OFF GRID Singularity...MARFA FOUNDATION by Donald Judd The EAMES House in Los Angeles El Bulli Foundation by Ferran Adrià TALIESIN by Frank Lloyd Wright Case Studies and Field Trip

AA Diploma 18 OFF-GRID Singularity 1

1GLOBAL WARMING SCENARIOS

While UN protocols and national guidelines tackle policies and large infrastructures, the domestic inhabitant remains unfazed. This is the territory where Diploma 18 continues its exploration of Global Warming Scenarios by encouraging sustainable living and a holistic analysis of the domestic inhabitant’s environmental impact of our HOMES.

OFF GRID SingularityDip 18Enric Ruiz Geli, Simon Taylor and Ioana Giurgiu.

Film image from “Edward Scissorhands” 1990, directed by Tim Burton

Home not House

In order to define the intricate relationships between our environment, our way of living, our social interactions we must recognize and materialize the shift from house to home, from individual to community to global empathy. We will interrogate and explore the following concepts:

• Perceptions of housing and its purpose. • An actualized meaning for ‘home” opposed to the popular social definition. • The break up of the classic nuclear family. • The global crisis in housing expanding and transient populations. • Reconfiguration of classic accommodation space.


Film image from “The Truman Show” 1998, directed by Peter Weir

Populist imagery of pre-historical huminoids often wrongly perpetuates the nuclear family ideal. Image: Graphica Artis

Slums in the sky, Hong Kong


2VILLA NURBS CASE STUDY

The project of Villa NURBS sets the agenda of next year, towards a Villa NURBS 2.0, what’s next?

Villa Nurbs, Empuriabrava, SpainPhotographer: Cloud 9


Villa Nurbs, Empuriabrava, SpainPhotographer: Luis Ros

Villa Nurbs, Empuriabrava, SpainPhotographer: Nikolas Koenig


Villa Nurbs, Empuriabrava, SpainPhotographer: Luis Ros


3HOME IS THE SOLUTION

Last year the atmosphere was the solution, and this year is devoted to our HOME: our private domain, our family, our friends, our mind setting, our studio, our cosmos, our . . .

Film image from “Powers of Ten: A Film Dealing with the Relative Size of Things in the Universe and the Effect of Adding Another Zero” 1977, directed by Charles and Ray Eames

Having searched for answers in far space and the atmosphere, we return with a renewed awareness of the significance and meaning of home. We encourage the emergence of alternative definitions of home by exploring the following scenarios/notions and their impact:

• “Sharing” culture and notions of private and public space• Transient space / Subverted space• Dematerialization• Communal identity / The garage sale as generator of community


4WAY OF LIFE

In fact, nature is Symbiosis. You are part of a greater energy that supports and nurtures you while simultaneously your individuality supports that same great energy. However, equilibrium is not always in balance and the benefit to one may not be shared by the other (virus).

elBulliFoundation in Cap de Creus section: Architecture of Particles

How does our way of life reflect the natural patterns of destruction and creation, chaos and balance? We will explore the limits of our connectivity to nature, to each other and to ourselves through the following concepts:

• The threshold and Liminal space (The event ‘space’)• Nature, natural and the sensory• Narrative, spacial themes (eg. the American frontier and horizontal expansion. The heroic astronaut and vertical space of the skyscraper)• Reinventing the tribe


Indigenous tribes

Watermill Centre, artist tribe?


5OFF GRID LIVING

off grid in terms of energy, towards self-sufficiencyoff grid in terms of policy, towards self governanceoff grid in terms of food, towards zero Km foodoff grid in terms of production, towards the revolution of makersoff grid in terms of Creative consciousness

Off grid ó Off grid interaction / overlap

“Upside down you turn me” by Rob SweereUrban Campsite Amsterdam offers sculptural habitats for an art/sleep experiencePhotographer: Anouska Rickard


“Solar Pod”: The Off-Grid, Eco-Energy, Portable Power House

“Solid family” by BoomhuttenfestUrban Campsite Amsterdam offers sculptural habitats for an art/sleep experience

http://www.boomhuttenfest.com/


Dublin,Ireland; Photo: James Horan

Yurte,SW Wisconsin; Article: Mollie Birnbaum


6BEST PLACES = best practises, our clients / places will be:

ARCOSANTI by Paolo Soleri

THE WATERMILL CENTER by Robert Wilson

BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE by Merce Cunningham + Buckminster Fuller + Robert Rauschenberg + John Cage

ART CENTER COLLEGE OF DESIGN in Pasadena

METAPOLIS at IAAC in Barcelona

MARFA FOUNDATION by Donald Judd

The EAMES House in Los Angeles

El Bulli Foundation by Ferran Adrià

TALIESIN by Frank Lloyd Wright

Case Studies and Field Trip

This year, Diploma 18 will explore off-grid living in the context of the dense New York skyline and the remote deserts of Phoenix,Arizona. We will document and interrogate the case studies listed above through research and field work.

