Robotic Fabrication:
Pangolin Shelter

This course investigated the confluence of design and digital fabrication techniques- specifically as it relates to robotic fabrication, industrial design, and synthetic ecology. The ambition of this seminar is for students to conceptualize, digitally simulate, and then prototype a full scale synthetic habitat designed to aid in the survival of an endangered animal species. The design of these survival ‘capsules’ will draw from the behavior and physicality of the inhabiting species while considering concepts of habitation, protection, and insulation from the extreme environments/threats these animals face. Students will develop a unique and highly controlled robotic fabrication process designed to suite the conceptual and aesthetic agenda of each project. Fabrication will necessitate the use of a Staubli robotic arm, an industrial PLA extruder, and multiple digital techniques to produce a geometrically complex, high resolution prototype.

Course:
Advanced Robotic Fabrication 2019: Animal House
The Southern California Institute of Architecture

Instructors:
Garrett Sutherlin Santo &
Herwig Baumgartner

Students:
Jiayue He, Aihe Shen, Ji Qi, Minxue Qi, Jiexun Wu, Boya Wang, Zhaohang Zhang .