Research Infrastructure
Overview
- RAP-LAB und ASL-LAB I Robotic Architecture Production
- vrar:lab | Labor für Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality
- TWE Lab I Digital Metal Workshop
- BKE labs I Experimental Materials Research
- Laboratory for Technical Building Equipment
- Building Physics Laboratory / Experimental Area
- doku:lab I Documentation and Information Center
- TRACES Research Station for Exhibition Studies
- Soil Laboratory I Greenhouse
- Seeding and Planting
The Laboratory for Robotic Architecture Production (RAP - LAB) is a DFG-funded large-scale research instrument. It was designed as a central component of the department's research equipment and enables a broad spectrum of architectural, building construction and materials science research.
The facility features a suspended industrial robot that can be moved on a gantry, a mobile sliding robot, and a 4-m horizontal positioner that can be used cooperatively with each other in a variety of configurations for architectural-scale research projects. The facility, with a workspace of approximately 200 m2, is designed for maximum flexibility of use through variable collaborative robot setups, modular tooling control systems and connectivity for use in a variety of research projects. The Lab enables participating research groups to address individual issues in the field of robotic fabrication in a targeted, precise and in-depth manner.
The ASL LAB is a small research lab located in the architecture faculty building. It acts as a scaled twin of the RAP Lab, as it is also based on an ABB 6-axis robot on a linear axis, another mobile robot and a variable positioning unit, and is designed with exactly the same programming and tool configuration. This allows research and study projects to be prototyped and later examined in the full-scale plant.
In the "Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality" lab, or "vrar:lab" for short, you can move through their building design or experience how their workplace looks in the Sahel desert.
In VR (virtual reality), users are in an artificially generated (rendered) environment with the help of glasses equipped with screens and can physically move around there. The position and movements are recorded by sensors and reproduced in real time on the glasses. This creates the impression of being in this environment.
In AR (augmented reality), the user also wears glasses, but these allow the real environment to be seen transparently. This environment is enriched by projections onto the optics of these glasses. For the wearers of these glasses, artificially created objects seem to exist in reality.
Both techniques facilitate the perception of complex 3D objects or spatial situations. Theoretically, both techniques can also enable collaborative work. However, this is not yet integrated in our development stage.
The TWE laboratory is currently being set up as a digital metal workshop. It has a 50kN testing machine and is currently being equipped with a-DFG funded large-scale device for laser cutting of thick sheets, 3D laser cutting and 3D welding.
The BKE labs have machines and equipment for carrying out test and measurement series, as well as for developing prototypes and 1:1 projects in experimental materials research. They thus form the prerequisite for carrying out the research work of the research platform BAU KUNST ERFINDEN.
In the HOLZ TEXTIL LAB the continuous filament made of solid wood and textiles made of solid wood are developed. Processing equipment for wood thread production and wood thread finishing is designed and built. The interaction of design parameters of the wood thread and of wood thread fabrics are researched and theThe interaction of design parameters of the wood thread and of wood thread fabrics is researched and the relationships between the technical and aesthetic functions of material and form are investigated.
The DIY LAB is a research and prototyping lab shared by students and university staff. It is an interface between research, teaching and artistic experimentation. The aim is to find alternative solutions to all kinds of problems. High-tech low-budget machines are built by the students themselves, such as CNC milling machines, 3d printers, deep-drawing machines, laser saws, and others.
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The Laboratory for Technical Building Equipment has a mechanical ventilation system that supplies three test rooms and whose operating variables are very extensively measured. There is also a test stand for heating hydraulics. Both systems are used in teaching and research, among other things for experiments on energy-efficient air and water transport.
The building physics laboratory comprises measuring equipment, measuring devices and software tools for the processing of building physics tasks. They are presented in lectures and exercises and operated by the students themselves in practical courses. The facilities and measuring instruments are also used to work on tasks within the scope of student theses (Bachelor, Master) and within the scope of research activities.
The measuring equipment includes in the ZUB building:
- Climatic chambers
- Test facility for water vapor permeability
- Workshop for tensile tests
- Weather measuring station
The Kolbenseeger building houses the following measuring equipment:
Another test stand on the ASL 1 building is currently under construction. Here, tests can be carried out on or about facade elements.
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Further equipment includes measuring instruments / hand-held measuring devices / data loggers for thermal, hygric, acoustic and daylighting analyses.
The doku:lab is a multimedia documentation and information center of the Faculty of Architecture, Urban Planning and Landscape Planning, which offers complementary to other offers of the university (library, research databases) offers oriented to the concrete professional needs of the students and scientific needs of the department.
The core of the doku:lab's offering is an extensive collection of "gray literature," student papers, maps, and videos dating back to 1979. The collection and indexing of student work forms a large store of knowledge and is used intensively in teaching as a source of data as well as a pool of good methodological approaches. The doku:lab is also available as a collection for teaching materials, scripts, exam assignments, etc.
At Lutherplatz in downtown Kassel, 200 meters north of Königsplatz, is the TRACES Research Station measuring approximately 100 square meters. It has been serving the dialogue between urban society and the university for a period of five years since fall 2019. Here, students and teachers will provide insights into their work with talks, lectures, workshops, seminars and exhibitions and involve the public in research in the sense of "Citizen Science".
The TRACES Research Station was built as a design-build project by students of architecture, landscape architecture, product design and visual communication under the direction of the Department of Architectural Theory and Design at the University of Kassel.
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