Gilles Retsin | University College London (original) (raw)

Papers by Gilles Retsin

SPACE AND DIGITAL REALITY: IDEAS, REPRESENTATIONS/ APPLICATIONS AND FABRICATION, 2020

Emerging new platforms combine timber with automation, prefabrication and end-to-end integration ... more Emerging new platforms combine timber with automation, prefabrication and end-to-end integration in an attempt to disrupt the construction industry. While these efforts contribute to the renewal of an often outdated industry and have the potential to contribute to a more ecologically responsible built environment, there are also a number of potential risks attached to their centralised approach to automation. Although architecture has a long history of engagement with digital technologies, it has yet to fully understand and theorize the rapid changes implied by automation and the digital economy which underlie these new platforms. The work presented in this paper acknowledges the new timber platforms argument for timber as a material with disruptive capacities. Timber currently already has a high degree of automation throughout its entire production chain. Forests are managed digitally, continuously responding to the global demands and logistics of sustainable timber production. However, the paper proposes an alternative, distributed and more open-ended framework for timber platforms, based on the combination of discrete architectural parts with automation. This so called discrete paradigm builds on a computational understanding of parts as function agnostic, serialised building blocks that can be digitally assembled into functional buildings. These building blocks are manufactured by computer controlled processing of widely available, two-dimensional base materials such as plywood or mass-timber sheets. Projects such as the Tallinn Architecture Biennale Installation (2017) and the Nuremberg Concert Hall (2018) explore this context of automated discrete timber and its architectural, technical and economic consequences for the production of housing and the building industry at large.

Fabricate, 2020

Using a number of built demonstrators, this paper describes a computational design and fabricatio... more Using a number of built demonstrators, this paper describes a computational design and fabrication method for timber assembly, based on the notion of discreteness. This research attempts to combine aspects of the field of Digital Materials and Programmable Matter with the architectural field of Prefabrication and Modularity. While these two fields are at opposing ends of the spectrum in terms of scale and functional operation, this research proposes that many of the properties and challenges are transferable.

ACADIA, 2019

This paper describes a framework for discrete computational design and fabrication in the context... more This paper describes a framework for discrete computational design and fabrication in the context of automation. Whereas digital design and fabrication are technical notions, automation immediately has societal and political repercussions. Automation relates to industrialization and mechanisation-allowing to historically reconnect the digital while bypassing the post-modern, deconstructivist, or parametric decades. Using a series of built prototypes making use of timber, this paper will describe how the combined technologies of automation and discreteness enable both technical efficiencies and new architectural interest. Both projects are based on timber sheet materials, cut and folded into larger elements that are then assembled into functional structures. Both projects are also fragments of larger housing blocks. Discrete building blocks are presented from a technical perspective as occupying a space in between programmable matter and modular prefabrication. Timber is identified as an ideal material for automated discrete construction. From an architectural perspective, the paper discusses the implications of an architecture based on parts that remain autonomous from the whole.

This article for Estonian magazine MAJA advances the argument that what we consider “digital” in... more This article for Estonian magazine MAJA advances the argument that what we consider “digital” in architecture, may in fact be analog. Architects have consistently misunderstood the nature of the digital, and have mainly based their argument on “the affordance” of computer controlled machines to create differentiated forms. This analog approach to digital manufacturing has led to a situation where architecture is reduced to a surface and disconnected from the actual economic and political implications of digital manufacturing tools. The article develops a series of arguments and discussions about the relationship between “the digital” and architecture. It advances the criticism that “we have never been digital” - not as a negative, counter-argument, but as something propositional, continuing the project of the digital in architecture in the long run - post 2008. The text advances the Digital and Discrete, as a propositional argument for another way to think about the digital and architecture, driven by the notion of a digital building block. It is an invitation to leave the surface behind, to recolonise the depth of architecture, fundamentally questioning how it is produced, distributed, and given form. Apart of the more architectural questions related to syntax and part-to-whole relations, a focus on digital production beyond mere formal differentiation sets up a discussion about the potential social agency of these tools. It enables the possibility for architects to engage the digital in a larger social discussion. At the same time, the focus on parts, composition and syntax keep this discussion firmly grounded in design. In the digital-discrete, the political engagement is integrated : digital fabrication tools are understood as a way to engage with modes of production and therefore also social and political ideas. Rather than an isolated conversation about material behaviour and structural performance, architects can use their understanding of digital workflows to contribute ideas to a vivid cultural and political debate about the future of capitalism, automation, the status of the city, housing etc.

