Back to the Boid

This might not be a new theme out there but the way Dimitrie has done and baked it is definitely inspirational :)
By using #C script he managed to bring boids to life in Grasshopper. This my friend, this is what i call sweet!

Here are some bits and pieces from the original post [check it out at un didi.wordpress.com ]:

Call them what you will, but there’s been a huge hype about them some time ago.

Grasshopper’s scripting capabilites are now a huge super cool feature, especially if you’re coding in visual studio (c#) and then pasting the shit or making dlls. I did this some time ago when i suddenly realized that you can declare your own static variables inside scripting nodes (and these guys hold up their values during the updating procedure). And the vector math is already there too.




This is an implementation based on Craig Reynolds’s neurons, and a little bit on Daniel Shiffman’s processing example (which was updated and used some time ago for this.

To call it a round post check out also the Artificial Dummies video created by the guys from ToDo

Artificial Dummies, the process from todo.to.it on Vimeo.

V.IR.TU.AL at CANactions

Theme: Algorithmic Spatial Modulations
Team: Alexander Kalachev, Tudor Cosmatu, Irina Bogdan

This is the studio work made during the summer semester of 2009 at [DIA].

Open publication - Free publishing - More magnetic

The aim was to design the masterplan for the 2012 Olympic Games that will take place in London.
The used softwares behind the whole project were mainly Rhino and Grasshopper[the very juicy "right hand" plug-in for Rhino that makes the little fella turn parametric]. We have also tackled with Processing to generate swarming paths and cluster patterns.

You can also take a look on our studio's blog [Algorithmic Spatial Modulations]

Descriptive part of the studio presentation from Tudor Cosmatu on Vimeo.

Equipotentials from Tudor Cosmatu on Vimeo.

Flock from Tudor Cosmatu on Vimeo.

Thanks to our friend Grisha Zotov our project will be one of the projects presented at CANactions at the end of this month.
Sadly I won't be able to take part in this event but Tudor and Alex will.
Make sure you'll have a great time guys! :)

And now to point out what CANactions is really about:

CANactions – is an annual conference and exhibition of architectural visions and ideas targeted at young architects and architectural students. The first conference was held in March 2008 as continuation of the Wonderland.ua series.

The main idea of CANactions is to establish a new sense of an Ukrainian Architectural community and seed the
understanding and appreciation of contemporary architecture in the Ukraine.

The main target group are young professionals and architectural students, but the festival is open to the public and located in heart of Kiev. Hence many members of the general public, politicians and investors have the opportunity to see fresh architectural ideas.



Topic of CANactions 2009 is – emerging design tools across generations.

This years CANaction is examining the actions and connections between different generations of architects and their relationship to emerging tools. The leap will be made over almost 4 generations of architects culminating in a symposium for the next generation of upcoming Ukrainian architects.

As a connection between the different generations of architects we are investigating the influence of architectural schools
and mass media, emerging tools and external consultants.

The connection between international operating universities such as DIA in Dessau and the mass media is probably the
most striking. The universities pass over the knowledge and sometimes develop new tools.

But in what way do external consultants such as environmental engineers, structural engineers and landscape architects pass over a certain amount of common knowledge and tools. It is these connections and dialogues to leading external professionals such as AKT, Bollinger+Grohmann, Topotek1 and Transsolar that will be examined and exposed. Due to the internet emerging tools and publications from universities are spread with a high speed worldwide but external specialists are clustered mainly in London and the south of Germany.

How does such lack of consultancy influence architectural practice in the Ukraine and what does it mean for the
development of the next generation of architects?

Tensile Riemann_CAD Logic_SS09

ALTERED STATES OF ORDER

Open publication - Free publishing - More pattern






This work was made during a 2 week workshop that took place at the beginning of the summer semester 09 [SS09] at DIA. This announces the studio theme for this semester: ALGORITHMIC SPATIAL MODULATIONS.

Fingers crossed for what's to come!

4D Network

This is how the Studio X warm out project turned out.

It is actually a pavilion i thought of proposing for the TRANSMEDIALE 09 festival that takes place every year in Berlin.

transmediale is one of the leading festivals for art and digital culture internationally. On a yearly basis it presents advanced artistic positions reflecting on the socio-cultural impact of new technologies. Its program includes a conference, an exhibition, live performances, film and video programs and a variety of fringe events throughout Berlin.

