Studio GIB – Open Source Architecture as a business model
JJ_Nelson shares an initiative in open sourcing the architectural design process in his studio, Studio GIB. He is working on designing a table and open air workshop, with an open source design under a CC-BY 4.0 licence.
Model replicating one of BIG’s smallest projects – studying minimal shelters for an Open Source cabin concept
Emboldened by professor Carlo Ratti’s essay: “Open Source Architecture”, I started working on an idea which could have helped me into shaping a different way we could work, by rejuvenating our aging business model and at the same time opening our work to both the general public and fellow designers.
What I’m trying to do is to apply the OS idea to any design process, handling projects the way you would do in software development. Treating design as if it was software, with briefs, goals, intermediate releases and fixes, would help fellow designers who are facing the same problems all around the world to join in on the process, or even just take the data you’ve built and start their own design from whichever point in the job, saving time and resources.
How many people in the world are trying to solve the same problem at the same time? This way, they’d be free to employ their creative energies toward new tasks, adding to the general progress and convergence of the field.
There are multiple implications to an Open Source Architectural model: you lose the unique property off your designs and decide to share all your hard earned trade secrets “en plain air”, handing out both the complete design and the process for everyone to see and use (costs, design decisions, meeting outcomes, fails and setbacks, etc..).
Mill_Table, a CNC plywood table, is the first project being developed by the office.
The goal is to offer free, transparent knowledge in order to gain public support in the form of networks and new ideas. Hence, I’d like to take advantage of today’s ease of sharing and communication (from discord channels to instagram or twitch), in order to gather a network and form a community. Moreover, online mecenatism would enable us to self-start our designs/problems, make our own briefs and develop them as if was an independent research lab, through the help of online communities rallying behind one’s flag.
I’m testing these ideas through a series of self-started projects, published on Github; Feel free to join or download the projects and let’s discuss them together!
- Visit GIB’s Github repository
- Visit GIB on IG
- Reach out on the Discord server, or by mail
- See the latest developments on the OSArch Community thread
