Mechatronic Optics

The drawing as a certain transcription of vision into operational, communicative, and instructional notation is at the very core of design. Deeply variegated and endlessly permutable in its own right, the projective drawing – of three and greater dimensions, onto planes and more complex cartographic schemes – is poised to be transformed beyond recognition with the advent of computable visual systems such as machine vision. Machine vision systems – the dynamic processing of images and video – are at the foundation of pattern recognition, spatial reconstruction, realtime scanning and a range of emerging technologies such as face recognition and autonomous vehicles. They demand new regimes of optical notation, and expose new possibilities for organizing visual knowledge automatically. At the same time the inverse of these operations – that is, dynamic and adaptive film projections – present new possibilities for the experience of space by literally stepping into these drawings. This class asks a simple question: how can the gap between human and machine representation become a space for a new kind of drawing?

In a highly tangible way, this class investigates how such technologies might transform the architectural drawing on the one hand and the dynamic spatial experience of architecture on the other. Working in groups of two, students will produce one of two types of digital drawing machines. The first type, the “seeing” machine, scans plans, images, text, spaces, or videos and extracts some visual intention from them – in the form of series of drawings or reconstituted film. The second type, the “viewing” machine, uses filmic techniques to create a dynamic projection installation that subverts conventions of depth. Each of these machines should adapt and extend conventions of existing conceptual or mechanical drawings, but elevate them to the level of programmatic and extensible system.

The course encompasses theoretical, historical, and technical content. At the heart of the course is a in investigation of how machines have mediated vision, as well as how they themselves see, through a survey of the techniques as well as their cultural function. Topics include oblique projections, map projections (and the equipment to both produce and view them), texture transformations, camera lucidas, stereoscopes, the Clavilux, panorama effects, photocollage techniques, optical distortions, varieties of lenses, and quantum light effects such as interference patterns and X-ray crystallography, or immersive experiences such as Xenakis’s polytopes or the composer Scriabin’s Prometheus. Supplementary theoretical perspectives such as Massino Scolari, Svetlana Alpers and Jonathan Crary will animate discussion.

Technical workshops will introduce students to conceptual tools such as computational morphology, erosion and dilation, shape skeletons, invariants and comparisons. Software tools will be provided, including grasshopper components developed specifically for the class for image analysis and shape detection, as well as MadMapper, the industry-leading software for image mapping. There will also be some hardware tutorials around the use of Arduino controllers specifically for image capture and projection, as well as the use of 3D scanners. Students of the class will have tutorials on and special access to the Geometry Lab’s two Universal robots to assist with dynamic scanning or projection projects, including potential development of hardware attachments for these devices.
Some familiarity with Grasshopper or scripting is a plus, but not required. What is required is a fascination for the perceptual implications of drawing and machine-mediated vision.

Structures in Landscape Architecture, Joint & Detail

Summary

This class explores how to design and make physical landscapes that are both rationally constructed and expressively convincing. This search is focused through the lens of structural understanding. This lens clarifies how a working knowledge of structural principles guides the tectonic development of made landscapes from the overall material configuration of, for example, footbridges, pavilions or walled enclosures, to the evolution of specific detail and jointing vocabularies for these and other site elements.
 

Topics

Course Objectives & Outcomes

Course Format

Method of Evaluation

The design of a landscape element – a part of a current or previous studio or professional projectThere are no prerequisites for this class. Students of all GSD disciplines who are interested in the physical design of landscapes are welcome.

MLA 1 and MLA 1AP students can take this class concurrently with GSD 6242.

Computational Design 2: Time/Design as Signal

In “computational design 1” we focused on space, its structure and representation within the realm of digital media. In this course we will be focusing on time and temporal phenomena which requires a different set of techniques and programming patterns. The design problems we will look at, all have a strong temporal component, and we will use computation as the medium by which we can analyse and intervene within a transient environment seeing as a signal.  The emphasis is on interactivity, quantitative aesthetics and digitally augmented design.

The course will introduce techniques for real time and deferred analysis of contextual information, such as sound analysis, computer vision, movement analysis and others. In addition, generative approaches that remix or synthesize new sensory information, such as real time sound synthesis, interactive light projections and installations are also introduced. On the more technical side we will be looking at various programming patterns and techniques including, object-oriented programming, event driven and asynchronous design, interactivity and real-time graphics.

The course builds upon “computational design 1” and expands into more advanced programming patterns, suitable for real time and asynchronous applications. Therefore, students are required to have taken Computational Design I or possess equivalent basic programming skills and computational geometry knowledge.

Throughout the semester, lectures and technical workshops will be held, aiming to develop the thinking, understanding and technical skills required to engage with digital technologies in an art and design context. Students will work in small groups on a single project throughout the semester in the form of an interactive installation that seeks to reconfigure, challenge or augment the sensory experience of our environment.

Beyond Adaptation and Resiliency: GeoEngineering and Why We Will Need It

“Combating climate change is the race of our lifetime.”
            Wagner & Weitzman, Climate Shock.

