Open Source Architecture Workshop
Doors of Perception 8, New Delhi, 18-20 March 2005
If one thinks of architecture as an "operating system", combining hard stuff and soft stuff, then it might be productive to consider how lessons learnt from developing an open source operating system (in the computer world) might be applied to the design and construction of space (in the architecture world).
What do we need to consider?
- how to make spaces that can easily be configured/reconfigured/reappropriated.
- how to provide tools that make the exercise open to as many participants as possible.
What did we do?
- We got together in teams of three.
- We made inflatables using plastic bags, cellotape and desk fans.
- The inflatables had to be big enough to fit 3 people (sitting/standing/lying down) and a stool. Of course there also had to be an inflation point and an entrance.
- It was an exercise in design-while-making; there were no plans drawn and little discussion apart from during the fabrication. NO BRAINSTORMING!
- Once the inflatables were built, we moved on to the inflatable built by the neighbouring team and reconfigured it so that it could coalesce into a large inflatable.
- This required negotiations around the connection points and the means of connection, rather than planning the structure as a whole.
- Finally we made projections, exploring the idea of open source, copyright of image and how the surface can become communicative and take on new meanings.
Why inflatables?
- They are easy to make and they are easy to adapt.
- They have a history of "idealism", which is relevant to open source.
- They exist in time, they are dynamic, they change as they inflate or deflate or even as people move around inside of them.
What did we learn?
- How to build inflatables!
- How to construct "space" from everyday low-tech materials.
- That it is difficult to make things collaboratively without discussion. But that doesn't mean we have to discuss before making.
- In an open source environment you can't become too attached to your work.
- It is important to negotiate connections to your neighbours and also to understand that your work will be changed by those around you.
- It is possible to construct complex, dynamic spaces (i.e. architecture) without being experts (none of the participants was an architect!).
- Complexity in design can arise from non-complex units (e.g. cellular automata; though we never did make the cellular automata umbrellas...).
Quicktime movie of the construction process and inflation. [2.5mb file]
| Tabita Kurien | National Insitute of Design |
| Sonal Nigam | National Insitute of Design |
| Manoj Verma | National Institute of Fashion Technology |
| Priyanka Arora | National Institute of Fashion Technology |
| Noor Ansal | National Institute of Fashion Technology |
| Adil Hussain | Pearl Academy of Fashion |
| Sakshi Babbar | Pearl Academy of Fashion |
| Nandita Singh | Pearl Academy of Fashion |
| Rashmeet Kaur | Pearl Academy of Fashion |
| Prarthna Ahuja | Pearl Academy of Fashion |
| Thomas Abraham | Srishti School of Design |
| Hidish Singh | Srishti School of Design |
| Smriti Mehra | Srishti School of Design |