RAD: Responsive Architecture at Daniels

NJ Turnpike - RAD, Rodolphe el-Khoury, Christos Marcopoulos, Carol Moukheiber

rouby_i — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 13:43:56 +0000

NJ Turnpike, is a spatial olfactory experience.

While working with moss on the DropMoss project, we discovered that the distinctive scent released after watering is due to a chemical known as Geosmin (derived from Greek: earth smell). Following a rainfall, the chemical is released by Actinobacteria, “friendly bacteria” found in the soil, and possibly in moss. Actinobacteria have been associated with “Gardener’s high” a euphoric state of mind; the result of prolonged exposure. Scientists are testing its potential as a mild antidepressant. Geosmin is the basenote for the perfume NJ Turnpike, the scent produced for the exhibition An Olfactory Archive: 1738-1969, curated by David Gissen with Irene Cheng and held at the California College of the Arts. The scent provokes, through an olfactory experience, a spatial collapse of sky to earth and country to city.

The scent combines the smell of ozone, concrete, and geosmin to collapse a rainstorm into a single moment. Bring country to city, and join pavement with sky.

Geosmin is an organic compound with a distinct earthy flavor and aroma, and is responsible for the earthy taste of beets that occurs in the air when rain falls after a dry spell of weather or when soil is disturbed. Chemically, it is a bicyclic alcohol with formula C12H22O, a derivative of decalin.

Curtain - Mahtab Oskuee*

rouby_i — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 13:35:27 +0000

The project is a prototype for an actuated textile.

curtain from RAD Lab on Vimeo.

The membrane’s need to respond to contradictory forces such as privacy versus light, or view versus insulation, resulted in an textile that can open and close locally without the aid of an external or hard mechanical infrastructure.

As a quintessential domestic technique, crochet is harnessed for its capacity to model mathematically complex topological surfaces (Taimina 2009). Proximity sensors are distributed within the textile, triggering a cluster of modules to close upon sensing a viewer. Caressing the surface with one’s hand expands the zone of privacy.

The module’s form evolved directly from trial and error experimentation with Shape Memory Alloy behavior. The crenellation—the result of an exponential increase in stitches with each concentric row—allows each module to close and open without deforming the entire surface. The edge’s expanded surface accommodates a longer SMA wire, increasing actuation, while a pulsating current minimizes energy use.

*Supervised by: Carol Moukheiber

AI & Design - A Special Issue of AI & Society: Knowledge, Culture and Communication (Springer)

moukheiber_c — Sat, 26 Apr 2014 14:09:16 +0000

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS // due: August 25, 2014

Various manifestations of Artificial Intelligence and Cybernetic theories have infiltrated art and design since the 1950s. Early experiments included physical explorations of autonomous structures with dynamic sensing/actuating components (Nicola Schöffer 1954); proposals for spatial indeterminacy and user interactivity towards new social and political freedoms (Cedric Price with Gordon Pask 1961); as well as investigations into sensory expansion and renewed experience (E.A.T 1967). Today AI’s saturation is pervasive, advanced computational tools direct processes and offer prototyping platforms that rely on AI’s early development of object oriented programming (Alan Kay 1966). With Ubiquitous Computing (Mark Weiser 1988) physical objects are themselves acquiring synthetic sentience bringing the concept of situated or embodied AI and cognition from robotics (Rodney Brooks 1989) to everyday objects that explore responsiveness and autopoesis (Mette Ramsgard Thomsen 2007); and with the more recent Internet of Things, the social capacity of objects is being extended into global communication webs and data correlation. This convergence on objects, their increasing intelligence and augmented agency have also exposed overlaps with philosophy and the renewed interest in materialism (Object Oriented Philosophy…) which is expanding the notion of objects (living and non-living) as complex dynamic entities within the context of ecological thinking and posthuman theory.

