2012www.kamvariarchitects.com

IDEAS COLLABORATION INNOVATION

January February March April May June

Ranulf Road

Harman Drive

D3Housing Competition

The Rinq

Slovenia National library

Harley Street

Ajoodaniyeh Tower

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ns

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L.1

L.2

L.3

L.4

July August September October November December

Leeds Housing

Muscat Pavilion

Muscat Visiting School

7 Cenacle Close

Tehran Kiosk

Mashad Pavilion

MQ Muscat

AA Visiting School

2011/12

Human Evolution from cave dweller to city slicker

Ranulf Road , View towards the City

New Friends , Muscat, Oman

Tehran High Rise

Maryam Mivehchi’s Birthday, Muscat Oman

Central London Hotel Extending High rises

Nazanine Behboodikhah, Muscat

RIBA, We are now a Chartered Practice

Hanif Kara , Tehran Visiting School

Student Work Tehran Visiting School

Student Work Tehran Visiting School Institute of Directors, London

Institute of Directors, London

“Creativity is just connecting things.

When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because

they didn’t really do it, they just saw

something.” – Steve Jobs

FOREWARD

Welcome to our first annual publication. “ Ideas, collaboration, Innovation” aims to deliver an overall view of how we operate as a practice. At the centre

of which are our employees, in this publication we aim to celebrate their contributions over the past year.

We believe in collaboration and exchange and as result we have been working with many different talented individuals over the past year, all of whom have in their own way contributed to our progress and have enabled us to deliver

new and innovative ideas to our clients.

Despite our successful planning applications and projects over the last 12 months Our biggest achievement by far has been the creation of a family, a group of enthusiastic individuals that are bonded together by interest.

We choose to use this group as a tool, we see everything as an experiment. Whether it be design or how we manage the practice the aim is to challenge

the normal at every given opportunity and stride for the unordinary and alternative in the hope that it may highlight a new direction . The overall aim is to do away with rigidity and let the employees and members help steer the

direction of the practice.

I hope you do enjoy this annual and we look forward to seeing you in it next year as part of our extended family.

Omid KamvariDirector

WE ARE KAMVARI

ARCHITECTS CONTENTS

Projects

Ranulf RoadThe RinqHarman DriveIraq housing competitionTehran Mixed useSlovenia National LibraryLeeds HousingAjoodaniyeh TowerMuscat PavilionMashad PavilionCrete School Complex

EventsMuscat visiting schoolMuscat lecture

PublicationsWebsiteMemar Magazine Architecture at the turn of the centuryShardary Magazine The professional side of parametric design

People

OfficeOur StudioProcessResearch and Development

THERE IS NOTHING MORE POWERFULL

THAN AN IDEAVictor Hugo

Our design philosophy is driven by the pursuit of

quality and performance.

OFFICE

We believe that our surroundings influence the quality of our lives, sensitive to culture and climatic issues of each region we believe in producing design solutions specific to the context.

We believe in design as a synthesis of different aspects such as structure, ventilation, natural lighting, symbolism, the relationship between the skyline and the streetscape, the way people use and move through spaces and the ability of the space to create memorable places.

We understand design as a dynamic process, and therefore use up to date technologies to constantly update and augment our proposals to suit a variation of conditions. Advanced computation and manufacturing sits at the core of our design ethos which allows us to investigate natural phenomena and derive performative qualities to imprint into our designs.

OUR STUDIO

At Kamvari Architects we value the diversity and range of skills that our people bring. We employ staff from different cultural backgrounds who bring to us a fascinating mix of skills; these include architecture, engineering, model-making, graphic design, landscape architecture and urban design.

The studio, therefore has an exciting breadth of knowledge and experience. We work as an extension to our clients organisations. We make sure that we understand our clients vision and then help distill this vision into an achievable brief.

At Kamvari Architects, we understand the value of ‘process’. When embarking on a new project, we make no assumptions – all projects begin for us with a careful analysis of options that take account of client objectives and site constraints. As a result, there is no specific Kamvari Architects ‘house style’. We find all projects interesting whether straight forward or complex, because there is always the challenge of exceeding our clients expectations by adding extra value.

PROCESS

We work in a creative and open environment where talented people have the freedom to express their ideas, supported by research institutions and other like minded individuals and practices, we are capable of fine tuning our design ideas to reach the best solutions. With access to talented individuals and exciting and up to date design processes, we are well placed to answer the challenges clients present to us.

Believing strongly in economical design, we use the latest software and technology to understand and analyse our building performance, further incorporating analysis techniques into our dynamic design process we are able to respond to a variation of conditions in a variation of locations. We understand that innovation plays a major role in the evolution of architecture and look to collaborate, whenever possible, in order to be able to respond to an ever changing environment.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

A core part of our studio is how we collaborate and link with others within the global scene. We actively participate in Academic Programmes through which we are able to meet and collaborate with like minded people on some very interesting projects. These collaborations allow us to stay up to date with research and to participate and contribute in our own way in the development of the architectural discourse. Collaborating with institutions such as the Architectural Association has in the past and, will in the future, allow us to head hunt some of the most talented people to contribute to our projects. Fresh knowledge and ideas are our main focus and the delivery of innovation to clients our ultimate aim.

We understand that the construction industry is constantly changing, with ever faster developing technologies, the way in which we manufacture elements and building components are evolving. We use advanced manufacturing techniques to our advantage, by incorporating the knowledge gained through research and development into our digital design process we are able to deliver complex structures and geometries.

