PREXPREN 2019.
course:
Exogenous Properties / Endogenous Protocols (PREXPREN).
university:
Universidad Iberoamericana.
tutors:
Pablo Kobayashi, Luis Carbonell, Brian Slocum.
teaching assistants:
Alberto Vivar, Lucia Aumann, Ernesto Falabella Emilio Robles.
date/semester:
spring + fall 2019.
undergraduate semesters 5 - 7.
key points:
teaching, #prexpren, pneumatic structures, material programming, analog investigation.
For the continuation of the studio’s focus in the two semesters of the 2019 academic year, the workshop program changed from concrete thin-shell pieces to the investigation of pneumatic structures, principally large-scale inflatables using plastic or impermeable fabrics. The switch owes directly to previous years’ approximations of ever more highly efficient spans.
The students continued to focus on design criteria as protocol for the material programming of the resultant pneumatic pieces, starting with an exercise in the fabrication of a 1m3 Euclidean polygon and attempting to achieve planarity in each polygon face. This introduced in profound detail the importance of heuristic methodologies and levels of precision appropriate to the duration of the investigation and possibilities/limitations of the tools and materials available (both for fabrication and measurement).
The elimination of concrete from the studio relieved the students from weight/transportation limitations for the 2019 MEXTROPOLI pavilion, and allowed for a larger presence for the installation.
#prexpren