Mari Kubota- Looking Outwards- 03

The Digital Construction Environment (2016) by Neri Oxman’s Mediated Matter Group at MIT is an open dome structure, with a diameter of 14.6 m and a height of 3.7 m, fabricated using the The Digital Construction Platform (DCP). The Digital Construction Platform is an experimental large robotic arm system that can rapidly 3D print large scale structures on site.

The robotic arm consists of two systems, a large arm made for reach and the small “hand” used for more precise positioning. The Digital Construction Environment was made using digitally controlled mathematical calculations in order to make the curvature for the dome structure. This project drew my interest because it reminded me of a large scale 3D printer. It is an interesting new way of building a structure using computers and mathematical equations.