IE University and Princeton University join forces to examine sustainable construction crafts

IE School of Architecture and Design’s Professor Wesam Al Ali will be leading this joint program with Princeton University. Photo: Roberto Arribas.

IE School of Architecture and Design and Princeton University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering have agreed to collaborate on studying construction crafts as sustainable alternatives for today’s built environment. The initiative is a joint effort between IE Assistant Professor Wesam Al Asali and Professor Sigrid Adriaenssens, the director of Form Finding Lab at Princeton University. The team will explore the potential of intersecting traditional building crafts with engineering technology as a possible path to low-carbon and environmentally aware architecture. The collaboration is supported by the Faculty Initiative Fund at Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies.

The climate emergency is pushing the fields of architecture and engineering towards finding new sustainable ways to build. While the term sustainable construction implies different methods, one of the most agreed-upon strategies is to use  local, mostly natural, materials and resources. This collaborative research aims to deepen and enrich our understanding of craft construction using natural materials by examining in-depth three sets of crafts: vaulting; timber ceiling and woven reed panels.

The recent increased interest in these crafts highlights a shift to heritage knowledge as a way of building at a grassroots level. In the programs, both institutions aim to:

1. Examine the design culture behind three vernacular construction crafts in Spain.
2. Study and distill the craft knowledge and the inherent mechanics in the three techniques and transform it into a communicable construction-informed design language for engineers and architects.
3. Unearth potential designs for low-carbon building components that combine building crafts and advanced fabrication systems.

Acting Dean David Goodman meeting last week with Professor Sigrid Adriaenssens, director of the Form Finding Laboratory, in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at  Princeton University.

 The joint program comprises exchange opportunities for graduate students and faculty, as well as an online lecture series. Three annual hands-on building workshops will take place at IE University’s Segovia campus with students from both universities working with craftspeople to build outdoor pavilions. Students at IE will also be able to participate in the research through internship and capstone projects with Dr. Al Asali and the team in Segovia and Princeton.

“With the recent development of computational methods, we believe that engineering tools have evolved enough to revisit proven systems of building craft and make them more accessible, scalable, and applicable in contemporary architecture and construction engineering”, explains Professor Sigrid Adriaenssens, director of Form Finding Lab at Princeton University.

“This initiative was launched during my 2022-2023 Fung Global Fellowship at Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, I am glad to see it is developing with the support of colleagues and directors at IE School of Architecture”, says Dr. Wesam Al Asali.  

“It is an opportunity to revisit the notion of how local building techniques can also be exchanged globally, and how such exchanges can contribute to new low-carbon and sustainable ways of building.”
Dr. Wesam Al Asali

“We’re excited to begin this collaboration with Princeton to continue to develop our expertise in the area of digital fabrication and craft. This project suggests that new technologies of production and visualization can help create a more sustainable—and more attractive—future for architecture”, concludes David Goodman, Acting Dean of IE School of Architecture and Design.