Bringing science to life through design
The Sabin Lab at Cornell AAP is a trans-disciplinary design research lab with specialization in computational design, data visualization and digital fabrication. We investigate the intersections of architecture and science, and apply insights and theories from biology, robotics, computer science, mathematics, materials science, physics, fiber science, and engineering to the design, fabrication, and production of responsive material structures and systems. Our research including bioinspired adaptive materials, DNA 3D printed bricks, robotic fabrication, and 3D Kirigami assemblies has been funded substantially by the National Science Foundation, Autodesk, the Grainger Foundation, and the National Academy of Engineering.
Our research methodology and design process may be organized into three distinct phases: (1) New Tools and Forms - The production of catalogs of visualization and simulation tools that are then used to discover new behaviors in geometry and matter; (2) Architectural Prototyping - An exploration of the material and ecological potentials of these tools through the production and digital fabrication of experimental structures and material systems, and (3) Building Ecology - Generation of scientifically-based, design-oriented applications in contemporary architecture practice for adaptive building systems, protocols and material assemblies. The scope of our work probes the visualization and simulation of complex spatial datasets alongside issues of craft, fabrication and production in a diverse array of material systems (woven, knitted, and braided textiles, Rapid Prototype and 3D printed ceramics, bio-plastics and hydrogels, water-jet cut metals). This interest probes the productive tinkering and misuse of digital fabrication machines informed by scientific principles and issues of digital craft and making to produce bio-inspired material systems and software design tools that have the capacity to facilitate embedded expressions in our built environment.
Exhibitions
JAN18 Minding the Digital, Design Society Museum + V&A, SHENZHEN, CHINA
OCT17 On Site: Jenny Sabin, Art Omi, GHENT NY USA
SEPT17 New New York Icons, Storefront for Art and Architecture, NYC USA
SUMMER17 MoMA & MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program, MMCA, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
SUMMER17 MoMA & MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program, Museum of Modern Art, NYC USA
FEB17 Mutations-Créations / Imprimer le monde (Printing the World), Centre Pompidou, PARIS FRANCE
FEB16 Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum; Beauty—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial, NYC
JUL15 Smart Flexibility; Design for impact festival at RMIT, BARCELONA SPAIN
JUL15 Data Clay: Digital Strategies For Parsing The Earth, Museum of Craft and Design, SAN FRANCISCO CA
SEPT-DEC14 Intimate Cosmologies: The Aesthetics of Scale in an Age of Nanotechnology, CCA, Cornell University, ITHACA NY
MAR14 Jenny E. Sabin – Datascapes, Bibliowicz Family Gallery, Milstein Hall, Cornell University AAP, ITHACA NY
FEB14 Eliciting Environments / Actuating Response, School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University PITTSBURGH PA
JUL-NOV13 Smart Flexibility, Disseny Hub Barcelona (DHUB), BARCELONA SPAIN
SEPT13 Archilab 2013, Naturalizing Architecture, 9th Edition, FRAC, ORLEANS FRANCE
APR13 En Vie/Alive, EDF Foundation, PARIS FRANCE
Lectures
MAY18 LWCircus + ArnoLab 18, Florence, Italy
APRIL18 University of Huddersfield, U.K., Keynote, Transitions 2: Material Revolution
NOV17 Yale University School of Architecture
OCT17 Rice Design Alliance and Rice Architecture, Rice University, HOUSTON
SEPT17 US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, National Academy of Engineering, keynote speaker
AUG17 SoHo House NYC on Lumen
APR17 FXFOWLE Women in Architecture Series, NYC
MAR17 CU Boulder Visiting Artist Program
AUG16 Rogers Partners, NY, NY, Reade Street Talks, Creative Hub
JUN16 Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, Game Changers Lecture Series, NYC
APR16 MIT School of Architecture + Planning, Architecture and Building Technology Series
APR16 Kent State University, College of Architecture & Environmental Design
MAR16 Architecture Student Association at McGill University, MONTREAL CAN
MAR16 University of Toronto, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design
MAR16 The Bartlett School of Architecture International Lecture Series, LONDON UK
Conferences & Symposia
APR17 FABRICATE 2017, hosted by Institute for Computational Design, STUTTGART GERMANY
MAR17 Matter Design Computation Symposium: The Art of Building from Nano to Macro, Cornell AAP Preston Thomas Memorial Lecture Series, ITHACA NY
NOV16 Phyllis Lambert Seminar, Architects (Re)Search, University of Montreal, MONTREAL CAN
NOV16 Living Architecture Systems symposium, School of Architecture, University of Waterloo, WATERLOO CAN
Permanent Collections
2017 Centre Pompidou, PARIS FRANCE
2016 Centre National des arts plastiques, French National Contemporary Art Collection, PARIS FRANCE
2014 FRAC Centre, ORELANS FRANCE
2014 FRAC Centre-Val de Loire, VAL DE LOIRE FRANCE
2013 Exploratorium, SAN FRANCISCO CA USA