Responsive Built Environment

Workshop @ Sushant School of Arts and Architecture, Gurgaon (Post 08)

2009-02-22T12:28:00.002+05:30

Conceptual idea level design: Time problem (4-5 Hrs)
Studio Apartment.

Character and Context:

Select a character you want to inhabit in your apartment.
Identify the behavioral and psychological characteristic of your character.
Select a suitable site and context for your studio apartment.

Exercise:
They had to demonstrate of

How and what kind of changes/ transformation your studio apartment is going through in various situation?
How emerging technologies can be integrated in the design?

Presentation:
Can be in any form; preferably collage or other visual formats

[ DG ]

Workshop @ Sushant School of Arts and Architecture, Gurgaon (Post 07)

2009-02-21T17:31:00.008+05:30

Members
Vaibhav, Ritu, Navita, Anshika, Ayesha

Character
Dexter and Dee Dee

Brother and sister
Aged 8 and 13 respectively
Complete opposites

Dexter: mad scientist, evil genius, secretive, highly intelligent, introvert, nerd and irritable
Deedee: shopoholic,extrovert, annoying, talkative, irritating, alpha female

Site
Chandani Chowk, Delhi

Place to be linked with jama masjid
Hidden- place beneath, in movement, camouflaged
Crowded place in the bazaar
Light a crucial factor

Collage
Yet to be received

[ DG ]

Workshop @ Sushant School of Arts and Architecture, Gurgaon (Post 06)

2009-02-21T17:24:00.003+05:30

Members
Farheen, Arshia, Purva

Character
Mermaid.

A strong, dynamic, female who has an emotional link to the water
Professional
Designer/ inventor

Site
On and in the Hudson river, New York

With an optional link to the land ( New York City)
With water treatment and –water-drawn energy systems.

Collage

[ DG ]

Workshop @ Sushant School of Arts and Architecture, Gurgaon (Post 05)

2009-02-21T17:13:00.004+05:30

Members
Abhinav, Swarnabh, Sambit

Character
Techie Hacker/ Information Pirate

Pirates information for clients. 25 yrs of age
Needs apartment to be off the grid to hide excessive power consumption
Musician

Site
Seaside apartment, completely self reliant, off the grid

Transportable pod
One of the middle floors, not on the ground, not on the top

Collage

[ DG ]

Workshop @ Sushant School of Arts and Architecture, Gurgaon (Post 04)

2009-02-21T17:05:00.005+05:30

Members
Anant, Shivani, Divya, Siddhartha, Sakshi

Character
Captain Jack Sparrow

Self obsessed
Sea obsessed
Black Pearl obsessed
Moves to a metropolitan city

Site
Man made island

View of land as well as the sea 250 m above ground
New york city overpowering the statue of liberty
Rotating as well as movable house
The house is alive
Black pearl diving into the sea….hehehahaha

Collage

[ DG ]

Workshop @ Sushant School of Arts and Architecture, Gurgaon, (Post 03)

2009-02-21T16:54:00.005+05:30

Team Members
Kanika, Gunjan, Kriti, Sunetra

Character
Film Director- Hollywood
Specialized in fictional movies such as Charlie n choc fac, lord of the rings
Big foodie ; needs food to work
Loner; whose only close friend is his home
Site
The hill where the  Hollywood sign board is 
Gets the view of the whole Hollywood
Connected to a theater hall 
Collage


[ DG ]

Workshop @ Sushant School of Arts and Architecture, Gurgaon (Post 02)

2009-02-21T16:05:00.009+05:30

[ Student teams- work in progress ]

[ DG ]

Workshop @ Sushant School of Arts and Architecture, Gurgaon (Post 01)

2009-02-15T15:11:00.012+05:30

[Viraj is presenting his research work to the student body]

Recently, I was traveling to Delhi that's when I conducted a two days workshop at Sushant School, Gurgaon during February 09.

It had all started by proposing a combined initiative along with my friends Viraj Kataria and Sagarika Suri (both practicing architects in Delhi). We had got an idea of making a collaborative proposal because all of us dealt with the concept of transformation and change in built environment.

With parallel to my workshop objectives, Viraj’s proposal focuses in the area of mass housing; while Sagarika’s study picks up the case of traditional house form (pol house) of Ahmedabad.

Viraj gave an opening lecture about his undergraduate research work before my workshop began for the first session.

[ DG ]

Seminar @ R.V. College of Architecture, Bangalore

2009-02-15T12:09:00.008+05:30

[ I don't have more photographs for this seminar ]

I got an opportunity to conduct a workshop with the third year students of R.V. College,Bangalore during November, 08.