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01-Omid Kamvari02-Wolfgang Frese03-Mona Mirzaie04-Mehrad Mahnia05-Nazanin Behboodikhah06-Maryam Mivehchi07-Anahita Modrek08-Zeinab Hanzakian09-Mamali Mirzaie10-Yalda Pilehchian11-Fraser Leach-Smith12-Sharareh Khodabakhsh13-Nikoletta Poulimeni14-Ali Lotfi15-Amirreza Mirmotahari16-Shiva Jabarnia17-Yassaman Mousavi18-Mehrshad Atashi19-Natalie Chaliah20-Keyvan Sarvi21-Alireza Ahadian22-Raheleh Rahimi

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0407

13

“IDEAS, COLLABORATION, INNOVATION“Architecture at the turn of the century

Omid Kamvari

Abstract

At the turn of the century we find ourselves in a position where institution are being redefined. Over the last few centuries we have witnessed the rise of institution as a means of gathering and coordinating action and research through centralized administration.

This definition of an institution is one which is inherently exclusive, that is to say that in order to control and coordinate activities and liabilities it excludes from wide spread contribution and exchange.What we are seeing at the beginning of this century, with the rise of media and technological advances is a more decentralized coordination of activities. This allows for widespread communication and exchange resulting in more open source contribution.

Web sites such as Flicker highlight a new mode of collaboration and are organised in such a way so there is a shift from a single photographer taking 100 photos to 100 people uploading single photos. This decentralized systems allows for a wider spread of topics and interests to be recorded and subsequently shared.

This concept is not new, in fact if we look at our social, cultural and technological evolution we begin to see that this notion of collaborative

thought and contribution has been the primary driving force behind our cultural and technological advances.

The challenge for us as architects and architectural educators is to see how we begin to respond to these developments and how we begin to re-examine what an architectural institution is at the turn of this century. This article will concentrate on the basics of the institution that is, the generation of innovative thought, through the understanding of ideas and their routes, to collaboration and then innovation.

PRESSOur work revolves around innovation, challenging the norm and aiming to achieve more than prescribed or hoped for.

This has inevitably led to our work attracting the attention of different me-dia groups and publications. We are very happy to share our ideas and enjoy the feedback such opportunities bring us and as such have an open policy to sharing our work with different audiences.

We have successfully published articles in 10 different countries and have been able to reach an even bigger audience than before.We hope to continue with this work as it allows us to critically view the manner in which we peruse design.

Human Progress is dependent on many different interaction and different ideas combining together, Burj Khalifeh relies on ideas of architecture, engineering, manufacturing and many more.The cave dwelling relies on a single material and process, how did we progress from the cave to the creation of Burj Khalifeh.

Ideas

At the root of every institution lie ideas, in a way very often the sharing of these ideas is what leads to the creation of institutions, to use the example of the Architectural Association in London the shared idea that architectural education should be different to what was considered mainstream at that time led to the creation of the school which we know today. Ideas are integral to the creation of institutions but also to the developments of these institutions.

Often we understand inspiring and innovative ideas as the product of an individual and his/her desire to generate new and novel ideas. This may be true to a certain extent but history and research shows that moments of genius are not very often born of solitude. In fact these moments are often the product of chaotic environments where fast exchanges and cross breeding of ideas take place.

Being in the creative industry I am almost certain we have all had conversations with someone whom has suggested through often an interesting and exciting tale, the moment they came up with the great idea. I was walking in the park and suddenly it came to me, I went to buy vegetables and all of the sudden it all made sense. These tales although interesting and entertaining do not depict in honest terms the true nature of the inspiration, which research shows to be days, weeks, months and sometime even years of research and hard graft. Such tales extend to some of the most important theories and discoveries of the past century.

One fine example is Newton’s story of the theory of gravity, not that anyone needs reminding but the short version is, while sat under a tree Newton was suddenly struck by a falling apple, this inspiring but yet painful experience leads him to wonder why ? Why did the apple not float, rather than fall? and in this instant, in this moment he creates the theory of gravity. Not only do we recognize this tale as the fundamental reason behind the invention of the theory but we somewhat immortalise this through the creation of status depicting the moment.

Such depictions are commonplace where individuals are held in the highest esteem for their accomplishments and immortalised through a sculpture or statue.

These depictions often represent these great men as single individuals troubled by the problem of resolving a theory, but can this really be true, are theories, such as gravity, the work of a single individual? I intend to suggest otherwise.

Another fine example of this is, Darwin and his theory of evolution, in his biography he claims to know the exact moment in his house when he came up with the idea and is famously quoted as saying “at last a theory to work with” but in fact researchers have discovered while trawling over his meticulous notebook that he had all the ingredients of the theory prior to this moment and that this knowledge was built up over many years through research and discussion with other like minded people.

Indeed if we examine the manner in which we generate ideas we will discover that this is often not done in the quiet of the room but though discussion with colleagues and other people.So if ideas are not instant responses to specific conditions how are they created? Or in other words where do they come from? In the 18th century there is a specific period refereed to as the period of Enlightenment in Europe that stands out as a period where intellectual knowledge flourished.

When examining this period there are two notable changes in social and cultural behaviour that take place. One is that we experience a shift from the consumption of alcohol based drinks( common drink was beers due to the increase in water born diseases) to the wide spread use of tea and coffee. The second was the emergence of the coffee house as a place to congregate and consume tea or coffee.

What is extremely interesting in this period is how these two minor changes in social cultures began to contribute to the Enlightenment,

The first point is a pretty obvious one, a shift to a stimulant rather than the alcohol-based drinks consumed would affect any trail of thought and allow for clarity. The second is rather more interesting, in that for the first time a place was created where groups could gather to discuss events and thoughts and ideas.

The architecture of the coffee house is one, which encourages the sharing of ideas and discussion, this sharing and discussion was in fact what led to the Enlightenment and the creation of many different intellectual thoughts.

Although not all the progress from this period can be accredited to the coffee house there is no doubt that it had an incredible effect on the developments of this period.

So if intellectual blossoming is somehow associated to exchange and discussion the question is how then can we apply this coffee shop model to an organisation or institutions.