What is artificial object intelligence in design? What are its aesthetic, social, psychological, and technical potentials? And what are its philosophical implications — is it an empathetic shift towards non-human perspectives or a far more subtle but all the more effective form of anthropomorphism and control? In the spirit of this interdisciplinary forum and its critical topic, this issue invites contributions from architects, artists, scientists, theorists, object oriented thinkers, and their critics. We seek to track histories, share methodologies, expose aims, and challenge goals through projects and papers that illuminate or speculate on object agency with its implications on thought and design.

—————————————————————————

SUBMISSIONS
Works may be submitted as:
1. Full Papers (3,000 words)
2. Projects (500 words)

Digital submissions only: MS Word or PDF (5 MB max). Please include author’s name and email along with a 50 word bio. For citation formatting, please refer to the “Instructions for Authors” link found here.

Send submissions to:
rad@daniels.utoronto.ca

DEADLINES
• Submissions due: August 25, 2014
• Notification of acceptance: October 8, 2014
• Final submissions: December 19, 2014

AI & Society: Knowledge, Culture and Communication, is an international journal, publishing refereed scholarly articles, position papers, debates, short communications and reviews of books and other publications. Established in 1987, the journal focuses on the issues of policy, design and management of information, communications and new media technologies, with a particular emphasis on cultural, social, cognitive, economic, ethical and philosophical implications. Publisher: Springer.

CORRESPONDENCE:
Carol Moukheiber, Guest Editor
Assistant Professor, Co-Director RAD
Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design
University of Toronto
carol.moukheiber@daniels.utoronto.ca

Image: RAD / Project: Curtain, Mahtab Oskuee

Internet of Moss: Prototypes for Green Ceiling™ Tiles - Carol Moukheiber, Christos Marcopoulos, Rodolphe el-Khoury. Team: Andrew Piotrowski, Tommy Reslinski, Samar Sabie

moukheiber_c — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 16:39:54 +0000

DropMoss™, a networked moss culture designed for standard T-bar drop-ceilings.

>> DropMoss LIVE DATA FEED <<

Green Ceiling™
The moss-tiles belong to a series of RAD experiments in planting the ceiling for healthier and richer interiors. RAD recognizes the ceiling as an untapped site for interior landscapes. It is an undisturbed zone that can be reclaimed by nature and linked to resilient outdoor ecosystem by means of networked embedded technology.

DropMoss™
The tile consists of a disposable/recyclable coco mat “cartridge” and an aluminum ‘tray” with integrated sensors, digital readout and wireless communication. The cartridge hosts a variety of common low maintenance moss species including Hypnum, Haircap, Rock Cap, and Cushion moss. They are irrigated by a hand held piston-pump sprayer or alternatively by means of an automated misting system integrated into the drop-ceiling structure. Moisture levels are optimized through embedded humidity sensors.

Internet of Moss
Although discretized as individual elements for stand-alone use or modular aggregation, the DropMoss™ tiles are wirelessly connected to their neighbors and linked to the Internet. They report individually on their status (moisture and pH) and together on ambient environmental conditions (temperature, ambient light, humidity, C02). They join other networked moss communities around the globe in an ecosystem of live correlated data whose feedback serves their resilience and sustainability.

Internet of Moss: Prototypes for Green Ceiling™ Tiles from RAD Lab on Vimeo.

Micro-Environment Gear - Stacie Vos*

moukheiber_c — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 23:47:09 +0000

Micro-Environment Gear merges the performance of medical gear with fashion’s affordance for self augmentation and personal expression.

As the frequency of global pandemics continues to rise, our collective health in the twenty-first century will increasingly depend on the physical and virtual apparatuses used for tracking and identifying infectious diseases within the urban context. This project proposes clothing, an intimate architecture as a site capable of mitigating the spread of airborne germs while providing customized psychological comfort and personal expression in dense urban environments.