This time, my presentation got updated with audio-visuals. It helped a lot to strengthen the arguments discussed during the theoretical session. Workshop turned into a more sort of seminar format. There was a brief debate on this topic in the second session.

One of the students had made an important point by questioning the methods of integrating emerging technologies into buildings from the point of view of sustainability.

[ DG ]

Workshop @ Rizvi College of Architecture, Mumbai

2009-02-15T11:37:00.005+05:30

This workshop was proposed as a part of annual academic festival of Rizvi College during August,08.

Both sessions were well received by the enthusiastic student body of Rizvi College. I was not able to realized the design exercise because of some unavoidable circumstances and other limitations of time allotment.

I'm putting a few photographs of the seminar/ presentation session in this post.

Sincerely,
[ DG ]

Poster

2009-02-14T21:09:00.002+05:30

Reference List

2009-02-14T20:45:00.008+05:30

There are many architects/ designers/ artists deal with this subject. Please refer to links mentioned below for the detailed review for initial referencing.

RespoSkin by Dharmesh Gangani
http://gangani.pencilheadz.net/171207/UG%20Thesis.htm
Skins by Sachin Anshuman
http://www.orangevoid.org.uk/
Prada Shop by OMA
http://www.oma.eu
Kunsthaus Center by Peter Cook
http://www.bix.at/
Media Facade Projects
http://www.mediafacade.com/
Interactive Architecture Projects http://www.interactivearchitecture.org/
Kinetic Design Group
http://www.robotecture.com/kdg/
Hyperbody by Kaas Oosterhuis
http://www.oosterhuis.nl/quickstart/index.php?id=264

Further, references are discussed elaborately as a part of workshop.

Proposal

2009-02-14T20:22:00.011+05:30

Abstract:
Contemporary society is growing in the age of information and communication technologies (ICT) which does affect the living patterns of the people. ICTs are constantly evolving on the exponential rate. Simultaneously, architecture is also going under major paradigm shifts and seeking for new practices due to such advancements of ICTs. A few emerging practices have started redefining conventional architectural methods by the means of multidisciplinary and collaborative practices between art, design, architecture and engineering. In consideration of this viewpoint; there are various levels of complexities associated with architectural practice in context of developing nations which attempts to address these challenges. For example, contemporary architectural practices in India is going under enormous transformation due to several issues related to globalization such as diversity of culture, population, economy, infrastructural developments, rapid urbanization, spatial constraints, media- technologies and so forth. Architects are trying to address such issues by providing adaptable and flexible design approach where they search for solutions which are not only problem solving, functional exercise but also refers to context, culture, society and overall users’ spatial experience.

In such cases, instead of studying advancements of ICTs in isolation, it is important to understand the role/relationship between DESIGN and TECHNOLOGY that addresses architecture. A new emerging architecture of Responsive and/or Smart built environment emphasis on such relationships and their integration into buildings.

There is a potential to study this subject from the Indian viewpoint.

Aim and Objectives:
Larger aim of this workshop is to understand the built and spatial characteristics of Responsive/ Smart environment. Primary focus is to study the role of design and technology in the making and controlling of building or building elements. It also attempts to understand the overall users’ spatial experience.

Keywords:
ICT, Globalization, Multidisciplinary practice, Flexibility, Responsive, Built environment, Users’ experience, Society, India, Design, Technology, Kinetic, CAD/CAM, Sensors Technology, Context Awareness, HCI, Ubiquitous Technology

Structure of the Workshop:
A workshop is structured into two sessions.

The first session tries to explore the theoretical aspects through various audio visual presentations. The theory is explained with brief overview without focusing on any specific aspect of Responsive/ Smart built environment considering the scope and limitations of time.

The second session is assigned for a time problem based on thematic topic. A few short brainstorming exercises are introduced before time problem to understand the fundamental and technical concepts related to interactive system design, kinetics, CAD/CAM, sensors, ubiquitous technology and so forth. Time problem given to the students is a formal (utopian) exercise where they have to explore design solutions based on the lessons learnt from initial exercises. It is a team work and each team is given flexibility in terms of selecting their representation techniques such as collages, sketches, renders, simulated animations, movies etc.

There is an exhibition of students work at the end of the workshop for entire college. Later on participants can compile their work in a booklet format. They can also think of creating a blog or a group on any other social networking website for further discussions.

Start !!!

2009-02-14T19:14:00.002+05:30

Its good start ....
This initiative is keeping me involved in academics along with my professional career.
I'm not detached to the research topic I worked on during undergraduate studies in School of Architecture, CEPT, Ahmedabad.

Lets see,
How far it goes !!!!

Hope this turn into a larger area of study.

Sincerely,

DG