Low-Tech Digital Fabrication: Traditional Brick as Material in Digital Practice

Abstract

Advanced digital fabrication methods are not widely accessible in a developing country like China, where investment in high construction technology is slow and the already known construction methods and manual labour are preferred. The question addressed here is how to put advanced design ideas into practice in developing countries. In order to realize digital architecture in China the fabrication field cannot merely depend on high-technology and avoid low-technological means. The present paper goes through two projects of the Chinese architectural practice Archi-Union to discuss how, through appropriate application of computational technology, digital fabrication revitalizes traditional fabrication techniques, by developing computational aids to traditional construction. In particular, we emphasize the integration of digital fabrication, low-technology and traditional local material.