Caterina Tiazzoldi

Caterina Tiazzoldi | Nuova Ordentra

“In a complex-structured city in which the interactions among parts intensify; in which the number of decision-makers and cultural scenarios overlap, interconnect and sometimes collide; in which the temporal dimensions of the citizens are dissimilar; in which local and global, physical and virtual dimensions coexist, in which the scarcity of resource and population diversity are strongly affecting design practice, it is necessary to identify a set of design tools which could respond to design complexity.° It is necessary to develop design models that have the capacity to quickly respond and adapt to environmental variations and requirements. It is necessary to develop an innovative tool that assists a decision-maker to take into account a number of different parameters. The goal is to enhance architecture’s capacity to respond to specific environmental requirements with an adaptable physicality.”

parametric stalactites

illy bar

building bookshelves

parametric bookshelves

toolbox torino

toolbox extension

digital primitive

downloadable house luanda

un.ghie florida NY

onion pinch

porcupine

napping pod

nw new york project

parametric stalactites

illy bar

building bookshelves

parametric bookshelves

toolbox torino

toolbox extension

digital primitive

downloadable house luanda

un.ghie florida NY

onion pinch

porcupine

napping pod

nw new york project

The Social Cave, 2011In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the furniture fair, the Salone Satellite chief curator Marva Griffin invit-ed the architecture and design research lab Non-linear Solutions Unit of Columbia university to develop a small pavilion project in response to the question in what direction is design heading.

The project Social Cave is an interactive installation de-veloped by 24 international students directed by Cateri-na Tiazzoldi and in collaboration with interaction design-er Mirko Arcese and Luca Biada (BCAA.it). The design engaged the students in the challenge of organizing an assembly of 100% recyclable polystyrene polygons, which could continuously reconfigure its spatial environ-ment according to different user’s behaviors.

The digital age has dissolved traditional conceptions of space. Whereas socialization once existed entirely with-in the physical realm, the virtual world has invited new rules and interaction within a previously unavailable di-mension. Growing virtual connectivity has certainly cre-ated a network of unlimited communication pathways. Yet while our social reach has extended, relationships spawned by the web often remain confined to the digital space in which they were initiated. The protection of that dematerialization is seductive; intimacy must no longer be defined by physicality. Emboldened by the blanket of physical anonymity, we may assert a redefined sense of privacy and closeness.

By merging physical and virtual space, how can design affect the changing vista of socialization? Can design encourage a new platform for interaction?We were invited to design a small, interactive installation that would be encountered by thousands of people, most of whom are strangers to each other. In response, we have proposed the Social Cave, a typology that returns to the begin-nings of our civilization. The Cave will blend the frenzied excitement of virtual connectivity’s power and speed with the calm of its form and materiality, a parametric aggregation of 100% recycled and 100% recyclable foam cubes.The barrier wall separating the two enclosures within the Cave ensure that visitors inhabiting each of those spaces are initially concealed from each other. Thanks to the interactive interface, the presence of a visitor in the space opposite is revealed only through an abstracted projection capturing his movements. The physical anonymity created by the enclo-sure allows each visitor to feel comfortable engaging in a digital and visual conversation with the projected “shadow” or “ghost” of the visitor opposite him. Gestures and personalities are therefore made familiar to each other before the initial physical meeting. Thus, the Social Cave first hides and then exposes the proximity and identity of its visitors, allowing a conversation to begin that transcends traditional digital physical boundaries.

Credits:Concept + Schematic Design: Caterina Tiazzoldi NSU / GSAPP Columbia University- Interaction Designer with Mirko Arcese and Luca Biada (BCAA.it)Design Team: B. Suite, D. Cashen, J. Zaratiegui, M. Fassino, V. Roether, A. Robinson, A. Shim, A. Kim, B. Brichta, C. Handal, C. Pope, D. Kaltis, E. Fammartino, E. Kapompasopoulou, E. Iannace, E. Bauer, F. Schmitt , G. Valdes, G. Lalli, H. Lee Oh, J. Choi, J. Dornic, K. Thorn, K. Lents , M. Gonzales, M. Rosso, Y. Kim, S. Ngy Acknowledgments: M. Griffin, Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation GSAPP Columbia University, As-sociazione Italiana Polistirene Espanso, DIPRADI Politecnico di Torino

scale z dimension

scale z dimension

Parametric Stalactites - Adaptation to perception

It is easy to understand when a “technique” is applied to manipulate quantitative design param-eters (acoustic, lighting and structural), while it is less obvious to apply a system on qualitative and Non Measurable parameters.

Nevertheless any time that an architect is transforming a sensation in a build environment he is actualizing a spatial statement. By transforming a feeling in a set of operation that will be realized on the build environment. An idea, an atmosphere in order to become architec-ture, need to be translated in a set of operations transforming an idea into the organization of the matter (rotations, repetitions, rhythm) that become space and perceptive effect.For this reason the organization of the data becomes a system and eventually an adaptable system. The project Parametric Stalactites derives from a unique parametric digital model developing different configurations. All the surfaces are conceived as an assembly of 45x45 cm ‘smart Parametric tiles’ responding to the different spatial requirements of the various store locations. Each tile can be more or less extruded according to the size of the store.

Two parameters (frequency and length of the extrusion) control the saturation level and the perception type of the space.

