SoA faculty member Jonathan A. Scelsa, along with Co-authors Shelby Doyle, Frank Melendez and Kelley Van Dyck Murphy publish Claying Architecture Making Machine and Material Kin with Applied Research and Design / ORO Editions. This publication presents a curated collection of essays, interviews, and projects from leading architects, designers, and researchers who are analyzing the role of clay 3D printing in contemporary architecture. The book blends research, theory, and practice to highlight how this ancient material is being reimagined through 3D printing, robotic fabrication, and innovative construction techniques.
The group will host a book launch and roundtable event at the Center for Architecture, sponsored by the Pratt School of Architecture, that will bring together the voices of the editors, several of the book’s 30 guest contributors, and respondent Lola Ben-Alon to discuss why clay has become a protagonist in contemporary architecture as an agent capable of binding new kinships between processes, environments, and culture.
The publication was reviewed in The Architect’s Newspaper. In the article “Claying Architecture considers the place for clay in a world of modern materials” explains that “This volume of collected discussions reveals a desire to expand how architects, designers, and researchers position themselves alongside their materials. It asks audiences to take a leap and think about kinship and empathy—among and across different species—or geological time as important values that may drive the ways we employ clay in the built environment.” Additionally, “Claying Architecture also necessarily addresses issues of human-machine interaction in the context of digital fabrication….The most enticing conversations are those that move beyond the human and the machine into microbes, fungi, fish, birds, woodrats, and other non-humans that can enjoy what clay has to offer. Part of the book appears to be dedicated to exploring what a multi-species architecture might be.”