ACADIA 2014 WORKSHOPS

ACADIA 2014
DESIGN AGENCY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA October 23-25, 2014
University of Southern California
www.acadia.org/acadia2014

WORKSHOP 1 - 'SWARM INTELLIGENCE: ALGORITHMIC DESIGN STRATEGIES' by Roland Snooks

3 DAY WORKSHOP.
DATES: 20-22nd OCT
SEATS AVAILABLE: SOLD OUT!
http://www.rolandsnooks.com/
http://www.kokkugia.com/

The workshop will explore architectural design processes instrumentalizing multi-agent algorithmic techniques. These processes draw from the logic of swarm intelligence, where it is the local interaction of agents that self-organize to generate emergent behavior at the macro scale. The workshop will introduce concepts of Behavioral Formation, which involve encoding specific architectural intention with multi-agent generative algorithms. The workshop will focus on the capacity of generative algorithms to negotiate with structural necessities, an experiment in conditioning emergent phenomena through rational criteria. The multi-agent algorithmic techniques will be taught in Processing with an interface to Rhino through Grasshopper.

The workshop will introduce the kAgent library of code, which has been developed through Kokkugia's design research over the last 12 years. During the workshop we will cover the following specific topics: introduction to Processing, object oriented programming, multi-agent algorithms, steering behaviors, Processing/Grasshopper interface, attractors and other environmental interaction, stigmergy, higher level algorithmic structure (strands and networks), structural analysis and feedback, generating higher level geometries (meshes). There are no prerequisites, however knowledge of programming in Processing will be an advantage.

WORKSHOP 2 - DESIGN AGENCY by Marc Fornes

3 DAY WORKSHOP.
DATES: 20-22nd OCT
SEATS AVAILABLE: SOLD OUT!
http://theverymany.com/

Description:
Content to be announced.

WORKSHOP 3 - AUTODESK - 'ENHANCED PARAMETRIC DESIGN WITH DYNAMO'

3 DAY WORKSHOP.
DATES: 20-22nd OCT
SEATS AVAILABLE: SOLD OUT!
http://www.autodesk.com/

Description:
This workshop will focus on the fundamentals of parametric design within the conceptual design environment Vasari using Dynamo – a visual programming application by Autodesk. Extending Vasari with custom Dynamo programming offers the opportunity to not only efficiently automate many design tasks that utilize native families but also enables additional performance-driven or generative design capabilities. The objective of this workshop is to provide participants with both the conceptual and technical framework through which to better understand the relevant application of Dynamo to the various design stages of professional practice. Digital content will be delivered through the parametric modeling and visual programming application Dynamo for Autodesk Vasari. Additional work-in-progress versions will be demoed to share the current development and future possibilities of integrating Dynamo into your workflow.

Prerequisites:
While there are no prerequisites, some exposure to Dynamo is suggested. Exposure to Revit or Vasari is a plus.

Required Hardware & Software:
Vasari
Revit (Not required if Vasari is installed)
Dynamo

WORKSHOP 4 - AUTODESK - 'SOLAR RADIATION AND DAYLIGHT ANALYSIS WITH DYNAMO'

3 DAY WORKSHOP.
DATES: 20-22nd OCT
SEATS AVAILABLE: SOLD OUT!
http://www.autodesk.com/

Description:
This workshop will focus on how to integrate Solar Radiation and Daylighting Analysis into a Dynamo computational design workflow. Previous experience with analysis and computational tools is suggested. In the morning we will use the Dynamo visual programming plugin and Autodesk Vasari to evaluate solar radiation on the exterior of a building façade and set up a recursive optimization strategy. In the afternoon we will learn about Cloud Rendering and explore the exciting new Daylighting Analysis capabilities accessible via Dynamo as a cloud service. We will set up a similar Dynamo workflow where the analysis results are not just visualized but become one of the design inputs. The objective of this workshop is to provide participants with an understanding of how to use Dynamo and analysis tools together to achieve performance-based design workflows. Digital content will be delivered through the parametric modeling and visual programming application Dynamo for Autodesk Vasari. Additional work-in-progress versions will be demoed to share the current development and future possibilities of integrating Dynamo into your practice.

Prerequisites:

Intermediate level experience using Vasari/Revit is a plus.
Required Software:

Autodesk Revit or Vasari (Free Download)
Autodesk Dynamo

WORKSHOP 5 - PARAMETRIC COLLABORATION by Andrew Heumann, NBBJ

3 DAY WORKSHOP.
DATES: 20-22nd OCT
SEATS AVAILABLE: SOLD OUT!
http://www.nbbj.com/

This workshop focuses on collaborative strategies for parametric modeling in Grasshopper. In theory, parametric tools make collaboration efficient, streamlined, and powerful, but in practice there are significant challenges. Code may not be reusable from project to project, and visual scripting can be hard to share between users as there are fewer established standards of annotation and structure. It may be difficult to have multiple people modifying a parametric model at the same time. At NBBJ we have developed strategies for building and managing complex parametric building models: best practices, custom plug-ins, and unconventional ways of deploying existing features and tools. The first half of the workshop will focus on introducing and experimenting with these tools and techniques. The second half will be organized around a collaborative design exercise wherein participants can put these approaches into practice, identify and troubleshoot potential issues, and brainstorm new techniques. The workshop outcome will be a fully parametric building design model with components contributed by all workshop participants in a highly collaborative workflow. All participants will leave with a complete copy of this model and documentation of the workflows and tools employed.

