Emergent Prototyping Workshop

Emergent Prototyping: Day 1

Emergent Prototyping is an experiment in materiality and material systems. The goal is to manipulate the natural and inherent behavior of any given material to respond in a controlled and intelligent manner to external and internal forces and stimuli. During the first day of the workshop students experimented with four groups of materials: fiber, metal (scraps), paraffin and foam. Properties particular to each material were extracted and the behavior which resulted from reacting forces was mapped and identified. Towards the end of the day students were able to control these forces and consequently predetermine material behavior.

Emergent Prototyping: Day 2

Now that we understand how each material behaves, we want to raise the level of control and precision for further experimentation. During the second day of the workshop, students created interferences in material distribution and tweaked the natural reactions of materials to external and internal forces. While continuing with their experiments and material research, students began to digitally simulate a projection of conditioned and controlled material behavior. Students also began considering the structural and architectural implications of their research.

Emergent Prototyping: Day 3

At this point students have enough control on behavior to design material control systems. On day three of the workshop students simulated the experiment protocols and predicted material outcomes and subsequently, used specialized methods of fabrication after which they compared the physical outcome with their digital simulations. This comparison enables them to improve the precision of the fabrication methods and final prototype output.

Emergent Prototyping: Day 4

At this point digital simulations have been developed in order to generalize to various architectural scales, also a few changes/optimization is made to comply fabrication process. Researches now focus on concluding what they have learned and assemble a final prototype based on their experiments. Final prototype is by nature, scale-free while it presents the data that has been gathered. Also, proper documentation for final presentation is adding up.

Emergent Prototyping: Day 5

At this point of the workshop the final prototypes are ready and the documentation is compiled. Researchers form their theoretical framework to present in front of the jury. The final jury is comprised of several disciplines such as architects, Computational designers, Software developers, fabrication experts. Each group faces criticism from jury so that through the dialogue their project is prepared for future developments. At the end of the day our researches achieved their diplomas from the tutoring team and Memaraneh Architectural School with presence of the jury and spectators.

Info:

Date: Apr. 2015
Location: Tehran, Iran
Held by: Memaraneh
Directors: Marziah Luis Rajabzadeh, Mohsen Marizad
Tutors: Esmaeil Mottaghi, Arman KhalilBeigi