Facades+AM Seattle, December 7th

Facades+AM Conference

Seattle, WA

December 7, 2018

The Facades+ conference series is a robust dialogue encompassing all things building skin—bridging the profession, industry, academia, operations, and ownership. Organizers have distilled the best of the Facades+ 2-day event into a quick-take morning forum with a strong local flair. 

Register here!

The rapidly developing technology of high-performance facades has emerged as the key to building integration, and central to the realization of resilient buildings and a sustainable built environment. The building skin combines attributes of appearance and performance like nothing else in architecture. There is much to discuss. 

The program includes three sessions covering issues unique to the region, including innovative building skins, future-proofing high performance facades, and the changing face of Seattle. These well-rounded, expert dialogues will inform and inspire.

Attendees include:
AIA Members
Architects
Architecture Students and Faculty
Building Envelope Specialists
Construction Professionals
Developers
Engineers
Manufacturers
Materials Specialists

Details and registration...

White Lioness Parametric Design courses

Jeroen Coenders from White Lioness will be teaching two courses organized by the Post-academic foundation in the Netherlands. Both courses will be in Dutch and will include Rhino and Grasshopper, Geometry Gym, Karamba, and various other plugins.

Parametric Design for the AEC - December 6, 2018

This course is suitable for anyone interested in parametric design, from draftsman to engineer, from constructor to contractor. This beginner course starts at the basics and doesn't require any necessary prior knowledge.

More information here...

Parametric Design and Digital Twins for AEC - February 7, 2019

In this course for advanced students, parametric design will be further examined, and you will get the handles for advanced use aimed at constructions: Automating via scripting and programming, optimization, configurators, and Digital Twin platforms.

More information here...

More online courses from Lynda.com

Lynda.com offers online courses in various Rhino related software.

A sample of their newest Rhino training and tutorials is:

• Grasshopper Essential Training
• Rhino: Designing for Consumer Electronics
• Product Design: From Sketch to CAD

To get more information and sign up for the first month free....

50% off VOD videos for Black Friday

50% off VOD videos for Black Friday!

Enjoy 50% off on all McNeel Miami's Vimeo On Demand (VOD) videos with code: RhinoWIP7 

Our selection includes:

• Rhino 102 training in Spanish
• Grasshopper 101 training in Spanish
• Grasshopper 102 training in Spanish
• RhinoCAM in Spanish
• Rhino Visual Tips 5 in English
• SudoHopper3D in Spanish
• SudoHopper3D in English

Also enjoy 50% off on Grasshopper 101 and 102 training in English!

Code: RhinoWIP7 

• Introduction to Grasshopper
• Grasshopper Intermediate

Offer valid November 23-30, 2018.
Rhino and Grasshopper courses are prerecorded videos from past online courses. 
When you purchase, you can stream the videos for three months. 

For more information please contact Lucia Nasser.

What is a RhinoFabStudio? A RhinoFabStudio™ (fabrication studio) is a small-scale digital workshop, certified by McNeel, with an array of Rhino and Rhino compatible software and computer controlled tools and training. These tools cover the various leading-edge industrial methods and materials needed to design, analyze, and fabricate almost anything.

3D Sand Printing: Where Structure and Ornamentation Merge

As part of DFAB HOUSE, NCCR researchers have fabricated an 80 m2 lightweight concrete slab, making it the world’s first full-scale architectural project to use 3D sand printing for its formwork.

Just 20mm thick at its thinnest point, decoratively ribbed and not even half as heavy as a conventional concrete ceiling. With Smart Slab, the name says it all. The slab combines the structural strength of concrete with the design freedom of 3D printing. Developed by the research group of NCCR principal investigator Benjamin Dillenburger, Assistant Professor for Digital Building Technologies at ETH Zurich, Smart Slab is one of the core elements of the residential unit DFAB House at Empa’s and Eawag’s research and innovation platform NEST in Dübendorf. The 80 m2, 15 ton ceiling consists of eleven concrete segments and connects the lower floor with the two-story timber volume above.

Watch the video...

More information...

Image credits: NCCR Digital Fabrication / Michael Lyrenmann

On designing toy cars

What's it take to have a successful toy company? Read this interview with Brian Gulassa of Modarri Cars. He talks about his design process and a few other details such as launching a Kickstarter campaign and the need to stay curious and current.

