Programming Architecture for Livable Cities & Spaces with Chenthur Raaghav Naagendran | AG 21

Programming Architecture for Livable Cities

In this episode, you will get to hear the story of Architect Chenthur Raaghav Naagendran and how his passion for Research & Design propelled him to do great things in a short span of time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLfUM4YEs_A

About Chenthur Raaghav Naagendran

A Coimbatore based Architect who completed his Bachelor of Architecture from School of Architecture & Planning, Anna University Chennai, where his passion for Aural Architecture was built through his thesis. He then went on to do Masters in Advanced Architecture from the Institute of Advanced Architecture Catalonia in Barcelona, where he explored the ideas of material, research, and design computation that harmoniously culminated in a thesis about Graphene and its Architectural Application in flexible skin for Architecture and its variants with Best Responsive Architecture Award 2015-2016.

During Under-graduation, his inquisitiveness in exploring radical design ideas and articulating architectural spaces, encouraged him to participate on various national level competitions and had won him the National Award 1st prize for best innovative use of steel in Architecture.

Apart from his academic excellence, he also gained practical training from Architectural offices in Bangalore, Chennai, and Barcelona. Furthermore, he learned nuances of Research and Digital Fabrication when he closely worked with Indian Institute of Technology Professor for his Under Graduate Thesis – On Aural Architecture and AA Visiting School Workshop with Shajay Bhooshan from Zaha Hadid Architects to fabricate challenging Steel Shell Structures with curve folding as the basic design concept and study on active forces on the structure.

Podcast Shownotes

• 2:00 How Raaghav got into Architecture?
• 5:40 Studying in School of Architecture & Planning (SAP) Anna University, Chennai.
• 6:40 Urban Noise – The Blog & the Facebook Page. Connecting Computational Methods & how MIT helped him understand his thesis is better.

“It’s so alarming. There are around 2 Billion deaths according to WHO because of Urban Noise. As Urban Designers & Architects, we have the responsibility to address these issues.”

• 9:00 Importance of Reaching Out.
• 10:00 Soundscape Experience Installation during Thesis.

“It’s not about just computational techniques. It’s not about designing a software. It’s about the experience at the end of the day.”

“My thesis was born out of Data.”

• 13:30 “When you do something away from the conventional, you have to do twice the amount of data collection and twice the amount of work.”
• 15:00 Getting into IAAC. Getting inspired by Antonio Gaudi in Barcelona.
• 16:00 Internet of Things (IOT) in Architecture.
• 19:00 3D Printing Hubs in Barcelona.
• 20:30 Summer Breaks at Facebook, Google & Apple Headquarters.
• 22:00 Sci-Arc Exchange Program & meetings with Ben Van Berkel.
• 24:00 Robotic Fabrication in Architecture / Kuka Robotics.
• 27:00 Human Collaborative Robots.
• 28:50 Architects getting into AI & Machine Learning (Stuttgart).
• 29:50 Parametric Real-Time.

“We can form a dialogue between Building Materials, Cities & Technology.”

“We have smartphones which are dynamic. But our Cities & Buildings are just static.”

• 32:00 Importance of the Graphene Material / Greg Lynn.
• 36:00 Digital Matter & Research at IAAC. Working with Coffee Extracts for Building Skins.
• 37:30 Studio to Real-World.
• 42:00 Bringing back what we learn from Masters to India.
• 43:00 Perks of doing Masters in Architecture / Publishing Research Papers in Acadia.
• 46:00 Future Plans / the TEDx Talk / Providing Affordable Housing for the Homeless / Virtual Reality Lab.

“My philosophy is that there is a never a point where you finish learning.”

• 49:00 Research Workshops – How 1st years & 2nd years can learn parametric design.
• 51:30 Time Management.
• 54:00 Helping students with the Archgyan Podcast.

Research Topics

• Urban Noise – Sound & Architecture Blog
• Daniel Piker’s Plugins & Codes
• Mark Burry – Sagrada Familia Architect
• Pedestrian Neighbourhood in Barcelona
• FAB Lab – Smart Citizen Kits
• 3D Printers from Ultimaker
• 2-Axis & 3-Axis Digital Fabrication Tools
• 6-Axis Robotic Digital Fabrication
• Teaching a Robot how to Pick the Correct Object – MIT Research
• Responsive Architecture with Graphene Carbon Fiber used on Boats & Sails – Greg Lynn
• Furniture that senses Body temperature & Adapts
• Robotic Fabrication: 1) Diverge Pavilion 2) Clay Phriends 3) Thesis Project
• Interface Development: Virtual Reality App & User Interaction
• 3D Printing Uncooked Clay Wall

Connect with Chenthur Raaghav Naagendran

Chenthur Raaghav Naagendran Linkedin Facebook Website Instagram

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