Dan Tassell

Nedry - In a Dim Light

2012-03-06T03:18:00.003-08:00

Artwork and music video for British post-rock group nedry for their latest album 'In a Dim Light' released March 2012 through Monotreme records.

Film: The Battersea Experiment

2011-07-04T04:17:00.001-07:00

The Battersea Experiment from Dan Tassell on Vimeo.

More info: www.factoryfifteen.com

Factory Fifteen Film Teaser

2011-06-13T09:57:00.001-07:00

FACTORY FIFTEEN TEASER from Factory Fifteen on Vimeo.

FACTORY FIFTEEN LAUNCH PARTY

2011-06-09T05:41:00.000-07:00

Im very excited to announce the launch of Factory Fifteen - a creative studio specialising in animation, film and architectural representation formed of myself and five other ex-unit15 students Jonathan Gales, Kibwe Tavares, Paul Nicholls, Richard Young and Christopher Lees. Details of our launch party below:

FACTORY FIFTEEN are proud to present Robots of Brixton and other fantastic short films.

Come and join us for the launch of FACTORY FIFTEEN, a new creative design studio specialising in film, animation & architectural representation.

Get there early to enjoy free drinks and meet the artists.

Spider Diagram

2011-06-06T19:25:00.000-07:00

Diagram showing the main film environments.

Some architecture

2011-05-30T12:44:00.000-07:00

Section through Garden of Abiogenesis.

Orthographic diagram of arboretum landscape features.

Simulated Microcity

2011-05-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

Responding to some of the feedback I got at the crit I have been trying to make more out of the simulation and testing that has underpinned the Battersea project. This is a new sequence showing protocells forming lattice structures at a small scale. This will feed back into the film (or possibly form a short stand alone sequence/interlude)

Entrance

2011-05-20T18:55:00.000-07:00

Protocell Test

2011-05-18T08:01:00.000-07:00

This is short extract from a scene I am working on for my latest film showing a 'protocell construction site.' I used real footage of protocells provided by Rachel Armstrong and combined with animation techniques in Adobe After Effects and 3D Studio Max. Note: clip has no audio.

Protocells from Dan Tassell on Vimeo.

Microscope

2011-05-16T14:29:00.001-07:00

A test render for a sequence that shows microscopic living structures forming.

Details

2011-05-15T14:49:00.000-07:00

I have been developing some sequences to try and build up the character of the scientist and explain some of the back story to the project.

Aerial Structure

2011-05-15T07:08:00.000-07:00

Cultivating Battersea

2011-05-11T12:07:00.000-07:00

This week I have been constructing the external landscape of the hollowed out shell of Battersea power station. The images present an architectural ecology, cultivated over time. These visuals are part of the ongoing development of a short film which will be released in June.

Memory/Hallucination

2011-05-08T14:42:00.000-07:00

A set of composition and grading tests showing how the female character interacts with Oliver Deuces' living worlds.

Green Screen

2011-05-08T06:47:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I had the pleasure of working with Vic Ranger and Eve Randle, whose acting skills made for an enjoyable day of green screen shooting. Above are a couple of grading/compositing tests. Now for the epic task of sorting through the mountain of footage.

Photography Blog

2011-04-01T14:46:00.000-07:00

I have created a new photography website. There is not a huge amount on there yet but will hopefully add to it when I get a chance. Below are some shots I took in China:

Mausoleum test render

2011-03-31T18:46:00.000-07:00

Interim Edit

2011-03-24T19:03:00.000-07:00

Today has been all about the timeline. I have tried to lay out the entire film in animatic form so I have a clear idea of the shape of the edit. This has also allowed me to start designing the audio and writing a script for the narrative. There are still plenty of holes to fill and one or two messy transitions but for the first time it is possible to get an idea for the overall look and feel of the film. Its actually becoming more somber than I originally intended but think this is a good thing, after all a film about what it means to be 'alive' should also be able to deal with mortality.

Battersea God's Eye View

2011-03-22T06:15:00.000-07:00

This is a matte painting for a scene that takes in a vista of the power station hemmed in by the encroaching city (best viewed in high-res, click image to link to flickr)

Mega Moon

2011-03-19T14:23:00.000-07:00

I couldnt resist getting the 300mm lens out to capture tonight's full moon from our North London balcony.

Section through Western Turbine Hall

2011-03-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

Earlier I was struck with a rare but overwhelming urge to do a 'proper' architectural drawing. A long section through the reconfigured roof of the western turbine hall seemed like a good idea:

Algal Theatre Graded

2011-03-17T11:09:00.001-07:00

Algal Theatre

2011-03-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

I wanted to revisit some of the last project's research into alternative screens. Here the dark expanse of the western turbine hall is illuminated by bioluminescent algae circulated from cultivating tanks on the roof through a network of pipes and tubes into vessels. These vessels become electrically charged screens showing the time-lapse footage of the building growing.

Typical composition breakdown

2011-03-10T08:02:00.000-08:00

There are a number of different passes and elements that come together to produce the final composition. Below I have broken down the individual passes of one particular scene I am working on at the moment (final image shown above):

Ambient occlusion pass to render the shadows that form at junctions between different objects.

Multimatte element provides an alpha channel for particular materials allowing greater control over the colour correction in post production.

The Z-depth pass provides a map that can be used to control depth of field.

RGB channel provides the basic textured image.

Final image after all the elements have been combined in post production. Additional details like volumetric lighting effects and lens flares are also added at this stage.

