The Multi_Layered City

By meropi-eleni.skordalou@iaac.net | Published: March 8, 2013

The identity and the character of a city is a multifaceted issue. Although different cities share common features, there are differences that establish each city as unique. Space has an abstract meaning and doesn’t form the character and the physiognomy of a city on its own. Activities, creations, emotions, ideologies and human dreams give character and personality to a place. Time is a factor that also affects the identity of a place. Time, like space, is made specific with human presence and involvement and is transformed into an era, and in different eras, one site can offer different images. So, the history of a city is one of the most important factors that define the identity and the uniqueness of it. Therefore, a city cannot exist separately of its history.

The project is about solving the problems of the contemporary cities that tend to become generic, introducing a new city typology which intends to serve the history and by extension, the identity of a megacity.

Istanbul is located in northwestern Turkey, constituting the country’s economic, cultural, and historical center. The Bosphorus, which connects the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea, divides the city into the European, Thracian side—comprising the historic and economic centers—and the Asian, Anatolian side. Also, it is primarily known for its Byzantine and Ottoman architecture, but its buildings reflect the various people and empires that have previously ruled the city. So, Istanbul can be characterized as a multirational and multicultural city. Only 28% of its residents are originally from Istanbul. The secret story but also one the most interesting characteristics of Istanbul is its underground city that contains the remnants of its history. There are different layers of city’s civilizations below the ground surface. The main idea of the project is a multi-layered underground city where one can explore the history through different underground layers. The underground city offers a path through the different civilizations that today are absent and buried below the megacity of Istanbul.

Processing video (Click on the following image)          .

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Mobility Flows RESPONSIVE Megacity

By ALEJANDRA DIAZ DE LEON | Published: March 7, 2013

In order to begin with the creation of a Megacity, we took as our case study Mexico City and its chaotic transportation systems, along with the the concepts of collective behavior, swarm intelligence and patterns, that we read in the book “Emergence” by Steve Johnson. When observing the problematic of Mexico City’s mobility  flows, we found they behave in similar ways to fluids.  We localized 4 configurations of the city – grid, random, linear, radial – and , through a simple experiment, we could compare mobility flows to fluids behaviors in the presence of boundaries.

to see videos of the experiment go to http://vimeo.com/59019996

After analyzing these behaviors we thought of working with a digital tool that allow us see the free patterns of fluids. We worked with a Turing Pattern processing script that clearly shows the interaction of fluids in two different densities and with opposite properties that in terms of urban configurations could be translated as the boundary and the open space. The organic patterns show the natural way fluids – or mobility – behaves.

Our machine for the creation of the megacity was AMIRA. It is a software mainly use for visualizing biomedical data but in our case, it help us shape the city by taking moments of the transformation of the patterns from the processing script and put them together into a three-dimensional model.

to see videos go to https://vimeo.com/61204861

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Faculty

By admin | Published: January 22, 2013

Pablo Ros as main teacher

Pablo Ros graduated as an architect obtaining a specialization degree in Structural Engineering at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Barcelona (ETSAB) . He received his Post Professional Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design (MSAAD) from the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) at Columbia University in the city of New York. After concluding the Advanced Architectural Research Program (AAR) at Columbia University, he is pursuing a Phd focused on Neuro-Architecture. He is recipient of Arquia-Fundación de Arquitectos´03, La Caixa’09, Gatsby Arts Foundation´12 and Kinne´12 grants.
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He is a researcher within Storefront for Art and Architecture Technology Platform and collaborates at Cloud Lab at GSAPP, an experimental platform that explores the design of the environment through emerging technologies in computing, interface and device culture.
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He has worked for different international practices, most notably Cloud 9 and Foreign Office Architects (FOA). As Project Director and Associate Architect he was responsible of the design and construction of a wide range of projects, most notably the South-East Coastal Park in Barcelona, La Rioja Technological Center in Logroño, Zona Franca Office Park D38 or the Madrid Pavilion for the Shanghai Expo´10. In a more infrastructural scale, he has develop the urban planning of the Aerospace Campus in Toulouse, and the new ports of Marbella and Santander in Spain. His work has been nominated and awarded by the Mies Van der Rohe, FAD, and Think-Space Prizes, amongst others.
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He combines both academic and professional experience. He has been teaching at GSAPP Columbia University, Barnard College or Instituto de Arquitectura Avanzada de Catalunya (IAAC). He is currently tutoring the Diploma18 Unit “Energy Attack” at the Architectural Association of London and is the Head of the Office of Cloud 9.

Alexandre Dubor as assistant teacher

From web  platform to 6axis Robot, Alexandre Dubor is an architect hacking new technologies in an attempt to reinvent how we buil and leave in our cities. He recently joined the academic field as teacher and lecturer in different school (Iaac / FabLab Barcelona, TU Delft, TU Vienna and UTS), while working on various research including Magnetic Architecture and Smart Citizen.

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ENCRYPTED MEGA-CITIES I syllabus

By admin | Published: January 22, 2013

While in this decade cities will grow exponentially to host more than half of the world population, architects are not yet ready to design adaptive urban models capable to react to this phenomenon.

“Encrypted mega-cities” provides an opportunity to think critically about urban potentials responding to this rapid growth through a mode that utilizes analysis, computer advanced tools and the tactical intuition of the architect and in a rapid manner.

The seminar will collectively navigate a vast cloud of examples that will be used to approach and imagine future models of mega-cities. The primary mission of this research will be unveiling the logics and relations that make these cities not chaotic but complex, not frozen but vivid, not stable but adaptive, not only geometric but social.

The second part will encrypt all these discoveries in a digital machine that will provide a solution for a Mega-City of the future. It is important to understand that the so-called supermodel is not just one “master” digital model, but rather an entire body of exploration that can provide a catalog of solutions in different types of environments, scenarios and social behaviors. What would it be the impact of this digital tool in the design of the city?

“Encrypted mega-cities” architects will heavily utilize a robust spectrum of automated and manual tools and techniques with great rigor and agility. The architect, instead of just being a traditional masterplanner will operate as a DJ mastering a session for citizens in an encrypted mega-city.

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