News / Events 2016

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C-Biom.A / IAAC student Jessica Gabriela Mendez Sierra instals environmental mural at Mexican Consulate, Barcelona Spain.
Venue: Mexican Consulate
Sponsors: CASELLES XIGERU -  (concrete panels producers); MC-BAUCHEMIE - Oscar Gines (additives for concrete); TEMATIK BARCELONA - (prefabricated panels and hanging facades systems)
Photo credit: Yessica Gabriela Mendez Sierra


19-11-2016
BiotA Lab and C-Biom.A group exhibit work at BIOFABRICATE conference 2016, New York City.
http://www.biofabricate.co/biofabricate-2016
Venue: Parsons School of Design, NYC
Organisers: Suzanne Lee
Organisation team: Suzanne Lee; Amy Congdon; Annelie Koller; Emma van der Leest
Speakers: Joel Towers / Parsons; Eben Bayer / Ecovative; Mark Drury . Mother Dirt; Heather Dewey-Hagborg; Kenji Higashi / Spiber Inc.; Daniel Grushkin / Gnespace and Biodesign Challenge; Bioesters / FIT; Megan Palmer / Stanford Unviersity; Burak Cakmak / Parsons; Tony Dunne / Parsons; Julie Legault / Amino Labs; Andrew Pelling / Pelling Lab; Amy Congdon / Modern Meadow; Laia Mogas-Soldevilla / Tufts University; Pieter van Boheemen; James Carnes / Adidas; Daisy Ginsberg; Phil Ross / Mycoworks; Cyrill Gutsch; Scott Fullbright / Linving Ink; Chris Callewaert / UCSanDiego; Franklin S Abrams / Srpingut Law; Antony Evans / Taxa; Ginger Krieg Dosier / bioMason; Jens Klein / AMSilk; Christina Agapakis / Gingko Bioworks; Andras Forgacs / Modern Meadow; Tina Gorjanc; Adital Ela / Criaterra; Maurizio Montalti / Officina Corpuscoli; Gerd Manz / adidas; Fiona Raby / Parsons.
Exhibitors: BiotA Lab / Barltett UCL; C-Biom.A / IaaC; Biorealize; Bioesters / FIT; Amino Labs; Officina Corpuscoli / Mogu; Fragant Moss; Mycoworks; Spiderwort; Criaterra; Living Ink; Ecovative & Biomason; Starter Cutlure / Mica; Spiber; Tina Gorjanc
BiotA Lab and C-Biom.A in show
Robotically printed hydrogel prints (J.Hagopian; S.Mohite; X.Zhou;  H.Qian - front)
Bioreceptive MPC casts (Z.Wang; Y.Jiang; X.Lin; Q.Zeng - back)
C-Biom.A (Nina Jotanovic/Natalie Alima - left) and BiotA Lab prototypes (right)
BiotA Lab and C-Biom.A in show
BiotA Lab and C-Biom.A in show
Photo credit: Marcos Cruz


07-10-2016
C-BIOM.A - computation, bio-materials and architecture 
Start of Marcos Cruz studio MAA 02 2016/17, at Institute of Advance Architecture of Catalonia / IaaC, Barcelona Spain.
Tutor: Marcos Cruz
Assistant tutor: Nina Jotanovic
Academic coordinator MAA02: Maria Kuptsova
Synthetic Biology: Nuria Conde Pueyo
Students: Thorahafdis Arnardottir, Inthat Ueasakaree; Jessica Dias; Nikolaos Argyros; Noor Elgewely; Yasamin Khalilbeigikhameneh; Christopher Wong


28-09-2016
BiotA Lab / rC7 MArch Architectural Design, Bartlett UCL, London UK.
Start of Biotechnology and Architecture Lab 2016/17 - Radical Environments
Tutors of rC7: Marcos Cruz, Richard Beckett, Chris Leung, Javier Ruiz
Thesis tutor: Shneel Malik
Students: Xiao Cao; Marisa Dewi; Hao Ding; Eleni Dourampei; Sara Eljamal; Hoda Eskandar Nia; Ling Gou; Yuan Huang; Jeng-Ying Li; Yi Li; Shengtao Luo; Gang Mao; Leyi Qi; Sung Min Rhee; Xu Si; Mu Tsai; Xinyu Wu; Idil Yucel Inal; Bowen Zhang; Ziwei Zhao; Xiaobing Zhou; Zhou Jia




27-09-2016 
BiotA Lab at B.PRO Final Exhibition, London UK.
BiotA tutors: Marcos Cruz; Richard Beckett; Chris Leung; Javier Ruiz
Installation design: Marcos Cruz; Richard Beckett; Javier Ruiz
Students:  Zhili Wang; Nan Huang; Yi Lui; Yue Li; Chih Hsu; Jiaui Liu; Julie Hagopian; Xinhe Lin; Kwon Kooyoung; Mohit Jotwani; Huang Qian; Jiang Yuxin; Hong Chong; Yeguang Ma; Shiyi Sun; Sanika Mohite; Yucong Xiao; Tang Zheng; Xinyi Zhou; Zeng Qungyue

