Manufacturing reciprocities

Abstract

Following in the footsteps of more progressive industries, digital fabrication in architecture is on the brink of shifting from task-specific computer numerically controlled (CNC) machines to more generic industrial robots. The change from machine hardware and control software developed to facilitate a specific fabrication process towards more open-ended and generic fabrication devices enables architects to design custom fabrication processes and machine-control protocols. Achim Menges and Tobias Schwinn present how these advanced machine capabilities expand the interface between design computation and physical materialisation. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.