Each year, nearly a dozen teams of design professionals participate in ACAW, the Architectural Ceramics Assembly Workshop hosted by the premier U.S. fabricator of custom architectural ceramics, Boston Valley Terra Cotta.  Over the course of 10 months, each team works with industry leaders in terra cotta and metal fabrication to conceive, design and detail a research project to expand the boundaries of architectural terra cotta through a proposition which is constructible and broadly applicable.  Once each team’s design is complete, Boston Valley fabricates the components for a full-scale terra cotta prototype which the teams then assemble in a workshop at the University of Buffalo over the course of 3 days in August.  ACAW is an incredible opportunity for design professionals to explore and reinvent applications for this ancient building material.  ACAW is also a model for future collaborations, fostering open dialogue between designers, suppliers, and fabricators with the goal of advancing construction technologies.

In this lecture, Henry Weintraub will present ZGF Architects’ experience at the 2023 Architectural Ceramics Assembly Workshop.  ZGF’s project proposes a way to experience terra cotta as a kinetic armature that allows the user to explore the transformative nature of this unique material through movement, texture, and light.