ARC 2020 VR end-of-year exhibition - University of Nicosia

The ARC VR 2020 end-of-year exhibition presents a response to the COVID-19 lockdown and the consequent cancellation of the most anticipated yearly event of the department. The exhibition space is an identical copy of the department facility (Faculty of Architecture - University of Nicosia), an award-winning renovated shoe factory. The building and the exhibition were purposely modeled using Rhino during a five-day intensive workshop hosted entirely online.

View the exhibition space!

First spine surgery with Rhino3DMedical in Brazil

A 33-year-old male suffering from recurrent lumbar disc herniation L4 /L5 was treated with transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion. 

Main Surgeon: Dr. Júlio Sampaio, neurosurgeon, Fundacao Bahiana de Neurologia e Neurocirurgia

Assistant: Dr. George Passos, neurosurgeon, Hospital Geral do Estado da Bahia

Diagnosis

The patient had been previously submitted to microsurgery (2017) to remove the fragment of the spinal disc that was causing pressure on the nerve. In May 2020, the patient’s condition deteriorated: sciatica and right side L5 dermatome developed, requiring the prescription of multiple painkillers, including fentanyl patches. Despite pain medications, no significant improvement was observed (visual analog scale 9/10). An MRI of the lumbar spine was performed, showing an extensive disc herniation at the L4-L5 level.

Surgical treatment

Due to the intractable pain, the medical team decided to proceed with an urgent surgical treatment: microdiscectomy with transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion. The procedure was planned with the help of a 3D printed spine model.

“Soon after the completion of the MRI, we proceeded with the segmentation and 3D rendering of the spine (L3–S1), using Rhino3DMedical. The software is very intuitive to use and allows us to post-process 3D models in a fast and accurate way,” explains Dr. Sampaio.

The physical model was printed with an Ultimaker 2+ desktop 3D printer, using PLA filament. The procedure had no cost implications to the patient or to the insurance company.

“In a 12-hour interval, we were able to perform the complete workflow, from image acquisition to obtaining the 3D printed version of the anatomical model.”

On the day of surgery, the 3D model was sterilized and taken to the operating room. The screws were inserted with the hands-free technique, reducing radiation exposure time to the surgical team and the patient.

Full recovery

The patient fully recovered from his symptoms. Post-surgical CT confirmed that all pedicle screws and the interbody cage are properly in place.

The role of 3D printing

“The model allowed us to have a better understanding of the patient’s anatomy that was already amended by prior surgery, giving a greater sense of confidence regarding the safety of the surgery. It was of great utility to perform all the crucial steps of the procedure, including the total facetectomy and insertion of the pedicle screws.”

Tutorial

Learn how to segment a CT scan to create a 3D-printable spine model with Rhino3DMedical here.

Arthur Mamou-Mani seeks game designers to help realize virtual Burning Man installation

Architect Arthur Mamou-Mani has called for help to turn a timber amphitheater designed for this year's Burning Man into a virtual experience after the desert festival was canceled.

Sharing the design exclusively with Dezeen, Mamou-Mani called on people with expertise in working with gaming engines to help him realize the temporary structure in a digital space.

"We would like to create an online experience with the project, using features such as 'multi-player' on the game engine Unity to allow people to write or place messages of hope on the structure," he said.

Read the complete article on Dezeen...

UTS Central: A case study in digital fabrication

You can read a case study for UTS Central, a design project for the University of Technology Sydney.

Discussed for this 17-story glass-encased building are:

• Early contractor involvement.
• Prototyping.
• Shifting away from conventional BIM software to more manufacture-based software. Delivery of the BIM information.
• Geometrically deriving the sun shading system in Grasshopper. Fabrication of these louver and cladding panels from folded aluminum components. 
• Individual fixture design.
• The Grasshopper script.
• Material feedback.
• Scan data to determine the as-built structural steel geometry.
• 2D documentation.
• On-site installation.

UTS Central: A case study in digital fabrication by Parametric Monkey...

Innochain international conference "Expanding information modelling for a new material age" - Copenhagen (Denmark) - November 8-9, 2018

Innochain announces 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. 

