Process / Product

Academic papers are full of final drawings and diagrams but gloss over process work, “less glamorous” images, and the amount of time and labor behind a fi nal product. Certain skills and expertise cannot be taught but are instead collected from years of personal experience – a body of knowledge inaccessible to some unless passed on through e-mails, Zoom calls, or personal observations. When dealing with these seemingly esoteric topics, it becomes easy to feel isolated in the problems, failures, or questions that arise and cannot be easily accessed in academic journals or a simple Google search. Although exacerbated by the global pandemic’s mandates and shifts in the way work is done - this feeling is not new. The following pages record clay 3D printing research on a KUKA industrial robotic arm completed by two 5th year undergraduate architecture students. Through drawings, images, and text, this field note documents decisions, failures, messes, and successes compiled from a year of socially distanced learning, researching, and living.