Read Core77's article, Brian Gulassa of Modarri Cars Discusses Making the "Ultimate Toy Car"...

Bodies in Formation Workshop at ACADIA 2018

Bodies in Formation 3-day Workshop at ACADIA 2018 Mexico City last month. 

The workshop was focused on the use of flexible fabric formwork in the casting of plaster and concrete. Building on the work of many architects such as Miguel Fisac as well as the research at Matsys, this workshop explored both analog and digital techniques for the design and simulation of casting using flexible formwork. The workshop was led by architect Andrew Kudless.   

Participants learned about Grasshopper and Kangaroo to simulate and explore variations in the constraints on flexible formwork. Also, students worked in groups to develop a collective series of cast wall panels. 

If you would like to see pictures and videos from the event, visit this link. 

For more information please contact Dinorah Martinez Schulte.

What is a RhinoFabStudio? A RhinoFabStudio™ (fabrication studio) is a small-scale digital workshop, certified by McNeel, with an array of Rhino and Rhino compatible software and computer controlled tools and training. These tools cover the various leading-edge industrial methods and materials needed to design, analyze, and fabricate almost anything.

Using Unreal Engine with Rhino

Unreal Engine has published an interesting video tutorial on using Unreal Studio with Rhino. A 1:45 minute introduction is followed by the tutorial.

See Using Unreal Studio to Get Epic Results with Rhino 3D Files in Unreal Engine...

Energy Analysis and Modeling Tools for Architects - November 27, NYC

Energy Analysis and Modeling Tools for Architects

Tuesday, November 27 / 1AM-PM

Location: Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, New York City
Price: $150/$125
6.0 LU / 6.0 HSW


Register here!

With prepared modeled examples, this course will provide a practical understanding of current energy modeling programs, workflows, and analyses for design project team members. Analyses will include early design sensitivity studies, later design analyses that support client proposals, and energy modeling to meet requirements for code compliance and LEED certification. Participants will learn and apply early design workflows that provide performance feedback for projects that seek to meet and exceed minimum energy code requirements.

Participants will receive in-depth knowledge and hands-on experience related to:

• The purposes and aims of energy modeling
• Overview of basic energy modeling principles
• The “world of metrics” and choosing the right study for the right purpose
• Interpretations of common energy modeling graphics
• How to interpret climate into useful design criteria and generate climate-related graphics
• Analysis of building massing
• Construction of a Test-Box energy model
• Walk-through of additional examples with Q & A, including the generation of graphics for client meetings and marketing to the public

Course requirements:

• Laptop computer with the following software: Rhinoceros, Grasshopper, GhPython, Ladybug Tools, OpenStudio 2.5
• Some familiarity with Ladybug and Honeybee

Instructor:
Chris Mackey, Co-Founder and Lead Developer, Ladybug Tools LLC

Organized by:
AIANY Committee on the Environment


Details...

Glassware inspired by water and a mirror that unlocks with a smile

Berk Ilhan recently shared two products that he created while using Rhino, "Rhino has been a major tool for my creative expression."

Omnia -- Pasabahce

Inspired by water as a concept, Berk Ilhan designed a delightful series of glassware products for Pasabahce’s Omnia Special 2017 Collection.

Smile Mirror

A mirror that unlocks with a smile. The Smile Mirror is a smart mirror with the purpose to uplift people and cultivate joy. The non-reflective, frosted surface becomes a mirror when someone smiles at it. Check out the website to see it work.

Modos Furniture launches the Modos Customizer

Parametric model by Yevgeny Koramblyum from OomStudios

Today, November 14th,  Modos Furniture is launching an online customizer for their furniture system: the Modos Customizer, designed by Matt Tyson. Try it here!

Check out their work with Rhino + Grasshopper parametric modeling.

Modos is offering our readers a 5% discount on their Modos furniture system. Be sure to give them the code Rhino5.

Programming by Peggy Li

GSM4Q 2019 - Architecture Conference in Qatar

GSM4Q 2019

February 6-7, 2019 

Qatar University Library

Qatar

Connecting People, Spaces and Machines: The Informed Nomadic Monad

The GSM4Q conference is the 4th in a series of Game Set and Match conferences on the state of mind in architecture and urban design, hosted by Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.