The field trip will be organized in the time line of Autumn Term, Open Week. We will travel to New-York and visit The Watermill Centre and Pollock Studio, followed by Phoenix, where we will engage with members of the Arcosanti community as well as the Frank Lloyd Wright, Taliesin School of Architecture and settlement.

Aerial View of New YorkAerial View of Arcosanti


Arcosanti, central Arizona, project launched by Paolo Soleri with the help of his students in 1979. The project is meant to be a prototype to test Soler’s theory of Arcology (architecture + ecology).

Paolo Soleri at Arcosanti


The Watermill Center, a laboratory for performance founded in 1992 by Robert Wilson as a unique environment for young and emerging artists from around the world to explore new ideas

Enric Ruiz Geli and Robert Wilson at The Watermill Center


Black Mountain College, Black Mountain NC, USA: On the right: Kenneth Snelson, Buckminster Fuller and students hanging from a geodesic dome, 1949On the left: dancing by Merce Cunningham

Black Mountain College, 1945 Bulletin Extract


Chinati Foundation Aerial view(left) and exhibit sample(right), Marfa,Texas by Donald Judd

Prada exhibit, Marfa,Texas

Chinati Foundation, Marfa by Donald Judd


Taliesin West, The Hanging Tent desert shelter (student work)

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West launches a “net-zero” initiative by partnering with First Solar to build a 250kW solar array on the property grounds. Photography: Business Wire


7Science is TS

In the context of singularity, the ultimate technology becomes the ultimate driver for life. While science has already shifted towards the nano-scale, this shift is only emerging in the field of architecture and design.

‘Nano’ has become a commercially driven term. What we are actually talking about here is molecular science grouped into three categories: Surface properties, Emergent/Divergent properties and Self Organizing properties. Bio-mimicry plays a strong role within the research.There are three distinctive structures within nano research: Wire, Particle and Film.

The technical thesis will emerge from engaging with pilot technologies, speculation on the impacts and facets of singularity and a deep, scientific understanding of the phenomena occurring in our environment.

3D scan by FARO SCAN LS Technology of Ferran Adrià and Enric Ruiz Geli in Cap de Creus


Go Kin Backpack. Electricity generator under test conditions.

The Drinkable Book, created by Dr Theresa Dankovich, is both a water filter and an instruction manual for how and why to clean drinking water.


8Architecture as Particle

1. The architecture of Cloud 9 is articulated transversally by particle theory, from the visualization of landscape —as a global concept, the sum of space plus social relationships—to the design and construction of the architectural project.

2. This theory interprets reality at the level of the particles which provide it with information, designing strategies over time for the interpretation both of the tectonic or material (territory, buildings, people) and of the climatic or incorporeal (light, temperature, relative humidity, rain, wind, salt, CO2, photosynthesis).

Particles map (http://www.ruiz-geli.com/concepts/architecture-of-particles)


3. Using 3D laser scanning technologies, capable of recording 120,000 points per second at a distance of 75 m, point cloud files that can be managed by 3D software, and sensors installed inthe location, together with those that gather information about climatic characteristics, the landscape is recorded as particles, and not as geometric locations or simply as numerical data.

4. These particles reproduce, in an abstract/real manner over time, a given condition of a given landscape. So this reproduction, even though abstract —an indispensable condition for the architectural project— maintains a direct link with the territory which in turn enables the project to be understood not as a graft from outside, but, rather, as an internal emergency.

5. Examples of this particle phenomena are:

a) PCM: Phase Changing Materialb) Moss Seeds + Concrete + Stonec) Sea water + Microalgae + Saltd) 80% Nitrogen + 20% Natural Oil = Fog

6. The natural environment for working with particles surpasses proprietary software, and introduces environments that are more generic. They are managed by the use of free programming environments (Processing) through intelligent behaviour , thus7. Working with particles, being connected with the technological development of manufacturing methods through techniques of rapid prototyping and numerical control, allows not only formal development but also direct transposition from the 3D file to the construction.

