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During Amman Design Week 2017, Kais Al-Rawi, Julia Koerner, and Marie Boltenstern will be exhibiting their installation titled Cellular Complexity at the Hangar Exhibition.
Cellular Complexity is a design research and collaboration between Kais Al-Rawi, Julia Koerner and Marie Boltenstern established in 2012 at the Architectural Association London. The research investigates complex cellular systems and their potential for architectural applications that utilize efficient space-packing geometries with a special focus on emergent technologies in architecture and design. Cellular systems exist within the organization of biological systems in a multitude of scales from the nano to the micro and macro; they embody performative properties structurally, thermally and acoustically. The installation rethinks the scale at which these systems organically exist, towards an architectural scale which can be re-organized to a diverse range of applications and performative parameters. This installation received the prestigious American Institute of Architects (AIA) Merit Design Award for Built Project in Los Angeles, California (2015).
The installation consists of 132 cells varying in size, porosity and curvature; they are algorithmically generated using computational design techniques. The twist surface geometry redefines the traditional relationship of horizontal ground planes towards vertical wall planes by creating a transition that blends both planes within a three dimensional system. The installation is entirely composed of standardized sheet materials which themselves hold a cellular structure and were fabricated utilizing digital CNC fabrication technologies. The assembly starts from entirely flat-packed parts, and requires no mechanical fasteners or adhesives and is easily reversible and transportable.
Credit to Mazen AlAli for leading a team of volunteers to assemble the installation for Amman Design Week.
Kais Al-Rawi (Jordan), Julia Koerner (Austria) and Marie Boltenstern (Austria) initiated Cellular Complexity in 2012 in London as a design-research collaboration at the Architectural Association. Their research investigates complex cellular systems and their potential for architectural applications that utilize efficient space-packing geometries with a special focus on emergent technologies in architecture and design. The project has received international recognition through awards such as the prestigious AIA Design Awards, as well as numerous exhibitions and publications in the US, Canada, UK, Austria and Argentina.