Bridging The Gap: Computation For Construction In India

The processes of design development and construction are locally contextualised in different parts of the world based on the available technology and resources. This feature presents a craft-based approach to computation and its contribution to support artisans in India. Such solutions attempt to establish a methodology which makes complex geometry constructible in the country today, even when access to digital fabrication methods are evolving and expensive.

- Urvi Sheth

In the era of the Second Digital Turn, designers and engineers have easy and equal access to computational tools across the globe. With the highest development of technology at a global level, the processes of design development and construction are locally contextualised based on the available technology and resources. A craft-based approach to computation and its contribution to support artisans’ development in India is demonstrated here through ongoing research on customising bricks and utilisation of a computationally generated asymmetrical Catalan Vault. The challenge of constructing the computationally generated form by architecture students is completed by the craftspeople and students of craft. The research elucidates gaps at various levels from design to construction. Craft-based solutions bridging these gaps establish a methodology which makes complex geometry constructible in present-day India when access to digital fabrication methods are still evolving and expensive.

Today, designers and engineers have easy and equal access to computational tools across the globe. Data-sharing and advancements in digital fabrication with a six-axis robotic arm have revolutionised design thinking and making. Robots are being trained to sense information, provide feedback on the process and take independent decisions, just as the craftspeople of the preindustrial era. The hands of craftspeople have had cumulative wisdom of materials, tools and techniques. A craftsperson’s hands are directly connected to their minds. When craftspeople are introduced to new ideas (in this case, complex geometry), tools and techniques (Catalan Vault), the construction process is as precise as machines. Additionally, a craftsperson posseses the knowledge and sensitivity to material, bringing an inherent quality without any preprogrammed instructions. This feature is a paper that is part of ongoing research on customising brick. It looks at bricks with two simultaneous yet separa