architectureextreme environmentsadaptivebiomimeticdigital

desertin

course code: ASEN01SPATIAL EXPERIMENTS I

OverviewSpatial Experiments I is a studio that explores the intersection of architecture, digital techno-logies and science (particularly biology). We pursue a new digital vernacular, where archi-tecture once again gets its form and identity from the local, but from an expanded, exten-ded definition of local ranging from micro-context and -climate, to network cultures and ruptured identity topologies.

We will explore how to create architecture which exploits digital design and fabrication to create performative envelopes, capable of harnessing ambient energy to reduce reliance on heating and air conditioning. We seek to use complex but ordered form to create responsive and adaptive buildings, and to drive new architectural, cultural and aesthetic conversations.

The studio project addresses living in extreme conditions, in this case desert or near-desert conditions in Morocco, on the boundary of Sahara.

In the following term, vt2017, Spatial Experi-metns II will build on the experiences develo-ped in in this course to bring the conversation to European conditions.

PedagogyOur pedagogy is based on the assumption that students are independent and motivated and that you will bring your own agenda, interests and experience, and explore how this inter-sects with the studio.

You are ultimately empowered and respon-sible for defining your own project and to carry it through, and we will give you the support, input, and encouragement you need to get there. We believe in sharing and contributing, and see the studio not as a collection of com-peting, individual students, but as a group that explore interesting phenomena together.

We hope that each year’s students will build on what has been done before them, and that your work contributes to an ongoing conversa-tion as well as allowing you to form the begin-ning of your own professional career.

ToolsThough the primary emphasis is on archite-cure, not software or hardware, we work extensively with parametric design tools and try to fabricate and test as much as we can. Primary software is Rhino 3D and Grasshop-per 3D, and we encourage any students who wishes to take the opportunity to learn or use coding tools such as Processing.

Deliverables and project formThe primary presentation is the end of year review, where your project is presented in poster format. We will also expect a A3 / A4 format report with a greater focus on the research and theory aspects of the project.

Specific project deliverables will be your responsibility to determine, with the input from tutors. We will however expect a thouroughly

presented, well designed architectural output, with a significant level of detailing and resolu-tion.

You are expected/encouraged to work in pairs, as the course places high demands on both theoretical content and architectural resolution, and teamwork will help you achieve a much stronger project in the end. The form of the teamwork and the degree of overlap is up to you.

Study tripIn October we will travel to Morocco (preliminary) as part of the course. While this is not mandatory, students are strongly encoura-ged to join the trip!

Literature, lectures and workshopsA literature list will be provided, and you will be expected to conduct significant research into your individual topics. Lectures, by both internal and external lecturers, will be provided during the course to support the student projects.

As part of the course will be two workshops, which are described in greater detail on a sepa-rate board. As these are dependent on facitlities and workshop leaders which are only available during a short period, it may be that you should plan to put in additional time during these work-shops to maximise the learning opportunity that they represent.

Ana GoideaAna is a graduate of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, where she was part of CITAstudio programme. Previously she studied at Politecnico di Milano and Ryerson University. Her research focuses on material science and digital fabrication, particularly 3d print-ing technologies.

credits: 15 + 7.5duration: fall 2017grading scale: pass / faillanguage of instruction: Englishparallel participation in other courses: ASEN10 required. eligible to apply: At least three years approved full time education at university level (or a Bachelor degree) in architecture, or equivalent. Some familiarity with Rhino/Grasshopper is useful, but not required. For studetns with no familiarity in Gasshopper 3d, the course Creative Tools is recommended in parallell.

course coordinator: David Andreen david.andreen@arkitektur.lth.se

teaching team: David Andreen and Ana Goidea +external lecturers, assistants and workshop leaders

David AndréenDavid is currently completing his doctorate at the Bartlett UCL, where he explores architecture and its intersec-tion with biology and compu-ter science. David is a lecturer at Lund since 2014, and has previously taught at the Bartlett GAD programme, at Greenwich University, and has held workshops at Smart Geometry and CITA, Copenhagen, among other places.

BRIEFdesert living

course code: ASEN01SPATIAL EXPERIMENTS I

Magnus Larsson

KILO Architects

Nk’Mip Desert Cultural CentrePhoto: Nic Lehoux Architect: DIALOG

Gramazio + KohlerThe Guelmim Technology School in Morocco.

Photograph by Fernando Guerra.The Guelmim Technology School in Morocco.

Photograph by Fernando Guerra.

Photo via Nomad Inception

Photograph by Jason Hawkes.

