The first assignment is basically a form finding exercise on a site in Launceston, Tasmania.

The projects will be converted into parametric models int he coming assesment tasks over the next 2 months.

slideshow after the click

In groups of 4 students first laminated 4 sheets of 1200x2400x25 plywood together creating a 100mm think slab.  this allowed for the rhino surface to be milled to a maximum depth of nominally 80mm.  The images below show some of the final results.  Interestingly, this class was my first venture into teaching grasshopper in a studio environment.  It has proved to be more difficult that I imagined, requiring a larger step in skill set from the students.

Rhino3D was used as the modeling program, with visualMill being utilized for the CNC milling processes.  The ideas was for students to develop a skillset in free form modeling, in addition to developing an understanding of the implications of ‘organic’ architectural expression.  Emphasis was placed on the embedded properties of the material mediums (expanded polystyrene and concrete) and how they were influenced by the machining process, not to mention that the mould is in reverse and the pattern is positive.

The assessment task was influenced by a project that I completed at IaaC while undertaking my Masters, but the addition of concrete to the mix (bad pun!) added a more permanent element to the UTAS project.  The final objects, 13 of them, currently sit proudly outside the School’s front door!

If i ever get the chance I will write a more detailed description of the project I will, otherwise these images speak for themselves.

An early start awaited me this morning for the 6am bus to Launceston. Fresh snow on the mountain and ice on the windshield.  All I was thinking about was the sun and the sand (i lie actually, i like the cold better than summer).

It has been way too long since my last post, so I’m going to start posting more random things on a more regular basis.  This way the blog will be updated a little more often.  So here is the first of what i hope to be a lot more new posts.  This photo was taken a while back, and similar to the huge library of photos sitting on my hard drive, was dying to to be put online.

Maison Bordeaux (oma) Dale Cromley + Josh Stones

I gave the students a limitation of 3mm MDF and 1.5mm acrylic as the pallet of materials and set 1:100 as the scale for all groups.  After that it was pretty much at the students whim to add as much (or little) detail in and present it in the best possible way.  I placed a lot of focus on the documentation of the drawing translation and process of fabrication and assembly as I was expecting a lot of mistakes to be made and learnt from during the assignment.  The images included are probably the best examples from the class.

Vinyard Residence (John Wardle Architects) Richard Waterson + Ryan Tubby

Overall I was extremely impressed with the work of the students for this assignment, with many submissions containing a huge amount of detail that I wasn’t expecting to be included.  It creates a very interesting platform for me next year when I return to utas to teach a similar unit with a focus on fabrication, this time in rhino.

My first post,  a vision of architectural research, discusses the current trends in practice based architectural research and proposees a mode in which is can break free of the more traditional ‘research through design’ model that we are currently experiencing.