This research began with a very simple question: how do architects deal with the history of their discipline in the age of digital tools? How can we design, and at the same time learn from the past now that we have an arsenal of impressive tools at our disposal?

The role of architectural history, although variable throughout different periods, is still central to our discipline. Construction technologies, building aesthetics and architectural programs are historically grounded concepts that require continuous consideration, particularly in the digital turn.

The research deals with a pressing question about our discipline and its design strategies combining historical information and the ubiquity of digital tools. Design strategies in architecture are historically defined, they rely on geometry, context, history, human requirements, building technologies, and representational tools. The study of Architecture´s own history, particularly on the verge of technological advancements such as the introduction of new materials or tools may shed some light on how to tackle new challenges in a rapidly shifting context. The development of new design strategies capable of metabolizing these advancements is crucial to our discipline.

In this regard, the role of digital tools in architectural design processes has been growing steadily in relevance for the last twenty years, yet their function has shifted from a representational instrument to a concrete design and manufacturing tool.

This design research aims to illustrate the importance of detail, quality, and overall freedom that the study of design and production tools reveals; both historical ones (such as the introduction of iron or ceramics) to contemporary resources, as the use of complex design software and novel fabrication tools have become ubiquitous in our field.

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This project was selected as a finalist and awarded a honorable mention at the Initiative 99 competition organized by Icon Technologies.

The ‘Willowprint’ project is an innovative approach to housing, offering adaptable 3D-printed homes that evolve with occupants' changing needs over time. Each home begins with a compact "core" unit, encompassing essential spaces like living, kitchen, and bathroom areas. Homeowners can then expand the structure by adding 3D-printed modular rooms, enabling them to adjust their space as families grow or lifestyles shift. Leveraging ICON's advanced 3D-printing technology, these homes are organized into clusters of "print beds," each forming dense urban blocks that foster sustainable urban living. This flexible and scalable housing model exemplifies a new approach to residential design that prioritizes long-term adaptability and affordability.

The design philosophy behind Willowprint is rooted in modularity and personalization, tackling contemporary housing challenges through sustainable, on-site, and prefabricated 3D printing. Each core unit is designed to support affordable, sustainable growth by allowing homeowners to integrate features like home offices, extra bedrooms, or mezzanines as needed. This modular system not only encourages sustainable urban densification—with multiple homes produced in close proximity to create connected neighborhoods—but also redefines home ownership. Through adaptable, low-cost 3D-printing methods, Willowprint enables families to upgrade their homes without relocating, reducing both environmental impact and financial burden.

Kitbashing is a practice through which ready-made components are combined in larger, complex models. It has a material origin: miniature model makers and hobbyists used parts from commercial kits to create otherwise unavailable designs. It has also been used extensively in the film industry since the 60s in movies like Space Odyssey and Star Wars and continues to be utilized as well, not only with physical models but also with the help of digital tools.

The objective of this research about Kitbashing techniques is twofold: firstly is to study building elements and composition strategies presented in 19th century architectural work, and secondly, to explore digital modeling techniques supported by historical documentation and reality-captured information. The intention is to research techniques like catalog-making, deformation, de-scaling and overall composition techniques as well as 3d printing technologies while discussing relevant topics in the contemporary architectural discourse around the critical use of history and digital tools.

The research focuses on the architectural elements of 19th century buildings, understanding them as the result of the active negotiation between the classical cannon and the innovative manufacturing technologies of the period. Along these guidelines the research intends to explore design and composition techniques, allowing a high degree of formal experimentation within the aforementioned boundaries.

The exploration of variation and differenciation is a relevant topic inherited from the study of 19th century production, now enhanced by the use of digital tools and their inherent capabilities for controlled deformation.

(collaboration with Christian Schmitt)

ZLOHERDE is located at the edge of the park between the two new buildings Forum UZH the USZ area SHE/HE stands with both feet on the ground and still floats. ZLOHEDRE is solid and transparent at the same time. Like a kinetic figure in the park, she/he appears sometimes open, sometimes closed.

The design combines the two most sustainable materials "earth" and "wood" in an optimal symbiosis. Both materials as well as the kinetic zoning of the masses - are concise in perception. In combination with the simple roof shape of the lying cuboid and its modern constructive digital implementation as a spatial structure ZLOHERDE on the from afar identity-establishing. A striking impression is offered up close. Tactile in the clay and detailed in the wooden construction.

