Digital Crafting Network

Good building culture traditionally relied on a sharing of knowledge between design practice and craft. The architect received crafts training and the craftsman was understood as an established part of the knowledge chain of building. In Scandinavia in particular this tie has led to an internationally renowned building culture based firmly on a deep understanding of craft, detail and material and resulting in high architectural quality. Where industrialisation created fundamental rifts in this knowledge sharing focusing on standardisation and mass production, the recent development of computer controlled fabrication enables a new focus on the highly specified and the customized.

The research network investigates how new digital production methods are instigating profound changes in the design and building of architecture. Developing the term digital crafting , the network examines how the maturing of interfaces between the design space of the architect and the production space of the manufacturer is leading to the shaping of a new material practice in architecture.

Information on the current activities within the network can be found on the digitalcrafting blog.

Support
The Danish Council for Independent Research, Humanities.

Organizers
Mette Ramsgard Thomsen (CITA)
Martin Tamke (CITA )
Claus Peder Pedersen (AARCH)

Participants
CITA (Centre for IT and Architecture), KADK
Aarhus School of Architecture 
Kolding School of Design 
Technical University of Denmark 
Danish Technological Institute 
SIAL (The Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory), RMIT