Digital Fabrications: Architectural and Material Techniques / Lisa Iwamoto

“Architecture continually informs and is informed by its modes of representation and construction, perhaps never more so than now, when digital media and emerging technologies are rapidly expanding what we conceive to be formally, spatially, and materially possible”

- Lisa Iwamoto

During 2009 I had the chance to visit Iwamoto Scott in San Francisco, a practice lead by Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott. At their office I could see first hand the study models for some of the projects the firm has been involved, such as a mockup for their P.S.1 proposal, Coral Reef, or the lightweight wooden pieces that structure the massive Voussoir Cloud installation at SCI Arc. These small pieces had a lot to tell, not only about the specific project they were part of, but also their iterations.

The firm has a recognized expertise in digital fabrication, presented by Lisa Iwamoto at the AIA Convention 2009 during the Emerging Voices forum, and also on her book “Digital Fabrication” edited by Princeton Architectural Press under their Architecture Brief series.

The book presents in a clear way (with very good examples) the methods behind digital fabrication: sectioning, tessellating, folding, contouring, and forming. For most of us these words are pretty much obvious and we often use them as design principles of our projects. But to get the full scope of what they really mean, or for those that want to start understanding -and using- them, this is a recommended reading.

From the publisher:

Architectural pioneers such as Frank Gehry and Greg Lynn introduced the world to the extreme forms made possible by digital fabrication. It is now possible to transfer designs made on a computer to computer-controlled machinery that creates actual building components. This “file to factory” process not only enables architects to realize projects featuring complex or double-curved geometries, but also liberates architects from a dependence on off-the-shelf building components, enabling projects of previously unimaginable complexity.

Digital Fabrications, the second volume in our new Architecture Briefs series, celebrates the design ingenuity made possible by digital fabrication techniques. Author Lisa Iwamoto explores the methods architects use to calibrate digital designs with physical forms. The book is organized according to five types of digital fabrication techniques: tessellating, sectioning, folding, contouring, and forming. Projects are shown both in their finished forms and in working drawings, templates, and prototypes, allowing the reader to watch the process of each fantastic construction unfold. Digital Fabrications presents projects designed and built by emerging practices that pioneer techniques and experiment with fabrication processes on a small scale with a do-it-yourself attitude. Featured architects include AEDS/Ammar Eloueini, Atelier Manferdini, Brennan Buck, MOS, Office dA, Florencia Pita/MOD, Mafoomby, URBAN A+O, SYSTEMarchitects, Andrew Kudless/Matsys, IwamotoScott, Atelier Hitoshi Abe, Chris Bosse, Tom Wiscombe/EMERGENT, Thom Faulders Architecture, Jeremy Ficca, SPAN, GNUFORM, Heather Roberge, PATTERNS, Ruy Klein, and servo.

Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press, New York
Editor: Clare Jacobson
Designer: Brett Yasko

Language: English
Cover: Paperback
Pages: 144
Illustrations: 175 color
Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.9 x 0.6 inches
ISBN: 978-1-56898-790-3

Index

Introduction

Sectioning:
Digital Weave, University of California, Berkeley / Lisa Iwamoto
Mafoombey, Martti Kalliala, Esa Ruskeepää, with Martin Lukasczyk
(Ply) Wood Delaminations, Georgia Institute of Technology / Monica Ponce de Leon
A Change of State, Georgia Institute of Technology / Nader Tehrani
[c] space, Alan Dempsey and Alvin Huang
BURST*.003, SYSTEMarchitects

Tessellating:
West Coast Pavilion, Atelier Manferdini
Huyghe + Le Corbusier Puppet Theatre, MOS
Helios House, Office dA and Johnston Marklee & Associates
California: Stage Set for John Jasperse, AEDS / Ammar Eloueini
Airspace Tokyo, Thom Faulders Architecture
Technicolor Bloom, Brennan Buck

Folding:
Dragonfly, Tom Wiscombe / EMERGENT
Nubik, AEDS / Ammar Eloueini
In-Out Curtain, IwamotoScott
Entry Paradise Pavilion, Chris Bosse / PTW Architects
Aoba-tei, Atelier Hitoshi Abe
Digital Origami, University of Technology, Sydney / Chris Bosse
C_Wall, Andrew Kudless / Matsys
Manifold, Andrew Kudless / Matsys

Contouring:
Bone Wall, Urban A&O
Design 306, Erwin Hauer and Enrique Rosado
CNC panels, Jeremy Ficca
Door with Peephole, WILLIAMSONWILLIAMSON
Gradient Scale, SPAN
Tool-Hide, Ruy Klein

Forming:
Alice, Florencia Pita mod
Prototype Pavilion, MOS
UniBodies, PATTERNS, with Kreysler & Associates
NGTV, GNUFORM
“Dark Places”, servo
“Housing in Vienna”, SPAN
Satin Sheet, University of California, Los Angeles /Heather Roberge
Shiatsu, University of California, Los Angeles / Heather Roberge
P_Wall, Andrew Kudless / Matsys

Notes
Project Credits

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