Towards a Computational Material Culture
Andrew Lee King Fun Gallery, Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne, 19.04. – 19.05.2017
In architecture, a new understanding of the material is emerging through the computational. No longer do we conceive of the digital realm as separate from the physical world. Instead, computation is being regarded as the key interface for material exploration and vice versa.
The exhibition presents selected works of the Institute for Computational Design and Construction at the University of Stuttgart, and its collaborators from engineering and natural sciences. The projects on show explore a profound perceptual shift in design thinking, in which the materiality of architecture is no longer seen to be a fixed property and passive receptor of form, but is transformed into an active generator of design and an adaptive agent of architectural performance. Similarly, and in stark contrast to previous linear and mechanistic modes of fabrication and construction, here materialisation coexists with design as explorative robotic processes. This represents a radical departure from both the trite modernist emphasis on ‘truth to materials’ and the dismissal of material characteristics by the previous generation of digital architects, and thus offers a first glimpse of a novel, computational material culture in architecture.
Installation view, Melbourne School of Design »Towards a Computational Material Culture«, 2017, Photo: Jasmine Budisa
Installation view, Melbourne School of Design »Towards a Computational Material Culture«, 2017, Photo: Jasmine Budisa
Installation view, Melbourne School of Design »Towards a Computational Material Culture«, 2017, Photo: Jasmine Budisa
Melbourne School of Design