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The parametric fabrication model was developed from the original surface geometry for Centre Pompidou, Metz.
This model was built using the Autodesk DesignComputation prototype software to show that it is possible to explore a range of design and modeling strategies.
About three kilometers southeast of La Sagrada Familia (Barcelona, Spain), behind a red terra-cotta door on Carrer de Pujades, a small army—a force of 100, led by 25 captains— labored deep into the night inside a spacious studio that belonged to the Institute for Advanced Archi- tecture of Catalonia (IaaC). While Spanish youths reveled in tapas and sangria along the long, tree-lined pedestrian walkway of La Rambla, the indoor crowd wrestled with cardboard cutouts, wooden blocks, stretched fabrics, and foam trimmings. Some stared at glowing laptop screens, hoping to unlock geo metric mysteries. Others wrote strings of code to conjure up strange shapes. Many worked around the clock, for- going sleep, fueled by café solos. T ey represented a sampling of the brightest minds from world-renowned design fi rms (Foster+Partners, KPF Kohn Pedersen Fox, Grimshaw, Arup, Buro Happold) and academia (Architectural Association, MIT, Delft Technical University, University of Bath). T ey were the wizards of computational design, the SmartGeometry Group (www.smartgeometry.org), in action.
October 2010
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