01–06–2021 - current
Link to website
Collaborators:
Keith J Lee
Pitipat Wongsittikan
Undergraduate researchers:
Emily Liu
Hazel Mann
Research conducted with Digital Structures research group led by Professor Caitlin Mueller
Pixelframe is a modular constructive system designed for a future where buildings are transformed from static endpoints of material flows into intelligent assemblies of efficient, reusable elements. The system experiments with concrete—a high-emissions yet globally vernacular material—typically constructed into monolithic, single-use assemblies.
The project challenges the culture of the linear building economy in which concrete is deeply embedded, which concerns itself solely with the present and treats building materials as disposable byproducts of economic forces. Instead, the speculative assembly combines reversible and efficient design with digital traceability, generating a shaped base module that is aggregated into whole structures designed as temporary material banks. Each module is paired with a digital twin, juxtaposing architecture’s physical, concrete nature with a synthetic shadow that creates dialogue between inhabitants and the building’s many lives. The tethering of the physical and digital de-anonymizes the assembly, encouraging accountability for the materials we extract and mold into structures, entering concrete into a new circular economy of exchange—re-valuing the ubiquitous.
The project showcases scale models of the innovative post-tensioned, modular system and its emergent tectonic, speculative designs for future buildings, and full-scale assemblies of digitally linked modules that have been reconfigured multiple times. Existing simultaneously at the scale of the detail and that of a global material exchange, the exhibit encourages discovery both through haptic encounter and through its digital interface. In a future where buildings are increasingly seen as stockpiles for subsequent reuse, the reinvention of concrete structures is an imperative that presents an opportunity for a new tectonic – concrete is no longer a liquid poured once and cured on site, but is more akin to stone, retaining value across multiple lifespans.