Z-A is dedicated to exposing the unexpected in the mundane.
Z-A explores extreme material implications of the most ordinary constraints. Structural efficiency, budget limitations or camouflaged identity generate the selection of adequate material or material quality in response.
Z-A uses these “found” materials in conjunction with one mode of operation to create a specific material organization.
From Z to A; choosing the material at the beginning reverses the typical design process where materials are applied onto a concept. This approach enables the flexible evolution of the design where instead of having a fixed idea, the design is, in effect, the reaction of the material organization to added layers of information.
Z-A believes that a sustainable project is first and foremost a project that can live longer. A flexible, design approach equips the project with the ability to adapt and respond to changing needs, uses and identities over time.
Statement on Digital Primitive
Digital: Z-A is based on digital thinking, where the digital is ingrained in every aspect of the work; from aesthetic sensibility to structural morphology.
Primitive: Z-A starts with the mundane and the ordinary in an attempt to generate a result that
while complex in information is primitive in its effect.
Digital: Z-A employs digital thinking to generate an array of digital organization in response to different conditions: fields, intensities, loops, bands etc.
Primitive: Z-A wants its projects to have the impact of the Grand Canyon.
Digital: Z-A uses repetition as the connecting thread between the different organization schemes.
Primitive: Z-A uses repetition, which is basically the same object over and over and over…
Digital: Z-A uses repetitive systems, which have an inherent efficiency in their production of similar elements while capable of absorbing mutations and deviations.
Primitive: Z-A uses repetition of the same visual effect a number of times in the same composition to produce the dominance of one visual idea in a planned pattern, or a rhythmic movement.
Digital: Z-A sketches in 3D software
Primitive: Z-A is constantly searching for “new” old materials to experiment with
Digital: Z-A generates custom patterns, custom colors and custom forms.
Primitive: Z-A produces custom patterns, custom colors and custom forms with primitive materials.
The transformation of a basic, pedestrian material is heightened by the sophisticated design
process.
Digital: Z-A believes that digital tools, by putting more control in the hands of the designer, might help reverse the eroded roll of the architect.
Primitive: Z-A believes that primitive materials can help shift the focus to the roll of the architect as the one who commands these materials and is responsible for their transformation into sophisticated spaces.
Primitive: Primitive is a subjective label used to imply that one thing is less “sophisticated” or less “advanced” than some other things. (Wikipedia)
Digital: The word digital is most commonly used in the context of a logical 0(pulse present and/or high) or a logical 1 (pulse absent and/or low). (Wikipedia)
>> Digital=Primitive? :-)
Project 1: A BUILDING FOR BOOKS
Location: PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
Date: SEPTEMBER 2006
Client: CITY OF PRAGUE
Digital tools: RHINO + SCRIPTING
Credits:
Design/ fabrication / Implementation
Z-A STUDIO and STUDIO ST
GUY ZUCKER, ESTHER SPERBER
Description
Reexamining the evolution of the Library typology stood at the basis of the design process. The accelerated growth of information merged with the iconic role of the central library, generated the design scheme. In this scheme the mass of books regains its spatial presence through the recon¬figuring of its organization and by em¬bedding constant growth and mutation capabilities into the design.
Turning the book mass into building structure was the main vehicle for obtaining the strong physical presence of the books. This operation generated three different structural types in re¬sponse to the three occupants of the library; books, public and staff.
Using the bookshelf spacing as the module, the structure is based on a dense grid of columns; 1m x 2.25m apart, which supports both the book¬shelves and the building as a whole.
Project 2 : OFF THE WALL
Location: NEW YORK CITY
Date: MARCH, 2008
Client: THE JEWISH MUSEUM
Digital tools: RHINO + LASER CUTTER
Credits:
Design/ fabrication / Implementation
Z-A STUDIO and STUDIO ST
GUY ZUCKER, ESTHER SPERBER
Description
Similar to the way the art reinterprets the content of the museum, its art collection, the design reinterprets the context of the museum, its art handling and shipping. The cardboard from the back rooms of the museum is brought to the front of the house and into the space of the gallery, giving new meaning to the internal mechanisms of the museum. Exhibition design is possibly one of the more extreme cases of short lived architecture. As such it provides an opportunity for integrating the life expectancy of the project as a driving force for the design. The before and afterlife of the project become crucial participants in the design process where the use of ephemeral materials (the cardboard) merely shift the matrix of the routine operations of the museum.
Project 3: CARDBOARD FIGURES
Location: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
Date: NOVEMBER 2008
Client: AIDA
Digital tools: RHINO + LASER CUTTER
Credits:Design/ fabrication / Implementation
Z-A STUDIO / GUY ZUCKER
GUY ZUCKER, ADAM HOSTETLER
Description
Cardboard - without substance; “cardboard caricatures of historical figures”.
We looked at stalagmites, and the way retain their simple beauty at the individual level, while at the same time they create an intricate field condition at the scale of the cave. As such, we reated a single language of paper tubes throughout the space. The repetition of vertical tubes at different heights transformed the typical pedestal into an over grown display topography. The design and locations of the different height tubes was generated parametrically, which enabled the precise tweaking and fast updating of the design to fit the artists’ ever-changing.
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