At the turn of this century much has been said about the architecture of new companies and their ability to create spaces which lead to innovative thought and ideas, companies such as Pixar, and Google are leading the way and make every effort to be different and to create environments where interaction flourishes. The originality and creativeness of these companies very often relates and depends on these spaces and their architecture and structure. These companies have become models to follow for the new and creative companies Google and Pixar are not pioneers in this field, in fact much of the modern day office environment is one which inspired by studies completed in the mid 1900 by the Quickborner team. They discovered that a shift from a cellular office where individuals were kept apart to an open plan office helped in regards to productivity, which has been adopted as a normal model within working environment these days. Pixar and Google are amongst some companies that take this a step further, where the office environment is one, which actually encourages face to face conversations and discussion.

Newton with the Apple at his feet, depicting the moment the theory was created.

Kevin Dunbar, Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto, some years ago decided to investigate the origins of good ideas. In order to understand how ideas were generated he decided to go to a number of different institutions and observe scientists at work, he recorded the way scientists worked to attempt to pin point where ideas came from.

What his recordings showed was that scientist despite common misconception that most ideas are generated whilst working behind the microscope viewing something quite amazing, that this was not the case. The research showed that actually most of the great ideas came during the weekly meeting where everyone came together to share their work and research and actually very often when people would discuss why their experiments did not work.

I want you to imagine your own education, you sat in a classroom being taught by your teacher about science or mathematics. You are encouraged to listen and take notes but at no point are you encourage to question and discuss in fact these are often considered blemishes within your educational report.

In these environments there is a right and wrong, You are awarded points for the correct answer and deducted points for the wrong answer and the balance between what you are told is right and wrong determines your standing within the classroom and indeed the wider student population.

With current technological advances we now have the possibility to challenge such environments, with better international communication, physical and geographical boundaries are disappearing and more collaborative environments being generated. What we need to consider is how we begin to redefine environments to cater for more collaboration, and what, in fact, collaboration allows us to achieve.

Collaboration

Exchange Results in ideas spreading

Adam takes 4 hours to make a spear and 3 hours to make an axe

Oz takes 1 hour to make a spear and 2 hours to make an axe

If Oz makes 2 spears

And Adam makes 2 axes

They each save 1 hour

SO:

Oz is faster at making and axe and a spear and therefore should dominate Adam.

BUT:

David Ricardo

What we now understand is that ideas are not the product of individual thought but rather a combination of thoughts generated by specific environments. But how is it that ideas can combine and what is achieved as a result of their combination?I recently travelled from London to Stockholm, having left my office caught a taxi to the airport checked in on a computerized check in system travelled through security where all sorts of devices were used to search my belonging before getting on the aeroplane to travel to my destination.

None of the above is interesting to us anymore because we have become accustomed to it, this is considered to be the normal in the global digital age, but if we were to break down each aspect of this trip we would be amazed at the extent and combination of ideas that need to work alongside each other for this rather simple travel experience to take place.My travel is dependent on numerous inventions and ideas. My journey to the airport in the taxi was dependent on the invention of automobiles but also roads, traffic light, electricity and a lot more, my check in at the airport on the invention of electronics, automotive system and so much more, the plane I travelled on relies on computers , circuits, electronics, flight and many more. What is interesting here is the combination of all these different tools but also all these different ideas. The taxi was a car but it relies heavily on the ideas of transport as well as the ideas of manufacturing, assembly, material and so on.

What is even more amazing is that all described above only came into existence in the past 100-150 years, so what is it that we are doing that has increased our progress to such an extent.

Studies have shown that our progress in the past century was as a result of simple division labour dating back to hunter-gatherer societies or in other words specialization. During this period the notion of specialization developed as a result of the division of tasks, originally between male and females within the society. The hunters knew how to hunt and the gatherers

knew how to forage, but they a also knew that if they hunted more than they required they could exchange for what the gathers had collected and in this way they would have all that they required.

Matt Ridley the author of the rational optimist discusses this idea of specialization and exchange at length in his book. He argues that we, as a species, have evolved to become the most prosperous life form on this planet due to this notion of exchange.

He used the example of computer mouse in comparison to hand held axe from the Middle Ages. As he says the similarities between them are interesting but not as interesting as their differences. One object is made from a singular material which did not change in design for over 30,000 generation or just over 1 millions years of human evolution the other (the computer mouse) is made up of many different materials and ideas, the ideas of plastic, the ideas of mining for raw material for plastic, the ideas of transistors and assembly which all contribute to the creation of the computer mouse which is constantly evolving. The mouse bought today will be obsolete with in 1 years time and this serves as a testament to how fast we are progressing. This simple action has meant that we have become more and more prosperous as we have become populous; this fact in its own is amazing as it is contrary to any other species on this planet.He goes on to argue that the creation of the computer mouse is reliant on specialization, that is to say that an individual only concentrates on the creation of the electronics and other on the design and manufacturing and only when these are all exchanged we get the computer mouse.

David Riccardo a well known economist describes this in a slightly different way, he use the example of Adam and Oz whom are making spears and axes, the example is as follows:Adam takes 4 hours to make a spear and 3 hours to make an axe, Oz takes 1 hour to make a spear and 2 hours to make an axe, in this situation Oz is superior to Adam in every way, so therefore he should succeed while Adam is forgotten. Or in other words Oz does not need Adam.

Matt RidleyDiscussed the difference between these 2 objects, and the exchange of ideas and collaboration that results in the creation of the computer mouse.

But the reality is that if Oz makes two spears and Adam makes two axes and then they trade they would have each saved 1 hour of work. This exchange is what leads to time saving which leads to an increase in prosperity. So they both progress through this exchange.

Our recent history is full of amazing statistics that indicate that GDP per capita has increased threefold within the past 50 years that life expectancy has increased by more than 30% all of this in spite of a massive population increase, how did we achieve all this? The simple answer is through collaboration and specialization.

Innovation

What happens when we combine the generation of ideas, with collaboration and exchange?

