Vray - Irradiance Map + Light Cache

Finally I got this right, for interiors its better to use Light Cache instead of DMC, its less noisy and faster. And the intensity of the material shouldn't be too high, before I set it as 15 and thats why it makes so many black shadows. This time reduce it to 2.5 and lower the noise threshold, the render speed improve so much and also the quality as well. This one only took like 4hrs and with quite a nice quality already. The wood of the table doesn't look nice yet, but its just matter of tweaking it. In this case, Vray has a big advantages in render speed comparing to Kerkythea in Interior models. This is due to the irradiance map and the light cache method that Kerkythea don't have. 

Vray - Irradiance Map + DMC with Adaptive AA

This week I've being testing the vray plugin for Sketchup to test out the performance and the workflow, the good thing about the plugin is that its intergrated, there's no export and import problem. it directs renders from your Sketchup windows, and the material can be set by picking up the material names, this is very useful that it minimize the time of material settings. Compare to Kerkythea its more of less the same, the only difference is that Kerkythea needs to export the model and will lose the face-me object, and if u change the model u need to re-export it. So if this case, the Vray can used as a default render for daily use with better quality GI output. But...the speed is always the concern. in this case I prefer not to use too many advance material, just glass and matte material, something  flat cartoon like rendering will be really fast.

Again, using the same model and difficult indirect light condition to test out the speed and performance of interior scene which is always the hardcore for GI. In this model I didn't use any rectangle light to fake the sun light ( It will have better quality I guess, u get to setup subdivision of the light emitter) instead, I want to use the SU sun settings to simulate the actual shadow. After 10hr rendering, with 5 passes of Irradiance map + 16 subdivision DMC + Adaptive AA sampling,  the result come up a bit blurry and with common problem of Irradiance map, the black dot. During the testing, I use DMC + 5000 Light Cache, and fixed AA, still come up the same blurry image which is very irritating. I'm not such a vray expert so if u know where is the key settings I need to improve please drop me a message. Here are the settings.

 

Kerkthea MTL + Depth Map

Original Output

After the deadline of the BFI competition project, I got a little to play around with this free render engine, the MTL algorithm is a more accurate one compare to photon mapping, especially in the details and edges. The best well know software that use MTL is Maxwell, and it ends up with easy settings and accurate light calculation. The biggest problem with MTL is the slow render speed and the grain, it needs more passes for each frame to get better result. But an advantage is that u can stop whenever u want and save the image. I use Tadao Ando's the church of light as a model, because its a simple geometry with simple light fittings, it will be the best condition to test the software, especially on the indirect sun light. After 20hr of render which I think its too much for everyday use, but the result end up quite satisfying. the indirect light do illuminate the interior and u get the fadeout effect on the floor of light reflections. Another very useful settings is the depth map, and it takes only seconds to get this depth of field mask that can apply to the original image in Photoshop very easily. There's no need of using DOF camera that take ages to render. I'm sure other program like Vray or Mental Ray can easily achieve this result and maybe better, but a software for free and with easy settings, it really done a good job.  

Depth Map

Final Result in Photoshop

Exb_Saatchi Gallery

Exb_Restless - Ron Arad

Turbo - Baptiste Debombourg

The turbo wave of the 80's left its mark on the industry and on the whole cultural situation in Western Europe.It became a model of behavior. The sound effect gives sensation of real physical power.

To advance, the people from East Europe put some more "tuning" everywhere – for example in their folk musc.The installation is part of the architecture.

Presentation: 

Patricia Dorfmann Gallery Paris, Galerie HO Marseilles, Galerija10m2 Sarajevo

 Elements:
wood installation
Dimensions:
variable size, H 3,2 x 7,3 x 3m
Realisation time:
variable time, 145 to 35 hours
Date:
05/10/2008

Original Post:http://www.baptistedebombourg.com/en/works/turbo-0

Crystal Palace - Baptiste Debombourg

It's an urban sculpture. It seems that something violent happened to this bus stop, but actually the broken glass shows more something precious.

The situation is turned – the attention is grabbed from the aesthetic, not from the act of destruction. The intention was to provoke some emotion or empathy.

