ACSA Creative Achievement Award
2014-2015 Winner: Submission Materials
Possible Mediums Project
ADAM FURE
University of Michigan
KELLY BAIR
University of Illinois at Chicago
KRISTY BALLIET
The Ohio State University
KYLE JAMES MILLER
Syracuse University
Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
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POSSIBLE MEDIUMS PROJECT
The Possible Mediums Project advances a new pedagogical model of short-term, intensive design research, intended to
supplement conventional architectural curricula. The unique format remakes the architectural conference and exhibition
into a hybrid of interactive panel discussions and workshops projecting new, innovative educational models. To date, it
has hosted fourteen workshops, a regional conference, an exhibition, and a dinner. Over two hundred students from four
schools have participated in these events and countless more engaged in coordinated online dissemination.
The inaugural event, a regional conference that took place at The Ohio State University in February 2013, brought together eighteen designers, 120 students, and invited guests John McMorrough and Jeffrey Kipnis to participate in design
workshops and formal discussions surrounding the question of mediums in contemporary architecture. In January 2014,
the Possible Medium events centered on an exhibition at the University of Michigan featuring the work of the conference
workshop leaders. An integral part of the exhibition layout was a centralized collaborative workspace that hosted design
workshops throughout the length of the exhibition. This format intended to overcome the passive reception of exhibited
work by allowing students to directly engage the architects through design exercises. Lastly, a dinner was held in the exhibition space where students engaged architects, critics, and teachers from across the country in discussions regarding
the state of architectural education.
At the heart of our efforts is a belief in the pedagogical value of design, delivered in short, intensive workshops, which
supplement and invigorate the long-term, slow-growth educational experiences in architecture studios. Workshops
impart to students both specific design techniques and general modes of design thinking demonstrated and discussed
by the invited guests from around the country. The growth achieved in this setting translates into lasting improvements in
student learning outcomes by offering students the rare opportunity to work closely with experts outside their home institution. It also allows the students to develop meaningful mentor relationships with junior faculty. The collaboration across
the schools had had an impact beyond specific events, fostering skills, creative work and an environment invigorated for
learning.
Possible Mediums Organizers:
Kelly Bair Assistant Professor, University of Illinois-Chicago
Kristy Balliet Assistant Professor, The Ohio State University
Adam Fure Assistant Professor, University of Michigan
Kyle Miller Assistant Professor, Syracuse University
Contents
Project Description ....................................
Project Organization
Figural Projections .....................
Tactile Objects ...........................
Active Models ............................
Excessive Volumes.....................
Possible Mediums Exhibition..... ..............
Exhibition Documentation
Exhibition Opening ....................
Exhibition Workshops ................
Exhibition Closing Dinner .........
Possible Mediums Conference Format....
Exhibition Documentation
Design Workshops ....................
Panel Discussions .....................
Workshop Results .....................
Promotional Materials ...............
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Complete Project Documentation:
www.possiblemediums.com
www.facebook.com/possiblemediums
www.possiblemediums.wordpress.com [conference documentation]
www.vimeo.com/78178098 [conference video]
Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
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PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Possible Mediums project is a series of events showcasing design investigations based in speculative architectural
mediums. It began just over two years ago when the four of us, all teaching and working in the American Midwest, came
together to promote novel design trends emerging at our schools and across the country. In our view, the conventional
mediums of architectural production are rapidly changing. Comics and toys are showing up alongside perspectives and
models. Orthographic drawings are crafting optical tricks while digital drawings are exploding into vibrant vector fields.
Machines are not only being used but built from scratch. From plaster casts of fat characters to geodesic kites, designers
are actively expanding architecture’s mediums in order to captivate new audiences. To mobilize this exciting wave of
speculative architecture, we invited eighteen designers to join us in an ongoing effort to highlight, discuss, and extend
these provocative trends.
