Edited by Ruairi Glynn & Bob Sheil ‘FABRICATE: Making Digital Architecture‘ is published by Riverside Architectural Press and released in April 2011.

Covering a cross-section of scales and typologies, “Fabricate” features 32 illustrated case studies of completed buildings, new works in progress, and the latest research in design and digital manufacturing. Practices included Foster+Partners, Zaha Hadid Architects, Arup, Buro Happold, Ron Arad Associates, and the renowned institutions Delft, Harvard, MIT, and The Bartlett. As the scope and diversity of work shown here very clearly conveys, new protocols of engagement between the design and making of digital architecture offer disciplines on all sides the challenge to rethink fabrication as a design activity, and to question how the necessary expertise to master this field can be acquired.

The term Digital Fabrication has been in broad circulation for over a decade and the argument that it is a revolutionary force for design and production is widely understood by the world’s leading practices and schools of architecture. New manufacturing tools have been invented and drawing software is bridging the gap between representation and realisation.To date however, no single publication has captured and analysed the defining built works and prototypes of this emerging age. This was the purpose and topic of ‘FABRICATE: Making Digital Architecture‘. Rather than showcase hypothetical works, this book addresses innovative ideas that have been applied, built and tested. It presents documentation underexposed in contemporary architectural publications, e.g. 21st century working drawings, model/prototype hybrids; adaptive tooling, jigs and manufacturing interfaces; on site bespoke construction, and post production 3D scanning.

FABRICATE was an International Peer Reviewed Conference with supporting publication and exhibition to be held at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL from 15-16 April 2011. Chaired by Ruairi Glynn & Bob Sheil it discussed the integration of digital design with manufacturing processes bringing together pioneers in design and making within architecture, construction, engineering, manufacturing, materials technology and computation. Discussion on key themes included how digital fabrication technologies are enabling new creative and construction opportunities, the difficult gap that exists between digital modeling and its realization, material performance and manipulation, off-site and on-site construction, interdisciplinary education, economic and sustainable contexts.

Fabricate Venue Scan
3D Scan of Audience made by ScanLAb

FABRICATE emerged as the first in a series of focused events from the highly successful ‘Digital Architecture London’ Conference and ‘Digital Hinterlands’ Exhibition in September 2009. Organised by DA in collaboration with the Bartlett School of Architecture. FABRICATE framed discussion around the presentation of built or partially built works by individuals/collaborators in research, practice and industry selected through our Call for Works (Now Closed). From more than 240 submissions our international panel of experts have independently blind reviewed and selected an innovative range of projects to feature in FABRICATE’s conference, exhibition and publication.

In parallel ScanLab present an extraordinary series of drawings which came out of 48 hours of scanning and the screation of a total of 64 scans of the entire exhibition space. These have been compiled to form a complete 3D replica of the temporary show which has been distilled into a navigable animation and a series of ‘standard’ architectural drawings.

What is such a three dimensional, sensual and temporary experience is abstracted into a series of precisely detailed snap shots in time. The work becomes a confused collage of hours of delicately created lines and forms set within a feature prefect representation of the exhibition space. Sometimes a model or image stands out as identifiable, more often a sketch merges into a model and an exhibition stand creating a blurred hybrid of designs and authors.
These drawings represent the closest record to an as built drawing set for the entire exhibition and an ‘as was’ representation of the Bartlett’s year.

Architecture and engineering have a history where research and practice go hand in hand, where many great practices have grown as a result of fundamental research and where many research projects arise from groundbreaking design. This is especially true during periods of economic inactivity when recent modes of working are called into question and new modes (sometimes based on rediscovered historical precedent) are established. This can lead to the formation of innovative practices and to the start of academic careers in research and teaching.

Constructing Realities showcases work from the new Postgraduate Certificate Course in Advanced Architectural Research, set up at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, to give students with Masters degrees the opportunity to take their work to a further stage development. The programme is supported by the Economic Challenge Investment Fund. This exhibition organised with the generous support of Arup’s Phase 2 Gallery shows how some of the best Masters portfolios and theses contain the seeds of serious design research proposals, and how these might be taken forward to create new types of place, novel interactive building elements and new façade and structural systems.

Digital Architecture: Passages Through Hinterlands is a collection of provocative projects from a young generation of digitally enabled designers. This publication oscillates between the analog and the digital, from concept to realisation, mapping processes as it explores the diverse digital paths that lead innovative spaces, poetic narratives and social interactions.

Authored by Ruairi Glynn and Sara Shafiei, the book covers a spectrum of London’s leading graduates and young practices, featuring projects from the Architectural Association, Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL), University of Westminster and Royal College of Art, and case studies and interviews with architects including Amanda Levete Architects, Plasma Studio, JDS Architects, sixteen* (makers), Horhizon, marcosandmarjan, Mette Ramsgard Thomsen, Philip Beesley, David Greene, Samantha Hardingham, Usman Haque and Neil Spiller.

book design Emily Chicken

The ‘Digital Hinterlands‘ exhibition held at Arup Phase 2 Gallery in London 2009 featured a diverse range of work by some of the best recent architecture graduates from London’s Architectural Association, Bartlett, Royal College of Art, and University of Westminster. From built models, 1:1 fragments, material experiments and installations, to interactive devices, virtual worlds and robotics, this exhibition revealed how the latest computational design and rapid manufacturing processes are providing new ways of understanding and designing space.

Visit Exhibition Website

Photography by Sarah Gray

‘Digital Architecture London’ Conference took place at the Building Centre on 21st September 2009. Presenting a selection of London’s leading architects, artists, designers and engineers, the conference examined how London is shaping the digital future of the built environment. Introducing the latest developments in digital design practice, the conference explored new spaces, social interactions, design and fabrication processes, and speculated on architecture’s post-digital futures. DAL09 was directed by Ruairi Glynn with the support of London Digital Week, The Building Centre, Arup & The Bartlett School of Architecture.

Speakers included

Patrik Schumacher, Director and Partner, Zaha Hadid Architects and Co-Founder, Design Research Laboratory, Architectural Association.

Neil Spiller, author of Digital Architecture Now [2008], Visionary Architecture [2007] and many more; Professor of Architecture and Digital Theory; and Director of AVATAR at the Bartlett School of Architecture.

Brett Steele, Director of the Architectural Association School of Architecture and AA Publications; and Co-founder and former Director of the AADRL.

Daniel Bosia, Director of the Advanced Geometry Unit, Arup

Tony Dunne, Professor and Head of the Design Interactions Department at the Royal College of Art; and Co-founder of Dunne & Raby.

Geoff Manaugh, Author of the popular website BLDGBLOG and recently of The BLDGBLOG Book, Chronicle Books [2009].

Usman Haque, Director of Haque Design; Research and founder of Pachube.com; and recent recipient of the 2009 World Technology Award (Art), Design Museum, 2008 (Interactive) Design of the Year Award and Wellcome Trust Sciart Award.

As well as Murray Fraser, Hanif Kara, Rachel Armstrong, Bob Sheil, Charles Walker, Tobi Schneidler, Marcos Cruz, Alvin Huang, Matt Webb, Stephen Gage, Alan Penn, Marjan Colletti and more