Autonomous Architecture (Final journal)

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AUTONOMOUS ARCHITECTURE ROBOTIC ARCHITECTURE DESIGN THESIS MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE TUTOR: Stanislav Roudavski EDITOR: Yimu He (Davin)

PREFACE Autonomous architecture is a very new area in architecture.

Compare to traditional design process, which has separated design from construction, Autonomous architecture established a connection between digital architecture logic and construction realization. In this cutting edge field, few practices have been done. However, people in this area maintain that this new architecture design process can bring materialization in design and have the potential of develop new material practices in architecture.

INTRODUCE ROBOTIC INTELLECTUAL ARCHITECTURE

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CONTENT 01. INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES /002 02. BACKGROUND /008 2.1 Made by Robots /009 2.2 Speculative Everything /013 2.3 Animal Architecture /015 2.4 Software/Hardware /017

03. RESEARCH QUESTION AND HYPOTHESIS /024 3.1 Robotic Architecture Reconfiguration /025 3.2 Work in Collaboration /026

04. RESEARCH METHOD /028 4.1 Research /029 4.2 Design /031 4.3 Documentation /039

05. CASE STUDY /052 5.1 Ningbo Museum /053 5.2 Eco-Pods /055 5.3 Optic Clouds /057 5.4 Nodo Chair /058 5.5 Research Pavilion /059 5.6 Caborn-fibre Pavilion /061 5.7 Silkworms Pavilion /063

06. ANALYSIS /066 6.1 Autonomous Architecture Now /067 6.2 Look into the Future /070

07. PERSONAL LEARNING /072 08. REFERENCES /076

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES

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Artifical Intelligent Robot Image in Movies/ “I, Robot”

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INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES What is Autonomous Architecture?

Autonomous Architecture, also Robotic Architecture, is a new field in architectural design that aims to bringing robotic technology and artificial intelligence into architecture practice. More details about the background of Autonomous Architecture can be found in Chapter 2.1 “Made By Robots”.

robotic technology development has also made some progress in Academic world where a research team of Stanford Research Institute led by Charles Rosen created a robot from Devol’s model that could “wheel around the room, observe the scene with his television ‘eyes’, move across unfamiliar surroundings, and to a certain degree, respond to his environment”(Stanford, 1998).

What is Robotic Technology?

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Oxford Dictionaries define robot as “a machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer”(Oxford Dictionaries, 2014).

The concept of robotics can actually be traced back to 3rd century BC where Egyptians used human figurines in their water clocks to strike the hour bell. The concept of a machine works like human kept developing through the centuries and reached a relative peak in 1700s before the rapid evolving of robotics in 20th century to nowadays. The first modern robots were created in the early 1950s by an American inventor named George C. Devol. It was not until the late 1960s that Devol’s robot patent was acquired and modified into an industrial robot by Joseph Engleberger, who is now known by the robotic industry as “the Father of robotics”. Around similar times,

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is part of the development of robotics. McCarthy defines AI as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs”, which is similar as “using computers to understand human intelligence” without the need to “confine itself to methods that are biologically observable”(McCarthy, 2007).

What is this studio about?

Autonomous Architecture, the thesis studio, is in aims of exploring the latest technologies in architecture development by experimenting architecture design with the introduction of robotic intelligence while produce designs from inspiration of animal architecture.

The studio is running in cooperation with

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the mechanical engineering students from MCEN90028 Robotics and Automation Systems. Generally they provide us off-theshelf type of robotic arms to support us experimenting with our design hypothesis.

2. Arduino is used to help understand the connection between computer and robot control.

3. Matlab is the key software used by engineers for robot movement calculation and control.

4. Kinects is the hardware used to receive real environmental information for

What is the process of the studio?

the robot to react accordingly and in some way give the robotic arm intelligence.

In the studio, we started with some background researches including current practices in the field of robotic architecture, the meaning of speculative design, animal architecture as well as artificial intelligence. Next, we developed each of our own design hypothesis and tested with some simple prototypes. Moreover, the prototypes are further developed and transferred into more complicated models.

Following technologies are used in this studio: 1. Processing is the main software used in this studio for coding, majorly to create the design logic.

What is the goal of the studio?

The goal of this studio is to research on how the introduction of robotic technology and artificial intelligence can help reshapte architecture practice and what kind of new possible perspectives it can bring to architecture design and construction. Videos about how generic robotic arms can be used to produce research prototypes and possibly more complicated models for real construction are expected to be made as documentation.

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FILMING CLASS

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CHAPTER 2 BACKGROUND

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MADE BY

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Robotic technology, one of the most advanced scientific explorations around the world, have been introduced to architecture in recent years. “Made by Robots� published as one of the books in Architectural Design(AD) series, provided a background introduction to the use of robotics in architecture nowadays, along with experiments and investigations done by some of the

leading experts in this area. Fabio Gramazio and Matthias Kohler are two of the most recognized names in the field of robotic architecture. In ETH Zurich, these two architects have done multiple researches and practices in bringing robotic technology into architecture and in 2005 made ETH the first multipurpose fabrication laboratory in architecture that utilizes an industrial robot. Gramazio and Kohler have focused on the values that robotic technology can possibly bring to architecture including greater material variety and geometry complexity in aims of expanding the range of production and design options for architects. Moreover, they looked the potential of applying robotics in large scale architecture realization and how it might effect on the current construction process(Castle et al., 2014).

