A Robot’s Dream invites visitors to witness the advent of humanoid robots in architecture. The immersive environment features a humanoid robot within curved walls made of robotically assembled rebar meshes. These intricate mesh walls function as a perceptual interface, alternately revealing and obscuring views, offering glimpses of a suspended humanoid robot. The rebar mesh acts as a visual filter, suggesting the simultaneous division, yet entanglement of humans and artificial beings.
Floating mid-air in a sleeping pose, the robot exists in a dream-like state, occasionally displaying delicate, anthropomorphic, alienating gestures—bodily expressions of a dream shifting between comfort and nightmare. Audio and visual cues and contextual photography, visitors witness the robot’s hallucinations—memories, aspirations, power, and anxieties about functioning in a world designed by and for humans.
Participants
GRAMAZIO KOHLER RESEARCH, ETH ZURICH ZURICH, SWITZERLAND Fabio Gramazio, Switzerland, 1970. Lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland, and internationally. Matthias Kohler, Switzerland, 1968. Lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland, and internationally.
MESH BIRR, SWITZERLAND
STUDIO ARMIN LINKE BERLIN, GERMANY Armin Linke, Milan, Italy, 1966. Lives and works in Berlin, Germany, and internationally.
Team
A Robot’s Dream: Inés Ariza (Project Lead), Petrus Aejmelaeus-Lindström, Ryan Batke (RSL), Alessandra Gabaglio, Ilaria Giacomini (MESH), Lucia Gugerli, Yijiang Huang (CRL), Martin Inauen (MESH), Dong Ho Kang (CRL), Mattis Koh (MESH), Chenhao Li (RSL), Michael Lyrenmann, Ammar Mirjan (MESH), Panayiotis Papacharalambous, Sarah Schneider, Patrick Studer (Bergmeister + Partner AG), Benjamin Sun (MESH), Andreas Taras (Bergmeister + Partner AG), Ezra Truncellito (MESH), Achilleas Xydis; Test Assemblies. A Laboratory for Robotic Architecture and Digital Fabrication: Armin Linke, Giulia Bruno (ISIA Urbino University), Giuseppe Ielasi, Nina Zschocke (Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design)
Thanks
Bergmeister + Partner; Stelian Coros, Computational Robotics Lab (CRL), ETH Zurich; Russell Loveridge, NCCR Digital Fabrication; Marco Hutter, Robotic Systems Lab (RSL), ETH Zurich; Catja Loepfe, Tanzhaus Zurich
Supporters
Debrunner Bewehrungstechnik; Department of Architecture, ETH Zurich; Institute of Technology in Architecture, ETH Zurich; Jakob Rope Systems; MESH AG; Rudolf Maurer AG; Unitree; Fondamentale – La Filiera delle Costruzioni (ANCE Associazione Nazionale Costruttori Edili, ANAEPA Confartigianato Edilizia, CNA Artigiani Imprenditori d’Italia Costruzioni, FIAE CASARTIGIANI Confederazione Autonoma Sindacati Artigiani, C.L.A.A.I. Confederazione Libere Associazioni Artigiane Italiane, CONFAPI ANIEM Unione Nazionale di Categoria della Piccola e Media Industria Edile, LEGACOOP Produzione e Servizi, CONFCOOPERATIVE Lavoro e Servizi, AGCI Associazione Generale Cooperative Italiane Produzione e Lavoro, FENEALUIL Federazione Nazionale Lavoratori Affini e del Legno, FILCA CISL Federazione Italiana Lavoratori Costruzioni e Affini, FILLEA CGIL Federazione Italiana dei Lavoratori del Legno, dell’Edilizia, delle industrie Affini ed estrattive, FORMEDIL Ente Unico Formazione e Sicurezza, SANEDIL Fondo Sanitario Lavoratori Edili); Pro Helvetia
