1+1>2: A Meta Tool: Design, Collaboration, and.. .SURPRISE!
Fall 2019
GSAPP Elective, MetaYool, Columbia University
Instructor: Dan Taeyoung
Type: Interactive Tool Design / Deployment
Group Work
https://xinyu-rainy.github.io
The project is developed under a notion of metatool, of which thesis is to design critically, intentionally, inteligently, and most importatnly, playful. As it is recognized that architects constantly employ tools to facilitate the design process, the architects seem indelibly influenced by the logic and agency of those tools. On the other hand, new augmentations that not only alter what can be done, but what can be represented and thus what can be conceptualized. Therefore, we ask:
The exploratoin is both critical and technological. It starts with critcal thinking that touches on the nature of tools through a pedagogy/cognitive science/philosophy lens. And later moves to the design of tools in both digital and physical world.
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What can be created from the current tools?
What do they want to do with the tool, and what does the tool want them to do?
How do their tools change how they think?
What new tools could they create?
The exploratoin is both critical and technological. It starts with critcal thinking that touches on the nature of tools through a pedagogy/cognitive science/philosophy lens. And later moves to the design of tools in both digital and physical world.
The Motivation
Designers, often work with others, are continuously aware of and inspired by things or people around them. As they believe that ‘1+1>2’ in the design process, this toolkit intends to visualize the collaboration process and the unanticipated output when multiple roles collide. They may once represent an independent system and speak in separate languages, but what the new language would be like?
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The Park
Inspired by rock climbing park, the project invites players to explore the possibility of combining two formal languages: one to generate and the other to subtract. Do you consider yourself more as an architect to create cool forms and master-level grades? Or would you like to be a landscape architect placing and sizing the open space? The excitement comes when you try to be both.
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Moving forward from the critical lens, the last part of the project focuses on the application of computation and technologies and the deployment of the tool. Grasshopper is used as a metatool, one that enables the forging of other tools, including Paperhopper, Human for the interface design.
The Tool
A tangible table user interface is built to bring the tools outside of the screen and onto the table, and the table projection enhances reality. The players can rotate the Papperhopper tag. Each of the tag has an unique id, and their degrees of rotation will be recorded through a webcam and sent to Rhino to change the form. Tags can also be put at different proximity to generate more formal output.
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While the tool generates the conceptual form, the output is a simple dashboard showing the number of bouldering grades at each difficulty level. We hope that by s
etting such a threshold, the tool has practical implication and eventually contribute to a more thoughtful yet playful design approach.
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Designers, often work with others, are continuously aware of and inspired by things or people around them. As they believe that ‘1+1>2’ in the design process, this toolkit intends to visualize the collaboration process and the unanticipated output when multiple roles collide. They may once represent an independent system and speak in separate languages, but what the new language would be like?
The Park
Inspired by rock climbing park, the project invites players to explore the possibility of combining two formal languages: one to generate and the other to subtract. Do you consider yourself more as an architect to create cool forms and master-level grades? Or would you like to be a landscape architect placing and sizing the open space? The excitement comes when you try to be both.
Moving forward from the critical lens, the last part of the project focuses on the application of computation and technologies and the deployment of the tool. Grasshopper is used as a metatool, one that enables the forging of other tools, including Paperhopper, Human for the interface design.
The Tool
A tangible table user interface is built to bring the tools outside of the screen and onto the table, and the table projection enhances reality. The players can rotate the Papperhopper tag. Each of the tag has an unique id, and their degrees of rotation will be recorded through a webcam and sent to Rhino to change the form. Tags can also be put at different proximity to generate more formal output.
Kari Gao | New York | 2020