SmartGeometry 2010: Shop Talk with Workshop Leaders

Last week, as SmartGeometry 2010 drew to a close, students, researchers, academics, and designers who had participated in the workshops and the public symposium streamed out of The Palau de la Música Catalana (Catalan Music Palace) in Barcelona, Spain. Earlier, they were cloistered in The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalunia (IAAC), carving out shapes that would have intrigued Gaudi and Dali.

To digitize their visions, they used a mix of software and hardware tools, including Bentley Systems' GenerativeComponents. (Bentley is also the principal sponsor to the annual gathering.) To test out these ideas physically and mechanically, they punched metals, bent wires, sew fabrics, cut cardboards, and worked with pretty much anything else they could lay their hands on. Now that the experiments, the deadlines, and the formal presentations were behind them, they were jumping into cabs, heading back to the IAAC for a reception.

I caught up with Andrew Lucia, Jonathan Rabagliati, and Axel Kilian, who helped organize and run several workshops. To them, I posed the same question I tossed at Bentley executives: What makes the geometry smart? In their own words, they explained why smart geometry wouldn't be possible without smart people. (Our conversation took place just as the party was underway, so please excuse the background noises.)

Note: shop talk, as explained by SmartGeometry organizers, is a noun with two possible meanings: 1. conversation about a craft or occupation, particularly outside of working hours; 2. specialized vocabulary concerning a particular craft or occupation.