Final Construction
Process and Prototyping
FLEX - DLAB 2023 Structure
Programme Heads
Dr. Elif Erdine, Dr. Milad Showkatbakhsh
AA Visiting School Director
Dr. Christopher Pierce
Tutors
Elif Erdine, Alexander Krolak, Angel Lara Moreira, Milad Showkatbakhsh
Teaching Assistant
Chengxuan Li
Students
Laya Al Ibadi, Aeshah Alani, Yusuf Alperen Bayir, Rim Cherkaoui, Heloisa de Santis Alfredo, Ahmed Gewaily, Jiyeong Kim, Soki Kimura, Anna Kloos, Amalia Konstantinou, Luis Leon Escoda, Samanta Martinez, Ahmed Mitwally, Netra Mundada, Sudaksh Nigotiya, Zahra Parhizi, Yiru Wang, Hanqi Zhang
The structure, FLEX, is included at UK Construction Week at the Birmingham NEC from the 3 – 5 October 2023. The AA DLAB Visiting School 2023 explored the potentials of active bending through the robotic bundling and twisting of rattan canes. In construction, the practice of bundling and utilising friction-based structures has been employed for centuries within both, prehistoric and traditional architectures. The increased load-bearing capacity of bundled poles, compared to the mere summation of individual poles, creates a highly efficient system. The structure of FLEX is robotically fabricated in part, through construction and assembly techniques.