TAC Technically Advanced Construction is a new postgraduate course for graduates and professionals established by the Department of Building Environment Science and Technology (BEST), Politecnico di Milano and Co-de-iT. It will run for three months and will allow participants to achieve high levels of knowledge in the design-to-production process through the use of advanced digital tools for design and machines for the creation of physical models.
The entire course, based at Politecnico di Milano, will take place through studies, workshops and working periods assisted (during the development, manufacture and test trial) by a team of highly skilled professionals and teachers (from studies and international schools like AA London, ARUP, Buro Happold, Zaha Hadid, Gehry Technologies, SPAN Architects ...).

The goal is to design, prototype, and finally test “multi-performative skins” through computational design software. Audits in progress performance of the “skin” will be the main feedback to optimize the final design.

At the end of the course, the best students will have the possibility to undertake a 3-6 months internship experience in some design offices proposed by the course commission and by the tutors.

The course will be completed by a series of public lectures held by the same course tutors and other professionals and teachers of international renown.

The course will start on April 04, 2011 and will end on July 09, 2011 (daily attendance).
Registration are open until March 14, 2011.


INTRODUCTION

TAC Technically Advanced Construction course aims at the formation of highly specialized professionals in the field of digital design and fabrication processes for innovative architectural construction systems. Partecipants will achieve cutting edge know-how levels in the "design-to-production" process with the use of digital tools and machines, deploying and driving it for the development of “multi-performative skins”.
The whole course unfolds through studios, workshops and working periods tutorized by specialized international teaching staff (during development, fabrication and testing), bridging together theoretical aspects, practical application and digital tools learning on an almost daily basis, thus enhancing the knowledge exchange pattern with continuous feedbacks among the mentioned aspects as well as among the involved subjects (tutors, lecturers, participants).
Participants will be clustered in groups, each of them developing a project on the subject of "multi-performative skin" (architectural dynamic envelopes). "Multi-performative" relates to embedded capacities (which could be implemented on a multi-scalar level) of modulating structural performance and controlling of one or more fluxes – light, heat, noise, information, etc.

COURSE PROGRAM

The course will be structured in three main parts. The first part will be dedicated to provide theoretical foundation (contemporary design strategies, self organization and emergent systems, information theory, material computation and form finding) integrated by the use of parametric and generative software, thus giving students the basis to think and design innovative solutions in materials, form, behaviour and adaptation to environmental pressures.

In the second part design teams will explore and develop their projects towards a component system that integrates different features in a multi-performative solution. The development will be carried through digital tools and fabrication/prototyping techniques. Partecipants will learn to give consistency to their strategies by embedding fabrication in the overall design process from the very early stage.

The last part will be focused on testing the overall system behaviour, providing a flow of information that will feedback on the system itself in order to understand and improve solutions quality.

TUTORS*

- Evan Greenberg         [AA_London, EmTech]     1st week
- Christina Doumpioti         [AA_London, EmTech]     1st week
- Matias del Campo         [SPAN Architects]         2nd - 3rd week 

- Sandra Manninger         [SPAN Architects]         2nd - 3rd week
- Oliver Tessmann         [Bollinger + Grohmann]     4th week 

- Luis Fraguada*        [LaN + IaaC Barcelona]     5th -6th week
- Edmondo Occhipinti     [Gehry Technologies]     7th - 8th week
- Marco Verde*        [HYPERBODY TU Delft]    9th week

- Arnold Walz*            [designtoproduction]         10th week
- Giammichele Melis        [Buro Happold]         11th week 

- Luca Dal Cerro         [Decode Paris]         12th week 

- Valerio Bonora        [Decode Paris]        13th week

DIGITAL TOOLS TUTORS*

- Alessio Erioli         [Università di Bologna, Co-de-iT]

- Andrea Graziano         [Co-de-iT]

- Federico Rossi        [London Southbank University, bloomlab architects]

- Emanuele Naboni         [Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts]

* some availability has still to be confirmed

COURSE COMMISSION

- Emilio Pizzi             [BEST Department Politecnico di Milano]

- Anna Mangiarotti         [BEST Department Politecnico di Milano]

- Ingrid Paoletti         [BEST Department Politecnico di Milano]
- Stefano Converso         [DIPSA, Università degli Studi Roma 3]

- Alessio Erioli         [Università di Bologna]

EVENTS

LIVE TAC is a series of lectures which complements and integrates the advanced course TAC. The lectures will be held concurrently with the development of the course (January-April 2011) and will be dedicated to spreading and deepening the themes of generative architecture.
The intent is to provide a state of the art on international architecture while challenging new perspectives on making and building architecture. The lectures will be held in public at Rogers Hall of Politecnico di Milano, Via Ampere 2.

LECTURERS



- Evan Greenberg         [AA_London EmTech]

- Christina Doumpioti        [AA_London EmTech]

- Matias del Campo         [SPAN Architects]
- Sandra Manninger        [SPAN Architects] 

- Alessio Erioli         [Università di Bologna e Co-de-iT]
- Federico Rossi         [London Southbank Univertisy, bloomlab architects]
- Emanuele Naboni         [Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts]

- Oliver Tessmann         [Bollinger & Grohmann]

- Luis Fraguada         [LaN & IaaC Barcelona]
- Filippo Innocenti         [Zaha Hadid Architects - Roma]

- Edmondo Occhipinti     [Gehry Technologies]

- Cristiano Ceccato         [Zaha Hadid Architects]
- Marco Verde            [HYPERBODY TU Delft]

- Luca dal Cerro         [DecoDe]

- Giammichele Melis         [Buro Happold]

Download all materials here.