The Emergent Technologies and Design Programme (EmTech) is open to graduates in architecture or engineering with interest in architectural design that proceeds from innovative technologies, who wish to develop skills and pursue knowledge in design research that is located in new production paradigms. The programme consists of two phases, Phase 1 containing the taught courses, studio workshops and projects, and supervised research within the studio. Phase 2 consists of further supervised research and the Design Dissertation for the MSc or the Design Thesis for the MArch.

‘Emergent’ is defined as that which is produced by multiple causes, but which cannot be said to be the sum of their individual effects. It has been an important concept in biology and mathematics, in artificial intelligence, information theory and computers, and in the newer domains of weather and climatic studies, and in the material sciences, ‘Biomimetic’ engineering. Commonplace terms such as ‘self organising structures’ and ‘bottom-up systems’ have their origin in the science of Emergence, and are encountered in fields as disparate as economics and urbanism.

The conceptual structures and philosophies of emergence form the logic of and the processes of evolutionary computation; and the application to architectural design is focused on genetic algorithms for structural form finding and generative design. Emergence is also a central concept of biomimetics, in which biological structures are analysed and understood as material hierarchies self-organised into structures that are achieved by a bottom up process of self-assembly from which their properties and performances emerge. Emergent behaviours are also demonstrated by the culture of production at large, a dynamic interaction of diverse forces that follow local rules rather than imposed higher level instructions. Larger coherent patterns or ‘macro-behaviours’ are discernible, arising from material productions that are localised by author, time and geography.

The programme is focused on the concepts and convergent interdisciplinary effects of Emergence on design and production technologies, and on developing these as creative inputs to new architectural design processes. The instruments of analysis and design in Emergent Technologies are computational processes. The seminar courses and core studio are designed to familiarise students with these instruments, their associated conceptual fields and with their application to architectural design research. The output of the seminars and core studio provides the aims and armature for the design thesis or design dissertation developed in Term 3 and finalised in Term 4.

Seminar courses provide the theoretical context, setting out the origins, theories, instruments and practices of Emergent Technologies, and exploring relations to the discourses of contemporary Architecture. The courses are extensively cross-linked, thematically and instrumentally, with each other and with the core studio. Outputs from the seminar courses are critical and technical analysis, digital experiments, computational design systems and material strategies driven by industrial processes and production. The core studio consists of design experiments and projects that together comprise an integrated evolutionary development of a population of active material systems.

The Programme
Core Studio – Terms 1 and 2

Active Systems

Studio Masters Christina Doumpioti and Dr. Toni Kotnik, with support from tutors Evan Greenberg and Konstantinos Karatzas, Visiting lecturer Suryansh Chandra and Director Michael Weinstock.

The Core Studio course runs for two terms and is organised in three modules – Induction Studio, Studio 1 and Studio 2. Each student has access to a full suite of design and structural software, and access to the studio Intranet archive that includes 40 successful dissertations and theses, comprehensive manuals for constructive geometry, manuals and video tutorials for scripting, and examples of computational fluid dynamics and structural analysis of natural and constructed systems. Regular staff and invited lecturers give formal tuition and students further develop their skills through case studies and design experiments. The core studio course introduces the techniques associated with evolutionary computation and digital morphogenesis derived for the mathematics of biological evolutionary development of individuals and populations that are delivered in the seminar course ‘Emergence’, and skills will be developed in these techniques through a series of design experiments that increase in size and complexity over the two terms. Techniques derived from the concepts and knowledge of the hierachical organisation of biological materials and the emergent properties of complex ‘component’ assemblies and aggregations in living organisms, delivered in the seminar course ‘Natural Systems and Biomimetics’, will be implemented, and skills developed in their application throughout the series. Knowledge of material properties and advanced fabrication techniques delivered in the seminar course ‘Design and Technolgy’ will be implanted and skills developed in their application during the evolutionary development of the more complex material systems in Studio 2.