The conference is organized in collaboration with the Danish BLOXHUB organization and aims to create a forum for transdisciplinary and entrepreneur driven research. 

The conference asks:

• What’s at stake when advanced computation and fabrication enter architecture?
• How can research advance practice?
• What are the models for embedded research?

The conference uses open formats to foster debate and exchange. Keynotes from leading industry innovators will shape and guide the discussion.

A central part of the conference is ten presentations of innovative projects, that showcase results from new types of collaborations between “research in practice” and “research in academia”. Innochain invites individuals and teams to submit proposals. Selected presentations and conference content will be invited to develop extended papers and content for the Innochain book “Expanding information modelling for a new material age” published by UCL press.

Conference Call (deadline August 19)

Information modelling challenges the way we think, design and build architecture. By creating a shared digital platform, a new hybrid practice emerges in which otherwise 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 there is a collective 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 multi objective design spaces and to interface 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.

Basic Data

2-day conference November 8-9, 2018,  BLOX, Danish Architectural Centre.
1-day Bloxhub pre-conference workshop: November 7, 2018, BLOXHUB space.

Complete details and registration...

CLOAK watches: an entire collection in one watch

Hundreds of material combinations, all interchangeable in seconds - CLOAK is the most personalizable watch ever.

Support our friends from CLOAK watches with their Kickstarter campaign!

"The modeling process was very smooth and we were able to create drawings to send to our many fabricators and meshes for in-house and external rapid prototyping.

We are used to working at the building scale as architects and civil engineers. To be able to move to the industrial design scale and still use the software we know was fantastic. The high tolerances required posed no problems for Rhino."

CLOAK watches Kickstarter campaign...

The Brabham Evo Project by EPTA Design

Following several rumors of a possible return of Alfa Romeo to the F1 world, EPTA Design wants to pay tribute to Alfa's history and specifically to the Brabham BT46.

"The Rhinoceros software was crucial not only as a modeling tool, but also for the rendering phase.

Given the high number of textures (logos) we directly cut the surfaces with reconstructed vector logos. This has allowed to arrange the clipped surfaces into specific folders and, above all, to avoid having texturing problems (mapping) and to have to deal with heavy images (to use as high-quality textures) to make larger renderings.

Rhinoceros stands out for speed and precision and was, as always, crucial to managing a model with a high number of components.

The Maxwell rendering plugin, integrated with Rhino, gives the benefit of organizational system folders, levels, and groups for the management of the rendering."

Complete details...

Evolute Workshop - March 15-17, Vienna (Austria)

Evolute Workshop
Freeform facades, from design to production
March 15-17, 2017
Evolute GmbH office
Schwindgasse 4/10, 1040
Vienna (Austria)

Evolute GmbH invites you to attend their upcoming Evolute Workshop. Gain insights into the workflow of a typical freeform facade design project at Evolute.

From an architect's design, participants will convert a freeform facade to the production data and drawing output needed by manufacturers for production of panels.

The workshop will touch upon the following steps:

• Optimization and refinement of the panelisation pattern
• Manufacturing techniques
• Curved panel simplification
• Clustering
• Production drawings and data

Evolute will also provide an introduction to their software suite and show how to use it in the context of a real-life project. A complimentary one-year license for EvoluteTools PRO, D.LOFT, T.MAP will be offered to all the participants.

More info and registration...

The new Arch_Tec_Lab at ETH Zurich

The Arch_Tec_Lab demonstrates how digitization can contribute to resource-efficient, compact, and emission-free construction. Six professors from ETH Zurich have pooled their research approaches and developed a prototype of the innovative building.

The largely digital planning and construction process took six years and involved architects, civil engineers, building service engineers, and construction physicists from six Chairs at the Institute of Technology in Architecture at ETH Zurich. Together, they investigated how to use digital technologies and collaborative planning processes to contribute to resource-efficient and spatially compact construction. They have created a laboratory with real-world conditions where they can apply their latest findings on a 1:1 scale. A new building—the embodiment of sustainability at every possible level—has been built on the roof of an existing car park on the Hönggerberg campus and is connected to the existing Department of Architecture building by a skyway.

See Rhino in use in the video!

