Instructed Matter by Lars Erik Elseth

Chapters 1. Understanding The Tool 2. Harnessing The Tool 3. Body And Space

pp. 4-9

pp. 10-14

pp. 15-19

4. Ergonomic Modules

pp. 20-28

5. Mass Customization

pp. 29-33

6. Construction

pp. 34-37

7. Example Space

pp. 38-39

Introduction Instructed Matter explores material strategies for compact urban living through mass-customized modules. Traditionally, an architect relies on geometry to generate space with material parameters typically coming much later into play. This project attempts to fully embed material parameters and tooling parameters from the very beginning, making fabrication a mode of design rather than a mode of representation. The project examines how printing speed, a normalized tooling parameter, can be exploited in order to regain authorship over form. The work is rooted in a series of studies printed in plastic using a custom built script. It later looks at how to apply customization strategies at 1:1 scale focusing on body-sized modules printed in concrete.

1. Understanding The Tool Opening comments

Since the launch of commercial 3D-printing, there has been an anticipation that the same technology will be able to create perfect replicas of our digital models in the future, but is that what we want? At the same time some of the most basic features of the 3D-printer is locked to a default. These are essentially parameters you cannot play with, while the software prepares a successful printed representation of your model. The result is as much of an accident as it is a product of the machine code. What happens when we look under the hood of the software and start to tweak one of these parameters? This chapter explores printing speed, a parameter to control the pace at which the printer is moving. What new qualities can emerge when we take control over the tooling process?

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Closing comments

When we override the printing speed, we increase the performance spectrum of the tool and start to see nuances between thick and thin. Lower speeds accumulates into densities and knots, while faster speeds generates porosity. As in nature, the prints display weighted distributions of material1, with nuances between thick and thin, solid, and porous. This could gives rise to an exciting condition of gradience in our built environments. Since the tooling parameters are embedded in the fabrication process there is a direct relationship between instruction and matter. This is an exciting and direct way of working with a material. It suggests a feedback loop between the physical and the digital.

1 Oxman, N. 2012. “Material Computation”. MIT Media Lab. Accessed May 30, 2021. https://neri.media.mit.edu/assets/pdf/Publications_MC.pdf

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2. Harnessing The Tool Opening comments

Before going further into what potential this holds for an architecture it’s necessary to set up a link between the digital and the physical so that we can use the established catalogue of speeds as a design tool. How do we assign speed values to a specific moment within the print or even more fundamental, how do we draw precisely with speed? This chapter initiates a second round of printed studies as a way to tune the tool we just discovered.

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Closing comments Through an iterative tuning process, we see that the 3D-print can make local adaptations in topology through a combination of speed- and toolpath instructions. We can further exploit the precision of the print to work closely with a secondary material. While these tests are carried out in plastic the fundamentals of the tooling process suggest a similar way of working when using large scale robotics. Once upscaling to industrial concrete printing the wood could become an important tactile interface that bridges the gap between body and architecture.

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3. Body And Space Opening comments By 2050 it is estimated that 68% of the world population will be living in cities1, and architecture will be challenged to compress itself and provide more qualities within compact solutions to improve the lives of urban dwellers. The American anthropologist Edward Hall claims that zones of intimacy2 govern the way we use and share space with others. This chapter takes a closer look at territorial space and how drawing it can lead to an architecture of compactness.

1 UN. 2018. “68% of the world population (...)”. UN.org. Accessed February 7, 2021. https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html 2 Hall, E. T. (1969). The hidden dimension. Garden City, N.Y: Anchor Books

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Closing comments By drawing territorial space as rays projected out from the body, we start to see how the body’s temporal activities extend into the immediate space. Can we use ergonomics to address space efficiently?

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4. Ergonomic Modules Opening comments This chapter goes through the making of a modular system printed in concrete. It starts off by gathering a discrete catalogue of principle ergonomic sections and then looks at how to assemble these in series. “A landscape is a ground that has been inflected by the historical flows of energy and movement across its surface. These historical forces manifest a geological form of development that is inflected and shaped by the flows that have moved across it.“1 The sectional strategy enables an evolving interior from an architecture of parts. What kind of compact spaces can emerge from this catalogue of modules?

1 Lynn, Greg. 1999. “Animate Form”. Princeton: Architectural Press. New York. pp. 35.

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Closing comments The system of modules makes up an expansive platform from which new assemblies can emerge. In the bathroom example we see how multiple functions is united by the same interior. By using specific tooling strategies, we can also integrate ventilation strategies directly within the module itself. From here the project will explore the potential of the system through concepts of customizability.