Presentation: 

Bus stop in the city

Elements: 

métal structure, feuilleté glass , sécurit glass, UV glue

Dimensions: 

HxLxl : 2,7x5x1,5m

Realisation time: 

45 hours

Date: 

28/03/2008

Original From :http://www.baptistedebombourg.com/en/works/crystal-palace-0

WPA 2.0 Winner

PORT: Architecture + Urbanism

Chicago / New York

http://portarchitects.com/

Andrew Moddrell

Christopher Marcinkoski

Carbon T.A.P. Video: Richie Gelles

Carbon T.A.P // Tunnel Algae Park

As Federal, state and local governments undertake consideration of large-scale investments in the renovation and replacement of urban infrastructures, we see a unique opportunity to reconsider the role of these systemic networks and their effect on our contemporary urban landscapes.

In the scenario outlined herein, a new type of green infrastructure is deployed at urban locations comprising concentrated sources of CO2 production. This new infrastructure utilizes a proprietary system of industrial scale algal agriculture to sequester and consume greenhouse gas emissions (in particular CO2) in order to limit their introduction into the atmosphere, while simultaneously creating a new economic resource through the production of oxygen, biofuels, bioplastics, nutraceuticals and/or agricultural feeds. In the scenario shown, this new infrastructure manifests itself as a series of pier-like armatures linked to the ventilation system for the Brooklyn-Battery tunnel.

What is unique about this proposition is not just the introduction of large-scale green infrastructure in the context of a city, but rather the use of this infrastructure to create an exceptional public realm amenity for the city. Rather than considering urban infrastructures as a necessary evil only to be hidden or mitigated, we view the renovation and re-imagination of these systems as opportunities to create new forms of civic and social domain that have the capacity to positively transform the American urban landscape.

Our proposal for a new infrastructural typology that is one part climate action; one part agricultural production; one part ecological preserve; one part public realm; and one part economic catalyst represents what should be the aspiration for all newly deployed urban infrastructures – the ability to fundamentally improve the economic and social quality of a city, as well as the associated lives of its current and future residents.

Original Post: http://wpa2.aud.ucla.edu/info/index.php?/theprojects/winners/

pr.x_Loop House

From Prj_ [Loop] House

From Prj_ [Loop] House

Some thought on the Loop house, its located on 1st floor of a factory which has a open flat roof,  basic idea is from the Taiwanese traditional "Se Ho Yuan" courtyard houses layout, each room shares a courtyard and has its own skylight to have more ventilation, the 2nd exterior wall is to cutoff the direct view from the street to give more privacy at the same time to gather daylight. The projected windows are proposed as a sitting corner integrated within the wall and roof light. The volume looks massive and the moment and room space needs to be reduced and also the glazing as concern on cleaning, direct sun and cost.   

Wind to Light - Jason Bruges

In collaboration with onedotzero and Light Lab for Architecture Week 2007 of which the theme was, ‘How green is our space?’ The festival focused on critical issues of climate change and sustainability, with the aim to inspire people to think creatively about the spaces around them.

‘Wind to Light’ was an idea that visualized wind movement across the built form with the use of mini turbines and LEDs and draws attention to the potential of harnessing wind power as a source of energy. 

(http://www.jasonbruges.com/projects/uk-projects/wind-to-light)

Living Light-LAN

Living Light (Seoul, 2009) from David Benjamin on Vimeo.

Living Light is a building facade of the future that displays air quality and public interest in the environment. It is a permanent outdoor pavilion in Peace Park, across from World Cup Stadium in Seoul, Korea.

Sponsored by City Gallery | Hosted by World Cup Park | In Association with the Living Architecture Lab at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation | Air Quality Data: Air Korea of the Korean Ministry of Environment | Interactivity programming: Project Randomwalks | Construction Management: BM I&A | Structural Engineer: The Kujo | Optimization programming: Buro Happold New York, Ian Keough, John Locke, Daniel Kidd | Frame Construction: Suam RnC | Lighting Consultation: LED Korea | Fabrication Consultation: aa64 | Fabrication: Woojin Laser, Acryl Choika | Fabrication sponsorship: Avery Digital Fabrication Lab at Columbia University

Exb_Kinetica Art Fair 2010

Light Touch - Hologram Laser Projection

Light Touch™ is an interactive projector that instantly transforms any flat surface into a touch screen. It frees multimedia content from the confines of the small screen, allowing users to interact with that content just as they do on their hand held devices – using multi-touch technology.