Bro Show - BiotA Lab
Bro show - BiotA Lab
Bro show - BiotA Lab
Multimaterial cast with MPC concrete for selective bioreceptivity
Robotically printed hydrogel scaffolds with encapsulated algae
Photo credit: Marcos Cruz


29-06-2016 
Lecture 'Biointegrated Design / BioiD' at the University of Siegen, Germany.
Host: Uli Exner; Nikolaus Pamarsche 


July 2016
C-BIOM.A and BiotA Lab projects on Materiability website
Students: Nina Jotanovic; Natalie Alima; Irina Shaklova


13/15-06-2016 
External Examination, Royal academy of Fine Arts / KADK, Copenhagen, Denmark.
External Examiners: Marcos Cruz; Marianne Hansen; Merete Ahnfeldt-Mollerup


June 2016
Article 'Biorecepive Design' (Marcos Cruz and Richard Beckett) published in Architectural Research Quarterly / ARQ - Architecture and Biotechnology / Synthetic Biology / Cells as Architects, Cambridge University Press, UK.




June 2016
BiotA Lab installs Bioreceptive Concrete Panels for full seasonal environmental testing at the Bartlett School of Architecture, London UK.
Venue: Courtyard of 140 Hampstead Road
Team: Prof Marcos Cruz (PI), Richard Beckett, Dr Chris Leung, Dr Sandra Manso, Bill Watts
Funder: Engineering and Physical Science Research Council / EPSRC, UK
Structure: Chris Leung
Engineering: Price and Myers
Assembly: B-Made
Photo credit: Paul Smoothy


28-06-2016 
Final Crits and exhibition of C-Biom.A Studio at the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia / IaaC, Barcelona Spain.
Location: Corretger Gallery, Barcelona
Critics: Izaskun Chinchilla, Ellena Rocchi, Tony Cumella, Areti Markopoulou, Alex Duboi, Maite Bravo, Maria Kutsova, Mathilde Marengo
Support: Taller Tony Cumella
Students: Nina Jotanovic, Yessica Mendez, Kunaljit Chadha, Zunabath Majid, Wilton Neves
Crits with Izaskun Chinchilla, Areti Markopoulou and Nina Jovanovic
Wall installation by Yessica Mendez
Tiles by Nina Jotanovic
Mycocrete panels by Zunabath Majid
Sulphor concrete robotic printing by Kunaljit Chadha
(from left to right) Kunaljit Chadha, Nina Jovanovic, Marcos Cruz, Zunabath Majid, Yessica Mendez
Photo credit: Marcos Cruz

24-06-2016 
Book launch of Unit 20 / Hyper-articulated Morphologies (eds. Marjan Colletti and Marcos Cruz) at the Bartlett School of Architecture, London UK.
Editors: Marcos Cruz and Marjan Colletti
Illustrated student work: Selina Yau, Vincent Yeung, Giota Kotsovinou, Andreas Koerner, Vivian Wong, James Mills, JJ Saw, Firas Saad, Daniel Coley, Man Chung Wong, Jessica Wang, Matthew Pratt, Patrick Mawson, George Bolwell, Jonathan Wilson, Wiktor Kidziak, Jianze Hao, Shi Qi An, Maria Esteban-Casanas
Publisher: List Lab, Trento Italy, Barcelona Spain
Funding: Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL

Introduction by editors

 Our work in Unit 20 is focused on a multi-layered approach to design where a multitude of thoughts, concepts and methodologies are ingrained in projects. Conspicuously expressive and compelling, the work is driven by programmatic, contextual/climatic and cultural specificities, while at the same time being the result of well-articulated computational agendas that aim not only at novel technological solutions, but also at aesthetics that push beyond boundaries of the conventional.

Computation is a fundamental research tool through which the ornamentation of the architectural skin – or better flesh or bark? – along with augmented spatial and typological conditions, and a novel materiality of buildings can be simulated and fabricated to open up for radically new morphologies in architecture. Buildings seek for a new sense of physical and cultural depth with the use of complexity and hyper-articulated geometries, structures and materials, while simultaneously embracing a new engagement with the body and its ever-changing surrounding environment.  

The work in this book is structured around differentiated physical entities – fields, environments, ornaments, materials, bodies and objects – that create the departure points for projects in which multi-cellularity, fluidity, convolution, porosity, tectonic and exuberance form part of a conscious adjectivisation of architecture that is simultaneously experimental and experiential. However, rather than working by exclusion or elimination, projects articulate all the topics in some manner or another, yet with a mature sense of hierarchy, gradually integrating the multiplicity of thoughts in one synthetic act.

The work shown in this book is a collection of sketches, fragments, dissections, tests and prototypes that illustrate, and why not, diagnose our overall production in constant evolution and change. Top-down tactics of delivering knowledge in architectural education should be considered out-dated, ineffective and unproductive. Consequently, we have adopted a research-led educational model that adopts a more bottom-up, poetic, discursive and open-ended approach.

