We are now on the brink of a new era in construction that of autonomous assembly. For some time, the widespread adoption of robotic and digital fabrication technologies has made it possible for architects and academic researchers to design non-standard, highly customised structures.

About the Guest-Editor 05Skylar Tibbits Introduction From Automated to Autonomous Assembly 06Skylar Tibits Combinatorial Commons Social Remixing in a Sharing Economy 16Jose Sanchez How Specific Interactions Drive the Complex Organisation of Building Blocks 22Zorana Zeravcic From Self-Assembly to Evolutionary Structures 28Athina Papadopoulou, Jared Laucks and Skylar Tibbits The Vanishing Actor How to Let Things Happen: The Art of Order Without Orders 38Robin Meier and Bastien Gallet Complex Design by Simple Robots A Collective Embodied Intelligence Approach to Construction 44Kirstin Petersen and Radhika Nagpal Crowd-Driven Pattern Formation Computational Strategies for Large-Scale Design and Assembly 50Marcelo Coelho and Tovi Grossman The Immersive Stagecraft to Urbanism 60Simon Kim and Mariana Ibañez Baskets and Architecture Ritualisitic Making and Collective Design 66Benjamin Aranda and Chris Lasch Aleatory Construction Based on Jamming Stability Through Self-Confinement 74Kieran Murphy, Leah Roth, Dan Peterman and Heinrich Jaeger Granular Jamming of Loadbearing and Reversible Structures Rock Print and Rock Wall 82Petrus Aejmelaeus-Lindström, Ammar Mirjan, Fabio Gramazio and Matthias Kohler, Schendy Kernizan, Björn Sparrman, Jared Laucks and Skylar Tibbits Granular Construction Designed Particles for Macro-Scale Architectural Structures 88Karola Dierichs and Achim Menges Distributed Structures Digital Tools for Collective Design 94Caitlin Mueller Compressive Assemblies Bottom-Up Performance for a New Form of Construction 104Philippe Block, Matthias Rippmann and Tom Van Mele Disarmed Strategies New Machines and Techniques for an Era of Computational Contextualism in Architecture 110Hannes Mayer, Fabio Gramazio and Matthias Kohler 2060 An Autonomously Crafted Built Environment 120Alvise Simondetti, Chris Luebkeman and Gereon Uerz Counterpoint Autonomous Assembly as the Fourth Approach to Generic Construction 128Andong Lu Contributors 134

We are now on the brink of a new era in construction – that of autonomous assembly. For some time, the widespread adoption of robotic and digital fabrication technologies has made it possible for architects and academic researchers to design non-standard, highly customised structures. These technologies have largely been limited by scalability, focusing mainly on top-down, bespoke fabrication projects, such as experimental pavilions and structures. Autonomous assembly and bottom-up construction techniques hold the promise of greater scalability, adaptability and potentially evolved design possibilities. By capitalising on the advances made in swarm robotics, the collective construction of the animal/insect kingdom, and advances in physical computational, programmable materials or self-assembly, architects and designers are now able to build from the bottom up. This issue presents future scenarios of autonomous assembly by highlighting the viability of decentralised, collective assembly systems, demonstrating the potential to deliver reconfigurable and adaptive solutions. Contributors include: Marcelo Coelho, Andong Liu, Robin Meier, Kieran Murphy and Heinrich Jaeger, Radhika Nagpal and Kirstin Petersen, and Zorana Zeravcic. Featured architects: Aranda\Lasch, Arup, Philippe Block, Gramazio Kohler Architects, Ibañez Kim, Achim Menges, Caitlin Mueller, Jose Sanchez, Athina Papadopoulou and Jared Laucks, and Skylar Tibbits.