Prerequisites:
Intermediate to advanced level of experience with Grasshopper is preferred

Required software:
Rhino 5
Grasshopper 0.9.0075 or later
Other software + plug-ins will be provided by instructor.

WORKSHOP 6 - PRODUCTION-IMMANENT DESIGN by Sigrid Brell-Cokcan & Johannes Braumann / KUKA

2 DAY WORKSHOP.
DATES: 20-22nd OCT
SEATS AVAILABLE: SOLD OUT!
http://www.kuka-robotics.com/

Description:
Design for Robotic Fabrication

Robotic arms are best known from the automotive industry, where they are used to perform repetitive task with high accuracy and repeatability. Today, these multifunctional machines open up new possibilities for young designers and architects, as they enable completely new fabrication strategies at a much lower cost than most multi-axis CNC machines.
A crucial step towards establishing robotic arms as valuable machines for the creative industry is the development of new software that goes beyond the scope of common CNC software.
This workshop will introduce participants to KUKA|prc (parametric robot control), a robot-control and simulation plugin that extends the accessible parametric modelling environment Grasshopper beyond design. While common CAD-CAM workflows rely on multiple software packages to pre- and postprocess data, the integration of robotic fabrication into a parametric environment allows designers to create new workflows that inherently consider the constraints of fabrication processes and can be constantly evaluated and optimized in regards to e.g. reachability and kinematics. We refer to such a process as production immanent design.
These highly optimized processes allow designers and architects to economically realize designs with a degree of customization and individualization that would otherwise be impossible to do with industry-standard CAM-software.

This workshop is kindly supported by KUKA Robotics.

What participants can expect to learn in this workshop:
Participants will be introduced to the concepts of production immanent design, manufacturing parametric designs, and controlling a KUKA robot from within the parametric modelling environment Grasshopper. We will explore ways how to intuitively define complex fabrication processes via graphical programming.

WORKSHOP 7 - INTERACTIVE FORM-FINDING WITH PHYSICS - KANGAROO by Daniel Piker

3 DAY WORKSHOP.
DATES: 20-22nd OCT
SEATS AVAILABLE: SOLD OUT!
http://www.rhino3d.com/

Description:
Dynamic relaxation is a powerful tool with a wide variety of possible applications in simulation and optimization. Kangaroo brings these possibilities to Grasshopper, and because it is based on physical dynamics it is also intuitive and visual, with real-time feedback well suited to early stage design development.
This workshop will teach how to use it for the generation of buildable structures, aesthetic geometries and physical experimentation.
It will enable participants to set up and run Kangaroo simulations for a range of form-finding applications, and to develop an understanding of its operation, allowing them to create their own unique simulations from scratch by combining forces in original ways.
pre-requisites: basic Rhino & Grasshopper skills
Software: Rhino 5

WORKSHOP 8 - ZAHA CODE - PARAMETRICS by Shajay Bhooshan / Vishu Bhooshan / Mostafa El Sayed

3 DAY WORKSHOP.
DATES: 20-22nd OCT
SEATS AVAILABLE: SOLD OUT!
http://www.zha-code-education.org/

Description:
Breed & Evolve: generative encodings Research.
This introductory workshop stems from sustained and on-going research and speculation by ZHACODE on 'when machines will design and build'. Machines build a lot of things for us. Machines might also design for us soon.
They are already helping baseball teams design and deploy teams, presidents to design their campaigns and win, run the stock market, design medicine, routinely beat chess players, drive cars etc.
In effect they are changing not only the disciplines of natural science but also those in social sciences.

The cardinal question of research then is, How can we help machines get there sooner in terms of architectural design? How can we describe, evaluate and search for the right designs?

The research aims continues the work of the likes of Lionel March and others at Cambridge in the 1970s.
Content.
(Participants will work in teams)

Increasing inclusion of the computer as an aid in design exploration as opposed to a tool for automation of delivery processes, enables the designer to widen the search for multi-objective solutions to an exponentially larger space.
Specifically, the workshop will utilise the conceptual frameworks, analogies to and tools of understanding natural phenomena and their transcriptions to machine learning, evolutionary computing and real-time physics simulations.

Introduction to topology / description of geometries .
Lectures & Autodesk Maya .