With the festival theme DEEP NORTH transmediale.09 focusses on the global artistic, cultural, societal and philosophical consequences that the presumed imminent collapse of the polar ice barrier may trigger. Are we about to reach another historically succinct moment of no return leaving in its wake uncontrollable global transformations? Does climate change elicit cultural change, a shifting of extremes or a collapse in established, systemic and network norms?








To find out an answer to some of these issues i focused on networks and their evolution in time taking in account the factors/forces that enable them to modify. I have looked upon factors that actually determine the dynamics of networks and i have chosen a few basic concepts:

action/reaction concentration/dilution attractive forces/repulsive forces

Starting from these basic concepts i have began my study by questioning and modifying these rules as a parallel to the on going global changes that are affecting, changing and distorting our historical reference points and our points of view.

Using Processing, a JAVA based software, i created a honeycomb mesh.
Step two was to apply attractive and repulsive forces on this mash. This generated a number of different force field diagrams.
After analysing them i have compared the results and chosen a general pattern and then i created this last force field diagram that i used in planning my pavilion.

To express the times we are experiencing right now, the changes of perception, detaching from former customs, reiterating habits, basically reediting our points of view and creating new reference points, i have cut the mesh in different points in order to see the result. The new stitches are yet to be developed if needed. If not then these newly developed "cutouts" shall evolve and live as new organism. These new organisms shall probably function under new rules and they shall create their own system of existence.

I basically shaped the 3D model of this network by applying the spatial distorting forces on the z axis.

The only left out factor right now is the physical interaction between the network and the human being. To be able to interract and addapt to any given scenario i have thought of creating this honeycomb 3D mash/network out of polycarbonate and circuits of optical fibre. If needed, a photosensitive surface can be attached to the 3D network and along with the optical fiber connection, patterns shall be generated on the surface of the canopy.

Cellular automaton

Cellular automaton (plural: cellular automata) is a discrete model studied in computability theory, mathematics, theoretical biology and microstructure modeling. It consists of a regular grid of cells, each in one of a finite number of states. The grid can be in any finite number of dimensions. Time is also discrete, and the state of a cell at time t is a function of the states of a finite number of cells (called its neighborhood) at time t − 1. These neighbors are a selection of cells relative to the specified cell, and do not change (though the cell itself may be in its neighborhood, it is not usually considered a neighbor). Every cell has the same rule for updating, based on the values in this neighbourhood. Each time the rules are applied to the whole grid a new generation is created.






























A cellular automaton consists of a grid where each cell may have two states, empty of full (0 or 1) and a specific set of rules that defines the way that the state of the cells is changing over time. After the rules are applied to all the cell of the grid a new generation is created. Those rules are always in relation to the neighbor cells of each cell. That is the state of each cell in generation n is defined by the state of its neighbor cells in generation n-1. One of the most famous set of rules is Conway's Game of Life:

1. Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbors dies, as if by loneliness.
2. Any live cell with more than three live neighbors dies, as if by overcrowding.
3. Any live cell with two or three live neighbors lives, unchanged, to the next generation.
4. Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbors comes to life.

One of the most interesting properties of the cellular automaton is that it requires no input from the user (therefore an automaton). It is a self referential process where the output of each generation is becoming the input for the next one. What is also interesting is that from a very specific and simple set of rules, when we let the automaton to evolve, we can produce very complex formations.

Xenakis used cellular automata in many of his later works, for example Ata and Horos, in order to create new harmonic progressions.































You can find some more interesting research about CA on OBJECT E-ARCHITECTURE


I'll let you research the rest by yourself but before you go I just want to point out one more thing that is as well related to my early study and to my project:

natural biotic types

Some living things use naturally occurring cellular automata in their functioning.

Conus textile exhibits a cellular automaton pattern on its shell

Patterns of some seashells, like the ones in Conus and Cymbiola genus, are generated by natural CA. The pigment cells reside in a narrow band along the shell's lip. Each cell secretes pigments according to the activating and inhibiting activity of its neighbour pigment cells, obeying a natural version of a mathematical rule.^{[citation needed]} The cell band leaves the colored pattern on the shell as it grows slowly. For example, the widespread species Conus textile bears a pattern resembling the Rule 30 CA described above.

Plants regulate their intake and loss of gases via a CA mechanism. Each stoma on the leaf acts as a cell.

Neural networks can be used as cellular automata, too. The complex moving wave patterns on the skin of cephalopods are a good display of corresponding activation patterns in the animals' brain.

