Portland, OR - Grasshopper/Firefly Workshop

PORTLAND, OR | UNIVERSITY OF OREGON | RESPONSIVE SURFACES WORKSHOP | JULY 19-21, 2013

Registration is now open (students or professionals) for a two and a half day workshop that I'll be teaching at the Summer in the City program, part of the Portland School of Architecture and Allied Arts (an extension to University of Oregon).

Using both Grasshopper and the Firefly plug-in, this workshop will focus on the design of innovative facade prototypes that are configurable, sensate, and active.  Students will become familiar with the terminology used in interactive facade design including an overview of hardware (ie.sensors, actuators, and programmable microcontrollers) as well as software interfaces terminology.  We'll learn new prototyping techniques and develop digital and physical models which can respond to a plurality of environmental and user driven forces.  This workshop will take a hands-on approach, and you will walk away with the ability to build your own custom electronic circuits (using the Arduino), as well as create interactive simulations and models.

This course will primarily focus on physical computing techniques.  Unfortunately, given the time constraints of the workshop, I will not be able to provide an extensive overview of the Grasshopper interface (it is suggested that participants have some familiarity with the Rhino/Grasshopper environment).  There are many great online resources to get you up to speed relatively quickly if you are new to this software.  This is a good place to start.

The course will be held at the School of Architecture and Allied Arts in Portland, OR.  The date/times of the workshop are as follows:

• Friday July 19, 5:00-7:50 P.M.
• Saturday July 20, 9:00 A.M.-3:50 P.M.
• Sunday July 21, 1:00-3:50 P.M.

If you are a designer, architect, or anyone who is interested in learning about the digital tools and technology trends that are revolutionizing design today, this workshop is for you.  Make sure to click here to find out more about registration and enrollment in this exciting new workshop.