Very Rough Thesis Outline

2011-03-10T03:10:00.000-08:00

“Already stately forms are arising, gigantic scintillating glass domes, serrated and pinnacled -spheres and strips - cones and flowery cylinders - a glistening, a shimmering, a shower of sparks. The inmost depths of craters congeal into a molten foundation, and spiral structures radiate leapfrogging from the centre. The mighty airship is launched forth, seven airplanes part from it and orbit the building site.” Wenzel Hablik, 1920 (Whyte, 1982, p197)

Wenzel Habik’s 1920 vision for a home for artists and scholars led him in search for a “self-forming substance which could approximate to the building materials of the plant and animal world.” His idea was to fuse sand on-location to create glass structures made through earth and fire. The building rises from the sand dunes of Sylt forming a spiral structure. Through the excitement of high technology an architectural form rises out of the desert with the aid of ships, airships, aeroplanes, gas-pumps and complex electrical systems. Hablik’s vision was for an architecture that could grow, and whilst his is a vision that never made it into the realm of scientific reality, recent technological advancements have made the notion of self-forming architecture a very real possibility.

It would be naive to assume that the advent of new technologies will lead to a complete paradigm shift, in the same way it would have been naïve for early modernists to assume that prefabrication would become the de facto mode of architectural production. However, it is possible to begin to speculate on appropriate applications of this technology and how it could be used to engage with specific architectural problems. My thesis will explore how recent advancements in living architecture research might be applied in the conservation of Battersea Power Station and to test the intellectual and technical feasibility of the project against a number of empirical and theoretical research sources.

Arcadian Ruin

2011-03-09T17:32:00.000-08:00

A couple of new visuals from my current film exploring a living architectural landscape.

Ceiling Projection

2011-03-05T05:06:00.000-08:00

A drawing showing the re-organised structure of the turbine hall roof. The construction method used is similar to the way our bones grow. One type of bacteria breaks down the old structure while another type of bacteria forms new structures.

A Couple of Film Stills

2011-03-03T18:00:00.000-08:00

Over the past few days I have started rendering out some of the opening sequences of the Battersea film. The grading/treatment has been quite heavily stylised to form a contrast with the scenes set within the power station itself which will be more vivid and 'alive'

What next?

2011-02-25T08:05:00.000-08:00

I think Tuesday's crit was quite helpful and has given me the confidence to push the production button and hope to start getting the first sequences off the production line in the next couple of weeks. In parallel I will continue to develop some new spaces/ideas. Particularly interested about the connection between my character and Ferdinand Cheval, an eccentric French postman who spent 33 years building Le Palais Idéal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Cheval). In the meantime heres a photo from the crit, a camera movement diagram and a storyboard:

in 2012 the bulldozers arrived...

2011-02-24T19:48:00.000-08:00

I have just started putting together the opening sequence of the film. This will set up the narative for the project. The narator describes how the new city came about, with the accompanying imagery kept quite stylised and illustrative. This sequence is built using 3Ds Max, Rayfire (for breaking the ground) and Particle Flow + Fume FX providing smoke.

Revised Synopsis

2011-02-16T17:07:00.000-08:00

Since its closure in 1986, Battersea Power Station and the surrounding district has been the subject to numerous failed regeneration attempts. The latest developer, disinterested in redeveloping the unprofitable listed structure, decides to utilise new developments in synthetic biology as a cheap means to maintain its obligation to shore up the crumbling building fabric. Meanwhile the developer sets about transforming the surrounding land into the aspirational utopia of New Battersea, built as a steel and glass realisation of the modernist dream.

A scientist is employed to oversee and document the preservation of the power station, although as the work progress he becomes obsessed with the process of growth and decay taking place, using time lapse photography to maintain a detailed record of the gradual transformation of the building. This obsession grows and he begins to experiment, growing and nurturing new spaces and landscapes over time. After many years he has harboured the growth of exotic arbouritums, acoustic follies and enchanted forests as he seeks to realise his Arcadia.

I will write a thesis to support the film which will be made up of the scientist's field notes, experiments and observations.

The Turbine Hall. One of the spaces within the power station I have started developing.

20 years after the towers of New Battersea are built and the sheen has faded, their inflexible design showing signs of wear.

3D Camera Model

2011-02-13T14:01:00.000-08:00

A number of cameras record time-lapse films to document the long term evolution of the space. These cameras will be used as a device within my film to show the architecture changing and developing in 'real-time.'

Battersea Power Station

2011-02-08T11:40:00.000-08:00

An escapist landscape takes shape within the crumbling brick walls of the power station.

New Battersea

2011-02-08T11:35:00.000-08:00

A landscape of identical Miesian glass towers representing the homogeneity of the international style and the production ideals of the machine age. Residents live, work and play in identical towers where the transparency of the glass walls serves to aid the surveilance state. The ghostly silhoutte of battersea power station is ever present in the mirrored reflection of the glass facades.

Site + Programme

2011-01-29T07:08:00.000-08:00

Battersea Power Station and the surrounding area has been subject to numerous regeneration attempts since its closure in 1986. In the meantime the building's structure has deteriorated and is propped up by temporary scaffold structures.

My project envisages a fictional masterplan for the site that sees the land maxed out with glass towers built for profit and offering "luxurious city living." In exchange for the developer's greed the power station (refered to simply as 'Section 106' in the masterplan) is handed over to the local community. Over time the power station develops into an open-source bohemian community where new spaces are appropriated and new social and cultural structures emerge. The symbiotic relationship between wealth and bohemia has long been a part of London's identity since 16th century City traders would leave the city gates at night to seek risque amusement in the slums of the East End.

Over time Section 106 develops into a thriving off-beat community hosting (among others) an organ building workshop, balloon flying society, motorcycle speedway, alpaca farm and pilates classes.

