Pike Loop, a robot-built installation in NYC
On September 29, Storefront for Art and Architecture will inaugurate a new exhibition showcasing research conducted over the past 3 years at ETH Zurich by Swiss architects Gramazio & Kohler into full-scale digital fabrication in architecture using industrial robots. At the same time, construction work will begin on Pike Loop, the first architectural project to be built on site by an industrial robot in the US.
Located on Pike Street, the robot, R-O-B, will work for up to four weeks—in full view of the public— to construct a brick wall, a highly sculptural response to the specific identity of the site. The same robot unit recently built the award-winning installation, Structural Oscillations, at the 2008 architectural biennial in Venice. For the Pike Loop installation, more than seven thousand bricks aggregate to form an infinite loop that weaves along the pedestrian island. In changing rhythms the loop lifts off the ground and intersects itself at its peaks. The installation was coordinated through the New York City Department of Transportation’s Urban Art Program.
More images and a video after the break.
Developed through their research at ETH Zurich Faculty of Architecture, Switzerland, Gramazio & Kohler’s work explores highly complex architectural artifacts, built by industrial robots typically used to assemble automobiles and perform other high-precision tasks. The accuracy, strength and speed of these robots allow them to fabricate architectural forms of unprecedented complexity and intricacy. Gramazio & Kohler’s work represents the cutting edge of innovation in the field of digital fabrication in architecture. For many years architects have relied on digital manufacturing processes such as CNC milling or 3D printing as a tool for formal research at model-scale. For the first time, Gramazio & Kohler’s work explores the potential of mobile digital fabrication techniques that can fabricate at 1:1 scale on site.
The exhibition at Storefront Gallery will present the results of Gramazio & Kohler’s ongoing research into digital fabrication in architecture at ETH Zürich Faculty of Architecture. The same robot, R-O-B, unit recently built the award-winning installation, Structural Oscillations, at the 2008 architectural biennial in Venice.
Exhibition location: Storefront for Art and Architecture, 97 Kenmare St., NYC
Exhibition opening reception: Sept. 30, 7p.m. (Exhibition ends Nov. 14, 2009)
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5 comments »
The precision with which this is able to construct is incredible, and certainly offers architects many opportunities for construction. However, a small alarm is sounding in the back of my head as I wonder if this is the beginning of the ability to buy a set of blueprints at Walmart, have the robot carted out to your truck, and build your house in a weekend. I hope this can be used for the scope of opporunity it may provide in creative applications rather than to remove the human element and craft from the design and construction process.
I have to agree with you on that one. The robot will most likely not be used to its potential and it will be used primarily as a cost-saving measure (just like in the automotive industry). As well, it dislocates the user from the process of building which is a real tradition in the sense of residential architecture, and could become a one-off thing as you said with the store bought plans. I could see this becoming the way social housing is built as well (shudder).
That said, it’s interesting in terms of the process of building…
More of an architectural novelty at this point.
I find that interesting too… We architects are always way behind engineers in terms of automation, and I think this kind of experiments can teach us much. And I think (hope) we are quite far from seeing robots building entire buildings around, mainly because what is most needed when building something is synthesis and broad vision, areas in which artificial systems are still very inefficient, compared to our little human brains…
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