urban mobility studio

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Grant: “Project-Based Collaborative Coursework for Developing Connected Transportation Network and Accessible Multimodal Hub in Uptown”. UC Forward grant. Co-PI: Heng Wei, Na Chen, Xinhao Wang, Jiaqi Ma, Ming Tang. $5,000. Total $27,500.

ARCH4001. Fall. 2018. SAID, DAAP, UC.

Faculty: Ming Tang, RA, LEED AP, Associate Professor. UC

Using Cincinnati Uptown and proposed Smart Corridor area as the focus area, the studio presents a study investigating the urban mobility with an emphasis on the simulated human behavior cues and movement information as input parameters. The research is defined as a hybrid method which seeks logical architecture/urban forms and analyzes its’ performance. As one of the seven-courses-clusters supported by UC Forward, the studio project extends urban mobility study by exploring, collecting, analyzing, and visualizing geospatial information and physically representing the information through various computational technologies.
The studio investigation is intended to realize the potential of quantifying demographic, social, and behavior data into a parametric equation. In the experiments, the integration of non-geometrical parameters within the form seeking and performance evaluation process resulted in a series of a conceptual model to represent the movement and access. The projects will be developed by optimizing transportation network, analyzing way-finding and human behavior. Ultimately, the studio looks to build upon the strengths pre-defined in the evaluation method and capture the benefits of Geographic Information System (GIS), virtual reality (VR), eye-tracking, and wayfinding simulation by seamlessly integrating vital geospatial components in the equation and altering the way people explore the possible design solutions in order to generate the ideal urban and building forms.

Students: Nolan Dalman, Sam DeZarn, Nicole Powers, Jake Miller, Hang Phan, Josh Funderburk, Rugui Xie, Nick Mann, Azrien Isaac, Shiyuan li, Spencer Kuehl, Randall Morgan, Greg Ginley, Umme Habiba

 

UC Forward Collaborative on Smart Transportation Forum at Niehoff studio

Fall 2018 Urban Mobility studio presented at the Uptown Innovation Transportation Corridor Forum 04.31.2019, featured by UC News. UC students present future of transportation at forum. 2019

More info on the studio and the student projects.

 

AR based Digi_Fab

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Augmented Reality for Digital Fabrication.  Projects from SAID, DAAP, UC. Fall 2018.

Hololens. Fologram, Grasshopper.

Faculty: Ming Tang, RA, Associate Prof. University of Cincinnati

Students: Alexandra Cole, Morgan Heald, Andrew Pederson,Lauren Venesy,Daniel Anderi, Collin Cooper, Nicholas Dorsey, ,John Garrison, Gabriel Juriga, Isaac Keller, Tyler Kennedy, Nikki Klein, Brandon Kroger, Kelsey Kryspin, Laura Lenarduzzi, Shelby Leshnak, Lauren Meister,De’Sean Morris, Robert Peebles, Yiying Qiu, Jordan Sauer, Jens Slagter, Chad Summe, David Torres, Samuel Williamson, Dongrui Zhu, Todd Funkhouser.

Project team lead: Jordan Sauer, Yiying Qiu, Robert Peebles,David Torres.

 

Videos of working in progress

 

Book available: MetroLAB

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MetroLAB is a public-interest design/build program at the University of Cincinnati School of Architecture and Interior Design. This book highlights the mission, participants and projects from 2011-2017. The book is available for preview / order at Blurb.

 

Prof Tang’s ITSC RENOVATION project is featured in the book. This Metro Lab studio addressed the renovation of an existing interior space in the Information Technology Solution Center (ITSC) on the UC west campus. ITSC is an initiative of the School of Information Technology (SoIT) at the College of Education, Criminal Justice, Human Services and Information Technology (CECH), combining student workers with experienced full-time staff to create innovative technology solutions and reliable support. The objective of the renovation is to create a new high-tech look and an identity for the center and meet the growing needs for client meetings, demonstrations as well as for the staff of ITSC to produce their work.

The proposed design includes new interior surfaces, furniture, and other interior elements. The team also need to complete all fabrications and assembling job within a limited $9,000  budget.  The SAID design-build team utilized the cutting-edge computer-aided design (CAD) tools as well as computer-aided manufacture (CAM) tools and completed the entire project under the budget in only thirteen weeks.

