2021: A Steam Odyssey is conceptualized around the notion that making in AR reinvigorates traditional craftsmanship by augmenting hand and material skills with the precision and formal possibilities of digital modelling—occupying the territory between purely automated, exclusively robotically-driven fabrication and highly crafted processes requiring human labour.
The centrepiece of the exhibition, designed in collaboration with Igor Pantic, is a structure built out of steam-bent hardwood using primitive hand tools augmented with the precision of intelligent holographic guides. It explores alternative strategies for the fabrication of digitally designed architectural structures, utilizing cutting-edge, head-mounted devices (HMDs) to holographically assist workers in the manufacturing and assembly of highly varied components using traditional craft techniques.
The exhibition piece itself, which is a full-scale section of a larger inhabitable space, represents a next step in the evolution of the SoomeenHahm Design’s ongoing research into complex timber structures, assembled with the assistance of AR. It builds on the methodology developed for the 2019 Tallinn Biennale Steampunk Pavilion (designed by S. Hahm, I. Pantic, G. Jahn, and C. Newnham), further expanding it in the realm of fully functional space.
“It is crucial to understand that augmented reality-assisted fabrication is not seen as an alternative to automation and robotics, but rather aims to expand the understanding of automated production,” explains Hahm. “We are interested in exploring the interaction between human, machine, and data, and their mutual relationships throughout computational design and fabrication processes—2021: A Steam Odyssey builds on this idea.”
Official Website:
https://www.sciarc.edu/events/exhibitions/soomeen-hahm-a-steam-odyssey
Project Credit:
SoomeenHahm Design & Igor Pantic
Design Team:
Soomeen Hahm, Igor Pantic, Hanjun Kim
AR Construction Team:
DaeWoong Kim, Shun Sasaki
AR App Design:
MoFei Li
Video Edit:
Yiguan Liu
Consultant:
Format Engineers
SCI-Arc Directors:
Hernan Diaz Alonso, John Enright
SCI-Arc Staffs:
Gabriel Henandez, Emil Tatevosian, Reginald Benson, Stephanie Atlan, Marija Radisavljevic
Fabrication Contributors:
Lou Xiao
Minxuo Qi
Ji Qi
Shelley Luo
Jiin Jeong
Kevin Foley
Ilaria Lu
Alexandeos Lewis
Jonah Klinghoffer
Burak Celik
SangHyun Suh
Eva Besmerti
Carlo Stuken
Time Line:
Exhibition July 30, 2021 – August 29, 2021
Location:
SCI-Arc, LA, Califonia
