Computational Design Challenges
Takeaways from La Biennale di Architettura 2021
La Biennale Architettura is an international architecture exhibition managed by La Biennale di Venezia in which architects from all over the world showcase architectural solutions to contemporary societal, humanistic, and technological issues.
The 17th edition, titled “How will we live together?”, closed on the 21ist of November with a total of 298,600 visitors. The exhibition hosted 114 participants from 46 countries and many projects developed by researchers from universities around the world.
How will we live together? has been a prophetic question because it was defined before the pandemic began. Each part of the question had a specific meaning:
- How — is about methods and solutions;
- Will — is about the future, to have a vision;
- We — is about inclusion;
- Live — is about prosperity;
- Together — is about shared values.
In the exhibition, I have noticed a strong correlation between physical and digital.
In one of my previous articles titled “Embracing the power of computational design”, I investigated how technologies change the way we design things and, during my visit to La Biennale Architettura, I found several topics related to this aspect.
In the following case studies, I want to show some artworks and installations that tell us how technologies penetrate our lives and enrich our power and awareness.
Tech showcase at La Biennale di Architettura
Generative Design
Flocking Tejas — Base Studio
Base Studio created an adaptable architectural system that enriches the constructive qualities of clay tiles. For a long time clay tiles applications have been static and predictable but today, thanks to digital design methods, it is possible to explore new spatial and shape solutions.
The project showed us how generative design contributes to finding possibilities and exploring the balance between traditional methods and technological advancements, connecting low-cost materials with high-tech applications.
Immersive environments
The Spanish Pavilion showcased the collaboration between many fields such as music, poetry, education, agriculture, cinema, dance, and video games.
Spanish architects at the pavilion urge us to rethink our certainties, by exploring our limits and redefining our realities.
The Uncertainty experience begins with an immersion into a heterogeneous cloud of portfolios and continues with many projects based on various techniques, allowing us to reflect on the interconnections between personal, social, and environmental aspects.
Among many projects, I chose the following two: Kinesofos by Sergi Hernández Carretero and Urban Samples by Alejandro Cantera López.
3D Sensors
kinesofos — Sergi Hernández Carretero
The research made by Sergi Hernández Carretero showed the gap between body movement and the sensation it produces.
A depth field camera captures the body and transforms it into an animated digital model. The software, after capturing movements between different parts of the body, re-elaborates the output creating amplification and desynchronization in order to force the viewer to split the cause-effect process.
Neural Networks
Urban Samples — Alejandro Cantera López
The artwork was created from a supervised deep learning model that can predict the number of households per surface from an aerial photograph.
The system was trained with a total of 7,500 labeled images of the city of Madrid.
The model identified the way in which the territory is occupied and the intensity of the urban footprint. The result was materialized by a tile that shows us how people occupy the territory.
Machine Learning
Magic Queen — MAEID
Magic Queen was a hybrid environment where organic materials and machines coexisted. The result was a 3D printed landscape created by a robotic ‘gardener’ that uses sensors and machine learning to create continuous feedback and print the entire structure directly in the exhibition over a three-month period. Magic Queen was also seeded with different types of plants and inoculated with mushroom spores during the creation process. An impressive ABB robot equipped with sensors and water systems, was tasked with scanning the topography of the ground, seeding the mushrooms and detecting any changes.
The installation showed us the relationship between natural elements, technology, and living systems.
3D printing
Striatus Bridge — Zaha Hadid Architects + Block Research Group + ETH Zurich
Striatus was a 16x12-meter footbridge created combining traditional materials with advanced computational design, engineering, and 3D-printing technologies.
The structure was arched, unreinforced, and assembled without mortar.
The project showed us how 3D printing can be used to build load-bearing concrete structures with significantly less material and no steel reinforcement.
The blocks can be dismantled and materials can simply be recycled because the construction does not need mortar.
Striatus was not included in the Biennale but exhibited at the Giardini della Marinaressa.
Computational design
Digital Bamboo — ETH
The Digital Bamboo explores computational design tools that allow the optimization and formal exploration of complex structures.
The innovative combination of a naturally grown material with digital fabrication.
The project was created with customized computational tools that allow to define an ultra-lightweight structure. The entire structure covers more than 40 sqm with a total weight of only 200 kgs.
Digital Bamboo, like Striatus, was exhibited at the Giardini della Marinaressa.
Takeaways
The main takeaway I got from the La Biennale di Architettura was the willingness to find solutions to contemporary problems. Installations and research projects reported above showed us how new technologies are powerful tools for solving huge issues.
Architects, designers, and engineers have to work together, they have the right tools to propose a better way of living.