I want you to imagine person 1 who has one idea and person 2 who has another idea, they each have 1 idea, if there is no exchange they will always remain with 1 idea, but through exchange these individuals will each end up with 2 ideas. Now if we can imagine how this would happen through a population then all of sudden we have millions and millions of ideas. Innovation takes place when these ideas begin to combine and create new ideas.

There is no doubt that Innovation leads to progress, It leads to better and more efficient ways of working and producing. If we compare the average person today with that of the 18th century we are healthier, living longer and living more comfortably and all of this is only possible through innovation.

We are the only species on this plant that has become more productive as its population has increased, Darwin’s natural selection and the survival of

the fittest tell us as population increases resources become scare and as a result the population either decreases or slowly disappears but we have achieved exactly the opposite.

Our evolution from cave man to the penthouse owner on top of Burj Khalifeh is one, which is utterly dependent on the generation of ideas, and their combination through collaboration.

This notion and understanding is one which seems to be absent from our educational environments, the architecture and set up of institutions is such that it does not encourage collaborative work, very often single individuals are challenged with problems and attempt to resolve these in isolation where as every single aspect of our progress so far suggests the contrary.

Classroom and lecture halls and students allocated to groups that are discouraged from discussions and mixing cannot be the most productive way to encourage innovative thoughts. Isolation leads to self-sufficiency and self sufficiency is considered as poverty.

Our challenge as educators and creative thinkers is redefine what it means to study and work, to use current developments and re-examine old definitions.

As examples have shown through collaboration we can begin to create positives all round and shift from a win/lose situation to a win/win situation, where every member of the team gains more than before.

Environments that lead to innovation

The Architectural Association is the oldest school of architecture in the UK and widely considered as one of the best in the world. It does not come as a surprise that the school and its structure abides by most of what I have said above. It has remained at the forefront of architecture over the past century largely due to this attitude and philosophy. The AA follows the same historic path as most institute as being a collective of individuals who share a common interest in architecture, this common ground and their views towards traditional schools and their structure resulted in the creation of a school like no other.

The AA remains as one of the few schools that does not follow a pre described curriculum, its research and activities are organised around the work of the school population which allows for the school to become an organic collective always shifting and changing as a response to cultural and social changes around it.

From its inception it has been a school led by its students rather than it staff, the collective knowledge and exchange of views between and amongst it student body has allowed it to remain at the forefront of architectural thinking and developments. Its reputation within the world has allowed the AA to become a truly international school, although its physical/geographical location is London much of the rest of the school is international, very often when walking through the school you feel as though you are travelling through an airport rather an architecture school.

Many different languages and groups coming together for periods of 3-6 years to study and research alongside each other means, that there are many different points of view and experiences to be shared.

The school prides itself on containing no less than 90 different nationalities within its student and academic body, but in recent years has gone further in creating the visiting school programme, which actually

takes the AA on global tour allowing to collaborate with close to 50 different institution around the world.

The AA visiting school is a short intensive course, which is conducted over a couple of week, which aims at collaborating with different institution around the world. It at the moment covers every continent with close to 50 collaborators in different countries.This structure follows on from the understanding that through collaboration we will achieve innovation. The organisation of such collaborations allows the AA to expose itself to new and exciting way of thinking and to combine these with its own way of approaching architecture, the results of which are usually very interesting topics and agendas that result in some truly fantastic and amazing work.

One such Visiting programme is the Tehran Visiting School, which builds upon this notion of collaboration. The structure of the school aims at bringing together like-minded people from the AA with students from Iran to research and work on interesting topics. The school encourages students to be active, outspoken in regards to their views, and expressive. The combination of this with staff and students from the AA often results in explosive environments where new and interesting ideas are created. The most important aspect of this school is that , although held at an architectural institution is does not relay upon it, the temporary and collaborative nature of the environment is one which allows for freedom of thought and expression. The organisation of the school and the way in which it conducts research has lead to the creation of a number of points which are used as a template for discussion in regards to what future architectural school may be like.

These 8 points serve as a template, which indicates the AA’s position toward what an architecture school should be.

1- A school should be organised so that it is students lead rather than tutored. This is an integral part of what makes the AA successful, in that the student body is the real driving force behind the school evolution and the administration are only there to maintain the legality of the body and insure that the operations are not interrupted. 2- A school should be a prototype and not a building type, this will allow it to constantly change and be viewed as a working model capable of refinement, the moment the school takes on a plastic form then innovation dies with it3- The school should be organised as a communication network and not a stable entity, very much in the same way as technological advances have allowed sites such flicker to appear. Here the architectural school should allow a constant flow of information and ideas between the different bodies and members of the school4- A school does not create architects but audiences for new ideas, the school needs to be open to many different trails of thought, it should not deal directly with Architecture but about ideas of architecture.5- The school should evolve as an unpredictable crowd and not rational individuals; this works on the coffee shop model where by chaotic environments led to ideas and thoughts being generated.6- They should be more like café than schools, where people share ideas and thoughts without the fear of being downgraded.7- They should be convenors and not vocational trainer, they should only provide the necessary impetus for discussion to take place and not consider themselves as a training institution,8- They will be anywhere and everywhere, where learning can take place.That is to say that anywhere where there is enough interest the school can take place, its only necessity is the collective brain.

AA Tehran Visiting School exhibition 2011, Public Event

The example of the AA is a perfect one as it clearly highlights the benefits of this structure, through this knowledge and structure it has been able to contribute so much to architectural development.This article describes and justifies how we have evolved culturally to become the most prosperous species on the plant despite ever more demanding and challenging conditions, it puts forward ideas of how one can begin to realign research agendas and methods to better suit environments which encourage innovation.Its is clear that through exchange we have a species been able to create and progress to the level which we no longer understand or control, we create objects that are astounding but we do so through the collective actions, if in isolation we would not be able to create the objects and tool used in our daily lives.The finest example of this is the essay by economist Leonard Read called I pencil, which talk about how no one even knows how to make a pencil anymore, because the pencil is dependent on the mining of graphite and the manufacture of other elements, we may have some idea of this but no one knows the complete story, it is only through exchange that we achieve this. The exchange has given us the ability to create a common goals, where interactions contribute towards global progress but do so through collective action and a pool of knowledge that each individual contributes to. Ultimately this allows for the creation of objects and tool which are beyond the understanding of the individual part of this collective brain.

