AD: Architectural Design Paper | 2016
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Pioneers Alan Turing and John von Neumann foresaw that computers were capable of more than just automated calculation. With artificial intelligence programming now utilised in many industries, will construction also look beyond automation? A number of architectural institutions, particularly the Institute for Computational Design (ICD) at the University of Stuttgart and Gramazio Kohler Research at ETH Zurich, have designed innovative structures that capitalise on the enhanced fabrication capabilities of industrial robots and their ability to be explicitly controlled and automated. ‘Behavioural production’ investigates how situated robots may augment this research through autonomous participation within design. An interest in encoding architectural and engineering performances as intrinsic properties of design expression is extended into activities of construction. Liberated from adhering to established design styles or methodologies, however, behavioural production enables a potentially more open dialogue between designer, user and the environment. Through real-time engagement and feedback, the non-linear interactions of robots enable creative approaches to construction, and exciting design possibilities. AD: Architectural Design Volume 86, Issue 2 March/April 2016. Special Issue: Parametricism 2.0: Rethinking Architecture's Agenda for the 21st Century, 11 March 2016, John Wiley & Sons, Pages 54–59. Author: Robert Stuart-Smith