Credits:Project leader: Caterina Tiazzoldi Team: Lorenza Croce

Adaptable Components

Material and geometrical modulation create new type of space and interaction

It is easy to understand when a “technique” is applied to manipulate quantitative design parameters (acoustic, lighting and structural). It is less obvious to apply a system on qualitative and Non Measurable parameters.Nevertheless any time that an architect is transforming a sensation in a build environment he is actualizing a spatial statement.

By transforming a feeling in a set of operation that will be realized on the build environment. An idea, an atmosphere in order to become architecture, need to be translated in a set of operations transforming an idea into the organization of the matter (rotations, repetitions, rhythm) that become space and perceptive effect.

For this reason the organization of the data becomes a system and eventually an adaptable system. The project Parametric Stalactites derives from a unique parametric digital model developing different configurations. All the surfaces are conceived as an assembly of tiles responding to the different spatial requirements of the various store locations. Each tile can be more or less extruded according to the size of the store. Two parameters (frequency and length of the extrusion) control the saturation level and the perception type of the space.

Credits:Design: Caterina TiazzoldiTeam: Lorenza Croce, Federico Rizzo, Roberta Musso, Alessio Primavera, Monica Pianosi, Mauro Fassino, Zsofia Ujhelyi, Mukesh Rosso

with Illy Art DirectionPhotos: Luca Campigotto, Federico Rizzo

Illy Reconfigurable Shop, 2008 - now

Illy Shop is a temporary store, realized in Milan, at Galleria San Carlo.

The concept is conceived for a reconfigurable store, characterized by different modulations of a single element, a “cube” which is 45x45cm-squared base.

Using a parametric device, it becomes possible to manipulate the cube physical properties by editing depth, thickness, opacity, length and explosions. The combinatory logic – inspired by genetic algo-rithms process - permits to perform over 3000 con-figurations of the same object.

The shop is created by 200 cubes and specifically designed to adapt to different dimensional compo-sition of Illy Café products. The same unit is used for the table, desk counter, storage, lighting system, video frames, communication, and recycling bins.

By reconfiguring the different modules according to the performances required, (accessibility of the products from the outside, number of item to display, level of transparency desired, product size) it be-comes feasible to represent different characteristics of the Illy products, while the solution also allows fit-ting it into different locations.The system engender from the walls and the ceiling, creating a disoriented expansion. The differentiated space dimensions appears to become one, trans-forming it into a game where user’s sight shifts from an object to another discovering the inside.

// Info-Point for an Exposition , 2008

Illy Art

ToolboxTorino Office Lab & Co-working,2008-2010Toolbox was commissioned in 2009. The project was based on the request for a study about a possible use of an industrial building in a city which was in a phase of deep transformation, in which professional reality was increasingly represented by freelance workers whose professional future was not yet well known.

The aim was to define such new use for a 50,000 sf, 3 storey office buildings located in a transformation area of 220,000 sf, in close proximity to downtown Turin and to the railroad station.

For this reason, Toolbox was conceived of as a pro-fessional incubator, as a space in which the users actively (even if indirectly) contribute to the definition of a new professional identity for Turin. From a func-tional standpoint, the intervention consisted of trans-forming a traditional office (divided into rooms) into a vast open space with 44 individual workstations, interspersed with communal areas including meeting rooms, printer rooms and informal meeting spaces.

The goal of this transformation was to keep the origi-nal industrial concrete structure as intact and visible as possible. The industrial block’s main building is divided into two parts: the side along the windows is used for co-working workstations, while on the op-posite side, a corridor connects 5 enclosed boxes

The service areas have been conceived of as “working tools.” The secondary industrial building houses the lounge, bar, and a relaxation area. In this newly developed area the double con-crete beams were left exposed while the service is different because is conceived to change in accord with zoning and the landmark requirements.

Credits:Project: Caterina Tiazzoldi Concept with A. Balestra and G. Milanese Graphic with V. Montresor Design Team: A. Balzano, H. Cany, C. Caramassi, L. Croce, M. Fassino, M. Pianosi

Office space mostly needed for three reasons: socializing, professionalism (in the eyes of other people but mostly in our own eyes), and the distinction between relaxed and professional environments. The Toolbox design targets a new generation of professional architects, web designers, artists, lawyers, accountants and independent contractors. It is derived from a hybridization of traditional European work space (organized in small offices) and the post-war American open space model. Toolbox attempts to invent a new approach to work.

The concept of Toolbox is built on two main ideas: the coexistence of a plurality of users and a coherent architectural concept. How is it possible to create a rational structure with a multitude of users, needs, expectations and ways of working? What is the right level of severity, formality and solemnity for a workspace designed for independent workers, creative teams and dislocated corporate branches?

The Toolbox project addresses these issues by modulating private and social levels, work and leisure gradients, and formality and informality ranges. In the last decade, most professionals have come to appreciate some of the positive aspects of working at home. The possibility of performing repetitive tasks on a couch with the computer on one’s knee, leafing through a document in an armchair, etc. … Some of the working-at-home habits naturally became part of our working lives. For this reason, the project was developed by taking into account various kinds of settings and different ranges of intensity in the way we approach work.