More info...

A review of Shape Changing Materials workshop

Efilena Baseta, architect engineer and partner of Noumena, has been kind enough to share with us the results of the Shape Changing Materials workshop which took place last month at NYC's Parsons School of Design.

Pdf illustrating the results of the workshop...

Workshop web page...

Workshop video...

Noumena web site...

ComStruct workshop, Tehran (Iran) - a case study

ComStruct was a two-week workshop in the summer of 2015 on computational structures as form generators, hosted by the Contemporary Architects Association in Tehran, Iran, and led by 5 tutors with 25 participants.

The workshop aimed to explore material behavior and directionality of elements, as well as understanding the structural potentiality of complex geometries, using algorithmic design and analysis potentials of Rhino, Grasshopper, and Karamba. It explored industrial fabrication techniques to design and construct a one to one scale canopy pavilion that covers a four by ten-meter area of an unused swimming pool, converting it to a vivid exhibition area.

The canopy free-form surface was optimized through several steps including structural performance done with Karamba. The result was a design-driven by information; the output from each step of the structural analysis led to the geometry and pattern choices. The result was a highly optimized 2.5mm aluminum tensegrity shell. The aesthetics were derived from calculations and structural needs, and the process from idea to production was entirely formed through algorithms.

Watch the video...

Credits

Host: Contemporary Architects Association, Tehran, Iran
Location: No. 7, 2nd alley, Hassan-e Seif St, Faze-3, Shahrak-e Gharb, Tehran, Iran
Tutors: Mariam Khademi (La Sapienza University), Mehrad Mahnia (theALLIANCE), Vahid Eshraghi (VEA Studio), Kristjan Plagborg Nielsen (Arup), Ramtin Taherian (theALLIANCE)
Workshop Team: Farhang Alipour, Soroush Asadi, Ahmadreza Atashbar Tehrani, Pouria BaniAdam, Ali Derazgisou, Paniz Farrokhsiar, Pouria Gachpazan, Faraneh Ghahremani, Hoda Hamzeh, Ehsan Heidari Zadi, Hooman Homayooni, Niloofar Imani, Mostafa Jahanmiri, Keyhan Khaki, Aryan Khalighy, Sadra Khosravan, Fatemeh Mahmoudyar, Ali Mirzadeh, Sogol Moaven, Farnaz Mohammadi, Hamid Peiro, Hasan Shafiei, Iman Shameli, Fahimeh Tahmasebian
Laser Cutter Provider: Arpa Laser Co.
CNC Sheet Metal Bending: Arpa Laser Co.
Aluminum Anodizing Service: Arpa Laser Co.
Lighting Device Provider: Shoa Industrial Group
Collaborators: Elham Razavi / CEO at Contemporary Architects Association, Ali Zolfaghari / Technical Support, Majid Kazempour / Technical Support, Afshin Koupaei / Technical Support, Mehran Davari/ Technical Support, Farshid Esmaeili / Marab Mahbod Engineering & Technical Co., Faraz Maleki / Arpa Laser Group
Cinematography and Video Director: Sepand Saedi
Photography: Sepand Saeidi, Davood MohammadHasan, Farhanf Alipour, Pouria Gachpazan

Pauhu pavilion - Tampere Architecture Week 2015

 

Project coordinator: Henri Käpynen

Architectural design: Toni Österlund (Geometria), Lisa Voigtländer

Client: Tampere Architecture Week
Location: Tampere, Finland

Read about the Pauhu pavilion, completely designed with Rhino/Grasshopper, using VisualARQ for the creation of the construction drawings. 

From the Pauhu Press Release:

"Pauhu pavilion was realized as a voluntary project as a part of Tampere Architecture Week, in Finland, bringing together architecture and design students and professionals in addition to a number of different sponsors. Tampere Architecture Week is an annual event about architecture and urban planning, intended to add interest and discussion about the built environment. The theme in 2015 – interaction – aimed to increase the possibilities for interaction between citizens themselves and between architects and citizens.

