TY - JOUR
T1 - Assembling the Assembler
T2 - Reanimating the “Lost” Motion Machine of Wachsmann, Bollinger, and Mendoza
AU - Andrzejewski, Elizabeth
AU - Shaffer, Marcus Steven
AU - Obonyo, Esther
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was partially funded by a grant from the Alma Heinz and August Louis Pohland Graduate Fellowship.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - In the late 1960s, Konrad Wachsmann moved to the University of Southern California to begin the Building Research Institute, a multidisciplinary studio and laboratory dedicated to reimagining building construction through a universal comprehensiveness— one that considered politics, science, social science, economics, and technologies in relation to industrial architecture. While at USC, Wachsmann and his students developed the Location Orientation Manipulator (LOM), an architecture machine “for the control, measurement, and display of the kinematics of (building) design and assembly” (Ward Jr. 1972). This paper examines the LOM as a ‘universal building machine’ designed by architects for industrialized architecture and details a digital reconstruction/reanimation of the LOM using Autodesk Fusion software. The authors speculate there are mechanical qualities related to building automation and specific to architecture within the unarticulated history of the LOM. These characteristics may inform and enhance contemporary architectural technologies.
AB - In the late 1960s, Konrad Wachsmann moved to the University of Southern California to begin the Building Research Institute, a multidisciplinary studio and laboratory dedicated to reimagining building construction through a universal comprehensiveness— one that considered politics, science, social science, economics, and technologies in relation to industrial architecture. While at USC, Wachsmann and his students developed the Location Orientation Manipulator (LOM), an architecture machine “for the control, measurement, and display of the kinematics of (building) design and assembly” (Ward Jr. 1972). This paper examines the LOM as a ‘universal building machine’ designed by architects for industrialized architecture and details a digital reconstruction/reanimation of the LOM using Autodesk Fusion software. The authors speculate there are mechanical qualities related to building automation and specific to architecture within the unarticulated history of the LOM. These characteristics may inform and enhance contemporary architectural technologies.
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U2 - 10.1080/24751448.2022.2040307
DO - 10.1080/24751448.2022.2040307
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85131308128
SN - 2475-1448
VL - 6
SP - 90
EP - 99
JO - Technology Architecture and Design
JF - Technology Architecture and Design
IS - 1
ER -