Afterword contributed to the book "Beyond Bending, Reimagining Compression Shells" by Philippe B... more Afterword contributed to the book "Beyond Bending, Reimagining Compression Shells" by Philippe Block, Tom Van Mele, Matthias Rippmann, and Noelle Paulson. published by Edition Detail 2017

This research attempts to generalize an approach for large-scale, non-layered spatial extrusion. ... more This research attempts to generalize an approach for large-scale, non-layered spatial extrusion. The methodology consists of splitting a volume, representing any arbitrary geometry, into discrete fragments with a finite number of possible arrangements. These fragments are combined in response to a series of design criteria. A novel application of graph theory algorithms is used to generate a continuous and non-overlapping path through the discrete segments. Physical and mechanical issues related to extrusion technology are explored. The computational model takes into consideration the grade and limitations of different kinds of equipment and material properties to counteract fabrication errors with the goal of speeding up the process and eliminating any need for human intervention. This approach is implemented as a cross-platform software product and programming library that can generate robot programs compatible with multiple industrial robot manufacturers. A physical prototype was fabricated using the seminal Panton Chair as a test model. We conclude that the computational approach is sound and most of the issues encountered were due to the equipment used. This will be addressed in future work.

There has been significant research into large-scale 3D printing processes with industrial robots... more There has been significant research into large-scale 3D printing processes with industrial robots. These were initially used to extrude in a layered manner. In recent years, research has aimed to make use of six degrees of freedom instead of three. These so called``spatial extrusion'' methods are based on a toolhead, mounted on a robot arm, that extrudes a material along a non horizontal spatial vector. This method is more time efficient but up to now has suffered from a number of limiting geometrical and structural constraints. This limited the formal possibilities to highly repetitive truss-like patterns. This paper presents a generalised approach to spatial extrusion based on the notion of discreteness. It explores how discrete computational design methods offer increased control over the organisation of toolpaths, without compromising design intent while maintaining structural integrity. The research argues that, compared to continuous methods, discrete methods are easier to prototype, compute and manufacture. A discrete approach to spatial printing uses a single toolpath fragment as basic unit for computation. This paper will describe a method based on a voxel space. The voxel contains geometrical information, toolpath fragments, that is subsequently assembled into a continuous, kilometers long path. The path can be designed in response to different criteria, such as structural performance, material behaviour or aesthetics. This approach is similar to the design of meta-materials-synthetic composite materials with a programmed performance that is not found in natural materials. Formal differentiation and structural performance is achieved, not through continuous variation, but through the recombination of discrete toolpath fragments. Combining voxel-based modelling with notions of meta-materials and discrete design opens this domain to large-scale 3D printing. Please write your abstract here by clicking this paragraph.

Gilles Retsin is a London-based architect and designer investigating new architectural models whi... more Gilles Retsin is a London-based architect and designer investigating new architectural models which engage with the potential of increased computational power and fabrication to generate buildings and objects with a previously unseen structure, detail and materiality. His work is interested in the impact of computation on the core principles of architecture – the bones rather than the skin. The practice has developed numerous provocative proposals for international competitions, and is currently working on a range of schemes, among them a 10000 m2 museum in China. Recently he was appointed the Program Director of the B.Pro Architectural Design (AD) Master’s program at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London. Within the AD program, together with Manuel Jimenez Garcia and Vicente Soler, he leads Research Cluster 4 (RC4), which focuses on developing design methods for robotic fabrication. A new generation of research initiated by RC4 moves from 3D-printing to Discrete Robotic Assembly, utilizing principally simple building blocks to assemble incredibly complex forms while exploring the possibilities of utilizing robotic fabrication on an architectural scale.

The interviewer, Zack Saunders (founder of ARCH[or]studio in the US and Arch2O contributing editor) takes this opportunity to speak with Gilles Retsin on his recent appointment at the Bartlett and the main agenda(s) of his teaching, the evolution of his own work and design/research methodologies, and his early influences.

