2010
ACADIA 2010 Conference
@ THE COOPER UNION
new poster +
press release
ACADIA
2010 Conference Life in:formation
hosted at
The School of Architecture of The Cooper Union
Life in:formation
was co-chaired by Associate Professor Adjunct Pablo Lorenzo-Eiroa, of The Cooper
Union, in conjunction with Assistant Professor Aaron Sprecher of McGill
University and Assistant Professor Shai Yeshayahu of Southern Illinois
University.
This conference
also involved an exhibition of work curated by the Exhibiton Chairs of ACADIA
2010: Chandler Ahrens of Morphosis, Axel Schmitzberger Assistant Professor at
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
and Michael Wen Sen Su Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute.
The conference
offered a space for the discussion of the problems involved in the way
architects, engineers and artists collect, analyze, assemble, represent and
implement information.
There is a
growing interest in questioning the architecture implicit to the conformation of
information. The architecture of information implies a critical intermediary
abstract space relative to processing that has been producing a shift in the
core of the discipline. These questions imply an overall ideological ambition of
the conference. There is indeed a trajectory that intends to build up a critical
alternative axis to the way digital information systems have been understood in
architecture since 1990s, primarily based on a visual logic. Media has
repressed digital architecture to a mere representational role, negating the
potential relational logic of systems, a formal aesthetic fundament based on the
structuring of mental relationships.
It is
becoming quite clear that if architects do not break or displace the given
source codes of algorithms and create their own, their work is trapped by the
predetermination of the set of ideas contained within those programs. What this
concept questions is authorship, the necessity to displace and create structures
that organize and process information; and the extent of an autonomy within the
constitution of the logic of formal processes.
This
understanding is based on an ambition that may help a historical venture. Ultimately
architecture may inform and be relevant to technology, as opposed to
architecture being relative to technological actualization.
But why information at Cooper?
The
growing array of interfaces that striate digital architecture are layers where
information is represented, crossed, manipulated and ultimately presented. If
interfaces are spaces of representation, they are spaces of differentiation, and
since there is no information without representation, these spaces activate a
generative capacity, as architectural content is constituted in a responsive
topological loop between form and content. The interface is the context within
which the work is made possible, implying a topological relationship between the
apparently formless flow of data that is seen extrinsic to form, structure, the
interfaces involved and how information is constituted.
It seemed
appropriate to question these problems to a school where the deep understanding
of representation has activated different levels of self referential
disciplinary thinking that propelled different structuralist and
poststructuralist approaches.
Such
strategies enable a responsive generative capacity in interfaces where
architectural problems are activated by the questioning of the frame through
which they are constituted. Architecture is then possible at that moment, when
the interface performs within the work, establishing an autonomy, a reality, and
a metaphysics only possible within the discipline. An autonomy that has not yet
entered the digital….
These premises
were integrated through the curatorial work of the conference chairs, but were
also challenged and expanded by the work and discussion of the many participants
of such a complex international event. In order to draw certain interest towards
to the immense body of work left in the publications, it is interesting to note
certain themes that were able to grant certain strategies and attention against
the linear use of information. The keynote lecturers included both
theoreticians, historians and experimental practitioners, such as: Georges
Teyssot derived from a foucaultian
background the problem of curvature through a philosophical approach, critiquing
linear information representation relative to the topological relationship
intrinsic in Sausure’s algorithm Sign=S/s; Antoine Picon provided a critical
historical reference to the digital project pointing the work of experimental
practitioners; Karl Chu built up a genetic based morphogenesis based on cross
relationships between the brain and organisms in an architecture autonomy
implicit to computation in his Planet Automata series; Evan Douglis
constructed morphing patterns that incorporate evolutionary movement; and
Georges Legendre introduced a mathematical specificity from binary codes that
layer information.
