Model by Lotta Alm

I was invited as a jury member in the diploma reviews at the KTH School of Architecture, along with Maria Larsson and Bård Helland. Since the jury by definition is external, this was a rare opportunity at a time when I have no affiliation to the architecture school. After 10 years of teaching this was a first time in the diploma jury for me, and a chance to discuss the conditions of the diploma thesis as well as to review a wide range of projects with different supervisors from an outside perspective. With my return to teaching in the fall, it will probably be a while before I do this again.

Abstract:

As the agenda of many digitally driven practices has shifted to physical fabrication and full scale production, this paper suggests that new conceptual layers need to be integrated into the design agenda. Throughout the field, architects are formulating conceptual frameworks for future development, often defined by aesthetic identity or fabrication principles, and in some cases full manifests for implementation of parametric principles in all scales of the built environment are stated. I would argue that there may be alternate ways of widening the scope of experimental digital practice by looking at fields outside of architecture all together, and I suggest that one such field is literature, in particular Science Fiction. Rather than seeing the possibility of rational fabrication as the only motivation for the full implementation of recent digital explorations, or considering the digital design field mature enough for the establishment of a common manifest, this line of thought suggests a more open framework, situated between technology and utopian thought. By looking at a number of concepts identified within Science Fiction theory, the paper proposes that a design approach in analogy with the way an SF author designs worlds to be explored through a narrative, could be a fruitful way forward as the digital design field risks either an introverted discourse or a mundane application.

Unpublished paper

A course given by the department of Project Communication looking at IT and Information Systems from an organizational and business perspective. Supported by guest lectures the 4th – 5th year engineering students developed team projects investigated one of four given cases by interviewing IT managers, CIOs and IT management consultants. Focus was given on the strategic levels of IT as incorporated in companies. I was coordinating the course which ended in December 2009.

Component model of student proposal

I was invited to the final review of the Perfromative Design studio, a 4th and 5th year studio at the KTH School of Architecture. This year´s theme is Architectures of Recursion: Compounds, Contours and Colloids, with task for the semester being An architecture of the interior – connective tissue for an academic environment.

Based on the formal concepts of Compounds, Contours and Colloids, the students were asked to design a building for the Emergent Materials full scale research laboratory, a series of services including bike workshop/bike shop, small bookstore and re-use bookstore, deli and student housing / guest research housing at KTH Campus. The task was set in response to a desire to create a “living campus” for the KTH.

An additional conceptual layer was added through the notion of micro climates, defined as:

A microclimate is a local atmospheric zone where the climate differs from the surrounding area. Addressing issues of microclimates, whether they are artificial, conceptual or biological, is a way to approach aspects of environmental performance on a conceptual, programmatic and material level. Creating an ecosystem, the combined physical and biological components of an environment, a system or network of relations.

The students accomplished very well developed proposal after a very short semester, that also included a study trip to the cave dwellings in Cappadocia, and the discussions that emerged around techniques, formal strategies and the functional requirements were very rewarding.

Rendering by Michael Ahlers

Final reviews in DIP16, with interesting new progression that deals with urban conditions. Students have at this stage initiated their investigation of a 1 hectare area, in which their material system, based on particular fabrication techniques will be deployed. This year our students are selecting their own sites around the world, but an initial urban understanding has been built up collectively through a Beijing study trip.

Presentation by Johan Knutas

I was invited critic in the technical seminar titled Integrated Parametric Design, run by Lina Martinsson Achi and Gunnar Tibert. The seminar is part of the new course structure in the 4th year curriculum, as a support to the design studios. A short introduction to the seminar as follows:

The overall aim of the course is for the students to develop a software independent work method that takes structural mechanics as a creative starting point for parametric design, linking parametric modelling with structural analysis.

The students were working with software such as Grasshopper, ForcePad and PointSketch to explore the relation between geometry and structural mechanics, and how this link may be investigated and developed through analysis modelling. The seminars constitute an interesting new opportunity to go deeper into certain aspects of design, and it was very nice to see projects that explored actual structural behaviors.

Model from the review

I was invited as a critic to the first year reviews at the KTH School of Architecture. More or less the first review the students ever had, the course looked at structure and geometry, with the theme of symbiosis. A lot of impressive work, and many interesting ideas. The studio is led by Ylva Lindstedt and Jonah Fritzell, supported by Mia Vendel and Johan Lindersson. It is always a joy to see quite rigorous experimentation at this early stage.

Background image Claudia White, AA DIP16

I presented the work of AA DIP 16 at this event which gathered researchers, entrepreneurs, decision makers and architects for a focused discussion on Biomimetics and Biomimicry in a symposium at KTH Albanova, Stockholm. Additional speakers included Christopher Allen and Denise DeLuca from the Biomimicry Institute, Vincent Bulone and Lars Berglund representing Biomime at KTH, Richard Bonser from the University of Reading, Ulrika Karlsson of Servo and KTH, Antonia Ax:son Johnson as founder of Antonia Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Sustainable Development as well as a number of researchers and representatives from the city of Stockholm. My focus was partly on giving examples of  biomimetic references in the work of the students at AA DIP16, but also to introduce the student design project as a platform for collaboration and a testbed that could prove beneficial to interests outside eduction. My hope is that this event will lead to new collaboration in student work as well as in my own research.

www.bioinspiredforum.com

Images from my licentiate thesis

I presented my PhD thesis project at the KTH Department of Real Estate and Construction Management (which my department Project Communication is affiliated to), in the weekly series of lunch seminars. My focus was to give an overview of my field of research into architectural design processes and the different contexts that I relate to, including parametric techniques, fabrication and industrial processes. This was my first presentation in this context since I moved from Industrial Engineering and Management in April. I concluded with defining the current challenges of the project, including establishing more firm links between design driven techniques and design- and production processes in the building industry.

Background image New babylon by Constant Nieuwenhuys

This lecture introduces the notion of the Operative Representation to 1st year students, suggesting that a critical awareness of the mode of representaiton always has been crucial to the practice of architecture. Going briefly through the history of representation it investigates how the plan, the section, the perspective, the isometric drawing and the physical model reflects the intentions and the result of design. This is transfered into contemporary issues of parametric design principles, which potentially re-establishes a link to physical production that has been more distant since the introduction of representational techniques.

The lecture features historical and contemporary references as well as personal work and student work from DIP16 at the Architectural Association.