MIT Architecture on Material Fabrication To Influence Building Industry Culture

This brief movie features diverse professors, research colleagues, and the Department of Architecture's chairman at MIT, demonstrating how they aim to create the future standard for building materials. Through various experiments, the institution aspires to mold the conventions of the construction industry regarding material use to prevent waste and facilitate the creation of innovative architectural structures.

The school realizes that it has powerful departments that can radicalize design and architecture. By understanding that the invention of human artifacts consists of geometry, process, and material, experiments can be made to engender new forms in architectural design to benefit the industry's use of appropriate materials at any point in the construction process.

The discussion is looking into what you can build in addition to what you can design. One of the main questions is whether you can replicate the building materials and design on a large scale to create inhabitable spaces. Additionally, the department is investigating what architecture can do regarding material fabrication to address places and scenarios where it is currently difficult to build.

The experiments and tests use 3D prints to get better results on material quality and how it bends folds, stacks, or stretches. As Professor of Practice Sheila Kennedy says, the challenge today is material fabrication, not digital fabrication. Watch the video courtesy of MIT Architecture and Film Producer, Chris Jennings to learn more.