Table Of ContentFaBio GRamazio, matthiaS KohleR, SilKe lanGenBeRG (eds.)
Fabricate:
negotiating design & making
Fabio Gramazio, Matthias Kohler, Silke Langenberg (eds.)
CHALLENGING THE THRESHOLDS MATERIAL ExubERANCE
12–21 86–91
mario carpo Virginia san Fratello and ronald rael
in conVersation with matthias kohler in conVersation with neri oxman
6–7 22–29 92–97
Foreword by the editors ribbed tile Vaulting: printing architecture:
Fabio Gramazio, Matthias Kohler, Silke Langenberg innoVation through two design-build castles made oF sand
8–9 workshops Benjamin Dillenburger, Michael Hansmeyer
Foreword by the initiators oF Philippe Block, Melonie Bayl-Smith, Tim Schork, 98–103
the Fabricate conFerence series James Bellamy, Dave Pigram bloom
Bob Sheil, Ruairi Glynn 30–35 Jose Sanchez, Alisa Andrasek
who’s aFraid oF Fabrication? 104–111
why teach digital Fabrication now? plastic-cast concrete:
Brennan Buck Fabrication as applied research
36–43 Kenneth Tracy, Brad Bell, Christine Yogiaman,
topo-Façade: enVelope design and Lavender Tessmer, Kevin McClellan, Andrew Vrana,
Fabrication planning using topological Erik Verboon
mesh representations 112–119
Gustav Fagerström, Erik Verboon, Robert Aish building bytes:
44–51 3d-printed bricks
balancing complexity and simplicity Brian Peters
Jonathan Rabagliati, Clemens Huber, Dieter Linke 120–127
52–59 the mobile orchard:
bridging the gap From cad to cam: growing ergonomic, edible, aerial
concepts, caVeats and a new grasshopper datascapes
plug-in Alex Haw
Hanno Stehling, Fabian Scheurer, Jean Roulier 128–135
60–67 search For a rooted aesthetic:
building simplexity: study in spin-Valence
golden moon, 2012 mid-autumn FestiVal Emily Baker
lantern wonderland 136–145
Kristof Crolla the rise:
68–75 building with Fibrous systems
the leadenhall building: Martin Tamke, David Stasiuk, Mette Ramsgaard
design For Fabrication-digital workFlow Thomsen
and downstream Fabrication system 146–153
Dirk Krolikowski, Damian Eley la Voûte de leFeVre:
76–83 a Variable-Volume compression-only
Fabricating architectural Volume: Vault
stereotomic inVestigations in robotic Brandon Clifford, Wes McGee
craFt
Jelle Feringa, Asbjørn Søndergaard
FORMING MACHINES LIvING ASSEMbLIES
156–165 234–241
achim menges neil gershenFeld
in conVersation with philip beesley in conVersation with mark burry
166–173 242–247 306–315
perForming: peripatetic Fabrication: authors’ biographies
exploring incremental sheet metal architecture, co-robotics and machine
Forming methods For generating Vision
low-cost, highly customised components Mike Silver
Ammar Kalo, Michael Jake Newsum, Wes McGee 248–255
174–181 silk paVilion:
(Fr)agile materiality: a case study in Fibre-based digital
approximating uncertain Fabrication Fabrication
processes Neri Oxman, Jared Laucks, Markus Kayser,
Kadri Tamre, Marjan Colletti, Georg Grasser, Jorge Duro-Royo, Carlos Gonzales Uribe
Allison Weiler 256–265
182–191 multi-scalar shape change in
[r]eVolVing brick: pneumatically steered tensegrities:
geometry and perFormance innoVation a cross-disciplinary interest in using
in ceramic building systems through material-scale mechanisms For driVing
design robotics spatial transFormations
Stefano Andreani, Martin Bechthold Phil Ayres, Kasper Stoy, David Stasiuk, Hollie Gibbons
192–197 266–271
anti-graVity additiVe manuFacturing building with Flying robots
Joris Laarman, Saša Jokic´, Petr Novikov, Ammar Mirjan, Fabio Gramazio, Matthias Kohler
Luis E. Fraguada, Areti Markopoulou 272–279
198–205 hygroskin:
the design oF a lunar outpost: meteorosensitiVe paVilion
3d printing regolith as a construction Oliver David Krieg, Zachary Christian, David Correa,
technique For enVironmental shielding Achim Menges, Steffen Reichert, Katja Rinderspacher,
on the moon Tobias Schwinn
Xavier De Kestelier, Enrico Dini, Giovanni Cesaretti, 280–287
Valentina Colla, Laurent Pambaguian Fabricating behaViour:
206–215 a problem, a solution, a prototype
Fabbots: and a proposal
research in additiVe manuFacturing William Bondin, Ruairi Glynn
For architecture 288–295
Marta Malé-Alemany, Jordi Portell Frozen relic:
216–223 digitally reFabricated arctic ice Floes
augmented materiality: Matthew Shaw, William Trossell