Voronoi and Magnetism

I just struck gold during my research process. I wont comment any further and just let you discover and enjoy FLIGHT 404 along with the creator behind it all, Robert Hodgin.













I chose to present you one of Robert's projects that interests me in a direct way since my project is based as well on magnetism and self organising organisms.

Voronoi and Magnetism

I have always had a fascination with Voronoi cells. I never quite understood the math behind it (and still dont). Generally speaking, Voronoi cells represent an enclosure where all the points within that enclosure are closer to the seed than any other seeds. Weird and confusing, right?

In the above image, I have created 3000 seeds. The boundaries are the Voronoi cells. All the pixels within a specific cell are closer to the parent seed than any other seeds in the image. Okay, so I just said the exact same thing twice. Im sorry.

Lucky for me, Paul Chew has posted some nice Java source code which shows how to do Delaunay triangulations which end up forming the Voronoi cells. Check out his applet here. I think this was originally posted in 1997. Fantastic.

The first thing I wanted to try is to combine Voronoi with the magnetism studies i have been doing of late. This might be the very first instance of Voronoi being used as an Audio Visualizer (probably not though).

Actually the code for the flock of birds video i embeded in my last post is also made by Robert.
Enjoy and take them scripts to the next level! :)

Flocking (behavior)

Flocking - the collective motion of a large number of self-propelled entities - is a behaviour exhibited by many living beings such as birds, fish, bacteria, and insects^[1]. As a common demonstration of emergence and emergent behavior, it was first simulated on a computer in 1986 by Craig Reynolds with his simulation program, Boids. This program simulates simple agents that are allowed to move according to a set of basic rules. The result is akin to a flock of birds, a school of fish, or a swarm of insects.

Basic flocking is controlled by three simple rules:

1. Separation - avoid crowding neighbours (short range repulsion)
2. Alignment - steer towards average heading of neighbours
3. Cohesion - steer towards average position of neighbours (long range attraction)

With these three simple rules, the flock moves in an extremely realistic way, creating complex motion and interaction that would be extremely hard to create otherwise.

Flocking is a common technology in screensavers, and has found its use in animation. Flocking has been used in many films (Gabbai 2005) to generate crowds which move more realistically. Tim Burton's Batman Returns (1992) featured flocking penguins, and Disney's The Lion King (1994) included a wildebeest stampede.

Flock of birds from FLIGHT404 on Vimeo.

Swarm Intelligence

I'm going to extrapolate a bit the SMART FLUID theme and focus on SWARM INTELLIGENCE, another smart self organising "formation"/"organism".

Swarm intelligence (SI) is artificial intelligence based on the collective behavior of decentralized, self-organized systems. The expression was introduced by Gerardo Beni and Jing Wang in 1989, in the context of cellular robotic systems.

SI systems are typically made up of a population of simple agents interacting locally with one another and with their environment. The agents follow very simple rules, and although there is no centralized control structure dictating how individual agents should behave, local interactions between such agents lead to the emergence of complex global behavior. Natural examples of SI include ant colonies, bird flocking, animal herding, bacterial growth, and fish schooling.

The application of swarm principles to robots is called swarm robotics, while 'swarm intelligence' refers to the more general set of algorithms.

You can also explore SYLLABUS to get in touch with some more swarm intelligence research, study and more.

[SYLLABUS developed as a seminar that examined the role of agency within generative design processes]

Exquisite Alignments

To go straight to the point i'll begin by posting some info about a project developed by The Advanced Design Studio, Z. Hadid in the fall of 2006:

Project Description

In this project, the compositional strategy of embedding the image of the iconic building within an urban context generates a formal strategy of torsional and scalar deformations within a set family. Using a basic diagram of ferrofluid, a genealogy of possible scenarios for formal relationships is established. Reaffirming the image of the icon, these scenarios consistently reference the same iconic profile but are composed of component parts which, although autonomous, read as an integrated whole. The sky and the ground plane combine to create an implied single surface, which has the potential to be rea

d as either figure or field, depending on how their relationship to one another is conditioned. In their most extreme and idealized state, the forces in both planes are calibrated to interlace with each other in various modules so as to create an implied continuous surface typology. Thus, the symmetrical integrity of the icon is constructed of asymmetric and autonomous component parts which, through their accumulation, compose a reading of a coherent whole.

FERROFLUID

Ok, right now i'll step up to my next research topic: SMART FLUIDS

Def. : A smart fluid is a fluid whose properties (for example the viscosity) can be changed by applying an electric field or a magnetic field.


