The workshop entitled “Horizontality, Human Scale” took place as part of the postrgraduate course ‘Current Fields of Design and Construction/ Strategies for Urban Design’ of the Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Program ‘Architectural Design – Space – Culture’ of the School of Architecture, NTUA.

It was as a collaboration of the NTUA and the ΑΑ, Architectural Association School of Architecture.

The latest advances in production technologies have contributed immensely to how we think of architectural space today. The ability to analyze and handle complex parameters in architectural fabrication in addition to the digital design processes has resulted in a more integrated flow between algorithmic design procedures and digital fabrication methods.

A structure which can be self-activated through motion and reaction to external stimuli in real‐time is no longer a theoretical concept but can exist through means already utilized in everyday life.

During the workshop, participants challenged conventional design approaches to break the dichotomy between the static building and the urban realm.
The proposed structures applied the concepts of motion and real‐time reaction in response to external stimuli.

They were asked to develop a “horizontal interface” susceptible to transformation. The purpose of this exercise was investigation of design solutions for a contemporary horizontal construction with use of low tech architectural tools with the goal to create highly flexible and adaptive structures. The challenge presented was design of an interactive surface for a specific location area by creation of patterned, programmed surfaces.

 The design teams used a wide range of digital fabrication systems from CNC routers to 3D printers and they were introduced to algorithms using the open source software ‘Processing’ in combination with the open source single board microcontroller ‘Arduino’.

One of the major goals of the workshop was to demonstrate continuity of the workflow between computational software and digital assembly procedures leading to physical fabrication. On that regard, a large-scale physical model – dimensions 4.5m length and 1.5m height – was created through computational design and fabricated using digital tools. This model demonstrated dynamic structural properties and allowed for transformation via human interaction.
Furthermore, participants fabricated physical models of their ideas in various scales, during the process of developing each design unit proposals. Participants had access to the NTUA lab for the fabrication of prototypes/models in various mediums and materials involving CNC techniques, such as laser cutting, milling, 3d printing, and other forms of physical outputs.