The article advances the argument that what we consider “digital” in architecture, may in fact b... more The article advances the argument that what we consider “digital” in architecture, may in fact be analog. Architects have consistently misunderstood the nature of the digital, and have mainly based their argument on “the affordance” of computer controlled machines to create differentiated forms. This analog approach to digital manufacturing has led to a situation where architecture is reduced to a surface and disconnected from the actual economic and political implications of digital manufacturing tools. The article develops a series of arguments and discussions about the relationship between “the digital” and architecture. It advances the criticism that “we have never been digital” - not as a negative, counter-argument, but as something propositional, continuing the project of the digital in architecture in the long run - post 2008. The text advances the Digital and Discrete, as a propositional argument for another way to think about the digital and architecture, driven by the notion of a digital building block. It is an invitation to leave the surface behind, to recolonise the depth of architecture, fundamentally questioning how it is produced, distributed, and given form. Apart of the more architectural questions related to syntax and part-to-whole relations, a focus on digital production beyond mere formal differentiation sets up a discussion about the potential social agency of these tools. It enables the possibility for architects to engage the digital in a larger social discussion. At the same time, the focus on parts, composition and syntax keep this discussion firmly grounded in design. In the digital-discrete, the political engagement is integrated : digital fabrication tools are understood as a way to engage with modes of production and therefore also social and political ideas. Rather than an isolated conversation about material behaviour and structural performance, architects can use their understanding of digital workflows to contribute ideas to a vivid cultural and political debate about the future of capitalism, automation, the status of the city, housing etc.

The paper will discuss two projects which explore the territory of discrete or digital material o... more The paper will discuss two projects which explore the territory of discrete or digital material organisations in an architectural context. Taking inspiration from the field of Digital Materials, this paper presents an approach to architectural design which is fundamentally "digital"-not just in the process but also in its physical organisation. The use of discrete and digital materials in architecture is argued for from both an architectonic point of view, as well as from efficiencies related to automation of construction. Experiments with robotic assembly are caught between on the one hand the desire to increase speed, and on the other hand increased complexity. This paper argues that robotic assembly on the scale of architecture is only feasible and scalable in the context of digital materials and discrete computation, which has a limited set of connectivity problems. The two projects are a first attempt to translate the concept of Digital Materials to the domain of architecture. The result is an architecture which is digital in its physical organisation. It demonstrates how differentiated, complex and heterogeneous spaces can be achieved with just serialised, discrete elements.

The research presented in this paper, based on two projects, investigates design methods for disc... more The research presented in this paper, based on two projects, investigates design methods for discrete computation and fabrication in additive manufacturing. The first project, Curvoxels (Hyunchul Kwon, Amreen Kaleel and Xiaolin Li) introduces a discrete design method to generate complex, non repetitive toolpaths for spatial 3d printing with industrial robots. The second project, INT (Claudia Tanskanen, Zoe Hwee Tan, Xiaolin Yi and Qianyi Li) proposes to make this discrete approach also physical, suggesting a fabrication method based on robotic discrete assembly. This discrete design and fabrication framework aligns itself with research into so called Digital Materials - material organisations that are physically digital (Gershenfeld et al., 2015).
The suggested methods aim to establish highly complex and performative architectural forms without compromising on speed and cost. Both projects propose design and fabrication methods that are non-representational, and do not require any form of post-rationalisation to be fabricated. The research argues that, compared to 3D printing, robotic discrete fabrication offers more opportunities in terms of speed, multi-materiality and reversibility. The proposed design methods demonstrate how discrete strategies can create complex, adaptive and structurally intelligent forms. Moreover, by moving computation to physical space, discrete fabrication is able to bridge the representational gap between simulation and fabrication. This representational gap is a result of a two-step process usually associated with computational design strategies, where a design is first developed digitally, and then passed on to be fabricated.

