1. Know and Build Your Own Tool

During the reading of the book the definition that the author wants to attribute to post-digital expression will emerge. For now, the reader is aware of an antinomy between digital and material that must be discussed in today's architectural debate.

Other interesting publications have already adapted Giedion’s expression. L. Manovich has written Software Takes Command: Extending the Language of New Media in 2013 and G. Barazzetta has edited a book titled Digital Takes Command in 2015, including several contributions displaying technologies that permit the passage from ideas and figurations to the material reality. K. Moe wrote the chapter Automation Takes Command, retrieved in the book Fabricating Architecture by R. Corser (2010) looking at the history of technical developments in fabrication technologies.

In particular, robotic manufacturing as it is more interesting for architects as it makes the 1:1 process scalability efficient.

The following paragraph—Forms-In-Potency versus Forms-In-Actuality—clarifies this statement, bringing authoritative sources to explain the terms used.

Sketchpad, the revolutionary computer program written by I. Sutherland in 1963 during his PhD thesis at MIT, can be considered the ancestor of modern computer-aided design (CAD) programs as well as a major breakthrough in pointed forward to object oriented programming.

Such as nonlinearity, double curvature surface’s manipulation, scripting, optimization, up to the recent information modelling and parametric implementations.

Experience and intuition helps the craftsman in achieving the final product.

Constructability and buildability are uncommon words expressing the degree to which the integration of experience and knowledge in a construction process facilitates achievement of an optimum balance between project goals and resource constraints.

The reader is suggested to consider this term in the dual meaning defined in the previous chapter.

W. Schickhardt and B. Pascal started some pioneering work on calculating machines. Pascal is recognized as the first scientist to produce successful mechanical calculators: the so-called Pascal's calculators and later Pascalines.

In 1673 the German polymath and philosopher G. W. von Leibniz designed a calculating machine called Step Reckoner. The machine expanded on Pascal’s ideas, was able to perform multiplication by repeated addition and shifting.

C. Babbage (1791–1871), along with A. Lovelace (1815–1852), is remembered for originating the concept of a programmable computer, even though the Analytical Engine mechanism remained uncompleted. C. Babbage designed a mechanical calculator that required a steam engine to operate, and that was too sophisticated to be built in his lifetime.

See on this topic the pioneering work of A. Turing and his machine, dated 1936.

“During the 50 years since the Second World War, a paradigm shift has taken place that should have profoundly affected architecture: this was the shift from the mechanical paradigm to the electronic one”. These are the words that P. Eisenman uses to describe the advent of IT in architecture in his article Visions Unfolding: Architecture in the Age of Electronic Media already published in 1992.

J. W. Goethe expresses these concepts in his botanical writings in the early 1800, introducing a science of morphology. Both from German, gestalt means form; while bildung means formation.

It is considered appropriate once again to underline the etymology of the term. Method comes from the Greek metà-hòdos, literally meaning the way that takes you further.

“Ernst Cassirer once said of Goethe that his work completed the transition from the generic view to the genetic view of organic nature. […] Goethe’s formalism, like all rigorous and interesting ones, actually marks a turning away from the simple structure of end-products and toward the active, ever-changing processes that bring them into being” (Kwinter 2007).

The Scottish polymath, in his book On Growth and Form, emphasizes the roles of physical laws as well as of mechanics in the determining process of the form in his most famous book. It covers many topics; here the only concern about Darwinian evolution is considered for the purposes of the narrative.

In hazarding a parallel between the ages, the “goodness of fit” calls to mind the concinnitas (etymol. from Latin concinnus, meaning skilfully put together or join) adopted by L. B. Alberti. Inspired by the classical tradition of oratory and Cicero’s rhetoric in particular, he emphasizes the aptness for or the adaptation for a purpose as the architectural form’s topic.

