Shaping sand - Heuristic Interactive modelling

The purpose of the workshop  "Shaping Sand-Heuristic Interactive modelling" was to explore the potentials of human-machine interaction in a cooperative learning environment for artists, architects and structural designers.

In order to use computational and manual design processes creatively for artistic, architectural and engineering processes and link them with tacit material information and human experience about design processes and their implementation, a test environment is proposed, in which basic solutions can be designed and evaluated, combining the implicit knowledge of human action with automated precision in a heuristic process. The immediacy of the experience of working with granular materials as a malleable substance is used to create a variety of experiments in which the scope of human action and its interconnections between virtual and actual spaces can be explored and reflected.

The workshop was explicitly directed towards an interdisciplinary group of 6-10 participants from art, architecture and engineering. Ideally the different disciplines collaborated in individual groups. No specific tooling knowledge was required, except for a general spatial and constructive imagination in the respective fields, as well as curiosity and commitment. More specific skills in Programming, robotics and a basic knowledge about materials as well as planning and manufacturing processes were desirable among some of the participants.

That was the schedule for the following weeks:

24.5.19, 12am - 4pm
Introduction: heuristic strategies and introduction to the workshop setup(Hardenbergstraße 33, Raum 316)

6.6. - 7.6.19, 10am - 4pm
Sand Casting Workshop I - analog work in the sand, discussions and first concepts (Einsteinufer 43, BOL)

14.6 - 15.6.19
Sand Casting Workshop II - Working with the scanner, adjust analog digital (Einsteinufer 43, BOL)

28.6. - 29.6.19
Sand Casting Workshop III - Robotersimulation (Hardenbergstraße 33, Raum 316 für Roboter-Tutorial + Einsteinufer 43, BOL)

12.7.
Final Presentation (Hardenbergstraße 33, Studio 236)