Fabrication and Material aware Architecture

The course aims to rethink concrete structures with the goal of using smaller quantities of materials overall. A key concern in today's architecture is that structures are often built using more material than needed, making it a major drain on natural resources. New cutting-edge technologies with digital fabrication promise to lead the way in using smaller quantities of materials, so generating less construction waste and consuming less energy. One question remains open. What does it mean to design and build with new technologies, how do we include concepts of performance and how will this impact architecture in the future? This remains an open question, which we aim to address through this course. 

The course aims at combining theory with practice. Students will be focusing on experimental explorations between the physical and the digital realms integrating fabrication, spatial, structural and material questions into the building elements that they will be designing. In these iterative explorations, students will take advantage of the potentials offered by novel processes in digital fabrication, in combination with the production of physical models to generate integral design concepts from the early stages – to end up with building elements, which enhance minimizing material use and waste in comparison to conventional construction techniques. At the end of this exploration, students will have a basic understanding of the flexibility of contemporary digital design and fabrication workflows, which have the potential of leading the way to build more sustainable structures and building elements by exploring fabrication and materials in the early stages of the design process. 

Invited lectures, introduction of digital design and fabrication workflows, physical experimentation 

Physical building element and vision on how defined structural components can be integrated into an architectural concept.