Diversifying Construction
Since the Renaissance, architecture has been distinguished from craft, privileging intellectual over physical labor, and immaterial over material labor. As architectural theorist Douglas Spencer argues, "Effectively deskilled, those responsible for construction found their labor remotely directed, through newly invented techniques of 'thinking, drawing and model-making,' by a professional class assuming superior status over them.1 To "repair" the inequalities of architectural practice today, it is crucial to specifically address this division of labor within the sector.
Diversifying Construction seeks to revalue embodied craft knowledge by exploring how robotic tools can act as supportive collaborators rather than replacements, emphasizing cooperation, shared authorship, and care in construction work.
The project investigates how robotic technologies can be integrated into construction sites alongside humans and aims to spark a discussion on new modes of collaboration between skilled and unskilled labor in the construction sector. It examines how human–robot cooperation could support a more sensible distribution of tasks, offer physical relief for workers, and encourage shared decision-making in construction processes. At the same time, it invites critical reflection on the potentials, limitations, and potential setbacks in this evolving landscape.
Diversifying Construction was realized as part of the exhibition The Great Repair at the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, and was featured in the publication ARCH+ 253 The Great Repair – Praktiken der Reparatur / A Catalog of Practices, under the thematic focus Praxis reparieren / Repair the Practice. The contribution consisted of a video documentation and a live demonstration. The video showed mason Julia Ohlmayer collaboratively building a brick bench with a mobile robotic arm and was accompanied by an interview with her, reflecting on the collaboration with a “new colleague”. As part of the exhibition, the brick bench was constructed on site in front of the Akademie der Künste, where visitors were invited to engage with this collaborative craft practice.
1 Douglas Spencer, "Arbeit, Produktion und der Zweck der Architektur," ARCH+ 251, Unternehmen Architektur (2023): 31
Reference
ARCH+: The Great Repair: Politics for a Society of Repair, 253, 2023, pp. 170–171.
Credits
Professorship Digital Fabrication
Lidia Atanasova, M.Sc.
Kathrin Dörfler, Prof. Dr
Concept, design and text: Lidia Atanasova, Kathrin Dörfler
Mason: Julia Ohlmeyer
Video and editing: Moritz Heinrich
Date: 2022–2023
Exhibition
The Great Repair (ARCH+)
Exhibition, 14 October 2023 – 14 January 2024
Opening on Friday, 13 October 2023, 7 pm
Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg
Funding
Departement of Architecture, TUM School of Engineering and Design