In the adrenaline-fueled rush of a set-up for their studio review, a team of students pursuing a Master of Science in Design with a concentration in Robotics and Autonomous Systems (MSD-RAS) assemble layer upon layer of ceramic bricks, securing them in place with a satisfying “clink.” And as the model got taller, the stakes got higher. The breakability of ceramic was not far from anybody’s mind.
Clay is one of the world’s oldest building materials: from adobe bricks to terracotta tiles, clay has been used to construct buildings for millennia. Now, advances in computational design and robotic technology have revolutionized the way these bricks are made, and what forms they can take. Made by extruding layers of clay in carefully defined toolpaths, the students 3-D printed their designs using six-axis industrial robots, more easily found in a car manufacturing plant than a design school.
These fully-integrated and automated robots are housed just a floor below the Plaza Gallery in Meyerson Hall, in Weitzman’s Robotics Lab, which opened in 2019 as part of the Department of Architecture’s Advanced Research and Innovation Lab. They position the School at the forefront of architectural design research that leverages and develops approaches to robotic fabrication. The two-semester MSD-RAS program combines an education in robotics with the tools of artificial intelligence and automated systems, which hold the promise of thoroughly adaptive, sustainable, and intelligent approaches to manufacturing and design.
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