aThematics

Form Follows Sunlight

admin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:22:17 +0000

This semester I’m TAing a studio with Stephen Cassell from ARO. We’re focusing on getting the students to use Grasshopper to practice precision form-finding through the actualization of solar effects.

Image by Yoon-Hee Cho.

It’s still early and the students are already producing really good work. You can keep up with their work at FormFollowsSunlight.

Only Tools

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:44:33 +0000

Image by Varvara Toulkeridou.

The last two weeks I’ve been co-teaching a Rhino-Scripting class with Skylar Tibbits and Steffen Reichert to help introduce algorithmic design to some of the non-computation architects at MIT. We’ve set up a blog with much of the students work here.
The students all produced really impressive work and I’m proud to have participated in this class. Hopefully, I’ll carry the torch next year and head up the effort to expose the architectural community to some of the ideas that we work with in computation.

More on Parallelepiped Packing

admin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:32:02 +0000

Working out how I want to instantiate the parallelepipeds. I must say that I rather fancy the filleted option below:

So I’m beginning to think about casting them and laser-cutting some dummies to work on layout.

discrete / continuous

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 04:46:57 +0000

Searching for geometrical techniques for a project that I’m doing with Mishka Alexander called Extra-Long Island. This is, admittedly, a Voronoi diagram but in my defense, we’re making every effort to exercise control over the location of points and therefore the structure of the topology. More to come on this.

The Third and the Seventh

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:34:35 +0000

via BLDG BLOG.
The third and the seventh is a visually amazing 13 minutes of architecture. VERY hard to believe that it entirely computer generated. I’ll leave the commentary to Geoff Manaugh.

>3 : spatializing higher dimensions

admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:08:11 +0000

I’ve been spending most of my time on the back end of this project but I decided to poke my head out and generate some images.

I’m excited about some of the spacial and graphic possibilities here:

But I need to explore variety more aggressively. Currently, I’m just taking the ball that I’m generating with math and that’s it.

But there are some tantalizing possibilities that I think I’ll be able to exploit…..after the holidays.

first images

admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:17:59 +0000

I’m very excited. Finally, after a few months of grinding away at this java-based higher-dimensional projection system, I’ve got a few legitimate results to show off:
5 dimensions into 2:

I literally cropped these in MS Paint. Seriously.
6 dims into 2 (in perspective so it looks faster)

and finally 6 dims into 3. I promise better graphics soon.

Sunday night nonlinear dynamics

admin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:00:28 +0000

A few images from a project I’m working on modeling Atlantic tuna populations:

Gratuitous 3D representation of the anchovy, tuna and bluefish population under certain parameters.

The individual populations in time and vs each other.

A few long term behavior diagrams showing results of overfishing (if unclearly).

Project ion

admin — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:28:01 +0000

I am working on a long term project investigating higher dimensional space and how it can be understood in architectural/spatial terms. The eventual goals for the project include instructive and generative tools for designers as well as a pedagogical agenda towards a better understanding of Cartesian space in architecture.
The diagrams below demonstrate a particular form of projecting three dimensions into one and I’m working already on the next which will be projecting 3 dimensions into 2.

First, we establish a projection window and some geometry to project:

Then, we capture anything that’s in the window and project it.

Eventually, I hope to be able to make clear explanations about what it means to project 4, 5, etc dimensions into 2, 3 or more.

Mandelbulbs

admin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:30:52 +0000

via SEED
Some downright awesome renderings of the “Mandelbulb” or 3D Mandelbrot Set.
As hard as I try to resist my predilection for all things fractal, these are really great and I have to respect the effort to work out the not-so-intuitive math behind them.

and

The original article here.