Functioning as an open stage for free expression and performance, Pauhu pavilion aims to highlight interaction as one of the most crucial subjects in our ever more privatied and secluded cities. The name “Pauhu” refers to the distant roar generated by the Tampere rapids, by the city around the pavilion, as well as by the artists and presenters the pavilion is hosting. The interlace of public, private and communal interests was essential and absolutely crucial in making Pauhu possible.

Along with its intended use as an active open-stage for public debates and performances Pauhu aims to promote forward looking thinking in architecture focusing on the innovative use of wood. The construction process fuses conventional and tested building methods with state-of-art digital design and fabrication processes. The pavilion was designed using algorithm-aided design methods as a detailed and accurate parametric 3D-model, from which all construction information and fabrication data was derived from.

The inner smooth form of the pavilion is inspired by the flowing waves of the rapids, as well as the intricate plywood sculptures by the legendary Finnish sculptor Tapio Wirkkala. The smooth interior is seemingly carved out of a solid block of rough wood, which is emphasized by the contrasting colour tones. The interior is generated as a ruled surface by a rotation of plywood strips along the width of the pavilion, and while it appears to be doubly curved, the strips are all flat, un-bent and rectangular in shape. The plywood strips are connected to notches on an array of CNC-milled supporting arches. The heights of the individual strips vary according to their overlap, which allows for the optimization of material usage The resulting expressive shape forms an eye-catching frame and a backdrop for the presenter, while being a simple structural implementation using minimal amount of CNC-milling.  

The outside of the pavilion is clad with a three-dimensional wood texture. The structured paneling is a new product innovation by Jukola Industries, called Grafwood. The texture invites passers-by to touch and feel the unusual material. The appearance light and shadows on the dark façade lives with the rhythm of the day and weather conditions.

The construction of the pavilion took eight days from a group of architecture students, and it was built off-site and brought to location on a truck. The pavilion is a temporary construction, scheduled to remain in its location until the end of 2016 as part of the city’s project to liven up one of the central streets of Tampere".

 

c--c | glass with a twist

Building curved walls from bent glass traditionally is a costly affair. Using adjustable appliances, or even custom molds, a flat glass sheet is heated to about 600 ° C, until the entire sheet gets ductile. It then gradually, due to gravity, takes the desired shape. The part needs to remain inside the furnace for many hours to slowly neutralize bending stresses. The outcome is certainly attractive but the efforts inevitably are reflected in the price per unit.

A product concept presented by the German industrial designer Holger Jahns pursues an entirely different approach at a lower cost. Industrially prefabricated elements from glass come with a unique coupling mechanism which permits joining slim individual elements at any angle and without ever committing planners to a particular shape.

c--c indeed is an advancement over channel glass – a machine rolled glass product in U-shape, which has been in production for decades. The updated profile shape makes the product truly fit for curved architectural applications.

More information at the Grasshopper Forum & Main Project's web site...

A Celebration of Young Architectural Design - BuroHappold Engineering

A Celebration of Young Architectural Design
BuroHappold Engineering
Tuesday, 2 June 2015 from 6 pm to 10 pm (BST)
London, United Kingdom

BuroHappold Engineering invites you to a private viewing showcasing four unique works created by architecture students from the University of Westminster Design Studio 10 led by Arthur Mamou Mani and Toby Burgess. These architectural interventions were selected through a design competition and have been chosen to complement our recently completed office refurbishment. Also featured will be a specially commissioned ceiling designed by Design Studio 10 tutor Arthur Mamou Mani.

The Design Studio 10 program focuses on bottom-up design, novel fabrication methods, open knowledge sharing and allowing making to influence the design process. This aligns with our interests at BuroHappold. Our support and funding has allowed the students to realize their ideas and improve their portfolios as architects. Please join us in celebrating the work of young designers.

BuroHappold Engineering
71 Newman Street
London W1T 3AH
Phone: +44 20 7927 9700

Details and registration...

Rose Pavilion Exhibition at ETH Zurich

Rose Pavilion Exhibition

ETH Zurich

From April 28 to May 7

The Rose Pavilion is a revolutionary restructuring of a public space, as it seeks to connect space, music and media art through the use of an aesthetically appealing and artistically oriented structure. The intention is to bring society, music and media art together under one pavilion.

