Clerkenwell Design Week 2016: Digital replica

London – One Thing After Another, an installation designed by Sam Jacob Studio at Sto Werkstatt, explores the exchange of information between the digital and physical worlds.

• The original building, a garden shed, was copied and scaled up using 3D scanning and digital fabrication
• The replica building challenges perceptions of digital production by embracing the imperfections

Starting with a basic garden shed, the installation was created by 3D scanning the structure to create a digital copy. This was scaled up to fabricate a new version made from Verolith, a lightweight construction material.

Sam Jacob, director at Sam Jacob Studio, describes this process as ‘post-digital architecture’. By putting the original building through a digital process, it inherently changes the architecture. The replica's size and materials used create a new structure that is distinctly different from the original. ‘It’s information that remains in flux, that can be evaporated, distilled and precipitated between digital file and physical construction, then back again,’ says Jacob. ‘Technology gives us new ways of seeing, which in turn, transform the world.’

The project not only shows new ways in which Verolith can be used, it also highlights a new attitude to digital processes. By embracing a low-tech and rough aesthetic, Jacob’s unique approach to digital manufacturing adds warmth and character to the basic material.