performative archtiecture studio 2011: outline
DESCRIPTION
Performative Archtiecture Studio run at the Faculty of Archtiecture, Building and Planning, University of Melbourne by Stanislav RoudavskiTRANSCRIPT
SYNOPSIS
This studio will produce a full-scale functional installation combining
an inflatable structure with interactive media The installation will be
designed as a system of small-scale enclosures and wearable ele-
ments It will be developed and staged as a public performance within
a theatrical or gallery space The students will be free to invent the
form and program of the installation but will be asked to base their
designing on generative approaches to form-making By emphasizing
the generative capabilities of computing the studio will demonstrate
that outcomes of architectural design can be usefully understood as
dynamic and responsive performances rather than static and passive
objects The process of designing with new digitalphysical materials
will invite students to explore and critique a broad range of concepts and
techniques pertaining to digital architectural design This learning can
be useful as an essential foundation for many purposes sophisticated
site and behaviour analysis environmentally responsive architecture
cradle-to-cradle making etc Complex form explorations are currently
very fashionable in architecture and the interactive technologies be-
come increasingly ubiquitous Yet successful integrations of complex
geometry and interactivity at the architectural scale are rare Innovation
in this area has been constrained by a lack of relevant knowledge in
the architectural profession Performative Architecture Studio seeks
to address this gap by educating its participants in an interdisciplinary
and innovation-oriented environment that integrates the learning of
concepts into the process of making
For additional information links and examples see the dedicated studio
website (updated regularly)
httpscriptscridanetghpas
Similarly to our previous work in this area the studio outcomes will be
disseminated online on a dedicated website and submitted to leading
design publications They will also be exhibited publicly and submitted
to international festivals and exhibitions in the area of digital creativ-
ity (such as ISEA DEAF Ars Electronica FutureEverything or GA)
or conferences and workshops in architecture (such as ACADIA or
SmartGeometry)
FIELD OF KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING APPROACH
Paper-based workflows constrain architecture
into conventional types that rapidly become en-
vironmentally and morally unsustainable New
digital design methods focus on processes in
preference to static schema and seek to stage
dynamic performances rather than produce
objects This change of focus reconfigures the
conventional relationships between 1) ideation
and making and 2) form and material
Responding to these fundamental issues the
2011 Performative Architecture studio will ex-
plore
1) Ideation by experimenting with generative
capabilities of computers including agent-
based systems
2) Making by engaging with digital fabrica-
tion from the outset and designing thorough
functional interactive prototypes
3) Form by utilising non-intuitive parametric
associative geometries and
4) Material by utilising dynamic digital data
along with physicalchemical objects
PERFORMATIVE ARCHITECTURE STUDIO 2011
KEYWORDS
performative places genera-
tive approaches interactive
emergent procedural para-
metric critical experimental
ubiquitous computing physi-
cal computing creativity au-
thorship analogue making
digital making
In the photo Amococo by Architects of Air 2008
FLOW
6 week of individual work on two
themes 1) Geometry Material
system rarr Complex topology rarr
Rationalised geometry rarr Fab-
ricated prototype and 2) Behav-
iour Agent system rarr Diagram rarr
Behavioural system rarr Interactive
prototype
6 weeks of collaborative work on
the final installation development
and construction
SUBMISSIONS
As outcomes and for evaluation
the students will be asked to
produce functioning prototypes
of responsive installations and
contribute to the construction of
the full-scale implementation
They will also have to document
and exhibit their work using on-
line publishing technicalcrea-
tive journals and moving image
presentations
BIOGRAPHIES
As an architect artist and researcher Stanislav Roudavski studies and designs
technologically sustained places Currently a Lecturer in Digital Architectural
Design at the University of Melbourne he holds degrees of MArchMFA from the
Academy of Arts in St Petersburg (Russia) MSc CABD from the University of
Strathclyde (UK) and PhD from the University of Cambridge (UK) Before arriving to
Melbourne in 2009 Stanislav worked on research projects at the University of Cam-
bridge and practiced in several European countries His current interests include
generative designing of complex architectural geometries bioinspiration virtual
and augmented environments place and performance studies spatial narrative
practice-based research methodologies and participatory distributed creativity
Roger Alsop teaches audio and interactive technology courses at the Victorian
College of the Arts and Box Hill Institute His creative practice includes video
still interactive and sonic works and his collaborative practice ranges across
all areas of the performing arts He holds a Master of Arts in Composition from
La Trobe University and has recently completed his PhD in Media and Commu-
nication at RMIT
Gwyllim Jahn completed his BEnvDes at the University of Western Australia be-
fore completing his Masters of Architecture at RMIT in 2010 He leads workshops
and studios at RMIT Melbourne and Monash universities He practiced at Minifie
Nixon architects and currently collaborates at LAB Architecture Studio His design
expertise includes complex architectural geometry and behavioural systems
parametrics and digital fabrication