BASE / CLAY

The base area (soil and the heavy clay walls) serve as the foundation of the roof and are used to condition the air supply. At the same time they are moisture-regulating due to the nature of the material. The room height and the superelevation of the room in the space structure help to minimize the energy requirement for maintenance. The building material offers wood and in particular the clay the biologically perfect combination of materials to conserve natural resources. A contemporary image of sustainability is created through the combination and processing of both materials into architecture.

ROOF / WOOD

The roof structure combines digital design and production techniques with a simple design principle in a cheap, efficient and yet sturdy wood structure. It consists of simple wood elements with minimal waste, which through the large number are as thin as possible. In doing so, former construction wood can be reused. This is why this appears structure as a dense space carrier, despite a clear one joint principle of lattice girders in the main load-bearing direction and transverse diagonals over the free corners the glass facade.

The concept of visibly combining both longitudinal and transverse load-bearing directions allows the varying To illustrate span in the pattern of the soffit and delivers the principle, the loads from the facade and the construction continues in the course of detailed planning to integrate.

Modern robotic systems in the timber construction industry allow components to be assembled directly digital data. They enable efficient prefabrication of the individual modules of the roof structure. The fabrication of the roof thus combines the advantages of standardized prefabrication with individual design and construction requirements. The roof rests on the rammed earth base. Through turnbuckles (foundation anchors) anchor it back from the ring anchor of the clay walls to the foundation.

FACADE

The outer facade consists of a wooden lamella structure made of purposefully charred wood (Yakisugi). Here, too, the ambition is to use wooden elements again (urban mining). Flamed wood gets a more uniform surface from the possibly varying wood resources through the process. It is naturally strengthened on the surface without chemicals and, with its black and silvery appearance, ideally complements the Zurich rammed earth base.

Simple mullion-transom glass facades enclose both clay elements to form a rectangular floor plan with two room zones. The entrance with bar and the quieter guest area with tables. The facades can be slid open there in the summer.

SUSTAINABILITY

The design impresses with the construction of rammed earth and wood (also recycled wood). Both promise a minimal balance of gray energy. Un-stabilized rammed earth also allows full reuse.

Solar thermal energy on the roof is used to activate the thick base plate with thermal energy in summer. In winter, the stored heat is used again for air heating. The air is supplied via an earth register that preconditions the fresh air. In the building, this effect is continued in the clay walls, which also regulate the moisture content of the indoor air.

These passive measures significantly reduce the active cooling measures of summer heat protection.

(Collaboration with Christian Schmitt)

The Basel Pavilion consists in the integration of two distinctive parts that can be traced back to the origins of our discipline: a ROOF and a LANDSCAPE. The suspended ROOF is designed with reused components, consisting in reclaimed window frames and corrugated roof plates. The location of the pavilion is envisioned as flexible and NOMADIC. Beneath lies the LANDSCAPE, an area where we embrace a holistic material approach, additionally using regrowing material (straw, hemp, wood) and other elements MINED from the city such as bricks, natural stone and earth.

This landscape is set to celebrate the senses through an atmospheric and haptic idea of feeling, touching and smelling.

ROOF

The roof is built as a hybrid construct using corrugated plates combined with a series of bundled window frames to a total structural height of 80 cm. The window frame sandwich is fixed with reversible straps and fixed to the plates. On top of the corrugated plates, four steel beams are fixed in order to connect it to the crane´s steel cables.

FRAMES

The design of the frame sandwich follows computational logic. First, we organize a database with all the Individual window frames and their measurements (extracted from the Resource library). Then, thanks to parametric software, a flexible grid is set, and using a nesting algorithm, the window frames are automatically arranged in it, optimizing their positions. The combination of digital databases such as BIM models and optimization algorithms are key strategies in any RE-USE technique. Additionally, as the pavilion is entirely mobile and could be used during warmer or colder seasons, we also consider the possibility of embedding reclaimed radiators in the roof to cool down or warm up the covered area.