Growing a 3D structure in 20 frames

2011-01-29T06:36:00.000-08:00

Growing a 3D structure - 20 frames

Portfolio: Sept 2010 - Jan 2011

2011-01-25T08:49:00.000-08:00

Continuing experiments

2011-01-22T19:05:00.000-08:00

Currently reading...

2011-01-22T18:49:00.000-08:00

"Five months already. Gradually all the floors are occupied, but without divisions, without plans, without logic. The spaces arent closed, nothing is locked and if a row of chairs or some furniture somewhere marks a space or an intersection or a meeting or working area, nothing prevents one from seeing, or hearing, or taking part; on the contrary, everybody is invited to join in. If there is logic of space it is precicely that, that of life, thus the opposite of the attributive and functionalist logic of architects, that would clearly reflect the division of work within a social order that they are trying to reinforce"

"Money assumes organisation and organisation assumes power, and power assumes the domination over all others by those few who are in the know and hold the power."

"About a dozen shagging areas have been demarcated, about as many as the popular clinics and the anti-psychiatry collectives."

Albert Meister The so-called Utopia of the Centre Beaubourg

Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens 1661 to 1859

2011-01-20T17:11:00.000-08:00

The Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens were an arcadian landscape that combined music, illuminated fountains, fireworks and light refreshments in an Eden-like atmosphere. The gardens were founded on ideas of entertainment, pleasure and delight and unlike much of society of the time, they were a melting pot of people from different classes and creeds. They were particularly famous for balloon ascents:- see 1849 engraving, below:

This model of urban pleasure space could be seen as precursors to Cedric Price's Fun Palace and Albert Meister's fictional utopian model in the previous post.

The so-called Utopia of the Centre Beaubourg by Albert Meister

2011-01-20T15:46:00.000-08:00

Appearing under the pseudonym Gustave Affeulpin in 1976, and coinciding with the inauguration of the Centre Beaubourg in Paris, Albert Meister's fictional text imagines a radical libertarian space submerged beneath the newly erected centerpiece of French Culture. In a world turned upside down, the seventy-six storeys submerged beneath the official centre for culture provide a platform for alternative modes of work and creation. Reporting, in sometimes hysterical, sometimes more poetic language, and with tongue firmly in cheek, the narrator recounts the vacillations of free organisation, in a satire that never takes its eye of the main target: state sponsored culture.

"Meister’s [Beaubourg] is a largely ironic utopia, with a logic in its momentum that often hints at JG Ballard’s threatening anarchy...What do the Beaubourgians do? Everyone expresses themselves. On the 62nd floor a gathering of fifty motorbike fanatics is the anti-centre’s first activity (‘MOTOR = CULTURE’). Diet groups, bizarre cults and the inevitable yoga brotherhoods follow, as well as more conventional cultural activities, even classical ballet. Eros finds its way in quickly – the used sofas gain a new lease of life, shagging areas are demarcated. A diarrhoea of sounds breaks out, apparently unrelated to the anti-centre’s new enriched food. A park is made on the 51st floor. Beaubourgians share all equipment. They don’t buy furniture or books but have them donated (and, as it were, undonated by predatory booksellers and collectors helping themselves). They accept that sweeping or even defecating might be cultural (after all, who are they to decide?). Nurseries are rejected as areas of confinement invented by industrial society ‘to marginalize those that don’t yet produce’. So the kids wander, new parents are found. Beaubourgians oppose all academicism and want a culture of the people, for all that it may be less brilliant than the one above: ‘above they consume culture, here we make it’."http://www.metamute.org/en/In-the-Bowels-of-the-Fun-Palace

Film: The Succession

2011-01-20T08:33:00.000-08:00

3D Propagation Experiments: Growing structures

FILM IDEA
The film will document the metamorphosis of a site through the six stages of succession from dereliction through to eventual re-inhabitation. This metamorphosis will take place over a significant period of time and the production techniques used in the film will reflect this. The theme of meaningful long-term regeneration runs antithesis to the short term thinking of today’s quick-fix urban planning meaning the future in which the film takes place is based on different principles of capital perhaps brought about by a major shift away from globalised banking structures which have proved to be unsustainable. The resulting landscape will be dysfunctional, playful and utopian in scope.

Timescale:
I propose that the film starts in the present day (or very near future) and documents some 30 years of metamorphosis.

Site:
TBC, The buiding metamorphosis will be part of a co-ordinated spectacle from dystopia to arcadia.

Methodology/structure:
Six individual phases of the film split across six phases of succession through six ‘stories/structures.’
Metabolism/growth/construction/communication processes documented at several scales.
Fully 3D environments utilising techniques developed in particle systems and ‘growing’ using 3Ds max and fractals.

THEORY
The recent development of protocell architecture is beginning to demonstrate that a whole new way of conceiving how architecture is procured, designed and constructed is possible. Intelligent construction facilitated by simple ‘living’ systems linked to global networks and capable of complex tasks could reorganise materials locally, forming sentient buildings that can respond to conditions and alter their environment. One of the areas of great potential is that protocell architecture could allow for the intelligent recycling of buildings and materials allowing us to do more with what we already have rather than continuing the unsustainable practice of constructing buildings only to tear them down 15 years later. Protocells themselves are only part of this picture, although their fundamental ability to exhibit complex behaviour could be exploited by using them as enablers and signifiers within the redevelopment process. This new form of architectural practice will inevitably require a more long-term way of thinking about the way our cities develop as ‘natural’ processes require time to develop.

