Robotically Aided Regionalism - Reawakening stone stereotomy through robotic fabrication

The research is based on the Maltese archipelago, a collection of islands with no other building material available apart from Globigerina limestone. Importing materials before the industrial revolution was an impractical endeavour which led for the inhabitants of the island to learn and master ways how stone can be used in a variety of ways. This restriction resulted in a cultural landscape made out of one material, hence the material has not only transcended from a building resource to a building system but also became a predominant factor in the cultural identity of the island. Furthermore, stone’s natural and massive qualities arises the sense of firmness and timelessness, qualities which are rarely found in contemporary architecture. Alas, this building tradition is being replaced by modern industrialised materials and building techniques which depend on standardisation and require much less craftsmanship. The knowledge of this art and technique of cutting volumetric stones and assembling it into a building (stereotomy) is becoming less and less of a viable option, hence in risk of becoming stagnant and redundant. This study explores regionalism from a technologic and material point of view. It investigates the combination of traditional building techniques with current emerging technologies in digital fabrication with the goal to understand, reinterpret and also extend the performance of stereotomy as building technique through the use of computer aided craftsmanship. For this reason the starting points of this research were the material characteristics and craftsmanship considerations; more specifically, compression-only structural system and 6-axis industrial robotic arm with an abrasive diamond wire cutter. This ultimately strives for the preservation and contemporary reinterpretation of a cultural identity enrooted in the use of stone. The design case set prior to this research follows a similar trail of thought. The house for Maltese literature ‘s design intent is to give an architectural statement that would show an alternative to what post colonial Maltese society could identify themselves with. Both stone stereotomy and Maltese literature share the idea of transcendence from the mundane into the extraordinary; a narrative which was also the main driving force for the architectural gesture shown in the building’s morphology.Architectural Engineering and TechnologyArchitecture and The Built Environmen

Design to fabrication integration and material craftsmanship - A performance driven stone architecture design system based on material, structural and fabrication constraints and criteria

This paper presents a computational design methodology through describing of a case study on stone building system. In addition to establishing a performance driven form-finding methodology, the objective is to redefine local craftsmanship methods as industrial fabrication techniques in order to introduce the constructability of the design solutions as one of the main performance criteria. Therefore, the focus of the methodology is to facilitate architectural design processes through developing of customized computational design tools and workflows for data integration and concurrent performance evaluation. The research starts with the hypothesis that the technological advancements in digital design and fabrication can lead to re-exploration and improvement of traditional building techniques with local materials. The paper explains different stages of the methodology and the way the chained design to fabrication processes would lead to constructible, structurally possible and optimal design solutions of small scale and simple symmetric design solutions to complex topologies at the scale of larger complex buildings.Architectural Engineering and TechnologyArchitecture and The Built Environmen