Advanced Design Studies Blog: Critical Mass
With less than two weeks until the Obayashi company arrives on campus with crane to complete the final pavilion assembly, first year students have been focused and busy producing the various parts and pieces of the pavilion. The assembly of the tension cables finished last week, and attention has been shifted to laser-cutting the plywood pieces for the interior furniture elements, and hydro-inflating the stainless steel compressive components as they arrive from the fabricator in batches of 34, every two days.
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| Bolt insertion prior to crimping |
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| Laser-cut template for cable fabrication |
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| Team working outdoors on dual water inflation jigs |
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| Hooking up the water line. |
In the world of financial market, the higher risks you take, the greater rate of return you may earn or lose. Does this equation apply to the practice of curation for an exhibition or a symposium at museums and galleries? Can we assume that the more risks are involved, the more successful the outcome of the events could be? Or not?
Symposium at the University of Tokyo, Department of Architecture Coordinated by the Japan Foundation
The invited speakers are:
Timothy Hyde, Associate Professor, Harvard, GSD
Zoe Ryan, Curator, the Art Institute of Chicago
Inderbir Singh Riar, Lecturer, Carleton University
Mark Wasiuta, Adjunct Assistant Professsor, Columbia University
Maria Nicanor, Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim
Peter Zellner, Architect, Principal, ZELLNERPLUS
Sarah Herda, Executive Director, Graham Foundation
Darrin Alfred, Curator, Denver Art Museum
Ana and Colin helped putting together a draft version of Obuchi Lab Project Review Book. It documents all projects explored at Obuchi Lab during the academic year of 2012/2013.
Back in Tokyo, the pavilion team from Obayashi Co. came to Obuchi Lab for a progress meeting.
Prof Obuchi and Toshi went to the fabrication shop in Toyohashi near Toyota Motor factory to review the progress on the fabrication process of our pavilion’s components. In collaboration with Tsukasa Takenaka of AnS Studio, the components have been developed in order to be fabricated by the Kuka’s robotic arm attached with a laser cutter and welder. Once welding is done, the component was inflated by a hydraulic pump.
All went well. Some students even got a job offer after their presentations.
4 design teams had their design thesis defense presentations. Each team was given 16 minutes to present their design proposal followed by a 6-minutes individual research presentation. All projects were reviewed by Kengo Kuma, Manabu Chiba, Yusuke Obuchi, joined by collaborative engineers: Jun Sato, Masayuki Mae, Futoshi Kurisu, and Ryoma Kitagaki.
Draft version of thesis project books are now uploaded on issuu:
http://issuu.com/obuchilab
