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.

Bookmark:

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

Bookmark:

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.

Bookmark:

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.

Dimitris Papanikolaou and a MOD vehicle prototype.

Daniel Cardoso showing us some of the work done at the S.A workshops.

Carlos Rocha, Daniel Cardoso and Mike Szivos post lecture.

The Millennium Falcon
ps. Daniel sent me this brief history or the MF.

Bookmark:

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

Really? 5 different 3d softwares to design the project?

Bookmark:

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.

Bookmark:

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.

Bookmark:

Awesome stuff.

Bookmark:

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.

The gallery itself was also pretty cool: the former Corn Exchange Bank building. A very large 2 story space with the mezzanine overlooking the first floor. A wire-installation by Marc and Skylar filled the central space, bundles of what seemed to be electrical wire shooting off in all directions and the bases inhabited by pillows. Lots of cool people, lots of food and lots of beer -the last 2 having disappeared very quickly though.

In all, it is a tough exhibit to put together because of the broad spectrum of the work, but Marc Fornes and Skylar Tibbits did quite an amazing job. Kudos to those guys and now we’ve all got to find a venue for it in the city.

SOFTlab

Aranda-Lasch

MOS

MATSYS

MATSYS

Installation

SOFTlab

SOFTlab

1/2 SOFTlab

minusArchitecturestudio

Neil C. Katz

Marc Fornes (theverymany) | Skylar

Mike Szivos (SOFTlab) | Jason Johnson
(minusArchitecturestudio)

Mara | Annie Suratt

Alisa Andrasek (BIOTHING) |Marc Fornes (theverymany)

Mike Szivos (SOFTlab) | Jason Johnson (minusArchitecturestudio)

4-pli

Unrelated free-standing facade in downtown

Bookmark:

Seriously, this proves to be THE EXHIBITION, it’s getting a lot of attention so don’t miss it.

Bookmark:

We made it on Friday to the exhibition “Project to Surface” where our friends at Associated Fabrication produced all the physical objects, in a collaboration with Ben Krone (from SHoP architects) and 5 different artists. The pieces, mainly made out of Corian, were CNC milled and display a range of manufacturing techniques which A.F. is very comfortable with.

The exhibit closes on Tuesday, but will only open on Monday from noon to 3 pm.

See Frank’s earlier post here.

View more images of the exhibition after the jump.

Bookmark:

A very interesting looking exhibition will be opening this Saturday and running through Aug. 28. Here’s the blurb:

“Art and architecture collide on Madison Avenue. Project to Surface is a collaboration between five visual artists and an architect in rendering their visual concepts into three-dimensions through the use of cutting edge architecture software, fabrication tools and techniques.”

I am pretty sure they are holding the show in the gallery space of SHoP’s new building on Madison Avenue. So a there are quite a few reasons to check this one out.

Here’s the link: project to surface

Bookmark:

We made it out to Long Island City today to take a look at Prouve’s “Maison Tropicale”. It is pretty awesome finally seeing the full thing for once, for all I’ve ever had a chance to see before were doors and columns (in Evan Douglis’ Prouve exhibit at Buell Hall @ Columbia about 2 years ago).

See more images below

Stills from the very cool animation on how the Maison is constructed. Done by a French studio (cant remember the name now, sorry)

This side or that side of the fence?

I guess that side, over the barbed-wire

Bookmark:

Mark Goulthrope’s reactive architectural wall Hyposurface will be on display at the 2007 BIO International Convention, a Nanotech convention going on in Boston until well, tomorrow…

For those of you who haven’t seen any of dECOi’s stuff, here’s a link with more info on the Hyposurface at the SIAL.

His presentation of the Mirian Gallery is also very interesting.

You have to keep in mind that this stuff is over 3 years old, but the techniques are truly great and new parametric/reactive systems are just starting to catchup to Goulthrope.

Bookmark:

The fellas at EvilMadScientist have come up with a DIY 3D printer. They’re still working on it but they’ve been kind enough to give us all a sneak preview.
The printing medium is, you guessed it: granulated sugar. So finally, your mom wont have to buy anymore those little figurines to put on your birthday cakes, you’ll just have to teach her how to make STL files instead…

Check their link here

via [core77]

Bookmark:

Our friends and colleagues Gabriel Bach and Andrea Flamenco (studiocycle) have come up with some cool scripted furniture. They’ve developed the Furnituremakerâ„¢ which generates one-of-a-kind furniture pieces ready for manufacturing each time.

In their words, FurnitureMakerâ„¢ favors the concepts of family and genus over the dated, nay flaccid, concept of the edition. Why, in an age where the abundance of technology makes most things possible, is it still impossible to have your environment suit your needs and desires, instead relying on big box tastemakers and others poor ideas revolving around design.

Check out their site here

Bookmark:

The large format sculpture Illumination I, by Michael Somoroff opened at the Rothko Chapel in the Fall’07.
SOFTlab did all the 3D modeling and the initial prototyping/milling of smaller scale models.

Here are some images of the production stage of Illumination I. The manufacturing was done at Krysler out in Napa.
View more of the project here.

Bookmark: