Digital Upcycling — Maxence Grangeot - CRCL and SXL
Photo Gallery
Social Signals — an interactive media installation that guides pedestrians through public space. Image credit: Mathias BernhardLightVault — project in collaboration with Skidmore Owings & Merrill and Form Finding Lab Princeton, (with support of Glass and Transparency Research Group at TU Delft, Universidad de Alcalá, the Timbrel Vault Workshop, Global Robots, and Poesia Glass). Image credit: Shenhan ZhuBamX — project in collaboration with GCM, ITKE University of Stuttgart, and Alison Martin. Image credit: Ying ChenARC574 Student Project — Catherine Ahn, Piao Liu, and Lisa Ramsburg.Social Signals — an interactive media installation that guides pedestrians through public space. Image credit: Mathias BernhardLightVault — project in collaboration with Skidmore Owings & Merrill and Form Finding Lab Princeton, (with support of Glass and Transparency Research Group at TU Delft, Universidad de Alcalá, the Timbrel Vault Workshop, Global Robots, and Poesia Glass). Image credit: Shenhan ZhuARC574 Student Project — Catherine Ahn, Piao Liu, and Lisa Ramsburg.LightVault — project in collaboration with Skidmore Owings & Merrill and Form Finding Lab Princeton, (with support of Glass and Transparency Research Group at TU Delft, Universidad de Alcalá, the Timbrel Vault Workshop, Global Robots, and Poesia Glass). Image credit: Shenhan ZhuARC574 Student Project — Catherine Ahn, Piao Liu, and Lisa Ramsburg.LightVault — project in collaboration with Skidmore Owings & Merrill and Form Finding Lab Princeton, (with support of Glass and Transparency Research Group at TU Delft, Universidad de Alcalá, the Timbrel Vault Workshop, Global Robots, and Poesia Glass). Image credit: Isla Han and Edvard Bruun.LightVault — project in collaboration with Skidmore Owings & Merrill and Form Finding Lab Princeton, (with support of Glass and Transparency Research Group at TU Delft, Universidad de Alcalá, the Timbrel Vault Workshop, Global Robots, and Poesia Glass). Image credit: Isla Han and Edvard Bruun.LightVault — project in collaboration with Skidmore Owings & Merrill and Form Finding Lab Princeton, (with support of Glass and Transparency Research Group at TU Delft, Universidad de Alcalá, the Timbrel Vault Workshop, Global Robots, and Poesia Glass). Image credits: Maciej Grzeskowiak.
About
The Lab for Creative Computation (CRCL) is acting at the interface of design, digital technologies and construction.
We explore new construction modes that combine robotics with human interventions and digital media, in pursuit of more creative solutions to contemporary design and construction challenges.
Showcasing scientific research and the rigour that it requires. With a playful and accessible approach to technical topics, such as programming and robotics, CRCL strives to break down the barriers for novices to enter the field.
Emphasizing and supporting the significant contributions of women in technology, as well as collaboration, open data, and open science, CRCL seeks to redefine innovation: away from conventional mentalities, and towards one that embraces collaboration, building up on current knowledge.
It is truly experimental, including the acknowledging and embracing the failures that inevitably accompany experimentation.
News
Stefana Parascho is a Scientific Chair at AAG 2023, a multi-disciplinary conference connecting architects, engineers, and computer scientists in academia and industry. Find the conference proceedings online!
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Congratulations to CRCL PhD Candidate Jingwen Wang, who will be presenting her paper on multi-robotic assembly during AAG 2023!
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The Future of Construction Symposium 2023 will take place from September 13 to 15 and will feature keynotes, poster sessions, and workshops revolving around human-machine collaborations in design and construction. Find out more and register for full access to on-site events!
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CRCL is searching for a postdoctoral researcher for a 2 year project focusing on reconfiguration of timber structures! Learn more about the position opening.
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CRCL is presenting two projects with the opening of POSITIONS tonight at 18:00. Learn more at the event page.
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Stefana will be giving her inaugural lecture about design and construction robotics on May 10, from 17:30 to 18:45.
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Construction Robotics: From Automation to Collaboration by Prof. Dr. Stefana Parascho is available for download online.