The work in
progress sessions and the peer review papers developed questions of structuring
of information included Antonino Saggio who defined the principles of
information; Alexis Meier contrasted the logos of architecture to mathematics
through structuralism; Ingeborg Rocker analyzed interfaces between analog and
digital systems; Andrew Saunders proposed mathematical parametric
reinterpretations of the Baroque; Chris Perry presented an anticipatory
architecture of extrapolative design; and Christian Derix discussed interactive
problem solving in spatial organization as a means for an autonomy. In regards
to the embodiment of information, Antonino Di Taimo presented the body as an
information cognitive living system; David Gersten analyzed current mathematical
geographies with regards to Capital and technology; Martin Bressani constructed
a digital theory of affect; and Alessandra Ponte warned about a turn to
phenomenology in current digital discourse. Interestingly, on the opposite end
and departing from technically oriented design innovations aiming for larger
theoretical concerns, Jesse Reiser explained the transition from material logics
to vectorial forces; Nader Tehrani’s presented his installations exploring
forces by crossing information and material behavior; Scott Marble proposed an
alternative design assembly that understands the intrinsic socio-economic
factors that enter manufacturing; Matias del Campo developed modes of material
information aggregation resisting continuity; Rhett Russo provided a technical
bottom up means to deal with computation and aesthetics; David Ruy proposed a
means to reach visual affection through information structures in a continuously
differentiated scale; and finally Achim Menges described materials’ molecular
behavior as a contraception in terms of their apparent logic. These discussions
were moderated by the Chairs in conjunction with Emily Abruzzo, Mario Carpo,
Alberto Estevez, Eva Franch Gilabert, Eric Goldemberg, James Lowder, Jenny Sabin,
Mohamed Sharif and Michael Young, opening up the discussion between participants
and building up content with the help of the attentive an enthusiastic public.
The workshop
sessions made available to the conference participants unique opportunities to
experiment with groundbreaking research. The conference aim was also to question
directions and push the boundaries of software developer’s efforts. Workshop
sessions included small, medium and large software developers: from small
innovative software developers such as Hans-Christoph
Steiner or Mustafa Bagdatli implementing sensors and interaction in
physical computation through Arduino and Firmata at NYU ITP directed by Dan
O’Sullivan; to large software companies that develop information parametric
relationships to coordinate large flows of data in building construction that
are also tested in environment simulation, using Autodesk (Marc Jezyk) and
Bentley (Rob Snyder); these companies develop platforms that enable some of the
work at large offices such as SOM (Robert Yori); other workshops included the
aesthetically sophisticated interfaces developed for fabrication coordination by
Gehry Technologies (James Kotronis); and finally these workshops also included
experimentation with open source infrastructure developed by Rhinoceros that has
been growing progressively due to the platform ability to ensemble multiple
interfaces such as RhinoScript, Grasshopper, Python, and others. These workshops
were organized and curated by the Conference Chairs to provided unique technical
expertise and give ground and focus to the larger theoretical aspirations of the
conference. These presentations were followed by a round table discussion at The
Great Hall moderated by the Conference Chairs with
Paul Seletsky.
Overall, Life
in:formation featured an impressive number of academic and experimental
activities including: 10 groundbreaking 3 day long international workshops
featured in 18 presentations and a round table discussion; 5 keynote lectures;
14 guest speakers sharing their work in progress; 36 peer reviewed paper
presentations divided into three sessions selected by a 120 international expert
peer reviewing committee; and included 16 moderated round table discussions.
The exhibition of
work curated by the Exhibiton Chairs of ACADIA 2010 was composed of 15 peer
reviewed projects and 12 curated research projects exhibited and were featured
within a site specific installation based on a crowdsourcing system that
informed relationships among projects. This installation was developed at a
satellite venue at the Siegel Gallery at The School of Architecture at Pratt
Institute in Brooklyn, and both its content as well as its form were discussed
in a round table moderated by the Exhibition Chairs.
The closing of
such event accumulated into a vibrant night performance session: ACADI@NY, a
digital energetic spatial affection of The Great Hall moderated by Meredith
Bostwick transforming such historic space to the rhythm of many avant-garde
media artists, highlighting the spatial vibe that DJ Rob Swift performed; the
media visualization collaboration between visual artists Chika Iijima and Peter
Kirn; the analog-digital sounds of Laura Escude and the complex software for
music production exhibited by DJ Endo; all of which framed the work of 20
selected students projects representing the work of Architecture Schools from
the Tri-State Region.
Overall the
conference had over 600 attendees from over more than 25 countries around the
globe that completed this truly international event collaborating with important
discussions that made this venue one of the most relevant academic events of
2010.
