Larry Sass

Last updated
Lawrence Sass
LSASS-5.jpg
Sass 2020
Born
Lawrence Sass

(1964-03-23) 23 March 1964 (age 60)
OccupationProfessor
Known forDigitally Fabricated House for New Orleans (2008)
Academic background
Alma mater Pratt Institute,BA
MIT, SMArchS & PhD
Doctoral advisor William J. Mitchell

Lawrence (Larry) Sass is an architectural designer, researcher, and educator of architecture. He is a Professor of Architecture and Director of the Computation Group in the Department of Architecture at MIT. Sass leads the Design Fabrication Group where his research is focused on digital design and fabrication processes of housing.

Contents

Early life and education

In a 2011 article for the MIT magazine Spectrum, Sass recalled being introduced to architecture through reading books while visiting his uncle in Harlem, NYC. [1] His interest in architecture continued, and he received a B.Arch from Pratt Institute in 1990. He then completed his post-professional SMArchS degree (in 1994) and earned a Ph.D. (in 2000) from MIT. [2] His dissertation [3] was completed under William J. Mitchell, and did computational reconstructions of Andrea Palladio's designs for two unbuilt villas. [4]

Projects

In 2008, Sass's project "Digitally Fabricated House for New Orleans" [5] was included in a MoMA exhibit titled "Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling." [6] [7]

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The project proposed a world in which digital fabrication would allow people to order house parts online that would be delivered and assembled on site. [4] Sass imagined this project as a way to broaden access to design and architecture, stating "Most technology is designed for the top 10 percent of the Western world... I want to develop methods for the other 90 percent to participate in the design process so that buildings will reflect their interests... To me, this story is about empowering people to build their own neighborhoods. I want people to design and participate in the production of their own homes, so they can have what they want." [1] The design's use of plywood received some criticism [8] and the topography of the site demanded last-minute interventions. [9]

Sass further developed this project and completed the "Digital Fabrication of Affordable Housing for Somerville, MA" in 2018. This project consisted of a 1/16th scale model made of laser cut 3D printed interlocking components and was conceived as a prototype for computer aided affordable construction. [10]

In Larry Sass's vision of the future, new buildings will rise faster, use fewer resources, cost less, and be more delightful to the eye than ever before. This transformation will be made possible through digital fabrication, a new delivery system for buildings that will enable architects to send computer-designed plans directly to manufacturing--perhaps soon to be 3-D printed. — Kathryn M. O'Neill, "3-D Printed Buildings for A Developing World", MIT Spectrum (Winter 2014) [11]

Personal life

Sass is married to American psychologist Theresa Sass, PhD, who is in private practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They have three children and currently serve as Head of MacGregor House at MIT. [12]

Publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer-aided design</span> Constructing a product by means of computer

Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve communications through documentation, and to create a database for manufacturing. Designs made through CAD software help protect products and inventions when used in patent applications. CAD output is often in the form of electronic files for print, machining, or other manufacturing operations. The terms computer-aided drafting (CAD) and computer-aided design and drafting (CADD) are also used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prototype</span> Early sample or model built to test a concept or process

A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming. A prototype is generally used to evaluate a new design to enhance precision by system analysts and users. Prototyping serves to provide specifications for a real, working system rather than a theoretical one. Physical prototyping has a long history, and paper prototyping and virtual prototyping now extensively complement it. In some design workflow models, creating a prototype is the step between the formalization and the evaluation of an idea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrea Palladio</span> 16th-century Italian Renaissance architect of the Republic of Venice

Andrea Palladio was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of the most influential individuals in the history of architecture. While he designed churches and palaces, he was best known for country houses and villas. His teachings, summarized in the architectural treatise, The Four Books of Architecture, gained him wide recognition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palladian architecture</span> Style of architecture derived from the Venetian Andrea Palladio

Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and the principles of formal classical architecture from ancient Greek and Roman traditions. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Palladio's interpretation of this classical architecture developed into the style known as Palladianism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fab lab</span> Small-scale workshop for digital fabrication

A fab lab is a small-scale workshop offering (personal) digital fabrication.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3D printing</span> Additive process used to make a three-dimensional object

3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer control, with the material being added together, typically layer by layer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blobitecture</span> Organic architectural style

Blobitecture, blobism and blobismus are terms for a movement in architecture in which buildings have an organic, amoeba-shaped building form. Though the term blob architecture was already in vogue in the mid-1990s, the word blobitecture first appeared in print in 2002, in William Safire's "On Language" column in the New York Times Magazine. Though intended in the Safire article to have a derogatory meaning, the word stuck and is often used to describe buildings with curved and rounded shapes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer-aided architectural design</span>

Computer-aided architectural design (CAAD) software programs are the repository of accurate and comprehensive records of buildings and are used by architects and architectural companies for architectural design and architectural engineering. As the latter often involve floor plan designs CAAD software greatly simplifies this task.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning</span> Urban planning school of the University of Michigan

The A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, also known as Taubman College, is the school of architecture and urban planning and one of the nineteen schools of the University of Michigan located in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rapid prototyping</span> Group of techniques to quickly construct physical objects

Rapid prototyping is a group of techniques used to quickly fabricate a scale model of a physical part or assembly using three-dimensional computer aided design (CAD) data. Construction of the part or assembly is usually done using 3D printing or "additive layer manufacturing" technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Cornaro</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site in Veneto, Italy

