2010—: Founder, Architect, Designer
Skåtar Architecture & Design , Berlin, Germany
2020—: Guest professor
Free University of Bolzano, Italy
2018—: Lecturer
Anhalt University, Dessau, Germany
2007—2010: Architect, Project manager
Studio Olafur Eliasson GmbH , Berlin, Germany
2005—2006: Architect
Tema Architects , Uppsala, Sweden
2012—: PhD researcher, Architecture and computation, LTH School of Architecture , Lund, Sweden
1999—2005: Architecture, Royal Institute of Technology , Stockholm, Sweden
2004: Architecture , Universität der Künste , Berlin
2002: Architecture , ENSAPLV , Paris, France
1997—1998: Fine arts , Wiks Folkhögskola , Sweden
and a strategy for the future
a discourse on the profession itself
Fredrik Skåtar
Fredrik Skåtar
Fredrik Skåtar
Fredrik Skåtar
Given that LEDs need less power, rendering the current harmless, we also have more possibilities of conducting electricity. With help from digital fabrication, we could design our own cables, with less or even no isolation. We also have the possibility of 3d-printing our own screw terminals and other details needed for optimization of light design.
To what extent are these innovations used by the industry?
Could new digital fabrication methods contribute to new designs?
Last but not least, digital fabrication offers us vast opportunities for experimenting with geometry and various materials for light shading and form. Throughout the course, a strong emphasis is to maintain a symbiosis between artistic expression, technology and function/application.
www.hopfnordin.se
● Lectures on innovative light designs throughout design history, from a wide range of scales and applications.
● Lectures on current technologies, materials and examples where these have been applied. Partly carried out by invited guest lecturers.
● Geometry workshops. Students will explore polyhedra, assembly details and kinetic design setups with help from hand sketches, physical models, Rhinoceros3d and Grasshopper algorithmic modelling.
● Rendering workshops. Students will simulate the first sketches using TwinMotion, Keyshot and/or VRay.
● Case study drawing workshops. Based on lectures and workshops from design phase 1, students will make case study models of their project application. That is, who is the user and what light conditions and parameters would fit his or her needs?
● Based on the findings from the case study a first sketch is made which is discussed in a group presentation.
Design phase 3
● Investigating parameters. What technology would fit and what materials would be used? The sketches are analysed in order to start the design process.
● Sketching is carried out by hand and/or with physical models. These are precisely analysed and materialised using Rhinoceros and Grasshopper, where the latter offers algorithmically changeable design solutions. Light simulations are carried out parallel to this with help from the student’s chosen rendering software.
● Design phase 3 is concluded with a midterm presentation
● Students explore construction methods. Materials, sockets, conductivity concepts and so forth are explored and continuously discussed with teachers and fellow students.
● Students develop their designs and go deeper into details. The artistic concepts is the driving force which automatically generates research on all technological means available to reach each student’s individual goal.
● Design phase 4 is concluded with a final presentation and an exhibition.
— exploring geometry, technology and materials
Could one architectural element transform a whole square?
Could it bring about new actions and behaviours?
Could the designed situation contribute to a sense of community and well-being?
What function should a public square offer? Light? Drinking water? Plants? Furniture?
Could we turn a train station into a cultural hub?
● Lectures on public design that promote keywords such as interaction, community, sustainability and nature.
● Lectures on selected urban design strategies. A central concept is Secchi+Viganò’s Strategic Spatial Structure for Antwerp, Belgium, which is arguably well formulated, poetic and innovative as well as widely accessible, not only for professionals.
● Lectures on urban design, policy, culture and politics, putting the question if projects like Oasis could benefit from new types of high-level decision making. As an example, we will study the concept of the Belgian Bouwmeester / city architect. In comparison with other countries, the Belgian city architect arguably has more influence on the future of the city and ultimately the country. He or she creates awareness about the importance of architecture, promotes design diversity and concepts such as slow urbanism, all grounded in academic research.
● Case study drawing workshop.
Students start to draw on possible design scenarios. We will work with hand sketches, collages and physical models. Continuously, the definitions of a “dead corner” and “revitalisation” are discussed.
The exercise has two main objectives: to define what topic one wants to follow and, based on that topic, start formulating a vision for a new kind of urbanism.
● Simultaneously, students explore the city to find “dead corners” in the urban structure that can be used for the project’s site. They take photos of and make notes about every site they visit. In seminar groups, we discuss the sites selected and try to pinpoint why they need a revitalisation.
● Investigating the site.
We collect as much info as possible about the site. We make digital drawings based on measurements, we map its current usage and discuss how it could ideally be used, we look at functions available and lacking. Here, factors such as the site’s history, architectural style, infrastructure, and—more emotionally based—its spirit are highly important.
● Refining the idea. Students make site-specific sketches, combining their topic with the site. We work with hand sketches and physical models and ultimately test the ideas with Rhino/Grasshopper which offers algorithmically changeable design solutions. Topics such as material, construction methods, interaction scenarios, user analysis are vital.
● Design phase 3 is concluded with a midterm presentation
● Components integrated into Grasshopper are used to create a rough cost calculation and an overview of construction methods.
● Students develop their designs:
○ Refining and clearly motivating the form(s) chosen
○ defining materials and functions involved
○ creating a series of images depicting activity scenarios.
● Design phase 4 is concluded with a final presentation and an exhibition.
Does design, and thus an appearance of care, offer a protection per se?
Prior generations saw concrete as the material of choice for the contemporary, progressive city.
The global urban population is growing rapidly. What do cities need now? More green, and more nature in symbiosis with our urban lives?
— revitalising forgotten urban corners
- tools, thinking and evaluation are
interdependent actions
- we need to see these as a synergy
- tools, thinking and evaluation are
interdependent actions
- we need to see these as a synergy
- tools, thinking and evaluation are
interdependent actions
- we need to see these as a synergy
- tools, thinking and evaluation are
interdependent actions
- we need to see these as a synergy
- to gain design process experience
- to train skills
- to build “mental skills library”
- to gain design process experience
- to train skills
- to build “mental skills library”
- to gain design process experience
- to train skills
- to build “mental skills library”
- to gain design process experience
- to train skills
- to build “mental skills library”
- hand and mind
- theory and practice
- words and form
- geometry research
- sketching by hand and with software
- constructing one's own idea
- automatically gaining knowledge through individual motivation
- creating “parametric tools”
- create a “mental library” of methods
- digital tools are not a stand-alone subject.
- digital tools are part of all other tools and
their underlying concepts derive from history.