I will start by investigating the FerroFluid in Design and Architecture.

Taking in account that this is something quite new, finding the necessary info might take a while but its going to be quite exciting...for me at least :)


First of all i'll just post some basic info about FerroFluid so that everybody should get familiar with it and with its properties:

A ferrofluid (from the Latin ferrum, meaning iron) is a liquid which becomes strongly polarised in the presence of a magnetic field.

Ferrofluids are colloidal mixtures composed of nanoscale ferromagnetic, or ferrimagnetic, particles suspended in a carrier fluid, usually an organic solvent or water. The ferromagnetic nano-particles are coated with a surfactant to prevent their agglomeration (due to van der Waals and magnetic forces). Although the name may suggest otherwise, ferrofluids do not display ferromagnetism, since they do not retain magnetization in the absence of an externally applied field. In fact, ferrofluids display (bulk-scale) paramagnetism, and are often referred as being "superparamagnetic" due to their large magnetic susceptibility. Permanently magnetized fluids are difficult to create at present.^[1]

It is important to note the difference between ferrofluids and magnetorheological fluids (MR fluids). The particles in a ferrofluid primarily consist of nanoparticles which are suspended by Brownian motion and generally will not settle under normal conditions. MR fluid particles primarily consist of micrometre-scale particles which are too heavy for Brownian motion to keep them suspended, and thus will settle over time due to the inherent density difference between the particle and its carrier fluid. These two fluids have very different applications as a result.

SuperCilia Skin

Regarding RECIPROCITY and KINETICS I want to post one more project developed by the MIT guy:

SuperCilia Skin

This is quite an interesting, fun and useful project.

Super Cilia Skin is a literal membrane separating a
computer from its environment. Like our skin, it is
haptic I/O membrane that can sense and simulate
movement and wind flow. Our intention is to have it
be universally applied to sheath any surface. As a
display, it can mimic another person�s gesture over a
distance via a form of tangible telepresence. A
hand-sized interface covered with Super Cilia Skin
would produce subtle changes in surface texture that
feel much like a telepresent "butterfly kiss."










On an architectural scale, a facade covered with Super
Cilia Skin could represent the "wake" of a local wind
pattern billowing up and down the surface during the
day generating energy. As a more general display
surface, a Super Cilia Skinned floor could trace
movement over one�s house or weather patterns over the
entire state of Massachusetts. This sensibility is
intended to pervade a sense of relationships between
local and global conditions.

Reciprocal Space

Continuing my quest into the reciprocal realm of architecture i encountered the work of Ruairi Glynn.

Originally a sculptor, Ruairi studied as an Interaction Designer at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design London, and at the Institute of Digital Art and Technology in Plymouth before taking his skills and experience into an architectural context joining the ‘Interactive Architecture’ research group, at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London where he graduated with distinction.


I am going to start my series of presentations with the RECIPROCAL SPACE project:










'Performed, experienced, and felt by both sides'




















"Interactive Architecture as a field of research has key characteristics. These interactive spaces must feel / experience its inhabitants and respond in a way that challenges the inhabitants to reciprocally respond. If it fails to challenge their cognitive perception of the space, then it fails to engage the inhabitants of the space and a reciprocal relationship will not be created.







"derived from the particulars of the real world, from data and processes of the virtual world, or from numerous techniques of capturing the real and casting it into virtual, motion capture for instance. Since time is a feature of the model, if the model is fed time-based data, the form becomes animate, the architecture liquid. " Marcos Novak

Eric Schuldenfrei

I've just ran over some juicy stuff >> the work of Eric Schuldenfrei

He is a designer that focuses on the evolving relation between architecture, animation and art.

Since i am interested at the moment in the participative architecture i am going to present you one of his projects that uses reciprocity:

“In the world of surveillance, the architecture of systems has effectively replaced architecture.” Eric Schuldenfrei
















Eric describes how “Theories of reciprocity… are used to describe relationships, mutually beneficial actions, situations of give and take, influence, correspondence, cause and effects within social structures. In reciprocity a relationship forms between those who operate and develop surveillance systems and those under surveillance.”























“Automatic digital collection systems and linked databases create highly contested spaces, raising questions of both security and privacy. Control is no longer conceived through building sections, plans, or perspectives, instead it is envisioned as a spatial construct in real-time, fully automated systems happening ubiquitously.”