8. In this way, Cloud 9’s Particles Architecture becomes part of a discourse that makes no distinction between objects and products, buildings and landscape, sea and mountain, but whichunderstands reality, and therefore the architectural project, as performing particles, thus entering into an empathetic understanding of a society in which human beings and Nature speak a common language, that of Particles Architecture.

Cloud 9 presented the thesis of “It’s all about Particles” at the Venice Biennale 2012, find out more at www.ruiz-geli.com.


9Architect as Activist

Diploma 18 encourages an action-oriented approach to design. Trough discussions with external consultants such as GreenPeace and crash courses in Processing, each cause gains its own voice, depth and momentum through the emancipation of its activist architect.

Krists Ernstsons at European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)


Branko Kolarevic & Vera Parlac (23 June 2015)Building Dynamics: Exploring Architecture of changeISBN-10: 1138791024

Perec, George; Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (31 Jan. 2008)Species of Spaces and Other PiecesISBN-13: 978-0141442242

Bachelard, Gaston; Beacon Press (MA) (1 April 1994)The Poetics of SpaceISBN 13: 9780807064733

Ratti, Carlo; Claudel, Matthew ; Thames and Hudson Ltd (20 April 2015)Open Source ArchitectureISBN-13: 978-0500343067

Greengard, Samuel; MIT Press (1 May 2015)The Internet of ThingsISBN-13: 978-0262527736

Berners-Lee, Mike; Profile Books (13 May 2010)How Bad Are Bananas?: The carbon footprint of everythingISBN-13: 978-1846688911

Braungart, Michael; McDonough, William; Vintage (29 Jan. 2009)Cradle to Cradle. Remaking the Way We Make Things ISBN-13: 978-0099535478

Mollison, Bill; Tagari Publications; 2nd edition (Dec. 1988)Permaculture: A Designers’ ManualISBN-13: 978-0908228010

Benyus, Janine M.; William Morrow; 1st Quill Ed edition (12 Nov. 1998) Biomimicry ISBN-13: 978-0688160999

Gissen, David; Princeton Architectural Press; 1 edition (20 Nov. 2009)Subnature: Architecture’s Other EnvironmentsISBN-13: 978-1568987774

Sennett, Richard; (2 Feb 2012)Together: The Rituals, Pleasures & Politics of CooperationISBN-10: 0141022108

10Reading List and Resources

Mihaky Csikszentmihalyi & Eugene Halton (30 October 1981)The Meaning of Things: Domestic Symbols and the selfISBN-10: 0521239192

Niklas Maak (12 October 2015)Living Complex: From Zombie City to the Post Familial CommunityISBN-10: 3777424102

Beukers, Adriaan; E. van Hinte (Ed. 2005)Lightness: The Inevitable Renaissance of Minimum Energy Structures.010 Uitgeverij, ISBN 978-9064505607.

Lovelock, James (Ed. 2000).Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth.Oxford Paperbacks, ISBN 978-0192862181.

Lovelock, James (Ed. 2000).The Ages of Gaia: A Biography of OurLiving Earth.OUP Oxford, ISBN 978-0192862174.

Lovelock, James (2006).The Revenge of Gaia.Penguin Books, ISBN 978-0141025971.

Ray Kurzweil (Ed. 2005)The Singularity Is Near: When HumansTranscend BiologyViking, 978-0-670-03384-3

Name unknown (year unknown).Il 19 Growing and Dividing Pneus.ISBN 3-7828-2019-3

Otto, Frei (2005).Complete works: lightweight construction - natural design.Birkhäuser, ISBN 3764372311.

Pearman, Hugh; A. (Ed. 2003).The architecture of Eden.Eden Project Books, ISBN 1 903 919150.

Rifkin, Jeremy (Nov 2011).The Third Industrial Revolution: HowLateral Power is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World.Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 978-0230115217.

Rifkin, Jeremy (Ed. 2004).The Hydrogen Economy: The Creationof the World Wide Energy Web and the Redistribution of Power on Earth.Jeremy P Tarcher, ISBN 978-585422548.

Ruiz-Geli, Enric (2010).Media-ICT Building.Actar, ISBN 978-8492861026.

Tesla, Nikola (Ed. 2006).My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla.Filiquari

Bach, Klaus; B. Burkhardt; F. Otto (1988).IL 18, Seifenblasen.Krämer, Stuttgart ; ISBN 3-7828-2018-5.

