An interview with the British engineer Rupert Soar

“Technology is an evolutionary stage of humanity. Technology can be like nature”.

Rupert Soar speaks about “what architects can learn from termites” and how we can use additive manufacturing to interact with termites. Together with the MIT Robotic Lab, Rupert Soar is currently working on projects which includes taking an autonomous printer with a program that is required to make termites produce columns and floors. The team believes that they can interact with termites because they understand the algorithms involved. They will slice the top of a termite hill; place a deposition machine which deposits termite mound mud with pheromones in it and see how the termites behave and engage when they add and subtract to the technological layer of termite mound mud.