I was so excited to stand at the podium to deliver my research to the AAG2018 conference. It is my great honor to share the stage with those brilliant minds.
The conference of Advances in Architectural Geometry is the biennial events initiated by Professor Helmut Pottmann, the author of the seminal textbook “Architectural Geometry.” The conference focus on the issues such as how to discrete a continuous free-form surface into a series of planar polygons, or how to identify the essential information from a free-form design then pass to fabrication machinery.
The proceedings of the first and latest AAG conference (click for download)
At the AAG2018, I was so thrilled to hear all the keynotes and presentations, especially the ideas form Professor Philippe Block, Mr. William F. Baker, and Miss Caroline Bos. Professor Block, the professor of ETH, advocated designing our structure with efficient geometry, which can minimize the structural materials then reduce tremendous embodiment energy. Mr. Baker, the engineer of the eminent consultancy, SOM, reviewed the cases that smart structural solutions take essential parts of the architectures and infrastructures. Miss Bos, the architect and the founder of the renowned architectural firm, UNStudio, shared the stories on how they work closely with engineers to solve the unexpected problems.
The photos of the keynotes and presentations
For a non-native English speaker, especially for me, it makes one feel quite timid thinking of presenting one’s research in front of several hundred audience members. I tried my best including deep breathing and stretching my arms and legs to relieve my nerves when I was waiting for my call. However, when I heard Professor Mark Pauly, the presenter right before me also the researcher I cited in my research, said to the audience that the next presenter (referring me) would answer you one of the future works just had been mentioned, I felt quite thrilled and gained confidence while receiving this “introduction”.
In the presentation, I tried my best to visualize all the crucial ideas regarding the “reconfigurable mechanisms” which convert the double curved surfaces into interconnected blocks having two stable configurations in the flat and the desired curved shape. Lots of the work behind the scene help me to gain my voice and confidence on that podium. Here, I do not intend to say to munch on the technical detail which the readers can find it in the proceedings and the upcoming papers.
The presentation I delivered (Photo credits: Melioranski, M., La Magna, R., & Glies, S.)
However, I fell obliged the express my gratitude to the all the supporters help me to stand on the conference podium, including the Taiwanese taxpayers, Teun Verkerk at Science Center Delft, Miss Hsieh and Mr. Chiang at Ohprecis, the developers of Kiwi!3D, my co-authors Sina and Henriette, and the community and the audience of AAG who might also feel satisfied by the prototypes.
Simulation by Kiwi!3D, the plug-in on grasshopper I learned in the workshop at the AAG2018
The acknowledgments slide of the presentation
Some of the audience members are testing my prototypes
Hope I can deliver larger and more exciting prototypes soon in the coming years of my PhD research.
Chiang, Y.-C., Mostafavi, S., & Bier, H. (2018). Assembly of Shells with Bi‐Stable Mechanism. In Advances in Architectural Geometry 2018. Gothenburg.
ChiangYC 