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It is claimed by Gramazio and Kohler that robotics in architecture can potentially reshape the entire field of architecture practice, blur the division between design and production. They have been attempting to make connections between academic researches and construction industry with numerous technical models and projects. For example, Structural Oscillations, an installation done by an industrial robotic arm for the 11th Venice Architecture Biennale, displayed the capability of robotic technology bringing the digital algorithmic design and real construction of brick laying together. With the robotic arm autonomously laying the bricks according to the digital design logic and putting on mortars while placing bricks, this project has shown the possibility where” immaterial logic of computers and the material reality of architecture”(Castle et al., 2014) encounter each other and making new architectural forms and complex geometries from digital design achievable in accompany with material practices.

Structural Oscillations / Gramazio & Kohler

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It is said that the industrial robot is able to “perform an unlimited variety of non-repetitive tasks”(Castle et al., 2014), the research on robotic architecture can therefore be focused on exploring the possibilities in design and materialisation brought by robots. In a way, the exploration is about using

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Flight Assembled Architecture / Gramazio & Kohler

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articulated-arm robots as basic fabrication tools that are not only reliable, but also flexible due to their potentials proven in conventional industrial utilizations. Furthermore, the erasure of the division between architectural design and production will noticeably expand the range of choices and allow “a new material differentiation and complexity to emerge and find expression”(Castle et al., 2014).

besides conventional digitally controlled ones, can operate freely in airspace in constructing a vertical urban structure with thousands of building modules(Castle et al., 2014). In other words, such practice proves that robotic technology is able to be applied to large scale architecture projects although the current tests are in an utopian state6. In theory, the realization of full robotic construction is not unachievable.

Even though not all of Gramazio and Kohler’s experiments are as practical in applying to real architecture projects as Structural Oscillations, they provided a peak to a possible future and demonstrated that there are much more can be achieved by introducing robotics into architecture. Such as the Flight Assembled Architecture project , which uses flying robots to construct a vertical village, illustrated the ability of robots,

The studio’s goal is very similar to what Gramazio and Kohler are trying to achieve, which is exploring the possible changes robotic technology can bring to architecture practice. By using cheap, generic, off-the-shelf type of robotic arms built by engineering students, we are devoted to find out more on the expansion in architectural design and construction rather than on robotic technology development itself.

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Autonomous architecture in this studio is developed majorly in theory. Whether something such as my research topic, robotic architecture reconfiguration, can be realized or applied in large scale architecture projects or be in any way useful in architecture development is unknown. This poses a question on the meaning of doing such research while no one knows if it is part of the future architecture practices. However, “Speculative Everything” has given an answer to the question, that is, design is not just about prob-

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lem solving or predicting the probable future, it is about using imagination to create possibilities.

Just like my favorite quote in the book says: “[f] or us futures are not a destination or something to be strived for but a medium to aid imaginative thought - to speculate with”(Dunne&Raby, 2013).

Some fascinating speculative design precedents are provided in the book. For instance, Floppy Legs is a portable hard drive designed to be able to stand up when there is liquid nearby.

SPECULATIVE Floppy Legs / James Chambers

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It may seem lack of meaning to develop this project, nevertheless, it is said that the Floppy Legs project “opens new perspectives on sustainability by suggesting that if products were equipped with sensors they could dodge danger and survive longer before ending up in a landfill” (Dunne&Raby, 2013). One other example, Victimless Leather: A Prototype of a Stitch-less Jacket Grown in a Technoscientific “Body”, which pretty much explained itself in the title that it is an art project about growing leather in lab without the need of killing any animals. Though it is only an art work at the moment which is not utilizable to make real leather jacket or anything, it proposed that leather or other organic products such as meat can possibly be created singularly without killing any animals3. The most interesting project I found in the book is The Quantum Parallelograph, which is a machine designed to learn the user’s activities in parallel universe. If say the other two projects have some real industrial values that may soon be able to realize, it is hard to tell the purpose of the Quantum Parallelograph project because it involves with many uncertainties including theories such as the theory of parallel universes that are not proven yet. Nonetheless, it opened up a possibility that if all the scientific theories involved are in fact true, human can take a peak of their own lives in parallel universes and know the consequences of different life choices.

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Victimless Letather / SymbioticA

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Barn swallow nest

Sheet funnel web constructed by wolf spider

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Bird nesting beside a wasp nest

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ANIMAL

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016 One of the studio’s goals is to get inspired by animal architecture and learn from nature. “Bird Nest and Construction Behaviour” is a book studies about nesting and structure building behaviours of birds and some other animals. There are many interesting research results and theories on animals’ nest and construction behaviours including how to calculate the energy used in nest construction, how birds act in attempting to save energy and time in nesting during reproduction season, how some animal construction behaviour (e.g. bower construction) is related to mating rituals as well as how bird nests are evolved and developed into different types

of structures through history (Hansell, 2004).

