ACADIA 2011 Design + Fabrication Competition: Sponsored by FLATCUT_

Contemporary parametric design models are being developed through linkages between geometry and increasingly complex and informed sets of data. These design methodologies are asking new questions of designers who chose to embrace these modeling techniques for the production of material assemblies. How does parametric design engage changes scale? How does the selection, tooling, and deployment of material shape the physical environment? How do inventive material pairings work positively and cohesively to produce new forms of assembly and environmental response? How do designers begin to embed parameters that engage concepts of sustainability, augmented performance and material flexibility?

Coordinate values, the shared language of numerically controlled machines and CAD modeling platforms allow for an uninhibited exchange of information between designers and fabricators, but the design-build approach has yet to push this exchange towards its full potential.

The ACADIA 2011 Annual Conference with the support of FLATCUT_ seeks proposals for innovative geometric forms that push the limits of design through the exploration of integrative material strategies for digitally fabricated assemblies.

This year's conference theme addresses integrative trajectories and areas of overlap between design and other disciplines. While design's allied fields of engineering and construction will be explored, collaborative possibilities between design and other concentrations, such as computer science, material science, mathematics and biology will also be highlighted.

In a partnership with the fabricator FLATCUT_, ACADIA is seeking proposals for experimental projects that digitally pursue the discovery, appropriation, adaptation, and alteration of methods, processes and techniques of fabrication and assembly.

Proposals for inventive design will be accepted in the following categories:

a. Lighting
b. Partitions
c. Furniture

Entrants should consider the material intelligence of their proposal and actively seek opportunities for material integration. Proposals should exhibit ingenuity in creating a novel system of production that explores the cross-section of digital forms and the fabrication process. Designs should demonstrate an experimental approach to the problem of digitally fabricating multiple part assemblies that address both the themes of the conference and the performance criteria of the category in which they are situated.

www.acadia.org/acadia2011/competition.html