Our goal for the next century would be to better tune schools and educational environments to understand and to be able to take advantage of this knowledge.Individuals and their work will no longer play a major part but rather the combination of their ideas will.

The architectural school of the future, will not have classrooms, corridors and lecture halls but would be a space where collaboration and exchange are encouraged, an open source university where everyone is welcome to contribute and debate.

AA Tehran Visiting School Graduation 2010, Brett Steele Director of AA and Omid Kam-vari Tehran Visiting School Director

Hanif Kara, Tehran Visiting School 2011 Keynote Lecturer.

Public Presentation at the Korea Visiting School

“The great obstacle to

discovery is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”

Daniel J. Boorstin

“ExpEriEncE ridiculEs nEw idEas,

mEanwhilE nEw idEas changE thE world”

david archibald

Parametric design has been a topic widely discussed within academic circles over the past decade.With research covering almost all scales of architecture from the product to the urban there are very many interesting results to discuss.However the effects of this method of designing is one which has remained productive in only a few offices which could afford the overheads of research and development associated to updating office methodology. With such skills on the rise it is worth reconsidering how young practices have began to adopt a culture of such methodology and techniques.

I first became interested and familiar with parametric software and design while studying my diploma at the AA. Our unit at the AA Directed by Michael Hensel and Achim Menges was one of the first to take on the challenge of parametric design; we worked very closely with Robert Aish at Bentley on the Beta version of Generative components( the predecessor of Grasshopper) one of the first associative parametric software packages to become widely used.The first couple of years of this was a roller coaster of discovery with all sorts of potentials being discovered through numerous projects ( MeMari Iran, Ma Magazine published a number of different research projects on this topic). The notion that the computer would be able to calculate relatively complex geometrical changes for you was fantastic, the computer until this point was used as a rather sophisticated drafting tool. However with parametric software you were able to define boundaries and flexibility which would allow you to, for the first time use, the software as a means of calculating minor differences, or differentiation.The associative nature of package also allowed further exploration into relationships, one of the first potentials of which (and probably the simplest) was relating and laying out of floor plans in relation to an overall building volume, this would mean that throughout the evolution of the building for the floor plates would be updated reducing the need to

constantly re draw floor plans. This ultimately would lead to a more efficient way of designing. It was potential such as this which began to bridge the gap between academic parametric and professional parametric. Whilst studying for my masters degree we were presented with a great opportunity to experiment with the package on a live project, the AA EMtech Canopy. I was given the role of the digital coordinator which allowed me to dive head first into the use of parametrics. GC allowed us to treat each component in a slightly different way allowing us to control apertures’ and structures to allow the design to evolve into the most optimum form. The parametric nature of the design was further reinforced through scripting which allowed us to control the constructability of the canopy.This project highlighted some amazing potential in the use of the package. We were able to really experiment with design methodology and performance.This notion however was short lived for me as post graduation I joined Foster and Partners where for the first time I was confronted with the reality of parametric design in large scale architectural projects. During my time here I became more familiar with the potential of the software package resolving complex geometrical problems and creating a more efficient workflow and at the very same time I also became aware of a major flaw, parametric definition usually relied on top heavy workload, that is to say initially you need a large amount of effort to define relationship and construct geometries, this is in direct odds with the architectural workflow, in that in the initial parts of any project you are faced with the least amount of certainty.

Post Foster and Partners I took position at Hamiltons Architects where I set up and led the Hamiltons advanced modelling group. Here we tried to incorporate advanced computation into the workflow of the office with meetings with directors at the initial part of the project to highlight the potential of the use of such skills within the projects. This however, very quickly highlighted the same flaw in that projects are less defined formally

The professional side of Parametric Design

in their initial stages .This situation was further influenced with the economic downturn, where all of a sudden offices had to shrink down to only the essential which meant advanced computation groups disappeared.

Despite all the hype and potential offered parametric design was seen as an overhead which was unnecessary in the times of economic difficulty.

This has continued and only the strongest offices such as Foster and Partners have been able to maintain a division dedicated to this topic.

However with more and more students taking up such tools and the development of Grasshopper as a more common platform which in many way resolves the interface difficulties of GC, parametric design is on the rise again.We take full advantage of this at Kamvari Architects where we do not distinguish between cad and parametric design. The difficulty in using these skills in bigger offices was that you were always used a consultant with the project only contributing when a director unfamiliar with the potential thought it wise, at Kamvari Architects there is no specific divisions but a collective group with a collective knowledge.

Parametric design works as part of the office design methodology and takes place in a much more organic way than I previously experienced in the bigger office.

This organic method of using advanced skills has manifested itself in a number of crucial projects for us.Our proposals for a housing complex in Iraq took full advantage of this aspect and further incorporated this with design optimization, parametric software and algorithms were used to assess the most optimum arrangement of a simple concrete component. These results were looped and assessed in relation to environmental

conditions such as excess sunlight and ventilation, which allowed us to use the computer to give numerous combination and to test each and highlight the most optimum in each arrangement. This method resulted in the most efficient arrangement in terms of construction but also performance. We have further explored this notion of design optimization a topic which I worked extensively on during my academic career in our office through other projects, experimenting with the relationship between parametric and design performance. We are currently working on creating a loop between parametric packages and other software packages capable of assessing performance such as Ecotect and Ansys. In addition to the professional work we are at the moment working on a pavilion project which will test this method of working. Parametric design has been through a number of changes in the past decade, despite it slowing down during the recession I feel that it is on the rise once again, with offices such as ours adopting it as a design tool of choice it will over the next decade become a sustainable technique for generating ever more interesting geometries and further relating these to other packages to drive evolutionary design in the true sense. The secret to its adaptation does not rely on a specialist group but on every member of the office being familiar with it, in this way it ceases to be a special requirement and is incorporated in a more organic way into the office working methodology.Fifty percent of our staff are advanced users of parametric packages and 100% are familiar with the basics and its potentials.

