2nd Year Mid-term Thesis Presentations with David Erdman, Yutaro Muraji, Kae Miyazawa & Gabriel Cira

On March 16th, four design teams of 2nd year students had their Mid-term thesis presentations! Each team was given 15 minutes to present core scenario of their projects using both 3 minutes video and slide format presentation. The presentations were followed by a 20-minutes of discussion. As reviewers, David Erdman of the University of Hong Kong, Yutaro Muraji of Keio University, Gabriel Cira who currently works in Arata Isozaki's office and Kae Miyazawa from Department of Global Agricultural Sciences at the University of Tokyo joined us for these presentations.

March 9th, 2015: "ALPHABET" Lecture by Thomas Weaver of AA School

On March 9th, 2015, we were very fortunate to have Thomas Weaver, from AA School of Architecture, join us for a whole series of events. Thomas Weaver teaches at the AA School of Architecture in London, where he also edits all of the AA's books and journals, including the award-winning title, AA Files.

The day's finale was a lecture by him titled, "ALPHABET." Brief: This talk will be structured around an alphabet of 26 key images, from A through to Z, Albers through to Zebra, that have appeared over the last eight years through the pages of the architectural journal AA Files. Each image will be presented not only through its immediate place within the journal, but through its pictorial, anecdotal, historiographic and iconographic architectural associations. The effect, hopefully, will be of a varied and eclectic architecture in 26 parts, yet one that still somehow suggests the singularity of a unified, whole project.

Many students attended the lecture and it was followed by a lively round of Q&A. Good times were had by all. Please join us next time. 

March 9th, 2015: 2nd Year Presentations with Thomas Weaver of AA School

On March 9th, Thomas Weaver of AA School joined us for the 2nd year studio presentations.

March 9th, 2015: 1st Year Presentations with Thomas Weaver of AA School

On March 9th, Thomas Weaver of AA School joined us for the 1st year studio presentations.

We were very fortunate to have Thomas Weaver join us as a guest critic for presentations by the 1st Year Studio dealing with the design for Digital Fabrication Laboratory Pavilion 2015. Thomas offered very fresh and constructive critique from the stand point of history and theory. This was followed by a lively, engaging discussion and a lecture by Thomas Weaver titled, "ALPHABET."

Thomas Weaver teaches at the AA School of Architecture in London, where he also edits all of the AA's books and journals, including the award-winning title, AA Files.

Jun Sato gave a kick-off structural engineering lecture for first year pavilion project

Sato sensei gave the kick-off structural engineering lecture for the first year students. We are planning various material tests (e.g. bending, compression, and buckling). Each project has its own design and material property thus it is important to listen the expert to decide which test is suitable.

Smart tool specialist gave a lecture

Sugiura-san, a visionary researcher in tangible computer interaction, gave a lecture about his previous works including Graffiti Fur.

Harmonograph

Designing the shape of STIK PAVILION

Now that the construction of the Stik Pavilion is finished, we have been working on documenting some of the processes. As such, it could be interesting to revisit the formal design process that the lab was exploring. The following video shows how the shape of the pavilion was generated using the Harmonograph; a mechanical apparatus with two pendulums which generates a geometric shape.