The unity of material, process and form in the digital age

Abstract

Designing structures means bringing materials into form. Manufacturing processes are the link between material and form: Balancing the unity of material, process, and form depends not only on technical progress but also on social developments. In natural stone construction, it took more than a thousand years of formal development from the Roman arches to the filigree vaults of the Gothic period. In the industrial age, artificially produced materials such as steel and concrete were the driving force behind innovation in construction. At the beginning of the 21st century, digitally controlled manufacturing processes will be the drivers of change. As in earlier construction eras, we find ourselves in a time of searching for the unity of material, process, and form. The lecture presents current developments in digital fabrication and aims to sharpen the focus on a holistic approach to structural design.

About the lecturer

Harald Kloft is a professor of structural design at the TU Braunschweig, Germany. As cofounder of the structural engineering practice ‘office for structural design’ (OSD), he has a wide range of experience in the realization of outstanding structures in building and infrastructure construction. Many of these buildings have been honoured with prestigious awards. Together with his team at the Institute of Structural Design (ITE), he researches innovative digital manufacturing technologies for the construction sector. The interconnected understanding of material, structural design, and manufacturing process, as well as sustainable and circular thinking, form the basis of this work. He has published his experiences in realising sophisticated structures as well as his research findings in numerous international publications. Since 2020, Harald Kloft has been the spokesperson for the DFG collaborative research centre TRR 277, Additive Manufacturing in Construction (AMC), at the TU Braunschweig and the TU Munich.