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The proceedings from ACADIA 2021 'Realignments: Toward Critical Computation' have been published and are available for free download or purchase in print.
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Congratulations to CRCL external advisee Edvard Bruun, who presented research on robotic dis- and reassembly of timber structures at ACADIA 2022.
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In collaboration with GCM, ITKE and an independent artist, the CRCL unveils a lightweight bamboo structure, BamX, at the heart of the Architecture faculty building.
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Stefana was invited to give a lecture on multi-agent robotic processes at CIS. The recording is now available to watch online.
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Congrats to Isla Han, Edvard Bruun and Stefana Parascho for making this unique collaborative project happen.
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We are teaching a workshop at this year’s ACADIA conference together with Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich - Controlling robots remotely through COMPAS FAB. Join us by registering here!! 🤖 👩 💻
Parascho Stefana. 2018. “Integrative Architekturmodelle” Kunst + Architektur, nr. 2018.4. Gesellschaft für Schweizerische Kunstgeschichte, Berne, Switzerland. ISBN: 978-3- 03797-345-5
Parascho, Stefana. 2017. “Un labirint de caramida.” igloo habitat & architectura, nr. 179, Aug- Sep 2017. pp. 138-141. Igloo Media, Bucharest, Romania.
Parascho Stefana. 2023. “Beyond Optimization: Interaction as a Means to Resituate Digital Fabrication.” book chapter, in Homing the Machine.
Parascho Stefana. “Design Space Explorations: On the role of visualisation in architectural fabrication and design.” book chapter, in Bio/Matter/Techno/Synthetics, University of Pennsylvania.
Bruun, Edvard, Stefana Parascho and Sigrid Adriaenssens. 2023. “Cooperative Robotic Fabrication for a Circular Economy.” book chapter, in Circular Built Environment in the Digital Age. Edited by Catherine De Wolf, Sultan Çetin, and Nancy Bocken.
“Toward Critical Computation - Proceedings of ACADIA 2021.” book, published 2022. Edited by Kathrin Doerfler, Stefana Parascho and Jane Scott. Role: Editor.
Parascho Stefana. 2021. “Home Position”, book chapter, in Design Studio Vol. 2: Intelligent Control 2021: Disruptive Technologies: 2021, edited by Rob Hyde and Filippos Filippidis, RIBA Publishing.
Parascho, Stefana “Cooperative Robotic Assembly. Computational Design and Robotic Fabrication of Spatial Metal Structures.” ETH Zurich, 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000364322
Han, Isla Xi, and Stefana Parascho. 2023. ‘Improv-Structure: Exploring Improvisation in Collective Human-Robot Construction’. In Trends on Construction in the Digital Era, edited by António Gomes Correia, Miguel Azenha, Paulo J. S. Cruz, Paulo Novais, and Paulo Pereira, 233–43. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Duong, Eric, and Stefana Parascho. 2023. ‘Social Signals: An Adaptive Installation for Mediating Space during COVID-19 and Beyond’ – accepted for publication, CAAD Futures, Delft NL.
Bruun, Edvard, Erin Besler, Sigrid Adriaenssens and Stefana Parascho. 2022. “Towards Computing Cooperative Robotic Sequences for the Disassembly and Reuse of Timber Frame Structures.” In ACADIA 2022 Hybrids and Haeccieties: Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture.
Parascho, Stefana. 2022. “From Automation to Collaboration: A Review of Construction Robotics”. In Annual Review of Control, Robotics and Autonomous Systems.
Pastrana, Rafael, Patrick Ole Ohlbrock, Thomas Oberbichler, Pierluigi D’Acunto, Stefana Parascho. 2022. “Constrained Form-Finding of Tension-Compression Structures using Automatic Differentiation.” In Computer Aided Design.
Han, Isla Xi, Forrest Meggers and Stefana Parascho. 2021.”Bridging the Collectives: A Review of Collective Human-Robot Construction.” In International Journal of Architectural Computing.
