Feedback Formation. Three teaching projects on robotically manipulated granular materials

Authors

  • Jesús Medina Ibáñez Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication. Gramazio Kohler Research, ETHZ
  • David Jenny Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication. Gramazio Kohler Research, ETHZ
  • Fabio Gramazio Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication. Gramazio Kohler Research, ETHZ
  • Matthias Kohler Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication. Gramazio Kohler Research, ETHZ

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5821/jida.2020.9312

Abstract

This chapter presents three different case studies on robotic fabrication as dynamic design processes, exploring the relationship between computational design, digital fabrication, and complex material systems in different teaching formats at the Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich. All projects explore the control of material formations through digital tools, creating an educational environment that allows the designer to directly interact with and develop an intuitive understanding of the material processes at hand, and suggesting a novel approach linking digital control with reversible construction techniques.

Author Biographies

Jesús Medina Ibáñez, Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication. Gramazio Kohler Research, ETHZ

Jesús Medina studied Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture ETSAS Sevilla, HTWG Konstanz and ETSAM Madrid. In 2011, he was ARQUIA Foundation fellow at Abalos+Sentkiewicz in Madrid. After working and collaborating as an architect with different offices in Switzerland and Spain, his interest in Computational Design and Digital Innovation brought him to join the MAS in Architecture and Digital Fabrication at ETH Zurich. After being part of the Chair of Digital Building Technologies, he worked and collaborated with an interdisciplinary network of educators, designers, scientist and entrepreneurs based at the Museum of Digital Art in Zurich (MuDA) moving at the intersection of education, design, technology and innovation. In 2017, he joined as a researcher at Gramazio Kohler Research where he has taught design studios, postgraduate modules and he is leading the semester course under the topic of computational design in architecture. He is co-founder of LISDEM, a studio based in Zurich focused on research, design and architecture.

David Jenny, Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication. Gramazio Kohler Research, ETHZ

David Jenny has studied at the EPFL in Lausanne, The University of Tokyo in Tokyo and the ETH in Zurich. He has worked in different architectural practices both in Switzerland and Japan and is involved in different ongoing projects; he deals with Architectural Design, Digital Design and Fabrication as well as Architectural Theory. Currently, he is especially interested in the influence of technological innovation on sociological processes and how this relates to Architecture evolving further as a discipline. Since February 2015 David is research assitant at the Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication (Prof. Fabio Gramazio, Prof. Matthias Kohler) at the ETH Zurich. He is leading the semester course under the same name dealing with the development of robotic digital fabrication techniques and their implementation in architectural design.

Fabio Gramazio, Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication. Gramazio Kohler Research, ETHZ

Fabio Gramazio is an architect with multi-disciplinary interests ranging from computational design and robotic fabrication to material innovation. In 2000, he founded the architecture practice Gramazio & Kohler in conjunction with his partner Matthias Kohler, where numerous award-wining designs have been realised. Current projects include the design of the Empa NEST research platform, a future living and working laboratory for sustainable building construction. Opening also the world’s first architectural robotic laboratory at ETH Zurich, Gramazio & Kohler’s research has been formative in the field of digital architecture, setting precedence and de facto creating a new research field merging advanced architectural design and additive fabrication processes through the customised use of industrial robots. This ranges from 1:1 prototype installations to the design of robotically fabricated high-rises. His recent research is outlined and theoretically framed in the book The Robotic Touch: How Robots Change Architecture (Park Books, 2014). From 2017 to 2019, Fabio Gramazio was Director of Studies for Bachelor and Master Architecture.

Matthias Kohler, Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication. Gramazio Kohler Research, ETHZ

Matthias Kohler is an architect with multi-disciplinary interests ranging from computational design and robotic fabrication to material innovation. In 2000, he founded the architecture practice Gramazio & Kohler in conjunction with his partner Fabio Gramazio, where numerous award-wining designs have been realised. Current projects include the design of the Empa NEST research platform, a future living and working laboratory for sustainable building construction. Opening also the world’s first architectural robotic laboratory at ETH Zurich, Gramazio & Kohler’s research has been formative in the field of digital architecture, setting precedence and de facto creating a new research field merging advanced architectural design and additive fabrication processes through the customised use of industrial robots. This ranges from 1:1 prototype installations to the design of robotically fabricated high-rises. His recent research is outlined and theoretically framed in the book The Robotic Touch: How Robots Change Architecture (Park Books, 2014). From 2014 to 2017 Matthias Kohler was director of the new National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Digital Fabrication.

References

Digital references

AEJMELAEUS-LINDSTRÖM, P., RUSENOVA, G., MIRJAN, A., MEDINA, J., GRAMAZIO F., & KOHLER, M. (2020), Rock Print Pavilion: Robotically fabricating architecture from rock and string. Constr Robot 4, 97–113 < https://doi.org/10.1007/s41693-020-00027-8>

HURKXKENS, I., BERNHARD, M. (2019). Computational Terrain Modeling with Distance Functions for Large Scale Landscape Design. In: Buhmann, E., Ervin, S., Helh-Lange, S., Palmer, J. (Eds.), Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture, 4-2019, Wichmann Verlag, Berlin. <https://gispoint.de/fileadmin/user_upload/paper_gis_open/DLA_2019/537663024.pdf>

JUD, D., HOTTIGER, G., LEEMANN, P. & HUTTER, M. (2017), Planning and control for Autonomous Excavation. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 4 (2), 2151-2158. <https://www.research-collection.ethz.ch/handle/20.500.11850/172404>

Web page

THE DIGITAL IN ARCHITECTURE. Online platform for course teaching materials (ITA Elective). <https://gramaziokohler.github.io/teaching_materials/> [Consult: August 4th 2020]

ROBOTIC LANDSCAPES III - DESIGN STUDIO HS2019. Chair of Landscape Architecture, ETHZ. <https://girot.arch.ethz.ch/courses/design-studios/design-studio-hs2019-robotic-landscapes-iii-2> [Consult: August 6th 2020]

ITA ELECTIVE COURSE - THE DIGITAL IN ARCHITECTURE II. Gramazio Kohler Research, ETHZ. <https://gramaziokohler.arch.ethz.ch/web/e/lehre/401.html> [Consult: August 6th 2020]

Videos

GRAMAZIO KOHLER RESEARCH. Vimeo <https://vimeo.com/user14316338> [Consult: August 4th 2020]

ROBOTIC LANDSCAPES III (Simulation). Chair of Landscape Architecture. Vimeo < https://vimeo.com/387934699> [Consult: August 4th 2020]

ROBOTIC LANDSCAPES III (Student work). Chair of Landscape Architecture. Vimeo < https://vimeo.com/387930860> [Consult: August 4th 2020]

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Published

2020-11-04

Issue

JIDA'20

Section

PAPERS