Tangible computing

This paper explores the process of digital materialization through robotic fabrication techniques by presenting three wooden projects. The analysis of the case studies is oriented to underline the impact that computation had on architectural construction due to its methodological and instrumental innovations over the last decades. The absorption of computing and digital fabrication logics within the discipline is explored from either an architectural point of view and from the improvements related to automation of the constructive process. On the one hand the case studies are caught because of the desire to expand material complexity and, on the other hand because of the integration with other technological systems. The narrative allows gathering pros and cons in three different investigative macro areas: material culture, methodological oversights, and operative setbacks coming from digital machine and communicational constraints. This analytical investigation helps the definition of a new pathway for future researches, looking forward the assimilation of digital materiality learning in building construction.