MAKING INTERACTIVE PROTOTYPES

There are still a few seats left in this weekend's Making Interactive Prototypes workshop being hosted by Mode Lab and LIFT architects in New York City.  Interactive Prototyping is a process which strives to empower the designer – giving them the ability to build and prototype ideas in a more fluid and cost effective manner.  To find out more, visit: http://lab.modecollective.nu/lab/making-interactive-prototypes-w-an...

About this Workshop:

It is without a doubt that the design process encompasses many things. From ideation, 3D modeling, programming, and manufacturing to material testing, marketing, life cycle assessment, and cost analysis; the designer is often confronted with many challenges. Prototypes give the designer the ability to test or simulate how a given set of parameters will affect a particular design. Prototyping is inherently iterative in nature and we’re constantly searching for faster more powerful ways to build better prototypes. Interactive Prototyping is a process which strives to empower the designer – giving them the ability to build and prototype ideas in a more fluid and cost effective manner.

This workshop will focus on hardware and software prototyping techniques; primarily focusing on a wide range of sensing and actuation modalities and the creation of custom built tools in order to create novel interactive prototypes. Using remote sensors, microcontrollers (Arduino), and actuators, we will build virtual and physical prototypes that can communicate with humans and the world around them. There will be particular emphasis on the concept of prototyping – both digitally and physically – as a means to explore intelligent control strategies, material affects, and the parameters which effect dynamic systems. This fast-paced two day workshop will introduce a number of different topics relevant to the domain of prototyping including: introduction to physical computing and electronics, Arduino essentials, circuit design with Fritzing, interactive prototyping with Firefly, computer vision, soldering, and much more. 

FACADES + PERFORMANCE WORKSHOP

I am excited to be teaching a one-day Interactive Surfaces workshop for the upcoming Facades+ Conference being held in New York City on April 11th-12th.  The event has an amazing line up of speakers and workshops which are being taught by some of the industries leaders including: Robert Aish (Autodesk), Nathan Miller (Case), Gil Akos & Ronnie Parsons (Studio Mode), Neil Meredith (Gehry Tech), and  John Sargent (SOM).

The Interactive Surfaces workshop will concentrate on producing facade prototypes that are configurable, sensate, and active.  The facade of a building is the liminal surface across which information and environmental performance is frequently negotiated.  Given dynamic context of our built environment; the facade must be capable of intelligent adaptation over time.

In this workshop, we'll be focusing on new hardware and software prototyping techniques; primarily focusing on a wide range of sensing and actuation modalities in order to build novel interactive devices. Using remote sensors, microcontrollers (Arduino), and actuators, we will build virtual and physical prototypes that can communicate with humans and the world around them.  Using both Grasshopper and the Firefly plug-in, you will learn how to create intelligent control strategies for interactive or responsive facades.

Click here to sign up!

The participants who sign up for this workshop will also be the first to get their hands on the new Firefly Interactive Prototyping Shield which I have been developing. This shield provides access to a number of built-in, ready-to-use sensors and actuators including: 3 linear sliders (potentiometers), a light sensor, a two-axis joystick, 3 push buttons, a red LED, a yellow LED, a Green LED, and a Tri-color LED, 2 servo connections, and a high-voltage MOSFET circuit capable of driving lights, valves, DC motors, etc.  Each participant will not only walk away with a kick ass new hardware kit, but valuable knowledge in how to create new types of interactive prototypes!

SYNTHETIC LANDSCAPES WORKSHOP

BILLERICA, MA | OBJET HEADQUARTERS | SYNTHETIC LANDSCAPES WORKSHOP | FEB 29-MAR 1, 2012

This intensive two-day workshop at the Objet Headquarters in Billerica, MA will provide workshop participants the opportunity to work with a team of expert consultants, to hone their digital and prototyping skills, to experiment with a range of digital production tools, and to design and fabricate a unique set of components that negotiate a range of material gradients across a field condition. Through iteration, participants will generate and fabricate components (parts) to form a larger network (whole). The goal of this workshop is to combine technological precision (Objet – Connex) and pedagogical creativity (curriculum) to explicate the creative potentials of both the various forms of software and materials-based investigations that could be replicated in curriculum.

The results of the workshop will be showcased at the Boston Park Plaza, formally presented during a Special Focus Session on Friday, 02 March during the 100th ACSA Annual Meeting, and be part of a traveling exhibition that will circulate North America in 2012.

Consultants:

*Gregory Luhan (ACSA/ACADIA organizer)
ACADIA: *Gil Akos, *Kyle Miller, *Ronnie Parsons, *Andy Payne

* Designates Workshop Leaders

ACADIA @ Digital Appitudes | Synthetic Landscapes

Special Focus Session to discuss pedagogical implications of the workshop. Panelists include team leaders, workshop attendees, and Piet Meijs.