SUCCESSION
I will explore a new approach to re-constructing our built environment based on F.E. Clement’s theory of succession. I propose the following schedule of construction:

1) Nudation: first protocell systems metabolise existing building fabric and remove hazards and contamination
2) Migration: propagules introduced
3) Ecesis: establishment and growth of new structures
4) Competition: a number of different systems compete for the available resources
5) Reaction: increasingly complex forms develop that feed on earlier iterations
6) Stabalisation: climax of development cycle

Experiments in representing a dynamic process

2011-01-19T13:55:00.000-08:00

Exploring what the construction drawing of the future might look like as gradient map of dynamic pathways and chemical contours that instruct metabolic processes.

Surbiton Cinema Club

2011-01-16T08:24:00.000-08:00

Thesis Research: Material Utopias

2011-01-16T07:00:00.000-08:00

New paradigms in architecture are often accompanied by a material polemic that captures the spirit of the movement. Modernism was the product of the machine age typified by industrial process and glass was the material that permeated utopian architectural visions. Material qualities of transparency and openness were representative of social and political ambitions of the time. Similarly, protocells could be seen as the material that best defines an emerging trend towards a more collaborative, open-source, intelligent, complex, systems-led architecture.

Two unrealised films from the 1920s explore the polemic value of glass as a utopian modernist concept. Bruno Taut's Die Galoschen des Glücks was to bring to life the expressionist glass utopias of the Crystal Chain. The architects involved in the Crystal Chain letters hoped that their new visions would create informed, sophisticated spectators equipped with a new vision and intelligence to understand the new world. By comparison, in Eisenstein's Glass House the utopian glass architecture leads to absurdity and destruction as the inhabitant's "primordial instincts prevail over the new architectural space." These two visions shed light on the power and limitations of material polemics and uncover the way in which film (even unrealised) can be used as a test bed for emerging architectural concepts.

“The rock above the treeline is hewn away and smoothed into many-faceted crystalline forms. The snow-domes in the background are covered with an architecture of glass arches. In the foreground, pyramids of crystal shafts. Above the chasm, a bridge-like trellis of glass.”
Bruno Taut, Alpine Architecture

A sketch for Eisenstein's Glass House. Note even the floors are made of glass expressing modern conditions of voyeurism and exhibitionism.

Short Film: Luminescent City

2011-01-15T03:53:00.000-08:00

Luminescent City from Dan Tassell on Vimeo.

First edit

2010-12-17T05:02:00.000-08:00

A rough edit of my new film 'Luminescent City'

Luminescent City from Dan Tassell on Vimeo.

Some snippets

2010-12-13T16:30:00.000-08:00

So...crit tomorrow, excited about seeing everyone's films. While my final edit renders out from Premiere I thought i'd put up a couple of stills:

Weaving space

2010-12-11T09:37:00.000-08:00

The particles weave a finely knit structure around the existing concrete towers forming a new architectural landscape, a scaffold for future growth.

Below are two drawings I have produced exploring the idea of micro-scaffolding.

The start of another scene...

2010-12-08T09:46:00.000-08:00

Particle system heirachy: Constructing the virtual elements:
Final Composition with footage:

Bioluminescent Spores

2010-12-05T07:21:00.001-08:00

Some microscopic spores I have modelled. Together they will form part of the dynamic bioluminescent cloud:

Space weaving

2010-12-04T18:20:00.000-08:00

Continuing my experiments in using light to create/define space. Still in development but starting to get some results:

Grading test

2010-12-04T08:32:00.000-08:00

To make up for simplifying the particles in this scene I have enhanced the look by using motion blurs and grading to try and make it appear less flat.

Work-in-progress

2010-12-04T07:01:00.000-08:00

Some images from the lab scene. The render times were getting a bit out of control so have decided that I will park the animation of some of these earlier scenes until after the crit otherwise im going to end up with unit 15's shortest ever film. Im now going to start constructing the external particle spaces and compositing into the footage of the barbican I took the other night. In the meantime:

After two days of trying I ended up having to really simplify the particles for this scene as I just dont seem to have the processing power to render complex particle animations in such a complex (and reflective) environment.

Barbican Lab Model

2010-11-29T16:04:00.000-08:00

Deep under the Barbican complex spores escape from a lab...

Saturday's Green Screen Session

2010-11-29T05:50:00.001-08:00

Thrilling Wonder Stories 2

2010-11-29T04:43:00.000-08:00

On Friday I attended Thrilling Wonder Stories 2 at the AA. Highlights for me:

Alex Rutterford presented some of his spectacular animations including the mesmerising video for Autechre's Gantz Graf:

Matt Webb from BERG delivered a delightfully ecclectic presentation bringing together 70s space station design, artificial intelligence, ipad painting and using the argos catalogue as a portal into the future. Design that transends genre.
Rachel Armstrong's lively and entertaining presentation of her work on protocell architecture provided plenty of food for thought for my own area of interest this year combining lab-based scientific research with real-world applications.

Protocells from MST on Vimeo.

Barbican Filming

2010-11-26T06:03:00.000-08:00

Got lots of filming done last night with help from Jonno, although due to poor light yesterday I have postponed filming the daytime shots until next week.

You may recognise the bike rig from our Heygate film 'Utopia Revisited'

Schedule of Camera Shots

2010-11-24T18:11:00.000-08:00

I spent today in and around The Barbican taking photographs and planning out which shots I require and how I will achieve them. Tomorrow I will be shooting all the footage I require for the film, except two green screen sequences to be shot on Saturday. I will need to film each shot in both day and night.

Particle Flow

2010-11-22T15:39:00.001-08:00

This is an animation heirachy I set up in particle flow to produce the previous image. Each Branch represents a seperate render pass.

