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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.

paper accepted at CAADRIA conference

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Ming Tang’s paper From agent to avatar: Integrate avatar and agent simulation in the virtual reality for wayfinding is accepted at the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA) 2018 conference in Beijing, China.  This paper describes a study of using immersive virtual reality (VR) technology to analyze user behavior related to wayfinding, and integrated it with the multi-agent simulation and space syntax. Starting with a theoretical framework, the author discussed the constraints of agent-based simulation (ABS) and space syntax to construct the micro-level interactions within a simulated environment. The author then focuses on how cognitive behavior and spatial knowledge can be achieved with a player controlled avatar in response to other computer controlled agents in a VR environment. The multi-phase approach starts with defining the Avatar Agent VR system (AAVR), which is used for capturing an avatar’s movement in real time and form the spatial data, and then visualize the data with various representation methods. Combined with space syntax and ABS, AAVR can exam various avatars’ wayfinding behavioral related to gender, spatial recognition level, and spatial features such as light, sound, and architectural simulations.

Check out the full paper there:

Tang, M. From agent to avatar: Integrate avatar and agent simulation in the virtual reality for wayfinding. Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA). Beijing, China. 2018.

Book available. Sustainable Urbanism

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Sustainable Urbanism. Study Abroad in China. University of Cincinnati. 2016

Edited by Ming Tang, Mingming Lu, Xinhao Wang, Christoph Auffrey, Chun Zhang.

Printed in 2018.

Engineering / Architecture / Planning Study Abroad Program: Sustainable Urbanism from an International Perspective

SAID 6099, PLAN 6099, ENVE 6099.

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This study abroad course will focus on the concept and practice of urban sustainability in the global perspective, which emphasis how to support the simultaneous development of our society, our economy and the environment without sacrificing any aspects. Through field study across various disciplines, the course exanimates the most challenging sustainability issues we are facing. The course provides students with experiential learning in the application of the current theories, models and methods used in engineering, architecture and urban planning to specific, real-world issues of sustainable urbanism as they are currently being confronted in the rapid developing countries.

more pictures about the course.

Course website

ACADIA 2017 exhibition, publication, and presentation

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Ming Tang and Mara Marcu’s project “Augmented Coral” is exhibited at t he Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) 2017 Conference at MIT. Boston, MA.  Nov.2-4. 2017. The project is also published in the In Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) 2017 Conference proceeding. Mara Marcu presented the project at the ACADIA 2017 project seminar, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA on Nov 1st. 2017.  You can check out the Architect’s newspaper, and exhibition pictures here. Book publication is available here.