BTPZ Building Technology Park, Brandstrasse 33, CH-8952, ZÜRICH-Schlieren

Rhino-Days 2015-USA Conferences: January 16-17, Savannah, GA

Rhino-Days 2015-USA

Conferences: January 16-17, Savannah, GA

   
We will be hosting two days of lectures on January 16-17, 2015 at SCAD. Presenters will talk about their professional fields and how they use 3D modeling and design in real life projects ..... from marine design, to product and furniture developing, set designs and artful architecture. Join us and discover the principles of design interactivity. Learn to rationalize complex geometry into a format suitable for analysis and fabrication. Or encounter the evolving transitions of design environments in Rhino and Grasshopper.

You can see the list of presenters here.
For more information, please contact Jackie Nasser or call (305) 513 4445.

Important: 

• The 2-day conference fee is $100, but if you are a student or a faculty member, you'll receive a Rhino 5 Educational license with the registration (Proof of status required. The regular educational license price is USD $195). 
• To register for the conferences January 16 and 17, please go to http://mcneelmiami.com/rhinoday_2015
• On January 15, we are also offering 1-day workshops. Space is very limited so please register soon. There will be a total of 6 workshops to choose from.
• For the list of workshops on January 15 and to register, please go to Workshops

Take advantage of the early bird price!!!.  

You can register for the lectures by clicking here.  

The Evolution of Shell Lace Structure by Tonkin Liu

Tonkin Liu has published a new book titled The Evolution of Shell Lace Structure, coinciding with an exhibition at the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Shell Lace Structure is a tailored, single surface structural technique invented by the London based architecture practice Tonkin Liu. The result of five years of intense practice-based research in collaboration with engineers at Arup, the technique integrates structural principles expressed in 500 million years of variation in shells, the ancient art of tailoring, and cutting edge digital manufacturing technology, resulting in ultra-strong, lightweight, and visually unique architectural structures. 

Book | The Evolution of Shell Lace Structure by Tonkin Liu

RIBA Exhibition | Tonkin Liu: The Evolution of Shell Lace Structure

RIBA | Show & Tell Tuesdays: The Evolution of Shell Lace Structure, 09/09, 30/09, 07/10. Reserve place through Tonkin Liu: press@tonkinliu.co.uk | twitter: @tonkinliu

The exhibition has been extended until October 18th. And there is now a talk at the RIBA on October 7th at 6:15, which can be booked through the RIBA.

Loop: The Environmental Summer Pavilion 2

This interdisciplinary project is the team work of students from the Faculty of Art and Architecture at the TUL in Liberec and the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences at the CZU in Prague, under the leadership of Marie Davidová (FA CTU in Prague / Collaborative Collective), Šimon Prokop (Collaborative Collective) and Martin Kloda (Archwerk). It is the continuation of the project pareSITE, the Environmental Summer Pavilion published here a year ago. Its goal is to evolve the performance of solid pine wood. The PareSITE project was absorbing humidity during the night while evaporating it during hot summer days. The panelling supported this by warping – increasing the humid air circulation. This year's project took the concept further. The panelling was organised spatially. Left and right sides of the panels in tangential section were combined. Thanks to this, as well as the shape of the structure, the pavilion performed much better.

The concept evolved from origami folded ellipse that was 3D scanned and used as a base for a Grasshopper for Rhino 5 model that generated fabrication drawings. The individual pieces for the structure were cut on a Hundegger Speed-Cut 3 CNC saw at Eurodach and the panelling on HOMAG Venture 06S 3-axis milling machine at the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences at CZU in Prague, where the structure was also mounted by the students.

The Loop Pavilion served as a meeting point and podium for the EnviroCity festival, creating a pleasant environment for its visitors and presenters.

Grasshopper for Rhino 5 model:

The model was created solely in Grasshopper (and its plug-ins) using only two guiding curves in Rhinoceros 5 taken from the 3D scanner. This helped the team to work on the structure even before the final shape of guiding curves was determined. Due to the spatial organization of panels and the nature of pavilion's construction there was a fair amount of data structure to work with besides the geometry. All the elements were simple planar planks, however, the overall shape is perceived as a double curved surface.