The leading theme of the GSM4Q conference is The Informed Nomadic Monad. The monad is considered to be a design pattern that defines how inputs, processes, and outputs together build generic types, as in functional programming. The nomad links back to the Bedouin history of Qatar and forwards to its potential for today’s strategic planning. The GSM4Q conference covers a variety of specific yet strongly connected topics like Swarm Behavior, Distributed Climates, Robotic Buildings, Informed Materials, Monads, Nomads, Scalable Interactions, Smart Environments. These and other topics will be targeted by the keynote speeches, and challenged by the hands-on/hands-off workshops and call for papers. 

Rhino users are welcome to present.

More information... 

CAD Games - PAZ Academy Workshop

PAZ Academy is offering a Rhino & Grasshopper workshop from a gamer point of view during the AFTZ in Zurich.

This 4-hour workshop will show you how to design and print your own T-shirt explaining the basics of Rhino and Grasshopper, how to clean and export your design and how to use it in a cutting machine software ready to transfer into a T-shirt.

More information and registration here...

Orca3D at METS, Amsterdam

Orca3D Version 1.5, the marine design plugin for Rhino, will be displayed from November 13 to 15 in the NDAR booth 07.552 at METS in Amsterdam.

Stop by and check out all the new functionalities including the Marine CFD interface, ISO 12217-2 STIX stability index calculator, the stability criteria evaluation, and much more. Ask the staff questions. Learn about the new licensing system, Version 2.0 Work in Progress (available for Rhino 6 users) and the upcoming releases.

More information...

New book on patterns in landscape design

Dynamic Patterns: Visualizing Landscapes in a Digital Age by Karen M'Closkey and Keith Vandersys

Dynamic Patterns explores the role of patterns in designed landscapes.

Parametric software, such as Grasshopper, is encouraging experimentation via custom scripts linking Grasshopper to GIS software.

Dynamic Patterns is about this new aesthetic approach to landscape. In the book, M’Closkey and VanDerSys explore the theoretical implications of pattern making and probe the potential of patterns to join the practical and aesthetic functions of a landscape.

Dynamic Patterns shows work from a wide range of artists and designers, illustrating new ways of seeing patterns and designing landscapes.

.

Dynamic Patterns: Visualizing Landscapes in a Digital Age on Amazon...

Programming Architecture - Rhino Developer Courses

Programming Architecture has just released a series of online Rhino Developer Courses in C# and C++.

The instructor Milos Dimcic will teach you how to write plugins for Rhinoceros 6 in both programming languages. These courses are for architects, designers, engineers, or anyone who wants to use powerful automation tools to generate complex geometry in Rhinoceros 6.

For coding beginners, he has prepared a small C#/C++ Basics course to get you started.

More information here...

Free Webinar: Visualizing Mathematics in Rhinoceros

Presenter: Henry Segerman, Ph.D., Oklahoma State University

When: Monday, November 19, 2018, 8:00 AM-10:00 AM PST

Mathematician Henry Segerman will show beautiful and compelling 3D printed mathematical generated art. Henry will generate higher geometry with topology and symmetry, shapes, and space. Find the mathematical meaning creating models with hyperbolic honeycombs, twisting torus knots, or the curves of a Klein quadratic.

This webinar is for anyone fascinated by two, three, and even four-dimensional mathematics in 3D models. Henry will broaden your exposure to visual mathematical ideas, generation of geometry and 3D printed mathematical models.

Henry Segerman received his masters in mathematics from the University of Oxford in 2001, and his Ph.D. in mathematics from Stanford University in 2007. After post-doctoral positions at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Melbourne, he joined the faculty at Oklahoma State University in 2013.

More information...

Register now...

New video by Simply Rhino: From Rhino to 3D Print

Simply Rhino has been kind enough to share a new video. This time it focuses on preparing a Rhino model for 3D printing on the Formlabs Form 2 printer.

Rhino expert Phil Cook starts by making sure the 3D model has the correct geometry to create a successful 3D print. He shows how to create the mesh STL file and then how to take it to PreForm, Formlabs’ print preparation software for 3D printers. Finally, he obtains a 3D resin printed model that captures even the small details.

Watch the video…

Introduction to UNStudio's block strategies

UNStudio has provided a two-part article to introduce various digital geometric block strategies used for UNStudio projects. The articles describe how block strategies have been used for past UNStudio projects and are still extensively used for UNStudio projects today.