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5. Mass Customization Opening comments The project is based around the concept of mass-customizability as enabled by large scale robotics and the potential complexity that comes with 3D-printing technology1. The freedom of movement of the robot makes it possible to process every print individually with a specific tooling strategy. This means that we can have a rapid production line of customized modules, something that wouldn’t be possible with traditional casting techniques and mold making (mass-production). How do we take full advantage of this strategy and how do we use it as a way to output diversity within the architecture?

1 Gramazio, F. Kohler, M. 2020. “Design and Fabrication of a Non-standard, Structural Concrete Column using Eggshell: Ultra-thin, 3D Printed Formwork” ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Accessed 27 January 2021. http://www.gramaziokohler.com/data/publikationen/1662.pdf

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Closing comments Mass-customization enables radically different ways of realizing each module. With printing speed, we can compose entirely customized patterns such as hand rail detailing, openings in the wall and zone buffers. Similarly, we can control the structural infill of each module to reduce weight or carry essential infrastructural equipment.

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6. Construction Opening comments Can material strategies help determine the form of construction elements? This chapter takes a closer look at how the system of modules can be articulated for construction and further installed on site.

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Conventional Printing What happens when we take control over one of these parameters? This chapter explores printing speed, a parameter to control the pace at which the printer is moving while printing and how this

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Closing comments The body-sized modules enable a part-assembly during construction and can implement new ways of thinking about structure through its own material composition.

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7. Example Space (in progress) Opening comments For the last part of the project, the work will be focused on spatial assemblies using the already established catalogue of modules and customization strategies. The image on the next page will give you an idea of how the modules will be assembled into a spatial scenario.

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Example Spaces

Blank wall

Straight wall

MEDIUM [35 MM] 2500 mm

Example Spaces

Exterior wall

WR/BP*

HS/P

Table w/ bike parking

High shelf / perching

ROUGH [50 MM] 2500 mm

*[BP] BIKE PARKING

1000 x 615 mm

Example Spaces

Kitchenette

HS/WR

Work height

Browsing/ table

High shelf / Work height

Slanted wall

FINE [25 MM] 2500 mm

Example Spaces

Staircase

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

MEDIUM [35 MM] 2500 mm

Example Spaces

Workstation

Elbow rest height

Slanted wall (partition)

Browsing / table

Slanted wall (partition)

Perching or leaning

MEDIUM [35 MM] 2500 mm

Example Spaces

Playroom

Cave

Medium shelf

Medium shelf w/ window

Drinking fountain

ROUGH [50 MM] 2500 mm

*[C] CAVE

1000 x 830 mm

Example Spaces

Playroom (Dot)

Cave

Medium shelf

Medium shelf w/ window

Drinking fountain

ROUGH [50 MM] 2500 mm

*[C] CAVE

1000 x 830 mm

Example Spaces

Playroom (Seam)

Cave

Medium shelf

Medium shelf w/ window

Drinking fountain

ROUGH [50 MM] 2500 mm

*[C] CAVE

1000 x 830 mm

Example Spaces

Playroom (Porosity)

Cave

Medium shelf

Medium shelf w/ window

Drinking fountain

ROUGH [50 MM] 2500 mm

*[C] CAVE

1000 x 830 mm

FINE

Example Spaces

Combined space

MEDIUM [� 25mm]

ROUGH

[� 35mm]

[� 50mm]

HS/W

C/LS

Work height

Browsing/ window table

High shelf / work height

Slanted wall

Cave

Low seat

Cave

Medium shelf

Medium shelf w/ window

Drinking fountain

2500 mm

Sliding door

KITCHEN

READING NOOK

PLAYROOM

Space 1

Space 2

Space 3

Example Spaces

Combined space

HS/W

C/LS

Work height

Browsing/ window table

High shelf / work height

Slanted wall

Cave

Low seat

Cave

Medium shelf

Medium shelf w/ window

Drinking fountain

Sliding door

0 < 0.5 m

KITCHEN

READING NOOK

PLAYROOM

Space 1

Space 2

Space 3

Medium 1<2m

Out of reach 2<3m

Example Spaces

Overview

Example Spaces

Overview

Step 6

Elbow rest height

Slanted wall (partition)

Browsing / table

Slanted wall (partition)

Perching or leaning

HS/P

High shelf / perching

Cave

Medium shelf

Medium shelf w/ window

Drinking fountain

HS/WR

Perching

Working height

Work height

Browsing/ table

High shelf / Work height

Slanted wall

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

WR/BP*

HS/P

Straight wall

Table w/ bike parking

High shelf / perching