The past two decades of experimentation with digital design methodologies in architecture were ba... more The past two decades of experimentation with digital design methodologies in architecture were based on a so called morphogenetic 1 approach, which understands architecture as a gradually developing organ-like system. Recent generative work attempts to discretize the computational design process, but fails to make constructive and tectonic constraints a fundamental part of the algorithmic logic. This work still relies heavily on continuous fabrication techniques, which are complicated, labour-intensive and often structurally inefficient. The question can be asked " what makes a build object digital? " For example, " What is the fundamental difference in the organisation of material between a 3D printed clay vase and a handmade vase? Aren't they both just as analog? " Shifting away from the continuous approach of the morphogenetic experimentation, this new research introduces a logic which is based both on discrete computation and discrete fabrication. Rather than arguing for complicated processes such as mass-customisation of thousands of different elements, or 3D printing, it looks at serial repetition of discrete, prefabricated parts, which are able to combine into heterogenous and complex forms, while remaining highly economical. This is a shift away from the previous digital experimentation into developed rule-sets which are purely based on physical part to part and part to whole assembly: a computational mereology 2. By aligning discrete computation with discrete fabrication, an effortless complexity can be achieved. This move closes the gap between simulation and fabrication. Although based on serial repetition, the organisation of material is fundamentally digital. The parts provide geometric constraints for the assembly. No plans or tools are required as the parts geometrically define the assembly. And the final state is continuously undetermined, enabling it to expand or contract. Context: from analogue to discrete Architectural experimentation with computational processes in the past two decades, the so called first digital age 3 , has proposed a " morphogenetic " model based on ideas of continuity, 2 Mereology (from the Greek μερος, 'part') is the theory of parthood relations: of the relations of part to whole and the relations of part to part within a whole. The term was coined in 1927 by Polish Philosopher Leśniewski. [online][accessed 22.10.2015] Available from:

The research presented in this paper is part of a larger, emerging body of research into large sc... more The research presented in this paper is part of a larger, emerging body of research into large scale 3D Printing. The research attempts to develop a computational design method specifically for large-scale 3D printing of architecture. Influenced by the concept of Digital Materials, this research is situated within a critical discussion of what fundamentally constitutes a digital object and process. This requires a holistic understanding, taking into account both computational design and fabrication. The intrinsic constraints of the fabrication process are used as opportunities and generative drivers in the design process. The paper argues that a design method specifically for 3D printing should revolve around the question how to organize toolpaths for the continuous addition or layering of material. Two case-study projects advance discrete methods as most efficient to compute a continuous printing process. In contrast to continuous models, discrete models allow to serialize problems and errors in toolpaths. This allows a local optimization of the structure, avoiding the use of global, computationally expensive, problem solving algorithms. Both projects make use of a voxel-based approach, where a design is generated directly from the combination of thousands of serialized toolpath fragments. The understanding that serially repeated elements can be assembled into highly complex and heterogeneous structures has implications stretching beyond 3D-Printing. This combinatorial approach for example also becomes highly valuable for construction systems based on modularity and prefabrication.

With an exponential increase in the possibilities of computation and computer-controlled fabricat... more With an exponential increase in the possibilities of computation and computer-controlled fabrication, high density information is becoming a reality in digital design and architecture. However, construction methods and industrial fabrication processes have not yet been reshaped to accommodate the recent changes in those disciplines. Although it is possible to build up complex simulations with millions of particles, the simulation is often disconnected from the actual fabrication process. Our research proposes a bridge between both stages, where one drives the other, producing a smooth transition from design to production. The research showcased in this paper investigates tectonic systems associated with large scale 3D printing and additive manufacturing methods, inheriting both material properties and fabrication constraints at all stages from design to production. Computational models and custom design software packages are designed and developed as strategies to organise material in space in response to specific structural and logistical input. Filamentrics, the first of two projects described, intends to develop free-form space frames with robotic plastic extrusion. Through the use of custom made extruders a vast range of prototypes were developed, evolving the design process towards the fabrication of precise structures that can be materialised using additive manufacturing without the use of a layered printing method. Instead, material limitations were studied and embedded in custom algorithms that allow depositing material in the air for internal connectivity. While Filamentrics is reshaping the way we could design and build lightweight structures, the second project Microstrata aims to establish new construction methods for compression based materials. A layering 3D printing method combines both the deposition of the binder and the distribution of an interconnected network of capillaries. These capillaries are organised following structural principles, configuring a series of channels which are left empty within the mass. In a second stage aluminium is cast in this hollow space to build a continuous tension reinforcement.