The spaces and their language reflect this concept - strict, almost austere for the co-working area, bright and colorful for the sofas and micro-meeting rooms and areas where work and meetings are conducted in a more relaxed mode. The telephone pods are located some distance from the co-working areas to allow private phone calls or conference calls. In this way everyone can follow his or her particular inclination or variation during the work day.

Sustainable Flexibility

Honor Mention the Automation Contech Award by Biticino the project explored the idea of a sustainable flexibility. To provide different organizational structures for different users with their specific needs and profiles, Toolbox utilizes an automated centralized system controlling access, the lighting system and services (printers, telephones). Each user is provided with a badge and can define her/his own profile in accordance with her/his needs. The management of the space is therefore related to an automated system that allows or denies access to the various functions in accordance with the user’s choices.

By varying the accessibility and use of the functions hosted in the space, such as co-working areas, meeting rooms, kitchen, patio and parking, it is possible to achieve an endless modality of use of the same space.As project transformation and evolution are fundamental for the success of the project, it was mandatory to define a strategy permitting constant adaptation to different users’ needs, without impacting the physical configuration of the structure. Toolbox promotes the idea of a sustainable adaptation to this strategy, one without involving any physical transformation and material wastes.In this case, the idea of adaptation is not only limited to a spatial response to the user’s profile but depends also on how the user uses the space itself. Here, Architectural Adaptation assumes a double profile, where space has the capacity to encase different users’ configurations, spaces (e.g. the bar) were enclosed in functional boxes. Adaptation to users’ needs and profiles.

Initially, the need for workspace itself was questioned as one can nowadays work remotely from anywhere by using a laptop and Wi-Fi network. Why then should people need a workspace? In effect, after the first stage in which working at home appeared as a real alternative to the traditional working environment, people rediscovered the need for spaces dedicated to work.

kitchen

patio

phone box

meeting room

printing room

reception

relax area

co�ee

lobby

coworkingarea

meetingroom

store

entrance

PARAMETERS

depht

depht

position

0.5 cm0 cm

change of the coordinates of the cubes on the X and Y axes

2.5 cm

10.5 cm6.5 cm 13.5 cm

in accord with doors and openings positionLogic of the system that manages the depth of the various polygons

Logic of the system that manages the depth of the various polygons.

PARAMETERS

depht

depht

position

0.5 cm0 cm

change of the coordinates of the cubes on the X and Y axes

2.5 cm

10.5 cm6.5 cm 13.5 cm

in accord with doors and openings positionLogic of the system that manages the depth of the various polygons

Parametric design for the lobby wall

The concept of obtaining a plurality by the modulation of a single rule drove every design choice.

For example, the walls of the en-trance have been designed with 500 variations of one single white 10”x 10” box. The overall layout of the entry lobby was designed with para-metric software generating endless configurations from a single digital model. Here, the idea of the physical adaptation of the space was concep-tually expanded to the definition of an adaptive design model - a model having the robustness to respond to environmental variations and to the evolution of the project constraints.

Adaptation applied to the design process

From the perspective of the design process, the goal was to mediate between the plurality of users’ needs and the coherence of the design. The variety of solutions obtained demonstrates the use of a unique design rule inspired by genetic algorithms.

By combining the attributes and building blocks of a population, it is possible to achieve a bigger variety of solutions re-sponding to different fitness requirements. In the Toolbox project, the method consisted of specializing a set of initially identical volumes by using different materials (cork, rubber, polished paint). Differentiation occurred according to the different programmatic functions hosted in each box, and in accordance with their sound, thermal, and visual requirements.

Furthermore, since the goal was to convey a harmonious coexistence of different worlds and cultural references, the principle of variation and transformation of a unique element was also pursued in other parts of the project by differen-tiating the colors of natural rubber floors in the meeting rooms, the type of cork coating and the color of the pyramidal panels of the small telephone pods. Finally, this was done by varying the sizes, colors and levels of transparency of the bubbles that form the external texture of the box-bar. The overall concept uses a few elements in endless variations, a single system developing an infinite range of possibilities to respond to the plurality of workers.

Toolbox extension OSI Area, 2010 - nowOSI Area, is a property located in an industrial area in Torino and is the site where Toolbox office space is located. The positive response of the neighborhood to the Toolbox intervention engendered the request to define a scenario permitting to envision the possible transformations and uses of the 100.000 square feet OSI Area.

The project was based on the definition of various scenarios of what people would look for in an industrial space for and desire and how interaction could happen between the city and the block, between the people and the block. We started to implement a multi criteria design process deriving from the combinatorial methodology.We don’t know what the area is going to look like and which type of urban transformation is going to happen.

We decided to create a centripetal space. We decided to avoid classical green needing maintance. Instead we chose to plant a forest on the top of the industrial slab using the 5 feet thickness of the industrial structure and host the ter-rain necessary to host oaks and other type of greenery.

Credits:Project: Caterina Tiazzoldi Team; J. Zaratiegui, A.

S parcheggi=2685 mq

Tot=2685 mq

Tot=4857 mqTot=4857 mq

S parcheggi=2172 X 2 =4344 mqS commercio=513 mq (possibile utilizzo di soppalchi con eventuale raddoppio della super�cie).

