Session

Session 1: Masonry and Augmented Reality

Masonry and the skilled hands behind its installation have been at the core of monumental construction for millennia, contributing to resilient communities. Both have an important role to play in addressing future challenges associated with the built environment, climate adaptation, and society at large. As design professionals and students continue to push the boundaries on what masonry materials can do to create form and influence performance, so too must the construction industry evaluate how these designs accurately can be implemented in a cost effective and time sensitive manner.

Augmented reality (AR) presents an option for enhancing the ability for skilled masons to move beyond traditional techniques and open new possibilities on what can be designed and constructed. Based on the research and work performed by SOM with its project Angelus Novus for the 2023 Vencie Biennale, The International Masonry Institute (IMI) coordinated the MASONRY-AR research project with SOM and Fologram along with researchers from Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, Pegaso University, and University of Bergamo to understand how traditional methods of layout and construction compare with those supported by AR when executing complex geometries with laid-in-place masonry.

This presentation will discuss the goals and outcomes of this research as well as its implications for future research and adaptations for other craft-based applications. In particular, it will discuss how AR assistance may contribute to workforce development and more healthy local economies.

Session 2: Paving the Path to Resilience

Since 1980, the United States has sustained 400 weather- and climate-related disasters with the cost of these events exceeding over $2.7 trillion. Prior to 2018, the average number of events each year was roughly 8.5, and that number has more than doubled in the last five years, demonstrating a clear increase in the frequency of these disasters.

With the rise in severe weather, such as extreme heat, climate adaptation has become a main priority for cities, especially as they work to build and support community resilience. Evolving our national infrastructure, from our buildings to our roads, to support this effort has historically been a challenge that has driven leaders to believe they must choose between performance or the environment. However, new technologies and pavement innovations entering the market are helping to eliminate this false choice, providing a blueprint for a modern, data-driven approach to infrastructure that prioritizes resilience and turns our streets into climate solutions.

This session will dive into the emerging technologies in the building and pavement industries, demonstrate how they help reduce variability while improving performance and long-term efficiency, and discuss bringing automation, data, and AI into maintaining our infrastructure to create a more integrated and sustainable approach.

It’s time to move away from the decades-old status quo and rethink the approach to our national infrastructure - from our buildings to roads - so it becomes part of the solution and contributes to building safer, healthier, and more resilient communities.