This conference
could not have been possible without the continuous generous support of Dean
Anthony Vidler, Associate Dean Elizabeth O’Donnell; Continuing Education
Director David Greenstein; Administrative Assistant Monica Shapiro; Secretary
Patt De Angelis; Multimedia Support Sara Foley; in addition to the special
assistance provided by Zulaikha Ayub and Veronica Barrow that were involved as
Site Coordinators and the assistance of Tiago Barros, Ricardo Escutia and Glen
Barfield. From ACADIA we would like to especially acknowledge the support of
President Nancy Cheng, Incoming President Aron Temkin, former President Mahesh
Senagala and the 2010 Steering Committee specially to Phillip Besley, Greg Luhan
and Omar Kahn. This conference was sponsored by more than 25 leading
international companies related to computation. The documentation of this event
is featured in two publications: the Conference Proceedings is composed of
keynote, panelist’s and selected essays edited by the Conference Chairs; and the
Exhibition Catalog edited by the Exhibition Chairs features the work of the
exhibition. Both of these publications designed by Axel Shmitzberger of Starfish
Prime are available through amazon.com. For more information and the upcoming
video posts please visit www.acadia.org/acadia2010
Report prepared for The Cooper Union
Annual Publication by Pablo Lorenzo-Eiroa.
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ACADIA 2010 Conference Facts:
From the original conference press
release:
The ACADIA 2010 conference focused on the changing nature of information and its impact on architectural
education, research and practice. With the ever-increasing integration of
information technologies in the design laboratory, the discipline of
architecture has changed profoundly in recent years. The emerging fields of
digital fabrication, generative and evolutionary modeling among others, are now
at the core of investigations in a growing community of digital design
practitioners and researchers.
ACADIA 2010 will explore the ways designers, architects,
engineers and scientists collect, analyze and assemble information through
computational systems that redefine the notions of design performance and
optimization, evolutionary and responsive models. These notions are today
inherently related to the possibilities and limitations offered by our
increasing computational capabilities, and the way information shapes relations
between the human, the environment, and the machine.
ACADIA 2010 will gather leading practitioners, theorists, and
researchers who will examine the relation that architecture has with technology
and information, and how the latter propels today’s most innovative design
experimentations and research. The conference will be centered on a series of
peer-reviewed paper sessions and a groundbreaking exhibition including
peer-reviewed projects.
ACADIA 2010: October 21st to 24th 2010, The
Cooper Union, NY
2010
10-21/24 ACADIA Life in:formation Conference. More than 90 presentations
in a 4 days international conference featuring
CONFERENCE CHAIRS:
Pablo Lorenzo-Eiroa,
Aaron Sprecher,
Shai Yeshayahu.
EXHIBITION CHAIRS:
Chandler Ahrens,
Axel Schmitzberger,
Michael Wen-Sen Su.
KEYNOTE LECTURERS: Karl
Chu Karl Chu,
Evan Douglis,
George Legendre george legendre,
Antoine Picon, Georges Teyssot.
INVITED
PANELISTS: Martin Bressani, Christian Derix, Alberto T.Estévez, David
Gersten, Mark Linder, Scott Marble, Alexis Meier,
Alessandra Ponte, Ingeborg Rocker, Jenny Sabin,
Antonino Saggio, Mohamed Sharif, Nader Tehrani, David Theodore.
PEER REVIEW LECTURERS:
Jonathon Anderson, Paul Andersen, Stefan Bader, Pablo
Banda, Michael Beaman, Pravin Bhiwapurkar, Lawrence
Blough, Johannes Braumann,
Danelle Briscoe,
Mark Cabrinha, Kermin Chok, Mark J. Clayton, Sigrid
Brell-Cokcan, Scott Crawford, Joanna Crotch, Karola
Dierichs, Mark Donofrio, Christina Doumpioti, Anna
Dyson, Halil I. Erhan, Simon Flory, Isak Worre Foged,
Virginia San Fratello, Jordon Geiger, Benjamin Golder,
Evan Greenberg, Eric Hegre, Silvana Herrera, Martyn
Horner, Tim Ireland, Tomasz Jaskiewicz, Przemyslaw Jaworski, Sara Jensen, Hauke Jungjohann, Konstantinos
Karatzas, Jong Bum Kim, David Lung, Robert Mantho, Carlos L.Marcos, Anijo
Mathew, Achim Menges, Nathan Miller, Nicholas de
Monchaux, Volker Mueller, Hugo Mulder, Jacob Riiber Nielsen, Anke Pasold, Shivang Patwa, Chris Perry, Esben
Skouboe Poulsen, Helmut Pottmann, Antonino di Raimo, Vinu
Subashini Rajus, Bernhard E. Riecke, Rhett Russo, Flora Dilys
Salim, David Salomon, Heinz Schmiedhofer, Kyle Steinfeld,
Martin Tamke, Ming Tang, Vlad Tenu, Shahin Vassigh, Jason
Vollen, Jennifer Wall, Robert Woodbury.