Light Touch™ has Holographic Laser Projection (HLP™) technology inside which creates bright, high-quality video images in WVGA resolution. Integrated infrared sensors detect motion and turn the projected image into a 10.1″ virtual touch screen, so the user can control the projector and interact with applications simply by touching the image.

original from: http://lightblueoptics.com/products/light-touch/

The hologram laser projection reminds me this optical device that used in the military, the good thing about laser is its brighness and transmition, the image can be projected much further and its less heat which is always a problem of a traditional projector. I guess the portable projecting screen era is comming soon.

Thinking Machine - Marek Walczak

http://turbulence.org/spotlight/thinking/chess.html

Credits
Created by Martin Wattenberg, with Marek Walczak.
Thanks to Johanna Kindvall, Laura Wattenberg, Steve Sacks, Helen Thorington, and Turbulence.org
Built with Processing, an excellent graphics system created by Ben Fry and Casey Reas.

About the artists
Martin Wattenberg's work centers on the theme of making the invisible visible. Past projects include The Shape of Song, Third Person, the Whitney Artport's Idea Line, and Apartment. Wattenberg is a researcher at IBM, where he creates new forms of data visualization. He is also known for the SmartMoney.com Map of the Market. He holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from U.C. Berkeley. More info
Marek Walczak is an artist and architect who is interested in how people participate in physical and virtual spaces. This has led to projects such as Apartment, shown at the Whitney Museum and many venues worldwide, and Dialog Table, a commission of the Walker Art Center that replaces a keyboard and mouse with a shared interface based on gesture recognition technology. Current projects include a one block long fa�ade at 7 World Trade Center that reacts to pedestrians walking beneath it (for James Carpenter Design) and interactive video installations such as Third Person, recently shown at the ICA, London. Marek trained as an architect at the Architectural Assoc. in London and Cooper Union in New York. More info

Its an interesting interactive digital art, u play chess and it illustrate the possible game setup. u will know how the computer think and the graphics are beautiful.

Reed Danziger

A watercolour painting on paper that looks like computer generated images by the artisit Reed Danziger

http://www.reeddanziger.com/

Light + Trajectories

MOTOR / AMBIENT REEL
by KU-SCHNEIDER

Electric Avenue by nrshapiro

http://www.photographyblog.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=101534

Le-Corbusier's Studio

I saw this photos in http://butdoesitfloat.com, its interesting to see how the office is like in that time. 

The Virtual Architects

World Builder-Bruce Branit
This award winning short was created by filmmaker Bruce Branit, widely known as the co-creator of '405'. World Builder was shot in a single day followed by about 2 years of post production. Branit is the owner of Branit VFX based in Kansas City.

original from:http://www.vimeo.com/3365942?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Eduard Bohlen-A ship sails in the desert

The Namib is one of the greatest and most unique natural creations on earth. It is the world’s smallest desert, but also the oldest (80 million years) with the highest dunes offering an exceptional ecology. The coastline of the Namib is harsh and often referred to as the Skeleton Coast. One of the many skeletons along this coastline is the well-known wreck of the Eduard Bohlen.

On 5 September 1909 the Eduard Bohlen, a 2 272 ton passenger / cargo ship, was on a voyage from

Swakopmund to Table Bay. On the day the sea and coast was covered in thick fog. The 310.6 ft ship lost its way and ran aground at Conception Bay about 150 km from Swakopmund. On 5 September 2009, exactly a century ago, this tragic drama occurred. The wreck of the Eduard Bohlen is a desert icon and one of the most photographed shipwrecks.
At Live the Journey we believe: “touring should be a life-enriching experience”. With this in mind we have planned a unique trip to commemorate the Eduard Bohlen’s 100th year on dry ground. A special 4 x 4 overland trip through concession areas and the Sperrgebiet was designed to ensure that you will be able to lift your glasses in the shade of the Eduard Bohlen on 5 Sept 2009 and to let your imagination run freely on what happened on the doomed day. We would also like to hear your theory on why the shipwreck is nearly 800 meter from the coast.

original from: http://facesofthenamib.com/2009/08/15/eduard-bohlen-a-100-years/

This reminds me a book that I read during my MArch, Unknow Quantitiy by Paul Virilio, there's a quote I like that marks out the modern catastrophe "the increasing development of accidents as an indirect consequence of man's inventions." It's too crucial to me to see this as a kind of human inventions, but simply look it as an abandoned object, an object that last in the place that is not suppose to be when its created, and the accident act as a vector that divert and  interpolate to create this sort of catastrophic landscape which is cannot be manipulated. from the time being, these two alien substances start to merge and resolve. I was very fascinated  by the trace and footprint of the drift moment that is still kept in the land for 100 years, a sign of vector that is being recorded from the surface as a trace of this motion.

