Critical Mass Posts

G30 studetns and our two course assistants went to Tsukiji Fish Market to buy all kinds of fresh fish for our Christmas Sushi Party. This has become one of our annual events at G30.

This is the last day of 2012 for G30, and we will start the new year from Jan. 7th.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

G30’s 1st year students presented their four pavilion projects to our guest critics, Mitsuhiro Kanda(Tokyo University of the Arts/Arup) and Jun Sato(the University of Tokyo/Jun Sato Structural Engineers). The students received interesting feedback regarding structural and fabrication issues from both of the structural engineers. The all four projects will be developed further after the break to build mock-ups early next year.

This is the last week of 2012 for G30, and the 2nd year studio had presentations today. We invited Tomohiko Yamanashi from Nikken Sekkei to review some projects that will be developed further for their thesis projects in the coming semester.

Followed by 2nd year studio, we are going to have the 1st year studio review tomorrow. If you are around, please stop by to see the presentations. (Dec 20th, 2pm-5pm)
 

Our Digital Fabrication Lab’s blog got a new look. 

http://www.obuchilab.com/dfl

DIRTY ARCHITECTURE Team: Maung Kyaw Htoo, Yasemin Sahiner, Ana Ilić Focusing on urban issues such as `Soil Contamination` and `Brownfield Areas`, we are developing a temporal infrastructure which functions as ‘Urban Soil Detoxifier’. The aim is to utilize urban wastelands as abundant material resources and sustaine life-like properties of soil by incorporating biological degradation process into architecture and urban design. Our prototype found its place on the former Tokyo Gas Factory site which is intended for the relocation of the Tsukiji maket, but has not been occupied due to its high level of soil contamination.

Continuing from last semester, 2nd year students are working on their Cybernetic Urbanism projects. The main objective of this studio project is to develop an artificial life-like urban ecology integrating natural and human environments by networking biological and industrial production processes.

SWEATING PAPER Team: Dejan Mojić, Maria Larsson, Guillaume Dumont We aim to maximize the performance of the material. Since paper can absorb, contain, and transport it is utilized as a substrate for water which evaporates and cool the local environment. The final proposal is a series of structures at Chou-dori in Ginza, a typical place in Tokyo where extreme urbaniztion has resulted in an unpleasantly hot and dry street climate.

HYDRATING ARCHITECTURE Team: Li Shuang (Lauren), Lee Dasom, Lin XuHao (Colin) Autopoiesis is a word which could concisely describing the self generated form. it divided into three parts: raw material, organized structure, and realizing the function which follows the shape.   In the raw material analysis, we have 3 levels of components design graded by size after connection. 1st: individual components and connections, 2nd: local geometry (is later considered as a single unit of floating farm), 3rd: is the biggest, which is the global geometry (overall shape of the dynamic system)

DIGESTIVE ARCHITECTURE Team: Chong WANG, Ryo SAITO, Lin WANG, Risa KAGAMI As an application test, one actual site of dairy farm is selected in Nerima area, Tokyo, which is not so far away from the central Tokyo. In terms of program, it is supposed to become an urban recycling infrastructure field treating with waste paper, feeding cows, producing milk and by products like cow dung bricks and fertilizer. The basic design strategy is applying the wall prototype in the global geometry forced by site information and programmatic requirements. Like an evolutional development of living organisms, where a genotype is the blue print of all of its phenotypes, its ambition is to construct an ecology of design system, which seamlessly integrates both natural and human environments linked by adaptive feedback systems of networked infrastructure.

Today, we had midterm review with 1st year students. They have been working on the development of non-liner tensegrity canopy, and the review was focused on design systems, aiming for their work to be developed and built as full-scale pavilions next year. The students will continue developing their work with  Rhino+Grasshopper and Processing. Later in the semester, Maya and a structural analysis plugin, developed by Daisuke Hirose who teaches our Maya class, will be used for structural analysis.