Digital architecture must transcend its current preoccupation with surface, volume, and form and rise to the tectonic; face the reality that construction is an assemblage of parts and components that have joints, intersections, and details. Let it be poetic.;As a reaction against the generic standardization of the architecture-industrial complex, the techniques articulated by Branko Kolarevic, Lisa Iwamoto, and others have done well to explore the spectacle and visual novelty of a digitally fabricated architecture. However, these projects have neglected an underlying tectonic sensibility that understands the reality of 21st century construction and its ability to similarly exploit these contemporary tools and techniques.;By a review of precedents that demonstrate exceptional understanding of material, assembly and construction realities, and through intensive material and assembly investigations, a project will be designed and a sample component fabricated that discovers how these techniques can advance an architecture of engagement.;Assembly investigations begin with thorough analysis of detailing approaches that have received critical acclaim, particularly by architects at the turn of the 20th century experiencing a similar industrial revolution such as Otto Wagner, Peter Behrens, and Carlo Scarpa, and through the notable text of Marco Frascari, Kenneth Frampton, and Ed Ford. A technique will be discovered that will utilize the potentials of digital design and fabrication in realizing an expressive relationship between form, material, and assemblage relative to the forces at work in an architecture.;A structure will be designed, on a small scale in order to focus efforts upon the detail, presented in models, drawings, and a sample full size component to illustrate the built example, and the process described in a critical essay of digital design and fabrication practice. As a result of this thesis, the discourse, digital design and fabrication, will have precedent of tactics to exploit the tectonic potential of their fabrications, making them more engaging and relevant to the client and user.
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