RES: SINGULAR BRANCHING

11 February 2013 Architectural Association, London AA DRL Thesis Proposal Studio Rob Stuart-Smith: Behavioural Matter Singular Branching studies the concept and manufacture of bespoke architectural parts through continuous material organization at multiple scales. Our understanding of the building cycle is situated within the design of a process that is generative at the conceptual level as well as at the manufacturing level. This process consists of conceiving a building that responds to complex site conditions and simulating its manufacture and assembly with the intention that although the intricacies of production are messy, the final architectural product is delivered as one entity. We use a fibre-reinforced composite as a material that can be manufactured so that the fibre patterning is intrinsically related to the building form. We propose that a structural analysis of the building as a whole would determine the vector flows. Fibres are then placed onto the parts by machines following agent-based drawings of strand organisation. Finally, parts are cast in suspension and assembled on site. While automating parts of this process and avoiding moulds traditionally used with Fibre Reinforced Composites have minimised labour and construction tools, our interest resides in the discovery of exciting tectonic moments born out of this processes. For more information: RES website