Robot House: Instrumentation, Representation, Fabrication

An in-depth survey, manual, and manifesto of breathtaking new techniques for designing and building, written by the leading pioneer of robotics in architecture

Robotics is the fastest-growing and most exciting area of development in architecture and architectural education for a generation, offering new paradigms for design and fabrication. Schools and practices around the world are installing machines, but few have the experience to appreciate the full design potential of their application.

Robot House features projects produced by the most advanced robotics design studio in the world, often interacting with a wide range of technologies from motion capture to material science―a realm far beyond the capabilities of 3D printing. The book has three central sections: Principles, which sets out the fields and the thinking that underlie the new uses for robotics; Projects, which offers detailed presentations that explore how these principles can be applied and augmented through interactive prototypes and working models; and Platforms, which presents the working tools used for robotic architecture through specially drawn technical illustrations. The introduction frames the current developments in the history of architectural innovation, and the reference section includes a glossary and diagrams.

1,600+ illustrations

Peter Testa is founder of Testa & Weiser. He is a founding director of the MIT Emergent Design Group (EDG) and has been a member of the SCI-Arc faculty teaching XLAB advanced design since 2004.

Eric Owen Moss is director of SCI-Arc.

Greg Lynn is professor of architecture at the Angewandte in Vienna.