TEXTILES

Reclaimed textiles also offer an interesting possibility to be reused as building materials. Boroboro textiles are meant to be repaired, combined and PATCHED within a diverse range of textile types. Repairing and recombining textiles in designed patchwork-style curtains will also highlight aSOCIAL ASPECT of sustainability, offering community engagement in the form of social activities, fair labor, women empowerment and the integration of vulnerable communities.

The intention is not only to RE-USE the pavilion in different parts of the city but also, when the time comes, to DISASSEMBLE the pavilion to its component parts as well.

Originally designed for a competition about sustainable materials, the earthen columns evolved as a separate research project. The question that fueled the research project was ´how to create a structural element made of earth?´

The concept for the competition evolved in the direction of using different nylon bags (the ones that are used to transport materials like sand or building debris) and restraining them with heavy-duty straps for resistance and filling them with earth.

The columns´ shape derive from the negotiation of the container, the straps and the earth. Several configurations were tested and simulated with software as the results varied greatly in shape and resistance.

In 2020 the students at German University Cairo created a series of documents around the work of Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy in the framework of CAD and parametric design courses. The first step of the process was to document Fathy´s work in 2D CAD software as a first approach to the drafting tools. The original drawings were extracted from the Digital Archive from AUC .

As a second step of the exercise, the students created a second group of drawings with architectural information and labeled floorplans according to different activities, compiling a dataset for future machine learning experiments.

All the drawings were made by CAD CAM students at GUC and are available as PDF files here.

Thanks to GUC students and TAs, especially to Mennatallah Hamdy for editing and compiling the drawings for publication.

Digital Imperfection is a temporary installation made at the German University Cairo combining augmented reality tools and handmade adobe bricks. The project involved two separate processes that came together during the montage procedure; on one hand, the design of handmade rammed earth mud bricks, and on the other, the design of a parametric wall and the coding of the montage procedure on the AR platform.

In Digital Imperfection we asked ourselves some questions: What is the role of digital crafts? What are the benefits of handmade fabrication? What do perfect and imperfect mean?

Digital Imperfection places humans in the focus of the digital assembly, not by replacing humans by robots or algorithms but by collaboration for mutual benefit. Humans (students in our case) brought their bodies and dexterity, while computers contribute with organization and precision of the procedure to build the wall.

The wall was designed with parametric design software and at the same time, produces a real-time procedure that is streamed to the Hololens in the field. The parametric procedure indicates the user/worker where to pick up the brick (there are different heights) and then where to locate it.

The process also accounts the different errors and heights (like the mortar thickness and manufacturing differences), sustaining a constant loop with real-time feedback: the physical model is updated with new bricks while the digital model is updated with the corrected heights.

From Assoc. Prof. Christian Schmitt: “The imperfection of Adobe Bricks is often understood as a synonym with poor. It is still a simple, cheap, and often a perfect material to build with. With Digital Imperfection we wanted to underline that earth is much more than a vernacular material and that we can use it in a contemporary, elegant way.”

Made with:

Assoc. Prof. Christian Schmitt http://alltag.org/

Rodrigo Brum (video footage and editing)

Inspired by the discovery of the Domus Aurea at the end of the XV century, artificial grottos fascinated artists and architects alike; Cuvillies, Buontalenti, le Rouge or Hubert Robert were some of the many baroque and eclectic artists who painted, designed and built them.

As a mixture of style, building technique and architectural typology, these grottos were often dedicated to the amusement of the higher classes. They also entered the public realm in the 19th and 20th century in the form of zoos, pavilions and follies in parks. Similarly, they were built around the world, one can still find some examples in France, Argentina or Egypt.

It is also fascinating how Architecture dealt with this type of constructions; frequently ignored by our discipline, their conception was relegated to mere construction and aesthetical or technical appraisal was hard to find up until the advent of digital design tools.

As a mixture of organic shapes and regulated composition, they are undoubtedly Architectural value, particularly under the light of digital design tools and manufacturing. These series of digital grottos act as a critical device, presenting an alternative path to crystalized methodologies like parametric design or algorithmic modeling. Space, order, proportion and detail; they are all present in the grottos (both historic and digital) and yet, we struggle to see ´Architecture´ in them.

´Artificial rocks´ is a project that considers this disciplinary heritage, while exploring digital design software in order to design high detail models whereas robotic manufacturing can make them possible with millimetric precision.

