Architizer is hosting the world’s definitive architectural awards program, with 50+ categories and 200+ jurors. As part of an ongoing series, we’re spotlighting projects that fit into “Plus” categories, including “Fabrication,” that tap into topical and culturally relevant themes. To see a full list of categories and learn more about the awards, visit architizerawards.com.

Don’t let the flashy renderings fool you. The future of architecture lay not so much in novel forms as in new methods of digital fabrication. In an age of rapidly diminishing resources, architects must develop, together with research laboratories, tech leaders, and software designers, efficient construction models that make more with less. This will require new types of mechanical and robotic armatures, which prove more nimble, accurate, and thus, efficient at building both complex and simple structures, to put those new model into practice. The goal is to put all of these ingenious ideas to the test, and develop the best for widespread application at every scale.

Fabrication innovations have thoroughly and irrevocable changed the making of architecture, and architects should welcome that change. That just doesn’t mean corporate designers like Foster + Associates that have now have robotic and digital fabrication wings, but also smaller firms that are responsible for the majority of building. These techniques and machines should be made available and affordable to every kind of architect, and not exclusively licensed to the larger firms. Here’s to hoping for an office robot arm!

Click on through for self-building architecture, giant 3D printers, blood bricks, and of course, robots, robots, robots.

ETH Zurich & ROB Technologies @ Rob|Arch 2012 from robotsinarchitecture on Vimeo.

ROB Technologies

Brick workshop at ETH Zürich

Designed by ROB Technologies

Innovation:

Learn more about this project and about robotic architecture (Rob|Arch) here.

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by Architizer Editors

posted in Uncategorized

tagged 3d printing, A+ Awards, Architizer A+ Awards, blood bricks, fabrication, machines, prefab, rapid prototyping, robot architecture, robots, self-assembly

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