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Design

Self-Assembling Structures, Rippling Computational Walls, And The Experimental Architecture Of The Future

The designers and engineers at MIT Architecture are leaving bricks and mortar behind as they research and build the interactive structures of the next century.

MIT Architecture from Paper Fortress on Vimeo.

What will buildings of the future look like and how will they be built? Will they feature dynamic materials that communicate information? How about buildings that can assemble themselves? Or feature rippling computational walls controlled by a smartphone? Or will we, finally, be living on the moon? It’s food for thought and the sort of people who are having debates like that for breakfast are found at places like MIT Architecture.

In the 13-minute video above, trumpets are blown about achievements and the talent that the department fosters as Department Chair Nader Tehrani, lays out the school’s ambitions in the opening seconds: “Instead of becoming the recipients of building industry culture we can change building industry by the kinds of experiments we’re doing in school.”

The school’s cross-disciplinary approach—merging science, design, and engineering—using new technologies may well give rise to the materials and techniques that will build the towers, office blocks, homes, and schools of the future. And it’s certainly exciting listening to them talk about it and seeing some of the experimental structures, materials, and methods these brainiacs have been working on.

[via Vimeo]

@stewart23rd