20080422
Course Overview:
SEM/SPAN
We operate between the very small and the very large. In the coupled fabrication seminar (SEM) and research studio (SPAN) we take nano probes of natural structures and build long span models.
We revisit Frei Otto, parametrically. Analog optimization techniques are met with and put in close exchange with advanced geometric operations. We embrace Otto's notion of Natural Structures. Beyond the Bionic, which idealizes living structures as resolved and completed systems, and beyond Biomimicry, which suggests to copy those systems in their full complexity, we are in search of procedurally optimized building methods employed in living systems.
At Nanoscale the material properties of organizations change. Gravity is no longer the dominant force when the size of the system radically decreases. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) allows glimpses into organizational systems that work beyond the logic of primary gravitational considerations.
The procedural operations of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) are followed by generative drawing and fabrication techniques that analyze, process and enhance the source material. Digital output models inform structural and tectonic propositions that are tested in the context of a long-span structure employed in the comprehensive design studio (SPAN).
SEM/SPAN, while focusing on production and fabrication, will base its exploration in the context of the history of science. Science proper emerged out of proto-science in the 17th century. The driving forces of this first scientific revolution emanated out of the exchange between technological innovation, such as aids for superhuman perception (microscope, telescope) and early modern philosophy. We discuss the materialism of our current paradigm shift in relation to this earlier phase transition and its ideal of objectivity (the world as it is).
SEM/SPAN also offers a comprehensive discussion of structural system taxonomies. According to Otto, the building structures that we have been occupying for ten thousand years are still not entirely understood, nor were they put in relation. His matrices of principal systems and applied structures have open cells, which distinguishes them from other ‘completed’ classification systems and thus invite to fill in blank spots. We identify spots for nano-structures (subvisibilia) within the taxonomy.
The seminar will be held in the form of group discussions, instructor - and student presentations, and it features three guest lecturers: Rhett Russo, Architect, Professor University of Pennsylvania; Lily Zand, Architect, Principal Q LLP; and Dr. Donovan Leonard, Nano Material Science, Duke University
Application Specialist Terry Suzuki will train students to operate the Hitachi SEM, TM-1000.
Learning Objectives:
Size matters: critical understanding of universality and of scale through the transposition of nano systems into long-span structures.
Form matters: fundamental understanding of structural systems through the study of 20th century system classifications and empirical probing of analog models.
Craft matters: proficiency in the generative use of advanced computational models and digital fabrication techniques in research and design.
Time matters: introduction to the Scanning Electron Microscope and participation in pioneering the device's application in the architectural design process.
Tools and devices: SEM, Maya, Rhino, GC, Laser Cut, 3-D print
Course Requirements (SEM):
15 % Attendance, and active class participation
15 % Short group presentation
50 % Production and presentation of SEM image collection, "Nanographia" and "Nanotectonica"
20 % Participation in group publication
.: Jonas 9:30 PM
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