modelling with material indeterminacy 296–303
Ryan Luke Johns Fluid crystallisation:
224–231 hierarchical selF-organisation
mesh-mould: Skylar Tibbits
robotically Fabricated spatial meshes
as concrete Formwork and reinForcement
Norman Hack, Willi Viktor Lauer, Fabio Gramazio,
Matthias Kohler, Silke Langenberg
Foreword by the editors
FAbIO GRAMAzIO, MATTHIAS KOHLER, SILKE LAnGEnbERG
Three years ago, a seminal discussion on the decisive role of While digital fabrication technologies are rapidly becom-
making in architecture was launched in a large international ing common practice in architecture for prototyping as well
forum at the inaugural FABRICATE conference organised by the as for ornamental effects, a profound knowledge of their full
Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. The architectural operability and inherent capacities seems to be
main topics proposed by its Chairs, Bob Sheil and Ruairi Glynn, developing very slowly among architects. There are still ex-
addressed prevailing shifts in the contemporary production of perts needed who can ‘solve the problems’ of transforming
architecture: physical processes, material systems, machines designed digital models into built reality. However, to make the
and the bespoke as well as representation and manufacture. full spectrum of digital technologies in architecture access-
Today’s remarkable interest in intensifying the relation- ible, to unfold it or even exhaust it, they have to be more than
ship between design and making in architecture seems to known techniques, they have to be considered conceptually
be driven more by research institutions and young start-up in design from the very beginning. Therefore, the focus of the
entrepreneurs than by an established architectural practice. FABRICATE conference at ETH Zurich in 2014 is particularly set
In continuation of the profession’s constructive tradition, on contemporary research that does not just investigate the
entirely digital technologies and construction methods, such further development of technologies, but presents ways of
as robotic fabrication and architecture-scale 3D printing, are integrating them in an early design phase in order to finally
currently being tested with the help of prototypes, pavilions overcome the still prevalent separation of design and making
and smaller buildings. Here the question arises of if and how and introduce new meaning and substance into the profession.
the innovations developed will become relevant at a larger The publication includes contributions from leading re-
scale of architecture. But an issue that may become even more search institutions such as the Bartlett School of Architecture
important is whether the creative spirit originating from these at University College London, Harvard University, the Institute
digital-material explorations will lead to a change in sensibil- for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, the Institute for Com-
ity and methods that will affect the design and building culture putational Design at the University of Stuttgart, the Institute
more fundamentally than might appear at a first glance. of Technology in Architecture at ETH Zurich, Massachusetts
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Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Yale University, Alemany, Wes McGee, Achim Menges, Philippe Morel, Shinya
as well as projects by Arup, Autodesk, Buro Happold, design- Okuda, Neri Oxman, Fabian Scheurer, Christoph Schindler, Mi-
toproduction, Foster + Partners, Hyperbody and Scanlab. It is chael Stacey, Martin Tamke, Yves Weinand and Jan Willmann.
complemented by conversations between the keynote speak- For their support in finalising the publication, we would
ers at FABRICATE 2014 and 2011: Mario Carpo and Matthias like to thank Veronika Darius for her management, Beverly
Kohler, Neil Gershenfeld and Mark Burry, Achim Menges and Zumbühl for editing and especially Oliver Schmid for design-
Philip Beesley, Virginia San Fratello and Ronald Rael and Neri ing the book in a really narrow time frame. Thanks also go to
Oxman. all the authors for their diligence and patience.