Omid Kamvari, Director Kamvari Architects, Course Director AA Tehran Visiting School, Course Director AA Muscat Visiting School.

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EVENTS

Initial Student Prototype-Muscat 2012

Visiting School Poster-Muscat 2012

Simple Materials, complex behaviour-Muscat 2012

Experimenting with Sheet material, Muscat 2012

Make Shift Workshop- Muscat 2012

Tutorials /student presentation, Muscat 2012

Prototypes prior to taking form- Muscat 2012

Architects as craftsmen- Muscat 2012

Artichoke, fish Scale - Differentiated system- Muscat 2012

Analysing the Banana Plant- Muscat 2012

From the Dorian , king of fruits to dangerous architecture- Muscat 2012

Oman has a careful approach to urban expansion which has so far proved successful. However its established model of development is increasingly being challenged by a range of factors – massive population growth, declin-ing oil reserves, climate change, economic restructuring, changing lifestyles and an expansion of tourism. Key to resolving this challenge is the search for an environmentally and culturally appropriate architecture and urbanism.

Current discourse in Urbanism Often revolves around the use of high-rise buildings and high density living, however despite the potential this offers this at present is a typology completely absent in Oman. With the current pressures and the cost of developing and improving infrastructures and sustainable concerns this typology requires further examination to see how it could possibility contribute to the development of Oman.

This year we will look at high-rise buildings, the workshop will attempt to examine and learn from other gulf states and generate new architectural and urban solutions based on an investigation of patterns which reflects Oman Culture and history in architecture. Fundamental to the development of ours strategy will be environmental performance. We will challenge pro-posal put forward in the region and begin to re-examine these in regards to culture, climate and tradition in Oman.

We will look closely at natural patterns and attempt to analyse and under-stand their cause and effect. This analysis and understanding will feed our design process, allowing students to derive specific behaviours that have architectural capabilities and apply them to 1:1 scale prototypes. Aspects such as flexibility, economy, scale and beauty will be explored to understand the potential contribution of each project to a new Omani architecture.

The workshop will end with a public exhibition of projects which will en-able the students to present their ideas in a public forum and to discuss their views on the future direction of architecture in Oman. Our purpose is to challenge normative modes of thinking about architecture and to under-stand its influence in a wider context

AA Muscat Visiting School

Shopping in disguise, Muscat 2012

Looking for interesting systems, Muscat 2012

Looking at interesting architecture, Muscat 2012 Is this Oman???, Muscat 2012 Is this Oman???, Muscat 2012

Car Park converted into exhibition space making a critical statement about public realm within the city of Muscat

Omid Kamvari officially opening the Muscat visiting School Exhibition

Visitors to the Exhibition, Sep 2012

Visitors to the Exhibition, Sep 2012 Student Work from the 2012 AA Muscat Visiting school exhibited

Flexible Casting, learning from the Dorian Fruit

Woven Structures, L systems

Woven Structure.

Porous Structure Learning from the Artichoke

Fabric formed Cast,

20120 Exhibition prior to opening

EXHIBITIONSAA Muscat visiting School- September 2012

Scholarship Candidates 2011

Lecture Hall, AA Tehran Visitng School 2011

TALKS AND LECTURESDesign evolves as a result of collaboration, ideas emerge from discussions, based on this we seek every opportunity to present , discuss and lecture in regards to the way we work and the work we produce.

Over the past year we have presented and lectured on numerous occasions, at the Architectural Association in London, Tehran and also Oman.The discussion during these events has been instrumental in pushing forward our ideas.

We are very fortunate to be able to discuss with a wide range of people how we see the world and make every effort to use this as an opportunity to evolve.

We have for the first time in the AA’s (Architectural Association)history been able to set up a scholarship for an Iranian student. This scholarship provides the student with 25k to cover his/her tuition costs and gives him/her the opportunity to attend the AA.

Following demand for the Tehran Visiting School we were able to offset a large proportion of the fees to create the scholarship. From the 101 students registered on the course 85 applied and one was selected.

We aim to continue with this scholarship and turn this into an annual feature of the course. We will be hosting a number of charity events throughout the year which will allow us to raise funds which will go towards the scholarship.

This year Omid Kamvari will be chasing the sun across the country in order to raise money for this scholarship. The race will be a 17 hour , 200 mile long race from sunrise to sunset and it aims to travel across the width of England before the sun sets.

CHARITY

PRO JECTS

View from street

Interior Visualisation

RANULF ROADThe Hocroft estate is an early 20th century estate which is situated between Hampstead and Cricklwood.The estate is famous for its large detached family house and its tree lines streets. Ranulf Road where our site was situated formed part of this es-tates. The house within currently exists on site was said to be the first com-missioned on the state and constructed in the 1930’s.

This was always going be contentious site which would attract a lot of criti-cism and views form the surrounding neighbours. Our challenge from the outset was to be able to deal with this attention as well as meet and exceed the council’s planning requirements in order to be able to secure planning for our clients.

The site which happened to be a corner plot enjoyed extensive and far reaching views towards the south mainly due to the site topography and the falling land to the south, the site experienced a 6 m drop from the northern point to the southern point of the site.

Our design strategy revolved around using the sites position within the road and its unique views toward to south as well the beautiful gardens situated to the rear to create a unique proposal which would celebrate 21st century architecture but give back more than usual to its surrounding and context.

We were able derive form through our design process which was able to respond to the context but also highlight the fact that the building industry has move on since the 1930’s , it never apologized for being convinced a new century and made no attempt to celebrate or mimic the surrounding buildings, but responded to the context in terms of materiality and ambi-tion.

