Abstract

Computational tools for fabrication have been largely designed for homogeneous materials, or materials that are uniform, predictable and engineered. This choice privileges materials that have been pre-processed, stripping away natural variation while generating significant waste. My research investigates the following question: How do we design computational tools for fabrication with heterogeneous materials?

In this talk, I introduce Materials-Driven Fabrication, a framework for developing computational tools around material heterogeneity inspired by craft practices. I will first share my ethnographic work learning about craft practices and the orders of relations between craftspeople, tools and materials (what I refer to as convivial fabrication). Building on these insights, I will discuss work in capturing and sharing how craftspeople respond to materials within their individual craft workflows. Finally, I will present ongoing work on computational tools oriented around material behaviors to inform design decisions for early-stage and end-of-life phases. Through this work, I envision a more sustainable future where materials drive (rather than limit) fabrication, creating artifacts that celebrate materials through their perpetual cycles of design, fabrication and renewal.

Bio

Ritik Batra is a third-year PhD candidate in the Information Science department at Cornell Tech in New York City, where he is co-advised by Thijs Roumen and Steven Jackson. His research leverages qualitative and quantitative methods to design and develop computational tools that support fabrication workflows adaptive to real-world materials and contexts. He is currently a visiting researcher at the Centre for Information Technology and Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy. Previously, he interned at Autodesk Research, worked as a software engineer at Stripe, and earned a BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley.