02/12/19

AMES, Iowa — Andrew Kudless, founder of Matsys design studio in Oakland, California, and an associate professor of architecture at the California College of the Arts, will speak at Iowa State University Feb. 27.

Kudless will present “Morphotypes” at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, in room 181 College of Design. Part of the ISU Department of Architecture’s 2018-2019 Public Programs Series, “Anonymity,” the talk is free and open to the public.

In his lecture, Kudless will provide an overview of several research areas pursued by Matsys, such as computational design and architectural representation, difference and repetition, the material practice of architecture and integrative design. He will share specific examples from the work, including the “P_Wall” series of wall installations and the recently completed Confluence Park in San Antonio, Texas, the 2019 winner of the national American Institute of Architects Honor Award in Architecture.

He will also discuss some of the concepts behind the “Bodies in Formation: Flexible Formwork and Digital Simulation” workshop he will lead at Iowa State for students in the “Constructing Textiles: Computation and Soft Formworks” spring studio taught by Shelby Doyle, assistant professor of architecture, and Olivia Valentine, assistant professor of art and visual culture. The workshop will explore both analog and digital techniques for the design and simulation of casting using flexible formwork, and students will work in groups to develop a collective series of cast wall panels.

About the speaker

Kudless is a designer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2004, he founded Matsys, a design studio exploring the emergent relationships between architecture, engineering, biology and computation. He holds a Master of Arts in emergent technologies and design from the Architectural Association and a Master of Architecture from Tulane University. Matsys’ work has been exhibited internationally and is in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the FRAC Centre in Orleans, France.

Contacts

Shelby Doyle, Architecture, (515) 294-8711, doyle@iastate.edu
Heather Sauer, Design Communications, (515) 294-9289, hsauer@iastate.edu

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