bentleyuser.org - Congratulations to the SmartGeometry 2011 team

Congratulations to the SmartGeometry 2011 team
by Lars Hesselgren - 18 April 2011

The transformation of the SmartGeometry Group from a collective intent on software tools, to a collective intent on what those tools allow us to do is now obvious.

Not only is the range of software tools much larger, but the linking into diverse devices means that design can now begin to explore the next frontier of design – the interface to the world. Last year in Barcelona the focus was essentially on output, how digital manufacturing will change all our preconceptions of architecture. How you make and put together buildings will change.

But architecture also needs to be responsive – to design methodologies, to public inputs, to inputs from the internet, to mobile phones. This year these techniques were explored in depth and the raw energy of taking new approaches and investigating them is the essence of the SG experience.

The groups varied extraordinarily, from weaving fabrics with response mechanisms to environmental mapping in real time, and the weird agent-based growth patterns.

The Conference day brings back a sense of reality, with old favourites such as Chuck Hoberman’s work, as well as local important talent from BIG.

The event is also a network opportunity par excellence – the great crash dispersed many teams, but the group provides a continuing narrative which will resume at RPI (Troy, NY) next year, as well as with the new enhanced website (http://smartgeometry.org).

As a SG Director I must congratulate the whole team on an incredible amount of work and a wonderful experience.