GIF and Theory of Architecture
[left] Art Arcadion / Hongkun Art Gallery, designed by Penda + Dayong Sun & Chris Precht. Location: Beijing, China. “The solid expression of the exterior countinually merges with a carved out interior and increases the sculptural appearance of the gallery. Multiple arches altering in size and orientation create a continuous, gentle curve which becomes a sculptural interpretation of the landscape paintings, that are exhibited in the gallery.”
[right] Seriality by Gualtiero Bertoldi
Cubic house. Architect: LoT, Associate Architect: Bade Stageberg Cox Architecture, New York, Eleni Kourkouli. Project Team: Leonidas Trampoukis (Partner in charge), Eleni Petaloti, Tim Bade, Martin Cox, Jane Stageberg, Breta Bishop. Interior Design: LoT, Bade Stageberg Cox Architecture. Structural Engineer: G. Papargyris – A. Kardoula & Associates. Mechanical Engineer: Andreadis – Hatzisavas & Associates. Bioclimatic / Energy Study: LoT, Bade Stageberg Cox Architecture. Lighting Design: LoT, m.a.P. Studio. Renderings: LoT, Fotis Tsakmakis. Owner: Andreadis Zissiadis SA. Commissioner: Private commission. Site Coverage: 6780m. Total built area: 6470m². Project Year: 2010-11. Status: Awarded Best Project of the Years 2009-11 at DOMES International Review of Architecture Awards 2012, Greece
Minimalistic concept of Cubic House includes three main materials: the white exterior walls, wood cladding for the recessed parts and light that reveals the architectural quality of the previous two.
NYC's Storefront for Art & Architecture in 2012 hosted "Critical Halloween" soiree at The Autumn Bowl, a century-old factory in Brooklyn converted into an event space. Attendees were asked to devise a costume around the idea of “metaphor” (no pressure!)., as well as to submit their pocket-size animations to be screened at the event. The costume is Architecture's Open Hand by Lisa and Ted Landrum.
Within 1week1project, architecture was presented in movement, as it exists in minds of architects and as it becomes seen by people when realised. “While going through the design process, architects must make a series of deliberate decisions, altering small intricacies that affect the overall perception of their creations. From start to finish, factors such as orientation, scale, and materiality can be slightly manipulated along the way. As each of these operations are performed, the building begins to take shape in the mind of the designer. Motion in architecture is mainly associated to the fourth dimension: time. This can be seen within the ways spaces are experienced, how façades can wear over time, and the aesthetic of the design in relation to its changing context.” For ‘architecture animee,’ Axel de Stampa of 1week1project uses the GIF format to develop a different approach contrary to the common consensus. The animation exhibits Mirador Building by MVRDV and Blanca Lleo (original photo: Luis Garcia)
[right] Procedural Brutalism by Cedric
The Crater by Benjamin Brichta, within Experiments in Motion project. “The Crater looks at potential hubs in Manhattan, proposing that we bring riverways inland to maximize connections between the land bound transportation network and New York’s ferry system. By marrying a ferry terminal with a transit hub at the corner of Delancey and Essex streets, it ties the commercial and retail activity of the Lower East Side to the greater urban infrastructural system. By introducing a connection point for multiple transit modes into the neighborhood, it creates public space for the neighborhood and income for the city and adjacent building owners.”
[right] Unknown author
[left] Circular city maps by Archie Archambault design
[right] One of roof solutions within Harry Wei's Double House project
Guillaume Kurkdjian's animation regarding his exhibition at Cornell Architecture Art Planning 22/2-4/3/2016, curated by Visiting Associate Professor Mark Morris
The Cineroleum by Assemble studio, winner of 2015 Turner Prize
Animated architecture
in animated GIFs:
[left] ACE Cafe 751, Bejing,
dEEP Architects
[right] Long Tall House in Tokyo
by SpaceSpace
Breath Box is waterfront pavilion that was built in La Grande Motte as part of the Festival des Architecture Vives – a French architecture festival that takes place every summer. It was designed by Montpellier studio NAS Architecture, in particular by Hadrien Balalud de Saint Jean, Guillaume Giraud and Johan Laure. The sea-facing façade of the pavilion is made up of 345 mirroring plates/flaps of polished steel. Each one is fixed to the structure on a hinge, allowing both visitors and the wind to lift up different sections, which results in the façade to be animated in new ways which are never repeated except in a GIF
"Swim or Sink. Maldives Floating Future” for Malé, Maldives by Mayank Thammalla, Auckland, New Zealand, finalist of the 2016 Shivaji Competition, the international competition for ideas to save human habitation on islands and peninsulas doomed by a one meter rise in sea level in the 21st Century. Buster Simpson, Rising Waters Curator and competition organizer: Glenn Weiss
"The Blue Heart: Embracing a Soggier Holland"
for Rhine-Meuse Delta, The Netherlands
by Claudia Bode, Denver, USA, finalist of the 2016 Shivaji Competition, the international competition for ideas to save human habitation on islands and peninsulas doomed by a one meter rise in sea level in the 21st Century.