Grading/composition tests

2010-11-22T10:57:00.000-08:00

I produced this image to answer some questions I had about technique and composition and represents the design one of the scenes. (I need to develop a more streamined workflow as this shot alone required 5 render passes)

Below are some of the composite elements:

Location shots

2010-11-22T09:50:00.000-08:00

Here are some test photographs around the Barbican, my chosen location for the film. I have also continued developing the idea of performance and light projection developed in my second film and further refining particle rigging techniques. I plan to use the rigid modernism of the barbican as a test bed for the new paradigm of 'soft' architecture I have been looking at.

The film will be set at dusk/night to allow the expression of space through light.

Barbican Photos:

Space creation using light

2010-11-19T10:51:00.000-08:00

I have been continuing to experiment with how light/projection/protocells can be used to create and define space. Today I generated a series of light-emiting particles that leave a physical trail. I used external forces to direct their path. I would like to develop these tests further to expore the performative and spatial potential of these technologies in the future.

A couple of speculative images

2010-11-19T03:49:00.000-08:00

Im still working out what I want the film to be. The following images are part of this developmental process:

Esisting buildings have been hybridised with a bio-architectural blanket. In the Thames luminescent algae produces energy and improves thames navigation whilst bioluminescent particles turn the sky into a giant VDU.

A limestone form being created underwater by legions of light-sensitive protocells and light-emiting 'nano builders.' Im not particularly excited the underwater aesthetic though.

Quick Test

2010-11-19T03:40:00.000-08:00

This test was investigating how simple particles could be 'trained' to assemble themselves towards a volumetric light source. Note: emphasis here on process rather than graphics.

So far today

2010-11-18T09:21:00.001-08:00

I am getting quite excited by the possibility of using luminescence as a construction technique. For example, bio-luminescent algeas could be grown where new underwater constructions are required, attracting protocells which could then deposit a limestone residue that over-time forms new structure. There is an interesting essay 'Self-repairing Architecture' by Rachel Armstrong that looks at how this technology could be used to save Venice from a watery death.

Rendering By Christian Kerrigan

Today I have been trying to simulate protocell behaviour in 3Ds Max (with limited success) by trying to get particles to move towards a light source. So far the only way I have been able to achieve this is by essentially faking it through starting with the final form and working backwards.

I am beginning to realise that the synopsis I posted last night may have been slightly ambitious, so am thinking much of those issues may end up being pushed back into the second film. For now I am focussing on the potential of bio-luminescence in conjunction with protocells to form space...site location: probably underwater.

Film Ideas

2010-11-17T09:18:00.000-08:00

In the next film I want to expand on the city-as-coral-reef analogy. As pointed out in the tutorial this may be quite a simplistic view, so I will also try and introduce an extra layer of complexity through exploring communicative networks etc.

Scope

1) Where is the film located?

I want to use London as a substrate or scaffold onto which the new landscape is formed. I want to demonstrate the potential of the architecture at a number of scales so hope to include city-wide panoramas as well as micro-scale shots. It is the 'in-between' scale that I need to think more about, and I intend to find a specific location during the course of the week. I am interested in picking a recognizable london landmark/streetscape to reinforce 'the shock of the new'.

2) Synopsis?

It is sometime in the not-too-distant future. The camera starts amongst an apparently alien landscape of wheezing breathing forms, bright lights and receptive artifices. The camera floats around this abstract landscape as if a pollen particle revealing its details as it is sucked into one form and spat out towards another. A sharp cut takes the audience to a bizarre illuminated form apparently floating on a dark river. As the film reaches its climax the abstract landscape is revealed as inhabiting the remnants of a past london, a future iteration of the city's built fabric.

3) Architectural Design

The film will be relatively speculative, exploring how some of today's biological technology could potentially be exploited for spatial means. I will be identifying a number of these technologies and their potential use in the future city.

SKETCH: self-powered organism for carbon capture on bio-synthetic matt

Technologies:

Bioluminescence: In agriculture crops could glow when they require watering. Existing vine and tree species could glow when light levels are low in order to illuminate streets. Glowing algae could provide a source of energy whilst directing boats along the Thames at night.

Protocells: Protocells are light responsive (either attracted or repulsed by light - much like my eels last year!). This feature could allow protective reefs to be formed around vulnerable sections of coastline, or allow the construction of off-shore structures without the need for dredging (ala Dubai Palm) or expensive dykes (ala Holland).

3D Bio-printing: The convergence of mechanical and biological technologies has many architectural possibilities (particularly when combined with the above). Biological machines could contain their own miniature printers to enable them to self propagate and expand throughout the city without human intervention.

Physarum polycephalum as designer

2010-11-16T13:27:00.000-08:00

A team of scientists grew the slime mould Physarum in a wet dish corresponding to Tokyo, with oat flakes marking the locations of other major cities in the Greater Tokyo Area. Physarum avoids bright light, so they used light to simulate mountains, lakes and other prohibitive terrain on the miniature map. The mould soon filled the space with a densely packed web of plasmodia. Eventually, it thinned out its networks to focus on branches that connected the food sources. Even by eye, these final networks bore a striking similarity to the real Tokyo rail system.

"Without a brain, Physarum makes decisions by committee. The plasmodium is a single sac but it behaves like a colony. Every part rhythmically expands and contracts, pushing around the fluid inside. If one part of the plasmodium touches something attractive, like food, it pulses more quickly and widens. If another part meets something repulsive, like light, it pulses more slowly and shrinks. By adding up all of these effects, the plasmodium flows in the best possible direction without a single conscious thought. It is the ultimate in crowdsourcing." Ed Yong
www.scienceblogs.com

Bio-Luminescence

2010-11-16T12:26:00.000-08:00

On the subject of biological technology, BLDGBLOG has reported on the recent scientific development of inducing luminescence from leaves through the use of gold nanoparticles. The notion of bioluminescence is quite exciting both for architectural ornament and the obvious practical applications of lighting our environment or to display information. Perhaps the whole city becomes augmented with an array of interconnected self-illumining organisms serving as computer interface, street lighting and (inevitably) advertising medium.

