Blue Workshop – From manual to digital and vice versa: Digitalization, labor, and construction

Blue mobile workshop – New vernacular

The excursion introduced participants to the unrecognized half of the construction market in Egyptian cities. It demonstrated how informal development follows the modern construction systems used in formal parts of the city rather than vernacular methods of building.

The excursion took the participants to locations where informal construction occurred, including different typology of informal settlements, public housing with informal extensions, and rural areas close to the city experiencing urbanization in an informal way. These sites were observed from the road with regular stops and explanations about the urban typology and construction processes. The day started with an orientation presentation and talk, concluded with collective discussion and reflection sessions, and ended similar to all excursions at the Giza Pyramids.

Excursion leader profiles

Khaled Abdelhalim - Visiting assistant professor of urban policy at AUC, the Public Policy and Administration Department, the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Graduated as an architect/planner from Cairo University in 1990, received M.A.in Architecture: Housing Studies from the University of Newcastle, UK in 1995, and Ph.D.in housing policy, planning and practice from the University of Central England in Birmingham, United Kingdom in 2003.

Mohammad Abou Samra - Architect, urban planner and urban development expert with more than 24 years of experience. He is a founding member, main expert and Programmes Manager in TAKAMOL Foundation for Integrated & Sustainable Development. His main focus areas are appropriate architecture and urban planning, sustainable urban and community development, integrated development, as well as housing and urban upgrading and regeneration.

These solutions cannot be general; instead, they must be adaptive to different economic, geographic, and political contexts. In developed contexts, where labor costs are high relative to material costs, prefabrication is favored whenever possible. In developing contexts, engineered materials such as concrete, steel, or structural timber are either prohibitively expensive or simply not available, though labor here remains comparatively inexpensive. Capitalizing on locally available resources, both material and human, can result in substantial socio-economic benefits. Thus, in order to construct appropriately, i.e., to maximize the potential of both labor and materials, while minimizing environmental impact, the specificities of context are paramount.

While digital design might contribute to more efficient construction methods, whether with regard to a building’s structural performance, material quality, or assembly process, the question remains as to what the role of manual work will be in increasingly digitalized contexts. What are the opportunities and risks when translating technologies from one context to another? Could combinations of digital and manual fabrication be considered that embrace the inherent advantages of both? Addressing such questions, the workshop “from manual to digital and vice versa” will investigate potential mutually-reinforcing relations between digitalization and manual labor. Visionary solutions for a range of contexts will be explored and creativity encouraged.

By confronting a series of tensions – manual vs. digital, craft vs. machine, tradition vs. innovation, and vernacular vs. high-tech – we will devise resourceful technical solutions and challenge what is typically considered appropriate in different contexts. We will investigate to what extent the trends of digitalization can offer new opportunities and examine instances where the application of digital solutions may in fact prove unintentionally detrimental. By addressing such topics as material innovation, the impact of materials on building systems integration and/or thermal comfort, prefabrication vs. on-site construction, and mass and/or emergency housing solutions, the workshop “From manual to digital and vice versa: Digitalization, labor, and construction” offers a chance to learn from best practices and an incentive to strive for consequential, collaborative solutions.