A Robotics Perspective on Architecture: Modelling and Control of Reconfigurable Buildings

Reconfigurable architecture is a disruptive concept with unique opportunities for creativity in design towards more usable buildings, better energy efficiency and improved comfort for the occupants. From an engineering perspective, implementations involve mechanism design and control, while analytical approaches from robotics become relevant. A structural and control concept is presented, which allows stepwise reconfigurations for a building between an initial and a final position. Simulation and experimental results are presented to demonstrate the applicability of the approach. Dynamic analysis of the basic mechanism is also pursued and its role in providing design input is demonstrated.