Rotoscoping Architecture
An Animation Technique Applied to Construction
“Rotoscoping Architecture” was developed within the framework of an academic research project, lead in collaboration with TaMaCo, and UBA (Universidad de Buenos Aires). The idea was to explore low-tech intelligent forms to produce complex architectural morphologies, designed with computational design tools.
The concept is particularly interesting in a Latin America context, where high-tech manufacturing facilities, such as robotic arms, are not readily available.
The proposed solution is inspired by rotoscoping, an animation technique that consists of drawing over moving images, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. In our workflow, a digital volume is first reduced to a series of parallel sections, which are then exported as PDF files. The PDFs are then projected one by one onto the floor using a zenithally positioned projector. The projection is used as a template for the construction of a frame composed of 1" x 1" wooden elements. All frames, arranged in numerical order, physically recreate the original digital volume.