TOOLS AND MATERIALS
The students will have exclusive ac-
cess to a unique set of hardware and
software tools that have been espe-
cially assembled for the experimen-
tation within the studio including
Dedicated design and experimenta-
tion spaces within the faculty and
in the Arts Faculty building (audio-
visual studio with blue screen and
sound booth dance studio with
controlled lighting and Open Stage
Theatre with all of its technical sys-
tems)
Tools for flexible control of digital
environments (visualtextual pro-
gramming in particular Grasshop-
per MAXMSPJitter + VisualBasic
JavaJavaScript Processing)
Tools for recording designing and
presenting temporal events (video
recording animation editing and
compositing software in particular
Adobe Premiere and AfterEffects)
Tools for complex form making (in
this case - inflatable textile systems
fans and sewing machines)
Tools for constructing interactive
environments (computer-controlled
lights computer-vision systems
video cameras laser emitters
light sensors non-standard high-
resolution projection systems and
multi-speaker computer-controlled
sound systems)
LEARNING OUTCOMES
The studio will provide its participants with
a strong foundation in digital design that will
be essentially useful across all computational
tools and software types It will discuss the
contemporary understanding of creativity and
will enable its participants to explain and de-
fend their design decisions
Among other things the studio will introduce
1) Architecture as performances (events nar-
ratives or play)
2) Emergence in design
3) Parametric modellingassociative geometry
form-findingcomplex geometry
4) Digital fabricationconstruction
5) Real-time digital sensingcomputer vision
and
6) Augmentedresponsiveinteractive environ-
ments
In the photo SPOTS by realities united 2005
FLOW
6 week of individual work on two
themes 1) Geometry Material
system rarr Complex topology rarr
Rationalised geometry rarr Fab-
ricated prototype and 2) Behav-
iour Agent system rarr Diagram rarr
Behavioural system rarr Interactive
prototype
6 weeks of collaborative work on
the final installation development
and construction
SUBMISSIONS
As outcomes and for evaluation
the students will be asked to
produce functioning prototypes
of responsive installations and
contribute to the construction of
the full-scale implementation
They will also have to document
and exhibit their work using on-
line publishing technicalcrea-
tive journals and moving image
presentations
BIOGRAPHIES
As an architect artist and researcher Stanislav Roudavski studies and designs
technologically sustained places Currently a Lecturer in Digital Architectural
Design at the University of Melbourne he holds degrees of MArchMFA from the
Academy of Arts in St Petersburg (Russia) MSc CABD from the University of
Strathclyde (UK) and PhD from the University of Cambridge (UK) Before arriving to
Melbourne in 2009 Stanislav worked on research projects at the University of Cam-
bridge and practiced in several European countries His current interests include
generative designing of complex architectural geometries bioinspiration virtual
and augmented environments place and performance studies spatial narrative
practice-based research methodologies and participatory distributed creativity
Roger Alsop teaches audio and interactive technology courses at the Victorian
College of the Arts and Box Hill Institute His creative practice includes video
still interactive and sonic works and his collaborative practice ranges across
all areas of the performing arts He holds a Master of Arts in Composition from
La Trobe University and has recently completed his PhD in Media and Commu-
nication at RMIT
Gwyllim Jahn completed his BEnvDes at the University of Western Australia be-
fore completing his Masters of Architecture at RMIT in 2010 He leads workshops
and studios at RMIT Melbourne and Monash universities He practiced at Minifie
Nixon architects and currently collaborates at LAB Architecture Studio His design
expertise includes complex architectural geometry and behavioural systems
parametrics and digital fabrication
TOOLS AND MATERIALS
The students will have exclusive ac-
cess to a unique set of hardware and
software tools that have been espe-
cially assembled for the experimen-
tation within the studio including
Dedicated design and experimenta-
tion spaces within the faculty and
in the Arts Faculty building (audio-
visual studio with blue screen and
sound booth dance studio with
controlled lighting and Open Stage
Theatre with all of its technical sys-
tems)
Tools for flexible control of digital
environments (visualtextual pro-
gramming in particular Grasshop-
per MAXMSPJitter + VisualBasic
JavaJavaScript Processing)
Tools for recording designing and
presenting temporal events (video
recording animation editing and
compositing software in particular
Adobe Premiere and AfterEffects)
Tools for complex form making (in
this case - inflatable textile systems
fans and sewing machines)
Tools for constructing interactive
environments (computer-controlled
lights computer-vision systems
video cameras laser emitters
light sensors non-standard high-
resolution projection systems and
multi-speaker computer-controlled
sound systems)
LEARNING OUTCOMES
The studio will provide its participants with
a strong foundation in digital design that will
be essentially useful across all computational
tools and software types It will discuss the
contemporary understanding of creativity and
will enable its participants to explain and de-
fend their design decisions
Among other things the studio will introduce
1) Architecture as performances (events nar-
ratives or play)
2) Emergence in design
3) Parametric modellingassociative geometry
form-findingcomplex geometry
4) Digital fabricationconstruction
5) Real-time digital sensingcomputer vision
and
6) Augmentedresponsiveinteractive environ-
ments
In the photo SPOTS by realities united 2005