Wall-E

Ware Architecture with Vendura
UWM-School of Architecture & Urban Planning, 2023

Vendura Solid Surface Material

19’6” x 5’0”

Statement From The Artists:

From the "Barcelona Pavilion" designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich in 1929 to "Party Wall" at MoMA PS1 by Caroline O’Donnell in 2013, the wall installation has consistently acted as the medium to test new technologies, materials, and processes as they are introduced into the production of architecture. Curves have been a common trope in contemporary formal experiments as seen in the organic work of Louis Sullivan and Wisconsin’s own Frank Lloyd Wright. "Wall-E" continues this trend as we enter the era of artificial intelligence (AI). For this project, we trained an AI system on a database of wall experiments from the past 100 years and asked it to generate new wall forms. We then reintroduced over 50 output wall types back into the AI to produce the resultant design. "Wall-E" is milled out of five separate pieces of Vendura Solid Surface material and seamed on site.

We would like to thank Vendura for their donation of expertise, material, production, and the installation of this piece, without which this would not have been possible.