Tot=4857 mqTot=4857 mqTot=4857 mqTot=4857 mq

S parcheggi=2172 mqS commercio=513 mq (possibile utilizzo di soppalchi con eventuale raddoppio della super�cie).S sport e benessere=2172 mq


S parcheggi=2172 mqS commercio=513 mq (possibile utilizzo di soppalchi con eventuale raddoppio della super�cie).S u�ci=2172 mq


S residenza=653X3=1959 mqS u�ci=653 mq


S parcheggi=1360 X 2=2720 mqS commercio=513 mq (possibile utilizzo di soppalchi con eventuale raddoppio della super�cie).S sport e benessere=812 X 2=1360 mq


S parcheggi=420 X 3=1260 mqS u�ci=420 X 5=2100 mq S residenza=420 X 8=3360 mq


S commercio=513 mqS u�ci=380 mqS residenza=513 X 2=1026 mq



S u�ci= 577 X 2=1154 mq

S u�ci= 830 X 2=1660 mq


S u�ci=420 X 8=3360 mq S residenza=420 X 8=3360 mq


S parcheggi=420 X 6=2520 mq S residenza=420 X 10=4200 mq


S parcheggi=1360 X 2=2720 mqS commercio=513 mq (possibile utilizzo di soppalchi con eventuale raddoppio della super�cie).S u�ci=812 X 2=1360 mq

S u�ci= 380 mq

Residenza

Parcheggio

Commercio

Sport

U�ci

LEGENDA

Parcheggi totali=3432 mq

Commercio totale=513 mqSport=2172 mqU�ci=2100+1154+380=3634Residenza=3360+1026=4386

Totale=513+2172+3634+4386=10705 mq

S parcheggi=2685 mq

Tot=2685 mq

















S u�ci= 577 X 2=1154 mq

S u�ci= 830 X 2=1660 mq







S u�ci= 380 mq

Residenza

Parcheggio

Commercio

Sport

U�ci

LEGENDA



Totale=513+2172+3634+4386=10705 mq

S parcheggi=2685 mq

Tot=2685 mq

















S u�ci= 577 X 2=1154 mq

S u�ci= 830 X 2=1660 mq







S u�ci= 380 mq

Residenza

Parcheggio

Commercio

Sport

U�ci

LEGENDA



Totale=513+2172+3634+4386=10705 mq


Digital Primitive Event curatorial project commissioned by Giulio Ca-pellini for the Young Talent Selec-tion at the temporary museum for New Design Milan, 2009

Temporary Museum for New Design“They are Digital, because they are the first generation of New York de-signers and architects formed in a context characterized by digital model-ing techniques and computer numeric control fabrication (CNC). They are Primitive because they have to respond to the limitations deriving from a city like New York.

They work in a condition in which materials are difficult to find and workers are relatively host tile to new methods. They work with very few materi-als (Corian, MDF, steel) and tools (laser cutters, pantographs, etc.) which they explore making the best possible use of the potentials of technology. They are engaged in various levels of the project: from academic research to running true production shops able to construct models of the most radical ideas thought up by world-level stars, up to projects for institutional practices. They use extremely sophisticated techniques with rough materi-als handled with an immediate, almost instinctive gestural expressiveness based on repetition. Repeatability and modulation become the key to ob-taining projects that are at once complex and elaborate albeit immediately understandable to respond to a society in which it is necessary to know how to use just a few words to explain them to a public that is increasingly less inclined to listening.”

Caterina Tiazzoldi 2009

The project Formal Modulation for Light Performance in a Women’s Hospital Façade can be considered as an example in which the application of a limited number of variables per-mits the development of solutions, producing a combinatorial innovation facing environmental diversities. Each solution is focused on the qualitative and quantitative, understanding the algorithmic adaptable devices, as applied to the constructed reality of a women’s hospital facade system.

The goal of this research was to develop a project respond-ing simultaneously to interior programmatic shifts, the percep-tive requirements and external site information. This task was achieved by implementing an algorithm to connect the pattern of the window facade framing to the functional, sensorial and technical requirements of the building programme.

The idea of design performance did not refer only to a crite-rion of technological optimization, but above all to the client’s request, to obtain an inedited formal result.

One of the project proposals consisted a number of diamond-shaped window elements. Each component had a solar panel placed in the front. The size and placement of the front panels were related to the modulation of the direct light penetrating the different programmatic spaces and responding to the cur-vilinear shape of the building. The algorithm was developed to fit any type of surface.

adaptable component

building - formal modulation for light device, new jersey

The project Formal Modulation for Light Performance in a Women’s Hos-pital Façade can be considered as an example in which the application of a limited number of variables permits the development of solutions producing a combinatorial innovation facing environmental diversities. Each solution is focused on the qualitative, and quantitative, understanding of algorithmic adaptable devices as applied to the constructed reality of a women’s hospital façade system. The goal of this research was to develop a project responding simultaneously to interior programmatic shifts, the perceptive requirements and external site information. This task was achieved by implementing an algorithm to connect the pattern of the window façade framing to the func-tional, sensorial and technical requirements of the building programme.The idea of design performance did not refer not only to a criterion of tech-nological optimization, but above all to the client’s request to obtain an in-edited formal result.