The most relevant part to my research proposal in this book is how birds save energy in nesting. Few techniques are mentioned: 1. Reduce nest size; 2. Stealing nesting materials or whole nests; 3. Expand the nesting timeline (Hansell, 2004). Inspired by birds’ behaviour of material or nest stealing, I came up with the idea of reusing materials of built architecture that no longer needed to construct a new architecture in order to fit new purposes. Which means, old architectures can be reconfigured into new buildings to save energy consumption in construction and in a way achieve sustainability.

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The major design software used in this studio is Processing, which is a programming language based on Java. As I do not have much experience with programming languages, I started learning Processing from two major sources at the beginning of the studio: firstly, Creative Coding course from Future Learning taught by Jon McCormack; secondly, online video tutorials on plethora-project made by Jose Sanchez. After getting famil-

iarized with the software, I tried to modify some codes provided by Creative Coding as well as studio leader Stanislav. This helped me to understand the programming language better and laid the foundation for me to write my own codes later.

The hardware required in this studio besides the generic robotic arms made by engineering students include Arduino and Kinect. Arduino is an

SOFTWARE

HARDWARE

electronics platform that provided hardware such as core chips, sensors, servo motor and so on for building up the robotic arms in engi-

better and prepare us for the controlling of robots later. For the purpose of learning Arduino, I bought the starter kit and learnt to use pro-

neering groups. It also provides a software interface similar to Processing for users to translate computer logic to commands to the hardware. In this studio, we were required to try with Arduino to gain an basic understanding of how it works in order for us to understand the robotic arms

gramming language to command LED lights to flash, to teach Processing to receive information from Arduino sensors as well as to make servo motor rotate according to controls. On the other hand, Kinect is the major sensor that suppose to help the robotic arms to gain some intelligence.

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Coding work modified from Creative Coding

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Aduino testing

Arduino Due which is used in the engineerings’ robots

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Kinect 1 Depth Image

Kinect 2 Depth Image

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Kinect is originally the sensor for the game console XBox. During the studio, we have tried to connect an old version Kinect to Processing and use it to detect the physical environment and translate the information back to the digital environment. In this process, we used Processing library Simple OpenNI which is specifically designed to help translate Kinect information to Processing language. With Kinect’s ability to produce depth image, it provided the robots an eye to detect the surroundings and make judgements accordingly. Another Processing library

named OpenCV which provides functions like detecting brightest/darkest point, detecting differentces between images, detect edge and so on which gives the usage of Kinect much more possiblities. For example, some of students in the studio successfully use the combination of OpenCV and Kinect to detect different lengthes of sticks and translate them to Processing images.

Moreover, I have also hacked the latest version of Kinect for Xbox to make it work for Windows since it provides a much finer depth image as shown above in compare to the old version Kinect.

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Preparing for hacking

Open up Kinect 2

Find the right place

Split wires of 12V adaptor

Sold the wires

Use glue to secure the wires

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HACKING KINECT2

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH QUESTION AND HYPOTHESIS

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ROBOTIC ARCHITECTURE RECONFIGURATION The research topic I am exploring is Robotic Architecture Reconfiguration. It is hypothesised that robotic technology can help an architecture to reconfigure in order for it to adapt a change in function or a modification in environment. By this idea, an unwanted building can be disassembled by robots and reassembled in a different form in response to site or function change. The hypothesis is significant because in a way robotic architecture reconfiguration can reduce the waste of architecture materials and in some sense increase the sustainability of architecture. It is an idea inspired by animal architecture where some birds steal nest materials from other birds or refurnish old nests in order to reduce energy consumption in nest construction (Hansell, 2000).

Different from most of the current ideas about constructing new buildings with recycled architecture materials, this idea of robotic architecture reconfiguration uses artificial intelligence to help the designer in deciding the best way to make the reconfiguration in coop-

erate with the site and function requirements.

The method I am using to test my hypothesis is to build prototypes with generic robotic arms, starting from simple laying bricks to constructing much more complex structures. The idea is that the robotic arms will be able to disassemble the structures they built and reconfigure them in according to both designer’s intentions and environmental changes.

At this stage, the hypothesis is simply a concept that cannot be applied to real construction yet. However, it is part of the speculative design that not just deals with the most likely future, but also creates possibilities for the future(Dunne&Raby, 2013). It is foreseeable that with the technology development, robots will be widely used in architecture construction. At that time, robotic architecture reconfiguration will help open up some new possibilities for how architecture materials can be recycled and how design can be aided with artificial intelligence.

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WORK IN COLLABORATION After mid-semester, I decided to work in collaboration with Ki Yuen Chan (Kim) to increase the complexity of the project. Kim has a research interest in how robots can help human to do designs, which means using artificial intelligence to increase possibilities of design outcome. In his first prototype, he developed a system where he and the robotic arm can build a stick structure together. In building the prototype, he would place some sticks first as a design guidance for the robot and the robot will use kinect as “eyes� to detect where to place the next stick and complete a stick structure.