The results of this was a number of simple boxes stacked and rotated upon each other. After months of negotiation we were able to secure planning on this unique house in November.We are looking forward to the next stage of the project in the coming year.

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Simple stacking modelAchieving required development area

Separating each floor And pushing out volumes to create ledges

Pushing back and forth to create overhand shading sections of the facade

Rotating to optimise towards views and create green belts around the mass

Projecting out where necessary to achieve required developmental area.

Aligning with No EdgeThe mass may need to be manipulated as it rises above ground level

Northern Elevation

Living Space

Cross Section

This was a competition entry for an affordable housing project in Iraq. Iraq is currently undergoing a transformation and transition, after many years of neglect it has rightfully claimed its position within the Middle East as an emerging economy.

The recent war and conditions have led to a serious lack of housing, the Ministry of housing has initiated a programme to be able to deliver new good quality housing to the Iraqi people.

Economic housing has long been an issue for discussion within the architectural community, from the post world war development of Jean Prouve and Buckminster Fuller to more recent development of prefabricated housing and the Hauff house. All have in their own way attempted dot contributed positively to this discourse.

This competition gave us the opportunity to begin exploring our notion of affordable and economic housing.

Within the development of any country the essential element of progress is the ability to construct infrastructure to enable new settlements to take place.

Iraq Housing Competition

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Adding a courtyardBasic blocks Re-organising around the courtyard

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This project required us to think laterally and to generate new ideas which would result in and innovative solutions to the housing crisis in Iraq.

Our objective in this project was to produce a scheme which was simple and economical but yet offered great eco and social potentials.Our proposal revolved around the use of a simple pre fabricated con-crete box used in bridge construction together with an Genetic algo-rithm which assessed the different orientation and combination of a 5mx5mx5m box.

The algorithm assessed the performance of the configuration in regards to floor to surface area, solar gains, social space and self-shading. This allowed us to produce a family of dwellings capable of delivering each of the criteria. The combination of these configurations in regional and global patches combined with an understanding of traditional courtyard typologies and regional context allowed us to put forward a coherent solution, which catered for a modern Iraq. The shifting of the central courtyard to the periphery allowed us begins to describe a new typolo-gies which attempted to create socially inclusive space.

3-d Visualisations

Symbolic Falling of Saddam’s Statue served as the turning point in The countries move towards democracy

We believe the key to unlocking the housing potential in Iraq is an innovative idea of using elements from such construction industries within the architectural realm.

For this project we investigates and proposed a system which builds its intelligence through the use of a simple concrete box used otypicaly in the construction of tunnels.

We believe with some creative thinking this simple element may get transformed into a sophisticated building element capable of delivering a wide range of performances required.

Our aim is to combine this simple building system with local knowledge gained from working and living in near by Iran in regards to traditional methods of building and deriving performance.

The essential elements within our design will consist of the use of passive energy sources and traditional courtyard to derive better living conditions and neighbourhoods. Our main challenge will revolve around creating more socially inclusive regions, by removing the clear and distinct division between the private and public areas of the cities, by blurring the boundaries we will create communial zones.

Tehran Bsuiness Hotel and Residnece

This project consisted of a mixed use developed comprising of a hotel and residential units in the northern part of the city of Tehran.

The tower 240 m, 60 storey tall would be one of the highest in Tehran . It consisted of 300 residential units and 200 key hotel, and spa.

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D3 HousingWith an ever increasing population and a demand for more and more housing stock within urban centres we are facing a reduction in green open spaces. Statistics indicate that in the 1900’s only 10% of the world’s population lived within cities, in 2007 this had risen to 50% and it is expected that by 2050 this will increase to 75%. With such statistics the question of urban public realm is becoming a crucial one to answer. Parallel to this the production mechanism for the support of cities and the efficiency of these mechanisms are being strained.

Currently for the purposes of efficiency we see large scale production and recreational space as separate to needs of the occupants of the city with these functions often being located on the outskirts of the large metropolitan areas requiring a commute. We feel that if we look towards a more integrated approach we could begin to challenge current modes of thought and highlight certain potential in the mixture of these elements.

Our Projects attempts to look at the high-rise typology in combination with public realm and small scale Farmland (production surfaces) to address and rebalance the urban condition. This change will challenge the current mono

functionality of buildings and begin to take into consideration and take responsibility for other issue.

The Design itself is derived through an algorithm which is capable of assessing aspects ranging from surfaces to floor area ratio, orientation and solar gains this allows the process drive design to understand different arrangements and combination of a simple cubed volume and to be able to choose the best suited to the conditions. Once optimised at the local sale the types are combined in regional batches where external spaces are considered, the combination and arrangement of single open spaces next to each other results in regional batches being created where larger scale social interaction and production can take place. The entire system is reliant on a bottom up approach where the numerous combinations are tested and the most optimum chosen. This allows the design to evolve to include private, semi private and public amenity spaces which can hold a range of function ranging from Friday markets to exercise classes.

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The Rin-QThe Rin-Q serves primarily as urban space and public realm, then as a bridge connecting the 2 sides of the Amstel River. It creates social and public space on the banks of the river immediately outside the Hermitage Museum as well as extending this onto the river itself without compromising on views towards the entrance.

Our approach challenges the typical bridge. Here the bridge takes on a com-pletely new form whereby rather than the most direct route it attempts to create space by looping across the river. This loop is designed to extend the limited public realm outside the museum onto the river itself, it also pre-serves and highlights the museums entrance from across the river. We have maximized the potential of the proposal by adding strips of function to the bridge, the strips allow the bridge to cater for more people and improve the lack of urban public realm within the region. The formal language of the bridge draws inspiration from Holland’s rich history and culture in speed skating and cycling. The functions and their association to the culture of the city allow the Rin-Q to become a destination and icon within the urban fabric of the city.

