Robotics
Norman Foster Foundation Public Debate 2018 Supported by the Rolex Institute
Robotics
Norman Foster Foundation Public Debate 2018 Supported by the Rolex Institute
Robotics | Introduction
Building with the robot takes architecture far beyond the creation of static forms to the design of formative material processes. Data and material, programming and construction, are thereby interwoven so that the algorithmic logic of the computer is directly connected with the material reality of built architecture. It becomes possible, then, to intervene directly in the materialisation process and to formulate it according to architectural design criteria. With this change in perspective, this workshop investigates new ways of reflecting on the physics of architecture, its design and materialisation. We mean to convey that the robot can act as a catalyst to impart cultural significance to digital architecture. Through the robot, the digitalisation of architecture becomes physical and tangible. As such, we aim to enter a dialogue between human and machine, designer and maker, to explore the distinct aesthetic significance and identity of digitally fabricated architecture.
Fabio Gramazio Atelier Mentor Norman Foster Foundation
The Rolex Institute embodies Rolex’s philosophy of supporting visionary men and women who make a meaningful contribution to society. The Rolex Institute comprises the educational initiatives and philanthropic programmes of Rolex SA. These include the Rolex Awards for Enterprise that recognise individuals for ground-breaking initiatives in applied science and technology, exploration and the environment; and the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative that brings together promising young talents with world-renowned masters in architecture, dance, film, literature, music, theatre and visual arts for a period of one-to-one collaboration. Rolex has a long-held interest in great architecture, which has many synergies with fine watchmaking. Both architects and watchmakers blend aesthetics and functionality; in both areas there is an obsessive quest for a fusion of form and function and a shared culture of design excellence and technical innovation at the highest level. A passion for architecture has led Rolex to commission the finest buildings for its worldwide operations. Rolex is also the Exclusive Partner and Timepiece of the International Architecture Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia. Great architects who have mentored the next generation of architects through the Rolex Arts Initiative are Álvaro Siza, Kazuyo Sejima, Peter Zumthor, Sir David Chipperfield and Sir David Adjaye. Lord Foster served on the Advisory Board of the Rolex Arts Initiative in 2015.
The Robotics Atelier at the Norman Foster Foundation is supported by the Rolex Institute.
Public Debate
Speakers
Fabio Gramazio, Co-founder of Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
Anne Faucheret, Curator at Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria
Iñigo Lazkanotegi, Project Manager in Instrumentation and Intelligent Maintenance at Tecnalia, Alava, Spain
Jonathan Ledgard, Former Director of Afrotech and founder of Rossums Studio, Lausanne, Switzerland
Chair of the Public Debate
Tim Stonor, Managing Director of Space Syntax, London, United Kingdom
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Schedule Friday 16th February
12:30 p.m. Robotics Public Debate Lecture hall, Fundación Francisco Giner de los Ríos Context by Fabio Gramazio Keynotes by Anne Faucheret, Iñigo Lazkanotegui and Jonathan Ledgard
Debate between Anne Faucheret, Iñigo Lazkanotegui and Jonathan Ledgard, moderated by Tim Stonor
Question-and-answer session
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Participants
Anne Faucheret Anne Faucheret is an art historian and critic. She has been a curator at Kunsthalle Wien since 2014, where she has curated the group show The Promise of Total Automation (2016) and Work it, feel it! (2017), among others. From 2010 to 2015, she was a curatorial advisor for the visual arts at the Steirischer Herbst Festival, Graz, Austria, where she organised the exhibitions Adaptation (2012) and Liquid Assets (2013), and co-curated the 24/7 marathon camp Truth is concrete (2012). Anne Faucheret’s research revolves around the relation between art, technology and the magic of machines. More generally, she is interested in alternative knowledge production, challenging the western anthropocentric rationalistic tradition based on the strict separation between object and subject.
Fabio Gramazio Fabio Gramazio 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 Matthias Kohler, Robotics Atelier Mentor in 2017. His current projects include the design of the Empa NEST research platform, a living and working laboratory for sustainable building construction. Also opening the world’s first architectural robotic laboratory at ETH Zürich, Gramazio & Kohler’s research has been formative in the field of digital architecture, setting precedence and creating a de facto new research field that merges advanced architectural design and additive fabrication processes through the customised use of industrial robots.
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Iñigo Lazkanotegui Iñigo Lazkanotegui Larrarte holds a degree in Computer Science from the Faculty of Mathematics at the Technological University of Aachen (RWTH Aachen) where, in collaboration with the University of Auckland (New Zealand), he began his research, specialised in the compilation and massive analysis of data to optimise industrial processes. During 2009, he led the AURA development project for NEM Solutions, a spin-off company created between CAF and Tecnalia, developing a system for the predictive maintenance of trains and wind turbines. Recently, AURA has been awarded the European EARTO prize for the impact generated in the rail and wind energy sector. His work is currently focused on the creation of an award-winning solution based on big data, called Vixion, which has already received two national awards.
Jonathan Ledgard Jonathan Ledgard is a novelist and a leading thinker on advanced technology, risk, and nature in emerging economies. Jonathan spent two decades as an awardwinning foreign political and war correspondent for The Economist, reporting lead stories from over sixty countries and many wars—including a decade in Africa. As director of the avant-garde École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, he invented the cargo drone and droneport concept for Africa. He also leads a World Bank advisory group on competitive scaling of droneports across the tropics. His work at EPFL on digital identity, robotic interfaces, and artificial intelligence led him to the idea of interspecies money transfer, which is now on a testing phase. He is currently Visiting Professor in Artificial Intelligence at Czech Technical University, Prague.
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Tim Stonor Chair of the Public Debate Tim Stonor is an architect and urban planner who has devoted his career to the analysis and design of human behaviour patterns—the ways in which people move, interact and transact in buildings and urban places. He is an internationally recognised expert in the design of spatial layouts and, in particular, the role of space in the generation of social, economic and environmental value. Tim is the Managing Director of Space Syntax, a company created at the Bartlett, University College London (UCL), in 1989, to develop and apply predictive design technologies. He is a member of the Board of Directors at the Academy of Urbanism, London, Visiting Professor at the Bartlett, UCL, Harvard Loeb Fellow and Deputy Chair of the United Kingdom Design Council.
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Credits
Supported by:
Collaborating Institutions Ashesi University, Berekuso, Ghana Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, London, United Kingdom École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland Fundación Francisco Giner de los Ríos, Madrid, Spain Gramazio Kohler Research, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zürich, Switzerland Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), Barcelona, Spain Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD), University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain Rafael Moneo Studio, Madrid, Spain Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany Tecnológico de Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, United States University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan Except where otherwise noted, text and photographs © Norman Foster Foundation Norman Foster Foundation Monte Esquinza 48 28010 Madrid Spain T +34 91 219 15 47 www.normanfosterfoundation.org info@normanfosterfoundation.org
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