Occupying Ecological Architecture: Explorations in Integrating Material Ecology
Nowadays, almost all architects, designers, and city builders seek more sustainablebuilding options. With stronger compute power, the computational can help people assemble materials in new ways. This trend of automating in everyday life is slowly converting traditional machines into robots. With a new understanding of material and technology, architecture is transforming itself to incorporate new concepts. I believe the “A robot for living” era is emerging from the century of “A machine for living.” A building used to be considered a very luxurious move with mass investment inland, labor, material, time, and cost. The cost requires architecture to perform in a conservative way to avoid the cost of trying new things. However, I think research in Ecological material and digital fabrication/construction can extend architecture’s future imagination. These increasing sophisticated technologies create fewer greenhouse gases while constructing buildings. Also, they reduce energy consumption during a long period of building operation time. Studies on new material options, traditional fabrication methods, in-field practice,and sustainable real estate development are necessary for a practical approach to material ecology and digital fabrication research. My journey at Cornell gave me an excellent opportunity to explore the potential interdisciplinary responses to the urgent sustainability crisis. Cornell provides me a valuable period to work with mentors, utilize school resources, and learn from peers. This final degree book is intended to demonstrate my investigation in ArchitectureEcology, especially in using digital fabrication technologies to construct sustainable and spatial environments. It includes elective coursework I took through different departments, a design-build project I worked for professor Sabin, and a design studio focused on a vertical factory led by Pablo Sequero Barrera, Frank Barkow, and Regine Leibinger.