SPACES LANDSCAPES PROTOTYPES SIMULATION GEOMETRY ENVIRONMENTS ECOLOGIES
2018 March

Dana speaks at the CMUThink Pittsburgh event themed around Greening the Urban Environment. This Alumni Association University event introduces CMU’s innovative research and technology that could lead to healthier cities.

2018 March

Epiphyte Lab has been recognized as the Next Progressive design practice by ARCHITECT, The Journal of American Institute of Architects. Learn more about Epiphyte Lab’s design work in the interview with Dana.

2018 March

Dana presents Senyai: Vaulted Acoustics project at the Building Behaviors panel, 106th Annual Meeting ACSA, Denver, CO.

BIO-CLIMATIC NICHE:
Emergent Ecologies of Post-Soviet Housing Block

| Bratislava, Slovakia | Spring 2012 |

| Design-Research Project | Supported by Arnold W. Brunner Grant, AIA NY Chapter |

BIO-CLIMATIC NICHE enables a design focused approach to environmental analysis as both a first mode of inquiry and as input for a design method for building adaptive parametric models linked to specific series of data sets. This way of working provide an alternative analytical model for more effective form finding and performative testing. Rather than designing a single solution to the problem we designed a process, which suggests trending for loose fit distribution of specific energy harvesting systems, while negotiating between individual and collective ownership of the housing and landscapes. Potential forms and system configurations can be explored using a data driven design protocol that uses a dynamic four dimensional digital data map to determine which component distributions are appropriate for particular zones of the district. Aggregated in Grasshopper and Rhinoceros, the data map was constructed using site-collected information, public land use databases, photogrammetry, and simulation tools, including radiation mapping and computational fluid dynamics wind speed data.

ACADIA 2012 Project Proceedings

| PIs & DESIGN PRINCIPALS: Dana Cupkova + Kevin Pratt | DESIGN TEAM: Andrew Heumann, Sebastian Hernandez |