Talks by Gilles Retsin

Clot Magazine, 2019

Interview with Gilles Retsin by Lidia Ratoi for Clot Magazine, 21.11.2019

SPACE AND DIGITAL REALITY: IDEAS, REPRESENTATIONS/ APPLICATIONS AND FABRICATION, 2020

Emerging new platforms combine timber with automation, prefabrication and end-to-end integration ... more Emerging new platforms combine timber with automation, prefabrication and end-to-end integration in an attempt to disrupt the construction industry. While these efforts contribute to the renewal of an often outdated industry and have the potential to contribute to a more ecologically responsible built environment, there are also a number of potential risks attached to their centralised approach to automation. Although architecture has a long history of engagement with digital technologies, it has yet to fully understand and theorize the rapid changes implied by automation and the digital economy which underlie these new platforms. The work presented in this paper acknowledges the new timber platforms argument for timber as a material with disruptive capacities. Timber currently already has a high degree of automation throughout its entire production chain. Forests are managed digitally, continuously responding to the global demands and logistics of sustainable timber production. However, the paper proposes an alternative, distributed and more open-ended framework for timber platforms, based on the combination of discrete architectural parts with automation. This so called discrete paradigm builds on a computational understanding of parts as function agnostic, serialised building blocks that can be digitally assembled into functional buildings. These building blocks are manufactured by computer controlled processing of widely available, two-dimensional base materials such as plywood or mass-timber sheets. Projects such as the Tallinn Architecture Biennale Installation (2017) and the Nuremberg Concert Hall (2018) explore this context of automated discrete timber and its architectural, technical and economic consequences for the production of housing and the building industry at large.

Fabricate, 2020

Using a number of built demonstrators, this paper describes a computational design and fabricatio... more Using a number of built demonstrators, this paper describes a computational design and fabrication method for timber assembly, based on the notion of discreteness. This research attempts to combine aspects of the field of Digital Materials and Programmable Matter with the architectural field of Prefabrication and Modularity. While these two fields are at opposing ends of the spectrum in terms of scale and functional operation, this research proposes that many of the properties and challenges are transferable.

ACADIA, 2019

This paper describes a framework for discrete computational design and fabrication in the context... more This paper describes a framework for discrete computational design and fabrication in the context of automation. Whereas digital design and fabrication are technical notions, automation immediately has societal and political repercussions. Automation relates to industrialization and mechanisation-allowing to historically reconnect the digital while bypassing the post-modern, deconstructivist, or parametric decades. Using a series of built prototypes making use of timber, this paper will describe how the combined technologies of automation and discreteness enable both technical efficiencies and new architectural interest. Both projects are based on timber sheet materials, cut and folded into larger elements that are then assembled into functional structures. Both projects are also fragments of larger housing blocks. Discrete building blocks are presented from a technical perspective as occupying a space in between programmable matter and modular prefabrication. Timber is identified as an ideal material for automated discrete construction. From an architectural perspective, the paper discusses the implications of an architecture based on parts that remain autonomous from the whole.

This article for Estonian magazine MAJA advances the argument that what we consider “digital” in... more This article for Estonian magazine MAJA advances the argument that what we consider “digital” in architecture, may in fact be analog. Architects have consistently misunderstood the nature of the digital, and have mainly based their argument on “the affordance” of computer controlled machines to create differentiated forms. This analog approach to digital manufacturing has led to a situation where architecture is reduced to a surface and disconnected from the actual economic and political implications of digital manufacturing tools. The article develops a series of arguments and discussions about the relationship between “the digital” and architecture. It advances the criticism that “we have never been digital” - not as a negative, counter-argument, but as something propositional, continuing the project of the digital in architecture in the long run - post 2008. The text advances the Digital and Discrete, as a propositional argument for another way to think about the digital and architecture, driven by the notion of a digital building block. It is an invitation to leave the surface behind, to recolonise the depth of architecture, fundamentally questioning how it is produced, distributed, and given form. Apart of the more architectural questions related to syntax and part-to-whole relations, a focus on digital production beyond mere formal differentiation sets up a discussion about the potential social agency of these tools. It enables the possibility for architects to engage the digital in a larger social discussion. At the same time, the focus on parts, composition and syntax keep this discussion firmly grounded in design. In the digital-discrete, the political engagement is integrated : digital fabrication tools are understood as a way to engage with modes of production and therefore also social and political ideas. Rather than an isolated conversation about material behaviour and structural performance, architects can use their understanding of digital workflows to contribute ideas to a vivid cultural and political debate about the future of capitalism, automation, the status of the city, housing etc.

