Project 2XmT
Nicholas Bruscia (MArch/MFA ’08, BS Arch ’05) + Christopher Romano (MArch ’05, BS Arch ’03) with Philip Gusmano (MArch ’15, BS Arch ’13) and Daniel Vrana (MArch ’15, BS Arch ’13)
View of Project 2Xmt
Nicholas Bruscia is an assistant professor in the Department of Architecture at the University at Buffalo, where he is also a researcher in the Sustainable Manufacturing and Advanced Robotics Technologies Community of Excellence (SMART) and the Center for Architecture and Situated Technologies (CAST). With over a decade of experience in applied computational design media, his primary role in collaborative projects has focused on the workflow associated with the design and realization of large-scale prototypes. A strong interest in architectural geometry and enthusiasm for calculated formal and structural elegance informs much of his work with materials and fabrication processes.
Christopher Romano is an assistant professor of architecture at the University at Buffalo. His research, practice and teaching are focused on the theoretical and pragmatic bridges that connect material and architectural experience. This work explores the poetics of construction and assembly through both traditional and new materials, processes and technologies. As a methodology – he pursues material inquiry through hands-on investigation, installation, architectural fabrication and one-to-one production.
Detail view of folded and expanded diagrid, 19’-6” tall, 152-panel self-structuring prototype using 4LB and 1RL rigidized metal. project 2XmT is an experimental prototype toward self-structuring and lightweight architectural screens built entirely from thin-gauge sheet metal. Using only textured stainless steel, the research studies how this specific material bridges structural capacity with aesthetic effect. The value-adding process of texturing ordinary sheet metals increases the cross-sectional depth of thin gauges by distributing metal above and below the neutral axis, resulting in a much stiffer material that uniquely diffuses light. The project utilized a digital design-to-production workflow informed by the material’s fabrication constraints, demonstrating that structural rigidity and specular quality are inherent characteristics born from the texturing process.
Project Credits: Nicholas Bruscia (assistant professor of architecture, University at Buffalo); Christopher Romano (assistant professor of architecture, University at Buffalo); Philip Gusmano (founder, Crafted Concepts Architecture P.C.); Daniel Vrana (clinical assistant professor of architecture and director of the SMART Fabrication Factory, University at Buffalo); Rigidized Metals Corp.
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