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