It may be schematically summarized as a climax started with a form-based phase or computer-aided drafting—where the architect still superimposes its final configuration and draws it with digital media, and reach its peak with the performance-driven-design—where the computerization moves towards a computational approach defining objective, performance and fitness criteria for a digitally developed design, passing by a form-finding design.

“In a non-linear design process design directions and alternatives are generated, presented and evaluated simultaneously, and in real time” (Grobman et al. 2010).

“Today’s digital tools […] have been authored, as for example in the case of Bezier splines or Blinn shading, by engineers, mathematicians and hackers. In mistaking the creative work of the tool producer with that of the user-architect, the profession runs the risk of developing a discipline based on the consumption of the latest algorithmic technique or graphic software package and of having to keep pace with the developments of software fashion for designs to have ‘the latest’ geometrical flavour”. These are the explanatory words by P. M. Carranza in the article Out of Control: The Media of Architecture, Cybernetics and Design published in 2007.

The digital design process loses its initial aptitudes. “It appears that a large part of contemporary architecture is determined by algorithmically established design procedures in which the constructive and building implementation is of insufficient significance and appears secondary. Realizing a design, an image, or a drawing” was the project concern, while the architectural matter remains the materialization of space (Brell-Çokcan and Braumann 2013).

“The general tendency among many progressive practices developed around the 1990 s has been to explore and use the computer as a tool, but its effect on a discipline heavily structured around the media of production has seldom been addressed. This purely instrumental use of the computer has too often resulted in the production of intricate geometries […], which are justified only by their mere possibility. Without the evaluation criteria the new conditions may require, such geometries are still treated and valued in relation to traditional architectural representations, […] and at the same time inadvertently surrendering the understanding of the processes behind them” (Thomas 2007).

In the last decade, many leading conferences started to debate and investigate these fields with many avant-garde case studies.

Reference to Kwinter (2003).

Here the direct reference is to CAD and CAM technologies; in particular to their inter-communication allowing the physical implementation of computed shapes.

Architects, artists, biologists, engineers, and so on can share their expertise and effectively collaborate together.

Reference to Mitchell, W. J. (1977). Computer-aided Architectural Design. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Reference to Streich B, Weisgerber W (1996) Computergestützter Architekturmodellbau: CAAD-Grundlagen, Verfahren, Beispiele, Birkhäuser, Basel, Boston.

Information retrieved from http://​architettura.​it/​image/​festival/​2002/​en/​texts/​cache.​htm [last accessed January 17, 2018].

This trend is epitomized by enlightening works as Being Digital by N. Negroponte (Negroponte 1995).

Reference to Katz R (2002) Bits and Atoms: An Interview with Neil Gershenfeld. EDUCAUSE Review Magazine, 37(2). Retrieved from https://​er.​educause.​edu/​articles/​2002/​3/​educause-review-magazine-volume-37-number-2-marchapril-2002 [last accessed January 17, 2018].

From the Wikipedia’s entry, it is the use of flexible computer-aided manufacturing systems to produce custom output. Those systems combine the low unit costs of mass production processes with the flexibility of individual customization. Retrieved from https://​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Mass_​customization[last accessed February 11, 2018].

B. J. Pine II, in expanding Davis’s definition, separated production into three categories: craft production, mass production, and mass customization; this latter combines elements of the first two. Reference to Pine II (1992), pp 50–52.

It refers to the inspiring issue of AD 78(2). Hensel M, Menges A (2008) Versatility and Vicissitude: Performance in Morpho-ecological Design, Wiley, London.

This description is found in Pine II (1992).

Philosopher M. De Landa introduces his “new materialism” as novel understanding coherently articulated with science and technology. This new conceptual framework has several historic reference points: some are improved while others are totally transformed. Firstly, the Aristotelian view of material as passive recipient of predefined or more precisely predesigned shape is gone. Material can act as an effective agency in design.

Reference to Print Me a Stradivarius. (2011, February 12). The Economist, 398(8720). Retrieved from http://​www.​economist.​com/​node/​18114327 [last accessed January 17, 2018].

