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 

 

VR show in 2018 DAAPworks

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VR show of Prof. Ming Tang’s Architecture studio at UC DAAP, a mix of virtual reality and augmented reality style exhibition. 

Faculty: Ming Tang, Xiaoying Meng

Student: Gabriel Berning, Bhattiprolu Chamundi Saila Snigdha, Owen Blodgett, Mason Boling, Tyler Dunn, Michael Greer, Isaac Keller, Anna Kick,Connor Kramer, Nathan Mohamedali, Aashna Sharad Poddar, Yiying Qiu, Jordan Sauer, Edward Simpson, Dongrui Zhu

 

 

Location: CGC Computer Lab ( 4425 E), DAAP, UC.

Project: Train Station in Beijing, China. Studio brief.

Exhibition  time. 04.24-04.27.

 

 

Pleae check out 15 project posters here. 

 

 

Collaborative Courses won UC Forward Grant

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UC Forward grant. Project-Based Collaborative Coursework for Developing Connected Transportation Network and Accessible Multimodal Hub in Uptown.

Co-PI: Heng Wei, Na Chen, Xinhao Wang, Jiaqi Ma, and Ming Tang. Total $27,500.

Goal and Objectives

The goal of the proposed project is to adapt and integrate a series of disciplinary courses from the existing CEAS and DAAP curriculums to produce products that proactively enhance the Uptown Innovation corridor from “smart” multimodal choice, transit-bike-pedestrian friendly, residential-business favorably perspectives. These collaborative courses will primarily target undergraduate students. Major activities associated with project design, research and system development will be executed at the 1819 Innovation Hub.

To fulfill the goal, the following objectives will be achieved through designated coursework:

  • Objective 1: To conduct the Uptown Transportation Demand and Planning Survey among community collaborators to inquiry the information about future socioeconomic trends, demographic and employment changes, land use demand, multimodal transportation vision, and transportation infrastructure needs for Uptown development.
  • Objective 2: To develop a conceptual design of the Uptown Transportation Network and Multimodal Transportation Hub to address the documented demand and needs, including access to bike infrastructure and pedestrian routes as an important part of the MLK “Grand Boulevard Plan”. The conceptual design also considers how the network and hub will enhance the visioning service and accessibility across all modes of movement among institutional assets and neighborhood in Uptown, the surrounding areas and the entire Cincinnati region.
  • Objective 3: To develop a conceptual design of the Multimodal Transportation Hub that will support BRT, Bus, Shuttle, Streetcar linkages and is proximate to a proposed LRT alignment. Commuter parking capacity is called for as the hub may have a direct link to SB I-71 off-ramp to MLK.
  • Objective 4: To produce the Concept of Operation in terms of the technological innovation in future with an overview of best practices in “smart mobility” that might be applicable to support the Uptown Transportation Network and Multimodal Transportation Hub.
  • Objective 5: To analyze, visualize, and compare social, economic, physical, and environmental consequences of different scenarios related to the Uptown Transportation Network and Multimodal Transportation Hub.

Collaborative Courses

Six courses from the existing CEAS and DAAP curriculums are selected to formulate the series of the collaborative courses (SCC) for producing the outcomes in alignment with the designated objectives. The SCC courses includes:

  • Course 1: PLAN5158/6058 – Transportation Planning, offered by Dr. Na Chen in Fall Semester 2018. This course provides the foundation for further analyses in other courses.
  • Course 2: CVE5110C/6110C – Advanced Transportation Engineering, offered by Dr. Heng Wei in Fall Semester 2018. This course works along with Course 1 to use the survey results as guides for producing the conceptual design of Uptown Transportation Network, which serves as the starting point for the following courses.
  • Course 3: CVE5112/6012 – Travel Demand Forecasting and Environmental Analysis, offered by Dr. Heng Wei in Spring Semester 2019. This course continues the Uptown Transportation Network design with a focus on the conceptual design of the Multimodal Transportation Hub.
  • Course 4: CVE5124/6024 – Highway Engineering and Safety, offered by Dr. Jiaqi Ma in Spring Semester 2019. This course accompanies Course 3 by providing alignment and geometric design of roadways associated with the Multimodal Transportation Hub.
  • Course 5: ARCH4002 – Urban Mobility Architecture Design Studio, offered by Ming Tang in Spring Semester 2019. This course will include the conceptual designs developed in Courses 2-4 to create a design responding the future urban mobility.
  • Course 6: PLAN5191/6091 – GIS Project Formulation & Management, offered by Dr. Xinhao Wang in Spring Semester 2019. This course takes the survey result (Course 1), Uptown Transportation Network design (Course 2), and Multimodal Transportation Hub design (Courses 3 and 4) and conceptual and schematic design (Course 5) and conducts spatial analysis to provide system-wide consequences of different development scenarios.
  • Course 7: Multi-Disciplinary Seminar.