Course syllabus

Course-PM

ARK338 Material and detail 1 Default term (22.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Contact details

• examiner | Jonas Lundberg | lundberg@chalmers.se
• lecturer | Kengo Skorick | kengo@chalmers.se
• lecturer | Jonas Runberger | jonasrunb@chalmers.se
• assistant | Karl Åhlund | karlah@student.chalmers.se

Course purpose

The course investigates the interaction between material and detail in a project that is designed and developed on a digital platform and is partially constructed in large or full scale. It targets the implementation of a full project cycle, from concept, design and analysis to CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) manufacturing and assembly. The course engages the complex challenge of transforming a concept and sketch to the thrill and enormous undertaking of getting a design project constructed.

The studio works with ‘live projects’ - projects that are designed, constructed and presented to the public within the duration of the studio. The studio explores the complexity and creativity that goes into the collaborative development and the realization of a design project rather than putting sole emphasis on the novelty of the initial design concept. Each year’s studio unfolds live in relation to specific material limitations, budget, time plan, industry and exhibition partners, media outlets, etc. Emphasis is on linking architecture with industry as well as with technical research excellence. The studio typically establishes a partnership with a specific provider of material and a manufacturer in order to realize one or several chosen design projects. Students learn about current research relevant to the material and manufacturing process through readings, precedent studies and guest lectures. Ultimately, the studio aims to foster innovation through direct collaborations between students, teachers, architects, researchers, consultants and the manufacturing industry.

This year Material & Detail is continuing working with additive manufacturing using cellulose based biopolymers. We start preparing files for 3D printing that you may output on the small 3D printers at Chalmers ACE. We also use a 3D printing head mounted on the KUKA Robot arms at the Chalmers ACE robot lab. Some of the work was started over the past two years in collaboration with the Would Wood Innovation project and the Chalmers ACE Solar Decathlon initiative. In 2021 the main focus in is the design development and the production information and  processes involved in the realization of the lightweight building/construction systems based around 3D printed cellulose in combination with other timber based materials as an integral part of Team Sweden’s Project C-Hive www.c-hive.com) proposal for the Solar Decathlon Europe Competition 22 (www.sde.eu) to be constructed in Wuppertal in June 2022.

Schedule

Key Dates:

20 Sept Intro

12 Oct Technology, Research & Experiments Review

9 Nov Design Development Review (invited gurests)

7 Dec FINAL  REVIEW

17 Dec exhibition opening (the last day when we have scheduled teaching/event when attendance is compulsory)

14 Jan Final submission

For a more detailed overview schedule use the following link: Material & Detail 2021 Schedule Rev A

For the full formal schedule use the following link: TimeEdit (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)

Course literature

Please check out the ARK 338 Material & Detail Studio shelf in the library

Gail Peter Borden and Michael Meredith, eds., Matter: Material Processes in Architectural Production (Oxon: Routledge, 2011)

Greg Lynn, “Robots”, in Greg Lynn FORM (New York: Rizzoli, 2008)

Andrew Atwood, “Monolithic Representations,” in Matter: Material Processes in Architectural Production (Oxon: Routledge, 2012)

Gabriel Fries-Briggs et al “The Toolpath Problem: Compressing Representation and the Real,” in The Expanding Periphery and the Migrating Center, 103rd ACSA Annual Meeting Proceedings, eds. Lola Sheppard and David Ruy (Washington D.C.: ACSA Press, 2015)

Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto, “Intensive and Extensive” and “Geometry and Matter”, in Atlas of Novel Tectonics (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2006)

Peter Testa, “Autonomous Translations,” in Fabrication and Fabrication (Los Angeles: SCI-Arc Press, 2014)

Course design

The studio teaching is divided into three distinct phases:

PHASE 1.       Technology, research and experiments

Technology demos, precedent studies and text seminars, design research that targets a material and manufacturing process. In teams we focus on Design - collaborative work on singular models, Production - setting up the robotic lab for additive manufacturing, understanding the scripts to produce g-code, exploring printing alternatives etc.,  and Construction systems mapping - as applicable to additive manufacturing. Printing details as references and Key references of additive manufacturing research. Research papers, practices etc. 3D scanning of artefacts and output with 3d-printing.

PHASE 2.       Design Competition - Deep Interiority

The design competition brief is based around the current proposal titled C-Hive conceived from the project 'Growing' in Material & Detail 2020 developed by Team Sweden to be constructed as part of the Solar Decathlon Europe to be held in Wuppertal in June 2022. The design is based around a lightweight element based construction system suitable for roof top additions to buildings using a combination of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) construction and additive manufacturing in cellulose based materials using an extruder mounted on a robot arm. The project in its current form is essentially a massing diagram that is in dire need of development in order to be constructed. This presents you with this amazing opportunity to get a project constructed. 3D printing is essentially great for bespoke, continuous and porous construction with enormous potential for a deep interiority that can be inhabited by humans, other species, storage, installations, air and water for an instance. This we will explore in the development of the inhabited space going in from the external skin meeting the exterior from developed apertures, where we consider different material combinations and re-use of both products and artefacts. 