Render work in Kerkythea II

Today I worked on a bit of interior render in Kerkythea, the result come out to be better than What I expected. After 5hr render for this quality I think is very reasonable. Using the setting of Photonmap Medium+AA，no lights in the scene, only with illuminating materials and a sun light.  The machine is still running another setting of render "BPT lighting", it takes longer time with passes over and over, its a bit like Maxwell method, u can save at anytime u want, so there's no need to finish the caculation which is more flexible.

This is a hidden drawing, I was playing with the sunset enviroment mapping and some PS with wind and raindrops, I guess I won't show this to my supervisior, as probably people will ask, how will such a moody atmosphere can convince the client? I think it will be the opposite. anyway, I enjoy doing it.

Ghost-like Architecture - Shingo Masuda

Japanese architects Shingo Masuda and Katsuhisa Otsubo have installed mesh screens at the boundary of a property in Tokyo. Called Ghost-like Architecture, the screens are made of expanded metal and act as louvres. The property boundary therefore appears to be surrounded by an opaque wall when viewed from one angle, but a translucent mesh from another.

original from :

http://www.dezeen.com/2010/01/14/ghost-like-architecture-by-shingo-masuda-and-katsuhisa-otsubo-architects/

It really looks like the 3d material I usualy like to use to express the fense or what ever that u dont feel it needs to be detailed but to show the division of areas. in fact the frameless mesh of this project is really imazing, only with some articulated openings. By looking at this view, I can't stop linking my mind to the X-ray view of Rhino or Sketchup.

Render work in Kerkythea

This week is getting intense, both of the project that I'm working on is having design panel and reviews, although they changed my PC for a more powerful Xeon quad core, but still I need two brain to think and work. Having lack of time to do the rendering works, a free plugin for Sketchup work quite well on the GI render, Kerkythea, I guess its similar to Maxwell with its easy settings and physical day lighting system, but its quite fast in a way. This is the outcome of the plugins, still havn't got chance to play with any fancy material and render settings, but the default setting is already convincing enough. All the same issue about these CGs, is that it's always lies. How many days in a year will it be sunny with sharp shadows in London? Why not a rainy day?  Anyway, I try to do it in a partly cloudy day with leaves falling and birds flying....

Ernő Goldfinger- post war modernism

Ernő Goldfinger is a Hugarian architects and probably a key member of modern movement in UK, I'm sure the above biulding (The Trellick Tower) is very distict in London urban enviroment, I once saw it somewhere on the coach to Salisbury, the skybridge probably is the bold design in that preriod, although I don't appreciate too much about the massive construction, but if we think of the post-war period where economics and effeciency are everything, like Barbican and the ugly concrete tower that I lived right now on 23rd floor, myabe thats what it is in the time when all they focus is C/P, but at least there's certain quality of design signature in his building.

I didnt know about this architect until I started my work in Avanti, they do conservation on listed buildings, and the director is the son of the modern movement I guess. the following is the site that I'm currently working on, Haggerston School BSF project, it invloves refurbishment of the listed building and a new-built 2 stories. Of course I got no idea about conservation work, so I'm currently focusing on the new-built. I have being seeing this facade for 4 weeks, and to be honest, its kind of elegant in a way, the exposed beam and the iconic roof profile, and the proportion of the window frames. I think this is what I appreciate about, the precisely desgined facade. Now days, cool buildings don't really care about these classical manner, because all there energy are poured in the complex geometry and try to stitch them in one peice. In general, I think buildings are just part of  fashion products, it has its own period of value.