Villa Cornaro is a patrician villa in Piombino Dese, about 30 km northwest of Venice, Italy. It was designed by the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio in 1552 and is illustrated and described by him in Book Two of his 1570 masterwork, I quattro libri dell'architettura .Villa Cornaro is an example of one of Palladio's designs whose influence can be seen in later architecture. In efforts on preservation, Villa Cornaro has not always remained in the possession of the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MIT School of Architecture and Planning</span> Architecture school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The MIT School of Architecture and Planning is one of the five schools of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1865 by William Robert Ware, the school offered the first architecture curriculum in the United States and was the first architecture program established within a university. MIT's Department of Architecture has consistently ranked among the top architecture/built environment schools in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architectural geometry</span> Area of research

Architectural geometry is an area of research which combines applied geometry and architecture, which looks at the design, analysis and manufacture processes. It lies at the core of architectural design and strongly challenges contemporary practice, the so-called architectural practice of the digital age.

Digital materialization (DM) can loosely be defined as two-way direct communication or conversion between matter and information that enables people to exactly describe, monitor, manipulate and create any arbitrary real object. DM is a general paradigm alongside a specified framework that is suitable for computer processing and includes: holistic, coherent, volumetric modeling systems; symbolic languages that are able to handle infinite degrees of freedom and detail in a compact format; and the direct interaction and/or fabrication of any object at any spatial resolution without the need for “lossy” or intermediate formats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neri Oxman</span> Israeli-American designer and academic (born 1976)

Neri Oxman is an Israeli-American designer and former professor known for art that combines design, biology, computing, and materials engineering. She coined the phrase "material ecology" to define her work.

Construction 3D Printing (c3Dp) or 3D construction Printing (3DCP) refers to various technologies that use 3D printing as a core method to fabricate buildings or construction components. Alternative terms for this process include "additive construction." "3D Concrete" refers to concrete extrusion technologies whereas Autonomous Robotic Construction System (ARCS), large-scale additive manufacturing (LSAM), and freeform construction (FC) refer to other sub-groups.

Protolabs is a company that provides rapid manufacturing of low-volume 3D printed, CNC-machined, sheet metal, and injection-molded custom parts for prototyping and short-run production. Markets like medical devices, electronics, appliances, automotive and consumer products use these parts. Protolabs' headquarters and manufacturing facilities are located in Maple Plain, Minnesota. The company also has manufacturing facilities in England, Germany, and Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Applications of 3D printing</span>

In recent years, 3D printing has developed significantly and can now perform crucial roles in many applications, with the most common applications being manufacturing, medicine, architecture, custom art and design, and can vary from fully functional to purely aesthetic applications.

Jeremy Edmiston (1964) is an Australian American architect, founder and principal of System Architects and former director of the Masters of Architecture program at the Anne and Bernard Spitzer School of Architecture at City College, New York. He is considered a pioneer in digital prefabricated design and construction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter H. Christensen</span> American art historian

Peter H. Christensen is the Arthur Satz Professor of the Humanities at and Associate Dean of the University of Rochester College of Arts Sciences and Engineering. He has held a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Berlin Prize and is a former member of the Institute for Advanced Study. He is the Ani and Mark Gabrellian Director of the Humanities Center at the University of Rochester. He has been visiting faculty at Cornell University and serves on the board of the Society of Architectural Historians. He is the editor for the "Humanities in the World" series at the University of Rochester Press.

References

  1. 1 2 "Custom-Made House". MIT Spectrum. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
  2. "Lawrence Sass | MIT Architecture". architecture.mit.edu. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  3. Sass, Lawrence. "Reconstructing Palladio's Villas: An Analysis of Palladio's Villa Design and Construction Process." Ph.D. diss. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000. (From ProQuest Dissertations, 21 Aug 2020.)
  4. 1 2 Sánchez-del-Valle, Carmina. "Digital Craft, Design and the Work of Lawrence Sass". International Review of African American Art. 23 (3): 37–40 via Ebsco Host.
  5. "Digitally Fabricated House for New Orleans | Digital Design Fabrication Group".
  6. Campbell, Scott (July 3, 2008). "The House that Larry Built". MIT News. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  7. The Museum of Modern Art (July 31, 2008). "Home Delivery Walkthrough: Digitally Fabricated Housing for New Orleans". YouTube. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  8. Hood, Sallie; Sakal, Ron (Summer 2009). "Home Delivery, Museum of Modern Art (Spring 2008)". Design Issues. 25 (3): 102–107. doi:10.1162/desi.2009.25.3.102. ISSN   0747-9360. JSTOR   20627820. S2CID   57562799.
  9. Gonchar, Joann (September 2009). "Some Assembly Required: Five Firms Explore the Potential of Prefabrication with Digital Tools, a Diversity of Materials, and Varying Degrees of On-site Labor". Architectural Digest. 196 (9): 139–146.
  10. "Affordable Housing | Digital Design Fabrication Group". ddf.mit.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
  11. Bloomquist, Scott. "3-D Printed Buildings for A Developing World". MIT Spectrum. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  12. "Three Undergraduate Communities to Welcome New Housemasters This Fall". MIT Energy Initiative. July 10, 2015. Retrieved 2020-08-20.