Particulate : an education and research workshop for off-site manufacturing

Abstract

This dissertation deals with the makings of a multidisciplinary off-site manufacturing(OSM) education and research facility, focused on the development and use of Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) techniques, to design, manufacture and assemble buildings. Post-industrial revolution, construction, manufacturing and architectural professions have been developing CAD/CAM techniques within many facets of the built environment - some more successful than others. Lately the value and intention of these OSM elements in general have become obscured. Dall and Smith(2019) argue that any mass produced elements that are being reproduced and shipped all across the world, is inherently meaningless, because the sense of effort exerted on its creation is lost. The trend of moving back towards craft “everything” at the onset of the 21st century is directly linked to this meaningless feeling created by mass production. In a phenomenological sense this puts architecture in danger...: As it is the implied bias of architecture to create meaning via the design and construction of spaces. This disconnect between the built environment professions within the development of off-site elements, is what this dissertation will address. In order to restart this artisanal dialect, the intention is to design a multidisciplinary research, manufacture and education facility, that could aid the off-site manufacturing processes related to precast concrete, steel structures and timber computer numeric controlled (CNC) fabrication.