Iron structures in the 19th century were designed according to precise statics but were also heavily defined by material and financial constrains; the intimate relationship between architectural and structural elements and fabrication techniques advocated for a rational understanding of building components and their connections. The aesthetic possibilities arisen from this apparent rational approach were greatly exploited by courageous architects and engineers. The record-breaking Palais des Machines and its potential variations from these experiments are arguably a proof of these values.

These series of designs intend to reproduce innovative structural typologies from 19th century and simultaneously test their material and aesthetical capacities under the control of new parameters on a digital environment.

The Galerie des Machines was studied as a reference and its structural typology parametrized; support types, upper and lower chords, vertical posts, bracings and articulations, along with the separation of the supports and the general shape of the structure.

The parametric model works according to the following procedure: first a structural surface is defined (either manually or by a different parametric definition) and it is used as an input shape. This shape will be subdivided by a number of structural elements (beams, supports) that will be evenly spaced along the initial surface.

A second experiment is carried on by a form-finding algorithm taking into account gravitational forces, the structures’ own weight and the structural member´s own strength. This way, the shape of the structure is molded not by the designer’s touch but through the interplay of forces (the support and the supported) and how they reach equilibrium with each other. The parametric model allows the designer to alter not shapes and surfaces but forces, distributed and punctual, while observing in real time how they modify the resulting structure.

The digitizing arm is a part of a research project with Joost Meyer (RWTH) aiming to integrate human dexterity into a digital design methodology. The premise was to design a device and a digital procedure capable of capturing movement, translating it to a three-dimensional environment and then mounting a design procedure on top of it.

The arm´s design has a similar organization to a 5-axis robotic arm, but instead of actuators, rotational encoders on each articulation send angle data to the software thanks to a physical computing device and parametric design software.

Thanks to the capacity of locating a point in a three-dimensional space, the digitizing arm has many practical applications; a 3d scanner, a sketching tool or an organic 3d modeler, all of them in real time.

On this research, the first application was to mimic Meyer´s procedure of three-dimensional wiring of sculptures. The arm then holds a “virtual” wiring machine and can travel freely on space, rolling a digital wire around a base body, in this case, a shark.

The project is still on-going as new applications can be developed to work seamlessly over the arm´s own definition, with the intention to take to an open-source status soon.

The Central Pavilion project is an ongoing research that started with a collaboration with the research group Rokokorelevanz. The first objective was to produce a series of pavilions exploring the possibilities of rotational geometries, utilizing profiles from baroque buildings and pavilions as a starting point.

After the initial research and exhibition, a number of side-projects emerged from it, utilizing similar techniques and slightly more complex tools, always looking for the same effect, that is, to discover new geometric and formal possibilities derived from historical case studies.

Based on the use of tools such as parametric design, genetic algorithms and machine learning, several iterations of the same pavilion set were produced, in a constant attempt to establish ties between baroque formal processes and digital methodologies. As generative tools evolve over time, our intention is to continue interlacing our bonds to historical practices, not as inspiration or an aesthetic reference, but as a creative “cross-pollination” between past and future.

This research project proposed to develop a series of DIY open-source machines for low-cost manufacturing. The open-source vacuum forming machine is intended for explorative and educational use. The procedure is pretty straightforward: the objects are placed on the perforated base, then a frame with a heated sheet of plastic is pressed from the top as the vacuum pulls the plastic towards the object.

Vacuum forming machines can produce hollow forms by mimicking the shape of the original object with relative speed. By keeping the same base object, one can serialize a production with ease.

These series of open source machines are envisioned to be manufactured and assembled with low cost and accessible materials, such as laser-cut plywood, screws and clips. They are also designed to be adapted, personalized and upgraded by the users, by providing them with the base files for easy fabrication.

This research project proposed to develop a series of DIY open-source machines for low-cost manufacturing. The open-source rotomolding machine is intended for explorative and educational use paired with the vacuum forming machine. The rotomolding process requires an empty shell or negative form to be filled with resin, wax, fluid polymer or even chocolate. Once the shell with the liquid is fixed to the frame, the lever rotates it in three axes, distributing the liquid through the inner walls of the negative mold.

Combined with vacuum forming, the rotomolding machine can produce serialized objects by using a single negative shell with relative speed. By keeping the same base object, one can serialize a production with ease. In other words, these two machines can virtually reproduce multiple copies of any object.

