rocker-lange blog

Rocker-Lange Architects work is currently on display in the exhibition “Quotidian Architectures – Venice Biennale Response Exhibition” in Hong Kong. Led by co-curators Juan Du and Chad McKee, Quotidian Architectures explores inventive ideas and responsible practices of architecture for everyday living. Quotidian Architectures was developed in response to the Venice Biennale 12th International Architecture exhibition’s central theme, “People Meet In Architecture” and invites general citizens, architects, artists, educators, and government agencies to come together and re-envision Hong Kong through the choices and spaces we encounter every day.

The Quotidian Architectures Venice Biennale Response Exhibition will be open to the public from 30th April, 2011 – 25th June 2011 at the Former Central Police Station Compound, 10 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong. Opening hours from Tuesdays through Sundays will be 10am to 6pm (Mondays closed). Free Admission.

Christian J. Lange of Rocker-Lange Architects and Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong is co- coordinating for the second time an International Summer School at The University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Architecture Study Centre in Shanghai, China.

Architecture Studio Shanghai is a three-week program held at The University of Hong Kong Faculty of Architecture Study Centre in Shanghai. Taught by professors from The University of Hong Kong, as well as architects and scholars from Shanghai, the course offers participants a design studio experience within Asia’s most vibrant and fastest growing city. A fundamental element of the course is to introduce students to architectural issues and design practices, in contemporary China. The studio topic is embedded in the context of Shanghai and addresses contemporary issues in architecture and urbanism.

The structure of the studio course is coordinated around a design project accompanied by short lecture courses covering issues in Chinese architectural history, architectural theory and computational technology.  The program is taught in English.  The HKU Study Centre provides state-of-the-art studio space in the heart of Shanghai. Field trips to significant architectural sites and visits to local and international design firms will provide participants with a broad view of contemporary Chinese culture, architecture and urbanism.  Students work closely with the teaching staff, using the dynamic city of Shanghai as a context for understanding architecture’s role in the built environment.

Dates:
The program will take place at the Shanghai Study Centre from June 12 to July 1, 2011. Students should arrive no later than June 11.

Enrollment:
Applicants who are interested to enroll should have completed at least two undergraduate or graduate level design studios in, or be a recent graduate of, an accredited school of architecture. Enrollment is limited. The comprehensive course is designed to augment participants’ architectural studies at home with a rigorous international experience.

Fees:
The registration fee for the summer program is US$2,950. The early registration fee is US$2,700.  Fees cover the cost of the program in Shanghai (field trips, admissions, etc). Fees do not include flights or accommodation. Accommodation can be arranged at a reasonably priced hotel adjacent to the Shanghai Study Centre.

Registration:
Deadline for registration and payment is June 1, 2011. The early registration payment deadline is May 1, 2011. Online registration is required.
Please go to http://fac.arch.hku.hk/summer/sh/as for details and forms.
Questions may be sent via email to: asprog@arch.hku.hk

“The Eclipse of Beauty: Parametric Beauty” a Harvard GSD Symposia organized by Ingeborg M. Rocker and Pierre Belanger

What has happened to architectural beauty? It used to be the fundamental value of architectural theory and practice, the touchstone of every conceivable achievement for a discipline that considered itself primarily as an art. Today, the word is seldom pronounced by theorists and professionals, at least in public. Even critics and historians tend to avoid the loaded term.

Its eclipse is all the more surprising given that architectural aesthetics is everywhere. The architectural star-system is to a large extent based on signature forms that herald the originality of their authors. The so-called “Guggenheim effect” has fundamentally to do with the visual seduction exerted by Frank Gehry’s project on a large public, from connoisseurs to simple passers-by. It has paved the way for all sorts of prestigious architectural commissions, often linked to the cultural sector, museums, libraries, opera houses requiring visually striking answers that can be appreciated by a broad audience. Usually entrusted to a relatively small cohort of elite architects, these commissions nevertheless contribute to define the tone of contemporary architectural debate. Even if the term beauty is rarely invoked to characterize their power of seduction, the aesthetic dimension plays a determining role.

Conference

» 12:00 PM – 04:00 PM 03/28/2011

Rm 112 (Stubbins), Gund Hall

This event is free and open to the public.

The GSD Technology Platform is a transdisciplinary initiative that fosters discussions about the interface of digital technologies and design. The aim is to uncover and explore how the digital medium is transforming the agency of design through contemporary technological innovation, project experimentation, social media and interdisciplinary collaboration. The Technology Platform provides a forum for transdisciplinary discussions and will host colloquia on a regular basis. The first colloquium “Visualizations : Realizations” focuses on the role data management and data visualization play in our daily material and perceptual realizations.

