A Purple Architecture: Design in the Age of the Physical-Virtual Continuum
Edited by James F. Kerestes, Ebrahim Poustinchi, & Vahid Vahdat
Carnegie Mellon: ETC Press, 2024
Rapid technological developments in areas such as artificial intelligence, mixed reality, and robotic additive manufacturing, especially as pioneered by large tech companies, have failed to offer a cohesive aspirational agenda to reduce human suffering and oppression. Moving beyond the glamor of techno-optimism, a roadmap based on ecologies of human values is not only necessary as a framework for technological development, but can also offer creative solutions to many of the socio-ecological crises we face. Such a creative roadmap, as many of the failed manifestos of the past century testify, is more effective if produced through dialogue. A Purple Architecture addresses this ambition by provoking an interdisciplinary discussion among some of the most innovative leaders of the design fields. Through a critical examination of various design discourses, e.g., architecture, game design, film production, and fashion, the book echoes the heterogenous voice of a collective ambition for the future. Purpleness thus serves as a theoretical framework to investigate the impacts of technological mediation in providing spatial, and thereby socio-political, agency.
Spatio-Cinematic Betwixt: Architecture, Film, & the In-between
Edited by James F. Kerestes & Vahid Vahdat
Intellect Publishing, 2023.
How films imagine and represent in-between spaces and how cinematic production becomes a site to project spatial fantasies.
Architecture, Film, and the In-between: Spatio-Cinematic Betwixt looks at the cinematic representation of architectural in-betweenness, as well as the in-between spaces within the architectural structure of films. As films seek to depict architecture in evolving, original ways, they can also expand betwixt areas, imbuing them with horror or fantasy. Spies can escape inside unconvincingly stable ducts and children can slide through pipes with no discernible function. And just as subway routes and airplanes can stitch together two destinations, loopholes and magic architectural features can connect distinct realms via interstitial spaces. Contributors discuss a range of architects and filmmakers, including John Lautner, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Agnès Varda, and Mies van der Rohe, and take diverse approaches to the liminal space between architecture and film, touching on existential experience, post-phenomenological thinking, sociopolitical cinearchitecture, fictive ecologies, and more. Collecting essays by well-respected architects, thinkers, and philosophers—such as Juhani Pallasmaa, Beatriz Colomina, and Graham Harman—the book includes imagery and infographics that map filmic spaces, diagram narratives, and visualize the hidden spatial dimensions of movies.
2017-CURRENT
The Horror film genre reveals alternative ways in which the composition of domestic spaces can be occupied by engaging the latent architectural characteristics of houses. This is achieved by highlighting the design potential hidden within the unstructured spaces and poché of a residence. Unstructured spaces, such as closets, attics, and cellars, are areas within the home that are intended to be hidden and do not have a prescribed function assigned to them. Poché, in addition to being a ubiquitous convention of architectural drawing, is a visual representation of redacted space and its contents. Poché defines volumetric compositions, order, and boundaries. Activating, occupying, or altering these spatial conditions expands the possible ways of inhabiting residential architecture. A number of Horror films emphasize the role that architecture plays in these chaotic depictions of “home” and suggest the interpretation of the house as witness, agent, and perpetrator.
The following studies aim to demonstrate the application and design potential of activating unstructured spaces and residential poché in contemporary houses.
2024
Speculative towers deploying previously developed workflows for the creation of geometric complexities where tectonic aesthetics emerge over time. De Zwarte Toren takes inspiration from the naturalist artist Ernst Haeckel in regards to cataloging the various tower iterations.
2021
Speculative residence deploying previously developed workflows aimed at generating a complex geometry consisting of varying degrees of poché.
2016
Flourish is a collection of work aimed at exploring the concept and origins of complexity in architectural geometry. Working within a digital environment, each piece is created by repeatedly deploying a simple set of design operations from a single primitive shape. Over time, complex geometric patterns and compositions are produced and refined.