These series of open source machines are envisioned to be manufactured and assembled with low cost and accessible materials, such as laser-cut plywood, 3d printed parts, skateboard ball-bearings, and screws. They are also designed to be adapted, personalized and upgraded by the users, by providing them with the base files for easy fabrication.

The Portal was intended to serve as a welcoming structure to the International Exhibition of 1899 in Paris. Inspired by Haeckel´s Radiolaria drawings, the building was a prime example of 19th century´s approach to architecture; an unrestrained use of ornaments and new materials supported by precise engineering

Muqarnas are an Islamic ornament that covers vaults. Reminiscent of caves, stones and stalactites, they function as a decorated transition between vertical and horizontal surfaces. They are a symbolic representation of universal creation by God: while looking up, we feel that a part of the building is coming to us, a part of heaven comes closer, trying to reach us. Muqarnas are generated by a careful combination of geometries intercalating convex and concave forms. Rhomboid and triangular pieces are combined symmetrically, stacking to one another creating a pulsating, spiked texture. As intended, the effect is stunning: these domes serve as a representation of heaven, each complex module is a small geometric miracle.

This chair recovers a two-dimensional pattern based on the Muqarna geometry. They are composed by modules of laser-cut 2mm steel, folded by a machine, bolted together and covered by powder-coat painting.

Digital LeMonnier is set to explore a series of characteristics often forgotten regarding the use of digital tools and historic architecture.

Edouard Le Monnier was a french architect who worked in South America, predominantly in Buenos Aires, where he built many churches, houses and apartment buildings at the beginning of the 20th century. His work was a prominent example of 19th century eclecticism and french academicism, although adapted to the uses and materials of Argentina, distilled quality and all sorts of material richness.

This brief research served as a prelude to the Phd. investigation ´Innovative Tools and design strategies - The case of 19th century architecture in Buenos Aires´ carried on between 2014 and 2018 at the T.U. Kaiserslautern in Germany under the direction of Lucas Merx and Joaquin Medina Warmburg.

The original intention of this exercise was to effectively register architectural details and material quality in LeMonnier´s buildings, mostly located in Buenos Aires administrative area, which developed to its current state between 1890 and 1930.

LeMonnier´s fine academicism and care for materials, most particularly, for the combination of multiple materials such as stucco, marble, bronze and stone, is omnipresent on his delicate yet expressive classical forms.

Digital LeMonnier aimed to register these forms and materials in a digital format, storing not only the original geometry but also the passage of time in the form of grain, textures and cracks.

This way, architectural detail can be stored and observed through a novel pattern, one that allows to rotate and zoom indefinitely adding yet another dimension of LeMonnier´s work, and extensively, of Buenos Aires vast eclectic production.

Later on, the project was extended to other 19th century architects from Buenos Aires, as well as from other European cities such as Berlin, Paris and Vienna. It is still an ongoing research, with a growing archive of +50 models and details.

This exercise began with the investigation of terra cotta façade pieces from the Palacio de Aguas Corrientes.

These ceramic pieces, fabricated by the Royal Doulton Company are a small sample of the 300.000 multicolored pieces that cover the entire façade.

The original purpose was to analyze the formal and material complexity of the pieces, combining organic and geometrical forms, glazings and textures, concordant with the Palacio de Aguas’ French Renaissance style.

The first task included the analysis of original drawings by Boye’s office and exhibition pieces at the Palacio de Agua’s museum. Secondly, a series of 3d scanned models from the pieces were

generated. Ultimately, the 3d scanning procedure did not succeeded because of the dissimilarity on the object’s textures. The glossy glazing produced variable reflections which introducing inaccuracies on the scanning process, rendering it fallible. The result of this stage was a series of colorized 3d models of variable quality, but with several imperfections. The organic nature of the original pieces was faithfully translated, but due to reflections on the glazing, unwanted geometry appeared in the form of peaks.

Finally, all the designs were 3d printed in porcelain in a smaller scale in order to assess the objects materially, with the added details of the layering texture provoked by the printing process.

It is also worth mentioning that the manufacturing process involved a great deal of material know-how, particularly in regard of the geometrical precision.

