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Initial position In contemporary architecture a strong movement towards organic, non-orthogonal, “free” shapes is observable. Architects as well as their clients seem to be fascinated by the opportunity to burst the bonds of regular grids and modules in order to create landmark designs. Thanks to advanced 3D-CAD-software, planners face few technical difficulties to develop such complex shapes in the design stage of the project. They are, however, often confronted with unexpected problems during realization, since free forms usually are constructed from a large number of different parts. While modern manufacturing technologies allow “one-of-a-kind” production at almost the cost of serial production, the preceding planning effort for non-regular structures is no longer reducible through serialization. This leads to the effect, that production costs of regular and non-regular structures are almost the same, but planning costs rise with the number of dissimilar parts in the structure. Sometimes it is possible to play tricks and generate forms that seem to be non-regular, but consist only of few different pieces. However, in most cases the formal need to build a free form leads to increasing planning and realization costs and a high error rate in production. |
designtoproduction designtoproduction addresses the issue of complex design by algorithmically automating the planning- and production-processes and thus making non-regular designs economically feasible and geometrically controllable. designtoproduction offers consulting services to architects and planners, applying current academic research from the field of digital production chains to demanding building projects. designtoproduction was established as a research group in 2005 by Fabian Scheurer (computer scientist) and Christoph Schindler (architect) at the Chair of CAAD at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich. Innovative programming techniques, experience with CNC-machines and close collaboration with industrial partners characterizes the work of designtoproduction. |
The Digital Chain A “digital chain” is a continuously digital process from design (determination of shape and structure) to engineering (detailing) and production (CNC-manufacturing). Digital tools at all process stages are linked together in order to ensure the uninterrupted flow of information. Within this digital chain, innovative optimization techniques are used to extend the role of the computer from a passive digital drawing board to a tool that actively supports the design. Architects, engineers and fabrication experts provide rules, interrelations and objectives, which the computer matches in many variations due to its computing power. The role of the architect shifts from form designer to process designer. The result of the digital chain is the code to control the CNC-machine. |
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Revision r1.7 - 20 Aug 2006 - 12:24 - ChristophSchindler Parents: WebHome |
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