Winy Maas lectures on The Why Factory's latest research: Pixel Planet. Prefabricated design goes beyond most of what we think we know about pods, containers, modules, and joints. Pixel Planet aims at revising and up-cycling the prefab modular cell. On that score, we will analyze units, measure their performances and script the design of buildings, cities and the entire Planet by combining simple cells. This economy of resources simplifies the actions on complex contexts (from analyzing the performances of the unit, to scripting and evaluating buildings, blocks, cities, or the World).

Working with standard objects means modular thinking, where a composite system based on repeated elements can be used to implement large scale interventions. Departing from the traditional optimization of the building components and the housing unit, we want to move forward into the research about modularity and its advantages from the point of view of sustainability. Pixel Planet will research on standardization, flexibility, automation, adaptability, and evolution through time.
Moreover, if our Planet can be understood as an object of design, we aim at repositioning the prefabrication industry of the 21st Century. Can we turn landscape into pixels, or better, into their three-dimensional version: voxels? How do we script a forest, a beach, a desert, an ocean or a cloud, and evaluate and optimize their functioning? Can we even make all those the voxels fly?

Students are invited to work collectively throughout the semester. Scripting, gaming and visualization tools will be used to design a planet of simple, measurable and performative cells, Previous software knowledge is not required, but recommended.
Students’ work will be part of a film to be shown in different venues to be determined.

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