Bureau Spectacular is a group of individuals who look at culture through the contemplation
of art, history, politics, sociology, linguistics, mathematics, graphic design, technology, and storytelling. It was founded in 2008 by Jimenez Lai.
GIF presents one of Bureau Spectacular’s iconic Super-Furnitures, a nine piece 28-foot-long modular staircase. All these pieces fit together like puzzle, creating the staircase which can be also used as auditorium for events and performances. In September 2016, it became interior design of 2,000 square foot retail space for flagship store for high-end denim and ready-to-wear line, Frankie, in the Los Angeles Arts District
Another Primitive Hut is an “indoor treehouse” designed by studio Bureau Spectacular. It reflects a concept of Primitive Hut proposed by French philosopher Marc-Antoine Laugier whose Essay on Architecture was first published in 1753. Laugier believed that architecture should return to its origins and embody basic, natural qualities, which was at the time in contrast to dominant Baroque style. Bureau Spectacular’s installation embraces Laugier’s modernistic comprehension of architecture and correlates it to contemporary age, raising a question on how this simple hub fits into it. The project was exhibited in Santa Monica, and supported by Visit Seattle, documented as part of a series Been There, Made That by Vox Creative
One of 30 multipurpose booths/kiosks that were designed for Dongdaeum Plaza in Seoul (2013-2014) serve as galleries, info points and relaxing corners designed by NL Architects
Moving Landscapes is building in outskirts of city Ahmedabad in India designed by architects office Matharoo Associates, characteristic for animated marble facades. Concealed supporting structures and motorized system enable panels topivot in alternate directions, or slide back and forth, revealing lightweight glass facade behind them. The panels are made of polished yellow marble called Bidaser which also covers the floors and partly ceiling. “The house transforms from an ‘impregnable shell’ into a glass pavilion, allowing residents to vary the amount of light, ventilation and privacy in their home” Amy Frearson for Dezeen, 4 July 2016.
Photographs by Edmund Sumner
Project credits: Architects: Matharoo Associates; Principal in charge: Gurjit Singh Matharoo;
Project team: Prof MC Gajjar, Avneesh Tiwari, Mohit Maru, Irene Giubinni, Shilpa Sushil; Client: Trilok Goyal
Structural engineer: Matharoo Engineers (Rajendra Singh Matharoo, Hitesh Rathi);
Mechanical engineer: Harshad Jhaveri & Associates; Interior designer: Matharoo Associates;
Landscape architect: Vagish Naganur; General contractor: Ashok Patel, Sreeram Builders
The Plate House is an example of origami engineering and it was developed by Joe Gattas, a DPhil student in the Department of Engineering Science Special Structures Group at University of Oxford. It is the first application of a new, folded shell structural system that in the future could be used by the UNHCR to house displaced refugees. Gattas’s research “uses geometry and application of folded sheets, to address the difficulties in mass-manufacture, packaging, and on-site constructability of traditional clad-frame shelters. Such attributes are necessary for transitional shelters, which are used by the UN to house displaced refugee populations for long-term periods, but are difficult to achieve economically in typical hard-shell structures. Tents are therefore often used, although they are generally considered inadequate for long-term habitation.”
Aiming to create a metamaterial whose structure will allow multiple functions, researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have developed in 2017 a general framework to design reconfigurable metamaterials. The research is based on the idea that simple geometries can be used as building blocks to form a new class of reconfigurable metamaterials. The prototypes presented in GIF animations show the different ways in which the material can bend and how that affects the material properties. Researchers note that the structures could be useful for structural and aerospace engineers, material scientists, physicists, robotic engineers, biomedical engineers, designers, and architects.
