Over the next four years, the Swiss will invest almost CHF30 million to build a new National Centre of Competence in Research for digital fabrication in architecture. The Swiss government and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) will funnel CHF13.4 million into the project. The centre will be hosted at ETH Zurich, which will contribute an additional CHF15 million as the lead institution; EPFL, EMPA, and the Bern University of Applied Sciences will also partner on the project. Encompassing the disciplines of architecture, computational design, electrical and mechanical engineering, material sciences, and robotics, the investment is an attempt to transform Switzerland’s construction sector from a resource-based industry to a knowledge-based one, and to position the country as an international leader in innovative architecture and building construction.

Coined by the Swiss architecture duo Gramazio & Kohler, “digital fabrication” is a concept for an advanced method of architectural production that uses robotic fabrication to bridge the gap between digital design and physical construction. In a recent interview, Matthias Kohler explains the impact of this approach on architectural design practice: “Nowadays, architects work almost exclusively on computers, but it is still unclear whether and how this affects the design and construction process itself. Here we are looking for new instruments to bring the design, planning and construction phases closer together in order to directly interrelate them.”

Sophisticated computational processes, non-standard material and constructive systems and adaptive strategies for controlling advanced fabrication systems will need to be developed before Switzerland’s construction industry can adopt digital fabrication as its new paradigm. Researchers in multiple fields will also need to develop common standards, interfaces and infrastructure. Knowledge-transfer to industry will be an additional obstacle, as many unanticipated technological challenges will arise when digital fabrication is applied to actual building systems.

Kohler admits there are risks: “It is a large collaboration with several research institutes. At ETH alone, scientists from the departments of architecture, IT, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and process engineering, and civil, environmental and geomatic engineering are involved. All these disciplines have a different understanding of research. One of the key challenges will be to synthesize these approaches and arrive at innovative methods and results together.”

Where will the money go?
The Swiss are hoping that a full-scale, comprehensive approach to funding the endeavour will help address these challenges. Funding, which can be renewed for up to 12 years, will be directed towards three broad areas of research for its first four years: computational design and building process innovation, non-standard material and constructive systems, and robotic control and fabrication.

Common lab infrastructure will be built to help researchers working in each of these areas to collaborate, and one of the project’s main goals is to build a full-scale digitally constructed habitation module by the end of the 4-year initial investment period. Says Kohler: “New architecture and construction technologies can be tested at Nest, EMPA’s new building laboratory. We will build a residential unit there, thus demonstrating the synthesis of our approach. Over recent years at ETH, we have seen clearly that we learn most effectively by ‘making’ – real physical implementation at full scale.”

Additional funds will also go towards supporting and training the next generation of architects through the creation of a new, one-year postgraduate Master program in Digital Fabrication at ETH Zurich, the expansion of ETH’s Institute of Technology in Architecture current doctoral-level ‘Architecture & Technology’ program, the creation of various exchange and partnership programs with other universities and with industry, and the funding and support of patent applications, licensing and spin-off companies.

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ROB|ARCH has been initiated by the Association for Robots in Architecture as a new conference series on the use of robotic fabrication in architecture, art, and design, closely linking industry with cutting-edge research institutions. In December 2012 the conference was hosted by its founders in Vienna, Austria. In 2014 the conference travels to North America, hosted by the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

Continuing with the previous theme of collaboration, the conference seeks to bring together artists, designers, fabricators, and industry leaders for the purpose of advancing the discourse surrounding robotic fabrication. Following on the success of ROB|ARCH 2012, the conference will again present a series of workshops held at select research institutions on the east coast of the United States, aimed at exposing the advanced capabilities of applied robotic research. Following the workshops, the conference will span two days at the University of Michigan Campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan, about an hour outside of Detroit, the origin of robotics in North America. The internationally renowned publishing house Springer Wien/New York will publish and market the proceedings of the conference worldwide.

Schedule
13.05.2014  Free sponsor “pre-workshops” [TBA]
14.05. – 16.05.2014 Conference workshops
17.12.-18.05.2014 Conference

Conference Paper Submission
We invite authors to submit papers with original research relating to the use of robots in architecture, art, and design. An international scientific committee consisting of researchers, designers, and architects will evaluate the papers and provide feedback to the authors. The selected papers will be published in the proceedings by Springer and presented at the conference in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Submissions on the following topics are encouraged:

• design to robotic fabrication
• material feedback in fabrication
• cooperative robotic fabrication
• rapid prototyping with industrial robots
• mass customization
• digital and physical robotic interfaces

Schedule
First Call for Papers July 15th, 2013
Second Call for Papers September 1^st, 2013
Final Call for Papers October 15^th, 2013
Electronic Submission of Abstracts November 15^th, 2013
Final Paper Submission December 1^st, 2013
Author notification Jan 10^th, 2014

Information and Contact
See www.robarch2014.org for details and up-to-date information. For any questions regarding the Rob|Arch 2012 conference, please contact chair@robarch2014.org

Conference Chairs
Wes Mcgee and Monica Ponce de Leon

Link to audio file (38:04)

Link to transcript

In today’s episode we speak with Matthias Kohler, faculty at ETHZ and renowned architect, about his work in robotic architecture at the Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) which is part of the Singapore-ETH Centre for Global Environmental Sustainability (SEC) in Singapore.

We hear how he first got interested in robotics and automated architecture, and what the future plans are for his lab.

Matthias also talks about how the design of buildings and the urban landscape will change when the construction process becomes automated. The history of modular and automated building is not exactly filled with success. We discuss why that is, and why it is likely to be different this time around.

The issues of safety, compliance with building codes and quality control are other interesting topics that we get to hear more about in this interview.

If you are interested in automated building, you might be interested in our previous interview with Radhika Nagpal, where she talks about the TERMES project that aims to develop an automated building system that mimics termites and how they build their impressive mounts.

Matthias Kohler
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 realized, integrating novel architectural designs into a contemporary building culture. Trained at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich, his integral approach to practice and research focuses on the interplay of digital design and material processes through advanced construction methodologies.

Since 2005, Gramazio & Kohler hold the Chair for Architecture and Digital Fabrication at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich. Founding the world’s first architectural robotic laboratory, the pioneering investigations of Matthias Kohler concentrate on non-standardized architectural design and additive fabrication processes through the customized use of industrial robots. A significant amount of research has been accomplished addressing scales ranging from 1:1 prototypical installations to the design of robotically fabricated high-rise buildings. Currently Matthias Kohler’s research is focusing on adaptive design strategies for constructive material systems and in-situ robotic fabrication.

In Matthias Kohler’s practice, emphasis is placed on understanding construction and materialization as fundamental to the design of architecture. Gramazio & Kohler demonstrates a profound architectural expertise, considering the building process in all its cultural, constructive and sensual dimensions. Built work ranges from international exhibitions, private and public buildings to large-scale urban interventions. Projects include the Gantenbein vineyard façade, the Tanzhaus theatre for contemporary dance, the Christmas lights for Bahnhofstrasse, the sWISH* Pavilion at the Swiss National Exposition Expo.02 and the Private House in Riedikon.

Matthias Kohler’s innovative explorations have contributed to numerous exhibitions around the world such as the 2008 Architectural Biennial in Venice and the Storefront Gallery for Art and Architecture in New York 2009. His work has been published in a large number of journals, books and mass media and is further documented in the book Digital Materiality in Architecture, which outlines the theoretical context for the full synthesis of data and material in architecture.

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• Architecture and Digital Fabrication
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