City Symbiosis

02-16-2009 : http://www.thefunctionality.com/blog/2009/2/16/city-symbiosis.html

Michael Rakowitz is not an architect, but he has probably made more houses than many architects in the last ten years. Architects should be envious of the artist's production and vision. He is working with the margins of society. His project Parasite uses a building's heat exhaust to inflate plastic sheeting, creating dwellings for the homeless. For Rakowitz the project is about community involvement as well as dwelling design. He is responsive to the needs of his "clients."

Courtesy Michael Rakowitz

Bill S.’s paraSITE shelter. He requested as many windows as possible, because “homeless people don’t have privacy issues, but they do have security issues. We want to see potential attackers, we want to be visible to the public.” Six windows are placed at eye level for when Bill is seated and six smaller windows for when Bill is reclining.

The article on these structure at World Changing highlights the social impact of his projects. The social agenda is remincient of Archigram, Archizoom and the social idealist and critics of the sixties,where the concept of building was challanged to mean utopian spaces, inflatable huts, or technological phenomena in the guise of a natural environment.

Copyright David Green - Courtesy Archigram

Projects like the living pod,above, imagines a green field condition where the building tapped into site resources to make its own place. Parasite deals with the roughness and tactics of city dwelling. These structures are deployable in the aims of allowing their inhabitants to move when they are at the limits of the law.

At The Functionality we want to encourage this type of tactical thinking. Architects, artists, urban designers, even graphic designers need to re-examine how we will approach the city, our suburbs and even our housing as the economic and environmental conditions unfold. We think the sooner we start the better off we will be.

Looking for fundraiser

<yoko>
Open_sailing_01 is looking for a fund-raiser.

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FUNDRAISER WANTED Earn 5% of all contribution/ donation funds you obtain

ART and OCEAN LOVERS WANTED FOR FUNDRAISING EFFORT
Support an award winning interactive art project + Earn 5% of all contribution/ donation funds you obtain.
(Ongoing Temporary Work)

http://international-ocean-station.org/blog/

Open_Sailing is an interactive art project, and the winner of the [next big idea] voestalpine Art and Technology Grant for the Prix Ars Electronica 2009, one of the most important yearly prizes in the field of electronic and interactive art, digital culture and music (http://www.aec.at/).

The project is currently on show at RCA SHOW 2009 at the Royal College of Art, London (http://www.rca.ac.uk/), and following its closure, will be in preparation for the Ars Electronica Festival taking place this September in Linz, Austria.

Open_Sailing is globally coordinated project based on an open source approach, aimed at researching and developing an alternative system of human habitation at sea.

We currently have a number of projects in developmental stages, including the prototype ship-craft that is now under construction in South London, and several research ‘labs’ involving engineering, new technologies, art & design, food & drink, etc, are in development.

Significant funding must be found for all of these projects, for which we anticipate raising money through grants and support.

We are looking for an experienced individual, committed, responsible, and more than anything motivated, who can help Open_Sailing to its fruition&#9786;

The individual will be responsible for
- researching and approaching potential sources such as trusts, corporations, statutory bodies, major donors, individuals and others.
- drafting and preparing supporting materials and correspondences
- overseeing and monitoring income and expenditures of the project
- achieving a money-raising target

You will be promised a share of 5% of all contribution/ donation cash funds you obtain, and participation in the Ars Electornica Festival 2009 as one of the representative contributor of Open_Sailing.

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Anyone interested can contact: Cesar Harada : cesar.harada@opensailing.net

<yoko>

OS_Polar - concept development

<Rupert>t sent me this the other day.
-------

Hi Guys


I am attaching some ideas (I hope you can read them- sorry for the low resolution, but we are having serious network problems at the moment- please put up on the Blog if anybodys got the time.)


-) The Leg:
I did some rough calculations on the buoyancy with the dimensions given, and thus placed the foot when it is in the retracted position above the water line. (i.e. allowing it to climb onto sea-ice during the ice formation.) The piston would be above the level of the floor, and could double up as structural points. Where the pistons should be placed in plan is to be decided. I would recommend one on the inner circumference, and two on the outer - depending on how you decide to internal layouts.
I am a bit concerned about the lateral loading on the piston legs in winds and when mobile. It would need to be determined at what weather conditions the base would drop to the ground to protect itself.( Although a gust may hit unexpectedly! ) Perhaps the piston could get support for other rods that contract with the piston.