In collaboration, we decided to make some design that can fulfill both of our research interest. It was clear that my first prototype is a bit too simple and the design outcome is not really interesting while Kim’s first prototype requires glue to make the stick structure stable and thus could not be easily reconfigured. Therefore, we thought about research on some new materials and structures and develop a new hy-

pothesis that robotic technology can make our own design hypothesis real at the same time.

The new hypothesis states that robotics can have intelligence to determine the intention of designers and help designers to design architecture projects that are able to be disassembled and reconfigured. In this way, the design would not entirely be depending on a computer analysis of the environment conditions, but also would contain design ideas from human and make the design more human oriented.

The research method remains the same as we tested the theory with different prototypes.

The prototypes includes some material tests and model building that are in theory easily done by robots but not tested with robots due to the incompletion of robotic arms at that time as well as limitations of those robots done by the engineering groups. It is hypothesized that with more advanced robots the designs can be possibly constructed in full scale.

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CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH METHODS

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RESEARCH With the rapid development of the current society, numerous of new buildings are constructed every year around the world. At the same time, many old buildings that no-longer fit the needs of users are taken down. While these buildings are being demolished, architectural materials such as bricks, concrete slabs which once were acting as walls, columns and so on became wastes. Not only the embodied energies of these architectural materials are wasted, but also, it costs time, money and energy to treat these material wastes as well. Therefore, it is essential for architecture practice to come up with a better solution to deal with these materials left by the demolished build-

ings. In my research, I propose to reconfigure architecture with robotic technology. In this way, the same materials can be disassembled from the old architecture in a reverse way of how they were used in construction, and reused in a way in respond to the needs of users effected by the environmental or function change. It may be hard to reused all the materials from the old architecture, however, not entirely impossible and at least some of the materials are recyclable and will help reduce the material waste. If all architecture were constructed by robots with recyclable materials, it is possible to reconfigure the whole building and access zero architectural material waste.

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Current method of building demolising Taking Australia for example, it is reported that with the fast increasing in consumption of resources, especially raw materials, as well as the ever-growing waste production in the country, it is very important to rethink the way of building construction and how to make them easier to reuse after demolition as we only have limited resources on the planet. Thinking purely from economic aspect, waste creation is only good for material suppliers who make money from consumptions higher than necessary. However, it is hard and expensive to develop a material reuse system for the existing buildings. Instead, it is much more practical to think about the recycling

1 from the beginning and “ (Lehmann &Zaman,.

2012). In this way, not only the final product, but also the embodied energy, materials and time will be able to be recovered. In current architecture practice, it is maintained by Kafumann that a building constructed from pre-fabricated components is easy to recycle (Lehmann &Zaman,.2012) This is when robotic technology can step in and help the realization of resources saving. Since robots can easily record the construction process and reverse it when the building needed to be demolished. With pre-fabricated components, the demolishing process could be like disassembling a LEGO model and no materials will be wasted.

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PROTOTYPE 1

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Prototype 1 is a simple brick layering process with two different colours of bricks representing different architectural elements (red in the diagram as normal brick and blue as ‘windows’) in an architecture and different rules of how to lay these bricks.

Design Setting: All blue blocks (windows) have to be surrounded by other blocks.

Construction/Disassemble process: 1. Initializing Robotic Arm 1 to layer red blocks in "S" style start from left 2. If the next block suppose to be blue, jump to the position after 3. If the next block is red and the block under the next block is blue, stop Robotic Arm 1 and initialize Robotic Arm 2.

4. Robotic Arm 2 placing blue blocks under from bottom to top 5. Robotic Arm 2 Stop, re-initializing Robotic Arm 1 6. Repeat process

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ROBOT ARM 1

ROBOT ARM 2

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RECONFIGURATION 1.10

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After sensors detected the environmental change and disassembled the previous structure, the computer will assess the new environmental conditions and produce a new design accordingly. For example, the above pattern is produced according to the need of more dense lighting.

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Prototype 2 Idea test

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Prototype 2 Idea test

PROTOTYPE 2 Prototype 2 is an idea came after the I start to work collaterally with Kim. It is inspired by some architecture projects including ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion made of carbon and glass fibre, as well as some fashion designs which introduced the idea of clothes as second skin of human being. The basic idea is use string elements as construction material over some existing structures to produce a second skin, then harden these strings to make the new “skin� able to stand alone as an architecture pavilion.

The basic process is to building this prototype is: 1. Sensor detect the form of the existing structure 2. Robot Arm 1 placing carbon/glass fiber strings on the existing structure while Robot Arm 2 brush resin to the strings 3. If disassembly needed, Robot Arm 2 use heat gun soften resin hardened strings while Robot Arm 1 collect the strings 4. Repeat Process

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Weaving with different density

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PROTOTYPE 3 Prototype 3 is also about string wrapping, however, with a much more logical pattern. This is the prototype leaded Kim and I to the final design. Basically, we were thinking about using something triangular as a base module form to wrap strings since triangles can easily breed many different shapes.

