Samuel Leder: Addressing Architecture in Collective Robotic Construction

Design Tech Public Lecture Series

Abstract

Collective robotic construction refers to a large number of small, agile construction robots that can produce complex, functionally adapted assemblies from individual parts in highly parallel processes. This represents a fundamentally different approach than the current trend towards the automation of individual pre-digital construction machines. As such, the application of collective robotic construction on construction sites, where the machines required can fit in a suitcase, would require a shift in the current state of building construction. This lecture discusses this shift from an architectural perspective, addressing key questions about the applications and benefits of CRC systems to actual construction processes and the exploration of structures that can be assembled with such machines. The codesign of various collective robotic construction systems will be presented and discussed within the lecture.

Biography

Samuel Leder is an architect and researcher in the field of computational design and digital fabrication. Leder is currently a doctoral candidate at the Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD) within the Cluster of Excellence Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Architecture (IntCDC) at the University of Stuttgart. He is investigating the codesign of collective robotic construction systems within the context of architecture, specifically the design of and with teams of custom small-scale robotic systems.

He holds a Bachelor of Design in Architecture, as well as a Bachelor of Applied Science in Systems Science and Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis. He received a Master of Science in Architecture through the Integrative Technologies and Architectural Design Research (ITECH) program at the University of Stuttgart. During the masters, he received both the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Award for Outstanding Achievement and the Deutschlandstipendium. His Master’s thesis, together with Ramon Weber, was awarded a Sonderpreis through the Hochschulpreis Holzbau 2019.

He is currently teaching within the ITECH Master’s program and has run workshops at international conferences, including Robots in Architecture (ROB|ARCH), Advances in Architectural Geometry (AAG), and DigitalFUTURES. His research work has been published at various academic venues, including Advanced Science, Automation in Construction, ACADIA, and eCAADe, as well as exhibited at various venues, including ARS Electronica (Linz), Bureau Europa (Maastricht) and HumBase (Stuttgart).