CHRIS BAMBO-ROUGH

Grasshopper | Boxes Introduction

I have been reading up on current visual technologies and have been impressed by the work being achieved with projection mappings. This technology involves the fitting of projected images via multiple light sources onto surfaces to achieve dynamic three dimensional animations. The effect can be extraordinary and aim to appear to create new space from existing flat or textured surfaces.

Possible uses

Projection mapping can be used to alter the appearance of a surface and space and can additionally include data / information within the mix.

I am currently working with the polymedia pixel and have been thinking about how image sources could potentially be contained within the media pixels and project onto other surfaces within the space. Alternatively an image could be projected into a field of media pixels to create the appearance of the image surface.

Advantages / Disadvantages

A very useful aspect of projection mapping is the ability to augment actual space without the need to alter the architectonic. However it is mainly a visual effect and without human audience participation it is limited in its impact.

Examples

As part of the studio Computer = Architecture run Hank Haeusler of Urban Aid I have been looking at the XBox Kinect. The Kinect interprets 3D scene information from a continuously-projected infrared structured light, this structured light involves the projection of a predetermined pattern of pixels onto objects.

The unit combines an RGB camera, depth sensor multi-array microphone sensor to track full-body movement and the users’s voice to enable advanced gesture, facial and voice recognition. The Kinect is capable of simultaneously tracking up to six people in order to allow interaction with Xbox games. 

Whilst the ability to control movement in games is interesting it is the opportunity to develop applications through a non-commercial Windows SDK that has Architects interested. 

The SDK can access;

•  Raw sensor streams: Access to low-level streams from the depth sensor, colour camera sensor, and four-element microphone array. 

•  Skeletal tracking: The capability to track the skeleton image of one or two people moving within the Kinect field of view for gesture-driven applications.

•  Advanced audio capabilities: Audio processing capabilities include sophisticated acoustic noise suppression and echo cancellation, beam formation to identify the current sound source, and integration with the Windows speech recognition API.

With the opportunity to manipulate the working of the Kinnect somes some interesting possibilities. The motion detection capabilities of 3D structured light provide the potential to map all people detected within it’s field of view. If this is increased a crowd of people could potentially be tracked to measure human density, or use movement to inform another output device. 

Coff’s Mix pt 1 by Smoothspace on Mixcloud

Still my favourite skateboard company … (Blog | Stereo Sound Agency | Stereo Skateboards)

Have that Nice…

prostheticknowledge:

More information, diagrams, and a video can be found here

Urban Pollen - Interim Research Proposal

Being a student means that I’m currently not able to stump up for Max4Live, instead I’ve been looking at midi scripts in order to access the Live API, still not sure what’s going on but found this very good resource (via Quick Tip: Enhance your Ableton Live Experience with MIDI Remote Scripting)

For all you Atari lovers out there.

Collin’s Lab: Atari Punk Console (by MAKE magazine)

Easy when you know how?!?! (via C_Wall « MATSYS)

(via CINEMETRICS)

Keep coming back to Frederic Brodbeck’s graphic style for my presentation work, his project “Cinemetrics” is a great example of seeing through a style 100% in every aspect of the project.

At least someone was spending their time constructively. Field recordings of the London riots.

eeeyan:

HEY LONDON, LOOKING AT YOU…

I managed to get to this years Serpentine Pavilion whilst over in the UK to see Peter Zumthor’s only UK project to date.

First impressions were mixed as the scheme breaks from a fine history or interesting formal / facade designs. This year the form is a monolithic black cube that contrasts with the surrounding parkland blocking out the Serpentine gallery from the road.

The pavilion employs an enclosed colonnade which offer changing levels of light, this feeds into a central garden courtyard. The darkness of the entry produces a stunning effect as your eye has to get used to the light of the courtyard. The garden is an enjoyable experience offering an alternative nature experience to the grass park, and surrounding seats provide great conditions for contemplation or friendly commune. 

Although formally this years pavilion lacks the punch of previous years it shows an enquiry into materials with Zumthor’s interesting combination of ply and hessian textiles. The monomaterial of the architecture purposefully aims for anonymity in order for the garden to achieve maximum impact.