Using a similar logic as the robotic woven Carbonfiber Pavilion done in the University of Stuttgart, I tried to divide the edges of a triangle to make anchor points and ‘weaved’ the pattern as shown in the pictures. With different density of the anchor points, the weaving displays different characteristics which is good as we can use it to fulfill the needs of sunshades under different sunlight density. Different from Prototype 2, in this model, the weaving is done by using one continuous string and do not need resin to make them stand alone.

The basic process of building this prototype: 1. Sensor scan the sunlight condition and decide which density of string pattern needed.

2. Robotic Arm wrapping string pattern on triangular structure based on the information from sensor.

3. Sensor detect if the sunlight condition changes and decide if reconfiguration needed.

4. If weaving pattern need to be changed, Robotic arm collect string from the base structure and reweave according to new information from sensor.

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DOCUMENTATION 039

PROTOTYPE 1

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CONSTRUCTING PROTOTYPE 1

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PROTOTYPE 2

Prototype 2 is basically a material test done on a half sphere base. Kim and I were trying to harden fiber glass by brushing resin on it. We thought that if we use enough hardener, fiber glass will be able to harden almost instantly In that way, while one robot placing fiber glass strings from point to point slowly, the other can brush resin on it so the fiber glass will stay in the correct position. However, from the test we found that it is not very easy to get fiber glass harden instantly even though in theory it can work. The ratio of chemicals used in mixing the resin is very hard to control. At the same time, if resin harden instantly, it would not be possible for the robotic arm to brush it on fiber glass. Moreover, once the fiber glass is hardened it is extremely difficult to get soft again, if not impossible. The soften process work with a heat gun, nevertheless, is too much work for our engineer’s robotic arm to work on. Therefore, prototype 2 provided an information that hardened fiber glass is not very good material choice. The same goes to hardened carbon fiber.

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PROTOTYPE 3 & FINAL DESIGN

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SITE SCAN TO DETECT OBSTACLES

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STACKING BASE STRUCTURE

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WEAVING

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CHAPTER 5 CASE STUDIES

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Ningbo Museum/ Wang Shu

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The first precedent that inspired my research proposal is Ningbo Museum designed by Wangshu. It is one of the most iconic projects of this Pritzker Prize winner. Ningbo Museum presented an idea of how to sustainably use materials. Architectural materials recycled from demolished traditional Chinese buildings are used to construct this museum. As shown in the pictures, the exterior facades are constructed from black bricks, roof tiles and so on. The form of the museum is modern, however, with the use of recycled traditional materials, it is also devoted to tradition, history and a sense of place (Clark, 2013). It made an example of how to use recycled materials and proposed that demolished buildings can possibly be reconfigured into a totally different project. With the introducing of robotic technology to architecture practice, the design for reconfiguration process will be more accurate and the construction will be much more convenient with the robots doing all the work.

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Eco-pods is a concept structure done by Boston Architects Howeler+Yoon in cooperation with Los Angeles digital designer Squared Design Lab. The idea of this design is to propose “the potential of micro-algae, a bio-fuel that can grown vertically�(dezeen, 2009). In this design, the giant robotic arms continuously rearrange the pods in order for the plants in the pods to get the best sunlight condition2. As the project is designed in modules that are assembled by robots in the first, they can easily be rearranged by the robotic arms and thus make a reconfiguration to the whole structure. Moreover, as the robots in this project has intelligence to detect the sun conditions and decided where to place the pods for the best result, the pod-structure can possibly be disassembled and reconstructed somewhere else too. What is more, this give me an idea that the collaboration design of Kim and I should be with this type of modules as Kim can work with these modules as he worked with the sticks in his first prototype and I can focus on how to reconfigure these modules.

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ECO-PODS/ Howeler+Yoon & Squared Design Lab

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OPTIC CLOUDS Designed by Hadrian Predock from UCLA, Optic Clouds was a project for the Material Matters exhibition as part of a curated architectural group show in 2012. The designer wrapped intensely coloured fiberglass filament around existing spherical planters and created this cloud shape objects (UCLA 2012). With all the fiberglass strings dipped in resin, after taking away the spherical planters they are hard enough to stand alone.

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Optic Clouds/ Hadrian Predock

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In this project, a normally static component is made dynamic because of the choose of material as well as its construction process. Optic Clouds “produces a nested, three layer set of clusters, each structural connected to each other and each exhibiting a slightly different morphology (horizontally biased to vertically biased)” and the colour is added as “an organizing and enlivening agent” (UCLA 2012). It is also claimed that the inflatable clusters can easily be reused and reconfigured into other forms3. It gave us the idea of trying to use resin hardened fiberglass to build our design and experiment on how to reconfigure it

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Nodo Chair is a similar project as Optic Clouds.

Both of them are constructed with fiberglass.

Differently, it is not just a piece of artwork, but also a practical piece of furniture. Designed by Pentagono Studio, Nodo Chair fabricated by fiberglass is much lighter and more dynamic than the regular chairs (Marvelbuilding, 2014).

