15 January 2009
Office of the Director
Valle Scholarship and Scandinavian Exchange Program
University of Washington
Box 352130
Seattle, Washington
Valle Scholarship Selection Committee,
Evolving design technologies are creating a new synergy between process, material, and form. This synergy is largely a result of design tools which renew the role of designers as the integrators of form and function. My current research is focused on emphasizing a design process that reflects how best to implement our current intellectual and technological capital in pursuit of structures that are functionally efficient and aesthetically elegant.
In Copenhagen, Denmark, faculty at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts are leading research into the methods and implications of a process of design and collaboration founded on the intelligent use of parametric tools and fabrication techniques. CITA: Center for Information Technology and Architecture, a research institute at the Royal Academy, represents an assembly of the foremost researchers and practitioners examining the intersection between architecture and digital technologies. Much of the research at CITA runs parallel to my own interests; investigating processes that may shorten the gap between the creative act and the realization of design intent.
If awarded, my Valle Scholarship would be used to fund research at the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen, Denmark for a period of three months beginning shortly after the completion of winter quarter 2009. My Valle research would be a vital addition to my academic scholarship and architectural thesis to be completed in June of this year.
Valle Research
My interest is in the greater-than-additive effects realized by applying advanced design processes to the fundamentals of design:
- Process: Relational modeling and performative design-to-manufacture processes (i.e. parametrics, real time simulation, CNC fabrication, BIM), will facilitate the aggregation and sharing of design intent, providing for a dynamic design process with greater collaboration between designers, artists, and craftsmen.
- Material: Traditional materials may be imbued with new intelligence and new materials may become objects of design and function in themselves.
- Form: Advanced fabrication techniques will allow for the generation of unique forms that provide for the integration of aesthetic, structural and programmatic function.
Copenhagen is unequalled in the number of design professionals and researchers working at the intersection of architecture and design technology. The Valle Scholarship will provide a chance to work directly with these individuals and build on the foundation of research I have done thus far. The contacts I have made in advance of my work in Copenhagen are some of the leading researchers and designers in this arena.
Methodology
I have a research blog illustrating my interests and directions in design. Continued posts from Copenhagen would serve to communicate the developmentof my thoughts, experience, and research. Though the nature of my scholarship is less frequently exhibited in the urban architecture of Copenhagen, my contacts will be instrumental in providing access to built prototypes, mock-ups and other examples of digital fabrication that reflect the Danish tradition of innovation. Inspired by recent Valle Scholar Nathan Lambdin, I have made plans to compile these studies in a similarly graphic and condensed manner as he has done with his Valle museum ‘booklet’.
The support of a Valle Scholarship will facilitate an unparalleled opportunity to work with the principal figures examining the far reaching implications of architecture realized with digital technologies. A Valle Scholarship would be an extraordinary occasion to advance my inquiry into the latent possibilities of using advanced 3D technology to create a new synergy between process,material, and form; the fundamentals of design. My research and knowledge in the arena of advanced design will further my professional development as an emerging designer and allow me to share my experience with peers. During the summer of 2009, I have an opportunity to assist in the teaching of Studio Tschlin, a University of Washington summer design program in Tschlin, Switzerland. The studio portion of this years program will be working with a local furniture maker, to conceive of an advanced design and production facility for his craft. I am looking forward to sharing my Valle research with this years students in an effort to inform their designs of advanced fabrication considerations.
Kevin Driscoll
