SteamSHIFT’s MDAT Blog

2 areas

1. Practical exploration
2. Concept Mapping / Research

Practical exploration

• application development using cocoa and objective-c
  • eg: virtual bcf2000 midi controller
• processing and java
  • serial to midi applet
• arduino and wiring

Concept Mapping

• shipping containers

  • commercial and political
    • unit of capitalism
    • allan sekula : fish story
  • architectural
  • iconic
  • physical
  • sculptural
  • allegorical
    • 20ton packet (wired essay)
    • networking packets
  • money
    • view as currency

• tents

  • transforming and defining physical space
  • parallels with compression / expansion ; computer archives
  • real time manipulation of physical space

• materials

  • canvas
    • … creation of curved planes just by use of tension
  • steam
    • eg: Jeremy Deller’s ‘Steam Powered Internet Machine’
  • wood
    • … natural quality
  • all of materials research is juxtaposed with digital media

• common strands

  • movement
  • physical space defining idea space (and visa versa)
  • physical embodiment of digit process and systems
  • feedback - physical into digital into physical etc.

zero yen house

Consider a row of homeless peoples’ houses built on an urban street in Japan. If we look at these houses from an architectural perspective, we can discover many of the capabilities and elements in their architecture. These houses are built on a shoestring budget by diverting and recycling the rubbish thrown away on the street. In this respect, these houses are built out of the resourcefulness of human nature, not by purchasing power. I call them “Zero Yen Houses.”

At the present day, one may say that self-constructed houses do not exist in the dwelling area of the city. Almost all houses are commodities to be bought and sold. Moreover, from an ecological point of view, once a typical house is constructed its use does not change with time yet its building materials transform into garbage for the landfill. Under these condition as such, “Zero Yen House” gives some indication of the possibilities of future architecture. “Zero Yen House” is constructed with the materials mostly collected from the street. In other words, it gives a different perspective on discarded items thrown away as surplus materials of urban living. In addition, relative to the fact that current home-purchases generally cost millions of dollars, “Zero Yen House” costs just a few hundred dollars at most. The importance is that they are made by one’s own hand. This does not mean the dwelling is simply a box to live in. Instead, the dwelling is built as an extension of one%u2019s own body. Therefore, the house shapes are each respectively different. No universal prototype exists for these houses, and this differentiation from typical architecture is important. In the nature of things, I think that each dwelling is different spontaneously.

“Solar Zero Yen House” is a dwelling I found built by an elderly man living along the Sumida River bank. Its construction inspired me as an architect to think about energy use for our future. A small solar panel, about the size of one mat, is installed in the roof of the dwelling, so energy is completely provided for. This demonstrates the possibilities for new architecture and new types of construction.

Zero Yen House is a primal (archetype) urban architecture, which is different from vernacular settlement construction we see around the world, and is it different from modern and contemporary architecture designed by architects.

kyohei sakaguchi
www.0yenhouse.com

Somehow related … not sure … we’ll see!

From: Living Wall

Please take time to look at the excellent Living Wall piece via Interactive Architecture dot Org. I am specifically reposting just this image because it expresses something that I am interested in … I just haven’t totally worked out what that something is yet!

(Via Interactive Architecture dot Org.)