Introduction

As ceramic production around the UK is changing, research activities have gathered pace regarding how clay can be 3D printed. In recent years there has been a renewed interest in ceramic as a material, sparked by the potential of digital technology to provide new methods for design and manufacture, including computational processes, digital modelling and 3D scanning.

The research for Life of Clay focused on three areas: the geology and history of clay use in the vicinity of Guan Lee’s research facility and fabrication workshop, Grymsdyke Farm in Buckinghamshire; the practical challenges of using 3D printing with local clay; and the development of new forms that combine traditional and digital technologies. The project engaged not only with architects but also manufacturers, ceramicists, historians, craftspeople and artists, inviting them to explore 3D-printing machinery and technology. It culminated in the production of tiles for the V&A, the first 3D-printed ceramic elements used in an architectural project.

Clay is not a generic substance with specific properties but is site-specific. As a raw material it can be used with different moisture contents, from dry powder to pourable liquid slip. 3D printing with clay requires a specific amount of moisture to ease extrusion and to adhere layers. It is different to traditional casting with regards to reproducibility, cost and speed; 3D printing is more economical as casting uses a mould that has a limited number of uses, however, the traditional casting process is significantly faster. Clay ‘building’ or ‘coiling’ is the simplest technique to make ceramic objects. 3D printing with clay is essentially coiling with a digitally controlled mechanism, which can be programmed to move like the hand of a clay modeller, performing identical movements repeatedly without variation.

Life of Clay explores how a traditional low-impact building practice can be sustainably adapted in line with technological developments. Specifically, it builds collaborations with experienced clay practitioners and researchers, combining traditional building expertise with robotic printing technology at three interconnected scales: the material, domestic and architectural. Experiments at Grymsdyke Farm using 3D-printed clay, such as X Bricks, suggest that the use of robotic technology can develop efficient designs and structures that require less material. Through Life of Clay, the methods of interaction between human and robotic construction are further advanced and an innovative approach is developed in which precision robotic dispensers reinvigorate the use of local clay.

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4 Soft Developables, 2019. Robotic arm guiding the clay modelling process.

5 Breezeblocks, 2016, being assembled by hand. 6 Six-part plaster cast from digitally modelled Computer Numerical Control (CNC) moulds, instead of a traditional piece mould taken from the positive. The keys are designed with specific symmetry planes to avoid undercuts for CNC milling and eventual slip casting.