Code-Bothy: Mixed reality and craft sustainability

Abstract

Code-Bothy examines traditional bricklaying using mixed reality technology. Digital design demands a re-examination of how we make. The digital and the manual should not be considered as autonomous but as part of something more reciprocal. One can engage with digital modelling software or can reject all digital tools and make and design by hand, but can we work in between? In the context of mixed-reality fabrication, the real and virtual worlds come together to create a hybrid environment where physical and digital objects are visualised simultaneously and interact with one another in real time. Hybridity of the two is compelling because the digital is often perceived as the future/emergent and the manual as the past/obsolescent. The practice of being digital and manual is on the one hand procedural and systematic, on the other textural and indexical. Working digitally and manually is about exploring areas in design and making: manual production and digital input can work together to allow for the conservation of crafts, while digital fabrication can be advanced with the help of manual craftsmanship.

Key words： Digital design; Mixed reality fabrication; Digital craft; Digital bricklaying; Digital manual