With the further advancement of digital technologies during the past two decades, new methods of design and realization have begun to emerge involving the selection, management and visualization of data, in order to map, analyze, construct and reconstruct reality’s complexities and dynamics. Instrumental for this development are advanced forms of data imaging, open systems and information exchanges that transcend disciplinary boundaries and open new forms of collaboration and practice.

The first colloquium will offer a forum to present current research on selected topics in 20-minute lectures, followed by a panel discussion with the invited guests and the audience. Questions regarding the selection, generation, evaluation, motivation, visualization of data and the repercussions thereof for the comprehension of nature and culture will be discussed.

The sessions will be moderated by Ingeborg M. Rocker and Pierre Belanger.

Schedule:
12:00 / Welcome Martin Bechthold
12:10 / Introduction 1: Ingeborg M. Rocker
12:20 – 12:40 / Hans-Peter Pfister & Mirah Meyer, “Visualizing Biology”
12:40 – 12:50 / Q|A
12:50 – 01:10 / R Gerard Pietrusko, “Ground-Truthing: Visualization as Narrative”
01:10 – 01:20 / Q|A
01:30 – 01:50 / Panagiotis Michalatos, “Intuition / Rigour: Architect as Users”
01:50 – 02:00 / Q|A
02:00 – 02:20 / Panel 1 discussion

2:30 – 2:40 / Introduction 2: Pierre Belanger
2:40 – 3:00 / Eduardo Rico & Enriqueta Llabres, “Territorialism: Relational Urban Strategies for the Design of Cities”
3:00 – 3:10 / Q|A
3:10 – 3:30 / David Mah & Leire Asensio Villoria, “BAKED GOODS”
3:30 – 3:40 / Q|A
3:40 – 4:00 / Panel 2 discussion with all participants

Ingeborg M. Rocker of Rocker-Lange Architects will present a lecture entitled “Emerging Structures: Concept and Realizations in the 1960’s” at the faculty of architecture TU Graz on Thursday March 16th 2011. For more information about this event please goto TU Graz.

Ingeborg M. Rocker of Rocker-Lange Architects has been invited to serve as a panelist at this year’s ACADIA conference at the Cooper Union in New York. ACADIA 2010 will focus on the changing nature of information and its impact on architectural education, research, and practice.

The conference will gather leading practitioners, theorists, and researchers who will examine the relation that architecture has with technology and information, and how the latter propels today’s most innovative design experimentation and research. ACADIA 2010 will be centered on a series of keynote lecturers, invited panelists, peer-reviewed essay sessions – included on a proceedings publication- and two groundbreaking exhibition including peer-reviewed projects -featured in an exhibition catalog.

CONFERENCE: October 21 – October 24 of 2010
The Great Hall of The Cooper Union and Rose Auditorium, 7 East 7th Street, New York, NY 10003

WORKSHOP PRESENTATIONS + DISCUSSION: October 18th of 2010, 5pm
The Great Hall of The Cooper Union – free admission

WORKSHOPS: October 17 – October 20 of 2010
Different labs in New York City

EXHIBITIONS: October 21 – November 10 of 2010
The Great Hall Gallery of The Cooper Union, 7 East 7th Street, New York, NY 10003
(Opening + discussion: Oct. 23, 6pm) and
The Pratt Institute, Siegel Gallery, 61 St. James Place, Brooklyn, NY 11238
(Opening + discussion: Oct. 22, 7pm)

ACADI@NY, LIVE PERFORMANCES: October 23 of 2010, 9pm
The Great Hall of The Cooper Union

Y Inge Y is an independent student project that grew out of an investigation in modular form in the “On The Bri(n)ck” class with professor Ingeborg M. Rocker of Rocker-Lange Architects at the GSD in the fall of 2009. It was recently completed for the Harvard Arts First festival in April of 2010.

The project was produced with the help of Hiroshi Jacobs, Jon Scelsa, Ben Lehrer, Doug Jack, & Julian Wu. The material is baltic birch plywood with a polyurethane finish, there were no mechanical fasteners used.  There are over 3000 unique pieces in the sculpture which were cut using a laser-cutter and a CNC milling machine. All geometry was generated and numbered by Rhinoscript to organize the production and assembly of the pieces.

Architecture Studio: Shanghai, International Summer Program in Architecture in China 2010.

Christian J. Lange of Rocker-Lange Architects and Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong is co- coordinating an International Summer School in Architecture at The University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Architecture Study Centre in Shanghai, China.

