London's Architectural Association has released a film showing its first major foray into robotic construction, and has revealed it will this year launch a new course focussed on digital fabrication (+ movie).
Students from the AA School's Design & Make programme used robotic fabrication for the first time earlier this year in the construction of Woodchip Barn.
The success of this project led to the development of a new MSc course, also called Design & Make, which will focus on robotic technologies and their application in timber construction.
Programme director Martin Self told Dezeen that robotics are becoming increasingly important in architecture.
"We are making robotics core to the research we do here, and believe there is particular potential in the application of natural forms in architecture, especially in combination with 3D-scanning technologies," he told Dezeen. Students on the course will make use of a robotic arm with a reach of 2.7 metres
Starting this autumn, the 12-month residential MSc programme will run in parallel with the existing 16-month MArch Design & Make course, which takes place at the school's woodland research facility in Hooke Park, Dorset.
It taps into the current trend for robotic construction, pioneered by researchers at the University of Stuttgart and ETH Zurich, and championed by architects including Wolf D Prix and BIG's Kai-Uwe Bergmann.

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