STUDENTS PROJECTS
PROJECTS2013
Students : Papalexopoulos Vassilis, Psaltoglou Artemis
Supervisors: Vergopoulos Stavros, Komninos Nikos
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Engineering, School of Architecture
Presentation date : September, 25th 2013
The aim of this diploma thesis was the examination of the design process of a virtual artifact. An artifact is being virtualized when it is defined in a problematique field. What does such a design process consists of? Which is the role of the actualizations of the artifact and to which degree do they define this process?
At the beginning of each design process an actual problem must be recognized, which the architect is trying to solve with his project. In this case, the problem referred to the creation of a network of FabLabs in the area of Valaoritou in Thessaloniki. This area over the last few years has been defined by local actors (Dynamo project space, Creativity Platform) as a creative cluster due to the agglomeration of creative activities. Among the questions that needed to be answered through this project were, on the one hand, in which way are creative activities connected to digital fabrication, and on the other hand, how can such a network intensify this agglomeration.
In our effort to create the virtual artifact we first had to problematize the aforementioned proposal. A useful tool in this process was Grasshopper 3d for Rhino 3D. With it we were able to parameterize significant aspects of the proposal and compose a positioning and evaluation algorithm for the network. By importing to this algorithm data about both the area, such as the building stock, and the digital fabrication process, such as the spatial requirements of each machine, we came up with a proposed network which would serve and strengthen the creative activities of Valaoritou.
Finally, with the same program we designed one virtual artifact capable of solving each and every lab. By defining a general organizational structure and applying it to different cases we examined which architectural elements, such as openings, stairs and working benches, could be parameterized and we were able to virtualize both the architectural solution and its construction method. Furthermore, we went on with the design of two of its actualization in greater detail which allowed us to optimize the virtual artifact.
Through this whole process we realized in which way the virtual artifact, although being deterritorialized, is bound to specific "here and now". In order to invent such an artifact, it's crucial that the process of creation moves continually between "inside and outside", between the problem and the solution.
