Happy Easter from WeWantToLearn.net :)

It is the end of the second term for the University of Westminster and what a term for DS10! Four projects almost completed at BuroHappold’s engineering headquarters, Three projects to build at the Burning Man festival this summer. We could not be more happy and proud of our students… And it is not finished: after having produced a timeline of the scientific discovery and science-fictional predictions, they have started designing a future city (Brief03) based on their Brief01 and Brief02 work. Here are some pictures showing the students and their current research. Happy Easter everyone!

DS10 in our studio space at the University of Westminster

Joe Leach working on the Falling Leaves, his installation for Buro Happold engineering

Diana Raican finishing the Dissolving Cubes installation at the Nervi Room, BuroHappold

Garis Iu completing the Meander, his curved Origami installation for BuroHappold

Charlotte Yates’ Jitterbug Prototype for Buro Happold Engineering. Client Meeting with Neil Billet, Andrew Best and James Solly

Lorna Jackson showing one of the gifts for our Kickstarter Campaign

John Konings showing his prototype for an Origami City on Water generating electricity from the waves in Holland.

Joe Leach showing his Burning Man proposal model to Mike Tonkin

Alex Berciu showing the environemental, structural and programatic rules for the growth of his vertical city

Alex Berciu showing the environemental, structural and programatic rules for the growth of his vertical city

Alex Berciu showing the environemental, structural and programatic rules for the growth of his vertical city

Sarah Stell’s African Rural and tribal mega-city

Ieva Ciocyte’s Solar chimneys City made from a network of water purifying farms in a polluted land.

Tom Jelley showing his Floating Solar Mirrors City.

Garis Iu’s extruded plastic floating city based on curved origami.

Joe Leach’s Green Corridor City in the Amazonian Forest

Irina Ghuizan showing her City in the Sky

Lorna Jackson showing her feminist city and her winning burning man project made from Spirohedron

Toby Plunkett showing his cymatic city generated from sound patterns

Three DS10 students win Art Grants for the Burning Man Festival 2015

WeWantToLearn.net (Diploma Studio 10 at the University of Westminster led by Toby Burgess and Arthur Mamou-Mani)  is happy to announce more good news – Three of our students have just received art grants from the Burning Man Festival to build the pavilions they designed as part of our brief – Congratulations to the following winners:

• Tobias Power with The Infinity Tree
• Lorna Jackson with Reflection
• Jon Leung with Bismuth Bivouac

All DS10 students will be offered a chance to build the projects this summer with the designers and we will be supported by RAMBOLL and Format Engineers.

Over the course of four years, DS10 has submitted a little more than 80 proposals to the Global Arts Grant of Burning Man and received a total of 6 grants including the ones for Fractal Cult & Shipwreck (built in 2013) and Hayam (built in 2014). We are all very proud and excited to go back!

The Infinity Tree by Tobias Power

Reflection by Lorna Jackson

Bismuth Bivouac by Jon Leung

Watch our TEDx talk, The Architecture of Joy to understand the philosophy behind these projects

As the grant is limited, we need your help to pay for transportation and the additional costs related to construction, you can donate on the PayPal button below just indicate which project you want to donate to, kickstarter campaigns should follow shortly:

 

Students create installations for global engineering practice’s London office refurbishment

At the end of a marathon day during which 23 students presented project work to BuroHappold Engineering’s top executives, four students from Diploma Studio 10 (DS10) at the University of Westminster were selected to build temporary installations for the global engineering practice’s soon to be refurbished London offices. The presentations were overseen by their tutors Arthur Mamou-Mani and Toby Burgess, and Neil Billett, Andrew Best, Emma Greenough and James Solly from BuroHappold.

The winners of the competition were:

• Garis Iu (71 Newman Street window) with The Meander, an 12 meters long flowing  cluster of laser-cut curved origami filtering views on street level towards the reception area.
• Diana Raican (17 Newman Street window) with The Colliding Cubes,  a dramatic 5 meters wide wall suspended above the street and assembled with friction-based component dissolving through one another, parametrically designed to filter light and views.
• Joe Leach (17 Newman Street Staircase) with The Falling Leaves, an innovative laser-cut curved truss system assembled around a series of nodes holding a beautiful array of wooden leaves.
• Charlotte Yates (17 Newman Street separating screen) with The Jitterbug, a kinetic installation inspired by Buckminster Fuller and made from punch-pressed aluminium icosahedron opening and closing depending on space requirements.

The projects celebrate 40 years of innovative structural solutions from BuroHappold and the practice’s commitment to supporting education in the fields of architecture, engineering and digital fabrication and will have a lifespan of a year before the next DS10 intake follow the same process and vie for an exhibition space.

We would like to thank David Scott and Edward Lancaster from the University of Westminster’s Fabrication Laboratory for all their support.

Here are images of the winning designs. More news to come on the expected launch date.

The Meander by Garis Iu – DS10 Univeristy of Westminster for BuroHappold Engineering (led by Arthur Mamou-Mani and Toby Burgess)

The Colliding Cubes by Diana Raican – DS10 Univeristy of Westminster for BuroHappold Engineering (led by Arthur Mamou-Mani and Toby Burgess)

Jitterbug by Charlotte Yates – DS10 Univeristy of Westminster for BuroHappold Engineering (led by Arthur Mamou-Mani and Toby Burgess)

Falling Leaves by Joe Leach – DS10 Univeristy of Westminster for BuroHappold Engineering (led by Arthur Mamou-Mani and Toby Burgess)

The student work will join the permanent installation “Wooden Waves” designed by DS10 tutor Arthur Mamou-Mani. More information on this project may be found on http://mamou-mani.com/BuroHappold.

