AECCafe Today 
Susan Smith
Susan Smith has worked as an editor and writer in the technology industry for over 16 years. As an editor she has been responsible for the launch of a number of technology trade publications, both in print and online. Currently, Susan is the Editor of GISCafe and AECCafe, as well as those sites’ … More » sg2011 Day 5 talks focus on dataApril 1st, 2011 by Susan Smith
What was essentially Day Five at the SmartGeometry Conference in Copenhagen (sg2011) was called talkshop, a day-long series of panel discussions that focused on data – with topics such as: data by design, form follows data, performative data, the data promise. To kick off the day, Shane Burger, associate and head of the Computational Design Unit at Grimshaw Architects, defined the 9-year-old SmartGeometry group as “a world wide community that believe that through digital tools they can make design process better and through that, can make better architecture and design.” Founders Lars Hesselgren, High Whitehead, and Jay Parrish spoke about the beginnings of SmartGeometry: “I sent email to the other guys about going forward using CAD,” said Hesselgren. “I recollect there were a few who could do parametrics,” said Whitehead. “We thought the problems were technological, but the way around the problem was more through sociology, and the reasson why sg continues to flourish is it is a social experiment,” said Parrish. “We intended consequences and some happened, and unintended consequences also,” said Hesselgren. “Then there are those things that we absolutely had no idea were going to happen – the “unintended unintended.” In September, sg organizers put out an email to the community asking for what a challenge would be and that becomes the overall theme of the conference. What is new, and where are the new boundaries – essentially what they should make sg about this year. The conference comprises 10 clusters with 10 participants each, plus champions that set the brief of the cluster. “We had about 50 applications from people who wanted to run a cluster,” said Burger. “Last year there were only 15.” There is open registration, and you have to actually apply, only get the best people in. “We try to keep it small — to 110 people– but we are convinced that we have the best people in the world to run workshops. And who participate.” He added that what people talk about in this conference happened just last night or this morning, unlike other conferences. Kyle Steinfeld, UC Berkeley, and Nick Novelli, CASE Rensselaer said that for the past four days the group had been exploring ability for designing literal data creation from the ground up to see if that makes the process more transparent and more robust. “Not just architects manipulate data, everyone does,” said Steinfeld. Issues:
SmartGeometry Workshop tourMarch 31st, 2011 by Susan Smith
At the SmartGeometry Conference in Copenhagen, last night the press were treated to an informal tour of the SmartGeometry Workshop, at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, CITA/Centre for Information Technology and Architecture. The projects were impressive and really push the boundaries of what is architecture. Some quick examples: Cyber Gardens is a robotic arm model with sensors embedded that will read biological behavior of a city. This project envisions a gigantic cybercity of the future in which bacteria such as algae will be self growing in the arm shaped structure, and may provide shade and produce energy and oxygen. The bacteria will need more or less nutrients that can be sprayed on the model. It is not something that is just built and forgotten; the user will remain an active participant in the sustainable ecology of the gardens. Another project, Reflecting Environments, dealt with energy sources as well, where people will receive their energy sources through heat based tracking cameras that are boxes on the ground. One project involved fabric embedded with sensors draped over metal skeletons, using fabric in walls that would then sense temperature, environment and other needs of the occupants of a building. sg2011 conference (SmartGeometry) comes to CopenhagenMarch 30th, 2011 by Susan Smith
I am here in Copenhagen for the annual SmartGeometry Conference, sg2011, hosted by Bentley Systems, from March 28-April 2. The event will come in three parts, a Workshop (28th-31st March), a public Talkshop (1 April), and a public Symposium and Reception (2 April). Speakers include: Ben van Berkel (UN Studio), Usman Haque (Haque Design + Research), Billie Faircloth (KieranTimberlake), Craig Schwitter (Buro Happold + Adaptive Building Initiative), Lisa Amini (IBM Smarter Cities Lab), and Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen (CITA) I have also covered GenerativeComponents, the technology that actually spawned the SmartGeometry Conference in a recent issue of AECWeekly: http://www10.aeccafe.com/nbc/articles/2/924925/Future-Design-Overlap-Design-Computation Look for conference updates in the coming days. Autodesk moves from products to “suites”March 23rd, 2011 by Susan Smith
In a Webex this week Amar Hanspal, senior vice president, Platform Solutions and Emerging Business for Autodesk talked about the 2012 portfolio which will soon be available. Because customers are successful using multiple products, Autodesk is not offering single products in this release, but rather suites of products for all kinds of design. He called it an “integrated software approach.” A lot of discussion was spent on artists and production facilitators in the entertainment industry, a big customer of Autodesk products. The suites cost “a few hundred dollars more than an individual software program” but offer more in terms of interoperability and the entire suite will be offered on a USB thumb drive. Here is a list of the various suites: Building Design Suite* Infrastructure Design Suite* Plant Design Suite* Factory Design Suite* Product Design Suite* Entertainment Creation Suite* * – Software included varies according to Suite versions; Standard, Premium or Ultimate. I will be attending the AEC Media Summit in Waltham, Mass. in two weeks and will have a full report on the suites at that time. Planning Required service for ordering site plansMarch 8th, 2011 by Susan Smith
Geospatial company Getmapping has announced a new monthly account for its online ‘Planning Required’ planning map service (www.planningrequired.com). According to the company, architects, home improvement companies and professionals who are regular users of the service will benefit from significant savings when they sign up for accounts. Customers will receive a single bill for multiple transactions. Launched in 2010 the Planning Required service is used by thousands of architects, developers and members of the public who need to submit a site and block plan as part of a planning application. Planning Required provides an easy and quick way to order site plans in the format required by Local Authorities. |
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