PHASE 3.       Production, Manufacturing & Prototyping

Out of the design competition we select one proposal that we develop as a studio. Considering that this project is supposed to be constructed during the spring 2022 based on the work developed in the Material & Detail Studio, the primary challenge of this phase is to translate design information to instructions for manufacturing and construction or what we call production information that readies the material for procurement, manufacturing and assembly by others which is the form of representation that we as architects tend to be preoccupied with. The added complexity is that we aim to go directly from design to manufacture via our additive manufacturing processes using extruders on our robotic arms were we also have to prepare routines and a sequence for the manufacture and subsequent assembly. This process is to be simulated digitally in code, digital models and diagrams and drawings thereof before being 3D printed on the robots or on our in-house 3D printers before being prototyped in one or more large scale models manifesting the both the detail tectonic and the assembly in 1:10 or 1:5 tectonic mockup model displaying both details and utilizing the production process as devised by the team. Finally, the studio culminates in the curation of a public exhibition of the studio outcome open to the general public.

PHASE 4.       Presentation, Documentation & Dissemination

The final development is a set of production documents including all relevant models and code, a video and a self-published booklet of the development work and the individual log/portfolio of your own journey though the course that should focus on the overall process and your individual contribution setting you apart from the different group constellations that you may have worked within which is essential from the final marking of the course work.

Organization

PHASE 1 includes software and fabrication demos, material studies and precedent studies. Design experiments and research of precedent projects are carried out in parallel.

PHASE 1 and 2 include weekly or bi-weekly pin-ups and tutorials as well as study visits and guest lectures from industry partners and researchers.

Work in PHASE 1 is mostly carried out in teams of 3 students, in PHASE 2 in teams of 6 students while work in PHASE 3 in teams of 12 students and PHASE 4 may require that all students in the studio work together on the booklet and video but otherwise it is based on the development of your individual portfolio. Due to COVID restrictions it is possible to collaborate remotely which we will bear in mind when we form the teams and we have altered the submission requirements to facilitate for this.

Our main tutorial day is on Tuesday when attendance is mandatory.

 

Learning Activities

Please check the course ARK338 Material & Detail homepage on CANVAS on a regular basis to keep yourself updated on the course, events and activities. All official correspondence is via CANVAS.

Each PHASE has its own brief and assignment associated with it that is issued at the start of it.

The pedagogy of the studio with demos, experiments, demos, frequent team work on ‘live design projects’ (for a client) requires active participation and contribution from the start of the course to facilitate for the intended learning.

Teaching is to a large extent focused around desk design tutorials where feedback is continuously discussed with your team and hence attendance is critical to meet the learning objectives and outcomes of the course.

The learning activities are primarily focused on design project work.

Outside of the course specific timetabled hours, we expect attendance at the Chalmers Architectural Programs Public lecture series events that are scheduled on Wednesday afternoons between 16.00-17.00 as advertised.

If you are not able to complete the course as anticipated but have reached the 80% compulsory attendance, there are two new opportunities from complete to pass i.e. you can revise your submissions for a new assessment opportunity.

 

Changes made since the last occasion

New subject matter and the examination form has been articulated further.

Learning objectives and syllabus

Knowledge and understanding
Demonstrate an understanding of how the work in the studio relates to contemporary discourse around the relationship between architectural design and digital manufacturing technology.
Better predict the modifications that a design undergoes as it is translated from concept to realization through CNC manufacturing in incrementally larger scales.

Abilities and skills
Use the limitations and opportunities offered by a particular material and its associated digital manufacturing process as drivers of a design project.
Use digital design tools such as associative modeling to design, represent and produce a small-scale architectural project.
Use digital means of analysis and/or simulation such as ANSYS to inform aspects of structure, tectonics and detailing.-
Implement technical research excellence in a design project.

Ability of assessment and attitudes
Be able to make early assessments of design projects based on material specifics and manufacturing processes.

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen.

Study plan (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)

Examination form

Student work in PHASE 1 and 2 is presented, evaluated and assessed according to requirements stipulated in each respective assignment in design reviews with invited guest critics. Work in PHASE 1 and 2 is graded, while work in phase 3 is graded pass / no pass only. At the end of the course an individual design portfolio containing work from PHASE 1, 2, 3 and 4 highlighting ones own responsibilities, input and output is submitted and used for the final assessment and marking. A minimum of 80% attendance or participation in lectures, pin-ups, demos and visits is required in order to pass the course although a significantly higher attendance is required to benefit the most from the learning of the course.

The mandatory juried and assessed design reviews are on:

9 Nov Mid review and 7 Dec Final review

The final submission is on:

14 Jan Portfolio submission at 17.00 hours

Please ensure to contact your examiner if you are not able to attend the assessed events. If you were not able to pass the course you have the chance to complete work to pass and get a maximum of two new assessment opportunities.