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Category: Lab Life

JOINT REVIEW: TAISEI CORPORATION

Today we were pleased to welcome representatives from Taisei Corporation for a joint review in the laboratory. Professors Jun Sato and Takeo Igarashi also joined the presentations. Four teams of students presented their work and their proposals for this year’s pavilion project. There were brief Q & A sessions after each presentation.

joint review taisei corporation advanced design studies university of tokyo

joint review taisei corporation advanced design studies university of tokyo

joint review taisei corporation advanced design studies university of tokyo

joint review taisei corporation advanced design studies university of tokyo

 

STRATEGIC PARTNER VISIT: ETH ZURICH

Staff and students from Obuchi lab had the pleasure of participating in a review at ETH Zurich this March. The visit was an excellent chance for the UTokyo team to learn about the organization and activities at ETH, and an opportunity for researchers at both institutions to exchange views. PhD students and researchers from Obuchi Lab and Gramazio Kohler Research of ETH Zurich conducted a joint presentation at ETH Zurich’s newly constructed NCCR facility. Followed by the presentations, UTokyo students and researchers were given a series of demonstrations of robotic applications in digital fabrications.

utokyo eth zurich partnership review

utokyo eth zurich partnership review

utokyo eth zurich partnership review

utokyo eth zurich advanced design studies phd research review

utokyo eth zurich advanced design studies phd research review

utokyo advanced design studies tour eth zurich facilities

utokyo advanced design studies tour eth zurich facilities

utokyo advanced design studies tour eth zurich facilities

utokyo advanced design studies tour eth zurich facilities

utokyo advanced design studies tour eth zurich facilities

utokyo advanced design studies tour eth zurich facilities

JOINT REVIEW: ITSUKO HASEGAWA GALLERY

On Monday, March 20, we were pleased to participate in a joint studio review at Itsuko Hasegawa’s gallery. The event, organized by TーADS, brought together five universities: Princeton University, Washington University, Tsinghua University, Nagoya Institute of Technology, and the University of Tokyo. Hasegawa gave a keynote talk at the beginning of the review.

itsuko hasegawa gallery joint review princeton tsinghua washington nagoya institute of technology university of tokyo advanced design studies obuchi laboratory

itsuko hasegawa gallery joint review princeton tsinghua washington nagoya institute of technology university of tokyo advanced design studies obuchi laboratory

itsuko hasegawa gallery joint review princeton tsinghua washington nagoya institute of technology university of tokyo advanced design studies obuchi laboratory

itsuko hasegawa gallery joint review princeton tsinghua washington nagoya institute of technology university of tokyo advanced design studies obuchi laboratory

itsuko hasegawa gallery joint review princeton tsinghua washington nagoya institute of technology university of tokyo advanced design studies obuchi laboratory

FIELD TRIP: KYU ASAKURA HOUSE

Our first years recently went on a field trip with their Japanese Architecture and Cities class to Kyu Asakura House in the Daikanyama district. The house was built in 1919 by Torajiro Asakura and survived the Great Kanto Earthquake and the Pacific War. In 2004, the House was designated as an Important Cultural Property by the Japanese government and is open to the public.

AR TOOLKIT DIGITAL WORKSHOP

This week we held the AR Toolkit Workshop, aimed at familiarizing students with the production and usage of AR Markers. Using Processing, Grasshopper, and AR Toolkit, students developed their own markers and used cameras to detect distances and synchronize them to points in a virtual model.

Visit to Japan’s Inland Sea

Staff and students visited several islands in Japan’s Inland Sea last week in an effort to see and experience international and domestic art and design. The itinerary for the trip included Shodoshima, Inujima, Teshima, and Naoshima.

 

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A historic local soy sauce maker on Shodoshima. Staff kindly provided a brief tour of the facilities and explained the manufacturing process, distribution efforts, and history of the location.
 Meipam (maze town) near Toshogu Port on Shodoshima. The winding streets are filled with art and design spots for examination.

 

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I-Art House.
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 C-Art House.
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 A-Art House
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 S-Art House.
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 F-Art House.

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 Inujima Seirensho Art Museum
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 Teshima Art Museum.

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 Takamatsu Port Area.

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 Naoshima Pavilion, by Sou Fujimoto.
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 Red Pumpkin, by Yayoi Kusama.

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 Naoshima Hall, by Hiroshi Sambuichi.
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 Art House Project “Haisha,” by Shinro Ohtake.
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 Naoshima Bath ”I♥湯” (I love YU), by Shinro Ohtake.
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 100 Living Tales exhibit, by Yuki Iiyama. Gallery 6.
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 Marine Station “Naoshima,” by Kazuyo Sejima.

 

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Robot Arm Workshop

Today, we have a robot arm workshop.

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We generated a series of commands for the robot arm with Rhinoceros+Grasshopper.

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Then we made the robot arm cut some pieces of foam with a heat-wire.

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Real Size Thinking Competition – Pop-up Shelter

This project is called a Pop-up Shelter. It is currently installed at the 2015 Real Size Design Thinking exhibition. By combining stretchable fabric and FRP elastic rods, a soft enclosure is created. The fabric has pockets to contain the rods.
To make the form, the rods are first inserted into the fabric. Next, the fabric is stretched and the intersection points of the rods are secured in place with zip-ties. The geometry is flat in the beginning, but it becomes a 3D form after the intersection points of all the rods are fixed.

Real Size Thinking Competition – Harvesting Plasticity

Three projects by Obuchi Lab made into the finalist at the Real Size Thinking Competition in Tokyo.
This project, ‘Harvesting Plasticity’, uses bio-degradable plastic to create a temporary structure. A motion-tracking system was developed to position the members precisely and a custom 3d plastic extrusion tool was used to connect the members.

Real Size Thinking Competition by Amy and Xu

Three projects by Obuchi Lab made into the finalist at the Real Size Thinking Competition in Tokyo. Here is the project by Amy and Xu, a mockup of their thesis project titled Intimacy Cloud.
Structural components are made of recycled ground coffee beans, creating aromatic environment of coffee. The components are naturally fire resistance thus proving a place for smoking area.