Italian fans of the Architectural Association (AA) Visiting School workshops will be delighted to know that this October the school will stop in Rome for an exciting series of lectures. Hosted from 17th to 26th October, the programme - directed by Lorenzo Vianello, architect at Foster and Partners, and Arturo Tedeschi, architect and independent researcher - will revolve around the theme "Form as Unknown (X)".
The workshop will be held by Vianello and Tedeschi in collaboration with Lawrence Friesen, tutor at the AA, and Fulvio Wirz, lead architect at Zaha Hadid Architects, and the debate will explore the design of parametric structures and will involve cutting-edge theories and techniques. Students will also be prompted to develop innovative form-finding techniques and structural design through digital computation moving from the experiments made by Roman engineer Sergio Musmeci (1926-1981).
Considered as a pioneer in the design of parametric structures, Musmeci claimed that the structural form is not derived from an articulation of geometries drawn according to the practice and intuition, but it is the result of a computational process. As he stated: "Science must serve the invention and not the verification, it must lead to the discovery of the optimum geometry [...] for a given system of external forces".
Following these principles, inspired by Pier Luigi Nervi and Riccardo Morandi's teachings and by disciplines as different as music, astronomy, geometry and philosophy (all of which informed his structures) and always bearing in mind the writings of mathematical biologist Sir D’Arcy Thompson, Musmeci developed in the '60s a new approach to structural design that revolved around the idea of minimum structure.
The engineer aimed at reducing the amount of matter from which an edifice was built to approach the asbolute minimum necessary for a given structure to exist. His Bridge on the Basento (designed in 1967 and built between 1972 and 1974) with its fluid shape as well as weighty voids and complex structure (the 3D model by Arturo Tedeschi employed as the background for the AA Rome Visiting School poster represents a form-finding experiment inspired by the Basento Bridge) was the quintessential example of this theory in which structural conventions were substituted with mathematical and philosophical points.
The motto to the AA series of lectures - very aptly organised in Rome where students interested in this subject can also learn more about the engineer and architect at the MAXXI where the Musmeci archive (over 3,000 documents and more than 2,000 photographs plus models, documents and other research materials) is stored - may be “minimise the material/maximise the performance”, as Musmeci's works teach.
The workshop will be structured into three main stages: digital modeling and parametric design techniques alternated with lectures; developing the projects, using analog and digital techniques and finally testing the digitally fabricated models to evaluate their real structural performance and tectonic articulation.
The workshop is open to architecture, engineering and design students and professionals worldwide. Deadline for entries: 3rd October 2012. The online application form can be found here.
"Form As Unknown (X)", AA Rome Visiting School, Rome, Italy, 17-26 October 2012.
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Comments