An intervention at the scale of the mobile individual, the body, rather than one’s collective enclosure, is opportune for minimizing the spread of diseases: personal devices can anticipate the conditions when one is most likely to become infected and respond with protective measures. The project proposes a series of shirts and personalized face masks. The shirts are equipped with temperature and galvanic response sensors. Upon detecting a change in the state of the body, the shirt’s collar – sewn with shape memory wire – is released to cover the wearer’s face. The shirt mutates with the subconscious physical signals detected by biosensors. The body’s internal nervous system is extended to the exterior, manifesting itself in the electric circuit that is incorporated into the textile.

The design of the mask takes current advanced medical mask technology — such as silver nano particle impregnated filter textiles for germ deactivation — and adds performance through form. By multiplying the mask’s surface area through the folding of the fabric, an increased level of protection is gained. The prototypical medical gear then transforms towards a more complex form, one that converges with the presentation and augmentation of the self through fashion.

The project builds on current trends in wearable computing, along with the increasing proliferation of self-monitoring health initiatives, biosensors and electronic hobbyist tools in customizing everyday life. As ubiquitous technologies become more adept at sensing elements invisible to the human eye and acting on this function invisibly, to what extent do we desire a visible representation and form of these operations?.

This thesis emerged out of an interest in airports as the frontlines of disease control. The prevalence of biometric scanners for temperature detection, airport quarantine rooms and on-board health checks all collapse here onto the surface of the body. The clothes argue for an integration of systems designed to enhance the perception of our milieu.

*Advisor: Carol Moukheiber

IM BLANKY - Carol Moukheiber, Christos Marcopoulos, Rodolphe el-Khoury. Contributors Valentina Mele, Sebastian Savone, Yie Ping See, Jonah Ross Marrs, Samar Sabie, Dina Sabie

moukheiber_c — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:00:54 +0000

IM BLANKY is a self modeling blanket exhibiting primitive cognitive capacities.

IM BLANKY is a self-positioning and representing blanket. Its ability to know and represent its state in time and position in space approximates the most primitive and essential form of cognition, the awareness of one’s own body. By draping it over an object the blanket reproduces digitally and in real time that which it covers. This ability constitutes a foundation for multiple functionalities employing myriad sensing capacities that may be implemented in future generations of the e-blanket.

The project takes on the techniques and figurative traditions of embroidery, by stitching an array of soft and hard sensors with conductive threads onto a base fabric.The electronic components and their circuits constitute figurative patterns: decorative by-products of their functional logic. When arrayed in larger configurations they yield complex designs that echo traditional themes of embroidery, vegetal and animal such as flowers, butterflies and other natural morphologies.

The (soft) Hardware
The blanket measures 7’7” x 4’2” and is composed of a distributed field of 104 soft tilt sensors. These familiar soft sensors form the most basic motif: the flower. The flower consists of 6 conductive petals, linked by resistors, and a conductive tassel in the center. The flowers are grouped together into 14 larger configurations or clusters and 2 half clusters. Working as a directional marker, the tassel’s contact with a petal registers a specific orientation or tilt of the blanket. The flowers are arrayed around the circular double power circuit, and their stems plug into a computational hub (Multiplexer). The clusters are then linked together, into a larger network of clusters, each relaying the position of its flowers to a micro-controller stitched to the back of the blanket. (Arduino LilyPad)

The Software
The distribution of sensors is based on an underlying hexagonal structure. Each flower occupies a hexagonal cell, surrounded by six neighbors. As the software receives directional (N,S,E,W) input from a cell, it is able to reconstruct a slope based on the position of that cell and its immediate neighbors, generating essentially a surface of peaks and valleys. (Processing)

IM BLANKY was conceived as part of a submission for the exhibition STICHES Suzhou Fast Forward, organized by WORKshop in Toronto, and curated by Larry Richards. The show explores modern digital processes in relation to the traditional craft of Chinese embroidery.