The brief for the studio Spatial Experiments I will deal with the challenges and opportunities of living in the desert, or similar variations of extreme climates. Your task will be to design a case study house - a place for you to live in - in the deserts of Morocco. We explore issues of life in extreme or hostile conditions, and seek to find identity and expression in the intersection of global culture and vernacular context. The buildings you design will

find ways of exploiting the ambient resources and climate variability to create an indoor climate suitable for human habitation, in place of a conven-tional reliance on electricity and other external energy sources.

The dwelling may be for a single family or a group of people living in a small collective. The emphasis is not on understanding and resolving all local

issues, but to learn from the unique context. There-fore the persons you desing for will be foreigners, livign in Morocco in a temporary or permant manner. The basis for designs will be local materi-als, customs, traditions, and resources - but with the ambition to exploit modern technology, know-ledge and culture in ways which can provide signifi-cant benefits for social and ecological sustainability.

SiteThe project site will be in the mountain/desert regions of Morocco. The country has a population of 33 million at approximately the same area as Sweden, and large arid regions stretching between the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Sahara Desert. It has a rich architectural and cultural history, influenced by Arabic, Berber, European and South-Saharan cultures. Somewhat uniquely in the region, Morocco has a strong history of indepen-dence.

The climate of the region exhibits a high diurnal temperature variation of 15ºC thoughout the year, and typically the daytime temperature reaches 40ºC in the summer. The precipitation is low, particularly in the Eastern regions of the country.

Local ArchitectureThe vernacular architecture of the region is largely based on adobe or earth brick techniques, and incorporates a variety of methods for creating agreeable indoor climates, such as mashrabiyas, courtyards, wind towers and evaporative coolers.

Contemporary construction is typically much less well-adapted to the climate, using thin concrete structures and replacing vernacular traditions and wisdom with inadequate modern technology, leading to disagreeable indoor climates for most, with the more prosperous relying on air-conditioning. Addressing this missed opportunity is not only a matter of technology, but of identity, desire and symbolism.

In addition to the vernacular Berber heritage, the region has an abundance of Arabic architecture, exhibiting rich colours, intricate detailing and mathe-matical patterns which are well suited for the capa-bilites of digital techniques and provides a rich canvas for the architect.

TechnologyThe ambition of the studio is to explore the potential of advanced digital fabrication tools, particularly additive fabricaiton, in combination with local mate-rials and resources, and apply these to refine and extend the capabilities of the vernacular. Parametric software, such as Grasshopper 3D or scripting can help us generate complex form, which can be both functional and artistic.

ProgrammeThe studio embraces a fundamentally optimistic view of architecture, believing that technology, knowledge and intelligence can come together to overcome typical dicotomies, such as comfort vs sustainablitiy, technological progress vs fairnes. Rather than a critical, external viewpoint, we embrace operative optimism, beliveing that a willingness to engage and to commit is crucial for beneficial change.

The brief programme is about living. You determine the circumstances.

STUDY TRIP / SITEmorocco

course code: ASEN01SPATIAL EXPERIMENTS I

image credit: mhobl (flickr.com)

image credit: Victor (flickr.com)

image credit: James West

image credit: seier+seier (Flickr)

image credit: Jamie McCaffrey

image credit: Jamie McCaffrey

image credit: David Stanley

image credit: seier+seier (Flickr)

image credit: Laurenz Bobke

ProgrammeAfter an initial sejour in Marra-kech, we will journey across the Atlas Mountains to the desert region of Morocco. Loosely following the Draa Valley, we will experience the desert culture through the eyes of our local guides.

During the trip, we will visit the sand-dune desert and stay in tent camps which we reach on camel back. We will see an array of traditional buildings, ranging from the castle-like kaspahs to the covered streets of dense villages. We explore traditional building techniques, seeing the craftmanship of their making as well as feel the effects of passive climate strate-gies.

The architecture of Morocco is a mix of Arabic/Islamic influences, with a rich detailing, patterning and materiality, and berber clay structures built using adobe or rammed earth techniques. The combination provides a rich pallette for the digitally inclined designer, showing potential strategies for resolving many contemporary design challen-ges.

During the trip we eill also spend a significant amount of time exploring the site for your design project, allowing you to thoroughtly document, expe-rience and measure the location.