MODERATORS:
Meredith Bostwick, Martin Bressani, Alberto T. Estévez, Eric
Goldemberg, Mark Linder, Scott Marble, Alexis Meier,
Alessandra Ponte, Ingeborg Rocker, Jenny
Sabin,
Antonino Saggio, Paul Seletsky, Mohamed Sharif, David
Theodore, Michael Young
INVITED EXHIBITION:
Archi-Tectonics, Buro Happold, Omar Khan,
Morphosis, Clear + McLain Clutter, MOS,
Reiser+Umemoto, Ruy/Klein, Andrew Saunders,
su11, Mark
Shepard, Paul Vanouse.
PEER REVIEW EHIBITION:
Jonathon Anderson, Reza Baherzadeh, Elizabeth Boone, Eric
Brockmeyer, Brennan Buck, Adam Buente, Matias Del Campo,
Joseph Choma, Jonas Coersmeier, Lonn Combs, Rona Easton,
David Fletcher, David Freeland, Nataly Gattegno, Jason K.
Johnson, Konstantinos Karatzas, Ayelet Karmon, Ian Keough,
Rodolphe El-Khoury, Rob Ley, Arshia Mahmoodi, Sandra
Manninger, Maria Mingallon, Nashid Nabian, Sakthivel
Ramaswamy, Mahesh Senegala, Eyal Shaeffer, Ming Tang, Alan
Tansey, Mette R. Thomsen, Robert Trempe, Joshua Vermillion,
Michael Westlake, Joe White
ACADI@NY:
DJ performances curated by Meredith Bostwick:
Rob Swift,DJ
Endo, Zemi 17, Peter Kirn,
DJ Precision sponsored by
Dubspot
ACADIA 2010 Site
Coordinator: Zulaika Ayub, Veronica Barrow with assistance of Glen Barfield.
EXPERT PEER REVIEWING
COMMITTEE:
Sherif Abdelmohsen , PhD
candidate, Georgia Institute of Technology / Emily Abruzzo, Assistant Professor,
Parson School of Art / Henri Achten, Associate Professor, Czech Technical
University in Prague / Chandler Ahrens, Senior Designer, Morphosis / Phillip
Anzalone, Director, Building Technology Sequence, Columbia University / Phillip
Beesley, Associate Professor, University of Waterloo / Torben Berns, Visiting
Professor, McGill University / Oliver Bertram, Assistant Professor University of
Applied Art, Vienna / Gail Borden, Assistant Professor, USC / Meredith Bostwick,
Associate Architect, SOM / Martin Bressani, Associate Professor, McGill
University / Anthony Caicco, Visiting Lecturer, The Ohio State University,
Knowlton School of Architecture / Guedi Capeluto, Senior Lecturer, Technion -
Israel Institute of Technology / Sheng-Fen Chien, Assistant Professor, National
Cheng Kung University / Jason Crow , PhD Candidate, McGill University /
Christian Derix , Head of Computational Design and Research, AEDAS / Edouard
Din, Associate Professor of Architecture, Tuskegee University / Marty Doscher,
Director of Information Technology, Morphosis Architects / Jose Pinto Duarte,
Assistant Professor, TU Lisbon / Jeremy Ficca, Assistant Professor, Carnegie
Mellon University / Pia Fricker, Chair for CAAD, ETH, Zurich / Paola Giaconia,
Professor of Architectural Design, California State University in Florence /
Michael D. Gibson, Instructor /r esearcher, Ball State University / Marcelyn Gow,
Design Faculty, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm / Yasha Grobman, PhD,
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology / Mark D Gross, Professor, Carnegie
Mellon University / Gilles Halin, Research Director, MAP-CRAI Laboratory, Nancy
University / Michael Hensel, Professor, AHO Oslo / Christiane M. Herr, Visiting
Assistant Professor, National Cheng Kung University / Alicia Imperiale,
Assistant Professor, Temple University / Mehlika Inanici, Assistant Professor,
University of Washington / Jason Johnson, Assistant Professor, Calgary
University / Omar Khan, Associate Professor, University of Buffalo / Joachim B.
