DIGITAL FABRICATION IN THE AGE OF COLLABORATION

Though multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary teaching has nearly become an academic cliché in the past decade, educators must find ways to ensure that such ambition does not remain a mere platitude. The educational medium is one that relies on a combination of revelation, critical thinking, integration, and real-world application. Though curricula vary in the extent that they cover these issues, rarely is application adequately addressed. Where the focus of academia tends to rest upon at best theoretical synthesis and at worst restatement of fact, opportunities for real-world application do not often present themselves. This is especially true in the architecture and engineering disciplines where full scale design and construction of projects are not feasible for students. An engaging method of addressing this is via full scale productions of installations and prototypes. Where the hypothetical application of classroom knowledge continues to develop is in contemporary art pieces.

This paper describes the synergies between an Architectural Science program and an Engineering program in the collaborative production of an interactive, digitally fabricated installation. The combination of digital acumen, technical engineering knowledge, and rapid prototyping skills manifested a design piece in a major art show in Toronto, Canada. More importantly this collaborative empowered students to extend their knowledge beyond the hypothetical conditions of the classroom and instead into the direct application of comprehension into the real world in their multimedia art piece. Such projects are truly multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary while reinforcing in-class material ultimately proving to be more effective than conventional classroom environments.