Preliminary dates: Mid-October

Preliminary cost: Travel Copenhagen - Marrakech+ 5 day / 4 night desert tour: €315 (incl. food and lodging)+ 3 nights in Marrakech

Preliminary Programme: 2 days in Marrakech - urban life, contemporary and historic architecture visits, discussions and planning. This is followed by a 5 day tour to the desert with guides. We travel in SUVs, sleep in Riads and desert camps, and see local climates and vernacular architecture. Upon returning to Marrakech we spend another night there (which you may extend if you so desire) before returning to Lund.

WORKSHOPdigital bricks

WORKSHOPadaptive facades

course code: ASEN01SPATIAL EXPERIMENTS I

Left: Ceramic 3d-printed bricks by Brian Peters of Kent State University.

Below: Tectonic Horizons by Radical Craft / Joshua G. Stein Modular componentry developed through the union of advanced CNC Machining and traditional slip casting.

Right: Digital Islam by David Celento / DigiFabLab. Ceramic Penrose tiles.

Below: Cool Brick by Emerging Objects Evaporative cooling system comprised of 3D printed porous ceramic bricks set in mortar. Inspired by the Muscatese Evaporative cooling window.

In this workshop we will explore the potential of additive fabrication, with the intent of developing ideas for performative bricks – building blocks or components which, through their material and form, perform a modulation of the building’s function or mediates a spatial boundary.

Designs are developed with parametric software which can handle the complex forms, and ideally which incorporate an awareness or adaptation to micro-context of some kind. Inspiration can be taken from biology, vernacular building techniques, science and engineering or a more cultural context.

We will work with the school’s 3d printers in order to make prototypes, and if possible will use larger scale ceramic or concrete printers to make full scale, final prototypes.

Around: ThinkingSkins workshop at TU Delft 2015. Embedded in the European Facade Network, this workshop has been coordi-nated by Jens Böke with contributions by Susanne Gosztonyi

This image: Al Bahr Towers, Aedas ArchitectsRight, above: Adaptive Fritting, Harvard GSDRight, below: Adaptive solar facade, Arno Schlüter, ETH.

This workshop will take place near the end of the term, and allows you to explore the function and exectution of an envelope component of your building in great detail. We will build a 1:1 prototype, which serves both as a demonstrator of your concept and design and a test of its behaviour and perfor-mance.

The workshop focuses on making and testing, and uses the extensive workshops available in the arch-tecture building and IKDC:

course code: ASEN10THEORYTHEORYinterdisciplinarity

SPATIAL EXPERIMENTS I

image: doi:10.3390/jfb2040308

Particle spring system. Vlad Tenu (www.vladtenu.com)

image: David Andreen

image: NASA

Namib desert beetle. image: www.wired.co.uk

The supporting theory course for the project Spatial Experiments II is conducted in an integrated manner, providing a research background and rigorous approach to the design projects. The overall topic is performative strategies for desert living, and particularly interdisciplinary ones. Looking beyond conventional building science, what can we learn from the physical or natural sciences that can further the performance of a building?

We seek to understand how cutting edge know-ledge and expertise from other fields can inform and improve architecture in a profound manner, based on actual understanding of the physical phenomena involved. You will be developing a strategy based on a specific topic of your chosing, and seek knowledge by speaking to experts in the field, researching peer-reviewed papers, and performing experiments or simulations.

A common theme is the use of form to extend the effect or performance of material. This is a dominant strategy of biological organisms, where elaborate forms, often fractal in nature, allow for complex physiological functions to take place. By embracing digital design and fabrication tools, we have an opportunity to exploit similar mechanisms, dependent on complex form, in the service of human wellbeing and other architecural qualities.

TechnologyTechnological innovation is increasingly allowing for architectural feats that were previously inconceivable. Advancements in electronics and other technologies can add a dynamic element to a building or significantly increase its performance. Application of advanced technology in buildings require a careful cost-benefit approach however, to account for potential issues such as mainte-nance and energy requirements.

BiologyBiomimetics or biomimicry is the imitation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomimetics)

Physical SciencesThe physical sciences underlie almost all performative aspects of a building, from structural considerations to the flows that permeate a building and its surroundings: flows of heat, air, water, light.

Material ScienceMost architectural engineering considers material variability a significant drawback, one of the great advantages of concrete is its inertness. However, materials such as clay, wood, or ceramics have a potential to do much more because of their responsiveness to changing conditions - they can be active, adaptible, responsive.

Computer ScienceAlgorithms are becoming an increasingly dominant aspect of contemporary life. Com-puter science determines much of our online existence, but is also critical in all scientific fields. In architecture, computer schience is opening up vast new arenas, allowing us to manage complexity, both through simulation and more generative processes