Hello! I'm dimitrie. You can check out architecture for personal work, this for experiments in parametric architecture, or click here if you're curious about what workshops i've been giving around. Feel free to say hi.

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Algorithmic Abuse

PLAT 1.5 has just been released, and with it my critical essay entitled Algorithmic Abuse, which I’m sharing below. It’s a short attempt to raise awareness towards several gaps in computational architecture’s theory as well as practice.

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A recurring concern among the practitioners and promoters of what we shall refer to generally as “computational architecture” is the oft-mentioned (but rarely justified) “crisis of complexity” in which the world and its architects apparently find themselves. This condition manifests itself as an information overload, which is seen as the natural consequence of an ever-larger pool of numbers and decimals vying for our attention.[1] In response to this crisis, computational architecture is in a rush to dictate a paradigm shift by promoting the assimilation and implementation of concepts and theories emerging from science and philosophy – which, in combination, are intended to help us to navigate the confusing world described by chaos theory.

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Constructal Theory and Infrastructure

Recently, I’ve been digging around in Constructal Theory, mainly because it provides a “predictive” framework for natural growth unifying – in a sense – physics and life. As it is now, constructal law theoretically accounts for all design phenomena in nature. It states that “For a finite-size system to persist in time (to live), it must evolve in such a way that it provides easier access to the imposed currents that flow through it.”.

I’ve got a huge interest in anthropic growth – namely growth enabled by humanity – and the rules behind its development. More importantly, we can now see a new materialist framework being contoured by philosophers like Manuel DeLanda together with Adrian Bejan and Constructal Theory, framework which encompasses both natural and anthropic growth and development under the same paradigm. The world is no longer split into Nature and Culture – Modernity’s dichotomy is being erased by rules and principles which guide both, making the distinction irrelevant.

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Swarm Behaviours Workshop Material

Recently I’ve tutored a Processing workshop for the Hyperbody department at the TU Delft. I’ve decided to share the sketches with the open world – who knows, maybe someone will find them useful. There’s quite a few variations included – clustering, attractors, collision avoidance, etc. Read below for the download link and some screens of some of the sketches.

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Optimization Overdose

This is just thinking out loud – don’t take too seriously. Read below if you really, really want to.  (more…)

Border Conditions: F/RF

Project team: Manuel Torres, Dimitrie Stefanescu
Studio Leader: Sang Lee

This is the final studio (Border Conditions) project for msc2. Though quite a lot of parametric techniques went into the making of it, they were subservient to rather than defining the project’s outcome.

This project embodies a virtual study of the process of folding with its conjectural actions (re-folding, unfolding). (more…)

CLJ02: ZA11 Pavillion

Design/Organization: Dimitrie Stefanescu [improved.ro], Patrick Bedarf [a-ngine.com], Bogdan Hambasan [ASTA Cluj]
Organization: ASTA Cluj
Workshop Team: Ciprian Colda, Anamaria Androne, Razvan Sencu, Madalin Gheorghe

Assembly: Bogdan Badila, Vlad Pop, Georgiana Hlihor, Denisa Lula, Robert Veber, Zoltan Vaida, Imre Vekove, Ciprian Colda, Mihai Pascalau, Calin Negret, Bogdan Borbei, Iustin Nechiti, Dan Ioanici, Razvan Luca, Stefan Grosariu, Ioana Suceava, Alexandra Man, Andreea Darac, Irina Mates, Oana Bogatan, Andrei Varga, Radu Badila, Elza Sandor, Alex Greceniuc, Oana Matei, Alex Vladovici, Marcel Oprean, Ioan Pop, Vlad Rusu, Ioana Tomoioaga.

Location: Cluj, Romania Date: 4-7th May2011

Photographs: Patrick Bedarf, Georgiana Hlihor, Daniel Bondas, Georgeta Macovei Text: Dimitrie Stefanescu

Intro

The project started out as an ambitious student-powered endeavor to design and fabricate at a 1:1 scale the flagship pavilion for the ZA11 Speaking Architecture event in Cluj, Romania. While at the same time integrating into its historically-charged context, the design (which was elaborated to a concept stage during a week-long workshop) boasts a strong representational power which was much needed in order to fulfill its main goal: attracting passers-by to the event. At the same time, the object, through its tectonic characteristics, tries to make legible the new ontology which is slowly defined by computational architecture and thus becomes a showcase for the design processes empowered by digital tools.

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[GH] SuperConnect

A nifty little tool for creating connectors between pretty much any kind of planar surfaces which intersect themselves at the edges.

What it basically does is to output in a ordered structure the intersecting faces (as tree branches) and their intersection line. From there on you can continue to build up your own connectors however you like.

The example file contains the Grasshopper definition, Connector-Notch Script and an example Rhino file. Read below for more. (more…)


architecture

Border Conditions: F/RF
Border Conditions: F/RF

Project team: Manuel Torres, Dimitrie Stefanescu Studio Leader: Sang Lee This is the final studio (B…

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workshops

Swarm Behaviours Workshop Material
Swarm Behaviours Workshop Material

Recently I’ve tutored a Processing workshop for the Hyperbody department at the TU Delft. I…

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grasshopper

[GH] SuperConnect
[GH] SuperConnect

A nifty little tool for creating connectors between pretty much any kind of planar surfaces which in…

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processing.org

Constructal Theory and Infrastructure
Constructal Theory and Infrastructure

Recently, I’ve been digging around in Constructal Theory, mainly because it provides a “…

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writings

Algorithmic Abuse
Algorithmic Abuse

PLAT 1.5 has just been released, and with it my critical essay entitled Algorithmic Abuse, which I&#…

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