Sunday, August 17, 2008

Parametric Wooden Strips

Here is an in progress project from our office. The small restaurant interior will be built with wood strips for the benches, bar, and ceiling. Keeping the strips vertical allows for them to be bent around the corners. Where the form pulls and pushes, light comes between the wood strips from behind.

A series of conical forms are used to control the radii of the wood strips. The more extreme the cone, the more open the gap in the strips.
A simple Catia diagram demonstrates the relationship between the cones and the strips. The parametric model allows for quick feedback between the manipulation of cone and the redulting affect of the strips and gaps.

Here is a link to a video of the Catia file.


An early rendering of the proposed space.

Back from traveling

Sorry for no posts in a while. I just got back from a trip to Argentina and Uraguay. We lectured in Rosario and decided to spend some time there. Juan Rois from UIC organized a number of visits and meetings while we were there. We got to meet some of Argentina's best architects, went to their offices, and visited their projects under construction. Here is a sampling of the buildings (click for larger image).


We saw some amazing projects. The architects were all very open and interested in talking about similarities and differences between architecture and practice. The most striking difference is the role of labor. In Argentina the labor is less expensive but the materials are more expensive in comparison to the US. As a result, the use of brick and concrete (cheap materials) is more widespread and of much higher quality. The craft and time taken to build with masonry or fabricate on-site formwork is not a fearful proposition as it is in the US.

On top of Casa View with Diego, Juan, and Marcelo.

Waiting for our table. With Gerardo, Marcelo, Luis, Juan, Craig, and Jen.

And the steak... We ate some very good Argentinian beef while drinking very good wine from Mendoza.