Master Plan

Visualisation- View from North East

Physical Model

Visualisation- South West

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Physical Model

Cross Section

Slovenia National Library

The design approach for the National and University Library NUK II by Kamvari Architects re-evaluates what a library could be in the 21st century and in doing so allows the new library to become an iconic symbol for Lju-bljana. The NUK II offers a variety of external and internal public spaces that caters for a range of formal and informal environments for social inter-action and cultural exchange.

With the ground floor largely occupied by the display and exploration of the Roman ruins, the provision of a larger and more flexible public space is proposed on the roof where soft and hard landscaping winds itself up to the top of the building allowing for magnificent views over the old city centre and towards Ljubljana Castle.

The volume of the new structure forms a block that largely follows the perimeter of the site boundary and leaves a small internal courtyard to bring light and air into the deep floor plate and indeed on to the exposed roman

ruins. However what appears to be an introverted approach is in fact a con-temporary interpretation of the urban block that provides different degrees of permeability by winding upwards and partly overlapping each other.

The Concept builds upon the culture of hiking and further reinforces this through the use of material associated to such activities, the use of Hay in the facade as a screening and performative elements reconnect the building to Slovenia’s historical past. The library in this way becomes more than just a building containing books and becomes an active part of the city scape.

Typical terraced housing as seen historically can lead to some quite unpleasant issues, despite this the typology is one which points towards a communal way of living with a strong sense of community and neighbourhood.

The challenge for us is to understand and take into consideration the positives from this typology and update and bring them into the 21st century.

Our mission was to propose terraced housing which meet the criteria of modern day living.

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Industrial Buildings

Private Green Space

Communal Green Space

Site Boundary

Birds Eye Visualisation

Visualisation of the inner courtyard

View form the across the canal

Visualisation

The proposal for the Ajoodaniyeh Tower by Kamvari Architects seeks to use traditional design within Iran as a means of addressing performance criteria within a high-rise. With the intention of analysing unique aspects of traditional architecture specific to the region, they combine these with advanced design methods to produce a novel proposal for the site and our client.

The use of electromechanical devices to cool and heat buildings has become common place within Iran and the region, Tehran’s climate of cold winters and hot summers further exacerbate this issue. In our design proposal we take a very critical view towards this, the building envelope and from have been designed in such a away to be able to control the amount of solar radiation entering each floor plate as well as reduce cooling loads through the use of natural ventilation.

Ajoodaniyeh Tower

Visualisation- North East - option 03 Visualisation- North West - option 02

Retail podium-OPTION 02

Retail Podium

Orientating to maximise natural light

Office Block

Orientating toward the predominant wind direction to use natural ventilation

Central Courtyard

The Courtyard

Muscat PavilionThe Architectural Association’s School of Architecture (AA) and the German University of Technology in Oman (GUtech) successfully cooperated on a first AA Visiting School in September 2011. A further continuation of the AA Visiting Schools in Muscat is planned with one such event in each of the next two years. This year’s event is due to start on the 4th of September running for 11 days.

In addition to the short-term teaching and learning experi-ence of the AA Visiting Schools, it is planned to strengthen the collaboration between the two academic institutions by involving students into another well-established field of ex-pertise by the AA, pavilions.

The AA Muscat Pavilion will build on the AA’s already expansive portfolio of experimental pavilion structures, and will attempt to take lessons learnt from the pavilions built each year in Bedford Square in central London and combine these with expertise and knowledge gained from the Muscat Visiting School.

The AA Muscat Pavilion is to become the centrepiece of a brand new campus designed by Hoehler and Partners in Mus-cat for the German University of Technology in Oman. This pavilion will represent the university’s approach into experi-mental learning, research and hands-on building through real-size projects that involve students as well as professionals.

The pavilion will celebrate local material and craft and will seek to address cultural and design issues within Oman.

3-d printed Model

Plaster Physical prototype

Visualisation within the context

Mashad Pavilion

Visualisation within the context

Visualisation within the context

Using context to bridge across the landscape Activating the roofscape Responding to the environments inputs

Simple Mass Considering a focal point for the school Ensuring this is a dynamic space Adding a skin to the building Optomising the skin to control light andsolar gains

Crete Bio-Climatic SchoolSitting nearly 4 metres above the landscape connecting 2 embankments together, our proposal brings harmony and sense to the context, creating a simple linear movement across the site and looking inwards towards the heart of the school it generates a subtle exterior while introducing excitement and fun to the interior . The school gains an impression of enclosure and security yet does not lose the sense of it’s landscape setting.

Our proposalruns from east to west creating an efficient bar that attempts to build on Crete’s historic nature as a gateway between east and west. In this way our proposal becomes sixty metre bridge, formally laid-out in an exciting and interesting learning environment surrounded by magnificent

views combined with a tapestry of different plants, grasses, ponds, mathematical puzzles and scientific objects .

The building fulfils a complex brief – it looks out at the landscape, yet into the school to create an interesting internal enclosure . There is an equally interesting story to tell with regard to how it physically represents the liberal philosophical position of Crete and current educational trends.

Our proposal is an innovative, radical building – yet it embraces traditional materials. Every space and surface is utilized in order to create new and exciting ways of exploring a school, our school does everything the drab and uninteresting typical school doesn’t.

Presentation at AKT engineering with Hanif Kara

Sultan Qaboos Palace , Muscat Oman

Crown Plaza, Muscat , Oman

GUTECH’s new campus In Halban, Oman

Slovenia National Library ModelOur Workshops in Iran

English Countryside

London office

Experimental Models

AA Publications

New Offices LondonOur break out space

Cloud FormationsLondon From Above

Schematic Models

Oman Exhibition from Above

Experimental Models

AA Exhibitions

We Look Forward

to working with you

in thefuture

UK, London1-5 Clerkenwell Road, Third Floor West , London

EC1M 5PAt. 0044 (0) 207 2534513

www.kamvariarchitects.com