The inaugural event, a regional conference that took place at The Ohio State University in February 2013, brought
together eighteen designers, 120 students, and invited guests to participate in design workshops and formal discussions
surrounding the question of mediums in contemporary architecture. In January of 2014 we opened the Possible Mediums
exhibition at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College Liberty Gallery in Ann Arbor. The show featured new pieces from
the conference workshop leaders. In both design and discourse the conference and exhibition demonstrated the profound
potential of an expanded conception of architectural mediums.
To extend the results of the conference and exhibition, we continue to plan events and are gathering content for a Possible
Mediums book to be published in 2015. The book will be organized similarly to the conference and exhibition: a diverse
body of work grouped into smaller, more focused chapters. This structure reflects our approach to understanding and
organizing contemporary architectural discourse. We approach the diversity of architecture today with neither cynicism nor
divisiveness. Instead, we frame architecture’s potential as simply and optimistically “possible,” while providing secondary
categories that allow for more nuanced discourses to emerge.
The Possible Mediums Project is structured around four medium-based themes:
FIGURAL PROJECTIONS
Figural Projections frames a group of designers engaged in the study of architectural legibility related to figural form
and shape. Subverting (often subtly) the conventions of projective geometry, these designers employ narrative, optical
deception, and ambiguously precise massing to craft imaginative worlds.
Organized by: Kelly Bair
Participants: Jimenez Lai, Angela Co, Thomas Kelley, and Kyle Miller
EXCESSIVE VOLUMES
Excessive Volumes features designers who orchestrate depth and calibrate spatial intervals with sharp expertise. They
have surpassed an internal discourse of generative computing in favor of a broader focus on the tectonic, optical and
atmospheric effects generated by volumetric modeling.
Organized by: Kristy Balliet
Participants: Kristy Balliet, Justin Diles, Michael Young, and Brennan Buck/David Freeland
ACTIVE MODELS
Active Models connects a group of designers that employ interactive technologies to link digital and physical environments.
Their work utilizes embedded computation, continuous measurement, and kinetics to propose new modes of visual,
spatial, and formal engagement.
Organized by: Kyle Miller
Participants: Andrew Atwood, Jason K. Johnson/Nataly Gattegno, and Simon Kim/Mariana Ibañez
TACTILE OBJECTS
Tactile Objects brings together a group of designers defining new disciplinary territory for materials and form. Moving
beyond the common criteria of performance, complexity, and elegance, this group steered material and formal articulation
toward the tactile, the visceral, and the animal.
Organized by: Adam Fure
Participants: Ellie Abrons, Kelly Bair, Adam Fure, Andrew Holder/Benjamin Freyinger, Michael Loverich/Antonio Torres
Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
Kyle Miller, Archive of Architectural Antagonists
Angie Co, Critter
Thomas Kelley, Wrong Chairs
Jimenez Lai, Figures
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FIGURAL PROJECTIONS
Figural Projections frames designers engaged in the study of architectural legibility related to figural form and shape.
Subverting (often subtly) the conventions of projective geometry, these designers employ narrative, optical deception,
and ambiguously precise massing to craft imaginative worlds. While some themes—namely, Active Models and Tactile
Objects—mine the potential of their medium from sources outside of the discipline such as technological or biological
references, Figural Projections rests on a solid foundation of conventional architectural principles. These principles are then
adapted, exaggerated, subverted, and ultimately redefined within the context of the designer’s own work. The disciplinary
issues that concern them (to name but a few) are figure, mass, character, material, scale, and representation. New takes
on old issues are presented through narrative devices, literary references and pop cultural riffs. Kelly Bair crafts puns,
Angela Co plays games, Thomas Kelley constructs riddles, and Jimenez Lai tells stories. These “new takes” on conventional
mediums paired with a rereading of iconic architectural precedents produce an uncanny reading of the work—common
objects are rendered foreign, foreign objects remind us of animals, inert everyday objects, and in some cases, our very
own bodies.
