On Workmanship of Risk, Certainty and Logic

Digital Fabrication Technologies in Design

Associate Professor Bharat Dave
The University of Melbourne

Material fabrication technologies combined with computer-aided modeling

tools increasingly play formative roles in contemporary design projects. The
transition from craft-based, manual techniques to mechanized and standardized
techniques and more recently to digital ones continues and accelerates
encapsulation of design knowledge and realization of higher order design
complexity through controlled material practices. These ideas will be elaborated
using three contemporary Australian architecture projects.

Associate Prof. Bharat Dave joined the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning,
University of Melbourne in 1997. He completed doctoral studies at the Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich), master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University,
Pittsburgh (USA), and undergraduate degree in architecture from the School of Architecture,
Ahmedabad (India). He has held teaching positions in the USA, Switzerland, India, and
Australia. Funded by nationally competitive grants, his research revolves around innovative
spatial design practices supported by digital technologies. Under the umbrella research
group CRIDA (www.crida.net), he carries out research and supervises masters and PhD
research students. He has served in the Faculty as Associate Dean (Outreach), Associate
Dean (Research), International Coordinator (South Asia) and Assistant Dean (Information
Technology). He is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Architectural
Computing (UK) and has served as the president of the Computer Aided Architectural Design
Research in Asia (CAADRIA) during 2005-08.