Afterword contributed to the book "Beyond Bending, Reimagining Compression Shells" by Philippe B... more Afterword contributed to the book "Beyond Bending, Reimagining Compression Shells" by Philippe Block, Tom Van Mele, Matthias Rippmann, and Noelle Paulson. published by Edition Detail 2017

This research attempts to generalize an approach for large-scale, non-layered spatial extrusion. ... more This research attempts to generalize an approach for large-scale, non-layered spatial extrusion. The methodology consists of splitting a volume, representing any arbitrary geometry, into discrete fragments with a finite number of possible arrangements. These fragments are combined in response to a series of design criteria. A novel application of graph theory algorithms is used to generate a continuous and non-overlapping path through the discrete segments. Physical and mechanical issues related to extrusion technology are explored. The computational model takes into consideration the grade and limitations of different kinds of equipment and material properties to counteract fabrication errors with the goal of speeding up the process and eliminating any need for human intervention. This approach is implemented as a cross-platform software product and programming library that can generate robot programs compatible with multiple industrial robot manufacturers. A physical prototype was fabricated using the seminal Panton Chair as a test model. We conclude that the computational approach is sound and most of the issues encountered were due to the equipment used. This will be addressed in future work.

There has been significant research into large-scale 3D printing processes with industrial robots... more There has been significant research into large-scale 3D printing processes with industrial robots. These were initially used to extrude in a layered manner. In recent years, research has aimed to make use of six degrees of freedom instead of three. These so called``spatial extrusion'' methods are based on a toolhead, mounted on a robot arm, that extrudes a material along a non horizontal spatial vector. This method is more time efficient but up to now has suffered from a number of limiting geometrical and structural constraints. This limited the formal possibilities to highly repetitive truss-like patterns. This paper presents a generalised approach to spatial extrusion based on the notion of discreteness. It explores how discrete computational design methods offer increased control over the organisation of toolpaths, without compromising design intent while maintaining structural integrity. The research argues that, compared to continuous methods, discrete methods are easier to prototype, compute and manufacture. A discrete approach to spatial printing uses a single toolpath fragment as basic unit for computation. This paper will describe a method based on a voxel space. The voxel contains geometrical information, toolpath fragments, that is subsequently assembled into a continuous, kilometers long path. The path can be designed in response to different criteria, such as structural performance, material behaviour or aesthetics. This approach is similar to the design of meta-materials-synthetic composite materials with a programmed performance that is not found in natural materials. Formal differentiation and structural performance is achieved, not through continuous variation, but through the recombination of discrete toolpath fragments. Combining voxel-based modelling with notions of meta-materials and discrete design opens this domain to large-scale 3D printing. Please write your abstract here by clicking this paragraph.

Gilles Retsin is a London-based architect and designer investigating new architectural models whi... more Gilles Retsin is a London-based architect and designer investigating new architectural models which engage with the potential of increased computational power and fabrication to generate buildings and objects with a previously unseen structure, detail and materiality. His work is interested in the impact of computation on the core principles of architecture – the bones rather than the skin. The practice has developed numerous provocative proposals for international competitions, and is currently working on a range of schemes, among them a 10000 m2 museum in China. Recently he was appointed the Program Director of the B.Pro Architectural Design (AD) Master’s program at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London. Within the AD program, together with Manuel Jimenez Garcia and Vicente Soler, he leads Research Cluster 4 (RC4), which focuses on developing design methods for robotic fabrication. A new generation of research initiated by RC4 moves from 3D-printing to Discrete Robotic Assembly, utilizing principally simple building blocks to assemble incredibly complex forms while exploring the possibilities of utilizing robotic fabrication on an architectural scale.

The interviewer, Zack Saunders (founder of ARCH[or]studio in the US and Arch2O contributing editor) takes this opportunity to speak with Gilles Retsin on his recent appointment at the Bartlett and the main agenda(s) of his teaching, the evolution of his own work and design/research methodologies, and his early influences.

