Archive for the ‘manufacturing’ Category
Thursday, August 27th, 2009

We were invited to the group show “Overlap” at the Elga Wimmer Gallery in Chelsea, opening tonight.
From the press release:
Art and architecture are often portrayed as distinct, even opposing fields, though they share many material and conceptual practices. The invited artists and architecturally trained designers share common interests in generating forms, pattern, and geometries through tactile material processes -whether hand crafted or through the use of computational technology. They often incorporate an awareness of codes or conceptual layers in their work as well as new generative methods and modes of production. The intent of OVERLAP was to begin with these commonalities, and provide space for indefinable qualities to emerge, hinting at something new.
Read the full release here.
Tags: cool, nyc, opening
Posted in art, experimental, manufacturing, video | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

We’ve recently launched a sister company called Anyline that provides laser cutting services for Designers, Architects and Artists (or anyone else who needs it really!).
We’re offering a special price of *$50.00/hour* until *June 30th*, so go dig out some of those old files or send us your current project to be laser cut!
Check out the website at www.anyline-ny.com
Tags: laser cutting
Posted in architecture, design, manufacturing | Comments Off
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

SOFTlab recently completed a lighting installation at the Blue Marlin offices in NYC. 6 pairs of branches populate the ceiling and not only distribute light, but articulate and organize the space. The branches end in the light fixtures which we designed and fabricated at the studio, while the rest of the structure was made out of standard electrical conduit.
Take a peek at more images of the installation after the jump below.
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Tags: design, nyc
Posted in architecture, design, experimental, manufacturing | 2 Comments »
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009

Smart Cities vehicle prototype.
We just got back from Boston after being invited by MIT to give a lunchtime lecture. My good friend Daniel Cardoso, a PhD candidate there was kind enough to show us around the media lab, where a few -very generous- people showed us some of their work. We had a chance to see the fabrication labs and some of the robotic work being currently done there, and it was absolutely mesmerizing. Dimitris Papanikolaou gave us a full presentation on his Mobility on Demand (MOD) project for the Smart Cities group, not only was that incredibly generous, but an amazingly interesting solution to urban mobility. What I think was among the most interesting thing -not only of his project but of the lab in general- is the reality of it all. A lot of the research being conducted there is for real applications / products / solutions, which is very refreshing to see after having been involved in architecture school for some time now, where a very small percentage of what is produced has real-world implications. We had as well the opportunity to meet up with our friends Carlos Rocha (ex-Media Lab and current Honda scientist) and Skylar Tibbits.
View a few more images after the jump below.
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Tags: architecture, cool, experimental, research
Posted in architecture, design, experimental, general, manufacturing, mapping, science, technology | Comments Off
Monday, January 26th, 2009

I made it last Friday to the Make it Work exhibition at the Center for Architecture. The exhibit was sponsored by Arup (among others), and it included work they’ve done with architects around the world and how they’re pushing new technologies/techniques/materials to achieve those projects. The show included a prototype of the Trusset, devised by Phil Anzalone and Corey Clarke. Our good friends Robert Pallman (who works at Arup) and Troy Zezula from Pratt (worked at Arup over the summer) had to do with some of the projects.
View more images after the jump below
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Tags: architecture, exhibition, technology
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Thursday, March 20th, 2008

SOFTlab’s Mike Szivos has been leading an independent study group at Pratt’s GAUD. The group ( Jason Mcgee, Troy Zezula, Robert Beach, Sean Duggan, Andrew Seskunas + Mike Szivos) are curating this semester’s show of work produced at the school. They’ve been working on a parametric system for the manufacturing of the system of podiums which will hold the models. There is a perspectival organizational logic to the grouping of the models. The boards have their own organizational principle based on 3 different parameters too.
The show opens on Thursday at Pratt.
Visit the independent study’s blog at Gaud++, where they’ve documented the entire process very methodically. Pretty fantastic, and quite an amount of work.
Congrats guys.
Tags: architecture, design, parametric
Posted in architecture, design, experimental, manufacturing | Comments Off
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008

I just came across this project created at the Bezalel academy for arts and crafts, for the course “Food for Thought” in the jewelry department. This coffee grinder operates according to the users heart-beat rate and is intended as a critique to consumerism (isn’t consumerism linked directly to the fetishization of objects?). In their own words: “To use this object, you must caress it and hug it, much like as a baby is held, the user inevitably bonds with it, emotionally.”
Although the object is currently a one off, it could potentially become a mass produced product. Ultimately, it is a poetic approach to an everyday object/task, and makes us [re]think about the way we relate with objects. Whether I would want to bond with my coffee grinder or not, well, that’s a different story.
Visit Nastypixel to read more about the project. Check out some of their other projects while you’re there, pretty interesting stuff.
Tags: art, design, experimental
Posted in design, experimental, manufacturing | Comments Off
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
I know I’ve been M.I.A. these last week, but I just got back from Miami last night after spending a few days there. My good friend and star-architect from Monad Architects – Eric Goldemberg – invited me to give a short intro workshop on digitally assisted fabrication at FIU. The school recently acquired an RP machine, CNC mill and a laser cutter, and he wanted me to give the students a ‘teaser-cum-tutorial” type of workshop. The excuse was the creation of a simple parametric system and taking it through laser cutting and rapid prototyping.
One of the real treats was having the chance to take a peek (and helping Monad a tiny tiny bit) on their P.S. 1 entry for this year.
The other treat, was getting to hang out with my good friends Juan and Carolina Lopez from Oppenheim.
Awesome stuff.
Tags: architecture, cool
Posted in architecture, general, manufacturing | Comments Off
Sunday, September 9th, 2007

We made it back yesterday from the Scripted by Purpose exhibition opening. The place was jam-packed with people, a sign that it *might* have been a successful exhibit. It was definitely an interesting sample of digital work, made even more interesting by the fact that ALMOST everyone who showed stuff actually DOES the work. It was also good to see (a sampling) of the new generation of scripting gurus together.
Something I would’ve liked to see more though, is real-world implementation of some of these systems. A lot of it was the standard year 2000 digital-exploration type of stuff that just doesn’t get resolved.. It is still very interesting, but only a few people showed how these systems can be translated to physical form, and they did quite successfully, with even more interesting results.
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Tags: design, generative, scripting
Posted in architecture, art, design, experimental, manufacturing | Comments Off
Thursday, September 6th, 2007
The Scripted by Purpose exhibition, curated by Marc Fornes and Skylar Tibbits opens tomorrow Friday the 7th in Philly. SOFTlab is featured among other studios/people whose work is very interesting. If you’re in the area, go check it out. We’ll be there for the opening.
Seriously, this proves to be THE EXHIBITION, it’s getting a lot of attention so don’t miss it.
Tags: design, generative, scripting
Posted in architecture, experimental, manufacturing | Comments Off