Digital production
New possibilities
Today, a production hall is no longer dominated by manual labour, but replaced by automated processes which work digitally and operate with high precision.
This shift in production has changed the way we build. In a modern building process digital drawings are used throughout, from design to production, which has brought architects, engineers and the manufacturers closer together.
Digitalisation makes it possible to introduce new architectural designs which used to be hard to realise. Today, thanks to the use of the computer’s ability to calculate and digitally controlled machines, this kind of design is possible.
Learning from other industries
Research-based industries are today operating at an astonishingly high technological level; some car manufacturers exclusively use robots in their factories. Such production promises great architectural potential.
By studying the use of digitally controlled machines by other industries, we can learn how to realise digital designs and complex geometries.
Thus, standardised component-based buildings can be replaced by individual mass production which allows unique architecture.
Design potentials for one of the oldest architectural elements – the brick – if the basic manufacturing conditions of architecture shift from manual work to digital fabrication. Developed by Gramazio & Kohler at ETH Zürich
CNC milling is now an old production method. It is used to make everything from ships to wind turbines.
SLA is one of many types of additive prototyping. A laser builds up the subject by moving over UV-sensitive epoxy.
3DL is a flexible mould developed for sail production.
The Danish Technological Institute is developing individual concrete casting using 7-axis CNC milling.
The Perforated Wall. The architectural potential of perforations in a 1:1 building element in concrete. The holes distribution on the wall was designed through algorithmic tools. Developed by Gramazio & Kohler at ETH Zürich
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