Architecture is fundamentally concerned with two core activities: designing and making. Of course, these are not mutually exclusive and often inform one another in a continuous dialogue as projects progress from concepts, through design development, to final form—typically the realization of a building. The ability to effectively communicate creative ideas remains a central aspect of the discipline. With the development of numerous Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and other software packages, the variety of design processes available to architects, which may influence the fabrication of architecture and its components, is greater than ever. Of specific interest in this field is the recent capability to integrate analog and digital techniques and processes to produce physical objects, whether three-dimensional concept diagrams, scale models, or full-size prototypes.
The increasing proliferation of computers and advanced modeling software has enabled architects and students alike to conceive and construct designs that would be very difficult to develop using traditional methods. In particular, the emergence of new computational modeling software, which allows parametric systems and complex “biological” organizations to be generated and explored, offers new avenues of holistic design production and detailed component manufacturing for the architectural designer. These massive shifts in design processes have implications in material culture far beyond the discipline of architecture, as ever more research and development is conducted at cross-disciplinary levels worldwide. In addition, the application of CAD technologies as part of the production of physical models and prototypes is becoming increasingly widespread through processes such as CAD/CAM (Computer-Aided Manufacture), Computer Numerical Control (CNC) milling, and rapid prototyping. The translation of computer-generated data to physical artifact is not a one-way street; processes may be reversed with equipment such as a three-dimensional scanner, or digitizer, which is used to trace contours of physical objects directly into the computer. Therefore, this book will focus on the inspiring possibilities offered by digital fabrication for architecture, with all the different technologies and techniques that are now available for the holistic and componential making of designs.
The prevalence of digital images in the design and communication of architecture is commonplace. Even so, this imposes no limits on designers’ creativity—as is shown by this digital montage for NOX’s proposal for The Three Graces hotel and office towers in Dubai. The design is based on the idea of a “networked” skin offering a symbolic gateway to the Khor Dubai Wharfage.
The pursuit by Supermanoeuvre of innovative design and fabrication processes is typified by Supermatter I, where a mould was first designed algorithmically. Fused Deposition Modeling was used to 3D print a positive so that a bronze cast could be produced via a lost mould process to form a complex self-supporting structure. Prototyping of this nature has significant potential for architecture as full structures may be realized from lightweight formwork.
This stereolithographic prototype of the skeletal structure for Kokkugia’s project Fibrous Tower is part of a series of investigations that explore the generation of ornamental, structural, and spatial order through an algorithmic design methodology. Conceived as a load-bearing shell that distributes forces across its network, the physical model is a direct translation of the sophisticated design data that satisfies such criteria.
Zaha Hadid’s Mobile Art Pavilion for Chanel takes advantage of digital imaging and construction processes to create a design with fluid geometries and dynamic space.
Digital fabrication techniques provide architects with a spectrum of applications, transforming even long-held traditional methods of representation such as modelmaking. This digital model for Coop Himmelb(l)au’s design for BMW Welt, Munich, was used to make laser-cut components to achieve its complex geometrical formal qualities.
The design for Hills Place, London, by Amanda Levete Architects, developed this sculptural façade as a logical response to the narrow street, thereby maximizing the natural daylight available. The form is achieved through a system of aluminum profiles, more commonly used in the production of ship hulls. The façade is fabricated using curved 5½-inch (140mm) profiles that are connected on site. The metallic silver coating is a highperformance paint typically applied to the surface of yachts. Self-cleaning glass and discreet hidden gutters ensure the façade retains its sculptural qualities.
The architectural possibilities of developments in material technology continue to increase, fueled by digital fabrication methods. For the Swarovski Crystal Palace, Greg Lynn FORM developed an installation utilizing cutting-edge technology from the nautical industry, in which carbon and aramid fibers are sandwiched between transparent Mylar™ sheets to produce a series of very strong yet lightweight “sails” less than 1/25 inch (1mm) thick. With their potential application as spatial dividers or enclosures for future projects, the innovative design may provide a key stage for more research and development.
Vector Wall by Reiser + Umemoto demonstrates the ways in which a laser cutter may be used to perforate a flexible or semiflexible material with multidirectional patterning, reinterpreting the common wall. The model illustrated here was further developed as a full-size prototype to explore the potential application of the design and its adaptability. Refer to page 142 for how the project developed.
Research into materials and their design opportunities informs the work of Barkow Leibinger—as shown in their speculative Coil Tubes. Using laser-cutting technology to form a spiraling pattern on a rotating steel tube, the subsequent geometry allows flexibility while segments also remain locked together. By the addition of LEDs into the tube, variable lighting effects are possible dependent on the degree of bending.
Office for Metropolitan Architecture’s (OMA) design for the China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters proposed a digital media façade, allowing the building to display moving images and footage across its envelope.
The Gwanggyo Power Center near Seoul, designed by MVRDV, has been developed using a combination of digital design tools and manual modelmaking techniques. This hybrid process of creative flow between different modes of investigation is characteristic of the evolving nature of digital design in architecture.
Foreign Office Architects’ (FOA) seminal design for the Yokohama International Port Terminal, completed in 2002, coupled the concept of folded surfaces as circulation loops with the tectonic realization afforded by digital design tools.
EMERGENT, founded by Tom Wiscombe, are renowned for synthesizing aesthetic and engineering issues into innovative design solutions, as shown in this laser-cut acrylic design-development model for the Garak Fish Market, Seoul, 2009.
The screen façade design by the San Francisco– based Faulders Studio for Airspace Tokyo (a collaboration with Studio M, Tokyo) illustrates the potential for digital design and fabrication methods to inform our built environment.
The Energy Roof Perugia design by Coop Himmelb(l)au uses transparent photovoltaic cells to both produce energy and provide shading from the sun. The orientation of the individual cells is generated and optimized by a computer-driven scripting program.
UNStudio’s design for the La Defense offices in Almere utilizes internal façades clad with glass panels, in which a multicolored foil is integrated and onto which—depending on the time of day and the angle of incidence— various different colors are reflected, animating the courtyards. This application of new materials to engage with users of the building and enliven the space is indicative of the ongoing development of material technology and its architectural implementations.
University Library Utrecht by Wiel Arets Architects illustrates the manner in which materials may be worked within a digital design-and-production process to reinforce the twin concepts of “openness” and “protection.” In this image the façade components comprise opaque volumes and patterned glazing, to reduce sunlight penetration while offering legibility of the building’s program.
The multidisciplinary design office ONL (Oosterhuis_Lénárd) developed iWeb as a mobile pavilion and interactive design laboratory. Digital tools and fabrication methods were used throughout the design and realization processes, from initial concept, through 3-D structural strategies and CAD renders, resulting in a full-size “ProtoSpace.”
Neri Oxman is an architect and researcher whose work seeks to establish new forms of experimental design and novel processes of material practice at the interface of design, computer science, material engineering, and ecology. Her Carpal Skin project is a prototype for a glove to protect against Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and is featured in order to emphasize the multiscalar application of digital technologies.
