Robo Fab

Cairo is not only the largest city in Egypt, but also a major hub of commerce, culture, and population. However, this urban concentration has contributed significantly to pollution and global warming in the region. The city’s rapid growth, coupled with its industrial activities, has resulted in high levels of air and water pollution. The building construction industry in Cairo has contributed to high climate change primarily through its impact on energy consumption and carbon emissions (75% of the greenhouse gases emissions) leading to 22.5 million people displaced annually from climate change disasters. That’s why it is very important to figure out solutions to decrease the pollution and build quick efficient architecture using the latest technologies in the research and development  in architecture, An integrated scheme is proposed for a installing a first Robotic fabrication laboratory in the middle east that raises awareness and builds with digital fabrication to increase flexibility, efficiency and decrease waste. The challenge was how to build a living architecture building that combines firstly, digital fabrication to decrease material usage and decrease the waste, secondly, temporary architecture principles to build a flexible and easily constructed and deconstructed thus lowering the environmental impact ,and lastly, a biophilic design to involve the integration of living plants, green walls, indoor gardens as well as maximizing natural lighting and views of natural landscapes into the research facility. By taking all of these main principles into consideration, the main concept of the building’s design was derived. The Project is built on a 40000 m squared land in the middle of the New Administrative Capital in front of the green river and surrounded by the tallest towers district in Africa. The Living Laboratory research center is a unique facility that integrates architecture, science, and technology to create a new paradigm in research. The center is designed to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation by providing an immersive environment where researchers can work. live, and interact with each other and with the built environment. It is designed as a series of flexible interconnected structures that are both functional and visually complementary. The functions of the building are divided to 7 primary spaces; Industrial, Farming, Public spaces, Office spaces, Educational, Outdoor Areas, Private Spaces. Surrounding the main building are a series of interconnected structures that provide future expansion for possible housing for the researchers and urban instalments such as Outdoor Seating and Social Nodes and Local Markets and Pop-Up Events. The structure is designed as modular units that can be configured to accommodate different research needs. Each unit is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and sustainable features, such as solar panels, rainwater harvesting systems. The modules are designed according to the functions happening inside each module, for example the robotic fabrication lab space is designed through the analysis of the machinery heights. The laboratory consists of three lightweight robotic arms which are mounted on a 3.8-metre-long vertical track Conceived as a design studio environment, the laboratory catalyzes novel design methods by reciprocally linking computational design to the fabrication of physical architectural models. The direct human interaction enabled by the built-in force control of the robots allows for the implementation of a spectrum of bespoke manufacturing tools and procedures. The spaces are arranged according to a grid system of 10m x 10m width apart and 5m x 5m height apart. Horizontally, the spaces are arranged in the ground floor according to functionality. The robotic labs, biochemical and materiality labs are all situated in the ground floor as they accommodate heavy machinery. The labs are facing the secondary road to privatize their entrance as much as possible. On the other hand, the temporary ETFE structure hosting the exhibition space in the ground floor is situated on the main road as a public entrance situation for all visitors. The modules are shifted in a U shape in order to make a courtyard wind effect in the middle. Vertically, the modules are shifted in a way to allow easy vertical and horizontal circulation and to make the modules self-shading. In addition, the vertical shifting visible in the sections help to create open terraces that are often shaded by the modules cantilevered above, and for the non-shaded terraces, a pneumatic structure of ETFE is placed. The ETFE is a good alternative to glass because it allows the entry of light but it filters the heavy sunlight and transfers less heat resulting in a lower environmental impact and more sustainability. The roof has an exoskeleton-type structure to prevent obstructing airflow. The roof is reshaped and stretched down and up according to the wind and sun, it is stretched down in the south low wind speed direction and it maintains humidity by reducing airflow with the protruding columns and rough shell surface. This enables shifting the position of the shades comfortably in the direction of the sun.