CSALT TEAM

SHERYL BOYLE, PhD

Associate Professor and CSALT Director

Professor Boyle is Director of the Carleton Sensory Architecture & Liminal Technology lab where she supervises immersive materials research and innovative design for manufacturing and assembly (DfMA) processes, including work in concrete and lime, cellulose, historic pigments and construction systems that contribute to a circular economy. Her work brings processes of design together with materiality alongside both digital and manual fabrication in the sensory and experimental realm of research creation.

Her recent research includes collaborations with ABB Robotics and ETH Zürich’s DFAB lab using industrial robotics in the assembly of prefabricated construction systems – a space where the digital space of code meets the sensory realm of architecture and construction. Recently completed projects include a MITACS with Ottawa’s leading digitally-fabricated housing manufacturer, Advanced Building Innovation Company (ABIC) with Professor Jerry Hacker, an industry partnership with the Canadian Precast Prestressed Concrete Institute using topology optimization software to reduce concrete use in structures. In 2022/23 her CSALT lab employed a team of 7 students who collaborated on a project using robots to 3D print clay in a topology optimized form for the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery “Robotic Clay” exhibit currently on display in Waterloo, Ontario.

Sheryl is a member of the Concordia Centre for Sensory Studies and completed her PhD in Sensory Studies at Concordia University entitled “Fragrant Walls and the Table of Delight: Sensory (re)construction as a Way of Knowing, the case of Thornbury Castle.” This research creation dissertation details a process for knowing through multi-modal “making” reconstruction exercises across disciplines including cooking, carpentry, confection and code.