The second edition of The Dubai Visiting School will advance the research of the previous workshop by exploring avant-garde methods of materializing architecture. The outcomes will consist of a speculative body of work, representing a UAE pavilion for the upcoming Expo 2020, which will take place in Dubai.

 

This year, we will focus on challenging the prevailing modus operandi of the construction site, where laborers take on complex and sometimes dangerous tasks in the process of constructing iconic architecture for emerging cities.

 

AA Visiting School Dubai will re-examine the potential of building ad-hoc robotic fabrication arms, which are built on site, to work hand in hand with the workers, enhancing their ability to construct complex tectonics. Subsequently, we will be looking at materializing spatial elements that would be simulated digitally to quantify processes for simplifying the construction of complex architecture.

 

The teams will aim at producing full-scale prototypes using our in-house technologies, alongside full representations of their Expo interventions. We will aim to test materials at full scale, switching back and forth between physical and digital design realms.

 

This edition of AAVS DXB will build on the body of work that will continue over the following years. Our ambition will be to allow for the emergence of an experimental design laboratory, which pushes for embedding generative design logic, fabrication methods, and open source operations into the architectural discourse in Dubai. A city that is evolving as a hub for art, culture and design in the region.