TheWoodenWaves by Mamou-Mani at 17 and 71 Newman Street.

Final Crit – Thursday 16th May

It was DS10’s Final crit yesterday which concludes our BRIEF03:TEMPLE. Wonderful day with a wide spectrum of temples showing the concerns and fascinations of a group of twenty-one architectural students in 2013. A myriad of political and spiritual statements on today’s society helped by parametric design tools and physical modelling. Here is the list of all the themes that emerged in the third term:

• Temple to Love and Lust in Brighton, U.K. – by Georgia-Rose Collard-Watson
• Temple to Revolution in Tahrir Square, Egypt – by Luka Kreze
• Temple to Making in the City of London, U.K. – by Michael Clarke
• Temple to Vibrations on Mount Neru, Tanzania – by Dhiren Pattel
• Temple to Crowdfunding the City of London, U.K. – by Sarah Shuttleworth
• Temple to Infinity in the Mojave Desert, U.S.A – by Andrei Jippa
• Temple to Augmented Reality near Oxford Street, London, U.K. – by Mark Simpson
• Temple to Gin, near Kings Cross, London, U.K. – by George Guest
• Temple to Permaculture, in Totness, U.K. – by Philp Hurrel
• Temple to Bees, in the Olympic Park, London, U.K. – by Jake Alsop
• Temple against Electro-Magnetic Radiations, in Snowdonia National Park, U.K. – by Chris Ingram
• Temple against Pre-Packaged Meat, in Smithfield Market, London, U.K. – by Alex Woolgar
• Temple to Bio-Polymers , in Thelford, U.K. – by Marilu Valente
• Temple against Consumerism, in Selfridges, London, U.K. – by Jessica Beagleman
• Temple to Online Knowledge, in the Sillicon Roundabour, London, U.K. – by Tim Clare
• Temple to the Awareness of Death, in Mexico – by Thanasis Korras
• Temple of Illusion, in South Bank, London, U.K.- by Daniel Dodds
• Temple to Water on the Thames, London, U.K. – by William Garforth-Bless
• Temple to Atheism in Lower Lea Valley Park, London, U.K. – by Emma Whitehead
• Temple to Light in Elephant and Castle, London, U.K. – by Josh Haywood
• Temple to Sun Worship in the Wyndham Council Estate, Camberwell London, U.K. – by Natasha Coutts

Thank you very much to all our external critiques: William Firebrace, Jeanne Sillett, Harri Lewis and Jack Munro.  Two weeks more to go until the hand-in of portfolios (28th May). Here are couple pictures:

Luka Kreze’s thorned tensegrity architecture against dictatorship on Tahrir Square – A manual to start a revolution.

Jake Alsop’s wax-generated temple for Bees

Chris Ingram’s Slate Community, away from electro-magnetic radiation

Marilu Valente’s Digital/Physical experiement on elastic bio-polymer

Marilu Valente’s diagramming of the bio-polymer stretch

Emma’s ‘Agora’ – forum for Sunday assembly – atheist congregation

Sarah Shuttleworth’s Temple to crowdfunding – Kickstarter HQ

Crowdfunded structure for Sarah Shuttleworth’s roof

Jessica Beagleman’s “Atelier” on the roof of Selfridges is made of sewed pieces of plywood/

William Garforth-Bless’Temple to Water using a thin fiber glass shell and floating components on the Thames

Philip Hurrell’s Temple to the Transition Movement in Totness, Devon

Daniel Dodds’ abstract for the Temple of Illustion

Tim Clare’s temple to online knowledge is an irregular gridshell following learning spaces

The story of a reciprocal structure and a temple to making by Michael Clarke

WikiWax

This project looked to understand and develop a construction set that could be open source such as the WikiHouse CNC construction set. Through the material research done, I have predominately focused on the use of wax in construction. Experiments have explored its use as a form-finder, form-work and as a composite material. To apply this system as a Wiki, I strived to develop potential products, along with build information, which could then be open source. However the nature of the research, the complexity of the processes, and the functionality of the final products led me to question whether the Wiki route would be feasible. As an alternative, I have begun to explore taking the system along a business route, whilst considering making parts open source for individuals.

Weighing up the options:

1. Open Source
If someone wants to make an item then they have the information available to do so. This could be particularly relevant for the environmental products which could act as cheap DIY alternatives for those that can afford to buy specialist systems.

2. Private copyrighted business
The nature of the WikiWax processes makes it difficult to replicate, they are also not items of necessity nor would they be built as a collective. These are just some of the reasons why the systems developed don’t naturally lend themselves to be open source. As beautiful items they could instead be made into unique designer products and sold.

3. Open Source but protected form big companies
This approach allows for both systems to operate. Individuals can make their own table for example or develop and modify the processes, allowing for innovation and growth. But also products can be patented and sold. Through this strategy architecture is open to 100% of the population rather than the 1% if limited to sale only.

For further information on my research and material experiments see my portfolio

Material Matters- New Materials in Design

This book is pretty interesting, from bio plastic, inflated glass, to aerogel the lightest solid on earth (captures stardust by NASA), the book explores loads of materials i’ve never even heard of. Seemed like a very DS10 book.

http://www.instituteofmaking.org.uk/about/people