Introduction to Generation & Evaluation of geometry and Searching of solution spaces.
C++ code in processing-like framework developed by ZHACODE.
Introduction and usage of the following core feature-sets.
Mesh classes. (Geometry)
GPU-accelerated particles class. (GLSL shaders for GPGPU). (Formations)
Particle-spring & forces library ( Qualitative evaluation of fitness ).
Heuristics library : Particle Swarm optimiser & Genetic algorithm. (Search)

Computer requirements.

64 bit laptop with recent specs and Windows 7 only.
Ideally with a discrete (NVIDIA) graphics card.

For more :
http://www.zha-code-education.org/
https://vimeo.com/wework4her/videos
&
http://cargocollective.com/stillWork4her

WORKSHOP 9 - WOODS BAGOT - by Shane Burger / Brian Ringley / Peter Van Hage

3 DAY WORKSHOP.
DATES: 20-22nd OCT
SEATS AVAILABLE: 2/8
http://www.woodsbagot.com/

Description:
Performance Design: From Analytic to Empirical

This workshop will provide an introduction to data-rich workflows that focus on adding value through various programming and form decisions, verified through analysis and game-engine visualization.

Beyond the develop of complex forms and their rationalization, computation affords us the opportunity to employ data-rich approaches to design exploration. Data-driven approaches to design enable you to control the flow of information, directing a feedback loop centered on evaluating the impact of each design decision. This workshop will focus on this design approach for a typology that caters to large sets of information: the design of an amphitheatre.

In design of a performance space, we can treat each seat as a data point. This means a typical amphitheatre could have hundreds to thousands of sample points from which we build an analytical model. Each seat can be analysed for:
- Sightlines (C value, horizontal and vertical viewing angles, view distance, obstructions)
- Comfort (prestige coefficient due to proximity to desirable areas of seating, distance to concessions and amenities)
- Environmental exposure (to sun and bad weather) for uncovered areas
- Safety (exiting distances & widths)

The analytical model can assign these modes of analysis different weightings in the aggregate assessment of each seat. These weightings could be different between performance types, allowing a proper assessment of multi-use facilities. But in the end, each seat gets a score which allows us to place a value on our design decisions. It allows us to measure the answer to the question - does this design change make it better or worse?

Led by members of the Woods Bagot Design Technology team and New York Studio, participants will learn the basics of amphitheatre bowl design through parametric techniques in Rhino Grasshopper. A simple canopy design, driven by the seating layout, will be evaluated in Ladybug for solar exposure at each seat. The "value" of each seat will be derived from all design drivers using multi-objective design space solutions.

Finally, to balance analytic and empirical evaluation, participants will be taught the basics of the Unity game engine to experience a first-person experiential view from the seat as the final validation for the design. This will be followed by a demonstration of the Oculus Rift DK2.

Pre-requisites: Basic Rhino and Grasshopper knowledge

WORKSHOP 10 - HIGH-THROUGHPUT COMPUTING (HTC) FOR PARAMETRIC EXPLORATION by SOM Sebastian Claussnitzer, Neil Katz, Matthew Shaxted, Sejung Kat Park, Robert Yori

3 DAY WORKSHOP.
DATES: 20-22nd OCT
SEATS AVAILABLE: SOLD OUT!
http://www.som.com/

Parametric thinking and generating an appropriate design solution space with a large set of design parameters have become the norm in our generation, especially for the caliber and scale of designs we produce in advanced practice. What has also become a necessity today is the designer’s understanding of energy usage and environmental impact of their proposed designs early on, during the initial stages of parametric exploration. Inevitably, we have been defining the limits of our explorations (number of parameters, scale of parameters or the resolution of testing model) within the scope of computation power of our machines or analysis tools of our choice. This workshop will teach and enable participants to utilize distributed computing protocols as a generative design driver for creating and subsequently evaluating large catalogues of building design options. Compared to current desktop approach, optioneering at this scale and speed will allow designers to exhaustively model the solution space for design problems, as well as gain a deeper understanding of the range of implications associated with any modelled/simulated solution.

A relative absence of advanced decision-making processes limits the number of building-design options that designers can examine for energy efficiency. Large design spaces and limited computational resources have encouraged designers to rely on optimization techniques. Optimization alone may expose optimally performing design, however, may fail to unearth a large part of a solution which can be uncovered by a wider search through this space. Exposing these solutions allows a designer to evaluate trade-offs among the various dimensions of governing factors such as energy-optimal design, adherence to conceptual idea, or visual ethos. With the rapid decrease of computing cost and easily accessible parallel computing technologies we are proposing a new paradigm for design explorations: Using parallel computing to create exhaustive option catalogues for decision making in the design process. Those options can then be searched and graphed against many types of criteria, both quantitative and qualitative.

Participants are expected to have knowledge of the following concepts and software applications:
Rhino & Grasshopper
Conceptual knowledge of Energy Modeling
Excel
Basic programming skills

Preferred but not necessary:
Knowledge of energy modeling software, preferably Energy Plus
Tableau
R
Radiance