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The future is now
Smart technology
As they continue to advance, smart technology and digital fabrication have the potential to signi cantly enhance the engineered built environment in New Zealand and elsewhere.
BY ALI GHAFFARIANHOSEINI, ROOHOLLAH KALATEHJARI, MANI POSHDAR, AMIRHOSEIN GHAFFARIANHOSEINI AND JOHN TOOKEY, DEPARTMENT OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT ENGINEERING, AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
WHILE COMPLEX FORMS were once very di cult and costly to design, produce and assemble using conventional construction methods, computerised technologies have now revolutionised the manufacturing of construction components.
Evolution of digital fabrication
Information technology and information and communications technology (IT/ICT)
began to in uence the design and construc- tion industry in the early 1950s. This was primarily based on innovations where pairing computer platforms and cutting and making tools enabled complex components to be fabricated.
Later, this resulted in the widespread uptake of modernised design and construc- tion techniques. The integration of computer modelling and visualisation and additive and
subtractive manufacturing such as comput- erised numerical control (CNC) routers, laser cutters and 3D printers facilitated a new game-changing trend dubbed digital fabrication.
Computer-assisted design (CAD) and Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) technologies also began to have an impact on building design and construction prac- tices. Shortly after World War II, the aviation
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FEATURE SECTION