DS 5 Technology: function follows form.

DS 19

function follows formLe-Duc Oxford only

Important guidance from your technology tutor – click link above for full original signed pdf text with further reading

DS5/TS/OB…… or if only it could be advanced as the DS23… (for further reading see Rolande Barthes ‘Mythologies’.. don’t worry it’s not long and is very cool !)

Remember all technical decisions are in the end aesthetic decisions .. no discussion , that’s a fact !

Remember function follows form and do not believe anyone who tells you otherwise .

Remember the beautiful words of le-Duc as follows, did you ever think the search for the truth had anything to do with your studies ?  I bet it doesn’t appear as a measurable learning outcome!

‘In architecture there are two ways of being true.it must be true according to the (ADVANCED) programme and true to (ADVANCED) methods of construction. To be true according to the programme is to fulfil exactly and simply the conditions of need; to be true according to the methods of construction is to employ the materials according to their qualities and properties…purely artistic questions of symmetry and apparent (ADVANCED) form are only secondary conditions in the presence of our dominant principals.’

Eugene Viollet- le- Duc: Entretiens sur L’architecture. 1863-72

Published on January 28, 2013 6:22 pm.
Filed under: announce, interest, tech, Uncategorized

Glass gym floor lights up to show markings for different sports Wired UK

Glass gym floor lights up to show markings for different sports Wired UK

A glass sports floor at a school in Germany uses hidden LEDs to switch between court markings at the touch of a button.The ASB Glassfloor by ASB Systembau GMBH aids concentration by only showing the floor markings for the sport being played but the company are also planning to expand the technology to include light-up training programmes and advertising capabilities.The floor is constructed from panels made from two glass sheets similar to car windscreens. These panels sit atop an aluminium frame which also contains the LED channels which describe a variety of sport floor markings. Etching to the surface reduces reflections which would otherwise be distracting while ceramic dots burnt into the top panel provide grip.

via Glass gym floor lights up to show markings for different sports Wired UK.

Published on January 24, 2013 11:19 pm.
Filed under: announce, interest, tech

Wolfgang Tschapeller ZT GmbH

Wolfgang Tschapeller ZT GmbH

Wolfgang Tschapeller ZT GmbH.

These guys look interesting – particularly the way they address building within existing structures

thanks to Declan Molloy for the heads up

Published on January 12, 2013 2:59 pm.
Filed under: interest

Silica nanowires get stronger as they get smaller (Wired UK)

wires

A team led by fibre optics pioneer Sir David Payne claims to have developed the strongest and lightest ever silica nanofibres, after discovering that the material becomes more resilient the smaller it gets.

“Weight for weight, silica nanowires are 15 times stronger than high strength steel and 10 times stronger than conventional GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic),” explained Payne, who in the 80s invented the erbium-doped fibre amplifier (EDFA) technology that boosts signals carried on fibre optics. “We can decrease the amount of material used thereby reducing the weight of the object… we can [also] produce silica nanofibres by the tonne, just as we currently do for the optical fibres that power the internet.”

The nanowires are made from two of the most common elements in the Earth’s crust — silica and oxygen — making it a cheap and profitable bet for developers. Furthermore, unlike carbon nanotubes or graphene — slated as the super strong, super conductive miracle material — the team believes it can potentially be constructed in lengths of wire thousands of kilometres long (carbon nanotunes, by comparison, have only been shown to maintain their strength at the size of a few microns)

via Silica nanowires get stronger as they get smaller (Wired UK).

Published on January 10, 2013 6:30 pm.
Filed under: interest, tech

Photos of Tweet Locations Bring 140 Characters to Life | Raw File | Wired.com

In their project Geolocation, Nate Larson and Marni Shindelman scan the public Twitter feed for tweets that are geotagged and then travel to those locations to take pictures where the original tweet was sent. The photos they produce, either online or on the wall, always have the tweet written underneath.

For both Larson and Shindelman, the process is about picking off and humanizing a few of the digital bursts that otherwise might get lost in a sea of social-media noise.

“There is so much virtual information out there and we thought there was something fascinating about memorializing one piece of it,” says Shindelman. “It gives it a life beyond this little blip and provides a real, physical, human connection.”

via Photos of Tweet Locations Bring 140 Characters to Life | Raw File | Wired.com.

Published on January 9, 2013 6:17 pm.
Filed under: interest

Architecture Pirates May Finish Copycat Building Before Original | Wired Design | Wired.com

build

File under HA!

A Beijing building project by London-based architect Zaha Hadid is proving so popular that the structure is being pirated elsewhere in the country.

Hadid’s Wangjing Soho is an office and retail complex which uses three curved towers to echo the intricate movements of Chinese fans. But, according to Der Spiegel, the architect’s firm is being forced to compete with pirates to get the original structure finished before the copy.

“Even as we build one of Zaha’s projects, it is being replicated in Chongqing,” said Zhang Xin, the property developer who commissioned the structure. “Everyone says that China is a great copycat country, and that it can copy anything.”

Hadid herself seems a little more relaxed about the use of her work, provided the results contain a certain amount of innovation, saying “that could be quite exciting.”

via Architecture Pirates May Finish Copycat Building Before Original | Wired Design | Wired.com.

Published on January 3, 2013 2:10 am.
Filed under: interest