i.M.A.D.E hosted an international symposium entitled “Manufacturing Material Effects: Rethinking Design and Making in Architecture” at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Architecture as a material practice implies that making, the close engagement of the material, is intrinsic to a design process. Material effects, such as pattern, texture, relief, or varying properties, become the means through which building surfaces manifest the design intent, often at different scales. As surfaces become more complex in their form, shape, composition, and appearance, the manufacturing of material effects becomes a locus of design and production efforts.
Today, however, making is increasingly being mediated – it is the CNC machines and not the hands of the maker that mostly shape the materials and their properties. Innovative new techniques based on digital technologies are redefining the relationship between design and fabrication, enabling a closer interrogation of materials from the earliest stages of design, encoding in the process new ways of thinking of and making architecture.
i.M.A.D.E assembled leading thinkers, designers, and manufacturers from around the world to closely examine collaborative design and production practices based on innovative and experimental processes of material exploration. The symposium framed the various levels of engagement of new forms of architectural production that bring designers deeper into the complexities of making, assembly, and material formulation.

MMFX Symposium website

CHAIRS: Kevin Klinger and Branko Kolarevic, Ball State University

VENUE: Indianapolis Museum of Art

CORPORATE SPONSORS:
Autodesk Inc.
Bentley Systems Inc.
McGraw-Hill Construction Information Group
Autodessys

INSTITUTIONAL SPONSORS:
i.M.A.D.E
College of Architecture & Planning, Ball State University
Department of Architecture, Ball State University
Center for Media Design, Ball State University
Indianapolis Museum of Art

This ATAIN-sponsored event was designed to create a dialog among experts from a variety of disciplines — academics, designers, architects, engineers, contractors, fabricators, furniture-makers, and more — to share information on the digital fabrication and rapid prototyping trends and current research being done in this field. In addition, the conference addressed workforce considerations addressing the skills and training necessary to support digital fabrication. All participants recognized his effort as having the potential to leverage Indiana’s manufacturing strengths and diversifying existing manufacturing companies, growing new business, and increasing manufacturing jobs – all through the power, precision and efficiency of digital technology.

Agenda:
9:30 Registration Begins

10:00 Welcome + Opening Remarks

Jerome McCluskey, Indiana Innovation Network, Baker & Daniels, LLP

David Ferguson, Director of Center for Media Design, Ball State University

10:30 Morning Keynote

David McLean, Vice President, Thornton-Tomasetti Group, Chicago

12:00 Coffee Break

12:10 Panel A

Eva Haviarova, Assistant Professor, Purdue University

James Baker & Robert Davignon, Rose-Hulman Ventures

Jim Flowers, Professor, Ball State University 

12:55 Lunch Keynote

Anthony Birchler, Vice President, A. Zahner Metals, Kansas City 

Digital Definition

2:15 Panel B

George Elvin, Associate Professor, Ball State University

Gregory Luhan, Assistant Professor, University of Kentucky

Kim Pontius, Ivy Tech Community College

3:00 Coffee Break

3:10 Panel C

Vop Osili, Partner, A2SO4 Architects

Steve Crawford, Project Manager, Crown Corr Inc,

Ray Moistner, Executive Director, Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen’s Association

Brad Mobley, President, Indiana Limestone Fabricators, Inc.

Moderator: Kevin Klinger, Associate Professor, Ball State University

3:55 Coffee Break

4:05 Panel D

Julie Nagel, Managing Director, Oncological Sciences Center, Purdue University

John Sullivan, Director, Center for Advanced Manufacturing, Purdue University

Kevin Klinger, Associate Professor, Ball State University

4:50 Concluding Remarks