In some way, as critics have commented on the design that it represented a sense of emptiness with its lightness and lured people into a wonder of freedom (Marvelbuilding, 2014).

Both of the two projects can be considered as architectural experiments on materials other than their art work definition. They can certainly be defined as speculative designs as they both proposed a new possibility of material use in architecture rather than just focusing on any problem solving. If say Optic Clouds is in concern of the flexibility of form, then Nodo Chair is a test of the stability of resin dipped fiberglass as structure element which is equally important for architecture.

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Nodo Chairs/ Pentagono Studio

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Research Pavilion/ ICD & ITKE

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2 Research Pavilion is a robotic design project done in 2012 by the Institute for Computational Design (ICD) and the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) of the University of Stuttgart.. The whole pavilion is constructed out of carbon and glass fibre composites on a temporary steel frame before the skeleton is fully reenforced by fibers. It is said that the research proposal of this project is focused on “the material and morphological principles of arthropods’ exoskeletons as a source of exploration for a new composite construction paradigm in architecture” (Archdaily, 2013). The most essential and innovative aspect of this project in compare to other fiber constructed project, is that this project used robotic fabrication process in an industrial way to wind carbon and glass fibres (Archdaily, 2013).

This project is very close to what our studio is trying to achieve not only because of the robotic part, but also because that this design also aims for learning from animals like one of the studio’s objectives. The shell structure is mimicking the lobster’s exoskeleton which contains a soft part (the endocuticle) and a hard part (the exocuticle) (Archdaily, 2013).

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Carbon-fibre Pavilion is also a project developed

by ICD and ITKE and very similar to the previous Research Pavilion. The design is based on beetle shells, which means it is also inspired by animal architecture. Both the Research Pavilion and the Carbon-fibre Pavilion belong to “an ongoing programme investigating how natural lightweight structures can be recreated using architecture� (dezeen, 2014). Different from the Research Pavilion which is constructed by Robot in full scale, Carbon-fibre Pavilion is constructed in modules

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which are made by glass and carbon fibres robotically woven on light weight base structures.

This project is the major model and inspiration for our project as we also intended to use modules and weave fibers on. In Carbon-fibre Pavilion, the weaving part is controlled by robots based on computer logics while the stacking of modules is done manually but also based on digital design. As the carbon fibre was purely used as tension structure element and not hardened with resin in this project, they can be easily unweaved and reconfigured into other things.

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Silkworms Pavilion done in MIT is another weaving project that uses modules. I am specially amazed by this project as it not just mimicked animal behaviour using robotics, it literally used animals in helping to design and construct the project. The design group of this project spent much time study how silkworms produce silk and construct cocoon and programmed the robotic arms to imitate the process. All 26 modules are designed differently in according to the sunlight condition analysis while produced in a way simulations of the silkworms building their cocoons (dezeen, 2013). Unlike Carbon-fibre Pavilion, the Silkworms Pavilion is not about reenforced structure and thus did not involve any structural materials. The weaving material in this

on flat polygonal metal frames to produce the modules first. Then these modules were assembled manually to form a dome shape. Lastly, the designers placed real silkworms on the dome and waited for them to produce silk on it in order to achieve more complex geometry. It is the goal of this project to “explore how digital and biological fabrication techniques can be combined to produce architectural structures� (dezeen, 2013). The project inspired us to think about using multiple small robots to weave after the big robotic arm assembled our modules in ideal construction process. The small robots can be programmed to act like the silkworms or spiders to produce the silk and each of them control one string to weave, collect and reconfigure

project is silk fibre (dezeen, 2013). The production process is that the robot weaved the strings

without the need of one big machine to do all the things and speed up the reconfiguration process.

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AUTONOMOUS ARCHITECTURE NOW As research above shown, the current Autonomous Architecture is in an experimental and exploring stage. Even though the robotic technology is able to build some real architecture projects in full scale like the Research Pavilion, Autonomous Architecture has not reach 100% autonomous yet and there are still many theories not proven and many potentials of introducing robotics to architecture not discovered. The most discussed potential of robotic architecture is that it can blur the division between design and construction, which means architect can directly involve in the construction process and take control. All the robotic architecture projects so far are attempting to prove this. These projects are mostly using generic, off-the-shelf type of robotic arms, trying to focusing on how architecture can be benefit from the robotic technology rather than the development of robotic technology itself. The problem is that robots now are mostly used as tools that can reduce the work load of humans, however, the full potential of robotics has not been fully utilized especially the part of artificial intelligence.

Our studio has tried to cover the part of artificial

intelligence though mostly in theory. With the exploration of the full potential of current robotic technology especially artificial intelligence, there are more can be achieved. For example, with artificial intelligence, my research hypothesis is much easier to come to reality as by human there are too many aspects to consider while designing something easy to reconfigure. But the robot will be able to decide what type of structure is easy to disassemble later with its own intelligence and it will be able to automatically reconfigure the structure with analysis. In addition, Architecture as a field that interacts with many other fields, it would be great to explore more on what the current robotics can achieve and then develop on Autonomous Architecture. Moreover, with robotics involved, we can experiment more freely on the influence of other fields to architecture. Like the pavilions done in the University of Stuttgart and MIT mentioned as case studies, they explored how the complexity of architecture forms can be enhanced by learning from study of animals. The seemly unachievable complexity is realized by the introduction of robotics.