On October 7, 2018, the New York Times published an article on the findings of the most recent report from the International Panel of Climate Change (IPCC2018). The report presents some alarming conclusions (related to previous projections) as to how rapidly the earth is warming and that the impacts and costs will be more severe than predicted.  We have until 2030 to take the required steps to prevent a trajectory that will take us towards the tipping point where feedback loops will make catastrophic climate change irreversible.

There is now an urgent need for a collectivized effort to innovate and test discoveries in the scientific field of geoengineering (GE) that will safeguard the planet during the time needed for the globe to transition to a 0-carbon economy. There are many diverse scientific activities exploring these technologies proceeding all over the world which are funded by academies, governments and the private sector.  But, there are no organizations or federal governments that have stepped up to organize, fund, guide or provide the needed platform that could oversee a concerted effort to coordinate the different GE possibilities. This area remains underfunded, untested, deeply distrusted, yet offers the best hope for saving the planet and humanity.

Those of us who are educated non-specialists, involved with the critical issue of climate change, are already engaged with adaptation and resiliency as a response to global impacts of climate change. But, given the urgency of where we are, we must reach beyond our professional limits; shift to a larger scale of thought and understanding of earthsystems. Through educating plus organizing ourselves we can learn how to tackle the source of the problem.

The climate crisis offers opportunities to contribute as: designers of the built environment; creators of business models for innovative new technologies emerging as part of a future low carbon economy; or creators of significant new policy at all levels. It offers the opportunity for a generational collaboration between a wide range of sectors and actors.

The seminar’s goals will be:
1. Learn about two essential GE technological developments and devise a strategy to support, in any way, our national and international scientists to reach a viable solution for Solar Radiation Management (SRM), which will cool the atmosphere to buy us time to develop and scale up the second necessary GE technology, Direct Air Capture of CO2 (DAC) ,which will directly address the cause of rapid climate change.
2. To formulate an organization, in the private sector, that would coordinate efforts to organize SRM and DAC, for concerted and integrated research, development, and implementation of these two different but interrelated forms of geoengineering which, when deployed  together, can buy us the time needed to stabilize global warming and address the causes of climate change.

This course will be taught through guest lecturers and discussions of selected readings from texts and selected essays plus original research gathering. The seminar findings will be presented in a visual language to develop skills in data visualization. Through the exploration of data visualization: patterns, trends, correlations and missing links that might go undetected in text-based data can be exposed and recognized easier – leading us to ask the right questions.

Building Human Interaction

This course investigates the interactions between humans and buildings with a focus on environmental sustainability and health. The exploration will fall into three categories:

Too many architecture projects that are “green” on paper, fail to live up to their predicted performance once occupied by real people. A better understanding of how occupants interact with buildings could help reduce the uncertainty associated with building performance upgrades, and remove this barrier preventing investment in better building design. 

In this course, students will also explore how architects can influence occupant behavior. This is an elusive yet weighty goal in terms of mitigating climate change and improving public health. Finally, students will investigate design concepts that encourage physical activity, improve indoor air quality, and impact other aspects of health, such as sleep quality and circadian rhythms. In short, students will seek to answer the question: how can we build positive human interactions with the spaces we design?

Urban Restoration Ecology

We will explore principles of modern ecology that relate to restoring ecological structure and function to previously degraded lands. These are often in cities and suburbs where past land-use has removed the historic natural communities.  Ecological restoration is also done in less populated areas such as landfill zones, brownfields, abandoned mines and farmlands, and in areas of natural devastation.  We will address a series of related questions: What are the processes of functioning plant and animal communities that can be reinstated on damaged lands? What are the constraints to restoring past natural communities (soil, species availability, interactions among species, changed physical environments)? How can restored habitats be incorporated in a modern landscape design?  What social and political hurdles must be overcome to advance an ecological agenda? These topics will be discussed using relevant ecological literature and examples of landscape architecture site plans and competition proposals where ecology is one of the main thrusts of the design.

We have invited students to this course from both the landscape architecture and organismic biology programs to mesh the academic skills of these two groups.  Landscape architecture projects, at all scales, can involve elements that add to our natural habitats.  These restored areas are increasingly shown to give “ecological services,” natural functions that enhance our communities in many ways.  This brings added value to landscape design both to the site itself and to the region to which any project is ecologically connected.  This can be a major application of ecological principles to environmental improvement.Class format will be lectures, class discussions, and occasional field trips to local sites where ecological restoration has been attempted, sometimes successfully!  Student teams will do a model ecological restoration design, based on an actual landscape, to practice the types of analyses and interventions needed to incorporate natural structures and functions into a landscape design. Teams will include both biology and Landscape Architecture students to advance interdisciplinary skills.

Prerequisites should include some course background (at Harvard or elsewhere) in modern ecology and habitat structure.  Readings will be from the ecological and landscape architecture literature. Assignments will include short essays on ecological concepts as well as the term landscape project.
 