Geometric blocks are not a new topic in 3D modeling, but through increasingly available parametric plugins it continues to provide an efficient means of controlling a wide range of elements. Effective block strategies can decrease costs by enabling the fabrication of many of the same components for construction. 

This study reiterates some key qualities of blocks in the context of digital design and how they can be intelligently applied. It then analyses the specific block strategies applied to the facade design of two of UNStudio’s projects.

UNStudio Block Strategies Part 1...

UNStudio Block Strategies Part 2...

eCAADe2018 - "Computing for a Better Tomorrow" proceedings available

The eCAADe conference took place in September 2018 in Lodz, Poland.

"When we consider the aims of research activities, design efforts and mastering towards ideal solutions in the area of digital technologies in the built environment, such as CAD, CAM, CAE, BIM, FM, GIS, VR, AR and others, we may realise the actual reason for that is to make life better, healthier, prettier, happier, more sustainable and smarter. The usefulness of undertaken studies might be tested and proved by the noticeable shared approach of putting humans and their environments in a central position: man and the environment, nature and design, art and technology...

Natural disasters and climate change, crime and terrorism, disabilities and society aging—architects, designers, and scientists active in the built environment domain are not able to eliminate all the risk, dangers and problems of contemporary world. On the other hand, they have social and moral responsibilities to address human needs and take up this multifaceted challenge. It involves a co-operation and, moreover, an interdisciplinary and user-oriented approach.

The complexity of raised problems should not discourage us, on the contrary, it should stimulate activities toward living up to human dreams of a better and sustainable tomorrow.

This calls for a revision of methods and tools applied in research, teaching and practice. Where are we? What are the milestones and roadmaps at the end of the second decade of the 21st century?

Do we really take the most of the abundance of accumulated knowledge? Or we skip to explore another undiscovered domains?"

eCAADe 2018 proceedings now available to download...

Lumion LiveSync for Rhino now available

Immediately set up a live, realtime visualization between Rhino and Lumion. Change the Rhino model’s shape and you’ll see these changes taking place, in realtime, in Lumion’s breathtaking, lifelike environment.

As you continue modeling in Rhino, you can simultaneously view your project in Lumion surrounded by an immersive, fully featured landscape (mountains, water, grass). Beautiful materials make the design pop, as photorealistic lighting suddenly heightens your sense of environment, realism, and depth.

Realtime materials synchronization

Instantly breathe life into your synced Rhino model by applying any of Lumion’s 1000+ high-definition materials in the Lumion editor. As you continue to develop your design, you can tweak the materials precisely to your liking and then save your material layouts for future rendering.

Live point-of-view synchronization

LiveSync now enables live point-of-view synchronization. Turn it on and immediately adopt the Rhino camera perspective, making your work easier, faster, and more enjoyable.

Automatic model imports

When establishing the LiveSync connection, Lumion will automatically import your Rhino model. Continue working on and modifying your project even after you turn off LiveSync. And easily save the file as an .LS for future rendering or development.

Download...

Color changing wall tiles by lenartstudios

Check out another fun Rhino and Grasshopper project.

Lenartstudios did this project with E Ink. E Ink Prism, a new technology, now incorporates programmable E Ink into building materials.

The Prism tiles use E Ink color changing film for the display. The very thin film -- basically two layers of approximately .3 mm -- is optically coupled to the back of an acrylic lens. Each tile segment can be programmed to shift from white to fully saturated color. The Prism tiles can be programmed to change color based on interaction or to show off huge, alterable scenes, requiring less power than an array of screens.

Prism is aimed at architects and designers and is intended to replace both paint and high-end displays.

Watch the tiles in action in short video created for the IDSA awards. It tells the story in 30 seconds….

ROB|ARCH 2018 videos

The ROB|ARCH conference series is a collaborative effort between the cohosting universities, industry partners, and the Association for Robots in Architecture. The adoption of digital fabrication in the creative industries continues to accelerate as the potential for innovation and creative expression using robotics is harnessed. The ROB|ARCH conference series aims to allow practitioners to share expertise, to bring together teams of international researchers, to foster networks, to increase knowledge, and to stimulate innovation. To achieve this the ROB|ARCH conferences combine academic presentations with hands-on workshops held in the three days preceding the conference.