For promotion and support, we want to thank our me-
acknowledgements dia partners archithese, uncube, Detail research, Architonic,
We owe our thanks to a large number of friends and colleagues. world-architects.com, Stylepark and archello, as well as the In-
Firstly, to the Co-Chairs, Bob Sheil and Ruairi Glynn, for their stitute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta) at ETH
valuable advice and continuous support, to Marilena Skavara Zurich, ACADIA 2013 and the Fab lab Zurich for an inspiring ex-
and Orkun Kasap for their tireless and great help in organis- change and much valued contributions.
ing the conference, as well as to our whole team at ETH Zurich. And finally, we thank the Department of Architecture of
We are indebted to our Chairs and numerous peer review- ETH Zurich, Keller AG, NOE Formwork, Erne AG Holzbau, Bach-
ers, without whose efforts, time and work it would have been mann Engineering AG and Computerworks for sponsoring
impossible to manage the large number of contributions to the conference, and especially ABB and The Port Technology
FABRICATE 2014. So our sincere thanks go to Hubertus Adam, by Schindler for their generous financial support for this
Philippe Block, Tobias Bonwetsch, Michael Budig, Xavier De publication.
Kestelier, Stylianos Dritsas, Yves Ebnoether, Sean Hanna,
Volker Helm, Sawako Kaijima, Axel Kilian, Branko Kolarevic,
Toni Kotnik, Dirk Krolikowski, George Legendre, Marta Malé-
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Foreword by the initiators oF
the Fabricate con Ference series
bOb SHEIL, RuAIRI GLynn
FABRICATE was conceived as an international forum to ad- potential, and its role as theatre between the real and the
dress ‘the big picture’ surrounding the making of con tem por- imagined.
ary architecture, and the status and trajectory of an evolving We were prompted to co-found FABRICATE through the
discipline in changing times. Within this scope, the principles vibrant debate at Digital Architecture at London’s Building
that underpin FABRICATE ask: how contemporary architec- Centre in 2009,1 as well as being inspired by earlier events at
ture is being conceived in relation to new production method- FABRICATION (ACADIA2 ), hosted by the University of Water-
ologies; how such methodologies are informing design strat- loo, School of Architecture in 2004. Based on these two key
egies; how new technologies are altering relationships on the ex peri ences, we agreed FABRICATE should aim to attract both
journey from idea to building; how designers are shifting their academia and practice in equal measure, and in 2011 we were
position in relation to production; and how design research delighted to inaugurate the first gathering at the Bartlett, UCL.
and practice coexist as collaborative industries of creative Based on the overwhelmingly positive response before, dur-
and critical innovation. ing and after the event, we decided that FABRICATE should run
Significantly, as co-founders, we approached this idea again in a different venue, with different hosts, and decided a
from different positions, different backgrounds, and to some three-year cycle would best fit.
extent different generations. One was trained in the era of We were both delighted and honoured that Fabio Gramazio
drawing boards and manual workshops, the other in compu- and Matthias Kohler of ETH immediately presented an enthu-
tational programming, electronics, and interaction. Despite siastic bid, and as this publication clearly demonstrates, to-
this, the past decade has been a provocative and inspiring gether with their extensive team, including Silke Langenberg,
era for both of us. We’ve seen our origins converge, our tra- assisted by Marilana Skavara from UCL, they have delivered on
jectories shift, and our opportunities expand. We found our- the task of taking this format forward in spectacular fashion.
selves looking at the same space from different positions, and Through their work, FABRICATE has been fully established as
agreed that the time was right to instigate an open dialogue a robust and adaptable model in which to critically address the
on how such events were reshaping our discipline, its wider immense changes taking place in our industry.
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And as the 2014 iteration illustrates, the horizon continues
to expand. So many thanks to all who submitted works, con-
gratulations to all who won a rigorous and tough selection
process, and our deepest appreciation to all involved in mak-
ing this happen again.
1 A conference chaired by Ruairi Glynn, in which a panel on
Fabrication was chaired by Bob Sheil.
2 ACADIA: the Association for Computer-Aided Design in
Architecture.
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