Since the shape was complicated in the terms of statics, the team used a plug-in called Donkey to analyse possible weak spots in the construction. Simultaneously, the joints were analysed in different force constellations to find the optimal positioning of fasteners. Another Grasshopper plug-in, Ladybug, was used to estimate the sun's position and energy gain on each panel on the actual site during the installation period so that the panel size could become another layer of complexity.

All participating students learned Grasshopper basics.

List of participating students:

Alena Novotná, Anna Hrušová, Antonín Hůla, Barbora Slavíčková, Jakub Kopecký, Jiří Fáber, Jiří Pokorný, Petr Tůma, Tereza Jílková, Radim Sýkora, Eliška Antonyová, Tereza Lišková, Filip Janata, Tomáš Kytka, Marie Kortanová, Vojtěch Holeček, Martin Vaníček, Jakub Hlaváček and Petr Havelka

Sponsors:

Stora Enso, Rothoblaas, Nářadí Bartoš, Eurodach, Lesy ČR, Nadace Proměny, Natura Decor

For further information, please follow our blog at http://environmentalpavilion.tumblr.com/ 

HILA pavilion in Kiikeli island, Oulu, Finland

HILA pavilion

University of Oulu students in collaboration with DigiWoodLab project

Kiikeli island, Oulu, Finland

2014

HILA pavilion is part of the summer workshop series at the University of Oulu, Faculty of architecture. The students of architecture created the concept and constructed HILA at the Kiikeli island, located right in front of the city center, in summer of 2014.

Hila pavilion is a synthesis of a three dimensional wooden lattice structure (hila in Finnish) and architecture, in which the rectangular base form is carved by a freeform inner void. The revealed wooden structure creates a lace-like appearance inside the pavilion, which is amplified by the complex shadows it forms. Viewed from inside, the openings on the sides of the pavilion frame beautiful views towards the river delta area, and the pavilion itself is shown as a prominent landmark towards the city.

Read more...

Rose Pavilion opening at ETH Zurich

The opening of the Rose Pavilion at the Polyterrasse of the ETH in Zurich will take place on July 23 at 8 pm.

This multimedia pavilion has been developed by a group of young architects under the direction of Dimitry Demin in collaboration with the ETH Chair for Computer Aided Architectural Design CAAD, led by Prof. Dr. Ludger Hovestadt.  It will be open to the public July 28-30 on the Polyterrasse of ETH, which commands views over the rooftops of Zurich.

The structure of the 1.2-ton pavilion is divided into five columns. The main supporting parts are harmoniously joined together from the dome. The pavilion areas consist of curved, weather and scratch resistant aluminum sheets glued and bolted together into a Möbius strip. The Möbius strip, discovered by the Leipzig mathematician and astronomer August Ferdinand Möbius, has the mathematical property of being non-orientable and has a surface with only one side and one boundary component.  Thus the endless form revolves around itself.

The use of modern media technology generates a network of spaces which allow visitors to watch live shows or immerse themselves in diverse artistic and musical experiences. Projections transform the pavilion into a space/time capsule.

The idea for the Rose Pavilion was inspired by late XIX and early XX century freestanding constructions that served the purpose of outdoor entertainment. The polygonal structure of the pavilion was derived from the natural beauty of Wildrose Rosaceae Rosa canina, a rose which has a pentagonal symmetry and a double curvature of its petals. The pavilion was developed in Zurich and, as a modern spatial aesthetic object, acts as a focal point and brings people together. The music and voice reproductions of the oscillating surface of the pavilion produce a piezoelectric effect, transforming it into a large speaker.

The Rose Pavilion was designed by Dimitry Demin (architect), Jürgen S. Wassink (engineer) and Achilleas Xydis (architect and robot Support production): www.rose-pavilion.com 

The authors thank the sponsors and material suppliers who have made it possible to realize the construction of the pavilion: Novelis AG, Libs, Hasler + Co AG, Switzerland Sika AG, TRUMPF Maschinen AG, Kamoo AG, Blumer-Lehmann AG, Haller AG, Lift-Ex AG.

Rose Pavilion opening...

More images...