As the dictionary entry suggests, this coalescence is literally a process where computational design combine objects and ideas in one single hands-on approach. Coalesce. (n.d.). In Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Retrieved from http://​www.​ldoceonline.​com/​dictionary/​coalesce [last accessed January 17, 2018]. Reference to Menges A, Coalescence of Machine and Material Computation. In: Lorenzo-Eiroa and Sprecher (2013), pp 275–283.

Architecture is an investigation “partly a computational orchestration of robotic material production and partly a generative, kinematic sculpting of space” as P. Zellner has observed in his work Hybrid Space. Reference to Zellner P (1999) Hybrid Space New Forms in Digital Architecture, Rizzoli, New York.

The aforementioned interface between the craftsman’s hand and its artefact occurs by the neurological and muscular feedback loop of a human technician, thus some inaccuracies may appear. R. Corser states in his book that the primary tools of digital fabrication appliances are archaic. He supports this statement with some examples about the subtractive process, described in a following sub-chapter: he compares the laser cutting technology and the rapidly rotating router bit as refined application of the “partial rotary motion tools, such as the fire drill, bow drill, and pump drill used as boring and cutting tools throughout the archaic world”. Reference to Corser (2012), p 154.

During the 1980s large Japanese contractors have developed robotic production set-up in order to improve working conditions and increase productivity. Reference to Hisatomi Y (1990) Introduction of construction robotics in Japan. IABSE Journal 4 pp 26–30. ETH, Zurich. Retrieved from http://​www.​e-periodica.​ch/​digbib/​view?​var=​true&​pid=​bse-pe-003:​1990:​14:​:​5#11 [last accessed January 17, 2018].

The ISO Standard 8373 defines an industrial robot as a multipurpose manipulator. Retrieved from http://​www.​iso.​org/​iso/​catalogue_​detail.​htm?​csnumber=​15532 [last accessed January 17, 2018].

The Demon Which is Destroying the People, an undated anonymous political cartoon, shows Oliver Patent—Monopoly in Crucible Steel—as a giant steam driven robot rampaging through a scattering crowd of people. This tragic representation epitomizes the aforementioned techno-pessimism. Reference to Fok WW, Picon A (eds) (2016) Digital Property Open-Source Architecture, Wiley, London, p 98.

See http://​www.​archigram.​net/​projects_​pages/​walking_​city.​html [last accessed January 17, 2018].

All robotic fabrication plants in academies are developing totally new construction method according to tailored end-effectors, techniques and materials that are involved.

He didn’t coin the term: his brother, the painter and writer J. Čapek, is the actual originator. The original idea was to call the contraption laboři (from Latin labour, meaning worker). For more details see https://​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Karel_​%C4%8Capek [last accessed January 17, 2018].

The vision of mechanical threatening monsters finds several paradigmatic exemplars with a political relevance during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Retrieved from http://​www.​bostondynamics.​com/​robot_​Atlas.​html [last accessed January 17, 2018].

Retrieved from https://​www.​motoman.​com/​about [last accessed January 17, 2018].

An automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator programmable in three or more axes, which may be either fixed in place or mobile for use in industrial automation applications. ISO Standard 8373: Manipulating industrial robots—Vocabulary. The definition refers mainly to machines for specific tasks repetitive, hazardous, and exhausting when manually accomplished. Retrieved from http://​www.​iso.​org/​iso/​catalogue_​detail.​htm?​csnumber=​15532 [last accessed January 17, 2017].

Together with J. Engelberger, the American inventor applied for a patent on Programmed Article Transfer that introduced the concept of Universal Automation or Unimation. U.S. Patent 2988237A was issued in 1961.

In-depth analysis can be found in O’Regan G (2013) George Devol. In: Giants of Computing, pp 99–101. Springer London. Retrieved from http://​link.​springer.​com/​chapter/​10.​1007/​978-1-4471-5340-5_​21 [last accessed January 17, 2018].