One of the project proposals consisted of a number of diamond-shaped window elements. Each component had a solar panel placed in the front. The size and placement of the front panels were related to the modulation of the direct light penetrating the different programmatic spaces and responding to the curvilinear shape of the building. The algorithm was developed to fit any type of surface.Figure Rotation of façade frames based on programmatic input, GSAPP Columbia University, Principal Investigator, with Will Graig, Client Impresa Rosso.

indirect lightmediation

80% closed

40% closed

60% closed

direct lightmediation

component

adaptation of component

sun

normal

angle ofincidence


Formal Modulation for Light Device, 2007

change thickness

change color saturation

scale z dimension

component

adaptation of component

1

2

3

4

Adaptable Components

product - parametric furniture

Parametric Bookshelves is an adaptable piece of furniture. A unique digital model produces infinite configurations on the bases of the differents customers requirements.

When introduced as input in the parametric digital model, differenciation becomes a design input. The system creates endless new configuration by changing tickness color satu-ration and depth when costumers introduce the size they require.

Parametric bookshelves receive the different input and re-act in accord to determined diversities.It becomes and in-finite extensible grid respond to the different conditions to clients diversity.

Credits:Project leader: Caterina Tiazzoldi Team: Lorenza Croce, Dora Keller

Parametric Bookshelves - Adaptation to clients requirements, 2009

Building Bookshelves 2010

The Building Bookshelves is a framework having the capacity to change and transform in accord with the surrounding environment. It can adapt to different urban contexts by matching with the sur-rounding buildings height and modulation.

It can fit adapt to different types of landmark re-quirement and to the number of units.

The collapse between geometries permits to create areas that usually are extracted from pure volumes: kitchen bathrooms derives from the volu-metric intersection.

Credits:Project leader: Caterina Tiazzoldi Team: Lorenza Croce, Y.Lazovskaya

1

1

1

2

3

45

6

7

8

9

10 11

1 public interior space2 dining room3 living room4 bedroom5 roof garden6 studio7 terrace8 kitchen9 A/C system10 semi-public terrace connecting with the adjacent building11 public stairs

“Playgrounds and public spaces need room, fields to play and act in, and objects to play with, identify with and re-act against. This is architecture, the rest is city life”

CHORA, Raoul Bunschoten,

The experiment of Prototyping the city was based on the criteria that a product of urban design must operate at different levels contemporarily.

The brief of the project, entitled “biodegrading pa-vilion”, indicates a typological reference: the pavil-ion, hybridized with the programmatic function of info-point for Torino 2008 World Design Capital, and its biological condition as a temporary “coagulation of matter” designed to disintegrate back into nature at the end of its life cycle.

The workshop structure was instead defined as a “matrix” which coordinated the activities of the group in parallel co-evolving layers. The result was a parametrically controlled diagram organiz-ing the basic construction units [wooden sticks] into a coherent structural assemblage while gen-erating small cocoon spaces which branched out of the main “tunnel”. These spaces became the niches which housed the informational layer that constituted the first point of contact between the visitors and the summer school events. This plat-form was then expanded in a web based blog ca-pable of reaching out to world.

Credits:Project leaders: C. Tiazzoldi (NSU - GSAPP), C. Griffa (Politechnico di Torino), C. Pasquero, M. Poletto

Prototyping the city, 2008

Onion Pinch, 2009Project featured at in the show Minimaouss 4, at the Paris Museum Cite’ de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, at the Experimenta Design Lisbon and at the Made Expo Milano.

Onion Pinch engages the idea of geometrical and material manipulation and explores the concept of at-mosphere refers to a gaseous envelope or to a sur-rounding influence or environment. The French idea of ambiance refers to the qualities of a place that are capable of affecting the behavior of a person.

As director of the Non Linear Solution Unit (NSU) at GSAPP Columbia University in NY, my research agen-da consists in developing advanced digital models for architectural design and investigation. Algorithms, scripts and codes do not seem to be very close to the idea of atmosphere but nevertheless the manipulation of a few variables in the modelling process can be a powerful design and investigation tool.

Inspired by the work of the cognitive scientist John Henry Holland, the method developed consists of mor-alization through the digital manipulation of numeri-cal data. In the most radical experimentations, design problems are deconstructed and represented exclu-sively by numerical data. By identifying a set of prop-erties or attributes that can be manipulated through a computer model,

it is possible to explore the relation between a digital

manipulation and a spatial, material or sound acoustic effects.

The experience of Onion Pinch, de can be considered as a testing platform for the research developed by NSU in the modelling field and in material construction systems.

Realized in the context of the Digital Primitive Event as a parallel event of the Lisbon Biennial Experimenta Design, the project Onion Pinch hosted the show Digi-tal Primitive Extended. The show featured the work of several New York-based architects, designers, academic researchers and manufacturers.

As a design rule we established that the project had actively to respond to the material we would work with.We wanted to construct a space, a real place that people would recognise as such, that would affect the behavior of the persons visiting. We wanted to create an atmosphere.

In order to achieve our goal, we started to study, to dis-sect the cork conceptually – material that we did not know very well. We wanted to isolate a design concept and a very simple construction technique. We applied a simplified version of the process used at NSU when setting up a parametric model. We were looking for how we could manipulate the material with very few variables. Cork was reduced to a list of properties and attributes

that could be manipulated almost like numerical data.

