Mass production for mass customization: application of digital fabrication techniques on tower renewal

The opportunity to regain the essence of art and customization in architecture presents itself in a variety of ways if industry becomes open-minded about the potentials our modern technologies bestow. Despite the impact of digital technologies on architectural form, representation, production, and drawing methods, there has been very little innovation in the general flattened rectilinear form of the high-rise due to material innovation and construction methods that evolved out of rationalized techniques and modes of mass production. This thesis investigates ways to re-appropriate surface depth, curvilinear form, variety, and the composition of the high rise cladding by looking at ways that the conventional high-rise envelopes construction and its materials and methods can be manipulated using new design and construction methodologies that have evolved through digital techniques of design and production. The repetitive nature of tower design and the industrial nature of the construction process create an ideal opportunity for the reassessment of this process using post-fordist design and construction methods.