Kieferle, Professor, Hochschule RheinMain / Axel Kilian, Assistant Professor,
Princeton University / Yoshihiro Kobayashi, Research Associate, Arizona State
University / Branko Kolarevic , Professor, Calgary University / Robert J.
Krawczyk, Associate Professor, Illinois Institute of Technology / Peter Lang,
Associate Professor, Texas A&M / Tapani Launis, PhD, Architecture Tapani Launis
/ Brian Lilley, Associate Professor, Dalhousie University / Mark Linder ,
Professor, Syracuse University / Brian Lockyear, Principal, Lockyear Design /
Pablo Lorenzo-Eiroa, Assistant Professor, The Cooper Union / Gregory A. Luhan,
Associate Professor of Architecture, University of Kentucky / Alexis Meier ,
Associate Professor, National Institute of Applied Sciences of Strasbourg (AMUP+LAVUE)
/ Miguel Mesa del Castillo, Technical Specialist, Politécnica Superior de
Architectura del Alicante / Rafael Gomez Moriana, Adjunct Associate Professor,
University of Calgary / Hoda Moustapha, PhD Computational Design, Carnegie
Mellon University / Eduardo S. Nardelli , President, SiGraDi / Eran Neuman,
Chair, Tel Aviv University School of Architecture / Yeonjoo Oh, PhD Candidate,
CoDeLab, Carnegie Mellon University / Filiz Ozel, Professor of Architecture and
Landscape Architecture, Arizona State University / Murali Paranandi, Associate
Professor of Architecture, Miami University / Vera Parlac, Assistant Professor,
Calgary University / Atilio Pentimalli, Instructor, University of Buenos Aires /
Santiago R. Perez, Assistant Professor of Architecture, University of Arkansas /
Christopher Pierce, Unit Master, AA / Celine Pinet, Dean of Instruction, West
Valley College / Alessandra Ponte, Associate Professor, Université de
Montreal / George Proctor, Professor, California State Polytechnic University /
David Ruy, Assistant Professor, Pratt Institute / Jenny Sabin, Lecturer,
University of Pennsylvania / Antonino Saggio, Professor, Universita La Sapienza,
Rome / Andrew Saunders, Assistant Professor, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute /
Axel Schmitzberger , Assistant Professor, California State Polytechnic
University / Marc Aurel Schnabel, Associate Professor, The Chinese University of
Hong Kong / Mohamed Sharif, Associate Professor, OTIS College of Art and Design
/ SCI-ARC, Los Angeles / Mark Shepard, Assistant Professor, University of
Buffalo / Pedro Soza, Assistant Professor, Univesidad de Chile / Ryan E. Smith,
Assistant Professor, University of Utah / Aaron Sprecher, Assistant Professor,
McGill University / Joshua Stein, Associate Professor, Woodbury University /
Marc Swackhamer, Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota / Michael Su,
Visiting Professor, Pratt Institute / Kyle Talbott, Associate Professor,
UW-Milwaukee / Joshua Taron, Assistant Professor, Calgary University / Aron
Temkin, Dean, Norwich University / Oliver Tessmann, Bollinger + Grohmann
Ingenieure / Lisa Tilder, Associate Professor, The Ohio State University,
Knowlton School of Architecture/ David Theodore, PhD Candidate, Harvard
University / Graziano Mario Valenti, Professor, R.A.D.A.A.R. Universita La
Sapienza, Rome / Eric Verboon, Architect, Buro Happold / Shane Williamson,
Associate Professor, University of Toronto / Wei Yan, Assistant Professor, Texas
A&M University / Shai Yeshayahu, Associate Professor, Southern Illinois
University / So-Yeon Yoon, Assistant Professor, University of Missouri-Columbia