-) The Foot.
The foot is designed almost like a ducks foot. Side-on - when outside its housing, but not on the ground - it is shaped like a banana. when on the floor it is curved. There are no "mechanical" parts but is hinged on the leg and can swivel in the direction of the long axis (heel-toe) about the short axis. The webbing is a flexible heavy duty material which is stitched to hold the "bones" of the foot in place. When the foot is raised it will change shape and ripple, the material allowing snow or other debris to fall off. Ultimately when retracted into its housing it will flatten to fit in the housing grove. (see section views)

-) The Foot extension
The leg could continue through the foot to allow for an attachment point - perhaps simply a threaded end. To this a rubber sleeve could normally be attached, for standing on solid ground & to protect the thread. Alternatively when mobile it would be the attachment point for skis or tracks.


______

-) Dimensions

I have just included some general dimensions that I was working with.
-Inner Radius: 1800mm
-Insulation layer: 200
-Outer Radius: 2000
-Floor Level at 60º off vertical (120º chord)

-Ring Outer Radius: 6875+200
-Ring inner Radius: 3275-200
(where 200 is the insulation layer)


______
-) Lighting

The use of natural lighting by means of reflection. Idea being to have light and shadows directed from above. Due to shadows created from other segments of the base, the layout attempts to capture direct sunlight outside of the shadow by having it at the highest point. This means that when the sun is only a few degrees above the horizon all cells will receive direct sunlight. Due to the curvature in each cell no matter what position the cell is in it will always receive direct sunlight.
A mirrored surface (which is curved in one direction) redirects the light. (The straight edge is 45º to the horizon.)

[floor - celling 2100mm]

¿a system of blinds / curtains required - how ?

- Eye level windows optional where required.


______________
Interlocking cells.

The procedure for merging cells is the following:
- The pistons with there latching mechanism are extended.
- The pistons are manipulated inside the cell, in its "ball and socket" joint.
- The two piston are locked onto each other.
- Each piston is pneumatically pumped and retracts its shaft.
- Dimples help the alignment of the cells
- Once in place the cells are magnetically locked / bolted together

(The "Ball" of the joint would ~200mm in diameter -wall thickness. The dimple size needs to be of a comparable size for ease of use.)
=The central piston above the door could have a longer reach to for "first contact", before secondary less dynamic locking points make contact.
= Possibly only one piston is required, tertiary locking point could just be bolted/magnetically coupled


All my ideas for now....
Rupert

P.S. I will write up the turbine document as soon as I can.
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Rupert>

There is a theoretical base to Open_Sailing : it is the "Open_Architecture" paper : download pdf (24mb) print quality.
mirror 1 : http://www.openarchitecture.cc/download/20090315open_architecture.pdf
mirror 2 : http://www.international-ocean-station.org/download/20090315open_architecture.pdf

Abstract :

The aim of the open_architecture theoretical dissertation is to observe various contexts in which open architecture exists in order to extract its essential underlying principles.
In the first part, open architecture is the object of study, subject to external forces and conditions; in the second part open architecture is the context, we describe the internal forces of the concept that construct its reality.

The first part is more encyclopedic as we are sketching the conditions of happening of an open architecture in the context of faith, philosophy, ethics : the formulation of a wish.
Then we suggest the legal, political and economical framework : the contract. We see how this human activity can be articulated as a social construction, a choreography, a computing activity : team building.

In the second part, we have understood the characteristics of open architecture so we are in the position to describe the internal forces of the concept which are form, time and social that have created these various forms.

Ultimately I am trying not to give a limiting definition but rather suggest methods for exploratory learning, designing, constructing, designing design systems.