Students work in groups in small groups (3 or 4 per group) in each of the three studio modules, changing groups at the end of each module. They document their work as it proceeds and make regular presentations during each studio for critical advice. These documents and interim presentations are bought together and presented at the end of each term, and the compiled document is submitted for assessment. The coresStudio concludes with the presentation of the whole evolutionary series of fully constructed and digitally modelled artefacts, and the full documentation of their structural and environmental characteristics, the role that material properties and fabrication techniques played in the development of their individual and group morphology, and a critical assessment of their potential for deployment in spatial and programmatic architectural scale applications.

Term 1
Induction Studio – the ‘boot camp’
This four-week course presents a comprehensive introduction to the core skills and techniques in digital design and fabrication. It will be centered on the development of associative geometric models in Grasshopper, and the relations between digital morphogenesis and material realisation. Students will become familiar with the necessary exchange of data between the digital and physical realm through the formalisation of the inherent geometric relationships in all different elements of the developed designs. The course will be supplemented with regular tutorials on mathematics, and on the appropriate techniques for recording, describing and documenting digital and physical experiments. The Induction Studio will conclude with fabricated and digitally modelled material systems that resolve problems of parametric control, material behaviour, structural integrity, tessellations of three dimensional components, precise dimensional control, programme and spatial organisation.

Core Studio 1
The eight-week Core Studio 1 commences with analysis of all the parameters and characteristics of the material systems generated in the Induction Studio, and uses the results of this analysis as the first generation of an evolutionary series. Through the application of evolutionary strategies and computational techniques the architectural qualities of different material systems will be recombined and enhanced over succeeding generations. As the systems increase in scale and three dimensional complexity through digital morphogenesis, a series of built models will explore the integration of material behaviour and fabrication processes. Core Studio 1 will be supported throughout with weekly sessions on associative modelling in Grasshopper/RhIno, workshops on scripting in VB and in Grasshopper, and weekly sessions on geometry and iterative processes that conclude with L-Systems to model and control growth processes.

The studio will conclude with fully fabricated and digitally modelled doubly curved material systems that exhibit advanced and fully integrated structural and environmental properties, with comprehensive documentation and assessment of their individual and group potential for further development towards architectural scale applications.

Term 2
Core Studio 2
The ten-week core studio 2 commences with analysis of all the parameters and characteristics of the systems generated in the core studio 2, and uses the results of this analysis as the first generation of a new evolutionary series. Genetic algorithms for the optimisation of computer-controlled fabrication will be developed and integrated with further development of the evolutionary morphogenetic techniques. Exploration and development over succeeding generations will also include spatial organisations and environmental behaviour together with the parameters developed previously. Techniques taught in the first term seminar ‘Emergence’ will be implemented, including statistical analysis ranking for multi parameter fitness criteria will be explored and developed. Core studio 2 will be supported throughout with weekly sessions on iterative mathematical processes that include L-systems and multi parameter scripting within the associative modelling software, and with a series of visits from the Visiting Professors to the programme.

The Studio will conclude with fully fabricated and digitally modelled doubly curved material systems that exhibit advanced and integrated material properties, structural and environmental properties with optimal computer controlled fabrication. Comprehensive documentation will include critical evaluation of their individual and group potential for spatial and programmatic organisations across a range of architectural scales.

Emergence and Design Seminar Course Term 1
Michael Weinstock
Emergence has been an important concept in biology and mathematics, in artificial intelligence, information theory and computer science, and in the newer domains of climatic modelling and other complex systems analysis and simulations. The seminar course will commence with a survey of the origins of the science and technologies associated with emergence traced in Turing’s work on cryptographic analysis in the Second World War, his 1952 paper on the mathematics of biological development, ‘Morphogenesis’, Shannon and Weaver’s ‘The Mathematical Theory of Communication’, Weaver’s 1948 paper ‘Science and Complexity’, Norbert Weiner’s 1949 ‘Cybernetics’ and the work of Selfridge and Minsky at MIT on Artificial Intelligence. The conceptual structures and philosophies of Emergence in Evolutionary Computation and Artificial Life will be reviewed, and the application to structural and architectural design explored, focusing on algorithms for generative design processes. Students develop their understanding of these concepts by engaging in The Generative Design Experiment that runs 12 successive generations of digital populations. The experiment will conclude with the detailed modelling and analysis of the set of forms, surfaces, and structures evolved in the experiment.

Natural Systems and Biomimetics Seminar Course Term 1
Analysis continues into Term 2
Dr George Jeronimidis with Michael Weinstock, Evan Greenberg and Kostis Karatzas

This course examines the ways in which biological organisms achieve complex ‘emergent’ structures and performances from simple components, relating this to an exploration of current architectural/industrial component design, prototyping and production. The aim is to suggest the possibility of a radical bottom-up programme for architectural design proceeding from a component strategy derived from an analysis of biological systems. The course will show how the boundary between the ‘natural’ and the man-made has been reconfigured by biomimetic engineering, and will introduce students to the thinking that has led to the evolution of new materials that may play a significant role in shaping the future of our built environment. It aims to explain how materials can be designed to produce varied properties, such as concrete that can ‘heal’ itself, glazing that can change its optical properties and materials that have a memory. It explores the concepts that are driving the implementation of new materials, particularly in ‘smart’ or adaptive structures, and examines these materials for potential contributions to new agendas. The course will also discuss the way in which contemporary engineers regard form, materials and structure not as separate elements, but rather as systems acting on each other in self-organised complex hierarchies. An introduction to the ways in which organisms have evolved their form, materials and structures in response to varied functions and environments will be followed by an account of the way in which engineering design principles have been abstracted from nature in current research projects for industry and material science. An in-depth study of a natural system (general form, anatomy and energy flows and behaviour) will be carried out, and the interrelations explored and the engineering principles abstracted.

Design and Technology  Seminar Course Term 2
Evan Greenberg and Michael Weinstock, with invited guests

This course aims to provoke a re-examination of the theories and practices of design from the point of view of their embedded material implications. It aims to reveal the ways in which ‘design’ and the ‘technical’ exist within the general culture of architectural production by an extended review of contemporary fabrication techniques within architecture and its related fields. The relation of fabrication techniques to material effects and issues of representation and performance will be pursued through case studies. This seminar course is also integral component of the Core Studio 2 -iTerm 2.

Term 3 and 4
Design Research Studio and the Thesis/Dissertation

The Design Research Studio enables students to extend the knowledge gained in the Phase 1 seminar courses, Core studio and associated workshops and experiments, to develop further knowledge and apply acquired skills in an extended design research. Three main fields of design research are offered; Active Material Systems with Advanced Fabrication, Natural Ecological Systems design (currently focused on shorelines and deltas); and Urban Ecological Design (currently focused on algorithmic design for energetic models of new cities in emergent biomes).

The Design Research Studio is supported by regular seminars, tutorials and specialised consultations in each of these three fields, and by extensive digital archives of basic and applied science and the archive of previous Dissertations and Theses. Students may choose one of the three fields, and will work in small groups that evolve during this term . The Design Research Studio facilitates the development a deeper understanding of Emergence and its application to advanced production in architecture, urbanism and ecological engineering, integrating theoretical discourses, science and the insights gained from experiments. It will develop and refine the ability to analyse complex issues, and enhance capacity to engage in independent research. The Design Research Studio concludes with the presentation of the fully developed Thesis/Dissertation proposal.