The search for complex geometric compositions and the representation of these objects derives inspiration from a variety of sources. In this instance, Flourish draws from a wide range of influences and representational genres such as depictions of the successive transformation of plants in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s book The Metamorphosis of Plants, to the evolutionary drawings of William Latham, and from the unlikely source of the branding for black metal music. These resources provide an appropriate lens in which to highlight the range and degree of variation embedded in the geometries and the implicit sequence of operations that produced them. The variation in the object’s resolution (high fidelity or low fidelity), as illustrated by its silhouette or figuration, lends itself to a multiplicity of readings where a rationalized legibility can be seen or lost.
2016
FLOURISH EXHIBITION
Wunderkammer Company Gallery, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Exhibition with select examples of artifacts from the Flourish series.
Collection includes graphic representations which illustrate the range of complexity that can be produced through the creation process. Additionally, physical artifacts were fabricated by way of powder 3D printing process in order to materialize he objects for further exploration.
2019
The rapid advancement and introduction of technological resources, such as architectural drafting and visualization programs, works to enhance and streamline the production of imagery and its distribution for mass consumption. The capabilities of these resources to produce and generate original content are often overlooked. Significant opportunity lies in looking beyond these technological tools as mere facilitators of a preconceived design output. Identifying the generative design opportunities within the creation of a deepfake allows for an evaluation and expansion upon the creation and representation of architectural typologies.
Architectural Deepfakes illustrate the latent representational and design application potential within familiar architectural typologies and styles. By synthesizing images and architectural symbols, we can expand upon the application, scale, and use of architectural form and language by releasing these constructs from restrictions. In this vein, architectural deepfakes offer opportunities to produce unique architectural conditions informed by a rich lineage of historical concepts.
2015
END GAME EXHIBITION
Kennesaw State University: College of Architecture & Construction Management
Nowhere in the current paradigm of “green” building is there a realistic discussion about what the climate and environment will look like in the coming decades, and distant future. End Game examines these future conditions through the development of adaptive surface structures using responsive materials which can mitigate extreme climatic scenarios, focusing specifically on air pollution.
2015
Dirty House puts into practice lessons learned from the DOON project. The exterior envelope of the building is equipped with a second "skin" in order to attract, collect, and disperse air pollution and particulate matter, while simultaneously protecting the residents from poor air quality.
A parametric logic assists in the compositional design of the second skin by informing the location, density, and length of the new material system. This system consists of tension cables and rods stretched over the existing structure.
2013-2015
The term sustainability was born in the mid-20th century as a necessary response to negative environmental impacts that were rapidly arising. Quickly adopted into use by the architecture and design community, the term bled into the public consciousness as an ideal approach to maintaining, and sustaining, modern society as we progressed toward a distant utopia. Nearly 60 years after the term grew into popular use, we are still grappling with methods architects, planners, and builders will use to propel us into a future of ecological dynamism.
Design Out of Necessity (DOON) examines these future conditions through the development of adaptive surface structures using responsive materials which can mitigate extreme climatic scenarios, focusing specifically on air pollution.
2014
K.I.T.T.T. is a project focused on evaluating and developing a means of production and fabrication. The challenge was to begin with a physical model at a very small scale and realize this form at an exponentially larger size.
In order to achieve the initial form, a rule based operation was applied to a stock sheet of foam. The resulting shape was then digitized by way of 3D Scanning.
The digital model generated from the scanning process would allow for the development of an efficient fabrication methodology. After continuous refinement, CNC milling was selected as the primary means of production.
The initial scale of the object measured 10 inches in length, but would be reproduced to measure 7 feet in length.
K.I.T.T.T. was temporarily installed at the Ball State University College of Architecture and Planning Gallery for public interaction and play.
2013
Computational study exploring the emerging qualities and collective behavior of a self-organizing system.
2006
Computational study exploring a curve based self-organizing system. A digital simulation comprised of dynamic curves takes inspiration from the thread models of Frei Otto and the hanging chain studies of Gaudi in order to find form and structure.