The article advances the argument that what we consider “digital” in architecture, may in fact b... more The article advances the argument that what we consider “digital” in architecture, may in fact be analog. Architects have consistently misunderstood the nature of the digital, and have mainly based their argument on “the affordance” of computer controlled machines to create differentiated forms. This analog approach to digital manufacturing has led to a situation where architecture is reduced to a surface and disconnected from the actual economic and political implications of digital manufacturing tools. The article develops a series of arguments and discussions about the relationship between “the digital” and architecture. It advances the criticism that “we have never been digital” - not as a negative, counter-argument, but as something propositional, continuing the project of the digital in architecture in the long run - post 2008. The text advances the Digital and Discrete, as a propositional argument for another way to think about the digital and architecture, driven by the notion of a digital building block. It is an invitation to leave the surface behind, to recolonise the depth of architecture, fundamentally questioning how it is produced, distributed, and given form. Apart of the more architectural questions related to syntax and part-to-whole relations, a focus on digital production beyond mere formal differentiation sets up a discussion about the potential social agency of these tools. It enables the possibility for architects to engage the digital in a larger social discussion. At the same time, the focus on parts, composition and syntax keep this discussion firmly grounded in design. In the digital-discrete, the political engagement is integrated : digital fabrication tools are understood as a way to engage with modes of production and therefore also social and political ideas. Rather than an isolated conversation about material behaviour and structural performance, architects can use their understanding of digital workflows to contribute ideas to a vivid cultural and political debate about the future of capitalism, automation, the status of the city, housing etc.

The paper will discuss two projects which explore the territory of discrete or digital material o... more The paper will discuss two projects which explore the territory of discrete or digital material organisations in an architectural context. Taking inspiration from the field of Digital Materials, this paper presents an approach to architectural design which is fundamentally "digital"-not just in the process but also in its physical organisation. The use of discrete and digital materials in architecture is argued for from both an architectonic point of view, as well as from efficiencies related to automation of construction. Experiments with robotic assembly are caught between on the one hand the desire to increase speed, and on the other hand increased complexity. This paper argues that robotic assembly on the scale of architecture is only feasible and scalable in the context of digital materials and discrete computation, which has a limited set of connectivity problems. The two projects are a first attempt to translate the concept of Digital Materials to the domain of architecture. The result is an architecture which is digital in its physical organisation. It demonstrates how differentiated, complex and heterogeneous spaces can be achieved with just serialised, discrete elements.

The research presented in this paper, based on two projects, investigates design methods for disc... more The research presented in this paper, based on two projects, investigates design methods for discrete computation and fabrication in additive manufacturing. The first project, Curvoxels (Hyunchul Kwon, Amreen Kaleel and Xiaolin Li) introduces a discrete design method to generate complex, non repetitive toolpaths for spatial 3d printing with industrial robots. The second project, INT (Claudia Tanskanen, Zoe Hwee Tan, Xiaolin Yi and Qianyi Li) proposes to make this discrete approach also physical, suggesting a fabrication method based on robotic discrete assembly. This discrete design and fabrication framework aligns itself with research into so called Digital Materials - material organisations that are physically digital (Gershenfeld et al., 2015).
The suggested methods aim to establish highly complex and performative architectural forms without compromising on speed and cost. Both projects propose design and fabrication methods that are non-representational, and do not require any form of post-rationalisation to be fabricated. The research argues that, compared to 3D printing, robotic discrete fabrication offers more opportunities in terms of speed, multi-materiality and reversibility. The proposed design methods demonstrate how discrete strategies can create complex, adaptive and structurally intelligent forms. Moreover, by moving computation to physical space, discrete fabrication is able to bridge the representational gap between simulation and fabrication. This representational gap is a result of a two-step process usually associated with computational design strategies, where a design is first developed digitally, and then passed on to be fabricated.

