Dates:  Weekend of February 12-13

Brief: It’s no secret that building design is influenced by external factors such as sunlight, wind, and precipitation (to name a few).  With the onset of digital design practices changing how we design and construct the built environment, we would like to take the opportunity to gather a group of interested individuals for a weekend of lectures, instruction, and discussion over the topic.  Instruction will be given over parametric design techniques driven towards performative building systems and geometries.  Tutorials will be given over Rhinoceros, Rhino-Grasshopper, and other associative softwares that aid in linking building performance with “live forces.”  Saturday will feature a lecture by architect Daniel Ibañez, co-director of the Fab Lab House entry of the 2010 Solar Decathlon, and Sunday we welcome Paul Kassabian, a structural engineer and MIT faculty member who has worked as Deputy Project Manager on the fabrication and erection of the Gateshead Millennium Bridge in the UK.

GUEST SPEAKERS

Daniel Ibañez: is a Spanish architect currently researching at the Harvard GSD.  He has been part of the faculty at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, and works in practice with partner Rodrigo Rubio for his Madrid-based office MarGen.  He has most recently co-directed the Fab Lab House entry of the 2010 Solar Decathlon in Madrid, which is a full scale built investigation of how digital fabrication can forward sustainable building design.

Paul Kassabian: Paul Kassabian is a structural engineer with interests in design, dynamic control, and deployable structures. Educated in England at Westminster School and Cambridge University, he joined the design firm of Flint & Neill Partnership in London. There he worked on design and assessment of a range of distinctive bridge structures, including Lockmeadow footbridge in Kent and Cleddau Bridge in Wales. During this time, he worked at contractor Watson Steel as Deputy Project Manager for the fabrication, erection, contracts, and finance of the Gateshead Millennium Bridge which won the UK Building of the Year Award 2002. He developed the lift-in-one scheme for the 1200 ton bridge and controlled the landing of the north side of the bridge on the erection day.

His interests in structural dynamics and motion control led him to take a Master of Science degree at MIT. There, his role as teaching assistant in structures grew to include leading educational visits to Tokyo and Shanghai, while his collaborative efforts included forming ice structures outside Kresge Chapel during winter. He currently works at Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger in Boston on a range of projects including: soil-structure interaction for seismic events, investigations and repair of masonry facades, collapse investigations, and design/remedial work for clients and contractors.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Saturday Feb 12

11am-1pm: LAN Lecture “Live Forces”

2pm-5pm: Software tutorials in Parametric Design (Rhino, Rhino Grasshopper)

5pm-7pm: Guest Speaker

Sunday Feb 13

11am-1pm: LAN Lecture “Fabricating For Function -Traditional vs. Digital Building Processes”

2pm-4pm: Software tutorials in Parametric Design (Rhino, Rhino Grasshopper)

4pm-6pm: Guest Speaker

Early Registration Price:  $195 (sign up by Saturday January 29)

Register via paypal link:

Students are encouraged to bring their own laptop and mouse.  (Participants may also arrange ahead of time to rent a laptop for the weekend)

All software will be available for trial download if not previously installed.