Master Project on British Council Taipei Website

The slides are the design exhibition for UK education affair in Taiwan and its held by British Council Taipei.
2 images were selected from my master project, the 19th Tee and the Golf club.

http://britishcouncil-taipei.ning.com/photo/she-wu-zhe-de-gao-er-fu-qiu
http://britishcouncil-taipei.ning.com/photo/the-19th-tee

U City-Scott Teplin v.s. White U -Toyo Ito

Alphabet City which features letters as tiny dwellings. The little spaces aren’t ordinary homes though, they’re filled with all kinds of random things mad scientist laboratories and piles of what appear to be donuts, as you can see above. Each letter is totally different and unique, so be sure to check out each one.

original from:
http://www.teplin.com/images/alphabet-city-prints/

The U-House was built in 1976 in the centre of Tokyo. It was designed by the architect Toyo Ito for his older sister, who had just lost her husband to cancer. In 1997 the house was demolished before Toyo Ito's eyes.

original from:
http://storiesofhouses.blogspot.com/2005/06/u-house-in-japan-by-toyo-ito.html

Ink Calendar by Oscar Diaz

Just saw this on Dezeen, I like the idea of using simple physics of ink spreading as a time based calender, although I dont really know how to control the speed of spreading that makes it accurate. it reminds Shin's project, one of my colleagues in UCL, he uses  diatoms to grow architectural facade, and its indeed fascinating.

maybe some similar idea is possible, the growing machanism as a time device.

see orginal post:

http://www.dezeen.com/2009/07/17/ink-calendar-by-oscar-diaz/

new blog layout

After designing Marcos's blog, I tweak a little bit on my blog as well, the 3rd coloum looks much better than previos one..

Architectural Design Portfolio 2006-2009

'Research Images as Art / Art Images as Research' 2009

Its an exciting day, just got an email that I won the runners up prize of the research images,its a pity I wasn't in the prize giving party last night, wastoo busy on the office work and got completetly forgotten.

150 pounds and a bottle of champagne...not a bad deal for Christmas.

http://www.grad.ucl.ac.uk/comp/2009-2010/research/index.pht

Massive Attack: “United Snakes”

Animation by UVA, directed by Dave Ferner
Originally designed for Massive Attack’s live show at Beck’s Fusions 2008, this animation is now available online. The video was designed using custom 3D software developed by UVA, which allowed the creation of spontaneous, organic forms, simply by “sketching” the outlines.

form follows data

When everything can be visualized and mapped, all in this website.
some really amazing graphics.
http://infosthetics.com/

Light traces series

Sato Tokihiro

Cenci Goepel + Jens Warnecke(Light Mark)
















Barry Underwood

Exb_David Chipperfield

Barry Underwood

I saw this artist on BLDGBLOG today, this let me reminds Sato Tokihiro, a Japanese artist that uses the same techniques as light paintings. One uses colour and the other uses B&W. I like this kind of interference towards a nature landscape, the present of the work on the site is only being remembered through a media not the actual it self. The absence remains after the photos.

Telephone Jim Jesus - Birdstatic

Amazingly beautiful visualization of the trace of a body movement, the delayed and long exposure images composite as an animation of a blur body.

John Baldessari - Arbitrary games

Throwing 4 Balls in the Air to Get a Square,

in which the artist attempted to do just that, photographing the results, and eventually selecting the "best out of 36 tries", with 36 being the determining number just because that is the standard number of shots .

Wire Frames

Iakov Chernikhov

Thomas Raschke

marcosandmarjan

劉國滄

Knud Merrild - Flux Drawings

Knud Merrild (1894-1954) is known as the father of the flux painting technique, as well as an individualist in synthetic cubism and abstract surrealism. http://www.sullivangoss.com/Merrild_Knud/

The Darkside architecture - Mas Yehdo

Mas Yendo was born in 1957 in Tokyo, Japan, and educated at the Rhode Island School of Design (B.A.) and Pratt Institute (M.A., architecture).

He was taught by Lebbeus Woods, so we can see some similar expression from the drawings. but they are achieving in different agenda. As LW is illustrating the conflicts, politics, vectors, which is a "Sudden" impact of forces towards architecture. Yendo is on the opposite side, he introduces the "Slowness" decay of time or in architecture, the memory or trace that embedded in spaces. He argues that buildings cannot remember us, which means it doesn't shows our presence. The difference between architecture and building is that one is idea the other is object, the idea can be recorded into architecture as history but building as object is to be consumed and forgotten. His work is all about what does it mean to you, not how does it work or what is it made of. Although he said he is not a typical Japanese, but I would rather believe the his ascent of design is very indeed Taoism.

Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren chrome!!

Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren in Chrome!!
This is really a crazy idea that makes me think of the invisible Austin Martin in 007,the surface of the body becomes the reflected environment that changing in time. the traces of the surroundings left on the moving body....etc. wonder what happen when its moving under the sun, probably will blind the police. It reminds my project somehow.