How might we utilize crowdsourced labor, AR and a craftsman’s agency to produce geometrically complex digitally-designed objects?
Role: AR Developer Research Assistant
Skills: AR Development (Fologram), Rhino3D, Design
Project Type: MIT Data Visualization and Society Class Personal Project
Team: Prof. Kristof Crolla, Mr. Garvin Goepel, Mr. Nick van den Berg & Mr. Cameron Newnham, Mr. Julien Klisz, Dominic Co
Project Date: 2019
Project Description
ARgan is a geometrically complex bamboo sculpture that relied on Mixed Reality (MR) for its joint creation by multiple sculptors and used latest Augmented Reality (AR) technology to guide manual fabrication actions. Using ARgan as a demonstrator project, its developed workflow is assessed on its ability to transform a geometrically complex digitally drafted design to its final physically built form, highlighting the necessary strategic integration of variability as an opportunity to relax notions on design precision and exact control.
ARgan is a plea for digital technology’s ability to stimulate dialogue and collaboration in creative production and augment craftsmanship, thus providing greater agency and more diverse design output.
ARgan demonstrates that common notions on building accuracy, tolerance and allowance may need recalibrating, as the hyper precision made possible through traditional CNC or robotic fabrication setups at this point does not seem commensurate to what is possible with augmented manual production. Further AR-driven design and construction related research, tailored to specific materials and craftsmanship, is needed to identify how these technologies can positively affect local construction solution spaces.