The past two decades of experimentation with digital design methodologies in architecture were ba... more The past two decades of experimentation with digital design methodologies in architecture were based on a so called morphogenetic 1 approach, which understands architecture as a gradually developing organ-like system. Recent generative work attempts to discretize the computational design process, but fails to make constructive and tectonic constraints a fundamental part of the algorithmic logic. This work still relies heavily on continuous fabrication techniques, which are complicated, labour-intensive and often structurally inefficient. The question can be asked " what makes a build object digital? " For example, " What is the fundamental difference in the organisation of material between a 3D printed clay vase and a handmade vase? Aren't they both just as analog? " Shifting away from the continuous approach of the morphogenetic experimentation, this new research introduces a logic which is based both on discrete computation and discrete fabrication. Rather than arguing for complicated processes such as mass-customisation of thousands of different elements, or 3D printing, it looks at serial repetition of discrete, prefabricated parts, which are able to combine into heterogenous and complex forms, while remaining highly economical. This is a shift away from the previous digital experimentation into developed rule-sets which are purely based on physical part to part and part to whole assembly: a computational mereology 2. By aligning discrete computation with discrete fabrication, an effortless complexity can be achieved. This move closes the gap between simulation and fabrication. Although based on serial repetition, the organisation of material is fundamentally digital. The parts provide geometric constraints for the assembly. No plans or tools are required as the parts geometrically define the assembly. And the final state is continuously undetermined, enabling it to expand or contract. Context: from analogue to discrete Architectural experimentation with computational processes in the past two decades, the so called first digital age 3 , has proposed a " morphogenetic " model based on ideas of continuity, 2 Mereology (from the Greek μερος, 'part') is the theory of parthood relations: of the relations of part to whole and the relations of part to part within a whole. The term was coined in 1927 by Polish Philosopher Leśniewski. [online][accessed 22.10.2015] Available from:

The research presented in this paper is part of a larger, emerging body of research into large sc... more The research presented in this paper is part of a larger, emerging body of research into large scale 3D Printing. The research attempts to develop a computational design method specifically for large-scale 3D printing of architecture. Influenced by the concept of Digital Materials, this research is situated within a critical discussion of what fundamentally constitutes a digital object and process. This requires a holistic understanding, taking into account both computational design and fabrication. The intrinsic constraints of the fabrication process are used as opportunities and generative drivers in the design process. The paper argues that a design method specifically for 3D printing should revolve around the question how to organize toolpaths for the continuous addition or layering of material. Two case-study projects advance discrete methods as most efficient to compute a continuous printing process. In contrast to continuous models, discrete models allow to serialize problems and errors in toolpaths. This allows a local optimization of the structure, avoiding the use of global, computationally expensive, problem solving algorithms. Both projects make use of a voxel-based approach, where a design is generated directly from the combination of thousands of serialized toolpath fragments. The understanding that serially repeated elements can be assembled into highly complex and heterogeneous structures has implications stretching beyond 3D-Printing. This combinatorial approach for example also becomes highly valuable for construction systems based on modularity and prefabrication.

With an exponential increase in the possibilities of computation and computer-controlled fabricat... more With an exponential increase in the possibilities of computation and computer-controlled fabrication, high density information is becoming a reality in digital design and architecture. However, construction methods and industrial fabrication processes have not yet been reshaped to accommodate the recent changes in those disciplines. Although it is possible to build up complex simulations with millions of particles, the simulation is often disconnected from the actual fabrication process. Our research proposes a bridge between both stages, where one drives the other, producing a smooth transition from design to production. The research showcased in this paper investigates tectonic systems associated with large scale 3D printing and additive manufacturing methods, inheriting both material properties and fabrication constraints at all stages from design to production. Computational models and custom design software packages are designed and developed as strategies to organise material in space in response to specific structural and logistical input. Filamentrics, the first of two projects described, intends to develop free-form space frames with robotic plastic extrusion. Through the use of custom made extruders a vast range of prototypes were developed, evolving the design process towards the fabrication of precise structures that can be materialised using additive manufacturing without the use of a layered printing method. Instead, material limitations were studied and embedded in custom algorithms that allow depositing material in the air for internal connectivity. While Filamentrics is reshaping the way we could design and build lightweight structures, the second project Microstrata aims to establish new construction methods for compression based materials. A layering 3D printing method combines both the deposition of the binder and the distribution of an interconnected network of capillaries. These capillaries are organised following structural principles, configuring a series of channels which are left empty within the mass. In a second stage aluminium is cast in this hollow space to build a continuous tension reinforcement.

Clot Magazine, 2019

Interview with Gilles Retsin by Lidia Ratoi for Clot Magazine, 21.11.2019