• Menges, Achim. “Integral Formation and Materialisation: Computational Form and Material Gestalt.” AD Reader Computational Design Thinking (2011): 198-210. Print.
• Menges argues for an integration of material behavior in the computational design process.

Menges looks towards natural systems which operate similarly to architecture, in that they must reconcile both internal physical constraints and external influences in their material structure.(198)
Roboforming will have to reconcile the internal constraints of sheet metal with the external forces applied by the robots

Currently, architectural form emerges from processes concerned primarily with shape.(198)
Roboforming only allows for certain forms to be created. So inevitably whatever is created must adhere and utilize the constraints applied to the process.

“Architecture, as a material practice, attains social, cultural and ecological relevance through the articulation of material arrangements and structures. Thus, the way we conceptualise these material interventions- and particularly the technology that enables their construction – presents a fundamental aspect in how we (re)think architecture.”(198)
This is a bold claim that I will call upon to defend the relevance of my thesis.

Menges gives evidence that in the history of architecture, new materials were used in ways that previously known materials were constructed instead of using their own properties and logics to their advantage.(198)
Sheet metal is not a new material at all. But we should always be looking for ways to incorporate the inherent properties of the materials in new ways, specific to sheet metal.

CAD/CAM is still mostly used as a “mere extension of well-rehearsed and established design processes.“(199)
Roboforming is not a well-rehearsed process and still has a lot of room for perfection.

The underlying logic of computation strongly suggests such an alternative, in which the geometric rigour and simulation capability of computational modelling can be deployed to integrate manufacturing constraints, assembly logics and material characteristics in the definition of material and construction systems.(199)
My script should adhere to this standard.

Whereas the nature of CAM enables difference to be achieved, it is currently used mainly as a means of increasing speed and precision in the production of variation.(203)
CAM should be utilized to achieve differentiation among parts, not just speed and precision of the same part.

Symptomatic for preserving the facilitative character of manufacturing and its related protocols is the term ‘mass customisation’ Flourishing due to the reintroduction of affordable variation, ‘mass customisation’ nevertheless remains an extension of well known and long-established design processes embracing the still dominant hierarchy of prioritised shape-definition and subsequent, purely facilitative manufacturing.
At this point, the highly specific restrictions and possibilities of manufacturing hardware and controlling software can become generative drivers embedded in the setup and development of the computational framework.(203)
Menges criticizes ‘mass-customisation’ for still being a slave to form once shape is defined. Form should be defined by the constraints of the material and process.

Definitions:

Digital Morphogenesis: refers to various processes of form generation resulting in shapes that remain elusive to material and construction logics.(199)
Computational Morphogenesis: encodes logic, structure and behaviour, as well as the underlying principles of natural morphogenesis.(199)
Natural Morphogenesis: the process of growth and evolutionary development, generates systems that derive complex articulation, specific gestalt and performative capacity through the interaction of system-intrinsic material characteristics, as well as external stimuli of environmental forces and influences.(199)