Building the Future - SmartGeometry 2012 Conference

Today’s guest blog comes from Lachmi Khemlani, Ph.D., founder and editor of AECbytes.

Towards the end of last month, I had the opportunity to attend this year's SmartGeometry conference, which was held at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY. The conference is typically focused on innovative architectural and structural design tools, technologies, and methods, and the theme of the conference this year was "Material Intensities." The conference is organized by the SmartGeometry Group, with Bentley Systems as the main sponsor since its GenerativeComponents software has been traditionally used by many of the leading firms that are part of the SmartGeometry Group.

This article provides an overview of the conference and compares it with the 2009 SmartGeometry conference that I last attended to see the direction in which the conference is heading, as well as analyze the relationship between academia and the industry.
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Smartgeometry 2012 @ RPI

The Smartgeometryconference (sg2012) was held in Troy, NY, on the campus of RensselaerPolytechnic Institute from 19-24 March.  Every year since 2001, the best and brightest architects, designers, and engineers gather from Practice, Research, and Academia to explore and discuss the latest trends and technology in digital design, simulation and fabrication.  This year, the sg2012 theme was Material Intensities – the connections between materiality and the environment.  Eleven separate workshop clusters were held during the first four days.

Several of these clusters used 3D printing to help them communicate their project size and scope.  As a Silver Sponsor for sg2012, 3D Systems donated materials and printing services to support the clusters.  Two projects are pictured below:

sg2012 Cluster: Ceramics 2.0

sg2012 Cluster: Form Follows Flow  

Cluster champions – David M. and Daniele G.

During the Friday Talkshop and Saturday Symposium, 3D Systems had the opportunity to display 3D printed models and demonstrate its 3D Touch printer.  In the photo above, Daniele is holding two tower massing models that were printed at the event on the 3D Touch system. 

3D Systems model variety

             Jean Sprauer, Product Manager, 3D Systems                     

    sg2012 Cluster:  Material Conflicts   

Talkshop sponsorship briefing

Autodesk Revit Vasari designs courtesy of Zach Kron, Autodesk.  Printed on 3D Systems’ ProJet™ and ZPrinter® Professional 3D Printers

                                 

For more information on Smartgeometry, visit http://smartgeometry.org/

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