Contributors: Andrew Atwood & Anna Neimark, Angie Co, Thomas Kelley, Jimenez Lai, and Kyle Miller
Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
Andrew Holder & Benjamin Freyinger, 48 Characters
Michael Loverich & Antonio Torres, Pet Sounds
Ellie Abrons, Peep Peep
Adam Fure, Chandelier
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TACTILE OBJECTS
Tactile Objects brings together a group of designers defining new disciplinary territory for materials and form. Moving
beyond the common criteria of performance, complexity, and elegance, this group steers material and formal articulation
toward the tactile, the visceral, and the animal. In the work of Andrew Holder, fat folds and creases replace facets and
corners, as the clichés of formal composition give way to the idiosyncrasies of bodily physics. Michael Loverich and
Antonio Torres vitalize designed objects at multiple scales. From plush toys to pavilions, they deploy animalistic
materials and figuralities, evoking strange associations and exotic passions often absent from architectural form. Ellie Abrons’
practice focuses heavily on materiality and haptics. Through specialized treatments she extracts unconventional traits from
conventional materials, producing lush interior environments that intensify architectural occupation. Through his work,
Adam Fure evades the pristine and exact in search of the rough and raw. Avoiding nostalgic notions of material essence,
he designs objects and environments with a debased material aesthetic. Combating the routine distraction of architectural
audiences, this group deploys objects as attention-getters, luring subjects into new forms of intensified engagement.
Contributors: Ellie Abrons, Kelly Bair, Adam Fure, Andrew Holder & Benjamin Freyinger, Michael Loverich & Antonio Torres
Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
Jason Kelly Johnson, HYDRAMAX
Jason Kelly Johnson, Glaciarium
Mariana Ibañez & Simon Kim, Cloud Cloak
Mariana Ibañez & Simon Kim, Science Per Forms
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ACTIVE MODELS
Active Models features designers that employ robotics and interactive technologies to link digital and physical
environments. Their work utilizes embedded computation, continuous measurement, and kinetics to propose new modes
of visual, spatial, and formal engagement. In multiple research projects initiated by Andrew Atwood, self-made robots are
used to translate drawings into objects. Atwood identifies drawing as the primary medium for architectural production and
embraces the gap that emerges during the process of physical, three-dimensional translation. Nataly Gattegno and Jason
Kelly Johnson employ physical computing (distributed sensors and micro-controllers) to create a series of what their office
terms “live models”—dynamic formations that adapt to fluctuating inputs, enlivening data in both architectural processes
and products. Mariana Ibañez and Simon Kim present optimistic and engaging scenarios for the synthesis of architecture,
interactive technology, and engineering. Denying the false assumption that architecture must be static and inert, they
propose kinetic surfaces, objects, and structures that change the way humans interact with the built environment. Kyle
Miller utilizes interactive technology within architectural design to investigate performative ornamentation through the
design of kinetic surfaces and spaces. From translations of design conventions to alterations of social behaviors, the work
of this group demonstrates the vast potential of interactive technology within contemporary architecture.
Contributors: Nataly Gattegno & Jason Kelly Johnson, Mariana Ibañez & Simon Kim
Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
Kristy Balliet, Beyond Volume
Michael Young, Depth and the Optical Vector
Justin Diles, Eigenforms: Buckled Primitives
David Freeland & Brennan Buck, Kite
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EXCESSIVE VOLUMES
Excessive Volume brings together designers producing novel volumetric relationships through the excessive build-up of
geometric order. Calibrated and composed through sculpted surfaces and superabundant vectors, volume is both the
focus and the medium of this group rather than the leftover space within or around mass. Justin Diles’s research balances
volume, mass, and poche at various scales. Deliberately countering the optimization strategies of structure and form, his
work seeks to defy gravity while redefining enclosure. The work of Michael Young (Young & Ayata) traps volume within
thickened surfaces through implied depth. Evoking visual sensations of movement and speed, the vectors in Young’s
drawings fluidly drift across deep space. David Freeland and Brennan Buck (FreelandBuck) invigorate architecture through
vibrant color fields and patterned form. Through precise digital techniques, they translate intricate arrays into rhythmic
volumes that are spatially flush and imply an ambiguity of scale. Kristy Balliet amplifies volume through rigorous relations
of thickness, depth and spatial sequencing. Fixated on the interior figure (and its accomplice poche), she assembles
overlapping geometries to delineate enclosure and the allure of space beyond. Employing refined modes of computational
drawing and modeling, this group reveals the immense possibilities of three-dimensional depth and detail.
