DIGITALFUTURE AAC 2011, SHANGHAI Arch 605B/590. Coordinator: Neil Leach. Instructors: Neil Leach, Kris Mun, Roland Snooks.
Contemporary digital design practice is in a state of rapid evolution, and no more so than in a country such as China. A significant development in recent years has been the introduction of new fabrication technologies from computer numerically controlled (CNC) milling to 3-D printing, laser cutting and the use of robots of various kinds in the construction industry. These new technologies have introduced a greater degree of control and precision in the construction process, and have opened up a range of new methods of construction. This is especially the case in China, a nation once dominated by manual construction, but where digital fabrication technologies on an unprecedented scale are beginning to transform the construction industry.
During the Fabrication Workshop USC students explored the potential of digital fabrication technologies, alongside students from Tongji University and SCUT. The objective was to build a series of proto-architectural studies that explore the potential of using digital fabrication technologies to produce innovative structures. These studies were then exhibited in the DigitalFUTURE exhibition in Tongji University, alongside work from some of the world's leading architects, including Zaha Hadid Architects, UN Studio, Biothing, Kokkugia, Greg Lynn, Ali Rahim and Evan Douglis, and leading schools of architecture, including the Architectural Association, Harvard GSD, MIT, RMIT, DIA and UPenn.
AAC 2011 began with the DigitalFUTURE forum that featured many of the world's leading architects, including Zaha Hadid Architects, Gensler, SPAN, Plasma Studio and Kokkugia. This was followed by a 8-day Computation Workshop in which students were taught Grasshopper, Rhino Scripting, Processing and Digital Project. Finally there was a 6-week Fabrication Workshop, during which students were taken on a series of field trips including: E-Grow, an advanced fabrication factory for producing computationally modelled facade panelling systems; Rong Sheng shipyard, one of the world's largest and most technologically advanced shipyards; and the Pudong Tower construction site.
The projects are also published in Neil Leach, Philip Yuan (eds.), Fabricating the Future, Shanghai: Tongji University Press, 2011. THIS PAGE: [LEFT] SKIN : PROTO-ARCHITECTURAL STUDY BY USC STUDENTS TUTORED BY ROL AND SNOOKS FABRICATED OUT OF GL ASS FIBER BASED ON A CNC MILLED MOLD. THE INITIAL DESIGN WAS GENERATED USING PROCESSING. [RIGHT] WALL: WALL DESIGNED BY USC AND SCUT STUDENTS, TUTORED BY NEIL LEACH. THE DESIGN WAS GENERATED USING PROCESSING AND FABRICATED USING AN INDUSTRIAL L ASER CUT TER.