ID&CT 2009

Milano, ITALY, from May 6 - 7^th, 2009

This International conference wants to give the state of the art of innovative design and construction technologies.

The themes for IDCT09 will be focused on the following areas:

• Design and form finding
• Engineering and computational methods
• File2factory and mass customization
• Digital processes in construction industry
• Innovative materials
• Advanced design and construction technologies
• Technology transfer
• Multidisciplinary approach

A particular focus will be given on innovation, analysing project, tools, technologies and materials from critical and up to date point of view, that could arise the opportunities from privileged contexts to the construction sector in general.

The scientific committee of IDCT09 is coordinated in agreement with Politecnico di Milano, Faculty of Architecture and different national and international partners:

• Arup
• Buro Happold
• CIB – International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction
• Department BEST, Politecnico di Milano
• Department DIPSA, Facoltà di Architettura Roma Tre
• ETH Zurich
• Gehry Technologies
• Harvard University – Graduate School of Design
• TU Delft
• Stevens Institute of Technology - USA

From www.innovativetechnologies.polimi.it

The whole program here

aast09

Finally a good Italian opportunity to discuss new architectural frontiers. The promoter is CASARTARC Settimo Torinese Association.

Thanks to Andrea Graziano and Davide Del Giudice for the time spent in organizing the event.

Link to the blog
Link to CasArtArc
Link to facebook group

Formfinder

Formfinder is an interesting software developed by technet GmbH (light version is free) that can assist in the design, planning and cost-effectiveness assessment for the implementation of form-active structures. It also makes it possible to compare the desired design with projects that have already been implemented and dxf files can be exported to Rhino v4 for analysis as demonstrated in these tutorials.

Structural Optimization Methods by Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP

Thanks to Alberto Pugnale I've known that Alessandro Beghini, SOM associate in Chicago, will deliver a speech about structural optimization methods in Milan and in Turin:

Politecnico di Milano, 19/12/2008

Politecnico di Torino, Castello del Valentino, lecture hall 1, 22/12/2008 3.00 PM

Above other things he will present tools based on Michell trusses, Homogenization Method, Evolutionary Structural Opimization (ESO), Bidirectional ESO, etc. and applications of these tools in developing international projects and competitions.

Environmental analysis in Google SketchUp

Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES) has developed and given a free environmental analysis tool for Revit customers. Now it has developed an environmental analysis tool for Google SketchUp, witch is also free. It allows empowering energy, carbon, daylight and solar analysis, and much more to be undertaken.

Interview to Don McLean on AEC magazine of October-November (pages 7, 10).

Link to the site.

Convex Hull 2.5D Source Code

I know there is a really nice plug-in (PSet Recon Tools) that already allow to use this algorithm but maybe someone could find usefull this code.. Based on Graham scan:

ConvexHull.rvb

ARUP in Genoa

Dear friends here's just a little but important post..

Degree Thesis Preview

I haven't posted so much this period 'cause I'm going to graduate on 18th of July. Thesis title is:
Computational Morphogenesis in Architecture - Free-Form Spatial Structures Optimization.

I worked in particular on spatial frames (like the great court of the British Museum - Foster + Buro Happold), simulating their behaviour in Rhino with a mesh. In a multi objective aim that concerns geometry and statics I developed algorithms to drive lengths between mesh vertices to a given database of measures, and then to perform mesh state of stress under gravity loads (for this second step I have linked Rhino and Ansys by a memetic algorithm in RVB).
The smaller the database, the roughter the result structures look. The difference from the 'original automatic made mesh', in the case of a hyperbolic paraboloid, is shown below.


Here are 3 benchmarks that I used to test different algorithms. Pink lines represent lengths driven to database measures.


more soon..

CUMINCAD - Cumulative Index of Computer Aided Architectural Design

http://cumincad.scix.net/cgi-bin/works/Home

CumInCAD is a cumulative index of publications about computer aided architectural design. It includes bibliographic information about over 8,700 records from journals and conferences such as ACADIA, CAADRIA, eCAADe, SiGraDi, CAAD futures, DDSS and others. All papers include full abstracts. Full texts, in PDF, of some 6,000 papers are also available.

You can find papers from Burry, Frazer, Kolarevic about morphogenesis, computational architecture, optimization algorithms, etc.
Some papers also dealing with Rhino (Dristas wrote something interesting about scripting..) CATIA, Maya, Nastran...

