MaterialFormations

Professor: Robert Stuart-Smith, Weitzman School of Design | University of Pennsylvania
Engineering Guest Lecture: Prof. Masoud Akbarzadeh
TAs: Yi Dazhong , Mariana Righi, Mostafa Akbari, Yuntao Xu

636 M.Arch Core Technology Course

Students: 2nd Yr M.Arch

Material Formations introduces principles of generative design into the discipline of architecture, providing opportunities for architects to synthesize multiple performance criteria within design that leverage organizational principles, in order to negotiate relations between architectural form, structure and material across a number of scales, with robotic production and material dynamics also explored as active agents in design rationalization and expression. Lectures covering technical and research/project case-studies will be supported by practical tutorials that focus on the incorporation of simulation, generative computation and robot fabrication concerns within design and in partnership with structural analysis. While production is traditionally viewed as an explicit and final act of execution, the course also explores the potential for aspects of building production to participate within the creative design process, potentially producing performance and affect. Students will develop skills and experience in computer programming, structural form-finding, physics-based simulation, and robot motion planning. A design research project for an additively manufactured shell-structure canopy will be undertaken through a number of discrete assignments that facilitate the development of a design synthesis between form and material considerations alongside robotic production constraints. The course will explore design as the outcome of materially formative processes of computation and production, and investigate methods of representation suitable for Industry 4.0 architectural production.

The Autonomous Manufacturing Lab (AML) explores the integration of robotic manufacturing and construction within architectural design. The AML aims to reduce the environmental and economic costs of design and production while enhancing their cultural and aesthetic impact. The lab's integrative methods for generative design and manufacturing are developed as semi-autonomous systems, exploring possibilities for artisanal-like craftsmanship to be scaled to large production volumes. This approach provides greater specificity and enhanced aesthetic character in design responses compared to traditional automated methods, whilst also reducing material use and waste within bespoke design and production processes. The AML's research enhances design and production capabilities across diverse manufacturing methods and materials by developing industrial and mobile robot fabrication techniques, multi-agent systems, AI/machine learning computational approaches, and applications of real-time sensor and computer vision technologies. This multidisciplinary research includes the development of Aerial Additive Manufacturing, recently published in Nature, which demonstrates the world’s first in-flight additive manufacturing by cooperating drones, representing a rapidly deployable form of collective robotic construction.

University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design
The Weitzman School of Design prepares students to address complex sociocultural and environmental issues through thoughtful inquiry, creative expression, and innovation. As a diverse community of scholars and practitioners, we are committed to advancing the public good–both locally and globally–through art, design, planning, and preservation.

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MaterialFormations

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