Max Latour
Architectural Engineering: Robotic Building
Biomimetic architecture - An architectural intervention in a new-Babylonian society
The artist Constant speculated about a future new-Babylonian society in which the necessity to work has ceased to exist due to automation. This project explores biomimetic architecture for such a society as an intervention in a historical building from the 2nd industrial era.
The main architectural intervention consists of a new atrium for the building. The computational design employs biomimetic simulations, structural- and robotic path optimisations. The natural qualities that emerge in the design are performative in terms of functional and structural properties rather than being merely decorative or aesthetical. The ensuing architectural style could be, therefore, referred to as ‘computationally-informed art nouveau’.
By using smaller circular wood elements that are robotically glued and milled into larger curvilinear elements connected to topologically optimised 3D printed metal nodes, the project not only addresses the current quest for circularity but also takes advantage of the most recent technology developed at TU Delft.
More information
- Master thesis 'The architecture-nature analogy'