’s scheme is not just fun to think about, but eerily plausible. He’s exploiting ideas that make perfect sense in computer-driven fabrication but have never been applied to architecture. Imagine a building where the needs and desires of its inhabitants are hot-wired to the shapes of walls and floors, which can be extended and updated ad hoc, ad infinitum.

That’s Node 1. It’s an idea for a building, yes, but it lacks most of the usual architectural accoutrements: blueprints, material suppliers, subcontractors. Instead, Roche imagines a programmable assembly device dubbed the “viab,” a construction robot capable of improvising as it assembles walls, ducts, cables, and pipes.

A viab would produce structures that are not set and specific, but impermanent and malleable – merely viable – made of a uniform, recyclable substance like adobe. The automaton’s output would have no innate design, boundaries, or service life. It would take whatever form was called for at the moment – a great rotting blooming stony bubble of a building that, unlike all previous forms of human habitation, would be unplanned, responsive, densely monitored, massively customized, and rock-solid, with all modern conveniences.

The closest thing to a viab today is a small, modest mud-working robot invented by Behrokh Khoshnevis, a professor of engineering at the University of Southern California. Khoshnevis’ “contour crafter” works more or less like a 3-D printer, but it’s meant to assemble whole buildings. Its nozzle spits wet cement while a programmable trowel smoothes the goo into place. Roche encountered Khoshnevis, and his agile imagination immediately started pushing the idea toward its limits.

The concept isn’t as alien as it may seem; nature has been doing something similar for eons. Termites build skyscrapers by spitting and smoothing mud, then removing the structure if it gets in the way. A mound is shaped by the activity of the society within it. Roche imagines his viab as a busy termite with a body full of wet cement. It crawls ceaselessly across the structure, spewing new form and gnawing out old form, obeying an algorithm directly linked to the needs of the people inside.

It can also work without people entirely. The moon or Mars would be a natural venue for the concept, a place too hostile for mankind, where viabs could work around the clock: Let robots spit out a city, then settle in when it’s ready.

It might be a long time before a scheme this weird is realized. But suppose it is. Churchill once said, “We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.” He was thinking about how nations evolve over generations, but in Node 1, those processes would play out once a week. The old brick-and-mortar rules would be gone, as though the crowded playa at Burning Man were to raise up mud castles rivaling the Transamerica Pyramid.

Do we need a capacity like that? It’s impossible to say, because the notion is genuinely heretical. It’s not every day that an age-old discipline like architecture coughs up an anomaly that’s unthinkable. This is one of those fine moments.

text via wired mag