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Rupert Soar has
over 15 years
experience in rapid prototyping and rapid
manufacturing and is
considered a world leading
expert within the rapid
prototyping community with
an impressive track record,
extensive research
knowledge, and a wealth of contacts
internationally with
major commercial and
academic organisations involved in
digital design and Freeform
Construction methods.
A co-founder of
the internationally
recognised Rapid Manufacturing
Research Group at
Nottingham, De Montfort and
Loughborough Universities
(the world leading research group in this
field in the world and rated
by two independent
international and national
government review bodies as
the world leader in rapid
manufacturing research in
2004 and 2006),
Rupert also
formed the Freeform
Construction Group in 2004
which was established to
exploit rapid manufacturing
for the construction
industry, also subsequently
rated as world leading in
2007.
Rupert's specialist fields
are in adaptive (or smart)
structures and large-scale
rapid manufacturing, or Freeform Construction.
He has
attracted international
media coverage through his
recent exploits in Namibia
uncovering transient
ventilation strategies and
structural homeostasis
within sub-Saharan termite
mounds, something completely
new to science. Having built
and shipped the world's
largest slice and scanning
machine to Namibia and
scanned an entire mound, he now
has a remarkable data set
from which simulation and
modelling of homeostatic
function is taking place.
Such strategies can be
transferred to our own
buildings and homes,
reproducible through
emerging Freeform
Construction methods which
stand to revolutionise
digital design and
construction, and epitomise
the goals of sustainable
construction methods.
Rupert's portfolio is
extensive. He has worked
with major academic
institutes around the world
and
international leaders
in architecture and industry
such as Siemens, BAe, North
West Aerospace,
Foster
and Partners,
Buro Happold, Saint-Gobain
Plc (including former BPB
Plc and Weber Solutions) and
The Architecture
Association. Rupert has
advised on the introduction
of rapid prototyping
techniques to Foster and Partners who
were one of the first
practices to fully integrate
this method within its
design process. The
technology was initially
seen as a sketch model-making tool in the early
stages of the design, particularly for projects with
complicated geometries.
However, it surpassed this
purpose within a year and
it is now seen as an
essential design tool for
many projects and for many
project stages. The
practice's prototyping
department now produces
about 3500 models a year.
Recently, Foster and
Partners have started to
experiment with rapid
manufacturing which was
first done through the
design and manufacture of a
bespoke Christmas Tree
for the charity organisation
Save
the Children, for
which Rupert was part of the
design process and
fabricated the model's
complex diffuser and
illumination components.
Rupert's
work has attracted
widespread attention in the
national and international
press, and he has
featured on numerous
television documentaries
including Sir David
Attenborough's recent
'Life in the Undergrowth'
television series, Ben Fogle's 'Wild in Africa',
Discovery's 'Animal
Engineering', BBC3's
'Bionic Buildings' and is
presently working with
National Geographic and the
BBC Natural History Unit
exploring the
continuing developments in
Freeform Construction.
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