Following the Integrative Technologies and Architectural Design Research Project 1 and Architectural Biomimetics Seminar, the focus of this studio is the design development and fabrication of a biomimetic design research project, which will be constructed on the university campus. The seminar offers the opportunity to apply computer-based design, planning, simulation and production methods in an integrated design process on a full scale architectural project. The students will develop experience on all phases of project development, from computational design, planning application, structural design through to digital fabrication and assembly on site.
The design of the research project will be based on design principles that have been derived from the investigation of biological role models in the context of the Architectural Biomimetics seminar course in the previous semester. Particular attention will be directed on the examination of construction and material distribution principles as well as on geometrical formulation as found in the biological role models and on the potentials to transfer those principles into technical applications for large-scale architectural applications. To generate a coherent system from the fundamental biomimetic research to fabrication, the integration of the technical production parameters in an automated robotic manufacturing process represents a further core focus for the studio.
A team of students with support from the academic staff will develop a computational design system, which incorporates material, fabrication, structural and design constraints. In parallel, the students will participate in the co-requisite research seminar Computational Design and Digital Fabrication, to get an advanced understanding of robotic fabrication.
Knippers, J., Speck, T.: 2012, Design and Construction Principles, in: Nature and Architecture, Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, Vol 7.
Menges, A. (ed.), 2012. Material Computation – Higher Integration in Morphogenetic Design. Architectural Design, Vol. 82 No. 2.
Menges, A. 2012. Morphospaces of Robotic Fabrication – From theoretical morphology to design computation and digital fabrication in architecture, in Proceedings of the RobArch Conference 2012, eds. S. Brell Cokcan, J. Braumann, Vienna, pp. 28-47.
La Magna, R., Gabler, M., Reichert, S., Schwinn, T., Waimer, F., Menges, A. and Knippers, J. 2013. From Nature to Fabrication: Biomimetic Design Principles for the Production of Complex Spatial Structures, International Journal of Spatial Structures, Vol. 28 No. 01, pp. 27- 40.