A pedagogical protocol for iterative robotic fabrication on remote grounds
ISSN: 2631-6862
Article publication date: 29 April 2020
Issue publication date: 11 November 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to advance remote robotic fabrication through an iterative and pedagogical protocol for shaping architectural grounds. Advancements in autonomous robotic tools enable to reach increasingly larger scales of architectural and landscape construction and operate in remote and inaccessible sites. In parallel, the relation of architecture to its environment is significantly reconsidered, as the building industry's contribution to the environmental stress increases. In response, new practices emerge, addressing the reshaping and modulation of environments using digital tools. The context of extra-terrestrial architecture provides a ground for exploring these issues, as future practice in this domain relies on the use of remote autonomous means for repurposing local matter. As a result, the novelty in robotic construction laboratories is tied to innovation in architectural pedagogy.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper puts forth a pedagogical protocol and iterative framework for digital groundscaping using robotic tools. The framework is demonstrated through an intensive workshop led by the authors. To situate the discussion, digital groundscaping is linked to several conditions that characterize practice and relate to pedagogy. These conditions include the experimental dimension of knowledge in digital fabrication, the convergence of knowledge as part of the blur between the fields of architecture and landscape architecture and the bridging of heterogeneous knowledge sets (virtual and physical), which robotic fabrication on natural terrains entails.
Findings
The outcomes of the workshop indicate that iterative processes can assist in applying autonomous design protocols on remote grounds. The protocols were assessed in light of the roles of technological tools, design iterations and material agency in the robotic fabrication.
Originality/value
The paper concludes with observations linking the iterative protocol to new avenues in architectural pedagogy as means of advancing the capacity to digitally design, modulate and transform natural grounds.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The presented research draws upon a workshop led by the authors in February 2019 at the Confluence Institute for Innovation and Creative Strategies in Architecture, France. The authors would like to thank Director Odile Decq, Nicolas Hannequin, Martin Detoeuf, and the participating students. The authors would also like to thank the Technion - IIT, and the Azrieli Foundation for their generous support of this research.
Citation
Bar-Sinai, K.L., Shaked, T. and Sprecher, A. (2020), "A pedagogical protocol for iterative robotic fabrication on remote grounds", Archnet-IJAR, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 453-468. https://doi.org/10.1108/ARCH-09-2019-0214
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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