Huang, Yijiang, Caelan R. Garrett, Ian Ting, Stefana Parascho, and Caitlin T. Mueller. 2021. “Robotic Additive Construction of Bar Structures: Unified Sequence and Motion Planning.” Construction Robotics (2021), Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41693-021-00062-z
Bruun, Edvard, Rafael Pastrana, Vittorio Paris, Alessandro Beghini, Attilio Pizzigoni, Stefana Parascho and Sigrid Adriaenssens. 2021. “Three cooperative robotic fabrication methods for the scaffold-free construction of a masonry arch.” In Automation in Construction 129(6), Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2021.103803
Parascho, Stefana, Isla Xi Han, Samantha Walker, Alessandro Beghini, Edvard Bruun and Sigrid Adriaenssens. 2020. “A Cooperative Robotic Assembly Method for Compression-Only Vault Construction.” In Construction Robotics 4 (2020), pp. 117- 126, Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41693-020-00041-w
Bruun, Edvard P. G., Ian Ting, Sigrid Adriaenssens, and Stefana Parascho. 2020. “Human– Robot Collaboration: A Fabrication Framework for the Sequential Design and Construction of Unplanned Spatial Structures.” Digital Creativity 31 (4): 320–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/14626268.2020.1845214
Han, Isla Xi, Edvard Bruun, Alessandro Beghini, Samantha Walker, Sigrid Adriaenssens and Stefana Parascho. 2020. “From Concept to Construction: A Transferable Design and Robotic Fabrication Method for a Building-Scale Vault.” In ACADIA 2020: Distributed Proximities, Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture.
Parascho, Stefana, Isla Xi Han, Alessandro Beghini, Masaaki Miki, Samantha Walker, Edvard Bruun and Sigrid Adriaenssens. 2021. “LightVault.” In AAG 2020: Advances in Architectural Geometry.
Vittorio, Paris, M. Lepora, Alessandro Beghini, Stefana Parascho and Sigrid Adriaenssens, 2020. “Robotic construction of a self-balancing glass masonry vault: DEM study of the stability during the construction stages.”, In IASS Annual Symposium and Spatial Structures Conference 2020/21
Beghini, Alessandro, Samantha Walker, Masaaki Miki, Isla Xi Han, Sigird Adriaenssens and Stefana Parascho, 2021. “Robotic construction of a self-balancing glass masonry vault: Design and Tessellation.” In IASS Annual Symposium and Spatial Structures Conference 2020/21 (accepted)
Gandia Augusto, Stefana Parascho, Romana Rust, Gonzalo Casas, Fabio Gramazio, Matthias Kohler (2019) “Towards Automatic Path Planning for Robotically Assembled Spatial Structures.” In ROBARCH - Robotic Fabrication in Architecture, Art and Design, edited by Willmann J., Block P., Hutter M., Byrne K., Schork T. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92294-2_5
Piškorec Luka, David Jenny, Stefana Parascho, Hannes Mayer, Fabio Gramazio, Matthias Kohler (2019) “The Brick Labyrinth.” In ROBARCH - Robotic Fabrication in Architecture, Art and Design, edited by Willmann J., Block P., Hutter M., Byrne K., Schork T. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92294-2_37
Parascho, Stefana, Thomas Kohlhammer, Stelian Coros, Fabio Gramazio and Matthias Kohler. 2018. “Computational Design of Multi-Robotically Assembled Spatial Structures.” In AAG - Advances in Architectural Geometry 2018, pp. 112–139, edited by Lars Hesselgren, Axel Kilian, Olga Sorkine Hornung, Samar Malek, Karl-Gunnar Olsson, and Christopher John Kenneth Williams, Göteborg, Sweden: Klein Publishing GmbH. https://research.chalmers.se/en/publication/504188
Parascho, Stefana, Augusto Gandia, Ammar Mirjan, Fabio Gramazio and Matthias Kohler. 2017. “Cooperative Fabrication of Spatial Metal Structures.” In Fabricate 2017, pp. 24-29, edited by Achim Menges, Bob Sheil, Ruairi Glynn and Marilena Skavara, London: UCL press, ISBN: 978-1-78735-001-4, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1n7qkg7.7
Parascho, Stefana, Jan Knippers, Moritz Dörstelmann, Marshall Prado and Achim Menges. 2014. “Modular Fibrous Morphologies: Computational Design, Simulation and Fabrication of Differentiated Fibre Composite Building Components.” In AAG - Advances in Architectural Geometry 2014, pp. 29-45, edited by Philippe Block, Jan Knippers, Niloy J. Mitra, Wenping Wang, Springer, ISBN 978-3-319-11418-7, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11418-7_3
Dörstelmann, Moritz, Stefana Parascho, Marshall Prado, Jan Knippers and Achim Menges. 2014. “Integrative Computational Design Methodologies for Modular Architectural Fiber Composite Morphologies.” In ACADIA 2014 Design Agency: Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture, pp. 219-228, edited by David Gerber, Alvin Huang and Jose Sanchez, ACADIA and Riverside Architectural Press, ISBN 978-1-926724-49-2, DOI: https://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.5186.0485
Research
An interactive installation that brings together building occupancy analysis methods, trajectory prediction, and digital media to understand and mediate shared spaces.
