In this short film, various professors, research associates and the Chairman of the department of Architecture, MIT, showcase how the department wants to define the next generation of building materials. Using different types of experiments, the school wants to shape the building industry culture in the use of materials to avoid wastage and make it possible to build new forms of architecture.
The school realises that it has powerful departments that are able to radicalise how design and architecture is done. By understanding that the invention of human artefacts consists of geometry, process, and material, the experiments can be made to engender new forms in architectural design to benefit the industry’s appliance of appropriate materials at any point in the construction process.
The discussion is looking into what you can build aside from what you can design. One of the main questions is whether you can replicate the building materials and design on a large scale to come up with spaces that are inhabitable. Additionally, the department is investigating what architecture can do in terms of material fabrication to take care of places and scenarios where it is currently difficult to build.
The experiments and tests are done using 3D prints to get better results on material quality, how it bends, folds, stacks, or stretches. As Professor of practice, Sheila Kennedy, says, the challenge today is in material fabrication; not digital fabrication. Watch the video courtesy of MIT Architecture and Film Producer, Chris Jennings, to learn more.
