Robotic Birdhouse Condominium (2001)

CLIENT: Executive Committee Birdhouse Project (a volunteer collaborative of private companies and organizations based in Osaka, Japan).

CONCEPT: Birdhouse: “Artificial Intelligence Creator-designed Birdhouses” a special-interest project to design a birdhouse using invited experts applying their specialized technology. The project uses the medium of birdhouses (that have a simple set of requirements) to comment on and express current human-interest issues. This invited entry is an automated construction system that installs deployable birdhouses in a support / infill frame, similar to branches on a tree trunk. This biannual event is high profile in Japan and includes past entries from Tadao Ando and Sir Norman Foster.

DESIGN TEAM: Design of robotic system, deployable modules, computer animations and models by A. Scott Howe. Folding accordion membranes prepared by A. Chihiro Howe and Musashi W. Howe.

COST: None estimated.

DATE: 2001.

STATUS: Only conceptual design steps were taken, with working mockups built.

Other images and animations:
expanding module animation segment (868kb)
construction animation segment (4.2mb)