Contributors: Kristy Balliet, Brennan Buck & David Freeland, Justin Diles, Michael Young
Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
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POSSIBLE MEDIUMS EXHIBITION - LIBERTY GALLERY
January 17-February 24, 2014, Ann Arbor, Michigan
The Possible Mediums exhibition showcased a series of design investigations based in speculative architectural mediums.
Driven by an emerging group of designers, the work challenged the boundaries of architectural convention by employing
exploratory processes rooted in mediums external to the discipline (such as film or comics) or developed from atypical
applications of more conventional mediums (such as drawings or models). The diverse collection of work, grouped into
four medium-based categories, demonstrates the rapidly changing nature of architectural production. Comics and toys are
showing up alongside perspectives and models. Orthographic drawings are crafting optical tricks while digital drawings
are exploding into vibrant vector fields. Machines are not only being used but built from scratch. From plaster casts of fat
characters to geodesic kites, these designers are actively expanding architecture’s mediums in order to captivate new
audiences.
Banding together allows the Possible Mediums group to forward shared disciplinary concerns. Since the term “medium”
is specific and open—defined simultaneously as means, material, format, and projection—it sets up a series of questions
that ties our work together: How do you make it? How do you draw it? How do you talk about it? What are its histories?
What are its effects? Who is its audience? Many believe that architecture is in a state of crisis. To such parties, architecture’s
current diversity indicates a lack of practical, ideological, or pedagogical purpose, threatening the field’s relevance, even
its existence. As young practitioners wholly committed to our discipline’s longevity, we refuse to accept projections of
architecture’s demise. Possible Mediums is our effort to assure and shape our collective, possible futures.
The exhibition was held at the Taubman College Liberty Gallery in Ann Arbor, MI and was supported by the Graham
Foundation, the Johe Endowment Fund and over 200 individual donations during our successful Kickstarter campaign.
Contributors:
Ellie Abrons, Andrew Atwood, Kelly Bair (curator), Kristy Balliet (curator), Brennan Buck, Angie Co, Justin Diles, David
Freeland, Benjamin Freyinger, Adam Fure (curator), Andrew Holder, Mariana Ibañez, Jason Kelly Johnson, Thomas Kelley,
Simon Kim, Jimenez Lai, Michael Loverich, Kyle Miller (curator), Anna Neimark, Carrie Norman, Antonio Torres, and Michael
Young.
The schedule for hosted events was as follows:
FRIDAY, JANUARY 17th
5:00 pm
Opening Lecture - Jimenz Lai
7:00 pm
Possible Mediums Exhibition Opening
FRIDAY, JANUARY 17th- 19th
Jimenez Lai Workshop - Sleep of Reason
FEBRUARY 21st
5:00 pm
Exhibition Review / Presentations
6:00 pm
Closing Dinner
FEBRUARY 24th - 26th
Kelly Bair and Michael Loverich Workshop - Shirts and Skins
Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
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EVENT DOCUMENTATION - POSSIBLE MEDIUMS EXHIBITION - LIBERTY GALLERY
Photos from exhibition opening on January 17th, 2014.
Full photo set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/taubmancollege/sets/72157640044015104/
Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
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EVENT DOCUMENTATION - POSSIBLE MEDIUMS EXHIBITION WORKSHOPS
WORKSHOP RESULTS - Jimenez Lai Workshop - Sleep of Reason
The participants produced an “archipelago” of supersized architectural plans that were scattered across the exhibition
space. Akin to the loose-fit plan typologies of SANAA, the workshop students performed journalistic analysis on fifty
modern house plans to produce large-scale combinatory augmentations and caricatures. These plans were plotted and
selectively placed around the Possible Mediums exhibition producing a landscape of carpets framing alternate realities in
orthographic projection, while highlighting drawing conventions, the language of lines, and the politics of shape.
