SPAN

SPAN, consisting of Dr. Matias del Campo and Dr Sandra Manninger is a team of architects from Vienna, Austria. Their architecture is characterized by a combination of advanced techniques and philosophical inquiry interrogating the ontological and epistemological framework that produces a paradigm concerned with advanced technology as an agent of culture. The work covers the range from text, installations, industrial design to buildings and urban concepts. The diverse oeuvre can be found in public collections as well as in private collections. In 2014, Matias del Campo and Sandra Manninger accepted the call from the University of Michigan to join the faculty of Taubman College. In close cooperation with the Faculties of Robotics and Computer Science at the University of Michigan, SPAN developed new design methods for architecture based on Artificial Intelligence. The Robot Garden for Michigan Robotics is the first built project using Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN’s) as a design method.

SPANs obsessive explorations of contemporary moods (Lavin, S.) are fueled by the opulent repertoire of formations in nature as well as form as a driving force at large. The underlying presence of curvilinear desires reflects back and radiates in conditions informed by a manifold of cultural lineages such as Baroque geometries or the presence of the endless in Frederick Kieslers work.

A trefoil of obsessions drives the design ecology of SPAN. The compulsive desire to speculate about architectural opportunities in the presence of animated matter and their underlying geometry, the desire to ride on the ballistic trajectories generated by Baroque lineages of architectural thinking, and the opportunities present in computer controlled machinery to materialize their designs in a physical realm. All these speculations create a manifold of forms, from conference papers, to industrial design pieces, to architectural projects. The latent abilities dormant in creative strategies driven by algorithmic and generative processes as well as the simulation of environmental pressures generate opulent, intensive spatial conditions reflecting the cravings of SPAN for contemporary atmospheres.