This class will include a trip to Manhattan, NY on February 25-26. Cost of the trip will be transportation and lodging for 1-2 nights (estimated cost approximately $150), plus meals and incidentals. (If funding is obtained, each student will receive a travel stipend to subsidize travel costs.)

Urban and Town Ecology

Wildlife, vegetation, soil, air, water, and aquatic ecosystems, together with their human uses, are related to the distinctive, especially spatial, attributes of suburban and urban landscapes. Topics addressed with ecological emphasis include: urban region; suburbanization, growth and sprawl; planned community and city; suburban town; greenway and greenbelt; large and small open-space types; rail line and trail; road and vehicle; fire and flood; groundwater, wetland, stream, river, and shoreline; commercial and industrial areas; development and neighborhood; house lot; building; and tiny green spaces.

Design Survivor: Experiential Lessons in Designing for Desirability (at SEAS)

Multi-disciplinary course for students interested in designing products and services that are simple, irresistible, delightful, cool, covetable, viral, and, increasingly these days, much more likely to be successful. Students study real world cases of how organizations (e.g., Apple, Gucci, Swarovski) strategically design for desirability. In weekly design challenges, students use analogical transfer to apply these insights to diverse industries and target markets (e.g., health literacy campaigns, declining technologies, the future of luxury). Weekly critique panels with experts enable students to develop their own design point of view and to finish with a diverse design portfolio.

Permission required for all students.

Jointly Offered Course: SEAS EngSci22.
 

 

Non-Professional Practice

The course aims to study unconventional modes of architectural practice and their underlying implications. It is based on a workshop format, centered on research, analysis, guest lecturers and open dialogue and it is subdivided into three chapters – professional practice, alternative practice and visual communication.

 

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

“Every How is carried by a What” Mies van der Rohe

Chapter one evolves around the historical evolution of the architectural practice, its current state and potential directions for the future. The goal is to challenge the notion of “professional” in an attempt to understand how established architecture offices started off, matured and adapted to fit the current times. The focus will be largely on the practices’ client models on the one hand and socio-economical aspects on the other one.

 

ALTERNATIVE PRACTICE

“I’ve never worked for a living. I consider working for a living slightly imbecilic from an economic point of view. I hope some day we’ll be able to live without being obliged to work.”

Marcel Duchamp

The second chapter is centered on alternative modes of architectural practice such as the architect as his own client, the client-less architect and the architect without architecture. Simultaneously the aim is to learn from other industries – film, fashions, arts, IT, advertising etc – and understand the challenges and opportunities of today.

 

VISUAL COMMUNICATION

“Harry Wolf, an associate of (Richard) Meier’s, now rose and laid out an elegant, thoughtfully reasoned restatement of Meier’s argument, systematically eviscerating (Robert) Irwin’s core positions. Irwin smiled beatifically the entire time, waiting for Wolf to finish. Eventually, still smiling, he asked, ”Do you want a response?“ Wolf said yes, he did. Smiling, he asked, ”Are you finished now?“ Wolf said yes, he was. Still smiling, Irwin pronounced, ” BULL…SHIT." Over Thirty Years of Conversations with Robert Irwin, Lawrence Weschler

Lastly, chapter three is studying the crucial role of architectural dialogue with varying audiences and its intrinsic tie to the nature of any practice. The class will be analyzing graphic communication in various mediums, from lectures and competitions to client or public project pitches. 

Forest, Grove, Tree: Planting Urban Landscapes

Discussions about the urban forest and tree canopy, carbon sequestration, sustainability, and tree adoption programs are becoming more prevalent by the day. In this lecture course we will look at the evolution of this green heritage in our designed landscapes. The course explores the use and meaning of trees in designed rural and urban landscapes throughout the ages. It deals with the tree landscapes of a variety of scales, and explores the different meanings and functions that these landscapes and their designs have embodied at different moments of time. From a single tree to tree rows, clumps, grids, quincunx, groves, woods, and forests, trees have been dominant features in our designed landscapes for millennia. Trees have been planted and uprooted to stake out territory and create place, and they have been used to forge and obscure identities. They have provided sustenance and essential building and design materials. They have been the origin and subject of myths and legends, and of war and peace. Trees have inspired artists, musicians, architects, designers, gardeners, and scientists, and they are what many designed landscapes are made of.

Questions that will be addressed include the following: what is the relationship between trees and cities, planting and building, forestry and urbanization? What role have trees played in the definition of nature conservation and preservation? How has the preoccupation with trees contributed to scientific advancement? What role have trees played in fostering local, regional and national identities, in political diplomacy, and how have they promoted xenophobia? How have they been used to create different types of tree landscapes like forest gardens, arboreta, nurseries, sacred groves and woodland cemeteries, and how have trees been represented in various media and at different times? Studying trees in time and place offers the opportunity to address these and many other questions and topics that straddle landscape, environmental, forest, and cultural history, and that connect the human with the non-human, the local with the global, as well as micro- and macro histories.

The lecture course will include guest lectures, site visits, and seminar discussions that will build upon the course readings. Students will contribute to a weekly course blog and work on a research paper related to the course content that will be presented in class.