Top Left / Bottom Left/Right: Final Discussion of workshop results with John McMorrough, Andrew Holder and Adam Fure
Top Right A drawing produced by a team of students in the workshop.
Photos from Jimenez Lai workshop (January 17th to 19th, 2014)
Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
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EVENT DOCUMENTATION - POSSIBLE MEDIUMS EXHIBITION WORKSHOPS
WORKSHOP RESULTS - Kelly Bair and Michael Loverich Workshop - Shirts and Skins
The workshop extends the lineage and breathes new life into the tipi, a structure that is as much an event as it is a
constructed tactile object. Shirts & Skins adopts the nomadic sensibility of the Possible Mediums Exhibition through the
construction of a habitable, wearable, smokey, raucous and pungent Tipi to act as a refuge for upcoming Possible Medium
events. Ancestor to the primitive hut (hearth, roof, and foundation) and geometric distant cousin to the wigwam (a cone
versus a dome), the Tipi provides a rich material, formal and programmatic primitive point of departure.
Top Left: Geometric stick study models
Top / Bottom Right: Final Tipi construction, complete with pleated skin and furry interior.
Bottom Left: Final Discussion of workshop results with John McMorrough, Andrew Holder and Adam Fure, Ellie Abrons
Photos from Kelly Bair and Michael Loverich workshop (February 24th to 26th, 2014)
Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
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EVENT DOCUMENTATION - POSSIBLE MEDIUMS CLOSING DINNER/ DISCUSSION
Photos from Closing Dinner, Liberty Gallery, Ann Arbor - Febuary 21st, 2014.
CLOSING DINNER
Left: The closing weekend of the Possible Mediums exhibition began with a dinner including colleagues, mentors, and
students from around the region. The event provided a unique opportunity to engage students in an intimate experience
that expands the teacher student relationship.The evening’s events included a walking tour of the gallery and a series
of informal discussions around the work exhibited, the ambitions of the Possible Mediums project, and the state of
architectural education. We are indebted to all of our guests for their time, insights, and support.
Right: Pre-Dinner walk through of exhibition.
ADDITIONAL WEB DOCUMENTATION
The Architectural Review http://www.architectural-review.com/reviews/testing-the-limits-of-architectural-representation/8660798.article?blocktitle=Top-Stories&contentID=11483
A review of the Possible Mediums exhibition in the Architectural Review. To read the full article, “Testing the Limits of Architectural Representation” by Michael Abrahamson, visit the AR website (free registration required to access the article).
In summation, the Architecture Review article states, “Not only does the exhibition showcase inventive design research,
it also plays host to student workshops, discussions and catered events. Providing a survey of the state of the art on the
American scene, the organisers hope to elicit frank conversations concerning nascent speculative discourses. By this
measure Possible Mediums is a rousing success.”
Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
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POSSIBLE MEDIUMS CONFERNCE FORMAT & SCHEDULE
February 07-February 10, 2013, Columbus, Ohio
The inaugural Possible Mediums event, a conference was hosted in Columbus by The Ohio State University Knowlton
School of Architecture with support from University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture, University of Kentucky
College of Design, University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning, and suckerPUNCH. This
event featured panel discussions, guest speakers, and, most notably, twelve simultaneous design workshops in which
over 120 students from the four host institutions participated in. Challenging the boundaries of architectural convention,
the workshops employed exploratory processes rooted in mediums external to the discipline (such as film or comics) or
developed from atypical applications of more conventional mediums (such as drawings or models). Each workshop leader
was paired with a group of students from the four host institutions enabling a direct connection between design thinking
and hands-on learning. In both design and discourse the conference results demonstrated the profound potential of an
expanded conception of architectural mediums.
Possible Mediums Conference was made possible by the generous support of:
The Ohio State University Knowlton School of Architecture, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture,
University of Kentucky College of Design, University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning, and
suckerPUNCH.