Texture – fibre code and diameterGranularity – length of the fibrePorosity – spacing of the fibreAcoustic insulation – decibel reductionTerminal insulation – temperature variationDensity – kg per square metreThickness – millimetersFlexibility – centimeter per metre

Cork is very flexible. Flexibility means elasticity and vi-bration.Thanks to its flexibility, it was possible to shape the cork. The project was achieved by literally folding fifteen strips of cork to obtain an onion ring effect.

The onion rings were realized with different cork types and thicknesses. The installation was articulated in a series of internal paths in which people could walk. The shape transformation and connection between parts describe the topic of the show: the transformation and the contamination existing in the New York ground be-tween research, education, practice, manufacturing and corporate world. The tracks were articulated by the opening or closing of the profiles. Shape and profile transformations were obtained by literally pinching the cork with a bolt. When placed on the higher positions of the profile, the onion configuration would open up.

Moving the bolt toward the ground made the shape close down.

The unique parameter, ‘position on the Z axis of the

bolt’, affected another condition of the rings: the flexibil-ity or level of vibration. Therefore with the form transfor-mation the rigidity of the shape also changed.

For the more open type of profile the flexibility was high-er. A simple touch could activate the ring vibration. For the more rigid shapes the vibration was limited.

Similarly to the most rigid digital model, all formal and performable modulation was controlled by one single parameter, the bolt position. Beside the apparent rigid-ity of the design approach, when installed in the subway the onion installation immediately became an urban toy. People slowed down from their everyday rhythm and looked at the installation, touched it, pushed it and test-ed the different reactions of the onion to body pressure.

The displacement created by the presence of an extremely alive object, with its texture, with the oscilla-tion of the onion rings, transformed an unfamiliar, cold space like the subway station into a lively oasis. Children entered the space and started to inhabit it.A group of children literally created a village. Each child inhabited its own onion, lying in its new rocking shell, and made a unique atmosphere in the subway station.

CreditsDesign: Caterina Tiazzoldi, Eduardo Benamor DuarteTeam: M.Pianosi, T. Branquino, M.Fassino, L.Croce, K.SeamanPhotos: Sebastiano Pellion di Persano

Combinatorial manipulation of attribute and building blocks to obtain different variations of a systems.

How to achieve endless solutions?

Attributes

3 contact points moving along a curve (onion perimeter)

Attributes Variables: Relative position to the onion external - internal

Different type of position classified on the base of the position of the contact points: Points can inhabit different sector of the onioncan change their relative position by achieving different type of configurations, leonardesque, leonardesque inverted and so on.

The relative position of dancers can be obtained with an array, a mirror, a trow dancer along Onions,the movement derive from different condtions of couterpoise between the body and the structure Points can inhabit different sector of the onion can change their relative position by achieving different type of configurations, leonardesque, inverted and so on. The relative position of dancers can be obtained with an array, a mirror, a trow dancer along Onions, the movement derive from different condtions of couterpoise between the body and the structure

Material and geometrical modulation create new type of spaces and interaction

+leonardesque inversed mimetic

mix contact points position and array persons

Selection of static condition types1. Mimetic 3 contact points of in the same line2. Reversed mimetic 2 contact point in a single line the third point has the reversed x position of the line in the same Y position3. Leonardesque - contact point are equally distributed in the space4. Inverted Leonardesque contact point are equally distributed in the space the figure is reversed

il Circolo dei lettori, 2011

Circolo dei Lettori, located in the building of the 16th century Palazzo Graneri della Roccia, established in 2006 by the support of the Cultural Department of the Piedmont Region. The Circolo dei Lettori was the first public space dedicated to Italian readers and reading, both individually and in groups, while also hosting pre-sentations and conferences organized by City of To-rino.

The renovation of the Circolo dei Lettori, as part of the landmark building was completed in September 2011. The goal was to keep integral its timeless atmosphere -preserving most of the historical heritage- while im-proving usability of the space by providing the citizens a place to meet, to work informally and to eat. The in-tervention required improving the technical equipment for the bar, restaurant conference rooms and the con-ditioning system.

The mediation has been conceived by developing an adaptive texture that derives from the logo of the Circo-lo dei Lettori. As a DNA, the texture had the capacity to adapt and change function on various objects: as main logo, as chandelier, coffee table, as reception desk graphics and conditioning grid, becoming a vortex of arabesque that recalls the world of dreams where the reader lives.

The c texture moves, adapts and transforms in the dif-ferent rooms, becoming the leading motive narrating about the relation between the institutions of the Circo-lo dei Lettori: the baroque palace and Torino citizens.

CreditsProject: Caterina Tiazzoldi with Gianluigi FaveroDesign team: Alessio Primavera, Mukesh Rosso,Roberta Musso, Federico Rizzo, Mapi Turninetti,Gürkan Ata, Morena CareddaFiore Book Crossing: Brady Gunnell

Flower Book Crossing made by Brady Gunnel

1 2 34

7

*

5

8

0

6

9

*

UN

4

reception - registration collecting iPad

changing room & wall

seminar room

seminar room

waiting & working area

working & lunch room

working room

meeting room interview room

conference room

bar

conference pathquick pathslow path

Fabulesque Tables, 2011Inspired from Alice in Wonderland, Fabulesque is a series of Table developed for the Circolo dei Lettori lo-cated in a Baroque Palace in Torino.Realized in laminated wood and MDF, each table has its own color and profile.