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A platform dedicated to beginner-friendly creative coding tutorials and exercises for building architecture with robots
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Team
Maxence Grangeot
“ChatGPT, please write a funny short bio with emojis of a young phd researcher interested in the duality of architecture and structural engineering, of material properties and structural form, of vernacular crafts and scientific research, of construction processes and available technologies, and playing with all kind of tools, from bespoke analog jigs to robotics arms and cranes, desperately trying to discover novel architectural tectonics and structural typologies from reclaimed materials. Thank you!”
Stefana Parascho
📸 Shenhan Zhu
Stefana Parascho is the Director of the Lab for Creative Computation (CRCL).
Stefana studied in Stuttgart and received her Doctorate degree from ETH Zurich, Gramazio Kohler Research. She is an Assistant Professor at EPFL and makes sure that the robots and students in the lab don’t get bored. 💃 🤖 🕺 When she’s not in the lab, she is probably in a dance class or travelling (except during pandemics). She fights to see more recognition for women in STEM fields and hopes to never get stuck on a fixed research idea.
Bio
Stefana Parascho is a researcher, architect, and educator whose work lies at the intersection of architecture, digital fabrication and computational design. She is currently an Assistant Professor at EPFL where she founded the Lab for Creative Computation.
Through her research, she has explored multi-robotic fabrication methods and their relationship to architectural design. Stefana investigated computational design techniques ranging from agent-based systems to sequential design and optimisation methods. Her goal is to strengthen the connection between design, structure, and fabrication, and boost the interdisciplinary nature of architecture through the development of accessible computational tools and robotic fabrication methods.
Before joining EPFL, Stefana was an Assistant Professor at Princeton University, where she led the CREATE Lab Princeton. She completed her doctorate in 2019 at ETH Zurich, Gramazio Kohler Research. Previously, she received her Diploma in Architectural Engineering from the University of Stuttgart and worked with DesignToProduction Stuttgart and Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineering.
Jingwen Wang
📸 Eric Duong
Jingwen is a Ph.D. student at the CRCL. She is trained as a structural engineer and holds a B.Eng degree from HKUST and a M.Eng degree from MIT, both in Civil and Environmental engineering. After graduation, she worked in the New York office of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill for three years as a structural engineer, where she contributed to 15 projects worldwide. Notable projects she has worked on include Kempegowda International Airport Terminal II, MIT – Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing, NYC Penn Station Entrance Canopy.
In 2021, she decided to pursue her interest in fabrication-related research. She came to Europe and did a Master of Advanced Studies in Architecture and Digital Fabrication at ETH Zurich. She still considers herself as a structural engineer at heart, but also loves design, robotics and architecture.
In her free time, she likes walking around the city, taking photographs and watching films.
Alexandra Pittiglio
Alexandra is a Ph.D. candidate at CRCL, working on human-robot collaboration through a lens of materiality, psychology of teamwork, and interaction design. 🤖
With a Bachelor in Engineering from McMaster University (Canada) and a Master of Science from Universität Stuttgart (ITECH Programme, Germany), Alexandra’s work intersects design, humanities, and applied science. She is interested in exploring non-standard materials enabled through emerging technologies, and is excited by the potential for collaborative robotics to challenge the status quo of the architecture-engineering-construction world! 🚀
Alexandra loves being in the mountains - whether it’s snow, grass, or rock under her board or boots 🚵♀️ 🏂 🏕️. She has put way too many kilometres on her commuter + weekender fun bicycle, and is in constant awe of how pretty Lausanne is!
