2024 Art & Architecture Festival

Project Name: Timberlyn

Project Leaders: Arash Adel (Faculty at Princeton University, Director Adel Design Research Laboratory).

Project Team: Ruxin Xie (Research Associate at Princeton University), Daniel Ruan (PHD Student at Princeton University), Zoe King Man Cheung (Student at Princeton University), Zhuofan Ma (Student at Princeton University). Autumn Siedlik (Student at Kean University), Carlos Lantigua (Student at Kean University), Rimervi Mendez Vasquez (Student at Kean University).

Project Description: Timberlyn is inspired by the historic spirit of Woodstock and epitomizes the synergy between human ingenuity and robotic precision. Crafted from the collaboration between humans and robots, this eco-conscious stage offers versatility, accommodating music performances and community events alike. The project utilizes state-of-the-art research in human-robot collaborative construction (HRCC), leveraging sustainable practices to design and fabricate a versatile structure from reclaimed dimensional lumber. In the HRCC process, humans and robots combine their respective advantages – the dexterity and decision-making capabilities of humans and the precision and efficiency of robots – in a shared assembly environment. The assembly workflow is enhanced through real-time perception feedback and adaptive control optimization, enabling waste minimization for bespoke construction and advancing current practices toward sustainable automation.

Project Name: Curtain Call

Project Leaders: Cait McCarthy (Faculty at Auburn University, cofounder Office Office), Jordan Young (Faculty at Auburn University, cofounder Office Office).

Project Team: Lawson Spencer (Faculty at Cornell University), Maddie Brockman (Student at Auburn University), Patrick Fair (Student at Auburn University), Cayden Brown (Student at Auburn University), Ellie Marie Lambert (Student at Auburn University), Micah Betz (Student at Auburn University), Sam Glenn (Student at Auburn University), Emily Herr (Student at Syracuse University), Gretchen Hundertmark (Student at Syracuse University), Miles Smith (Student at Syracuse University), Sanskruti Kakadiya (Student at Syracuse University). AFO (Graduate of Cornell University).

Project Description: Curtain Call investigates the use of semi-automated construction methods to test the formal, spatial, and structural capacity of light wood framing. Semi-automated construction is a hybrid method that emphasizes human-robot collaboration. Rather than robotically automating the process entirely, this method allows human participants at all skill levels to easily engage in the construction process. Ultimately, this project considers alternate approaches that expand conventional modes of labor relative to the design, fabrication, and construction process. More than just a shade structure, the project provides a highly flexible “stage” that allows for a wide range of programming. It can accommodate informal, impromptu activities such as lounging, picnicking, or reading, or organized festival activities such as movie nights, lectures, pop-ups, and performances of all kinds.

Project Name: Rise, Repeat

Project Leaders: Leandro Piazzi (Faculty at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Michael Stradley (Faculty at Georgia Tech), Claire Eileen Moriarty (Faculty at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute).

Project Team: Katie Soule (professional), Owen Lawler (Professional), Preston Kwok (Student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Zonglin Li (Student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Eric Diaz (Student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Emily Zheng (Student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Eben Negro (Student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Camilla Dominguez (Student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Isabel Montes (Student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Marcy Sushynski (Student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Chantal Celis (Student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Gunnar Thuss (Student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Isaiah Mercer (Student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute).

Project Description: The pavilion makes use of three off-the-shelf elements commonplace in everyday American domestic construction: (1) pressure-treated, pine stair stringers, (2) precast concrete deck footings, and (3) stainless-steel, star-drive deck screws. The repetition of uniform, pre-fabricated elements allows for an economical budget and ease/speed of assembly in the field. Stringer elements are joined mechanically with screws, without the need to cut or modify the elements and without using adhesives or coatings. This light-touch construction method allows for a strategy of disassembly and re-use, considering the full life cycle of the pavilion’s materials. After the three-year installation at Bethel Woods, the pavilion can be dismantled and relocated to another site or dismantled and donated to community building organizations in the area to be re-used as gently-used stair stringers in conventional construction. In this way, the project serves as a modest testing ground for a reusable, circular approach to architecture and its materials.

Project Name: MycoShell

Project Leaders: Marta H. Wisniewska (Faculty at Cornell University, Director Regenerative Architecture Lab), Felix Heisel (Faculty at Cornell University, Director Circular Construction Lab).

Project Team: Andrew Boghossian (Faculty at Cornell University, Research Associate Circular Construction Lab). Brenda Bai, Lauren Franco, Natasha Becker, Matthew Glaysher, Marina Rosolem, Jeeya Savani, Idil Derman, Eavan Flanagan, Edozie Onumonu, Jasper Owe (All Students at Cornell University).

