T?F launches a new studio at ETH Zurich
This semester The Why Factory will for the first time run a design studio at ETH in Zurich. The studio focused on constantly changing and adaptive city titled The Transformer will be led by Winy Maas (Guest Professor), Ulf Hackauf and Adrien Ravon.
Life in the real-time adaptive, constantly changing city
In today’s cities and buildings, we see a growing invasion of ambient technologies. We got used to light turning on when we enter a room, traffic lights adapting during rush hour and autopilots steering jumbo jets. Even the smart fridge that orders food and turns on the oven while suggesting dinner receipts to you became reality and is being launched later this year.
In the Transformable City project, we take this development a step further. The city reacts physically. Buildings can move, expand or shrink. Public space can adapt to different requirements. Spaces can transform to your desires. Your apartment can fluently change from bedroom to bathroom, to lounge or sun deck or shrink and almost disappear if you are not home.
If such an adapting environment becomes reality, how does the user interact with a constantly changing, adapting city and it’s users. If your wall can change into a bed, a window, a bathroom – how do you tell your wall what you want? If the city can adapt to different needs of social interaction or quiet privacy, how does it ask the citizens what they want? How dynamic can the city react if different users have different desires? What images can we expect from a city, which is constantly re-made, re-build by it’s users?
Kickoff: Tuesday the 18th of September, Room to be announced.
Exercise Type: E (Entwurf ohne integrierte Disziplin).
Contact: ulf@thewhyfactory.com