Using the Digital Aptitudes workshop hosted by Objet as a critical point of departure, this moderated session will focus on linking the pedagogical to the technological. Short presentations by panelists Kyle Miller, Andy Payne, Gil Akos, Ronnie Parsons, Piet Meijs, and Gregory Luhan will frame the conceptual underpinnings of workshop as part of an embedded, participatory, and replicable art-to-part curriculum developed with Neri Oxman. The presenter’s own research into areas including flexible form manufacturing, site malleable construction, building performance, and blended materials research will align the concept-to-completion workshop outcomes as logical extensions of an otherwise technologically-driven and application-based synthetic ecology.

For more information about this workshop and Registration information visit:

• http://www.acsa-arch.org/programs-events/conferences/annual-meeting/100th-annual-meeting/pre-conference

COLAB WORKSHOP

I am very excited to announce that I will be working with Studio Mode in their next coLab workshop series: Hybrid Prototypes. Hybrid Prototypes is a two-day intensive design and prototyping workshop (with an optional third day) to be held in New York City during the weekend of January 08.

Description:
As architects and designers, we make things and build objects that interact with other objects, people, and networks. We strive for faster and simpler methods to build prototypes in the cheapest possible way, yet we are frequently hindered by temporal and practical factors that arise in the process of bringing our ideas to life. Firefly is the new paradigm for hybrid prototyping, offering a comprehensive set of software tools dedicated to bridging the gap between Grasshopper (a free plug-in for Rhino) and the Arduino micro-controller. It allows near real-time data flow between the digital and physical worlds – enabling the possibility to explore virtual and physical prototypes with unprecedented fluidity.

This fast-paced workshop will focus on hardware and software prototyping techniques. Using remote sensors, microcontrollers (Arduino), and actuators, we will build virtual and physical prototypes that can communicate with humans and the world around them. Through a series of focused exercises and design tasks, each attendee will make prototypes that are configurable, sensate, and active. An optional third workshop day is offered to those participants desiring further time to develop individual projects or lines of research. As part of a larger online infrastructure, modeLab, this workshop provides participants with continued support and knowledge to draw upon for future learning.

Attendance will be limited to provide each participant maximum dedicated time with instructors. Participants are encouraged to be familiar with the basic concepts of parametric design and interfaces of Grasshopper and Arduino.

Hybrid Prototypes was conceived through a collaboration between Studio Mode/modeLab and Andrew Payne/LIFT Architects/Grasshopper Primer/ Firefly.

 Instructors: 
Andrew Payne | Principal, LIFT Architects | Co-Author, Grasshopper Primer | Co-Author, Firefly.
Ronnie Parsons + Gil Akos | Partners, Studio Mode.

Details:
All experience levels are welcome. Participants are encouraged to be familiar with the basic concepts of parametric design and interfaces of Grasshopper and Arduino.
Registration Pricing (limited enrollment) : $550/$650.
Workshop Location : modeLab | NYC.
Workshop Hours : 10AM-6PM.
Examples of Previous Workshops.

Infrastructure:
coLab Workbook | Printed + PDF Documentation
coLab Primers | Annotated Primer GHX Files
coLab Exercises | Annotated Exercise GHX Files
modeLab Fabrication Equipment | CNC High Force Cutter

Topics: 
Arduino Micro-controller Hardware
Arduino Control Logic
Firefly Components
Parametric Design Logics
Basic Circuitry
Sensors + Actuators

Dates:
2010.December.03 | Workshop Announced + Registration Opens.
2011.January.08 | Workshop Begins.
2011.January.10 | Optional Workshop Session.

To register for the workshop, please follow this link. 

BIODYNAMIC STRUCTURES WORKSHOP

The Biodynamic Structures workshop (hosted by the AA and CCA) is well underway and it has been amazing to see the intensity by both the instructors and the students.  I will be posting more information about the final exhibition for this event which will be happening next Wed (July 22nd), but definitely make sure you take a look at the Flickr site which is updated daily with new photos from the event.  The flickr site can be found here.

MATERIAL RESONANCE WORKSHOP

ST. LOUIS, MO | RHINOSCRIPT, GRASSHOPPER, & FABRICATION | AUG 9TH-12TH, 2010

Hosted by Washington University in St. Louis Sam Fox School of Art and Design
Sponsored By McNeel Rhinoceros

Material Resonance will be a four day, intensive workshop focused on practical application of Rhinoscripting or Grasshopper.  The workshop will also train participants in CNC fabrication using MasterCAM and the Washington University DIL fabrication lab.  There will also be demos of the new plug-ins Firefly and Kangaroo.  

The workshop is meant for professionals or students with a working knowledge in Rhinoceros.  Prior experience with Grasshopper or Rhino VB scripting is not necessary.  The workshop will start from first principles and cover topics from tessellation, components and connections to part organization, nesting and labeling.

Instructors   
Marc Fornes _ theverymany Rhino VB scripting
Andy Payne _ LIFT Architects Grasshopper
Kenneth Tracy _ Associated Fabrication MasterCAM

For more information and to register go to:
http://samfoxschool.wustl.edu/events/workshops/3630