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LOOK INTO THE FUTURE In the future, there are much more to discover.

With the development of robotic technology, there are many possibilities proposed. Artificial Intelligence is always a hot research topic. The current machines already have some abilities to make judgement with sensors equipped, nonetheless, have not reached real artificial intelligence and not able to think like real humans yet. It is not impossible that in the future, artificial intelligence can be realized and robots can think like human like the main robot character in the movie “I, robot�. In that way, robots will be able to contribute much more to architecture and help reach the full automation of architecture design and construction. What is more, in the robotic industry and architecture practices, researchers are trying to develop more advanced machines to do specific works human cannot do manually. For instance, ERO concrete-recycling robot designed

by Omer Haciomeroglu in concept can melt concrete and steel and thus able to erase the whole building for recycle use (Grozdanic 2014). If this can be realized, it will certainly help my research hypothesis to become more advanced as even old non-robotic built buildings will be able to demolished in a way that can be reconfigured later.

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During studies in this studio, I have learnt many things besides software and basic filming techniques. The most essential learning to me is that I have gained a new way of thinking about design. I always thought that design has to be practical, able to fulfil some particular needs or solve some special problems. However, from this studio, I have found that the more essential aspect of design is actually not problem solving or fulfil needs or not even about predicting the future. It is about creativity, using imagination and open up possibilities. It is more important because it is true that the future is not the destination. Future is something not happened yet and even the so called “probable� future is not

something that is going to happen surely. All the possibilities we propose now are actually equally possible to happen in the future. Therefore, the explorations of all these possibilities have the same importance and meaning. Which means, the key of design is to propose more possibilities and create more openings for imagination.

074 As for the content of the studio itself, Autonomous Architecture is a development trend of architecture practice. In doing researches about this area, I have touched the cutting edge concepts of the current architecture practice and moreover, these concepts left me a large space for imagination and for thinking about possibilities.

CHAPTER 8 REFERENCES

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01. INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES IMAGE SOURCE: 1. Artificial Intelligent Robot in Movie, 2004, “I, Robot”, source: ww.bigdata-startups.com/artificial-intelligence-change-business-forever TEXT SOURCE: McCarthy, 2007, “Basic Questions”, in What is AI, Stanford, viewed 7th August, 2014. <http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/whatisai/node1.html> Oxford Dictionaries, 2014, ‘Definition of robot in English’, in Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press, viewed 7th August, 2014. <http://www. oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/robot> Stanford, 1998, Robotics: A Brief History, Stanford, viewed 7th August, 2014. < http://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/courses/soco/projects/1998-99/robotics/history.html>

02. BACKGROUND 2.1 Made by Robots IMAGE SOURCE: 1. Structural Oscillation, 2007, Gramazio & Kohler, source: http://www. dezeen.com/2009/09/16/pike-loop-by-gramazio-kohler/ 2. Flight Assembled Architecture, 2011, Gramazio & Kohler, source: http:// www.personal-drones.net/multirotors-autonomously-build-complex-wallthe-flight-assembled-architecture-installation/ TEXT SOURCE: Castle, H., et al. (eds), 2014, Made by Robots, Wiley Press, London 2.2 Speculative Everything IMAGE SOURCE: 1. Quantum Parallelograph, 2011, Stevenson-Keating, P., source: http://

www.zagg.com/community/blog/quantum-parallelograph/ 2. Floppy Legs, 2010, Chambers, J., http://www.moma.org/interactives/ exhibitions/2011/talktome/objects/146367/ 3. Victimless Leather, 2004, SymbioticA, http://headsofmediocrity.blogspot. com.au/2010/04/we-inhabit-three-containers-skin.html TEXT SOURCE: Dunne, A., and Raby F., 2013, Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts 2.3 Animal Architecture IMAGE SOURCE: 1. Sheet funnel web constructed by wolf spider, source: http://www.pestid. msu.edu/InsectsArthropods/FunnelwebspiderCicuriasp/tabid/265/Default. aspx 2. Bar swallow nest, source: http://images.1233.tw/swallows-nest/ 3. Bower, source: http://bowernyc.com/bower/ 4. Bird nesting beside a wasp nest, source: http://upwoods.wordpress. com/2012/09/05/the-summer-of-the-drunken-wasps/ TEXT SOURCE: Hansell, 2000, Bird Nests and Construction Behaviour, Cambridge University Press, New York, pp.129-151 2.4 Software/Hardware IMAGE SOURCE: 1. Arduino Due which is used in the engineers’ robots, source: http:// au.mouser.com/new/arduino/arduino-due/ 2. Kinect 2 Depth image, source: http://brekel.com/category/ranting/

03. RESEARCH QUESTION AND HYPOTHESIS

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3.1 Robotic Architecture Reconfiguration TEXT SOURCE: Dunne, A., and Raby F., 2013, Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts Hansell, 2000, Bird Nests and Construction Behaviour, Cambridge University Press, New York, pp.129-151

04. RESEARCH METHOD 4.1 Research IMAGE SOURCE: 1. Current method of building demolising, source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Demolition_dust_coventry_14n07.jpg TEXT SOURCE: Lehmann and Zaman, 2012, “Beyong recycling: making waste obsolete”, in Architecture & Desing, infolink, in Architecture & Design, infolink, viewed 15th August,2014. < http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/comment/ beyond-recycling-making-waste-obsolete>.