We are aware that such an approach is experimental and hence insecure, risky, and at best approximated. However, a key characteristic of design processes and design intelligence must be variability. Thus, openness, dynamism and hybridity can be seen as appropriate strategies for educating architects. Coaching (not teaching) a student is a dianoetic process that proceeds by reasoning, argumentation and contemplation (by research). It requires reciprocal communication, two-way debate and cooperative dialogue. And therefore an expanded vocabulary. The colourful and complex glossary proposed in this book is a reflection of what we second-order – or post-digital – architects are pursuing. A restricted vocabulary, both in linguistic and in formal terms, is not only not contemporary, but asphyxiating and counterproductive to the advancement of the discipline.

Arguably, such modus operandi of research-led education can only happen and thrive on an open and multivalue platform (call it a unit, a studio, a lab, a cluster, an institute, a centre, a school or a faculty) and we are grateful that The Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL is such a place.



24-06-2016 
Bartlett School of Architecture Summer Exhibition opening, London UK. 
Guest opener: Liz Diller
Guest opener: Bob Sheil (Director), Frederic Migayrou (Chair), Liz Diller (Guest Opener), Alan Penn (Dean)
Unit 20 installation with work of: Selina Yau, Vincent Yeung, Giota Kotsovinou, Andreas Koerner, Vivian Wong, James Mills, JJ Saw, Firas Saad, Daniel Coley, Man Chung Wong, Jessica Wang, Matthew Pratt, Patrick Mawson, George Bolwell
Photo credit: Paul Smoothy


20-05-2016 
UNIT 20 final Crits, Bartlett School of Architecture, London UK. 
Critics: Andy Bow; Yael Reisner; Damjan Iliev; Malca Mizrahi; Richard Beckett; Javier Ruiz; Justin Nicholls; Hina Lad; Marjan Colletti, Marcos Cruz


6-05-2016
Keynote lecture at the Interior Architecture Symposium, Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul Turkey.




28-04-2016
BiotA Lab presentation at Transport for London, London UK.
Host: Jyoti Patel
Presentation: Marcos Cruz, Richard Beckett and Michael Pelken (Laing O'Rourke)

25-04-2016
BiotA Lab's research discussed in article 'Reinventing the green wall' (by Amanda Birch), in Building Design magazine London UK.

8-04-2016
Chairing Production Session at the AAE Research Based Education Conference, Bartlett School of Architecture, London UK.
Organisation: AAE / Hannah Vowles
Location: Bartlett School of Architecture, 132 Hampstead Road, London NW1 2BX
Keynote speakers: Izaskun Chinchilla; Achim Menges;  Lesley Lokko; Etienne Wenger
Speakers at Production Session: Guan Lee (Bartlett/Grymsdyke Farm) and Eleanor Morgan (Kingston University); Alicia Nahmad Velasquez (Welsh School of Architecture/AA); Ioanna Symeonidou (Aristotles University Thessaloniki/TU Graz)


2/3-03-2016
BiotA Lab research mentioned and illustrated in article 'Moos' (by Jakob Michael), in Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany.




24-03-2016
BiotA Lab research discussed and illustrated in article 'World of Design: The Joy of Moss and Its Modern Uses, in Houzz Magazine.

 

22-03-2016
Presentation at the Centre for Nature-Inspired Engineering / CNIE, London UK.
Host: Marc-Olivier Coppens


8/10-03-2016
Presentation of Bioreceptive Design at the 'Materials Afternoon Sessions / Big Idea Session', at Ecobuild, London UK.
Venue: Excell Centre, London
Auditorium: Build Circular


8/10-03-2016
BiotA Lab present research and student work at Ecobuild, London UK.
Venue: Excell Centre, London
Stand: E3115

Photo credit: Paul Smoothy
Photo credit: Wanda Yu-Ying Hu


03-03-2016
Seminar Talk for the 1st year History and Theory at the Bartlett School of Architecture, London UK.
Host: Mario Carpo

24-02-2016
IaaC-Bartlett (BiotA Lab/rC7) conjoint interim reviews at the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia / IaaC, Barcelona Spain.
Critics: Maite Bravo, Maria Kutsova, Mathilde Marengo, Richard Beckett, Javier Ruiz, Marcos Cruz


12-02-2016
BiotA Lab / Bioreceptive Design in LS:N Global, UK.

09-02-2016 
Lecture back to back with Peter Cook at the Royal Institute of British Architects, London
01-02-2016 
Keynote lecture 'Simulated Realities', National Symposium on the Architectural Thesis at the CCAE, Cork Ireland.



12-01-2016 
Interim Crit at the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonya / IaaC, Barcelona Spain.

Critics: Silvia Brandi, Maite Bravo, Mathilde Marengo, Maria Kutsova, Antonia Navarro Ezquerra, Jordi Vivaldi


11-01-2016
Lecture 'Bioreceptive Morphologies' at the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonya / IaaC, Barcelona Spain.