The schedule for this event was as follows:
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7
6:00 pm
Conference Welcome from Kristy Balliet
6:10 pm
Conference Introduction from Adam Fure
6:30 pm
Opening Remarks from Jeffrey Kipnis
7:00 pm
Workshops Begin
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8
9:00 am
Workshop Working Sessions Continue
12:00 pm
Figural Projections Panel Discussion Moderated by Kelly Bair
1:00 pm
Workshop Working Session
5:00 pm
Tactile Objects Panel Discussion Moderated by Adam Fure
6:00 pm
Workshop Working Session
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9
9:00 am
Workshop Working Sessions Continue
12:00 pm
Active Models Panel Discussion Moderated by Kyle Miller
1:00 pm
Workshop Working Session
5:00 pm
Excessive Volumes Panel Discussion Moderated by Kristy Balliet
6:00 pm
Workshop Working Session
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10
9:00 am
Workshop Working Session & Presentation/Exhibition Preparation
11:00 am
Workshop Exhibition
12:00 pm
Closing Remarks and Panel Discussion with John McMorrough
2:00 pm
Conference Concludes
Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
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EVENT DOCUMENTATION - DESIGN WORKSHOPS
DESIGN WORKSHOPS
Top Left: David Freeland (SCI-Arc) demonstrates the use of Grasshopper, an algorithm editor for Rhinoceros 3D, with a
group of students. The workshop led by David Freeland and Brennan Buck, titled “Flight Pattern,” studied how spatial and
perceptual variability enabled by computation can be applied to the development of space frame kites. The workshop
investigated these space frames as potential architectural structures, trading their modularity for subtle modulation to invite
new airborne behavior and field based effects.
Bottom Left: Students in the “Flight Pattern” workshop assemble the space frame kit from acrylic rods and string.
Top Right: Angela Co (University of Kentucky) works with a group a students, speculating on the most robust animal figures.
The workshop investigated “topotypes”: architectural fragments and spatial hybrids outside of familiar typologies, which
straddle a context (topo) and an abstract organizational type. They thought about canon, hybrids and mutants, and special
powers. They constructed a rotating roster of non-ideal types using machine tools (the shop) and idea tools (games). They
built models and made drawings.
Bottom Right: A herd of chimera-like animals produced throughout the duration of Co’s workshop.
Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
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EVENT DOCUMENTATION - DESIGN WORKSHOPS
DESIGN WORKSHOPS
Top Left: Andrew Atwood (SCI-Arc) delivers a tutorial on a piece of software called, “Touch Designer.” This software enables
digital overlay onto static physical forms through precise image projection.
Bottom Left: An initial image is projected onto a form produced with the assistance of Grasshopper. Atwood’s workshop,
“...And Projections” focused on the analysis of objects through techniques of linear projection (geometry) and the
augmentation and interpretation of those objects through techniques of image projection (spectacle).
Top Right: Andrew Holder (University of Michigan) teaches techniques for casting fat characters with plaster, balloons, and
basswood dowels. Student’s participating in Andrew Holder’s workshop cast a series of characters that hug, snuggle, and
copulate their way toward the production of space.
Bottom Right: Thomas Kelley teaches some architectural tricks. The aim of the workshop was to reexamine and rehearse
visual deception through architectural drawing. By mining a set of analog and parametric techniques that include Droste
effects, false shadow projections, incorrect line weights, and reversible figuration, the workshop offered a history and skill
set that preys on the inattentive observer.
Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
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EVENT DOCUMENTATION - DESIGN WORKSHOPS
DESIGN WORKSHOPS
Top Left: A student participating in a workshop led by Jimenez Lai (University of Illinois - Chicago) prepares a foam cutting
guide during the construction of a cartoonish tower comprised of figural forms.
Top Right: The workshop led by Lai, titled “Ambiguously Misshapen” explored the relationship between Ambiguities vs.