Studio NMinusOne winner of Emerging Voices award

moukheiber_c — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:55:02 +0000

From The Architectural League:
Since 1982, the Architectural League’s annual Emerging Voices Award spotlights North American individuals and firms with distinct design “voices” that have the potential to influence the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design. The jury reviews significant bodies of realized work that represent the best of their kind, and address larger issues of architecture, landscape, and the built environment. This year’s jury included Henry Cobb, Geoff Manaugh, Paul Lewis, Jamie Maslyn Larson, Annabelle Selldorf, Claire Weisz, and Dan Wood.

The 2012 Emerging Voices are:

5468796 architecture, Winnipeg
Manon Asselin and Katsuhiro Yamazaki, Atelier TAG, Montreal
Jose Castillo and Saidee Springall, arquitectura911sc, Mexico City
Jeffrey Inaba, INABA, Los Angeles and New York
Christos Marcopoulos and Carol Moukheiber, Studio NMinusOne, Toronto
Kate Orff and Elena Brescia, SCAPE / Landscape Architecture, New York
Dwayne Oyler and Jenny Wu, Oyler Wu Collaborative, Los Angeles
Jinhee Park and John Hong , SsD, New York, Boston, and Seoul

For more info:
Emerging Voices

RAD Workshop: Archibots - Robots That Build Architecture

javadi_m — Mon, 30 May 2011 08:31:05 +0000

IMPORTANT NOTE:
The Archibots workshop is now taking place June 3rd & 4th.

Smart cars, smart homes, smart phones, smart clothes, smart coffee makers… As the objects around us become increasingly intelligent, they become more than just tools at our disposal, but rather, key collaborators in our daily activities.

Conscious of this collaboration, the RAD team in association with the Robotics Department invite students, professionals and enthusiasts in robotics, engineering and architecture to a workshop that investigates the potential for robots to build (or destroy) environments. Beginning by developing a taxonomy of existing robots, this collaborative design workshop will result in interdisciplinary teams experimenting with robots that can build and design environments. Each robot’s capabilities and limitations will determine the structures they can build and vice versa. This workshop will equally challenge approaches in both robotics and architecture. Every team will be part architect, engineer and robot.

All produced content will culminate towards a future RAD publication.

Special Guest Bios:

Marc Böhlen

Marc Böhlen is an artist-engineer based in Buffalo, Toronto and Zürich. He offers technology support, the kind of support technology really needs. Marc Böhlen is on faculty in the Department of Media Study, at the University at Buffalo. More at: www.realtechsupport.org

Norman White

Norman White is a Canadian New Media artist and a pioneer in experimenting with kinetic electronics and robotics in art. His works can be found at such collections as the Nation Gallery of Canada, Vancouver Art Gallery and Art Gallery of Ontario. White has taught at the Integrated Media Program at the Ontario College of Art & Design and currently teaches at the School of Image Arts at Ryerson University. More at: www.normill.ca

Workshop Schedule:

LOCATION: Room 106 and PCL conference room, 230 College st, Toronto
DATE: June 3, 4

Below is a break down of the two day workshop:

June 3rd, 12-5pm

12:00-1:00 pm:
LUNCH

1:00-2:00 pm:
Introductory presentations / meeting the team / launching thoughts: Marc Bohlen (Real Tech Support), RAD Team and more TBD.

2:00- 5:00pm:
Review of information gathered by RAD (Package will be sent out a few days prior).
Collective discussion and framing of subject

June 4th, 10am-6pm

10:00 am:
COFFEE / TEA / BAGELS

10:30-1:00pm:
Break up into groups of about 4-5 people. Each team to develop 10 ideas.

1:00-2:00pm:
LUNCH

2:00-6:00pm:
Each team will present their ideas
Discussion of each groups findings
Select viable trajectories of research

6:00pm:
Celebrate with snacks, drinks, etc.

June 5th (OPTIONAL), 12-6pm

We will work to further to refine each chosen proposal. Anyone that’s available and would like to help with this process is welcome to attend.

Space is limited. Please fill out the form below to register for attendance.

[contact-form]