Fabio Gramazio - Bartlett International Lecture Series

Digital Materiality 

Lecturer's Abstract

Since its inception in 2005, the research group led by Professor Matthias Kohler and Professor Fabio Gramazio at ETH Zurich has been at the forefront of robotics and digital fabrication in architecture. With their robotic laboratories, and work that ranges from prototypes to building elements, they have inspired architects and researchers alike to explore the capacities of the industrial robot as a universal tool of the digital age.

This lecture by Fabio Gramazio will present a selection of projects by Gramazio Kohler Research that exemplify the many dimensions that play a part in changing the course of architecture – from stunning installations to the algorithmic detail, as well as the design and construction of habitable architecture such as the DFAB HOUSE currently under construction.

Biography

Fabio Gramazio is an architect with multi-disciplinary interests ranging from computational design and robotic fabrication to material innovation. In 2000, he founded the architecture practice Gramazio & Kohler in conjunction with his partner Matthias Kohler, where numerous award-wining designs have been realised. Current projects include the design of the Empa NEST research platform, a future living and working laboratory for sustainable building construction.

As professors, Gramazio and Kohler developed the first architectural robotic laboratory at ETH Zurich. The ensuing research has been highly influential in the field of digital architecture, setting precedence and initiating a new research field focusing on the integration of industrial robots in architectural design and construction.

They have contributed to numerous exhibitions around the world, such as the 2008 Architectural Biennial in Venice, the Storefront Gallery for Art and Architecture in New York in 2009, Flight Assembled Architecture at the FRAC Centre Orléans in 2011, and Rock Print at the 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial. Their recent research is outlined and theoretically framed in the book The Robotic Touch: How Robots Change Architecture.

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