Dark Branes | Pratt

Dark Branes Studio | Pratt Institute | 2007Fall
Alisa Andrasek and Gil Akos

The overarching theme of the studio was increasing the “resolution” of architecture by adding extra dimensions to the fabric of space in the context of algorithms and increased data populations found in recent computational environments (such as Processing). The studio explored the shift from the technique-based approach that dominated generative practices within architecture in the recent past towards a more explicit computational approach by engaging with scripting directly.

As a testing ground, the studio worked on proposals for the 2G competition for the Venetian Lagoon.

The dark and complex waters of Venice and the competition’s poly-scalar challenge acted as a  fertile ground for testing micro-macro-other scales of design ecology rather than solely the one immediately perceptible to a human reference frame. Dark Branes is a proposal for an adaptive life-form – a lagoon system which transitions between hard and soft elements (such as land and water) and in the process works to absorb and process various scales of ecological as well as cultural pressures. It is in essence a membrane system characterized by intensive filtering and variable porosity, capable of negotiating shifting territories and providing new opportunities for re-texturing existing forms of connectivity. As a means of approaching the host condition of the dark lagoon, the studio began with a series of precedent studies, investigating a number of systems found in the natural environment such as marches, wetlands, and archipelagos, each of which negotiate the distribution of liquids, land , and life in novel and complex ways. We also looked at a number of artificial examples such as large-scale land-tech systems like GIS as well as various micro-scale lab experiments, all of which have been applied in ways that re-texture the distribution patterns of forests, deserts, swamps, and other natural ecosystems, effectively re-programming organic systems through the introduction of non-organic technological filters.

Additionally, we investigated the algorithmic logics found in biomimetics, which exhibit non-linear differentiation and redundancy as alternatives to the more deterministic optimization models found in typical building structures. The studio unveiled proposals for the possible futures into the dark waters of Venice by encoding the branes’ poly-scalar interlinked behaviors.

DarkBranes Website