A parametric device permit to adapt all the profile to the different function. (smaller for the coffee table, square for the dining table ecc..)

Credits:Project: Caterina Tiazzoldi Design Team: M. Rosso, F. Rizzo, A. Primavera, R. Musso

WHIRLERSan exilarating energy system

CONCEPT WIND RESOURCES

Roscoe wind farm (USA)

Horse HollwCenter (USA)

Theachapi Pass farm (USA)

Capricorn Ridgefarm (USA)

San Gorgonio pass farm (USA)

+the USA accounts for

32% of new installed

wind capacity in 2010

% of wind powergenerated in the USA

1.0 0.5 0.02.0 1.5

Sources: Clean Energy Ideas and AWEA

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

782 736 705 633 615

Global installed powerin 2010

Where are the largestwind farm?

measured by normal maxi-mum output in megawatt

(MW)

96 98 00 02 04 06 08 10

GW

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

WHIRLERSan exilarating energy system

CONCEPT WIND RESOURCES

Roscoe wind farm (USA)

Horse HollwCenter (USA)

Theachapi Pass farm (USA)

Capricorn Ridgefarm (USA)

San Gorgonio pass farm (USA)

+the USA accounts for

32% of new installed

wind capacity in 2010

% of wind powergenerated in the USA

1.0 0.5 0.02.0 1.5

Sources: Clean Energy Ideas and AWEA

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

782 736 705 633 615

Global installed powerin 2010

Where are the largestwind farm?

measured by normal maxi-mum output in megawatt

(MW)

96 98 00 02 04 06 08 10

GW

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Land Art Generator InitiativeRenewable Energy can be beautiful - Freshkills Park 2012

Caterina Tiazzoldi + Eduardo Benamor DuarteTeam: Marta Bariolo, Caterina Aurora Francisca, Lian Serrano

Porcupine, 2009Co-author Eduardo Benamor DuarteProject commissioned by the design Biennial Experimenta Design.

Porcupine is an adaptable chair.Inspired from the fractal growth of a shell, it is realized in felt an fiber glass.

Its design has been generated with a parametric logic that allows to reconfig-ure in accord with the location and user’s inputs. Customers can control the form, the level of proximity between the differ-ent seat and the hight modulation.

By glimpsing to the typical Rhino tool Throw Curve along Curve, Porcupine transforms abstraction into design.

It is realized with 40 sheets of felt by Pastofo, supported by a fiber glass skeleton by POLITROFA. The sheets’s height varies from 68 to 30 cm while their spacing shifts according to the pressure of the body’s weight or the proximity of a group of sheets.

The design for the porcupine seat is pro-cessed through the iteration and trans-

Credits:Project: Caterina Tiazzoldi and Eduardo Benamor Duarte Team: M. Fassino, T. Branquinho, K. Seaman

formation of a same component.

In response the warmth and malleability of the felt produces a non-woven cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers. These fibers are produced by recycled residual waste processed in a sustainable manner into felt.

Napping pod, 2010Project featured at Minimaousse 4 Architecture Ex-tra Small, Paris Museum Cite’de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine.

Napping pod is proposal for boarding schools and collective spaces napping spaces, where a branching tubular structure supports the pods where babies are having a nap.

Each pod is realized with a double shell. Each baby has a mattress. Curved on the bottom part, flat on the top. Personal mattresses/pillows can be easily removed and cleaned.

Napping pod has been designed as a sunflower in the orientation vary from pod to pod: in the higher levels, for smaller children, the opening are oriented toward the ceiling. Babies can only enter or exit with the help of an adult. In the lower levels the pods are slightly rotated. In this way babies can enter and exit as they wish.

Pods are dens, nest where hide where develop a secret personal universe. Napping pod is a vision of an universe of protection, amusement, complicity and secrets words.

“Imagine a branching tree. A babies’ tree Babies growing in the space like flowers and fruits.”

Guillaume Apollinaire

Credits:Project: Caterina TiazzoldiTeam: A. Balzano, M. Pianosi

Our idea is to develop an information tool to be used by the general population, local and international technicians and researchers. Our idea of self construction is not only to reduce the construction costs by allowing citizen to construct their own houses. We also see self construction as an integrated platform to access and provide information to the general population and to researchers. The platform will permit us to define a coherent development of urbanity by us-ing Google Earth application as a design tool.

Each user can obtain a customized design for their own house configured to their land properties. By using the Google Adaptable and Downloadable House application, users will have the capacity to drag the generic parametric model on to their property and to obtain a specialized design appropriate to their needs and land.

The parametric model that will be imported from Google Earth will be in the form of an Excel file informing them about the qualities of a specific site (presence of river: construction danger, proximity to road, topography, etc…). Users will input how many recycled materials they can find. The parametric model will adapt itself based on the site input and the resource input. The application will “specialize” the generic digital model on the basis of the site’s specificity. Specialized models can be downloaded and plotted as a list of hexagonal units (number and length). The goal of this method is also to have a record of the “downloaded models”.

Sustainability and self construction as accessible informationProject developed for Architects without Borders from Angola and Burkina Faso, 2009

Such a tracking device will be extremely useful for the administrators in terms of recording the development in different areas by the Google Earth interface as a tool for the local and international research community.