[above] Instead of folding, kirigami relies on cuts to change the structure and function of materials. By doing so, a thin, perforated, flat sheet can be transformed into a foldable 3D structure by simply stretching the cut material. The researchers found that when applying sufficiently large amount of stretching, buckling is triggered. This results in the formation of a 3D structure comprising a well-organised pattern. If the material is stretched more, the temporary deformations become permanent folds. The pop-up pattern and resulting mechanical properties of the material can be controlled by varying the orientation of the cuts.
[right] The Structure of Protection by Oluwaseyi Sosanya
Paper Frameworks by Jeremy Leonard (2016). “My interest in folded paper, which yields stiffness through form, led me to develop a series of concrete casts from mylar. The paper supports the weight of the concrete as it cures, and the precision of the folds enables intricate detail and deep undercuts.”
NOMADIC byJoseph Henry Kennedy Jr. was supported by Fulbright Foundation Research Grant. “Neither drawing nor model, but a hybrid medium of representation that combines the detailed conventions of plan, section and elevation construction drawings with the physicality of a presentation model. These hybrid forms unfold from the flat borders of a double sided A3 or A4 page into physical incarnations of their drawn aspirations.”
Elements developed by Shiftspace design studio, further applied in their various products. Founded by CEO Mario Gentile, Shiftspace is re-imagining environments and tactile experiences through the creative direction of our multi-disciplinary design team. The creative team is led by Creative Director Tim Barnes who focuses on design that: promotes civic engagement; provides a positive ecological impact; and is honest in form, function, and material. Leveraging our experiences in architecture, landscape design, product design and fabrication the studio creates environments through the lens of sustainability.
[left] Solar Bytes Pavilion was designed by Design Lab Workshop during Ingenuity Fest in Cleveland. It is an experimental project that highlights a potential for architecture, where buildings are fabricated using new techniques (3D printing), incorporate smart technologies (light sensors, photovoltaics), and are powered by renewable energy sources (solar power)
[above] Rio Olympic pop-up store for Nike made of shipping containers. Creative team: Justin Hays, Daniella DeCarlo, Caue Nouer, visual art: Muti Randolph, construction: GTM Cenografia
Tim Rodenbröker, Creative Coding - Bauhaus Remixed
Jack Swanson, in collaboration with Becky Chipkin
The project explores the folly and it's association with the sublime. By building an apparently precarious structure we are making a kind of hyper-folly that faces the possibility of imminent collapse rather than a gentle ruination over time. The exhibition is in collaboration with Becky Chipkin and will be exhibited at the Pavilion d'Arsenal in Paris in November 2019.
Borderless City by Joe Ringenberg for The Monumental Competition by Reality Cues
“In architecture, bigger has always been better. Whether in homage to the gods, heroes of war, or a beloved variety of hamburger, the monumental replica is the mode of recognition par excellence. Skipping frills and fanfare, the level of recognition has been measured first and foremost by the immensity of scale. Today, ‘going viral’ is a new standard by which the scale of influence is calculated. Here at reality cues, we want the whole shebang.
The monumental competition is about making architecture in digital, interactive, and social media, where little things can become very, very big and big things become monumental. You decide who or what needs to be memorialized in epic proportions and our jury will decide what goes viral, because let’s face it, size matters.
Last month we asked you to make the most provocative monumental image ever. We were blown away by your responses, sometimes a little confused and a few times scared, but amazed all the same! Since there were so many fascinating entries our jury even decided to give out a few awards of their own!” Reality Cues
Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design
Merging the voice of a machine learning system trained on the works of J.G. Ballard with photogrammetric documentation of the gradual erosion of a modernist high-rise, artist Tivon Rice navigates the uncanny divide between human and machine cognition and explores the ghosts hiding in the cracks of urban spaces in text Neural Narratives: Collaborating with Machines, Ghosts, and Empty Architecture. The GIF is from Environment Built for Absence which was made possible by The Modern Body Festival, Yukun Zhu, Kenric McDowell, Google Artists + Machine Intelligence, Maxwell Forbes, and the University of Washington Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS). Narration by Kevin Walton.
2001: A Trump Odyssey by Sara Castillo, one of the proposal for The Trump Wall Charrette by Reality Cues. To see other submissions, follow the link for the event