MArch Studio – the Masterclasses
The MArch fourth term runs simultaneously with the first term for the new students of the 09/10 cohort.  The MArch studio will be supported by a series of masterclasses delivered by invited guests and the two Visiting Professors. In 2009/10 these have been chosen for their advanced professional abilities in the field and together offer expertise and professional accomplishments in a variety of scales and digital methods:

Fabian Scheurer of ‘DesigntoProduction’,
Achim Menges of Institute of Computational Design,
Jalal El-Ali of Buro Happold Generative Geometry Group
Cristina Moreno and Efram Grinda of the design practice Amid/Cero 9,
Alan Dempsey formerly of Future Systems and now with his own practice Nex,
Hugh Whitehead who leads the Specialist Modelling Group at Foster and Partners,
Bill Hillier of Space Syntax
Hanif Kara of Adams Kara Taylor

The masterclasses are intended to provide design inspiration and knowledge of implemented techniques in the professional field, and deliver an extended presentation to all students (incoming Phase 1 students and term 4 MArch students about their work. Further studio sessions are then delivered in seminar and workshop format to the MArch students, concentrating on how their projects were produced and delivered – their digital techniques, operative constraints, and optimisation techniques for structural and environmental performance and fabrication.

The Staff

Course Director
Michael Weinstock RIBA
Director Research and Development
Director, Emergent Technologies and Design

Michael Weinstock is an architect. Born in Germany, lived as a child in the Far East and then West Africa, attended an English public school. Ran away to sea at age 17 after reading Conrad. Years at sea in traditional sailing ships, with shipyard and shipbuilding experience. Studied architecture at the Architectural Association and has taught at the AA School of Architecture since 1989. Founder and Director of Emergent Technologies Masters Programme.

Research Interests
Michael Weinstock’s research interest lies in exploring the convergence of biomimetic Engineering, architecture, emergence and material sciences and has published widely on these topics since 1989. The potential of the convergence for the materialisation of intelligent materials, structures, and ultimately, the organisation of cities, provides the motivation and suggests the long-term goal. Acadia Award for Excellence 2008.

Lectures and educational collaborations have included
Keynote lecture/paper – 2009 International Symposium ‘From Insect Nests to Human Architecture’, European Centre for Living Technology, Venice
Keynote lecture/paper– Acadia 2008 ‘Silicon and Skin’, Minneapolis
-International Advisor and Board Member, Technical University of Delft, Doctoral Research programme.
-lecturer at Yale University,
-Visiting Professor at Universite Romatre, Rome,
-Visiting Professor to the Genetic Architecture research programme at ESARQ, Barcelona, Director of ‘Taller Vertical’
- and collaborations with Prof. George Jeronimides and the Center of Biomimetics at the University of Reading, Wolf Mangelsdorf and Buro Happold, and with Achim Menges at the Institute of Computational Design, Stuttgart University.

Publications
The Architecture of Emergence: The evolution of form in nature and civilisation, Michael Weinstock,Wiley-Academy, London 2010
Emergent Technologies and Design: Towards a Biological Paradigm for Architecture, Hensel, Menges and Weinstock,editors, Routledge, London 2010

Senior Staff
Professor Dr George Jeronimidis
Director of the Centre for Biomimetics, Reading University, Department of Engineering.
George Jeronimidis has been teaching in the Emergent Technologies and Design programmere since its beginning. He is the Director of the Centre for Biomimetics in the School of Construction Management and Engineering. The Centre has an international reputation in the field of biomimetics, having pioneered this discipline in the UK and abroad since the 90’s.  His PhD in Physical Chemistry (University of Rome in 1970) and his current research interests cover biomimetics, plant and animal biomechanics, smart materials and structures and mechanics of composites. Recent and current projects include: bio-inspired smart variable stiffness devices for vibration control (EPSRC ROPA and EPSRC Smart Materials and Structures Programme), development of smart textiles (MOD/DCTA), impact-resistant composites based on wood structure (DEFRA), variable stiffness composites (DEFRA), smart multifunctional skins based on insect cuticle (ONR/USA), BIONIS Network for Industrial Sustainability (EPSRC/STI), biomimetics of insect air-flow sensors for MEMS applications (EU Future and Emerging Technologies Programme/Life Perception Systems) and, very recently, a feasibility study with the European Space Agency on biomimetics and electro-active polymer gels.
Professor Jeronimidis is an active member of the Smart Materials and Structures Committee of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IoM3).  In 1986 he received the “Leslie Holliday Prize” of the Materials Science Committee of the Institute of Materials for his work in composites and in 1996 the “Donald Julius Groen Prize” of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He has published extensively in these fields with articles in scientific journals, book and conference contributions, including Keynote lectures. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Max Planck Institute for Colloid and Interface Research in Golm, Germany and on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Virtual and Physical Prototyping.

