pT    Periscope Tower

PROJECT DATA

TYPE	ROBOTIC FABRICATION PAVILION INSTALLATION
LOCATION	ATLANTA GEORGIA, USA
CLIENT	YOUNG ARCHITECT’S FORUM ATLANTA
DATE	2010
TEAM	BRANDON CLIFFORD WES McGEE DAVE PIGRAM   MATTHEW JOHNSON MACIEJ KACZYNSKI  JOHANNA LOBDELL DENIZ McGEE KRIS WALTERS
PUBLICATIONS	FABRICATE 2011 MONITOR UNLIMITED #61, 2010 ARCHDAILY, 2010
AWARDS	INTERNATIONAL WINNER MODERN ATLANTA 10UP! DESIGN COMPETITION

Periscope Tower

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Custom file-to-factory algorithms directly generate robot instruction code to allow feedback between design, matter and making. 

Periscope Tower is a robotically fabricated tower of foam.  It was the winning entry in the 10Up! architecture competition in its inaugural year.  Sponsored by the Young Architect Forum of Atlanta, the competition called for entries that could be constructed in twenty-four hours in a ten-foot by ten-foot plot.  No height limit was given.  Taking advantage of this oversight, the form of the tower inverts the structural rhetoric of what appears to be a tensile fabric lifted by impossibly thin compression rods.  In reality, the sixty-foot tall tower is constructed of expanded polystyrene foam blocks that were robotically cut, stacked, and then placed in compression by tension cables that lash the very large and wind-prone installation to a heavy, stabilizing foundation.

The project was fabricated in the University of Michigan, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning’s FabLab.   The fabrication process utilized custom written software that directly generates robot instruction code eliminating the need for construction or shop drawings.  This file-to-tactory workflow enabled an empirical feedback loop between formational processes and material properties. 

The Periscope Tower demonstrates the design potential and real-world practicality and use value of the fabrication and algorithmic design techniques in terms of speed of assembly, weight, and relative affordability.