Not Just Another Brick in the W-A-L-L.
Robotic Fabrication. Clay Tectonics
Teaching Assistant: Mehdi FarakBakhsh.
Students: Will Van Dusen, Kate Gesing, Daniel Enyon, Finn Rattana, Michael Lewis and Jonathan Davis.
Archaic versions of robots have revolutionized architecture
since the industrial age. Although the seeds were planted decades ago, our
modern conception of robots are quite new in architecture and enable creative
minds not only to connect digital design data directly to the fabrication of
large, complex, three-dimensional elements, but also lead to significant time
and cost efficiency in architectural production. (Daas, Mahesh; Wit, 2018)
(Helm, Volker, 2014)
As Daas et al eloquently point out, “Speaking of robotics in
architecture might initially sound like an oxymoron. It is not easy to
reconcile agile and dynamic robotic technologies with a static built
environment”( 2018) Architecture could either be considered as a huge robot by
itself, or an architect could use robots to shape the space. This course
strives to make industrial robots accessible to creative architecture students.
As an initial introduction to robots, students will develop a motion capture project
using a light source to become familiar with the abilities and limitations of
controlling an industrial robotic arm.
Recent advances in material science along with design
computation and digital fabrication workflows have resulted in a renaissance for
architectural ceramics. Nathan King describes that as “a material system that
has long served merely as a practical surface treatment for buildings, but that
is now coming into its own as a multi-functional, intensely aesthetic boundary
layer for buildings, landscapes, and cities.” (Bechthold, Martin; Kane,
Anthony; King, 2015)
A wall is a primary element to define a space. However,
there is a wide variety of definitions and notions of walls. Physical-Visual,
Transparent-Opaque, Structural-Nonstructural, to name a few, are different
types of walls. Thus, a wall provides a useful object of study for an
introduction to robotics in architecture.
Additive manufacturing process, also known as direct digital
manufacturing, rapid prototyping, layer manufacturing, and 3D printing, is the
focus of the second and main project of the course, and is defined as the
“process of joining materials to make objects from three-dimensional (3D) model
data, usually layer upon layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodologies”.(Guo
& Leu, 2013) Students are expected to design and build a fragment of a wall
in 1:1 scale. The additive manufacturing process is the focus of the course.
However, a wide range of digital fabrication techniques, like CNC, laser cut,
water jet, may also be employed.
There are three scales in a paste printing project. The
Micro scale is related to the material and its components, while the Mezzo
scale is about the interaction of layers in an additive process, and the Macro
scale is associated with the form-finding process. Students will deal with the
last two scales, Mezzo and Macro, to devise a solution for a fragmented WALL
project.
This project was be not only designed and planned, but
also, built predominantly using digital processes. With this pilot project,
students and professors want to analyze how digital technologies can make
construction more sustainable and efficient, and increase the design potential.
The design and planning of the individual components will be digitally coordinated,
and some will be manufactured directly on the site according to this data.
This project could include a variety of new construction
technologies that could make it an emblematic project for digital construction,
unlike the construction projects that use a single digital construction
technology, such as 3D printed homes, this concept brings together a diverse
range of digital construction technologies. This allows us to use the
advantages of each individual method, as well as its synergies, and express
them architecturally.
This research will focus on additive digital manufacturing
techniques that are used to build non-standardized architectural components.
Simply put, additive manufacturing can be described as a three-dimensional
printing process.
By placing the material accurately, functional and aesthetic
qualities are intertwined in a structure. According to the MIT Center for Bits
and Atoms leader, Neil Gershenfeld, this is the new digital revolution,
"based on the same ideas that led to the digitalization of communication
and computing, but now what is programmed is the physical world instead of the
virtual one ".
Additive manufacturing, as the use of these machines in the
industry is known, has demonstrated its advantages in reducing costs and times,
as well as in personalizing objects. Its implementation is increasingly
popular, thanks to the diversification of materials with which it works.
