RC1
Synthetic Constructability: Increased Resolution Fabric of Architecture Alisa Andrasek, Daghan Cam
Students Konstantinos Alexopoulos, Esteban Castro Chacon, Trinidad Guzman, Jingya Huang, Marcin Komar, Tu Lu, Aikaterini Papadimitriou, Francesca Silvi, Tao Song, Liaoliao Xi, Sai Xiao, Daying Xie, Yilin Yao
The Bartlett School of Architecture 2014
Project Teams Rheobotic Trinidad Guzman, Francesca Silvi, Sai Xiao River Hydrologies Konstantinos Alexopoulos, Jingya Huang, Tao Song, Liaoliao Xi Resolution Tu Lu, Daying Xie Fibro.City Esteban Castro Chacon, Marcin Komar, Aikaterini Papadimitriou, Yilin Yao Report Tutor: David Andreen Thanks to our critics, consultants and assistants: Jan Dierckx, John Frazer, Andy Lomas, Amirreza Mirmotahari, Gennaro Senatore, Thibault Schwarz, Vincente Soler, Rob Stuart Smith, Jingjun Tao
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The recent arrival of supercomputing in architecture and design, finer grains of computational physics deployed through simulations, highly resilient Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) and large data sourced from a plentitude of material and immaterial domains, are opening new spaces of synthesis for architecture. This architecture draws on large data from the finer-grain physics of matter – matter as information, enabled by computation. These tendencies do not only expand on technically enriched material formations, but also activate previously hidden material powers towards designs beyond our anticipation in both formal imagination and performance. Finer grain physics simulations disrupt the blueprints of architecture, resulting in structures with increased resilience, plasticity and malleability of complex interrelated systems – in short, increased design-ability within complex ecologies. Worldwide, we are on the brink of additive manufacturing occurring and going mainstream at a 1:1 scale. Multi-material deposition introduces the concept of material continuum and blending material states, with the capacity to increase the resolution of material performance, including minimising the weight and volume of structures while maximising their strength; introducing mass customisation at any level of detail; and yielding novel aesthetics. Aspects of those advances are explored by the research of RC1, resonating material complexity found in natural systems, and going away from the logics of assembly and mechanical joints which characterise previous construction paradigms. Physics of matter are harnessed directly through properties such as gravity, friction and fluid dynamics. Clever synthesis of geometry and the physics of matter, fortified by principles of self-organisation, is allowing designers to engage to Materialisation prior to Materialisation. The introduction of robotics, with its multi-axial capacities and vectorial algorithmic capture of complexified degrees of freedom of production, opens the doors for innovative systems, since – unlike the use of robotics in manufacturing which was hyper-optimised and deterministic – architects are deploying the capabilities of industrial robots in a multitude of creative innovative ways. The experience of new designers with the universality of computational code, and therefore its polymorphic possibilities, is now migrating to the universality of robotics. Boundless opportunities open by coupling robotics with material behaviours and the ability to design various extensions for robotic arms via 3D printing. The four research projects developed within the cluster range from topics such as the robotic extrusion of phase-changing high density polymers (with application to other viscous materials); robotic weaving of lightweight and extreme intricate carbon-fibre structures; the use of computational physics for form finding and spatial engineering; and redesigning endangered coastal ecologies with the use of simulation and supercomputing.