Minimal Machines 1

»Minimal Machines 1« was an MoA Design Research Studio investigating the development of machines for non-augmented and augmented spinning on an architectural scale. The machines are to be used as devices in conjunction with a designed material. Given that one of the core paradigms of designing matter is the abolition of machines in favour of matter’s own inner activity, these machines are to be minimal. This can imply tools which are designed to perform the bare minimum required in the assembly of a designed material but it can also mean that matter is designed to become operational—or machinic—itself.

On the one hand »Minimal Machines« allow to collect information about the construction process. On the other, they process this information and return it iteratively into that very process to form an increasingly collective construction intelligence. The studio was structured in three successive phases 1—3 and an overarching phase X. In phase 1 the interrelation of body movement and the making and laying of a textile material were investigated. In phase 2 these observations were translated into minimal machines for crafts(wo)manship that allow to both record and inform these movements of making. In phase 3 a room-scale prototype was collectively developed and constructed in an outdoor location. In phase X the documenting of, the writing about and the archiving of design research work was practised.

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