BI[r]O-BO[o]T

This is a brief presentation of one of the pavilions you can loose yourself in at the Biennale di Venezia 2008



“ …in power games, [apparatuses could be considered] relationship strategies supporting types of knowledge and supported by themselves.” Michel Foucault, Dits et Ecrits)

Machines are always pretending to do more than what they were programmed to do. It’s their nature.

Their behavior alternates phantasms, frustrations and fears inspired by their own ability to break free and threaten us



































The blurriness between what they are supposed to do, as perfect alienated and domesticated creatures, and the anthropomorphic psychology we intentionally project on them, creates a spectrum of potentiality, both interpretative and productive, which is able to re-“scenarize’’ the operating processes of the architectural field. Machines are a vector of narration, generators of rumor, and at the same time directly operational, with an accurate efficiency of production.





































































These multiple disorders, this kind of schizophrenia, could be considered a tool for reopening processes and subjectivities, for re-“protocolizing’’ indeterminacy and uncertainties. In this way, they become agents of blur logic, of reactive and re-programmable logic.

ULTIMATE COMPUTING

Biomolecular Consciousness and NanoTechnology

Even if this book was published some 20 years ago, I find it quite interesting and useful to read.
I guess these are the first steps in understanding and developing bio-technological-computational processes.



Here you can read and download the [PDF] format:

>>Toward Ultimate Computing

Nervous System

THE VISION

"We created Nervous System to explore a design approach that relates process and form in a context of interactivity and openness. Our trajectory focuses on generative design methods using both algorithmic and physical tools to create innovative products and environments.

Formally we are attracted to complex and unconventional geometries. Our inspirations are grounded in the natural forms and corresponding processes which construct the world around us. From coral aggregations to interference patterns, a study of natural phenomena is an essential ingredient to our design process.

To evolve such forms, we systematically engage in generative processes. Instead of designing a specific form, we craft a system whose result is a myriad of distinct creations. These systems are interactive, responding both to changes in specific variables and to physical inputs. There is no definitive, final product, instead the many designs created allow for mass customization."

Research on Dynamic Skin

Ok, for a kick start i'll post a short description of StudioX's first assignment, followed by a brief description of my research:

As part of the studio X_WS08 you are expected to participate in a short 2-week workshop to kick-start the course and warm your designer engines up!

The workshop is calling for the Design of a single surface canopy, that follows the principles below:
1. it is self-supporting
2. It is textured in such a way that it protects from the weather, but it is perhaps perforated allowing light in etc
3. it fits in an invisibe cube of 10x10x5m but doesn't have to extend to those dimensions

Imagine this canopy is used as a tent, a bus-stop, a kiosk, a gazebo a newsstand, an e-info pavilion etc.
I would like you to choose the functionality that suits you best as well as the material(s) that you would like it to be made of.
some suggestions might include: Corian, LG Hi-MAcs, composites, thermoformed glass, plexi-glas, concrete, steel, tubular steel, wood, fibre-concrete etc.

there is no restrictions in technique, let your imagination free...

Your canopy might have one or two or three supports and might also have an interior space although that is not a requirement.


Here are the presentation panels of my research. I'll upload a more detailed list of research topics in no time:

Version BETA 0.2

Long time no updating, its true. But i am back with tons of info and a new approach.

This is lets say a turning point in this blogs life. From today on ONE TO MANY will become a "research platform" along with a process observation area.

I wont go any further so that I wont ruin the surprises that are yet to come.

Hope to keep you MANY hooked TO ONE.

Surf, Research, Use, Go further, Create, Innovate, Enjoy!

URBAN hOtel

Here i am posting my latest project proposed to be built in Bucharest on an existing site that has a new urban plan layer set upon it >> Urban REstructuring

concept contrast TECHnology INNOVATION attraction INTERaction adaptation dynamics


WebHotel

The WebHotel is a hybrid building, constructed between the physical and the virtual world. Its facade is built using a metal structure and fabric with graphics in an urban space. Its rooms are built out of virtual objects and with lines of code on the Internet. When a person enters a virtual room, he can manipulate its walls and the objects it contains.

Its virtual presence is manifested in the physical world by means of lights and sounds that are superposed onto its thin skin. In this way, for the first time a facade manifests an occurrence that rather than taking place behind it in a nearby environment is the product of actions in different places in the world. A webcam trained on the building sends real-time images to the Internet so that the user of the room can view the effects of his action. The actual building, with a server inside, produces its physical and its virtual images simultaneously.












































ENERGYFUTURESYSTEMPLACESINVENTRURBANloftMETArealityPROCESSINNOVATION