Visions of the Future (or just sexy versions of the recent past?)

The top four images are some well-known utopian/dystopian visions for how technology and the physical realm might co-exist in the future. These projects were a response to the political, ecological and social conditions of their time. Superstudio (continuous, pervasive, ubiquitous, free, minimal, open, meditative, formless, networked and infinite), Archigram (machinic, plugged-in, gadget-driven, superstructure enabled, socialist high-tech, episodic, pop), Dr. Strangelove's techno-bunker (bunkered, exclusive, clandestine, inbred, disconnected, paranoid, virtual), Buckminster Fuller's project for New York (isolated, protected, exclusive, hub, static, conditioned, inter-dependent, disconnected).

The bottom four images were also discussed in the seminar last night. They are examples of contemporary projects that suggest an entirely new set of ideas that might guide the future of our cities and landscapes. Descriptive words that were used to describe these projects were: Soft, Intelligent, Indeterminate, Networked, Interactive, Emergent, Atmospheric, Responsive, Bio-mimetic, Real-time, Information-driven, Sustainable, Smart, Metabolic ... How will these various ideas organize themselves to define our future physical environments? What are the politics underlying their potential manifestation both physically, ecologically and socially? (credits: watanabe japan, obuchi uk, decoi usa, eth zurich)

crank my eco-hub (2108 City of the Future)

On Jan 15th we presented our finalist entry for the '08 History Channel "2108 City of the Future Competition". The event was held at Union Station in Washington DC. For more information on our collaborative team and project click here: GROW:DC. Our project received great coverage in articles by the Washington Post, National Public Radio (NPR) and UVa Today.

vivisys chicago opening

Dates: 11.29.07 - 03.01.08
vivisys Installation + Exhibition
Jason Johnson and Nataly Gattegno + vivisys was produced in collaboration with the composer/sound artist/instrument designer Troy Rogers. Rogers is a PhD. candidate in UVa’s Music Department Composition and Computing Technologies Program VCCM. The Tektonics Design Group of Richmond collaborated on the project and sponsored all of the CNC fabrication work.

EXTENSION GALLERY FOR ARCHITECTURE
1835 South Halsted Street - Chicago Arts District
http://www.extensiongallery.com/

Vivisys Process Slideshow

Upcoming Chicago Installation and Exhibition

We are busy preparing for the December opening of our upcoming show in Chicago at the Extension Gallery for Architecture. From the press release: Future Cities Lab's new "Vivisystem" installation is an experimental double-curved lattice vault that plays host to an extraordinary cluster of rapidly prototyped aluminum and acrylic barnacles. Three-dimensional auroras of LEDS and electron emitting cold cathode tubes respond to interactions from their environment. Vivisystem synthesizes patterns of the organic and the manufactured into a new creative paradigm for energy, form and matter. Check back soon for images and updates!

Intriguing Motion, Modeling, Simulation Sofwares and More

SolidWorks [Link] Maya [Link]

PixLogic's ZBrush [Link] Draw and Sculpt with Digital stylus and Tablet
RealFlow FD Fluid Dynamics Simulation [Link]
Maxwell - the highest end Light Simulator + Particle Based Rendering [http://www.maxwellrender.com/] See also Vray [Link]

Metropolis Magazine Sept 2007 Article

An article about the Robotic Ecologies Lab was featured in the September 2007 issue of Metropolis Magazine: "Shape Shifters: Architecture Schools Use Robotics to Design Buildings That React to the Environment" by Jim Rendon. Click on this [link] to read the full article. Quoting from the article: Seth Edwards, a graduate of the program who also took the class, sees robotics as a way to make buildings more energy efficient and to connect them to the natural world. One of Johnson’s prototypes, for example, is a building that can be linked to real-time weather updates that would alert it to high winds and other extreme conditions, allowing it to cut wind resistance by changing its shape or to open a rainwater collection system when a storm is passing over. “If kinetic buildings can sense something going on in the environment and respond to it, they are no longer stale objects,” Edwards says. “They become more like plants—they are actually more connected to nature.”

... we'll need to rethink a few things ...

1. Connecting: ... we'll need to rethink a few things ... A link to Prof. Michael Wesch's Digital Ethnography videos: The Machine is Us/ing Us [Link] A Vision ... [Link]
2. Sensing: If things knew when they were being used -- wouldn't we save a whole lot of energy? The "Power of Dreams" commercials by Honda. Here is the YouTube [Link].
3. Constructing: An intriguing project from the ETH in Zürich that uses information extracted directly from a 3D (digital) model to guide a robotic arm as it constructs a (physical) algorithmically generated serpentine brick wall (move over TJ!). [Link]. From Monocle: "The Gantenbein Winery, in Fläsch, Switzerland, has been the prototype for an entirely new approach to bricklaying: using modified industrial robots. Traditionally, the promise of industrial robots has been that they would replace the human workforce. But these projects, led by the Architecture and Digital Fabrication laboratory at ETH Zürich, demonstrate a different result: architects are free to create designs and patterns of a precision that simply could not be achieved by hand."

Los Angeles 2106

By Xefirotarch and Imaginary Forces

Plant Movies of Tropism + Cicadian Rhythms

http://plantsinmotion.bio.indiana.edu/plantmotion/starthere.html