Craftsmanship in the Digital Age
#5 Craft in Code
Monday, 18 December 2017

A lecture by Richard Sennett, concluding the ANCB series Craftsmanship in the Digital Age: Architecture, Values and Digital Fabrication

Part 1: Introduction

Welcome and Introduction
Dr. h.c. Kristin Feireiss, Director, ANCB The Aedes Metropolitan Laboratory, Berlin - 00:00:00 - 00:04:51
Monika Thomas, Architect and Director of Building, German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature, Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), Berlin - 00:04:52 - 00:12:16
Tom Maasen, Cultural Attaché, The Netherlands Embassy in Berlin - 00:12:17 - 00:19:24
Dr. h.c. Kristin Feireiss, Director, ANCB, Berlin - 00:19:25 - 00:20:47
Áine Ryan, Project Curator, ANCB The Aedes Metropolitan Laboratory, Berlin - 00:20:48 - 00:31:26

Part 2: Lecture

Lecture
Prof. Dr. Richard Sennett, Centennial Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics - 00.00.00 - 00.55.46

Part 3: Q+A

Richard Sennett's seminal book The Craftsman served as a touchstone during the conceptualisation of this discussion series on digital fabrication in architecture, especially the provocation that "we are obliged to change both the things we make and how we use them...to become good craftsmen of the environment". Thus we are very pleased to be able to conclude the series with his reflections.

An internal roundtable discussion took place in the afternoon, focusing on three core themes raised in the discussion series: the emerging digital building 'culture', the alternative building processes it demands, and the socio-politically and environmentally responsible building typologies and systems it makes possible.
Roundtable Participants: Urs Füssler, Association of German Architects, Berlin; Erhard An-He Kinzelbach, Professor of Architectural Design and Building Construction, University of Applied Sciences, Bochum / Founder KNOWSPACE, Berlin; Helga Kühnhenrich, Head of Division for Research in Building and Construction, German Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR), Bonn; Kristjan Nielsen, Engineer, Arup, Berlin; Norbert Palz, Professor Digital and Experimental Design / Vice Dean Design Faculty, Universität der Künste Berlin; Jürgen Paul, Managing Director, BauNetz Media, Berlin; Sven Pfeiffer, Researcher, Digital Architecture Production, Technische Universität Berlin; Andrea Pfeil, Architect, German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature, Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), Berlin; Arnd Rose, Researcher of Division for Research in Building and Construction,German Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR), Bonn; Léon Spikker, Founding Partner, Studio RAP, Robotics Architecture Production, Rotterdam; Frans Vogelaar, Professor for Hybrid Space, Academy of Media Arts, Cologne / Hybrid Space Lab, Berlin.

Moderaton: Jörg Petri and Daniel Büning, Co-founders NOWlab@BigRep, and Áine Ryan, ANCB The Aedes Metropolitan Laboratory, Berlin.

BACKGROUND
The intention of the series Craftsmanship in the Digital Age, and the collaboration with The Netherlands Embassy in Berlin, NOWlab@BigRep and the BBSR, was to explore and co-articulate with manufacturers, proponents of newer digital production tools, architects, and building industry representatives, a craftsmanship approach to incorporating digital fabrication into architecture. Rather than seeing digital tools as incongruous with craftsmanship, Craftsmanship in the Digital Age proposed that they could in fact strengthen certain skills and principles characteristic of craftsmanship with benefits for architecture and manufacturing; including more effective building materials and spatial typologies, a closer working relationship between architects and manufacturers, and an assertion of critical values for the building industry at this point in history,especially regarding energy and resource sustainability.
For more on this series background, see here.