Art & Architecture: 7th December 2009: Nomadic Architectures III: Caravans and Canal Boats / V&A Symposium: 26th November 2009: Sustaining Identity

http://artandarchitecture.co.uk/events/nomadic-architectures-iii
Sounds exctiting, go enjoy it :

Meeting the regulations

We want to share our experience to enable other groups of people, and administration is a large part of the project. This is an extract of the conversation with British Authorities. Sounds like we are on a very good track !

Hello dear xxxxxxx,

As a minimum the vessel should comply with SOLAS V, which can be found
in the link below. She will also have to have to comply with the
COLREGS. Such as displaying the necessary lights and shapes, and
crossing shipping lanes at right angles.

http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/solas.pdf

I would suggest that you carry all the basic life saving gear such as
life jackets, flares, radio, first aid kit, and if possible, a radar
reflector.

For the launch and tow down the Thames, you should contact the Port of
London Authority (PLA) in the first instance. Contact details can be
found at www.pla.co.uk

For the crossing itself, you will need to notify Dover Coastguard well
in advance of your intentions. You should also contact the French and
Dutch authorities. The link below will provide some further
information.

http://www.mcga.gov.uk

I see no problem with the vessel registering on the Small Ships
register. An application form is attached. The registration fee is
£25.

I hope this helps. If you require any further information please don't
hesitate to get in touch.

Best regards,
xxxxxx

UK Ship Register
Spring Place
105 Commercial Road
Southampton
SO15 1EG
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 2380 329 197
Fax: +44 (0) 2380 329 447
www.ukshipregister.co.uk

Open Sailing 4 minutes concept video

Download the original quicktime .mov video here (44 mb).

Also visible on vimeo / youtube / dailymotion / sevenload : Script of the video in .txt (3 kb).

This 3 minutes video explains the Open_Sailing main concepts. Buzz it, spread the world.

Tensegrity

Tensegrity is an interesting principle that we are looking at utilising for the Open Sailing boat and equipment. Put simply, it is a method of ensuring a beautiful harmony of compression and tension between elements in a structure. Unlike in normal structures, beams don't need to touch each other, but are held in place by tensile wires.



This is one of the simplest structures possible, and takes the form of a prism. Note that the beams don't touch each other, but the structure is supported nonetheless. Tensegrity structures are currently mainly used for ornamentation, but increasig research is looking at their possibility as architectural elements.


Find out more about tesegrity structures here.

Doomsday art: is it bad for you?

http://mtblog.typepad.com/arts_ecology/2009/01/my-entry.html


Michiko Nitta's Extreme Green Guerillas, a project people often cite when OpenSailing comes up...

In this article we discuss the interest of "apocalyptic art", I think our project [ 2012hopes.com + OpenSailing.net ] is often depicted as "apocalytic art", but our project does not conform neither to "Apocaliptic" nor "art" adjectives, rather it plays of the ambiguity of the subject and actual trends... Explanation :
Not Apocalyptic
first, a definiton (wikipedia) :

"Apocalypse (Greek: Ἀποκάλυψις Apokálypsis; "lifting of the veil") is a term applied to the disclosure to certain privileged persons of something hidden from the majority of humankind. Today the term is often used to refer to the end of the world, which may be a shortening of the phrase apokalupsis eschaton which literally means "revelation at the end of the æon, or age".

In the first place, we have no intention to "reveal " something to a handfull selected people, the project is being developed with a very "open-source" state of mind unlike other "prophet" that will offer you "redemption" for 500$ promising you to be part of the age Noah's Ark and the making of the next civilisation, we want to share our informations help everyone coping with the apocalypse, if there was one coming.
Apocalypse has a biblical or religious taste, we definitely dont, even if we are aware of informations of religious origin, our project is definitely pragmatic and scientifical.

Not Art
As it is a collaborative project, there is no belonging of the idea to a singular individual or a group, no artist figure. Secondly we have no artistic intention but rather a design perspective, more practical, not making any particular reference, but definitely trying to learn and re-use the most effective techniques to carry our task. We might present our work in art venues, but our purpose is not in the space of the museum but according to where our informations, fears and hopes are taking us - the ocean !

So if you want to know more about what we are not but what we look like, and the article describes this quite interestingly, you can read it, it is nice!