DRL Architecture

Softkill by students in AADRL

SoftKill researches generative methods of topological and material formation in combination with additive manufacturing through the production of a prototypical house. While traditional building processes result in substantial material wastage, from manufacturing to construction, SoftKill aims to do more with less. The project enables weak materials to become stiff structures that define qualitative spaces with an ornate character. A generative method of topological formation was developed in an attempt to negotiate space, structure and programme, while minimising the deployment of material. It is a systemic approach that allows design at a range of architectural and material scales, challenging the high modernist notion that space and structure should manifest as singular generic environments in which any activity can take place. This methodology directly operates at micro scales of matter where material organisation is defined. From this, a highly ornate, structurally performative and materially efficient tectonic dissolves the notion of parts and whole. As opposed to distinct contrasts, this tectonic contains varying gradients of hard to soft architectural elements. Through a prototypical house, SoftKill tests the control of resolution and customisation in fabrication to produce an output that economises on material usage without compromising design intent.

P5experimental 3dprinting by Co-de

This experimental series of tests is a step forward in a larger research project focused on the exploration of the possible interactions between digital COMPUTATION and complex and selforganizing physical processes. The series is developed on the base of a small block of code refined during the preparation of the workshop ‘BioLogic:living structures and swarm bodies’ and aimed to facilitate direct interaction from Processing to FDM 3Dprinters through the generation of G-code instructions.

The produced objects try to combine the potential offered from generative strategies in the exploration of non-standard deposition processes and the capacity of plastic threads to self-organize in curly geometries once extruded from the 3D printer.

The work consisted in a first part focused in the calibration and mapping of the different material behavoiurs achievable based on the variation of different extruding conditions. The parameters we found to affect the more the extruded material behaviour was: . extrusion quantity . extrusion velocity . nozzle distance from the deposition plate . material type . nozzle size

Once a comprehensive catalogue of variations was completed, some of the observed behaviours was reproduced in a series of more complex formations where the values of one or more parameters was varied according to different design purposes to modulate structural, aesthetical or performative qualities in the final objects.

The Reefs by Co-de

The Reefs project fosters the creation of underwater sea barriers using D-Shape® technology (thanks to the ongoing collaboration with Enrico Dini) through digitally simulated growth processes developed by Co-de-iT + disguincio.&co. It thrives on the potential that emerge from a coherent utilization of the environment’s inherent ecological structure for its own transformation and evolution, using an approach based on digitally simulated ecosystems and sparkled by the possibilities and potential of large-scale 3D printing technology. Considering tourism as an inevitable vector of environmental change, the project aims to direct its potential and economic resources towards a positive transformation, providing a material substrate for the human-marine ecosystem integration with the realization of spaces for an underwater sculpture exhibition. Such structures will also provide a pattern of cavities which, expanding the gradient of microenvironmental conditions, break the existing homogeneity in favor of systemic heterogeneity, providing the spatial and material preconditions for the re-population of marine biodiversity. 

The Sagrada Familia in Ice by Students from University of Eindhoven 

Erosion - SWAP! - AADRL

SWAP is a design research team in the Architectural Association DRL in London. The members are: Ashwin Shah (India), Paola Salcedo (Ecuador), Yue Shi (China) and Wandy Mulia (Germany). In this book, our 12 months research and final project of erosion is documented.

Stone Spray Project

This book describes the additive fabrication research project that is called Stone Spray Project. It was done by Anna Kulik, Inder Prakash Singh Shergill and Petr Novikov in the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia under the supervision of Marta Male-Alemany and assistance of Jordi Portell with Miquel Lloveras. The research started in January 2012 and accomplished in July 2012.The main task of the project was to invent a system that could digitally fabricate architecture on-site. Furthermore it was required to implement robotics in this process.