Matthias Kholer / Fabio Gramazio

(Gramazio & Kohler Arch.)

Architektur and Digital Fabrication

We regard architectural design with digital fabrication methods as a forward-looking challenge. The technological developments of recent decades are having a fundamental effect on the conditions for the production of architecture. They influence the way in which architecture is conceived and implemented. We are therefore involved in specific explorations into the interactions between digital data and physical material, between information and construction, and examining the influence and repercussions of the changed production conditions on architecture.

In digital fabrication processes, the production of building parts is now directly controlled by design information. In order to research the potential and relevance of these methods, we have developed a fully flexible fabrication installation. This installation is used for the targeted generation and development of building parts and for charging the materials with information – we postulate digital information-based architectural design. For this, we develop the necessary design and production tools and discover new methods for the conception of constructed reality.

Designing information
Nowadays, the majority of plans are drawn digitally on the computer. But CAAD (Computer Aided Architectural Design), which is being used more and more frequently to support the work of architects, is more than just an aid for portrayal; it is a design tool that significantly extends the creative activity of design. In digital project design, it is much easier to implement the requirements of design and function via the formalisation of rules; the computer performs the repetitions, variations and adaptations. Not only can three-dimensional, spatially integrated connections be constructed and portrayed on the computer, they can also be examined and reviewed in terms of their function.

Flexibilising fabrication
Nowadays, the great majority of machines and production processes are equipped with electronic control systems such as CNC (Computer Numerical Control). In most industrial sectors, CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) has fundamentally changed production methods and production processes; in architecture, far-reaching adaptations of this kind are still to come. Robots, which have been widely used in other industries since the 1980s, can be useful and creative instruments for architects as well.

Informing architecture
Nowadays, both innovative architects and progressive producers in the building sector make use of digital aids. It seems reasonable to connect both sides directly with one another. The overlapping of data and material fundamentally changes the conditions for production in architecture; material is specifically charged with information, and digital and physical reality are closely interlinked, thereby moving closer together. We explore the possibilities and effects of this development on real constructions and the resulting potential for the design of architecture.

Matthias Kholer

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