Art and Transarchitecture

This week at the University of Genoa Giacomo Costa delivered a speech about his work. He is not an architect but an artist that "draws" architecture in a way that, I think, reminds of Transarchitecture style. He makes renders greater than 16000 x 8000 pixels for exhibitions and it takes more or less 15 days to complete one (using 3 top computers contemporaneously). ALL the things in the image have been modelled...

Multipipe

Just a multipipe.. link

Five Franklin Place

http://www.fivefranklinplace.com/

(rhino)SCRIPTScollection_v1.1

In the previous version links did not work correctly...now they should be fixed..

New entry --> W W E K

Iaac and NeoArchaic updated

Peristaltic Pipes v1.1

Bug fixed..

A new version is available in my files. People who downloaded the SCRIPTScollection 3 days ago probably found the old version!

(rhino)SCRIPTS collection 1.0

Hey everibody! Here comes the first SCRIPTS collection!!!

These months while I was learning rhinoscript I found many useful scripts and plugins on the web so I decided to group and sort these just to make it easy to work with them.

The collection is generally divided by author and every button on the toolbar is linked ( just right-click on it ) to the web page where I found the source code.
:::Only plugins and scripts with a source code are inside the collection:::


You can download the rar archive from here and you will find 2 things inside:

1- The folder with all the scripts (you have to save it onto C:\Program Files\Rhinoceros4.0)

2- The toolbar (you have to load it inside Rhino [-->Tools-->Toolbar Layout...])

On the pop-up window you have to select [--> Toolbar-->Import ] and then the file SCRIPTScollection.tb from the folder where you have saved it.

(Usually rhino toolbar files are grouped in :

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\McNeel\Rhinoceros\4.0

I suggest you should save it there but it's up to you to decide where to save it...)

Scripting all over the world

Have a look here:

- S.S.S.S.

Lots of Rhino and MEL scripts for beginners and not.

I've found the way of learning these languages very smart; it is like a challenge among the members of the blog. At the beginning they don't deal with any real problem but have only to make a script with established methods.

The goal should be to make the most useful/interesting/fun script using all the methods.

And also:

- W.W.E.K.

Peristaltic Pipes

The idea of this script comes from this project: www.archinode.com/peristalcity



The script makes special multi-pipes along given curves. You can choose the form of the section, the range of the section radius and other parameters. The are many possible results but my initial aim was to generate pseudo-natural forms like muscles or plants. While I'm still working to make it better I've decided to publish it here in case someone would like to try a very first version...


The RVB file in the box..

PS special thanks to Ezio!!!

Matrix Determinant Calculation RVB

Here's a script to calculate the determinant of (n x n) matrices.


Downloadable from my files.

PDF Reviews

I have found these two reviews very intresting; they are available in PDF format:


On&Off (italian)



AEC magazine (english)



The first one is edited by Antonino Saggio-NITRO (New Information Technology Research Office) and is quite specific in dealing with digital and technological innovation in architecture.

The second one very often refers to software as Autocad, Revit, Rhino, Microstation (and Generative Components), Ecotect... giving examples of new possibilities in the architectural design.

I recommend the last issue of AEC magazine on smart geometry; there is a particulary interesting article about T-Splines for Rhino.

PS I would like to try posting my new articles in english.. probably I'll go through hard times so, please, forgive my mistakes!!!!

Fogli di calcolo

Ho messo a disposizione alcuni fogli excel per il predimensionamento e il calcolo di travi, pilastri e solette in cls armato da me realizzati 2 anni fa durante il corso di tecnica delle costruzioni. I calcoli sono agli stati limite e la normativa di riferimento è quella italiana. Le celle di inserimento dati sono quelle colorate in azzurro mentre i valori da verificare compaiono in verde o in rosso.
Va detto che il calcolo delle travi, in particolare, è limitato al caso specifico di quella che è stata l'esercitazione da me svolta durante il corso, ovvero travi principali su due campate (3 appoggi) e travi secondarie su 6 campate (se non ricordo male!) Di ritorno il 'programma' da, oltre ai ferri necessari nelle varie sezioni, i grafici di inviluppo di momento e taglio per le travi e il dominio di rottura per i pilastri.
Li trovate al solito indirizzo...