Architectural Education in the Post-digital Age (SAJ Volume 5, 2013 no 2. Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade) edited by Djordje Stojanović, gathers a group of researchers and educators working in schools and institutes across Europe, connected by the common interest in exploring the changes in the field of architectural design arising at the intersection of the three prominent lines of research, being: material based studies, computational design and digital fabrication.
The emphasis is placed on the affiliation between educational programs and research agendas. The publication has multiple aims and several parallel ways of reading. The first one addresses the growing number of students who will opt to continue their education after graduating from University of Belgrade or other schools alike. The residing aim is to provide an overview of the possibilities for professional development within the Research by Design paradigm. The second way of reading addresses teachers of architecture and points out towards the changing landscape of architectural education across the continent. Suggested notion of change is based on the post-digital state of affairs within the profession and observed via the increasing production of prototypical models or material based studies in architectural schools. At the same time, the change of the trends is considered as a consequence of the potential nearing (gap closing) between theoretical and practical aspects of architectural education or between researching and designing. The last but not the least relevance of this publication is somewhat internal (self-referential to the certain extent) and addresses the very collective behind this publication. It is summed up with the question: How far we have gone towards establishing any such Research by Design institution at the University of Belgrade? In response, amongst the presented works are the material based studies and computational driven researches carried out within the Master program at the University of Belgrade and under the 4of7, a non-institutional label for the initiative which encompasses aspects of architectural practice, research and education.
In this issue of SAJ: Achim Menges discusses integrative approach to design computation and presents three research projects carried out jointly between ICD and ITKE in Stuttgart. Michael Hensel and Søren Sørensen from Research Center for Architecture and Tectonics in Oslo, describe their own route to Performance-oriented Architecture. Areti Markopoulou’s introduction to IaaC’s agenda of “Smart and Self Sufficient Buildings” is followed by three elaborate case studies including the built Endesa Pavilion. Theodore Spyropoulos, the director of the AADRL, constructs the arguments for the “Behavioral Model” and makes references to their recent work. Johan Bettum, the Director of Architecture Class at Städelschule in Frankfurt discusses the notion of Saturated Space. Michael Hansmeyer and Benjamin Dillenburger, architects and programmers from CAAD ETH describe an approach to the use of algorithms and computation in the generation of architectural forms through their project titled “Digital Grotesque”. Martin Tamke reveals four different approaches towards the integration of material behavior and simulation based digital design, and presents several projects carried out by CITA, including the most recent research-based installation “The Rise”, commissioned for the spring exhibition “ALIVE: Designing with Living Systems” at the EDF Foundation Espace in Paris. And, Djordje Stojanović and Milutin Cerović from University of Belgrade, intrude their own party of distinguished guest to present series of design experiments titled “Inconsistencies” carried out over the period of last few years to test the role of elastic material behavior in the construction of self-regulating assemblies.
The title of the publication pays tribute to the title of a seminal book “Architecture of Digital Age: Design and Manufacturing” edited by Branko Kolarević and published exactly a decade ago. This was an early and comprehensive record of the paradigm shift in architecture based on the introduction of digital tools for designing and making. If we accept that full integration of the “digital” processes has been completed by now, the concluding aim of the publication is to provide an overview of implications and innovations within architectural research and education. At the present time which can then bear the label of “post-digital”, we can once again begin to examine notions of materiality, design and construction.
Stojanovic, Dj. (ed). Architectural Education in the Post-digital Age. SAJ Volume 5, 2013 no 2. Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade.
C O N T E N T S:
Intro: ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION IN THE POST-DIGITAL AGE
Djordje Stojanović
PERFORMATIVE MORPHOLOGY IN ARCHITECTURE
Integrative Design Research by the Institute for Computational Design
Achim Menges, Institute for Computational Design (ICD), Stuttgart Univeristy
EN ROUTE TO PERFORMANCE-ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE
The Research Centre for Architecture and Tectonics: Integrating Architectural Education with Research by Design along a Practice-oriented Perspective
Michael U. Hensel, Søren S. Sørensen, Research Center for Architecture and Tectonics (RCAT), Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO)
IN[FORM]ATION
Smart Living Architecture
Areti Markopoulou, Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IaaC)
with Rodrigo Rubio, Joris Laarman, Saša Jokić, Petr Novikov, Tomas Díez Ladera
CONSTRUCTING ADAPTIVE ECOLOGIES: TOWARDS A BEHAVIOURAL MODEL FOR ARCHITECTURE
Theodore Spyropoulos, Architectural AssociationDesign Research Laboratory
FORMS OF SATURATION
Discrete and Continuous Events in Architectural Design
Johan Bettum, Architecture Class at Städelschule
DIGITAL GROTESQUE – TOWARDS A MICRO-TECTONIC ARCHITECTURE
Michael Hansmeyer, Benjamin Dillenburger, Master of Advanced Studies CAAD, ETH Zurich
CITA | WORKING FOR AND WITH MATERIAL PERFORMANCE
Martin Tamke, Centre for Information Technology and Architecture, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
4of7, ELASTIC DIARY OF THE RESEARCH BY DESIGN
Djordje Stojanović, Milutin Cerović, 4of7 Faculty of Architecture University of Belgrade