"Simulations and Sandcastles: An Exploration of Industrial Robotics in Architectural Design"
This thesis was completed for a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University, and won the Undergraduate Best Thesis Prize from the School of Architecture. Short video and full PDF after the break.
Abstract:
What purpose should industrial robotics serve in the field of architecture? The construction of building elements and production of architectural representation continues to be explored, but how robots can contribute to an architectural space through augmented design processes or as embedded architectural objects requires further development. The robotic object often eclipses the conceptual narrative of a project, and becomes the narrative itself. There seems to be a fascination with the industrial robot that yields projects for the robot as opposed to projects with the robot. Their precise, performative movements open up exciting opportunities for real-time architectural simulations and continuous design feedback. Robots can enable mobility and adaptation in architectural design.
By considering the relationship between human interaction, sensed input and robotic articulation, proposed in this thesis is a model for architectural robotics that is performative and adaptive. Working with the industrial robot in the Labatut Lab at the Princeton University School of Architecture Center for Embodied Computation, the thesis presents an argument for a definition of interactivity between users and robots that recognizes the robot as an architectural object capable of simulating experiences of space and augmenting applications of materials in a way that stimulates user feedback. One way that this can be achieved is through the development of software for industrial robots that enables adaptive robotic intervention to landscape models; digital precision and human design decisions both manifest in the design space of a sandbox.
Advisor: Axel Kilian
Acknowledgments: Ryan Johns