Image: Gold nanoparticles, courtesy of Georgia Tech

The Hylozoic City

2010-11-16T12:00:00.000-08:00

A draft outline of my area of interest for thesis:

“Next-generation artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, and interactive technology create an environment that is nearly alive.” Phillip Beesley

What?

I am interested in exploring how the existing built environment might be hybridised with emergent technologies so that the city can function as a more intelligent system. Through utilising advancements in nano-technology, bio-technology and advanced manufacturing techniques we are quickly developing the ability to fabricate ever increasing complex forms serving increasingly complex functions. These technologies have the potential to provide energy, clean the air, enhance and inform our environment and offer solutions to our fuel crisis through microbial fuel cells etc. I am particularly interested in the work of architect and sculptor Phillip Beesley, whose installation ‘Endothelium’ begins to demonstrate some of the architectural possibilities of the convergence of mechanical and organic technologies through the use of geotextiles, burrowing legs and power generating organic bladders. Could a similar system be developed that forms a kind of organic veneer to the existing city, or would special structures need to be developed on the city periphery that feed, power and clean the centre?
“Akin to the functions of a living system, embedded machine intelligence allows human interaction to trigger breathing, caressing, and swallowing motions and hybrid metabolic exchanges. These empathic motions ripple out from hives of kinetic valves and pores in peristaltic waves, creating a diffuse pumping that pulls air, moisture and stray organic matter through the filtering Hylozoic membranes. "Living" chemical exchanges are conceived as the first stages of self-renewing functions that might take root within this architecture.” Phillip Beesley

Why?

The convergence of technological and biological technologies will allow fundamentally new forms of architecture to emerge. Current architectural landscapes are still fixed, unresponsive and dumb. With the development of technologies of the near future it is reasonable to believe that architecture can become more responsive and intelligent. There is a great potential to exploit these emergent trends to create an architecture that allows the built environment to become more harmonious with the natural environment as well as solving a number of the issues facing our ever-expanding urban centres.

How?

My thesis will identify a number of emerging intelligent technologies to explore their spatial, architectural and functional potential within an existing built environment. One perspective I wish to explore, Hylozoism, offers the philosophical standpoint that material things possess life, and that life is essentially inseparable from matter. Meanwhile, experiments based around the idea of abiogenesis such as Miller–Urey’s attempt to create organic life from the basic substances that were existent on prebiotic earth have hinted at the possibilities and difficulties of creating new forms of life from inanimate matter. Another potential area of focus is the emerging practice of simulating of organic or living material through using synthetic, programmable systems, such as protocells and slime moulds.

Film is an exciting medium in which to explore the potential of the hylozoic city as it allows us to model speculative environments that would be difficult to fabricate due to the limitations of existing technologies. The film will use the existing city fabric as a starting point and establish a series of intelligent technological systems that will over time hybridise the urban environment such that the city becomes a kind of ‘coral reef’ of intelligent part organic, part mechanical interventions that serve its inhabitants. The Hylozoic City will use the existing built environment as a scaffold from which a new architectural landscape is formed.

Images by Phillip Beesley

Psychotropic Forms

2010-11-16T09:07:00.000-08:00

A short 3D animation exploring the relationship between nature and technology.

Psychotropic Forms from Dan Tassell on Vimeo.

Mid-week update

2010-10-29T04:34:00.000-07:00

Design of the psychotropic house continues. Realising that I may have been a bit over-ambitious in my original scope considering this is more or less my first 3D film project, I have scaled back my intentions. Rather than trying to represent a series of different spaces, I am now focussing on representing a house so consumed by its own technology that it has become a completely useless living space (think Terry Gilliam's Brazil but with less ducting). I started out by camera matching some footage of my own flat but quickly found it was quite limiting for what I wanted to achieve so have decided to design a purely 3D environment. I have also introduced the singing flowers from Prima Belladonna (although I have cast them in a more mechanistic way).

Project Aims:
Learn basic animation
Create 3D environments
Design textures

Internal environment

Flower fully opened with particles

Animation sequence for flower opening

Camera matching

2010-10-28T05:41:00.000-07:00

I was going to use some footage I took of my flat last week and use it as a base from which to build up my 3D environments. However, I quickly realised the limitations of this approach and once I worked out the amount of rotoscoping involved to create the desired effect I ditched it in favour of fully 3D environments. (Good to know for the future though)

Ideas

2010-10-27T05:33:00.000-07:00

Early ideas for this week's film project. Expanding on themes developed in the previous projects, I will use the psychotropic house to explore different ideas related to technological utopia/dystopia.

The Thousand Dreams of Stellavista

2010-10-20T09:02:00.000-07:00

Today I have been trying to collate some of the themes and threads of interest that have informed the first two films of the year.

Both films have touched on notions of collage/abstract space related to technological utopian/dystopian ideas. This has been through trying to represent technological systems with Virtual Edgelands, and through applying adaptive technology to develop space in Surbiton Cinema Club. I am keen to develop these themes further through looking at the rise of invasive technologies. Not sure exactly what scope this will take yet but initial sources of inspiration include Bradbury's Happy House Home, which keeps an eye on it's inhabitants well-being and the psychotropic house of Ballard's Thousand Dreams of Stellavista which morphs and adapts to the user's mood. Even present day technology seems increasingly invasive as seen by the erosion of personal privacy social networking offers, in exchange for the international narcissism afforded to the individual.

