Amit Nambiar

If you contribute to a free / open source project in need of design contributions, come and pitch it to the designers in the room.

In this session, FOSS projects as given time to present and ask for contributions to the designers in the room. Each project is given 3 minutes to present. In those 3 minutes, they should briefly introduce the project, explain what design help they need, and provide contact details so designers can reach them after FOSDEM.

The Open Source Design collective will use the information to submit a "job" for each project to the Open Source Design "jobs board" (https://opensourcedesign.net/jobs/), so that the request for design help reaches not just the designers in the room, but also the wider design community.

This talk discusses some theories from architectural discourse which attempt to solve problems which required critical and creative thinking. It is interesting to see the overflows and overlaps of theories between design(architecture) and construction(engineering) to solving similar underlying problems. The lengthy history of the field throws up some interesting references and may expose some ideas which might be applicable in new age design+engineering problems.

An architect as a professional in today's day and age represents someone involved in the construction industry tasked with a responsibility for conceptualizing physical spaces and bringing them into reality. Etymologically the word finds its origins in ancient Greek with the word being comprised of 'arkhi' and 'tekton' which loosely translate to 'master' and 'builder' correspondingly.

Historically architectural design and construction was carried out by artisans such as stone masons and carpenters, who were coordinated by a "master builder". There was no clear distinction between architect and engineer. This has created a body of theoretical knowledge which spans across different industry.

This created a field of study spanning the spectrum of creative thinking and logical thinking. The talk sheds light on some interesting examples of how 'architects' have dealt with problems in such a space.

A brief introduction to the Open Source Design collective.

Every year we take some time to introduce the Open Source Design collective, what we do, where to find us and how to get involved.

An experimental project which uses web technologies to help design, display and make furniture. O-LAP is an open-source community run platform for designers to experiment with parametric furniture design. Designers create parametric furniture designs as plugins into the framework. Registered designs gets displayed in the online gallery. Users can view the designs from the gallery and customize the design. Framework lets users extract CAD drawings which can be used to fabricate the design using a CNC machine. The project is built as an open access network of git repositories delivering updated Javascript for the clients.

O-LAP is a community of makers who like to make furniture from code. Designers write code which can create designs for furniture pieces. They make the designs like a plugin into a web app. The app can then extract drawings from the designs which can be used to fabricate the design using a computer controlled machine (similar to 3D printing). Designers can get creative in different ways when they start writing code to create furniture designs. For example they can make the design for a chair which changes for people with different heights, or furniture which learns from your genetic data to customise it for you. We also adapt a new way of production so that such designs can be manufactured by anyone with a CNC machine. It distributes the task of production to independent makers, so the designs are fabricated closest to the place where they are needed, reducing transport. The group has grown with people across the globe interested. It would be great to showcase it to the broader OS developer community.

An experimental project which uses web technologies to help design, display and make furniture. O-LAP is an open-source community run platform for designers to experiment with parametric furniture design. Designers create parametric furniture designs as plugins into the framework. Registered designs gets displayed in the online gallery. Users can view the designs from the gallery and customize the design. Framework lets users extract CAD drawings which can be used to fabricate the design using a CNC machine. The project is built as an open access network of git repositories delivering updated Javascript for the clients.

O-LAP is a community of makers who like to make furniture from code. Designers write code which can create designs for furniture pieces. They make the designs like a plugin into a web app. The app can then extract drawings from the designs which can be used to fabricate the design using a computer controlled machine (similar to 3D printing). Designers can get creative in different ways when they start writing code to create furniture designs. For example they can make the design for a chair which changes for people with different heights, or furniture which learns from your genetic data to customise it for you. We also adapt a new way of production so that such designs can be manufactured by anyone with a CNC machine. It distributes the task of production to independent makers, so the designs are fabricated closest to the place where they are needed, reducing transport. The group has grown with people across the globe interested. It would be great to showcase it to the broader OS developer community.