05. CASE STUDY 5.1 Ningbo Museum IMAGE SOURCE: Ningbo Museum, 2008, Wang Shu, source: https://cfileonline.org/architecture-wang-shus-ningbo-museum/ TEXT SOURCE: Clark G.,(ed), 2013, “Wang Shu’s Ningbo Museum”, in CFile, CFile, viewed 3rd September, 2014. <https://cfileonline.org/architecture-wang-shusningbo-museum/>

5.2 Eco-Pods IMAGE SOURCE: Eco-Pods, 2009, Howeler+Yoon & Squared Design Lab, source: http:// www.dezeen.com/2009/10/02/eco-pods-by-howeler-yoon-architectureand-squared-design-lab/ TEXT SOURCE: dezeen, 2009, “Eco-pods by Howeler+Yoon Architecture and Squared Design Lab”, in dezeen, dezeen, viewed 3rd September, 2014. <http://www. dezeen.com/2009/10/02/eco-pods-by-howeler-yoon-architectureandsquared-design-lab/> 5.3 Optic Clouds IMAGE SOURCE: Optic Clouds, 2012, Hadrian Predock, source: http://www.aud.ucla.edu/ news/lecturer_hadrian_predock_155.html TEXT SOURCE: UCLA, 2012, “Lecturer Hadrian Predock”, in UCLA AUD, UCLA, viewed 14th September, 2014. <http://www.aud.ucla.edu/news/lecturer_hadrian_ predock_155.html> 5.4 Nodo Chair IMAGE SOURCE: Nodo Chair, 2014, Pentagono Studio, source: http://www.marvelbuilding. com/lightweight-chair-interconnected-stringlike-fiberglass-nodo-chair. html TEXT SOURCE: Marvelbuilding, 2014, “Lightweight Chair Made of Interconnected String-

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like Fiberglass – Nodo Chair”, in Marvelbuilding, Marvelbuilding, viewed 14th September, 2014. <http://www.marvelbuilding.com/lightweight-chairinterconnected-stringlike-fiberglass-nodo-chair.html> 5.5 Research Pavilion IMAGE SOURCE: Research Pavilion, 2012, ICD/ITKE, source: http://www.archdaily. com/340374/icditke-research-pavilion-university-of-stuttgart-faculty-ofarchitecture-and-urban-planning/ TEXT SOURCE: Archdaily, 2013, “ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion / University of Stuttgart, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning”, in “Archdaily”, Archdaily viewed 20th September, 2014. <http://www.archdaily.com/340374/icditkeresearch-pavilion-university-of-stuttgart-faculty-of-architecture-andurban-planning/> 079 5.6 Caborn-fibre Pavilion IMAGE SOURCE: Carbon-fibre Pavilion, 2013, ICD/ITKE, source: http://www.dezeen. com/2014/06/26/icd-itke-pavilion-beetle-shells-university-of-stuttgart/ TEXT SOURCE: dezeen, 2014, “University of Stuttgart unveils carbon-fibre pavilion based on beetle shells”, in dezeen, dezeen, viewed 20th September, 2014. <http:// www.dezeen.com/2014/06/26/icd-itke-pavilion-beetle-shells-universityof-stuttgart/> 5.7 Silkworms Pavilion IMAGE SOURCE: Silkworms Pavilion, 2013, MIT Media Lab, source: http://www.dezeen. com/2013/06/03/silkworms-and-robot-work-together-to-weave-silk-

pavilion/ TEXT SOURCE: dezeen, 2013, “Silkworms and robot work together to weave Silk Pavilion”, in dezeen,dezeen, viewed 20th September, 2014. <http://www.dezeen. com/2013/06/03/silkworms-and-robot-work-together-to-weave-silkpavilion/>

06. ANALYSIS 6.2 Look into the Future IMAGE SOURCE: ERO, 2013, Omer Haciomeroglu, source: http://inhabitat.com/amazingero-concrete-recycling-robot-can-erase-entire-buildings/ TEXT SOURCE: Grozdanic, 2014, “Amazing ERO Concrete-Recycling Robot Can Erase Entire Building”, in “inhabitat”, inhabitate, viewed 10th October, 2014. <http://inhabitat.com/amazing-ero-concrete-recycling-robot-can-eraseentire-buildings/>

07. PERSONAL LEARNING

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