Sanjhih - an abandoned holiday park in Taiwan

2010-10-20T07:55:00.000-07:00

Continuing along the thread of technological utopia and dystopia are these images of Sanijhih, an abandoned holiday town half-built by a rubber company in Taiwan.

Photos by 三芝 Sanjhih

Surbiton Cinema Club

2010-10-20T03:03:00.000-07:00

An exploration of form and space. The film presents an idea for a suburban cinema using light responsive materials, particles and expressions linked to the final scene of David Cronenberg's adaptation of Crash. Themes to expand upon include technological utopia and the suburban ideal.

Surbiton Cinema Club from Dan Tassell on Vimeo.

Requiem for Detroit

2010-10-17T08:31:00.000-07:00

I have referred to this documentary a few times since the end of last term. It presents the declining industrial city of detroit and it's abandoned buildings and neighbourhoods, some of which are being returned to agricultural use. One nice technique used to illustrate the decline is through projecting archive footage showing former glories onto abandoned buildings.

Islington at night (14.10.10)

2010-10-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

Old Theatre, Essex Road
City Acadamy, Islington
City Acadamy, Islington

Sublime Landscapes

2010-10-14T11:44:00.000-07:00

I was suffering from a bit of 'architect's block' trying to develop ideas for next week's crit so I returned to the starting point for the year and re-examined Burtynsky's photographs for inspiration. I think I have hit on a thread of interest that could potentially lead somewhere...something that has helped me understand perhaps why I am drawn to certain images and ideas. In particular is the idea of 'the sublime' - a term usually associated with 19th Century landscape painters - but equally applicable to the vast works of Burtinsky and his contemporaries. The difference however is the post-romantic transition from largely natural (or religious) landscapes to man-made landscapes.

Paul Roth recently curated an exhibition of Burtynsky's photographs and makes some interesting points about the relationship between the sublime and fear in these works:

"The subject is not oil.

In these pictures, Edward Burtynsky shows the man-made world—the human ecosystem—that has risen up around the production, use, and dwindling availability of our paramount energy source. The mechanics and industry of extraction and refinement; the development, products, and activities associated with transportation and motor culture; and the wreckage, obsolescence, and human cost that lies at the End of Oil. These photographs are about man, and what he has made of the earth.

A whole new terrain emerges from the discards of the oil economy. Bluffs are formed from piles of densified oil filters, crushed fuel barrels, and the stamped cutaways of electrical system parts. In one diptych, Burtynsky confronts a massive wall of tires, rising up to form a new mountain range. Even this panoramic view can’t contain the astonishment of the scene; dark circles pile past the image edges, the strata of an automotive geology.

Burtynsky’s world of oil is beyond comprehension and outside our control. Industrial sites of extraordinary complexity and public works of remarkable scale severely test our suspension of disbelief. A profusion of detail overwhelms. The safe ground we normally stand on is pulled away. How is this possible, we wonder? Our minds strain at the shock of what we see.

The chief landscape tradition Burtynsky assays is that of the sublime. Edmund Burke, in his treatise A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1756), described the sublime as an evocation of anxiety in the face of nature, an exhilarating but fraught recognition of its illimitable power over humankind. When confronted by the sublime in the natural world—a raging flood, a hurricane, a precipitous cliff—man is overcome by an ecstasy of terror; thus awakening to the limits of his own dominion.

Many artists (most famously Caspar David Friedrich) have tried to represent sublime experience in the natural world. But Burtynsky draws his terrifying sublime from the world of order rather than the forces of the wild. The shock of his images derives from unimaginable scale, from crushing power; but not from God’s Nature. Rather: from the organization of resources for profit, from the plumbing of the earth to extract value."

Short Film: Virtual Edgelands

2010-10-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

Virtual Edgelands from Dan Tassell on Vimeo.

A visual collage of imagery and footage exploring the city periphery and the virtual networks that define the super-modern landscape of the edgelands.

Edgelands drawing

2010-10-13T13:19:00.000-07:00

Distribution patterns

2010-10-10T16:00:00.001-07:00

This is my first drawing, an abstract representation of space. The physical grain of the periphery distribution centre is combined with physical and virtual traffic patterns and networks that define it. In the age of e-commerce the shopfront is a virtual interface whilst the shop itself is faceless. An architecture defined by process, systems and barcodes. Interesting how this quasi virtual landscape starts to resemble a circuit board (both in appearance and function).

Spatial sequence

2010-10-10T15:54:00.001-07:00

These stills are from a short spatial sequence I am working on at the moment. I have been experimenting with ways of representing physical space in virtual environments. Im hoping that straying away from 'real' film at this stage in the year wont be too much of a problem, although some filmed sequences from thursday's shoot will make it into the final edit.

A change in direction

2010-10-10T14:23:00.000-07:00

As I was not entirely happy with the way my first edit turned out I have been experimenting with alternative modes of representation which are starting to show some interesting results. My initial idea has evolved into more abstract forms of representing contemporary consumer processes by blurring the urban grain, systems and transportation nodes of big-shed distribution centres with the invisible network of data paths and nodes that accompany physical items as they are manufactured, stored then delivered to the consumer, blurring between the built world and the virtual world in which goods are purchased.

On location

2010-10-09T16:50:00.000-07:00

On thursday I spent the day on location with Paul Nicholls . It was a fairly long shoot requiring some creative rigging using cardboard and gaffa tape to achieve some of the desired shots. Despite this a rough edit is coming together [slowly].

Film Location

2010-10-06T06:29:00.000-07:00

BEAM Distribution Warehouses: The architectural infrastructure of the internet shopping revolution. Photos taken by myself in December 2009.

