Tactical Tectonics

Open Call

+FARM is excited to announce our 2014 August Studio at Silo City: Buffalo, NY working directly with Rigidized Metals Corporation and the Rigidized Fab-Team to design, fabricate, and construct a multi-level Culture Shelter.  Silo City features an unparalleled cluster of concrete grain silos, the exact collection Reyner Banham described in “Concrete Atlantis”, and studio participants are invited to construct the first permanent installation on site since the site was abandoned in the 1970s.    The silos stand at the convergence of design, engineering, and material practice, and are becoming the cultural identity of the city.  Studio participants will work directly onsite collaborating in an iterative design process that explores a tactical tectonic logic that will result in constructing a multi-programmable shelter.  Ten applicants selected from an open call will work directly with professional craftsmen, fabricators, architects, digital specialists, educators, and Rigidized Metals Fab-Team exposing the participants to emerging design, computation, fabrication, material and construction practices in the field of architecture.  In this pioneering summer studio at Silo City, the focus is on synthesizing experimental design tactics of spatial, structural, and material ordering integrated through material and fabrication technologies.  Potentially providing the foundations for a new architectural language across the site, the Culture Shelter has broad implications for the future of Silo City.

During this 10-day studio, participants will live in downtown Buffalo while taking part in a fast-paced hands-on collaborative process. Participants will engage in all aspects of the project realization including iterative design sessions, focused discussions, full-scale prototypes, group presentations (to the Owner of Silo City) and technical investigations into a final built project.  Prototypes and final components will be built and evaluated with material experts from Rigidized Metals.  The studio will conclude with participants presenting the completed pavilion to the Rigidized Metals for a public ribbon cutting and celebration.

Silo City is a 16 acre industrial, nature, waterfront site in downtown Buffalo used by various user groups across the arts/design/creative communities.  The Culture Shelter must consider this highly collaborative relationship to navigate the emerging cultural paradigm to engender a new architectural practice.  Considering the uniqueness of the site, and the project, +FARM is excited to participate and explore the potential for a cultural transformation.

+FARM brings together a wide range of professionals to work directly with the participants during the studio.  The studio will progress from introductory to more advanced working sessions with technical content to address issues of: materiality, interiority, component types, and self-structuring architecture. A broad array of analog and digital tools from cnc turret press, pneumatically powered shears, tab/bolt connecting, sketching, solidworks, rhinoceros and grasshopper will be employed and available to the studio participants.

+FARM SILO CITY STUDIO

Participants will work together as a team for the entire design, fabrication, and construction process and will share responsibilities in building the shelter from ground up.  Consideration of the climatic, environmental, ecological, and material challenges of this dynamic site are crucial to the realization of the final project.

Project Focus

• Craft: Material Investigations (Forensics), Metal Fabrication (CNC Turret Press, Pneumatically Powered Shear, Hydraulic Press Brake Humping, Welding).
• Digital Design + Fabrication (SolidWorks), Parametric Design (Grasshopper), Physics-based Simulation (Karamba), and Modeling for Digital Fabrication (Rhino + Rhinonest).
• Construction: Fundamentals (Woodworking, Concrete, Advanced Carpentry), Metal Tooling (Tab/ Bolt Connecting), Electrical (Basic Lighting).

Project Team

Brian Ringley is the Fuse Lab Technology Coordinator at City Tech (CUNY) where he is developing new curriculum in computational fabrication, Building Information Modeling (BIM), and building performance, and integrating the use of the digital fabrication labs (industrial robotic automation, CNC machining, additive machining, reverse engineering, and laser cutting) into new coursework. Prior to working at CUNY, Brian was the Digital Fabrication Coordinator for the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning at the University of Cincinnati. Brian has worked in the architectural offices of KPF in New York and London, Dellekamp Arquitectos in Mexico City, and R&Sie(n) in Paris, has taught architecture courses at the University of Cincinnati, the City University of New York, and Pratt Institute, and has been an invited critic at Columbia University, Cornell University, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Jason is a founding partner of Schindler Crafts based in Buffalo, NY. Since 2004, Schindler Crafts has renovated a range of historic homes exploring traditional and contemporary woodworking technologies. Jason has worked with +FARM since 2011, providing the foundations for proper woodworking that intersects education and practice.

Robert Papocchia, AIA, is an experienced architect and project manager. In nearly two decades of professional work, Mr. Papocchia has focused his career on infrastructure projects. In his current role as Transit Architecture Studio Leader at HNTB, Robert oversees the work of the firm's Transit Studio in New York, including the revitalization of South Station in Boston, Post-Hurricane Sandy recovery and resiliency projects for New York City Transit, and the redesign of the Wilson Transfer Station in Chicago. Mr. Papocchia’s past work includes projects for New York City Transit, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, New Jersey Transit, New Jersey Turnpike Authority and Chicago Transit Authority. Robert current holds licensure as a registered architect in the following states: New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois and California.

William Haskas is the Founder and Design Principle of LuStudio an emerging design collaborative based in Brooklyn + Buffalo, NY.  He specializes in the application of material performance, emergent design technologies and digital fabrication in contemporary design practices.  His studio is currently working on a 16acre industrial re-development, and Cycling Bridge in Buffalo, New York, and is currently collaborating with the Artist Kelley Walker (this work just opened in a show the Paula Cooper Gallery in NY).  He is Co-Founder of DESIGNCIRCUIT, a non-profit organization operating nomadically throughout multiple cities, hosting a range of events to propel research into action.  William is currently teaching at Parsons the New School of Design in the School of Constructed Environments, NY City College Spitzer School of Architecture, and New York City College of Technology.  In 2011 he formed +FARM.

Website: http://www.rigidizedmetals.com

Brian Ringley
Matei Denes
Jason Schindler
Robert Papocchia
William Haskas
Rigidized Metals Fab-Team

SILO CITY: BUFFALO, NY

Silo City, located on Ohio Street along the Buffalo River, is becoming a cultural and recreational waterfront that provides public access, arts, history, and public event destination.  Just a short walk from Lake Erie and downtown Buffalo, the site is also home to a beautiful mix of natural wildlife.

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Requirements

Applicants must be enrolled or have successfully completed at least one year of education at the university level or school of higher education, and we recommend that students not be out of school more than 10 years.  Selections will be made based on the applicant’s previous work and presentation skills within the realm of art, architecture, design, and fabrication.

Fees

The Tactical Tectonics Studio is $1500 for each individual. Application fees will be deducted from the Studio fee. This must be paid in advance of the workshop.

Fee Includes:

Lodging and meals will be provided for lunch and dinner.  All design, fabrication, and construction sessions including direct interaction and guidance from the professionals participating in areas of woodworking, metal fabrication and tooling, digital modeling, advanced carpentry, construction with tools such as inverted plasma cutter, rhinoceros, and grasshopper.

Participants will be staying in downtown Buffalo with comfortable accommodations.  +FARM will provide transportation to and from the site each day.

Schedule

+FARM SILO CITY Schedule

Summer Schedule

Jury

Jury to be announced on March 14.

+FARM and Beyond

+FARM will conclude with a community celebration to showcase the built structure. You will prepare a presentation to the guests to encourage a discussion that strengthens the dialog between design and user. In Fall 2014, we have a public exhibition in New York City featuring your work from the program. The gallery exhibit will offer an opportunity to interact and connect with a larger network of designers and professionals focused on similar topics of study.