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material experiment 2

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2012 Architect

I had an interview with 2012 Architecten, mainly asking them about methodology of Superuse and technical issues.

I also explained about the project at the workshop.

Although it depends on the outcomes, the summary of the project might be linked with their website which corrects examples of Superuse.

Preparation for an exposition

We are gonna make a sushi serving set out of material leftovers.

Might be exhibited at studiohergebruik.

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Open source house

About competition

Possible direction

Do it yourself construction method with digital fabrication and opensource knowledge sharing

Speaking about ordinal house construction process, a client asks to an architect or a designer to design a house, the architect has meetings with constructors and building engineers, and constructors materialize the idea of the architect. Each stakeholder has each profession, for example constructors have skills, experiences and machines for construction, and defends their field.

However, this process could change drastically with digital fabrication techniques and open-source way of construction.

Now knowledge and know-hows of building houses can spread to the world immediately by internet. When home builders confront problems, they can solve problems not only by accessing to shared knowledge on the internet but also by asking to professionals about specific solutions for specific problems.

At the same time, digital fabrication technology allows people who don't have skills to create things with high accuracy without special backgrounds and knowledge about fabrication.

For example, CNC routers can make a precise pattern with easy setups, and what a user has to do is just clicking "start". Especially digital fabrication is efficient for making geometric patterns on a surface. Now, it is an architectural trend to make those geometric patterns by digital fabrication. But for the next step, even it's already started though, building real size house could be done with digital fabrication technologies.

Once easily accessible knowledge source and means of construction are prepared, people can build their house with their hands in do-it-yourself way. Therefore, it is possible for us not to design a house for this competition but propose a learning system for building houses. As a consequence, final design might be different in each case. What we need to do is to define constraints (seiyaku) and make clear what is possible and what is not. This DIY way of construction would change boundaries of each stakeholder's role. Architects and designers might have more knowledge and skills about fabrication, and so clients do. This change of boundaries result into lower construction cost for clients, and furthermore, drastic change of the idea of house.

After the introduction of manufacturing process into building, house became an assembly of manufacturing parts, for instance, joints, beams, columns, window frames, doors and floor/wall panels. Most of parts can be replaced by homemade parts with knowledge about materials and fabrication. For example panels for door, wall and floor can be made by used woods with bio-plastics. Sensual quality of those materials could be enriched by digital fabrication tools. Other parts, like joints, beams and columns would be built with standardized/manufactured products. In the end, the house will be a fusion of hand-made and manufactured products. This way of construction provides cheaper price for residents and uniqueness in each location.

Casting material leftovers with resin

By using material left overs at artist's workshop, we are doing a material experiment.

Interview with Fabio Gramazio