AV is one of five architecture firms worldwide invited to participate in Calculation and Substance, an exhibition associated with the 2009 ACADIA conference, hosted by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture and Designed Objects (AIADO).ACADIA is the Association for Computer Aided Design In Architecture, a group dedicated to digital computation and parametric design in the field of architecture. Each of the chosen participants will produce a piece for exhibition in SAIC’s Sullivan Gallery located in Luis Sullivan’s most influential building. Opening in late September, the exhibit will showcase the cutting edge technologies of parametric and algorithmic design.AV’s proposal draws inspiration from Gaileo’s invention of the telescope 400 years ago and its impact on our understanding of the universe.This project explores how design innovation today may shape our perception of the world in the future.AV is working with students from SAIC and other collaborators to design and fabricate the project. 

Image: Geocentric representation of the solar system, according to the Ptolemaic system, as it was conceived before Galileo’s telescope (source: Scenographia systematis mvndani Ptolemaici, Amsterdam, 1660)