Exactness in cartoonish figurations of mass. Revisiting the Duck vs Shed question imposed by Venturi/Scott-Brown, the
study of iconography is an ongoing study about the legibility of mass that many contemporary practitioners still explore. In
the instance of Hejduk’s characters, the non-exactness evokes multiple-readings from his audience. Venturi/Scott-Brown,
on the other hand, was engaging an inside-outside relationship that uses the readability of the mass. This workshop used
pareidolia as a basis for the control of readability. Using the 4 grids, 9 grids and three-part figures, this workshop created
a series of massing studies to explore this thought.
Bottom: Figural Projections and Excessive Volumes workshops. Students participating in these (and other) workshops
spent the weekend working together in the “living room” at the Knowlton School of Architecture.
Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
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EVENT DOCUMENTATION - PANEL DISCUSSIONS
PANEL DISCUSSIONS
Top Left: Panel discussions were dispersed throughout the weekend conference. The Figural Projections panel discussion,
moderated by Kelly Bair, took place at noon on the second day of the event. These discussion sessions enabled students
outside of the workshop series to hear from the workshop leaders. Focused discussions helped to further identify emerging
trends related to productive mediums for architecture designs.
Bottom Left: Kristy Balliet (Ohio State University) participates in the concluding panel moderated by John McMorrough.
Top Right: Adam Fure (University of Michigan), John McMorrough (Chair, University of Michigan Taubman College of
Architecture and Urban Planning), Michael Speaks (Dean, University of Kentucky College of Design) and Jose Oubrerie
(Associate Professor, The Ohio State University) observe the Active Models panel discussion, moderated by Kyle Miller
(University of Kentucky).
Bottom Right: Andrew Holder (University of Michigan) explains why is he interested in “fat” architecture and new part to
whole relationships based on hugging, snuggling, and cuddling.
Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
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EVENT DOCUMENTATION - WORKSHOP RESULTS
WORKSHOP RESULTS
Top Left: A drawing robot produced by a team of students participating in a workshop led by Jason Kelly Johnson (California
College of the Arts). The Robotic Prototypes workshop explored the use of Grasshopper, Firefly and Arduino as creative
and technical tools in the design, simulation and fabrication of robotic architectural prototypes, and responsive building
systems. Students produced objects that took up residence in what Jason likes to call the “Metabot Zoo”.
Bottom Left: A drawing produced by a team of students in the workshop led by Michael Young (Cooper Union).
Bottom Left: A pile of fat forms produced by students participating in the workshop led by Andrew Holder (University of
Michigan). Holder set the following as the prompt for the workshop: “Consider, as a problem of material and form, a litter
of piglets suckling at the teats of a plump sow. The language of formal analysis is not readily equipped to describe this
situation. The disposition of one pig against another does not appear to be regulated by clear systems of repetition and
adjacency. The pig bodies themselves resist decomposition as assemblages of skin and structure; they are too fat – all
fat, in fact.”
Bottom Right: A cartoonish tower produced by students participating in the workshop led by Jimenez Lai (University of
Illinois - Chicago).
Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
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EVENT DOCUMENTATION - WORKSHOP EXHIBITION
WORKSHOP EXHIBITION
Top Left: Jeffrey Kipnis (The Ohio State University) questions Jimenez Lai (University of Illinois-Chicago) on the use of the
word pareidolia. Lai asserts that it is, indeed, a real word.
Top Right: John McMorrough (University of Michigan) evaluates the space frame kite produced in the “Flight Patterns”
workshop.
Bottom: Jeffrey Kipnis (The Ohio State University) and John McMorrough (University of Michigan) discuss the work produced
in each of the Figural Projections workshops, curated and organized by Kelly Bair (University of Illinois-Chicago).
Contributors: Ellie Abrons, Andrew Atwood, Kelly Bair (co-chair), Kristy Balliet (co-chair), Brennan Buck, Angie Co, Justin
Diles, David Freeland, Adam Fure (co-chair), Andrew Holder, Mariana Ibañez, Jason Kelly Johnson, Thomas Kelley, Simon
Kim, Jimenez Lai, Michael Loverich, Kyle Miller (co-chair), and Michael Young.