In 1973 KUKA moves from using Unimate robots to developing their own Famulus: it was the first robot to have six electromechanically driven axes. In 1983 at pioneering robot company Unimation, V. Scheinman invented the Stanford Arm, the first all-electric computer-controlled 6-axes mechanical manipulator for assembly and automation. Scheinman commercialized the robot arm as the PUMA, or Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly, as we know it today. Reference to http://​www.​ifr.​org/​uploads/​media/​History_​of_​Industrial_​Robots_​online_​brochure_​by_​IFR_​2012.​pdf and https://​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Programmable_​Universal_​Machine_​for_​Assembly and https://​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Victor_​Scheinman [last accessed January 17, 2017].

Different brands, as ASEA or KUKA, presented their microcomputer-controlled all-electric industrial robot with six degrees of freedom able to perform continuous path motion. Reference to Caneparo (2014) and to Siciliano and Khatib (2008) Springer Handbook of Robotics, Springer, Berlin.

Information retrieved from http://​www.​ifr.​org/​uploads/​media/​History_​of_​Industrial_​Robots_​online_​brochure_​by_​IFR_​2012.​pdf [last accessed January 17, 2018].

For more detailed analysis see Bock T, Linner T (2015) Robot-Oriented Design Design and Management Tools for the Deployment of Automation and Robotics in Construction, Cambridge University Press, New York.

Articulated robotic arm constitutes a generic piece of hardware that only becomes specific through the control software and the effector.

It is also called Cartesian coordinate robot: it has three prismatic joints, whose axes are coincident with a Cartesian coordinator. Retrieved from https://​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Cartesian_​coordinate_​robot and http://​www.​allonrobots.​com/​cartesian-robots.​html [last accessed January 17, 2018].

It is a robot whose axes form a cylindrical coordinate system. Retrieved from http://​www.​allonrobots.​com/​cylindrical-robot.​html [last accessed January 17, 2018].

It is a robot whose axes form a polar coordinate system, in fact it is also named polar robot. Retrieved from https://​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Spherical_​robot and http://​www.​allonrobots.​com/​spherical-robots.​html [last accessed January 17, 2018].

This robot has two parallel rotary joints and performs planar movements. Retrieved from https://​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​SCARA [last accessed January 17, 2018].

This robot arm has at least three up to six rotary joints; it is usually paired with external axes such as rotary table or linear rail. Retrieved from https://​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Articulated_​robot [last accessed January 17, 2018].

It is also known as generalized Stewart platforms: the end effector of this arm is connected to its base by three or six independent linkages working in parallel. Retrieved from https://​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Parallel_​manipulator [last accessed January 17, 2018].

It’s a robot with its body shape built to resemble the human body. It is also named humanoid robot. Retrieved from https://​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Humanoid_​robot [last accessed January 17, 2018].

There are two types of joints: telescopic, which allows linear movement between two segments; and rotary (or hinged), which only allows revolving movement, in a single plane, of one segment compared with the other.

Also named robot reach.

As pivotal example see the monster truck appeared on Mechanix Illustrated: the giant house-building machine is a remarkably forward-thinking idea for mass customization even though it doesn’t involve any software yet. Reference to Houses While You Wait, (1946), Mechanix Illustrated, 6. Retrieved from http://​blog.​modernmechanix.​com/​houses-while-you-wait/​#more [last accessed March 3rd, 2018].

The ERNE Portalroboter (2015) is the most recent tailor made crane specially developed to built the Arch_Tec_Lab roof at ETH Zürich. For other bibliographic resource, refer to Scott Howe, A. (2000). Designing for Automated Construction. Automation in Construction, 9(3):259–276.

The architect represented inside the control cabin has the plan, previously designed, in his hands. It means that the control of the process envisioned by Villemard it is not supervision but it starts since the designing phase.