By creating a Google Earth Platform permitting the administrators to collect and to access information easily, it will be possible to create a collaborative network of local and international researchers, architects, and technicians. Researchers and technicians will have the capacity to insert information about the land, to report hydro geological risks and the presence of recyclable materials on specific sites, non registered construction, etc…

Recycled local resources combinational use

An Ushaidi interface permits to update collectivity and Architects Without Borders platform

EMERGENCY 1: In the last fifteen year we have assisted to the emergency of advanced digital tools, permitting us to enhance new forms of design embedding evolutionary parametric techniques and computer numeric control fabrication processes. Such a technology has allowed architects to explore new type of spaces, and the production of new fabrication systems and assembly techniques. Nevertheless the extreme amount of the intelligence ‘..the high degree of sophistication..’ of the design tools, of the construction processes and of the machinery employed, as opposed to the limited accessibility and transportability of the material used, severely limits the use of these new design techniques. In this way the optimism in terms of freedom and democratic accessibility which is embedded in the fluidity between design and construction, means that the results have been compromised or have been limited to a small portion of the architectural community.

EMERGENCY 2: A large proportion of construction on our planet is based on self-construction and spontaneous assemblies. Local ma-terials and resources, low cost production systems, recycled materials are embedded in such construction processes. Conditions derive from a natural necessity in terms of optimization of available resources and local skills. In self-con-struction practice, often program technologies and assembly types relate to the nature of the materials available, and emphasize a formality derived from material behaviors (mud, plastic bottles, mud bricks, corrugated metal). Such local expertise permits builders to develop forms and finishing that would be very expensive to obtain using standard or highly technological design procedures. On the other hand, self-construction processes developed in the complete absence of planning, leads to risk filled situations (construction in dangerous areas; absence of a proper illumination and aeration; potential destruction of entire villages (e.g. Ischia Italy).

The device will be developed as an open data collect-ing tool based on a “Wikipedia like” evolutionary device permitting contributors to correct the information on the basis of their experience in the field.

The use of portable devices such as smart phones and small computers will markedly decrease the cost of the tools required to realize every infrastructural tool.


Adaptable components can be conceived as an adaptable infrastructure acting on different scales (component, product, build-ing, urban), the question is: who is design-ing the system?The rigidity of formal code is transformed in a collective decision making tool. The search engages a device based on a selec-tive process, collecting and aggregating citi-zens preferences.

By analyzing the case studies of the The New York Project and the Poll Game it will be questioned the way in which design should be conceived. Inspired from Pierre Levy concept of collective intelligence, the Poll Game is an infrastructure leading to a vision of a new political collectivity.

The New Polis will be based on a flexible decision-making process based on a contin-uous updating of the criteria and parameters list deriving from the citizens decision. This flexible grid is designed by the collectivity itself by the mean of a genetic algorithm regulating the emergency of dominant pa-rameters. The ultimate design process will collect and use human intelligence.

The Poll Game

The ultimate adaptability - Toward a new PolisA polis -- is a city, a city-state and also citizenship and body of citizens. When used to describe Classical Athens and its contemporaries, polis is often translated as “city-state.”Adaptable components can be conceived as an adaptable infrastructure acting on different scales (component, product, building, urban), the question is: who is designing the system?The rigidity of formal code is transformed in a colletive decision making tool. The search engages a device based on a se-lective process, collecting and aggregating citizens preferences. By analysing the case studies of the The New New York Project and the Poll Game it will be questioned the way in which design should be conceived. Inspired from Pierre Levy concept of collective intelligence, the Poll Game is an infrastructure leading to a vision of a new political collectivity.

a genetic algorithm regulating the emergency of dominant parameters. The ultimate design process will collect and use human intelligence.

criteria x

response 2

response 3

response 1

feedback

criteria y output

criteria z

parameter a

parameter b

parameter c

parameter d

select

project two

project three

project one

communitystudents

parameters criteria response building

vote building proposal

promote

resources

facilities

proximity tourban context

user group parameters criteria response result

what makes a good school? (case study: rwanda)

select

mumbai

clermont-ferrand

hong kong

citizens parameters criteria

feedback

which one willbe new new york? winner

vote new new york

promote

density

security

social contrast

quantity of trashin the street

what makes new york city “new york city”?


The ultimate adaptability - Toward a new Polis, 2007-2009“A polis is a city, a city-state and also citizenship and body of citizens. When used to describe Classical Athens and its contemporaries, polis is often translated as “city-state.”

creating infrastructure page 77

February 2008 Which one will be the new new york?Voracious, vital, exiting, dense, dangerous, fashionable, dirty, clean, local, rach, poor. What makes New York to be New York? The number of different types of sneakers in a subway? Number of vendors in the street?

The New New York Project1 uses citizens collectivity and

the New New York. The New New York Project uses the criteria selective pro-cess developped in their Beta version in the Poll Game2, to develop and evoultionary device aiming to constately update the list of the selective parameters and of the other

1 The New New York Project has been developped by the author with Eduardo Benamor Duarte, in collaboration with the NSU Advanced Research Lab at the Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Pres-ervationan at Columbia University. 2 Poll Game page

Caterina Tiazzoldi

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