Project Description: MycoShell is an installation that exhibits the potential of biological self-growing and adaptive building materials toward a collaborative future of the digital and the analog. MycoShell is constructed of structural mycelium-bound composite panels that have been grown from a local fungal strain of the Ganoderma family on regional agricultural byproducts of corn and hemp. The result is a biobased, carbon-negative, and fully circular building component with structural capacities. MycoShell engages these mycelium-bound panels to form a compression-optimized vault built from individual catenary arches.

Project Name: Spring/Summer 24

Project Leaders: Martin Hitch (Faculty at Arizona State University, director A Special Kind of Lie)

Project Team: Maryssa Wentworth, Joseph Peace, Tayoni Jordan, Alan Almanza, Rebecca Van Orden, Marisol Hernandez Castro, Gabe Vinz (All students at Arizona State University).

Project Description: Spring/Summer 24 intertwines the vibrant essence of Woodstock fashion with cutting-edge architectural practices. It serves as an homage to the freedom, rebellion, and connection to nature emblematic of Woodstock’s iconic style while pioneering the utilization of textiles as a primary architectural element. The proposal celebrates the versatility of textiles, drawing inspiration directly from the diverse array of materials, patterns, and styles that defined the clothing of the Woodstock generation. By embracing textiles as the fundamental building block, our installation transcends conventional architectural norms, mirroring the boundary-defying spirit of Woodstock.

Project Name: Blocks

Project Leaders: Stephanie Sang Delgado (Faculty at Kean University, co-director office ca), Galo Canizares (Faculty at University of Kentucky, co-director office ca), Fabio Castellanos (Faculty at Kean University).

Project Team: Kamila Diaz Calderon, Emily Benavides, Stephan Argant, Jason Morgan, Kacper Wilczynski, Cameron Zotti, Rahul Pasumarti, Emma Sanabria, Vanessa Vallejo (All students at Kean University)

Project Description: Blocks is a modular furniture series designed to create an interactive and playful seating area for the Harvest Festival. Comprised of three components: an L-shaped bench, an L-shaped 6" step, and movable cubes, the project creates an engaging landscape that charges the user with defining its boundaries. The benches and steps are spread across the area to create different interaction zones, while the movable cubes can be stacked, moved, rotated, and shifted for individual needs. The movable cubes are clad on two sides with an alternating system of wood tiles and custom HDPE tiles. The HDPE tie-dye tiles are made from recycled HDPE plastic and cast in custom CNC-milled molds. This modular seating creates an engaging and versatile environment for all Harvest Festival visitors.

Project Name: The Pen

Project Leaders: Kate Johnson (Faculty at Rochester Institute of Technology), Kelly Wilton (Faculty at Rochester Institute of Technology), Isabella Trindade (Faculty at Rochester Institute of Technology), Fabiano Sarra (Faculty at Rochester Institute of Technology).

Project Team: Parker Dubiel, Bennett Sarowitz, Kimberly Tana, Aiden Spicer, Courtney Lougheed, Janelle Teesedale, Luke Genter, Jaydon Thompson, Noah Gill, Julia Kress, Rachel How, Cynthia Wang, Leah Rosen (All student at Rochester Institute of Technology).

Project Description: The Pen is a 36-sided tridecahexagonal cylinder made from recycled materials, emerging from the ground as a multifaceted sculptural form. The structure serves as a submerged seating area, inviting engagement from visitors while visually aligning with a second adjacent 36-sided platform across the field. The distant deck functions as a stage, creating a dynamic interplay between the two elements. Together, these geometric forms redefine the landscape, offering a space for gathering, performance, and reflection, all within an environmentally conscious framework that reuses discarded materials.

Please Force: The Please Force—a reference to the 1969 Woodstock festival—served as organizers, build support, and general keepers of peace at Bethel Woods Art and Architecture Festival 2024: BuildFest.

Chief of Please: John Andrew Davis Hitch (AKA Wavy Davy).

Please Cadets: Cameron Kursel (AKA Baby Blue), Elizabeth Panic (AKA Daisy E), Taelor Parish-Williams (AKA NamasTae), James Grimm (AKA Jim-ga-lo-ba), Helen Bennett (AKA dj kiwi), Jacqueline Nguyen (AKA Hippie dippie Jackie), Varun Gandhi (AKA Guru), Claire Leffler (AKA The Big Deal), Riley Wines (AKA El Vikingo), Jacob Taro Gibbons (AKA Gibby Hendrix), Isaac Mendez (AKA Magic Ike).