In the design phase, students were required to develop a sequence of iterations to reflect the interior surface tessellation and optimization process of plywood panels. Parametric design software Rhino and grasshopper were used to form a network of triangular shapes and optimized the orientation of each panel based on the material performance and the relation to the daylight. This process created a smooth transition between frame-like panels to solid sheet panels. Later, the similar tessellation approach was used to create the table. The same triangular pattern is adjusted to achieve desired aesthetics on the new partition walls.

The inputs for the CAM pipeline include cutting patterns, panel anchor points, labels, and sheet layout while the outputs are sets of flatted triangular panels ready for CNC milling in the rapid prototyping center at DAAP. In the final assembling, fifty-two different wood panels were installed precisely on the wall.

Check more details on Prof. Tang’s MetroLAB studio here.

order the book online 

 

Interview featured in ACSA and Study Architecture website

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supporting Architecture in the Age of Mixed Reality: The DAAP Library @ the University of Cincinnati.

Column by Jennifer H. Krivickas/ Assistant Vice President for Integrated Research Head of the Robert A. Deshon and Karl J. Schlachter Library/Adjunct Instructor: DAAP Schools of Design & Art/College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) University of Cincinnati

At the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP), future-forward faculty are exploring with virtual reality (VR) to conduct research, make, and teach. Consequently the DAAP Library invested in a collection of ‘over the counter’ VR viewers such as Mr. Cardboard, I am Cardboard, P2 popups, unofficial cardboard, smartvr, pocket 360vr, View Master, and a few others. Funnily, since acquiring the viewers late last year, several people have asked “Why?” It is not a bad question per se, but to us the answer is…well, obvious.

DAAP Library users are architects – designers in and of space, so having the ability to create structures that actually look feel and sound like eventual physical structures, is huge. Another part of DAAP is the School of Planning, whose students, through the use of VR tech, are able to better convey size and scope of large-scale projects, a problem 2D renderings and passé, not to mention, unsustainable physical models have always posed. An important component of DAAP is our top-ranked design school where students are already designing all sorts of unorthodox next gen physical and virtual objects from web experiences to transportation to fashion objects and products…all of which can and will be translated, by our students, into and out of, virtual reality.

DAAP faculty member Prof. Ming Tang is teaching Architecture in the age of mixed reality, a studio that explores the relationship between virtual reality and physical architecture. His students investigate mixed reality as a framework that can expand architectural strategies such as environmental conceptualism, user interaction, building function, and construction techniques. In this class, the group studies topics such as physical and digital crossovers, augmented and virtual realities, time and ephemerality and the impacts on both architecture and architecture practice.

Thesis: Layered Space

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This is the thesis book of my graduate student Adam Sambuco: 

Layered Space

Toward an Architecture of Superimposition

by Adam J. Sambuco
University of Cincinnati, 2018

Degree. Master of Architecture

Thesis Chair. Ming Tang

Historically, the physical nature of architecture has caused it to remain functionally static despite evolving theories, materials, and technologies. The design of spaces and the actions of occupants are fundamentally limited by the laws of physics. This thesis and associated project explore and present ways in which architectural spaces can incorporate extended reality to enhance the design and use of buildings in ways that were not previously possible. Due to their part physical, part-virtual nature, superimposed spaces can change over time, on demand, or contextually, based on their inhabitants. Extended reality can assist with wayfinding, socialization, organization, personalization, contextualization, and more. This thesis asserts that it is essential for architects to familiarize themselves with this technology, exploring new methods of design and presentation for such radically different end products.

It is with this in mind that this document establishes the basic functionality, terminology, and history of extended reality before moving on to more modern capabilities. After a glimpse into the near future of XR and a look at its relationship to architecture, the philosophical basis for treating the virtual as real is explored. Having establishing its history, functionality, and reality, the idea of spatial superimposition is then explored through the lenses of visitor, designer, and presenter. My previous work is then covered, touching on how XR technology will become normalized in society and investigating an approach to XR renovations that brings virtual mansions to the masses. Finally, my thesis project, an XR-enabled media the que in downtown Dallas, is introduced and my processes of creation, experimentation, and presentation are detailed so that others might learn from and build off them. Despite its large scope and cutting-edge subject matter, this work scrutinizes only a small portion of the changes that extended reality will undoubtedly bring to architecture and greater society.

View the full thesis book. 168 pages. 14MB