IAAC – Master in Robotics and Advanced Construction
Workshop 1.1
Faculty: Kunaljit Chadha
In collaboration with: Toni Cumella / Ceramica Cumella
Faculty Assistant: Anna Batallé Garcia

WIRE ‘N’ CLAY


Credits: Ceramica Cumella         

Syllabus

Computers are usually seen as a beneficial invention which liberates human fantasies and facilitates efficient design work. Craft on the other hand has always been questioning this fact especially considering the current role of computers in the art and design field. With the recent advancements and the ease of access to computers, we are approaching another episode of technium, as termed as Kevin Kelly, where analog knowledge from the past decades can be comfortably transferred to digital tools. Wire cutting as a technique has its precedents with stereotomy of stone masonry and semi-dry clay.

With the promise of providing lead over time in subtractive manufacturing, wire cutting has emerged as a popular machining technique in the past decade allowing large scale stereotomy of  complex forms. Counting on the collaboration of Ceramic Cumella, this workshop will present a unique workflow from design to production combining results from logic based pragmatic tests with principles of wire cutting to digitalising them to augment the capabilities of wire cutting as an industrial production means.

The workshop will conclude with a series of 1:1 robotically fabricated prototypes made with the use of computational design tools and robotic fabrication to form a fragment of architecture.
The intent of the workshop is to challenge the quality between design, matter and production.

                           

Learning objectives

At course completion the student will:

  • Design for production protocols: Developing bespoke workflow for robotic, 
  • Robot path planning: Generating custom tool path for robotic manipulation,
  • Wire cutting: In collaboration with Ceramica Cumella, exploring relationships between ceramics and robotic wire cutting,
  • Post processing and Assembly: Dealing with application of wire cut components into architectural scale.