DIY Fig-Rig

2010-10-06T04:58:00.000-07:00

The first project of the new year is underway which I will be shooting with a Canon 550D. I have spent this morning building an imitation fig rig to help me achieve some of the shots I am after and to help iron out some of the camera shake.

OIL

2010-08-26T05:54:00.000-07:00

To kick things off - a selection of photographs from Edward Burtynsky's 'Oil' exhibition demonstrating the means of production, use and disposal of oil through fantastically detailed large format photographs. Its no big secret that I am a huge fan of Burtynsky's photographic style which often elevates the viewer to 'God' position, free to bask in the terrifying beauty of the scene.

The man-made apparatus' of the oil field.

The ruins of Detroit's motor industry.

LA's sprawling suburbs.

The ship-breaking beaches of Bangladesh.

"The chief landscape tradition Burtynsky assays is that of the sublime. Edmund Burke, in his treatise A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1756), described the sublime as an evocation of anxiety in the face of nature, an exhilarating but fraught recognition of its illimitable power over humankind. When confronted by the sublime in the natural world—a raging flood, a hurricane, a precipitous cliff—man is overcome by an ecstasy of terror; thus awakening to the limits of his own dominion.

Many artists (most famously Caspar David Friedrich) have tried to represent sublime experience in the natural world. But Burtynsky draws his terrifying sublime from the world of order rather than the forces of the wild. The shock of his images derives from unimaginable scale, from crushing power; but not from God’s Nature. Rather: from the organization of resources for profit, from the plumbing of the earth to extract value." - Paul Roth, Senior Curator, Photography and Media Arts © 2010, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Ideas for next year

2010-08-26T05:28:00.000-07:00

Oil - The material that has done infinitely more to shape the built environment in the last 100 years than any other. Beyond the obvious infrastructure of pipelines and oil rigs, the material has given birth to new typologies, to suburbia, to airports and motorways. It is a material that has fueled the consumer society of late capitalism and has established the global society. It is in every product we purchase. It is in the packaging of our food and in the microprocessors of our computers. The delicate and complex society of contemporary civilization is completely and intrinsically dependent on what is a terminally depleting finite material.

The effects of a post-oil urbanism are being played out in places like Detroit where depopulation is seeing large patches of suburbia being returned to agriculture whilst the great corporate cathedrals of Ford and GM stand like the ruins of the once affluent ancient civilisations of greece and egypt. Meanwhile oil corporations prospect in increasingly difficult locations as the supply and demand lines converge making these dangerous sites profitable. These companies resemble the model of late capitalist corporate behemoths suggested by Frederick Jameson, existing beyond national boundaries and difficult to hold to account when things do go wrong.

I will be exploring the 'last days of decadence' of the oil-driven capitalist society. Initially this will be through an exploratory period of reading and data collection before developing a specific area of interest. Some early thoughts and ideas include:

The legal, social and political position of the oil corporation in relation to international law.
The increasing trend towards claiming sovereignty over international waters (e.g. japan expanding outlying islands with artificial reefs etc) and how this could be exploited.
The architectural implications of dwindling oil supply and the future role of the suburb.
Parallels between the confident oil-fuelled architecture of the Gulf states with the baroque extravagances of the 18thC.
Film and literary references such as Meyrink's 1903 short story about an oil spill that covers all the world's oceans and stops rainfall.

Heygate Feature

2010-08-06T02:11:00.000-07:00

Some of my photos of the Heygate Estate in Elephant & Castle have been published in the commercial property magazine Estates Gazette.

Anatomy of a book

2010-06-17T08:49:00.000-07:00

I just got these printer's proofs back from Mixam and thought they looked quite intersting. They are for our upcoming Unit 15 book which will be available to buy for just £5 including a free DVD featuring films produced by the unit in 2009-2010. The book will be available for purchase at the Bartlett Summer Show which runs from Friday 25th June until Saturday 3rd July.

(All the work featured below is by members of Unit 15 - see links at side of my blog)

Post-2012 Olympic landscape

2010-06-14T12:13:00.000-07:00

Panoramic drawing of a low-impact Water City based amongst the iconic structures of the Lea valley (original drawing 2520x297mm):

Close up of stadium:
Close-up of aquatic's centre:

Stills from my film 'The Reality Obscurer'

2010-06-14T11:34:00.000-07:00

Technical Chronogram

2010-06-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

Pages for Unit 15 book

2010-06-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

Some double page spreads for the Unit 15 Works 2009-2010 book.

Camera shutter scene transition

2010-05-05T19:02:00.000-07:00

This short sequence takes the viewer through the camera and into the altered Lea valley.

Camera shutter animation from Dan Tassell on Vimeo.

Animatic

2010-05-05T19:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a rough animatic showing the structure of the film made up of storyboard sketches, basic animation and test footage.

Rough Animatic from Dan Tassell on Vimeo.

Storyboard

2010-04-27T20:11:00.000-07:00

Lea Navigation - Alternative Legacy

2010-04-27T10:42:00.000-07:00

The film will be exploring the post-olympic condition of the lower Lea Valley. As a reaction to the glossy masterplans produced by the LDA, the film is set within a more anarchistic masterplan that is more closely integrated to the historical development of East London which was founded on chaos, immigration, squatting and individual enterprise and entrepreneurship. The eel farm is part of this vision, which seeks to build on the history of industrial, agricultural and social innovation that has characterized the area (an area which gave us the diode, Reuters news, IPA beer, plastic and even the worlds first monorail system). Ironically the most exciting thing that could be made in the existing masterplan is a sandwich.

Below is a vision for the Lea navigation. Building on the brick industrial character of Hackney Wick, an ad-hoc community of artists, squatters, immigrants (and obviously trendy east London types) has sprung up utilising the detritus left behind by the olympic development.