Hybrid Interfaces: Computational Design and Robotic Fabrication Workflows for Adaptive Assemblages (WiSe_25-26) Professorship of Design Theory and Design Research, Professorship of Constructive Design & Structural Engineering (KE+TWL) Prof. Jan Willmann, Michael Braun, Lukas Kirschnick, Paing Su Ko How can computational design and robotic fabrication facilitate the creation of adaptive, material-efficient hybrid interfaces—linking salvaged materials and their digital counterparts—to advance low-carbon, circular architectural systems through speculative multi-material assemblages? The construction sector’s environmental impact urgently demands adaptive reuse and material recycling for carbon neutrality. Recent research shows that repurposing existing and natural materials can dramatically cut embodied carbon. This seminar explores hybrid interfaces as critical mediators: between salvaged materials and their digital twins, and between speculative design proposals and their physical realizations. By focusing on intermediary components that negotiate irregular geometries and cross-domain translations, the seminar interrogates how computational tools can unlock the latent potential of waste resources. Students will engage in iterative workflows bridging physical objects and computational environments. Found materials will be digitized via 3D scanning, generating precise virtual models to inform adaptive connector designs. These intermediaries, subtractively fabricated from Styrofoam using a 6-axis Universal Robots UR10e with a hot-wire cutting end-effector, will resolve geometric and structural discrepancies between heterogeneous materials. The process prioritizes reversible assemblies and material efficiency, ensuring minimal waste during fabrication. Parametric modelling (Rhino/Grasshopper) will translate structural, haptic, and aesthetic constraints into fabrication-ready solutions, enabling tailored responses to localized forces and spatial relationships of the joints. A key component of the seminar will be learning and applying the technique of lost foam metal casting with aluminum. Students will design and robotically fabricate intricate foam blocks, which will serve as one-off molds for aluminum casting. Through this process, participants will gain hands-on experience in the entire workflow: translating digital joint designs into physical foam positives, preparing these for casting, and ultimately producing unique aluminum connectors that embody both material ingenuity and advanced fabrication methods. The integration of robotic fabrication with lost foam casting will enable the realization of highly customized, structurally robust interfaces tailored to specific assembly conditions. The seminar emphasizes dual interfaces: - Material: Designing connections that negotiate tactile, visual, and structural coherence between disparate elements.
|
