Automated Architecture

Automated Architecture (AUAR) is a construction technology company that provides a distributed network of robotic micro-factories for building sustainable timber homes. Founded in 2019 by CEO Mollie Claypool and CTO Gilles Retsin, the company emerged from over a decade of their collaborative research at University College London's Bartlett School of Architecture into how robotics, AI, and generative design could transform housing.

Both founders have extensive backgrounds in architecture, academia, and technology. Claypool is a theorist and educator focused on social justice and automation in architecture, while Retsin is an architect and designer focused on the intersection of computation, fabrication, and architecture. Their combined expertise and activist-driven approach shaped AUAR's mission to address the housing and climate crises.

AUAR's business model centers on a Hardware-as-a-Service offering, licensing its tech stack to homebuilders, developers, and manufacturers in Europe and North America. This model avoids significant upfront capital expenditure for its partners. The core of the offering includes compact, rentable robotic micro-factories that can pre-fabricate the timber components of a home and the 'MasterBuilder' software platform. This AI-powered software integrates the entire process, from design and cost-analysis to robotic fabrication instructions, automating planning and manufacturing. This system significantly reduces construction costs, project timelines, and on-site labor needs while enabling a high degree of design customization.

Keywords: robotic construction, timber housing, micro-factories, generative design, sustainable building, construction automation, modular homes, proptech, Hardware-as-a-Service, design-to-manufacturing, affordable housing, AI in construction, architectural technology, low-carbon building, timber frame construction, automated fabrication, construction robotics, building technology, Passivhaus, digital fabrication