The ASK team – Jacek Markusiewicz, Krystian Kwiecinski and Agata Pasternak – were in Kaunas to deliver a workshop as part of Kaunas Architecture Festival / Kauno architektūros festivalis 2016.
The goal of the 5-day intensive workshop was to design and build a parametric structure made of plywood in the square in front of Romuva Cinema Centre in Kaunas employing parametric design tools and digital fabrication. The choice of the site was not coincidental. The theme of KAFe 2016 is “Restart your city centre” and this square is situated next to Laisvės avenue – the longest pedestrian street in Kaunas city centre. Romuva cinema building is an important part of this area and a unique example of Kaunas inter-war modernism architecture, however, for now the space is quite abandoned and unattractive for citizens. This parametric object could be a start point that leads to the revival of this area.
The participants were divided into 5 focus groups representing Kaunas’ citizens. For a day they were no longer architects and became representatives of Business owners, Families, Students, Performers, Inhabitants. All of them had spent a lot of time brainstorming and discussing in order to choose the best design and function that would fit in the area in front of the Romuva Cinema Centre and would represent different needs of these groups.
In order to check suitability of the solutions they were simulated in the augmented reality. The AR application was using the printed map on which 3 different types of markers (wall, seat, laying) were placed. By moving and rotating them, the form of the bench was changing instantly and it was visualized in mobile devices (tablets, mobile phones).
The parametric definition allowed to automatize the production of the fabrication files of the chosen design. All pieces were CNC-milled out of plywood and numbered in order to assemble them correctly. The fabrication process took place in the fabrication laboratory at KTU Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture.