An inherent question related to all autonomous systems is whose agenda they follow. But we could also ask whether the agenda it is designed into the physical constructs of the system, or rather emerges in relation to its contextual environment? Architecture has never been neutral; rooms that can serve as shelter can also, as history has shown, become space for imprisonment.
See: Keith Evan Green and Mark D. Gross, Michael. “Architectural Robotics, Inevitably,” Interactions Magazine Vol 19, Issue 1 (Jan–Feb, 2012); Michael Fox and Miles Kemp, Interactive Architecture (Princeton Architectural Press, 2009); Tristan de Estree Sterk, "Using Actuated Tensegrity Structures to Produce a Responsive Architecture." In: Connecting >> Crossroads of Digital Discourse: Proceedings of the 2003 Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture, (Indianapolis, Indiana: Ball State University, 2003), 85–93.
Kynan Eng, Rodney J. Douglas, and Paul F. M. J. Verschure, "An Interactive Space That Learns to Influence Human Behavior," IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics - Part A: Systems and Humans, Volume: 35, Issue 1 (Jan, 2005).
The Bowtower was developed by the author as a small scale experimental prototype at the School of Architecture at Princeton University between 2013 and 2017. It is a further development of the WhoWhatWhenAir tower developed at MIT. See: Axel Kilian, Philippe Block, Peter Schmitt, and John Snavely, “Developing a Language for Actuated Structures.” Adaptables Conference (Eindhoven: 2006).
Brandon C. Roy, Michael C. Frank, Philip DeCamp, Matthew Miller and Deb Roy, “Predicting the Birth of a Spoken Word,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (2015).
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Artificial Labor is collaborative project between e-flux Architecture and MAK Wien within the context of the VIENNA BIENNALE 2017.