Critical Mass Posts

We will hold a launch event for our Digital Fabrication Lab on November 12. This event was originally planned for March 15, 2011, but it was cancelled due to the 3/11 Tohoku Earthquake. We will be joined by Jesse Reiser from Princeton University who is Director of Graduate Program at School of Architecture and principal of Reiser + Umemoto, RUR Architecture in New York; Tom Verebes from University of Hong Kong. He is Associate Dean of Architecture School and also Creative Director of OCEAN.CN in Hong Kong; Michael Hansmeyer from ETH Zurich, Institute of Technology in Architecture; and Kengo Kuma, Manabu Chiba and Yusuke Obuchi from University of Tokyo

The event will start at 3:30 pm, Saturday on November 12, 2011.

Poster was designed by Olesia Biloborodko, G30 2nd year student.

Kunio Kudo Studio from Columbia University held a midterm review with us today. Kudo Studio is developing a design proposal for Kisennuma, one of major cities devastated by the 3/11 Tsunami. The theme of their project is Memory and Monument for 3/11.

Ali Rahim Studio from The University of Pennsylvania visited Kengo Kuma Lab and G30 Obuchi Lab today. Rahim Studio is currently working on a large urban development project in Seoul, South Korea.

We built new shelvings in our studio last weekend. We have accumulated quite a few study models over the past months, and needed urgently to make a place to keep them. They are not one of those polished final presentation models, but rather inspirational models serving purposes for simulating martial behaviors and formal/tectonic studies.

G30 studio and Tom Verebes Studio form University of Hong Kong had a joint studio review. Verebes Studio’s students are working on a design proposal for the post-tsunami Sendai Airport and a potential Costal Urbanism for Sendai, Japan.

We began G30’s 1st year studio workshop this week. The topic of the workshop is to design a vertical surface based on a recursive evolutionary system and component assembly logic.

We started this semester’s software tutorials for G30 students this week. Maya, Rhino and Processing will be taught by Daisuke Hirose, Junichiro Horikawa and Toshikatsu Kiuchi.

Prof. Obuchi’s design team, Cast on Cast, from Design Research Lab at Architectural Association in London has received Holcim Awards “Next Generation” 1st prize 2011 Europe for their design thesis project on Efficient Fabrication System for Geometrically Complex Building Elements. www.holcimfoundation.org/Portals/1/docs/A11/EUR/Posters/A11EUng1UK.pdf