Design Studio
Digital Tectonics Research Studio 2010-11
The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC)
(FAB)BOTS 2.0. Customized Machines and Robots for Design and Manufacturing
http://www.iaacblog.com/digitaltectonics/
Professor: Marta Malé-Alemany
Assistant Professor: Victor Vina
Assistant Professor: Brian Peters
Continuing on the research from 2009-2010 year, the Digital Tectonics Research Studio investigated the work flow between computational design and material production methods, exploring the relationship between design inputs and computer programmable devices that can be used for the production of building structures and/or components. Challenging the traditional norms of linear file-to-factory production processes, the studio examines scenarios in which parametric design and material production are developed simultaneously, exploring the potentials of linking design programming and machinic behavior in real time.
With support tutorials and exercises focusing on the creation of custom designed innovative hardware device that incorporate sensory inputs and stepper motor control, the studio aims to propose alternatives to existing methods of digital fabrication to be deployed on-site. As these fabrication devices will enable a direct response to sensory inputs, systems of behavioral rules can be considered to influence the method of creating building elements or structures. Rather than scripting geometrical patterns of formation as in traditional uses of digital fabrication, behavioral rule systems can be used to direct machinic fabrication towards certain performance criteria scenarios, thus generating emergent material configurations that are not guided from a pre-conceived design. Using a setup consisting of design scripts, machine programming, a custom designed fabrication device and specific method of material formation, students teams will choreograph the creation of material structures that demonstrate that their formation has been influenced by external inputs like sound, light, temperature etc.
Here is a video of the (FAB)Bots research trip to Switzerland and Germany.
