Through the presentation of a series of their projects, Ali and Luis showed how with each project BAD strives to give a simple answer to complex challenges, considering data as something with the ability to form structured logics, through its inherent associative properties. These organizations are organic and naturally efficient groupings of data and can provide for novel directions throughout the design process. BAD leverages this concept in order to understand specific contexts wherever a project may arise. The data identified and collected from site analysis will not yield the same organization in Beirut as it will in Barcelona. BAD strives to understand and exploit these variations in order to enrich every one of their projects.

IAAC Fall Lecture Series 2014

Tuesday 25th of November 2014

Built by Assoiciative Data – Ali Basbous + Luis Fraguada

Lecture: BAD Bits

@ 19.30, IAAC Auditorium

Open to the Public

ALI BASBOUS - IAAC Alumni

Ali Basbous (Beirut, 1973) is the Founder and Director of BAD; A Canadian, Lebanese Architect living between Barcelona and Beirut. Ali holds a Masters degree in Advanced Architectural Design from IAAC. Ali’s global experience in creating pioneering ideas have been prized and granted many internationally notable awards. Ali has been performing major roles and renowned design practices like JDS Architects (Brussels, Copenhagen), NBBJ (Shanghai, Seattle) and Raphael Vinoly Architects (New York). Ali’s work has been strongly influenced by questions concerning the evolution of social interaction and new technologies. Ali pursues an expertise in the use of powerful modeling and design software (as Rhino 3D, Grasshopper and VB scripting) to discover new Architectural forms that can respond to contemporary culture, economics and industry. His deep understanding for the complex systems of nature and the massive Data accumulation varying between sustainable issues to practical diagrammatic programming enable him a to generate precise definitions to acquire pioneering designs. During his professional practice the firms he collaborated with have won several competitions and awards on major landmark projects.

LUIS FRAGUADA – IAAC Alumni

Luis Fraguada is the Research Director of Bad Research, he investigates critical issues in architecture, design and urbanism through various modes, including parametric design, scripting, and fabrication. Luis’ architectural studies began at the University of Colorado, Boulder where he was able to begin exploring computational tools and theories that would lead him to choose this field as a specialty. Luis pursued his master’s degree in architecture and urbanism (M.Arch) from the AA Design Research Laboratory (DRL) in London where he studied with Theodore Spyropoulos. Luis chose this program for it intense use of computational tools and extensive physical prototyping of dynamic structures.

A post-graduate degree in Digital Architectural Production at IAAC brought Luis to Barcelona, where he is currently based. Luis is currently member of the Faculty of Architecture at IaaC in Barcelona, Spain as the principle computation instructor, focusing on the interface between computational processes and fabrication. Luis joined BAD as an associate and the Director of the Barcelona office. His expertise allows BAD to implement diverse data sets and analysis in each project, leading to novel design solutions which exploit the boundaries set by budget, material, political, and societal constraints.

In collaboration with the exhibition Parameter: Digital Collaborative Design in Tel Aviv, IAAC faculty Areti Markopoulou and Luis Fraguada held a five day workshop called Data Driven Structures.

In this workshop participants were challenged to rethink urbanity based on  information gathered throughout the city. The goal of the workshop was to understand how could data-driven structures affect the construction of the physical world, how cities and its built elements could be viewed as informational architecture systems.

Led by Areti nd Luis (above), the students worked on 4 case studies in Tel Aviv that were chosen based on urban criteria such as attractors,density, public space and heavy infrastructure.

Student groups visited the 4 different case studies and walk around them with the ASKit, a sensor kit developed at the Fab Lab BCN able to gather information on temperature, light, movement and CO2 as well as the specific longitude and latitude at each moment gathered by an integrated GPS on the sensor kit.

Students extracted the collected data from the ASKit and map them in order to understand the case studies based on real time collected data.

Based on the information extracted students made urban proposals and rehabilitation strategies for the 4 case studies. The intent of the workshop was not to merely interface with the built environment but to implement strategies which transform built environments into information systems.

Part of the workshop’s strategy was focused on testing ways of collecting the urban data by using the ASKit and others were focused on how those data could inform a structure that in its turn gives information to the city network.

Students developed their proposals by using rhino, grasshopper and ghowl (a plugin for rhino developed by Luis Fraguada) and they worked on fabricating their proposals using the new CNC milling machine that was set up and inaugurated by Areti and Luis.