Program it is intended in its meaning of organize, and thus control.

Industrial robotic arms are borrowed from the automotive and aerospace industry; their accuracy, flexibility, and reliability are enablers of computationally derived formal complexity.

The accessibility of this technology to new users has also increased the request of algorithmic interfaces—often embedded in the same virtual design environment—in order to directly operate with the robot arm. It receives precise tool paths parameterized and scripted by architects. Common language communication occurs by plugin such as HAL Robotics ltd, KUKA|PRC, RAPCAM, Taco, Scorpion, rhino2krl but also own Python script are carried out. Retrieved from http://​www.​hal-robotics.​com/​ and http://​www.​robotsinarchitec​ture.​org/​kuka-prc and http://​www.​rapcam.​eu/​ and http://​scorpion-robotics.​com/​ and http://​blickfeld7.​com/​architecture/​rhino/​grasshopper/​Taco/​ and http://​www.​craftwise.​ch/​rhino2krl/​ [last accessed January 17, 2018].

Architecture schools, entrepreneurs, and artists have adopted robotic arm both for materialize computational architecture and for artistic performance e.g. Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) in Cambridge, Institute of Computational Design based in Stuttgart, Gramazio&Kohler Research at ETH in Zurich, Digital Fabrication Laboratory (DFL) in Porto, Carnegie Mellon School of Architectures in Pittsburgh, Hyperbody at Department of Architecture in Delft, REX|LAB Robotic Experimentation Laboratory at the University of Innsbruck, Fab-Union in Shanghai, ROBOCHOP in Munich or TOFA by the Berliner Chris Noelle, and Bot & Dolly based in San Francisco.

However some pioneering actual-building-size realizations have already been accomplished. e.g. Gantenbein Vineyard Facade (2006), Landesgartenschau Exhibition Hall (2014), The Sequential Roof (2010–2016), to name only few.

The reference is in particular to the well-known protagonist: the 6- or more axis multifunctional robotic plants.

Technical dedication might cause a fallacy in architectural achievements.

It is referred to the aim of advancing futuristic facilities of making without referring to the architectural expression and a new aesthetic.

“Accordingly, belief in progress and fear of progress would always confront one another in a certain context and in turn are mutually dependent; as would be expected, this oppositional pair forms an unbreakable and dynamic unit”. Reference to Gramazio et al. (2014b), p 111.

Archytas of Tarentum is a Greek mathematician reputed as the founder of mathematical mechanics. Retrieved from https://​en.​wikipedia.​org/​wiki/​Archytas [last accessed January 17, 2018].

Among all findings, it refers in particular to Codex Atlanticus where appears the drawings of what we can consider the first robotic design: a mechanism that features a front wheel drive, rack-and-pinion automobile with the ability to control its own motion and direction.

This topic is also well argued by Scott F D (2010) Architecture or Techno-utopia Politics After Modernism, MIT Press, Cambridge.

The Economist’s front cover previously mentioned clearly alludes to an enthusiastic and fascinated belief for 3D printing as a revolutionizing technology. Reference to Print Me a Stradivarius. (2011, February 12). The Economist, 398(8720). Retrieved from http://​www.​economist.​com/​node/​18114327 [last accessed January 17, 2018]. Going back in time, the historical revolution of printing during the Renaissance and its revolutionizing effect on society, or also the more architectural related revolution foreseen by R. B. Fuller comes immediately to mind as prime examples of this attitude. His endorsement of technological progress that he saw as a means to redesign society find an accomplishment in the on-going widespread research line in robotic materialization of architecture. Furthermore projects, conceptual work or publications emerged in the late 1960 s have introduced the remarkable ambition that architecture could be ethically relevant. Reference to Scott FD (2010). Architecture or Techno-utopia: Politics After Modernism, MIT Press, Cambridge, and SuperLab (2016).

Such as the desire to find a match between nature and technology or the idea to free man of unnecessarily harsh handwork.