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Critical Mass Posts

May 20, 2015: Special Lecture by Carlo Ratti (MIT)

Published 2015年5月19日 by T—ADS

Please join us for a special lecture with Carlo Ratti from MIT.

March 20, 2015
19:00-20:00
T_ADS Studio, Room 415
Engineering Building #1, 4F
Hongo Campus, The University of Tokyo

Carlo Ratti is an Italian architect, engineer, inventor, educator and activist who teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, where he directs the MIT Senseable City Lab, a research group that explores how new technologies are changing the way we understand, design and ultimately live in cities. He is also a founding partner of the international design office Carlo Ratti Associati, which he established in 2004 in Torino, Italy. Ratti was named one of the “50 most influential designers in America” by Fast Company and highlighted in Wired Magazine’s “Smart List: 50 people who will change the world.”
Ratti has been featured in Esquire Magazine’s ‘2008 Best & Brightest’ list and in Thames & Hudson’s selection of ‘60: Innovators Shaping our Creative Future. In 2010 Blueprint Magazine included him as one of the ‘25 People Who Will Change Architecture and Design’, Forbes listed him as one of the ‘Names You Need To Know’ in 2011.
(bio via Wikipedia)

May 11th, 2015: “From Pulsation to Feedback” Lecture by Eric Goldemberg of MONAD Studio

Published 2015年5月8日 by T—ADS
On May 11 2015, we are very fortunate to have Eric Goldemberg of MONAD Studio join us for a lecture event.  
It will be held in the ADS Studio, in room 415 of Engineering Building #1 on Hongo Campus from 16:00-17:30.
The event is open to the public, so please feel free to join.



MONAD Studio was founded in 2002 by Design Principals Eric Goldemberg and Veronica Zalcberg. 

Eric Goldemberg – Principal Designer 
Eric is an architect with a professional degree from the University of Buenos Aires and a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University, New York. He worked for Peter Eisenman as senior designer for the City of Culture of Galicia, Spain and has headed design teams in several competitions. He was also project architect for Asymptote Architecture (Hani Rashid & Lise Anne Couture) on projects in Malaysia, The Netherlands and the Guggenheim Museum in Guadalajara, Mexico. Goldemberg is Associate Professor and Digital Design Coordinator at Florida International University in Miami where he teaches graduate studios and advanced digital design and fabrication courses. Previously, he has taught at Pratt Institute, Columbia University, New York Institute of Technology, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and University of Buenos Aires. 

May 8, 2015: DFL (1st year students) Mid-Term Review with Sponsor, Takenaka Corporation

Published 2015年5月8日 by T—ADS

On May 8, 1st year students in Digital Fabrication Lab (DFL) had their mid-term review, which was joined by this year’s pavilion sponsor, Takenaka Corporation. We were also joined by collaborators Prof. Igarashi (computer science) and Prof. Sato (structural engineering), and there were lively and informative exchanges between all participants. The participants from Takenaka Corporation asked many pointed questions from pragmatic, construction-centric perspectives. Students will incorporate the points raised throughout the review into their final pavilion designs and proposals. 

From this point onwards, together with Igarashi-Lab, Sato-Lab, and Takenaka Corporation, we will select one direction, and 1st year students in DFL will work collectively on one pavilion project. Stay tuned for which pavilion will get built this year!

SPL Pavilion 2015 : First Mock-up

Published 2015年5月7日 by T—ADS

After several tests of small physical models and computational simulations, we tested a mock-up of the pavilion with carbon fiber rods. The pattern is first created in 2D and then pops up to a 3D form when anchor points are released.

DPL Competition Team Meeting with Prof. Kengo Kuma

Published 2015年4月24日 by T—ADS
Preparing preliminary design options

Volumetric Models

Meeting with Prof. Kuma at KKAA

Design kick off meeting with Prof. Kengo Kuma at KKAA Office.
We brought 8 preliminary design options to discuss with him.
Through the discussion we selected a few volumetric options to develop further.

April 20th, 2015: Structural Engineering Lecture 03 by Professor Jun Sato, the University of Tokyo

Published 2015年4月20日 by T—ADS

Professor Jun Sato gave a comprehensive structures lecture for the first year students. He showed the students many renowned projects and experiments that has pushed the boundaries of structural engineering possibilities. 
After which, each student team conducted a bending moment test and Prof. Sato advised them on calculations, further tests, and possible improvements.
In the future, these collaborators and experts will join us as jury members to select the final design for this year’s 2015 DFL research pavilion.

Arduino Workshop | Making “Smart Tools”

Published 2015年4月13日 by T—ADS

On April 10th, we had an Arduino workshop and invited Yuta Sugiura from Keio University. The goal of the workshop was to build “smart tools” in just an hour.

Arduino Introduction
Students making their own “smart tools”
Testing servos
Connecting cables

Mounting circuits on the “smart tool”

At the end of the workshop, we had presentations.

Interactive washing puff – it measures the distance between the machine and a wall. It also measures worker stress by measuring the loudness of workers’ voices.

Smart spray for grafitti artists – this enables the painter to create a brush-like feeling by controlling the discharge rate (depending on the distance between the wall and the spray).

Smart detergent dispenser – it detects dirt by checking the brightness of the wall.

April 13th, 2015: Structural Engineering Lecture 02 by Mika Araki of Jun Sato Lab, the University of Tokyo

Published 2015年4月13日 by T—ADS
Mika Araki from Jun Sato Lab gave the first lecture in a lecture series on structural engineering for the first year students. She showed the students how to conduct various material tests, but focused on bending in this lecture. Each project has its own material properties relevant to design, and thus, it is important to listen and learn from the experts. In the future, these experts who we invite for lectures will join us as jury members to select the final design for this year’s 2015 DFL research pavilion.


First Presentation for SPL Pavilion

Published 2015年4月10日 by T—ADS

On April 1st, we had the first presentation for the 2015 SPL pavilion. The research group, composed of PhD and master students from Kuma lab, Chiba lab, and Jun Sato lab, presented in Obuchi lab. The topic of the presentation was woven architecture featuring carbon fiber rods.