This is a vertical studio combining students in their fourth and fifth year of the BArch program with students from the architecture graduate programs. Students may choose from a diverse range of options of study proposed by different faculty members. In general the studio options are grounded in a conceptual basis that invites disciplinary innovation. These studio options vary from year to year.Section Description:This semester we will explore novel methods for collaborating with robots to fabricate and assemble structures made out of bamboo. While we will embrace non-standard design processes and experimental techniques, we will also examine ways to ensure our construction efforts are efficient, repeatable and sustainable. Wood is perhaps the most ancient building material known to humans. For thousands of years it has been one of our most essential materials for providing basic shelter, building tools, machines and vehicles. Wood is lightweight, strong and versatile. Trees can be grown, harvested and processed in close proximity to their source. Timber can be cut into a wide range of functional mass-produced elements from structural framing and sheathing to shingles, doors and trim. Elements can also be shaped into bespoke furniture or carved for decorative purposes. Wood can also be recycled and reused in various forms when needed. In this studio will focus exclusively on experimenting with grown bamboo rods and similar lightweight tubular biomaterials: reeds, straw, bio-resin based tubes, meshes, biopastes and filament for 3d printing, various new and emerging biocomposite materials. Bamboo, with its rapid growth rate and extraordinary strength-to-weight ratio, is an ideal construction material that is readily available in the Bay Area.The studio will take place in CCA’s new Digital Craft Lab (DCL) within the new Double-Ground building. Situated between the Digital Fabrication Lab (CNC and Laser Cutting), the Woodshop and various other shop resources and outdoor work spaces, the DCL is the ideal place to explore and prototype with wood. Each student will have an assigned desk in the lab. Throughout the semester we will utilize the various DCL specific resources including the small and large Kuka 5-axis robotic arms and 3d printers. A focus area will be exploring methods for Human Robot Collaboration (HRC) within architectural production. The studio will be extremely “hands-on” and will ask students to work iteratively and inventively through modes of digital, parametric and analog modeling, simulation, fabrication and performance testing. Structured technical workshops will cover the use of the Digital Craft Lab’s resources.THREE PHASESPhase 1: Research and Skill BuildingPhase 2: Schematic Design of light-weight structures consisting of columns, arches, domes and vaulted sheltersPhase 3: Full-scale Demonstration Projects / Pavilion using bamboo

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