My only disappointment is that the sound quality produced by the hard surface of the pavilion is very poor and fails to create a space of serenity, talking voices reverberate to produce a sometimes annoying layering of noise.

Of all the pavilions I have experienced at the Serpentine it is the first to employ all the senses in it’s conception, in this respect it is a sophisticated, controlled and expected approach by Zumthor.

Whilst working on our strategy and geometrical research Rasmus and I have been learning the computer language Python to programme in Rhino. We intend to programme an emergent logic into the planning of our scheme which will hopefully result in multiple and unexpected solutions. As our rules increase we expect the convergence of spaces to create an optimised outcome. This is script arranges spaces manifested as spheres into an arrangement based on desired floor areas and connection strengths according to programmed journeys. We intend to elaborate on the programme to realise a circulatory path based on journey, programme relationships and changes in pressure / use. Another work in progress.

Friday saw the second assessment for the Computational Environments studio and was a presentation of concept development. The main aim was to communicate the development of our concept form strategies and show how they are being translated into coding intelligence.  The feedback pointed towards the weakness of our diagrams and clear understandable spatial relationships which as a result are holding back our formal logic. Frustratingly there was a bit of confusion from the panel in how we were using the original schemes our briefs were drawn from. It became evident that they felt we should spend more time analysing the precedent of the Mill Owners Association Building to see what Corbusier intended and learn from it. This goes against the studios intention to use the building simply as a brief, with our own digital explorations allowing a different scheme, rather than working along the same lines of 20th century space forming techniques. However in order to know what we are trying to beat, we do need to analyse the precedent. There were a few things we urgently need to address, - Initial analysis of the building (why we chose our recombinations) and what we intend to beat, we touched on it but did not show the rigorous exploration. This would also introduce other aspects of the site in which to introduce later. - User journeys rely to strongly on programme divisions creating segregation and homogeneity : we need to look at narrative in relation to architectural devices or splice the journeys up to mix casts. - Our sequence space catorisation is confused and the resulting conceptForm does not achieve what we want, a diagrammatical analysis of the sequences in the original building should give us a better understanding of how we can use it to create a robust strategy. We also need to be much clearer on what our sequence space concept will achieve for us and make sure we are not forcing a weak idea. - As our diagrams are not yet working our resulting coding intelligence is not yet ready meaning that we are currently coding simple aspects such as length and space. We need to look at emergence theory and look at a spatial logic for each user narrative, through the coding of simple agent choices we can hopefully expect complex relationships to develop rather than a basic packing arrangement as we currently have. Opportunities - Create geometries for each journey and allow their mixtures to control material transfer. - Design of a strand that can achieve multiple material conditions and performances.

I’ve started a new studio run by Dave Pigram of Supermanoeuvre at UTS and its aim is to project alternative architectural futures by redesigning the modern masterpieces. The point of departure for the studio is to attempt to rectify the unnecessary dissociation of serious formal research and provocative programmatic and/or performance based enquiries. The studio as a whole will aim to realise architectural design through the programming of emergent behaviours through Python programming in Rhino and to realise these in the real world through physical prototyping. I have partnered up with Rasmus Holsteren and we have chosen to review the Mill Owners Building by Le Corbusier. Our first move was to analyse plans and model the building to understand its spaces, the ultimate goal was to create an exhaustive area schedule for the building as is, and try to understand some of the strategies Corb employed. From the analysis we felt that he was really interested in the users of the building (workers, Mill Owners, and the public), the route through the building (entrance ramp/promanade/roof) and the playing with inside/outside spaces.

I’m going to be starting a new design studio in March which will look to re-imagine a modern “masterwork”. To prepare I’ve been looking at the below buildings. Showing images of the buildings is a bit misleading as the studio is concerned with  understanding the theory, concepts and strategies involved in the architecture in order to re-interpret their forms using algorithmic design techniques and computational strategies. The studio is being run by Dave Pigram who is one half of the architecture/design practice Supermanouvre. Seagram Building La Tourette First Unitarian Church Rovaniemi Library Neue Nationalgalerie