Studio Masters
Christina Doumpioti [Dipl Arch/Eng  MArch AA RIBA II  Architect GR TCG] studied Architecture at the Aristotle Univeristy of Thessaloniki and is a registered architect in Greece. She received an MArch with distinc¬tion from the AA [EmTech], followed by a postgraduate course on Computing and Design at UEL. She is an architect and computational consultant at Arup Associates , working in a multi-disciplinary team aiming at integrated solutions across different design fields.

Dr Toni Kotnik is founder of Kotnik.architects, a Zurich-based architectural office, and principal researcher in OCEAN. He studied architecture and mathematics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, the University of Tübingen, and the University of Utah and received his doctoral degree from the University of Zurich. He was Research Fellow at Center for the Representation of Multi-Dimensional Information (CROMDI), postdoctoral researcher at the ETH Zurich and assistant professor at the University of Applied Sciences in Lucerne. Currently, he teaches at the Architectural Association and works as senior researcher at the ETH Zurich with focus on the interplay of architectural design, geometry, and structural system.

Tutors
Evan L. Greenberg, BSc AAMSc (Dist) is an architectural designer and co-director of the research collaborative Network Research + Design, exploring the convergence of architectural, biological, and cultural systems. He has worked in architecture and engineering offices and with product designers and artists in both New York and London, and is currently a design consultant for Plasma Studio. Evan earned his Master of Science with Distinction in Emergent Technologies and Design from the AA School of Architecture in 2008, and his Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia in 2005.

Konstantinos Karatzas [MSc Emtech MEng] is an engineer and researcher, with research interests in smart materials, biomimetics, lightweight structures and advanced simulation and analysis techniques. He was awarded the MSc in Emergent Technologies and Design from the Architectural Association in 2009, and his Diploma in Civil Engineering from the Polytechnic School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2008.

Visiting Professors
Professor Achim Menges is Professor and Director of the Institute for Computational Design at Stuttgart University. Currently he also is Visiting Professor in Architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. He has been teaching at the AA School of Architecture as Studio Master of the Emergent Technologies and Design MArch/MSc Program from 2002 to 2009 and as Unit Master of AA Diploma Unit 4 from 2003 to 2006. From 2005 to 2008 he was Professor for Form Generation and Materialisation at the HfG Offenbach University for Art and Design in Germany. Achim Menges research focuses on the development of integral design processes at the intersection of evolutionary computation, algorithmic design, biomimetic engineering and computer aided manufacturing that enables a highly articulated, performative built environment. His research projects have been published and exhibited worldwide.

Professor Fabian Scheurer is a computer scientist who seeks to interface the abstract order of digital systems with the creative chaos of design. He graduated from the Technical University of Munich after studying computer sciences and architecture and worked as assistant at the CAAD group of TU-Munich, as software developer at Nemetschek Programmsystem Gmb , and as new media consultant for Eclat AG in Zurich. From 2002 until 2006 he researched and lectured as a member of Ludger Hovestadt’s CAAD group at the ETH Zurich. His scientific work focused on the practical aspects of artificial-life methods in architectural construction and has been applied to a number of collaborative projects between architects, engineers, and fabrication experts. In 2005 he co-founded ‘designtoproduction’ as a research group at the ETH. Since 2006 he is an associate in the company of the same name, realising projects for UN Studio, Libeskind, Renzo Piano, Zaha Hadid, Sanaa, and Shiguru Ban among others.