RIO DE JANEIRO ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION VISITING SCHOOL - SUPPLE PAVILION WORKSHOP 2

Activating Networks:

The second stage of the Supple Pavilions workshop series will focus on the development and 1:1 fabrication of a network of interactive pavilions and related artifices.  These elements will react to sensors, creating a range of different lighting and spatial effects that will trigger further movement and produce a feedback loop of behaviour and response. To accommodate this respon­siveness, the design will be developed using parametric associative modeling, processing, arduino, and digital fabrication using the CNC and Laser Cutters.  Students can both develop completely new designs, and/or work on the evolution of the Workshop 1 Supple Pavilion project.

The Visiting School will return to Barracão Escola de Carnaval to evolve the design of the migrating Pavilions, their contents and their context, exploring a design philosophy of interactive event design and the production of a creative fusion of high-tech design generation and fabrication with low-tech redefinition of Carnival-float artisan techniques, paraphernalia, and materials.  We will work in the immense and creative Pimpolhos warehouse, collaborating with local artisans of several Samba Schools in the post-industrial, partly-derelict Porto do Rio area, (the birthplace of the Carnival and Samba), introducing digital fabrication techniques. The goal is to create interventions for micro-venues and cultural events that express the identity of the Samba culture within the `Porto Maravilha` planning.

Instruction for the Supple Pavilions workshop series will be led by Rob Stuart-Smith of Kokkugia, Lawrence Friesen of Generative Geometry, Ivan Ivanoff of Interactive Art Estado Lateral Media Lab, Toru Hasegawa of Proxy, with Anne Save de Beaurecueil and Franklin Lee of SUBdV, along with other AA tutors, the Pimpolhos Artistic Directors, and Carnival float-fabricators. Each workshop will provide an introduction to computa­tional design (Grasshopper, Processing and Arduino) and digital fabrication, no previous computational experience is required. Students taking part in multiple workshops will have access to advanced computation instruction.  This workshop will produce 1:1 prototyping, exploring the structure and transformations of the pavilions. Final fabri­cation and assemblage will occur in July.

The workshop is open to architecture and design students and professionals worldwide. Participants can take part in one or more workshops, with fee discounts offered to those interested in multiple workshops.