The modeling and firing process of ceramics produces shrinking and deformations that need to be taken into account in the final position and fitting of each piece.

This experiment presented rustication patterns found on the Oppenhoffallee Boulevard in Aachen using 3d scanning techniques. The Oppenhoffallee Boulevard is a small urban intervention in the Frankenberger quartier in Aachen. It was created around 1870 to accommodate factories and housing, both for workers and administration staff. Variation and differentiation within a fixed typology is the key for the cohesive expression of the boulevard; yellow bricks, stucco, or Paris stone are some of the materials available on the facades.

The rustication pieces on the ground floor are also another example of these characteristics. Several rustication patterns, textures and geometries populate the Oppenhoffalle Boulevard, this experiment was set to register some of them in a catalog-type structure by using photogrammetry techniques.

Photogrammetry is a digital procedure that creates three-dimensional models by extracting information form an array of photographs. Each model requires between fifty and ninety photographs in order to capture a significant level of detail.

The result was a catalog of highly detailed 3d models, an illustration of the complex relationships between architectural ornamentation, style and manufacturing techniques in the late 19th and early 20th century. The combination of serialized and unique features of each piece is critical evidence of the period’s compromise in terms of aesthetics and construction technologies.

This series of experiments intended to investigate digital multi-agent design tools like vector fields and boids (an artificial program composed of autonomous bird-like agents). Autonomous agents behave following a set of very simple rules, such as alignment (agents tend to follow a common direction), cohesion (agents tend to fly together towards the center of the flock) and separation (agents tend to fly within a safe distance between each other).

The deployment of these simple rules often generates complex yet coherent results, without much intervention from the designer in terms of the details or even the final shape. Most of the time these designs deploy over time, meaning that there is no final step or end instance when a design is “finished”. Instead, the process is interrupted at a certain moment and the design express that particular instant of the development.

Within this mixture of direct and indirect control, this project explores reverberations between the movement (and the tracing) of these agents and baroque traces, similar to the ones one may find in stucco sculptures or profiles.

Based on movement and complexity, the reference to baroque geometries does not come as a rhetoric image but as an allegoric reference acting as a framework on which to orient the experiments.

Detail, complexity and movement are the common characteristics between the baroque references and the digital procedures. It is possible to perceive material, the movement of a stucco master and the overdecorated space.

Extension and renovation - Schoolhouse Glarisegg

Team: Christian Schmitt, Federico Garrido

2020 Glarisegg, Switzerland – Project area: 1600 m²

The school extension is precisely set in relation to the school´s main building and its existing constructions and as a new building block, expands the dialogue with the sports field and the surrounding buildings.

The special quality lies in the unobstructed view over the lake. The transparent ground floor zone, which allows a free intermediate space under the classroom area and above the sports area, is established by a simple supporting structure of inclined columns.

The building is clearly divided in three areas/levels: A Base or plinth (sports/multifunction), an intermediate space (leisure and break) and finally the classroom area.

The square plinth is inscribed with the rectangular and two-story hall. The 45° rotation optimizes transparency on the ground floor and provides an ideal view of the lake.

The supporting structure differentiates the superstructure and the plinth in construction and material. The span of the hall is in concrete and allows maximum robustness for the leisure area. For the classrooms, the change of material to wood allows for a flexible and efficient timber construction.

Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, tin and other metals such as aluminum, nickel, zinc or manganese. Its use dates back to the 4th millennium BC across many continents at different times. The importance of bronze and its implications in material culture is obviously immense and it is often used to periodize the advancement of civilizations.

As a part of the study of 19th-century building technologies, this research combined the investigation of casted metals and the use of 3d-printed organic forms. Using three-dimensional sculpting software from the movie and videogame industry in collaboration with Dr. Joost Meyer and (Plastiklehrstuh RWTH Aachen), a novel process was developed to use the 3d printed objects much similar to the investment-cast procedure.

Like in any material process, a special quality of these objects emerges as the transfer of material properties from one medium to the next happens. The organic forms are naturally altered in the 3d-printing process, by which a certain texture is added, which in turn will be transferred to the bronze piece. The subsequent brushing, polishing and chemical processes (like the patina) of the metal will further alter these characteristics.

Detecting, perceiving and augmenting these characteristics is an ongoing objective of our research that transcends materials and scale.