ROB|ARCH 2018 conference took place at the ETH Zurich last September, and the organization and participants have been kind enough to share the many amazing videos. 

ThinkParametric: Deconstructing the Serpentine Wall

The team at Think Parametric will be offering a new online course, Deconstructing the Serpentine Wall. Watch their site for more details.

About the course:

In this course, instructor Brandon Gibbs walks you through the deconstruction of the Serpentine Wall. Brandon worked on this project while working at McCown Design. Brandon has a foundation at the Architectural Association with Patrik Schumacher of ZHA and Theo Spyropoulos of Minimaforms, and has continued to explore parametric design methods in architecture.

This course focuses on the whole workflow from design to standardizing to fabrication. It’s a great introduction of how to use parametric methods using Rhinoceros and Grasshopper. You’ll learn how to apply these methods not just in design, but most importantly in the construction, documentation and fabrication process. Read more...

Seanaptic v2.1 - Parametric ship structures plugin

Supercharge your preliminary ship design with Seanaptic v2.1, the parametric marine structure plugin for Rhino. Now compatible with Rhino 6, Seanaptic is packed with advanced modeling automation algorithms.

Get significant time saving on weight and center of gravity calculations, space assessments, FEA preprocessing, optimizations, exports to other production engineering systems.

Try free for 90 days. Free for students and universities. Major discounts for small design studios and freelancers.

Download Seanaptic on food4Rhino...

RhinoMembrane for Rhino 6

RhinoMembrane is one of the most powerful tools for form finding of tensile structures and yet one of the most simple to understand and use. Engineered by a team where the integration of research, professional software development and expertise in the field of tensile structure design has produced a high-tech component with very few limitations.

Download RhinoMembrane on food4Rhino...

Pufferfish version 2.3

The Pufferfish is one of few animals capable of changing its shape.

This plugin is a set of 213 components which focuses on Tweens, Blends, Morphs, Averages, Transformations, & Interpolations—essentially Shape Changing. Pufferfish uses parameters and factors for inputs for more custom control over operations like tweens and grids as opposed to Grasshopper's usual division count inputs.

Download Pufferfish on food4Rhino...

Innochain pre-conference workshops and McNeel Developer tools update - Copenhagen (Denmark)

Innochain invites you to the international conference Expanding Information Modelling for a New Material Age. It will take place in Copenhagen on November 8-9, 2018, at the Danish Architecture Centre in the new Blox building by OMA. Organized in collaboration with the Danish BLOXhub organization, the conference aims to create a forum for transdisciplinary and entrepreneur-driven research.

Nov 8-9: INNOCHAIN CONFERENCE: EXPANDING INFORMATION MODELLING FOR A NEW MATERIAL AGE

Information modelling challenges the way we think, design, and build architecture. By creating a shared digital platform it enables the emergence of a new hybrid practice in which separate tools and methodologies of design, analysis, and fabrication can intersect. Current design practice is invested in the prototyping of these new methodologies. Across the building industry and in research we see a concerted push for understanding how this new digital chain can be structured, what are productive exchanges and how a new sense of feedback can lead to smarter design solutions.

The future of the information model is at stake. Expanding simple BIM with more complex requirements to engage and capitalize on analysis, to steer multiple objective design spaces and to communicate and control fabrication necessitates new kinds of representations that can handle data-rich design inquiries, enable collaboration and manage the complex and cyclical nature of feedback.

Conference info and registration 

Nov 7: PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS, RECEPTION and MCNEEL NEW DEVELOPMENTS PRESENTATION

We invite all the conference participants to join us the evening before the conference for an informal reception from 16:45 to 18:30 at BLOXhub. The results from the three Pre-Conference workshops will be shared and McNeel will do a presentation of their new software developments for Rhino and Grasshopper (Rhino.Inside, Rhino Compute, SubD modeling and much more!).

The Innochain Pre-Conference Workshops introduce participants to new tools and practices for the building industry, which have been developed in the Innochain projects. Each workshop addresses a key challenge in our current architectural, engineering and construction practice. The aim is to introduce participants to new tools and provide sufficient space for participants to experience and work with the tools hands-on and to trigger a discussion and positioning of the Innochain developments in their current and future practices. 

Pre-Conference Workshops and reception info and registration