Architecture Studio Shanghai is a three-week program held at The University of Hong Kong Faculty of Architecture Study Centre, at the center of Shanghai. Taught by professors from The University of Hong Kong, as well as architects and scholars from Shanghai, the course offers participants a design studio experience within Asia’s most vibrant and fastest growing city. A fundamental element of the course is to introduce students to architectural issues and design practices, in contemporary China. The studio topic is embedded in the context of Shanghai and addresses contemporary issues in architecture and urbanism.

The structure of the workshop is coordinated around a studio-based core accompanied by short lecture courses covering issues in Chinese architectural history, architectural theory and computational technology. The program is taught in English. The HKU Study Centre provides state-of-the-art studio space in the heart of Shanghai. Field trips to significant architectural sites and visits to local and international design firms will provide participants with a broad view of contemporary Chinese culture, architecture and urbanism. Students work closely with the teaching staff, using the dynamic city of Shanghai as a context for understanding architecture’s role in the built environment.

Dates:
The program will take place at the Shanghai Study Centre from June 14 to July 2, 2010. Students should arrive no later than June 13.

Expo 2010 Shanghai:
The program will run in parallel with the 2010 World Exposition in Shanghai, forecast to be the largest in history. Participating students will have special access to the Expo through guided tours, lectures and presentations by international architects responsible for several structures and pavilions.

Enrollment:
Applicants who are interested to enroll should have completed at least two undergraduate or graduate level design studios in, or be a recent graduate of, an accredited school of architecture. Enrollment is limited to 50 students. The comprehensive course is designed to augment participants’ architectural studies at home with a rigorous international experience. This is a university level course and The University of Hong Kong will assist participants to transfer college credits to their home university.

Tuition:
The fee for the summer program is US$3,000, covering the cost of the program in Shanghai (field trips, admissions, etc). It does not include flights or accommodation. Accommodation can be arranged for additional costs at a reasonably priced four-star hotel adjacent to the Shanghai Study Centre.

Program Coordinators:
Christian J. Lange
Jason F. Carlow

Location:
Shanghai Study Centre
2/F, 298 North Suzhou Road,
Hong Kou District, Shanghai, China

Registration:
Deadline for registration is June 1, 2010. Online registration is required.
For details and forms, please go to http://fac.arch.hku.hk/summer/sh/a
Questions may be sent via email to: asprog@arch.hku.hk

Rocker-Lange Architects were invited to participate in the exhibition “Ordos100, The inevitable cultural negotiations when building a city in the 21st Century” at ART Basel.
The exhibition on architecture, urbanisation and globalisation will feature all 100 Villas for the Ordos 100 projects in Ordos, Inner Mongolia.

During ART Basel

June 10th – 14th, 2009
Open daily 5PM-8PM

Opening June 10th, 5PM-8PM

www.ordos100basel.info

E-Halle Basel, Erlenstrasse 15
Switzerland
For directions: www.e-halle.ch

For more information: ordos@territorialagency.com

Professor Ingeborg M. Rocker, Rocker-Lange Architects – developed with students at the GSD, Harvard University a robotic built wall.

Student quotes:
“This was the best experience so far at the GSD: generating a digital design, fabricating a model and then building it in a 1:1 scale.”  Jeff LaBoskey

“A whole set of new challenges occurred when we started to build the design – and a constant re-adjustments of design and building process had to happen – overall great fun and a fantastic learning experience for all of us. The most rewarding is to be in the space we have created and to watch people experiencing it.” Misato Odanaka

“This is the type of experience for which I came to the GSD! More of this!” Teresa McWalters

Credits:
On the Bri-n-ck project, Harvard University, Graduate School of Design

Advisor:
Ingeborg M.Rocker

Leading Team:
Jeff LaBoskey
Misato Odanaka
Benjamin Franceschi
Teresa McWalters

Coding:
Jessica Rosenkrantz, Nervous System
Jesse Louis-Rosenberg, Nervous System
Christian J. Lange, Rocker-Lange Architects

Core Team:
Natalya Egon
Ricardo Munoz
Matthew Swaidan
Tory Wolcott

Team:
Masana Amamiya, Sen Ando, Ben Brady, Julian Bushman-Copp, Lindsay Chandler-Alexander, Brad Crane, Theodore Diehl, Elizabeth Farley, Matthew Fiely, Chelsea Garunay, Jeremy Jih, Tessa Kelly, Jeongyon Kim, Jessica Knobloch, Carl Koepcke, Annie Kountz, Eva Leung, Cara Liberatore, Lesley McTague. Paul Merrill, Brian Militana, Yuhka Miura, Jason Phipps, Alicia Taylor, Jessica Vaughn, Ka Yip

Special Thanks:
Stephen Hickey
Martin Bechthold

Funding:
Junior Faculty Grant and Preston Scott Cohen, Chair of the Architecture Department

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