The Bone Studio 2: Experimental Concrete Architecture

The Bone Studio 2: Experimental Concrete Architecture The Bone Studio will continue the exploration started last spring semester into the concept of cellular solids and analogies in concrete construction and other material systems. The studio will emphasize the development of specific building systems and components in concrete. Students will be asked to design a conference and meditation center. The relative simplicity of the program will enable student to explore experimental concrete building systems and represent them in detailed scale models. Context Nature has been a touchstone for architects and theorists to legitimize their work through biological metaphor or quasi-scientific rationales. Recent formal and theoretical trends in architecture would appear to be well positioned to reengage the topic of biomorphic structures and materials in substantive ways. New technologies offer a seemingly unlimited set of possibilities for the retooling of building systems and materials. Nevertheless, contemporary architectures still seem trapped in formal and metaphorical representations of theories of bio-morphology that prevent the realization of its potential. The Bone Studio will touch on what Manuel DeLanda describes as the vast \”mineralization\” of human construction in the built form of cities and infrastructure by tracing the path of calcium compounds through biological processes and human technology. The studio will explore the use, development, and rethinking of concrete and other cementitious materials ubiquitous in contemporary construction. The studio will also explore the concept of accretion as a way of understanding morphogenesis.