Eleni Skevaki
Eleni Skevaki is a doctoral researcher at the Lab for Creative Computation (CRCL) of EPFL Lausanne and associated with the National Centre for Competence in Research – Digital Fabrication, where she explores human-robot interaction within heterogeneous construction teams. 🤖 She holds an integrated Master in Architectural Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens and an MAS in Architecture and Digital Fabrication from ETH Zurich.🎓 Her working shoes are still dirty from spending too much time next to a 3D concrete printing robot. 🥾
Eric Duong
📸 Ian Ting
Eric is a scientific assistant at CRCL working on human interfaces and interactive installations. He studied architecture and computer science at the University of Virginia, where he discovered creative coding through Processing. 🖌 Today he bounces between visual toolkits, computer vision libraries, and robotics toward building spatial experiences and experimental applications. 🚧 Because of the unhealthy amount of time he spends staring at a monitor, he enjoys backpacking, cycling, and climbing outside of his time at the lab. 🏕
Isabelle Cogotti
As our new administrative specialist at CRCL, Isabelle brings her unique blend of organizational skills and adventurous spirit to every task. When she’s not busy keeping the lab running like a well-oiled machine, Isabelle can be found exploring new paths, getting lost in a good book or belting out tunes at the top of her lungs in her car. Whether she’s learning a new skill or perfecting a recipe, she approaches everything with enthusiasm and a can-do attitude.
Marie-Pierre Zufferey
Marie-Pierre Zufferey is an architect dipl. EPFL, Doctor of Science, and scientific collaborator at CRCL. She has focused on geometry and stereotomy (stone-cutting) for a long time. Now she aims to tame robots and use them as tools that directly extend the human hand and spirit as pencil, brush, bow, and chisel toward investigating the links between representing and creating, and how to make these new technologies accessible for non-specialists.
Unexepected interactions could emerge with her many outside activities, like martial arts, carving, painting, entomological and botanical observations, and reading!
Advisees
Edvard Bruun
Edvard Bruun is a PhD candidate in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Princeton. He is co-advised by Prof. Adriaenssens (Form Finding Lab) and Prof. Parascho. He has a BASc and MASc in Structural Engineering from the University of Toronto, where he researched reinforced concrete mechanics. He performed the world’s first pure torsion tests on large-scale shell specimens (~2 tons in weight) and used the results to derive a novel finite element for the rapid analysis of reinforced concrete structures. He is also a licensed professional engineer in Ontario, where he worked for Arup in the Building Structures group before starting his PhD in 2019. In his PhD research Edvard is working on interdisciplinary topics at the intersection of structural engineering and robotic fabrication. Specifically on applying graph theoretic principles to determine stability and plan the robotic fabrication sequence for discrete element structures. The goal is to develop a fabrication-informed framework to ensure that structures are designed to be materially efficient during all steps in an assembly and disassembly sequence 🏗. In his spare time, he enjoys long walks on the beach 🏖 , listening to JJ Cale, making espressos, and operating chainsaws 🪚.
Isla Xi Han
📸 Shenhan Zhu
Isla is a PhD student in Architecture (Technology Track) at Princeton University . She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture and Economics from UVa and her professional Master’s Degree in Architecture from Princeton. 🍀 She’s very lucky and proud to be the very first member recruited into the CREATE Laboratory Princeton - firstly through Assistantship in Instruction for Stefana‘s course, then hired as Research Specialist II for the LightVault Project, and now as a PhD student in the lab.
When she’s not around robots 🤖, she enjoys brainstorming and collaborating with friends across disciplines for all sorts of playful projects (music, e-textile, ML and app development … you name it). She would love to better include robots as a flexible and robust collaborator🤝with human teams in architectural design and construction settings in the near future.✨