ADDITIONAL WEB DOCUMENTATION
Domus: http://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/02/19/possible-mediums.html
suckerPUNCH: http://www.suckerpunchdaily.com/tag/possible-mediums-conference/
Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS - CONFERENCE POSTER
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Submission for ACSA Creative Achievement Award: “POSSIBLE MEDIUMS”
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PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS - CONFERENCE POSTCARD
7-10 FEBRUARY 2013 THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
WITH
CONFERENCE THEME
CONFERENCE THEME
The Possible Mediums conference is composed of a series of workshops and panel
discussions revolving around four “possible mediums.” Challenging the boundaries
of architectural convention, the invited workshop leaders employ exploratory
processes rooted in mediums external to the discipline (such as film or comics) or
developed from atypical applications of more conventional mediums (such as
drawings or models). The technical sophistication and inventive applications of their
work reflect two major developments within speculative architecture of the past
decade: a broad diffusion of technological expertise and a shift from critical to
projective theory. Preserving commitment to expertise and imagination, Possible
Mediums places this group of designers in productive dialog, unpacking their
collective foundations and futures.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7
6:00 pm Conference Welcome from Kristy Balliet
6:10 pm Conference Introduction from Adam Fure
6:30 pm Opening Remarks from Jeffrey Kipnis
7:00 pm Workshops Begin
WORKSHOP GROUPS
FIGURAL PROJECTIONS frames a group of designers engaged in the study of
architectural legibility related to figural form and shape. Subverting (often subtly) the
conventions of projective geometry, these designers employ narrative, optical
deception, and ambiguously precise massing to craft imaginative worlds.
EXCESSIVE VOLUMES features designers who orchestrate depth and calibrate
spatial intervals with sharp expertise. They have surpassed an internal discourse of
generative computing in favor of a broader focus on the tectonic, optical and
atmospheric effects generated by volumetric modeling.
ACTIVE MODELS connects a group of designers that employ interactive
technologies to link digital and physical environments. Their work utilizes
embedded computation, continuous measurement, and kinetics to propose new
modes of visual, spatial, and formal engagement.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8
9:00 am Workshop Working Sessions Continue
12:00 pm Figural Projections Panel Discussion Moderated by Kelly Bair
1:00 pm Workshop Working Session
5:00 pm Tactile Objects Panel Discussion Moderated by Adam Fure
6:00 pm Workshop Working Session
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9
9:00 am Workshop Working Sessions Continue
12:00 pm Active Models Panel Discussion Moderated by Kyle Miller
1:00 pm Workshop Working Session
5:00 pm Excessive Volumes Panel Discussion Moderated by Kristy Balliet
6:00 pm Workshop Working Session
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 10
9:00 am Workshop Working Session & Presentation/Exhibition Preparation
11:00 am Workshop Exhibition
12:00 pm Closing Remarks and Panel Discussion with John McMorrough
2:00 pm Conference Concludes
WORKSHOP LEADERS
TACTILE OBJECTS brings together a group of designers defining new
disciplinary territory for materials and form. Moving beyond the common criteria of
performance, complexity, and elegance, this group steers material and formal
articulation toward the tactile, the visceral, and the animal.
FIGURAL PROJECTIONS
Angle Co, Thomas Kelley, and Jimenez Lai
CONFERENCE CHAIRS
ACTIVE MODELS
Andrew Atwood, Mariana Ibañez, Jason Kelly Johnson, and Simon Kim
Kelly Bair University of Illinois - Chicago School of Architecture
Kristy Balliet The Ohio State University Knowlton School of Architecture
Adam Fure University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning
Kyle Miller University of Kentucky, College of Design
EXCESSIVE VOLUMES
Brennan Buck, Justin Diles, David Freeland, and Michael Young
TACTILE OBJECTS
Ellie Abrons, Andrew Holder, and Michael Loverich