A Multifarious, Anisotropic, Material Agency: Speculations on Additive Manufactured Architecture

Over the past decade, large-format additive manufacturing has facilitated the construction of several buildings globally, enabling unprecedented geometric flexibility and material efficiency, while supporting intricate, lightweight, and aesthetically diverse designs. Speculating on the potentials of this emerging technology, this essay draws parallels with molecular gastronomy, where a fusion of architectural elements akin to culinary practices is advocated for that might create novel architectural experiences. The essay critiques the current Fordist production model in architecture, arguing for a shift towards mass-customized, holistic designs enabled by robotic fabrication over the mere assemblage of standardized components. The concept of anisotropy is introduced, emphasizing the need to design buildings as multifarious, anisotropic entities that respond dynamically to site-specific conditions and temporal factors. With additive manufacturing, the material order of architecture becomes an exciting and unchartered terrain, where the word ‘additive’ conjures limitless possibilities for material hybrids. Expanding on Malafouris’s concept of material engagement, the agency of architecture is discussed, where its physical matter impacts both decisions and actions in a myriad of ways not all ordained in a building's conception. Through the example of Parkour, a design approach that embraces more contingency planning is explored. Additive manufactured architecture offers more than a simple enhancement of building as we know it. While to an extent, architecture is already polyvalent, multifarious and anisotropic, there is an opportunity to take these attributes on more consciously. To develop an architecture comprising of unique qualities and characteristics that embodies diverse degrees of agency and affect. The possibilities are immense!

This essay is featured in Design Technology and Digital Production: An Architecture Anthology, edited by Gabriel Esquivel.

Stuart-Smith, R. (2024). A Multifarious, Anisotropic, Material Agency: Speculations on Additive Manufactured Architecture. In G. Esquivel (Ed.), Design Technology and Digital Production: An Architecture Anthology (1st ed., pp. 75–80). Taylor & Francis.

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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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A Multifarious, Anisotropic, Material Agency: Speculations on Additive Manufactured Architecture

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