Sassen, Saskia (2007)A Sociology of GlobalizationContemporary Societies Series, ISBN978-0-393-92726-9

Stiglitz, Joseph E. (2012).The Price of InequalityNorton , ISBN-13 978-0393088694

Daniel ShiffmanThe Nature of Code: Simulating Natural Systems with ProcessingThe Nature of Code; 1 edition (2012)

Hartmut Bohnacker, Benedikt Gross, Julia Laub, Claudius LazzeroneGenerative Design: Visualize, Program and Create with ProcessingPrinceton Architectural Press (2012),ISBN 978-1616890773

Caseas Reas, Ben Fry, John MaedaProcessing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and ArtistsThe MIT Press 2005, ISBN 978-0262182621

Bibliography :



Films and online resources:

Silent runningDirector: Douglas TrumbullUniversal Pictures, Trumbull/GruskoffProductions, 1972

Powers of TenDirector: Ray and Charles EamesEames Foundation, 1968

Overview (19:02)Director: Guy ReidPlanetary Collective, 2013

ElysiumDirector: Neil BlomkampTristar Pictures, 2013

TrascendenceDirector: Wally PfiterDMG Entertainment 2014

LucyDirector: Luc BensonCana +, 2014

AvatarDirector: James CameronTwentieth Century Fox et al., 2009

The Salt of The EarthDirectors: Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro SalgadoDecia Films, Amazonas Images, Solares Fondazione delle arti, 2014

Ex MachinaDirector: Alex GarlandDNA Films, Film4, 2015

This Changes EverythingDirector: Avi LewisKlein Lewis Productions, Louverture Films,2015

*click on links to navigate to webpage:

Jeremy Rifkin - The Third Industrial Revolution - RSA lecture video

William McDonough: Cradle to cradle design - TED talk

Rachel Botsman: The case for collaborative consumption -TED talk about P2P economy

Inspiration for your quiet place somewhere

Technology, culture, societyhttp://aeon.co/magazine/about/http://edge.org/annual-questions

Circular economyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_economy

http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy

Dame Ellen McArthur: The surprising thing I learned sailing solo around the world -TED talk

Nano Scienceshttp://www.theguardian.com/what-is-nano Passive Househttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house

http://facit-homes.com/made-with-intelligence/low-energy-living

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/aug/23/digital-fabrication-housebuilding-headaches-facit-homes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-energy_building

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9Ts9nGGjho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9Ts9nGGjho

http://www.ted.com/talks/william_mcdonough_on_cradle_to_cradle_design

http://www.ted.com/talks/william_mcdonough_on_cradle_to_cradle_design

http://www.ted.com/talks/rachel_botsman_the_case_for_collaborative_consumption?language=en



http://cabinporn.com/

http://cabinporn.com/

http://aeon.co/magazine/about/

http://edge.org/annual-questions

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_economy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_economy



http://www.ted.com/talks/dame_ellen_macarthur_the_surprising_thing_i_learned_sailing_solo_around_the_world



http://www.theguardian.com/what-is-nano

http://www.theguardian.com/what-is-nano

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house










11Team

Tutors:

Enric Ruiz Geli is the founder of Cloud 9 office in Barcelona, recipient of the Best Building of the World Award at WAF 2011 for the Media-ICT. He belongs to the Scientific Committee of Tecnalia and is one of the members of Jeremy Rifkin’s TIR team. He is the architect of projects such as Villa Nurbs, Airbus FoF, Ampo Retrofitting, Audi AUFA and El Bulli Foundation. His work belongs to collections including MoMA, FRAC Orleans and the CCA, which hosts the full archive of Villa Nurbs Project. Cloud 9’s Project in Taipei, H108 by Farglory, recently earned the LEED certificate in Taiwan.

Simon Taylor is a founder of the multi-disciplinary communication and design studio, Tomato. He has been recognised by various institutions including D&AD, BBC and Tokyo TDC. He also works with cultural institutions including the European Commission, Olympic Legacy Corp, the UN, International Expo and has exhibited work in the US, Asia and Europe.

Teaching Assistant:

Ioana Giurgiu graduated with honours from the AA in 2014. Her final thesis, an all-natural factory of the future, was awarded the AA and Foster + Partners Prize for Infrastructure and Sustainability. She is currently working with Arboreal Architecture to develop sustainable small-scale designs aiming to bridge the realms of architecture and ecology.

Documents

OFF GRID Singularity...MARFA FOUNDATION by Donald Judd The EAMES House in Los Angeles El Bulli Foundation by Ferran Adrià TALIESIN by Frank Lloyd Wright Case Studies and Field Trip