A Printed World: The possibilities of 3D printing in architecture

A PRINTED WORLD: The possibilities of 3D printing in architecture MICHAEL COCKBURN

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A Printed World: The possibilities of 3D printing in architecture Michael Cockburn 200927489 Supervisor: Ms Fiona F. Bradley AB 420 Dissertation 2013/14 Bsc Honours Architectural Studies with International Study University of Strathclyde Department of Architecture

Declaration “I hereby declare that this dissertation submission is my own work and has been composed by myself. It contains no unacknowledged text and has not been submitted in any previous context. All quotations have been distinguished by quotation marks and all sources of information, text, illustration, tables, images etc. have been specifically acknowledged.

I accept that if having signed this Declaration my work should be found at Examination to show evidence of academic dishonesty the work will fail and I will be liable to face the University Senate Discipline Committee.�

Date:

11th March 2014

Signature:

A Printed World.

Abstract

The way we make things is changing. The traditional methods of manufacturing everything from mobile phones, guns and planes are currently being disrupted by the flourishing uses of 3D printing. It is heralding in a new era of industry that moves on from the mass-produced assembly lines of the developing world to a localised, individual and customisable process. 3D printing is revolutionising the way we make objects and there are people who believe that it also has the similar potential to revolutionise the way we build.

This thesis aims to explore the uses and possibilities of 3D printing in the future of architecture. By reviewing both built and conceptual works the study highlights what the technologies are currently capable of producing and the future potentials and limitations development could bring from a design perspective, whilst investigating the impact it could have in a social, environmental and economic role. As the research into 3D printed technologies to create inhabitable structures is in its relative infancy, the study included the review of parallel industries that have been developing the technologies for a longer period of time.

3D printing is allowing designers and architects the opportunity to create objects with complex geometries unachievable using traditional manufacturing processes, making for new found design freedom and exciting opportunities. This transformational technology has the potential to allow us to question what it means to build by offering a completely new method of construction.

For the 3D printing revolution to truly disrupt the world of architecture and construction, the issues associated with scaling the technology up to a construction scale will have to be addressed. Research moving away from traditional materials and into new printable materials will be needed if the industry is to realise the groundbreaking concepts currently being proposed.

A Printed World.

Contents

One Introduction 9

Two What is Additive Manufacturing? 15

2.1 History 2.2 Process

2.3 The Third Industrial Revolution 2.4 Applications

2.5 Current Developments in the Field of Architecture Three Design Possibilities of Additive Manufacturing 31

3.1 Designing for Additive Manufacturing

3.2 New Design Freedom

3.3 Morphology and Digital Fabrication Four Open Sourced Architecture 47

4.1 Open-source Architecture & Ownership

4.2 Loss of Identity

4.3

Platform for Innovation

Five Social, Environmental & Economic Issues 57

5.1 Social 5.2 Environmental 5.3 Economic

Six Potential Role in Architecture 63

6.1 6.2 6.3

Affordable Housing Disaster Relief Lunar Habitation

Seven The Future and Conclusion 71 List of Figures 75 Bibliography 77

7

One.

Introduction

“If you look around, everything else we use is made automatically, like the pen you’re holding, the shoes, the cars.

The reason we don’t have [automated homebuilding] is simply that we haven’t had the large-scale technology” (Lagoria, 2007). These are the words of Behrokh Khoshnevis, director of the Center for Rapid Automated Fabrication Technologies (CRAFT) at the University of Southern California. He is one of a select few that are in the race to build, or we should say print, an inhabitable structure.

Although it may sound like an idea straight out of one of Arthur C Clarke’s sci-fi novels, the concept of printing buildings is not a new one; the basic technology at the root of all additive manufacturing was first developed in the early 1980’s. However, since then it has been viewed mainly as either a rapid prototyping tool used only by large corporations or, an “area of experimentation for makers, hobbyists and hackers” (Fairs, 2013). As the technologies and materials used in these printers have advanced, their applications have expanded and moved on from these initial user groups. It is no longer just a tool for prototyping but instead it is being employed in many sectors to create high quality final end products and is beginning to change the process of manufacturing.

Additive manufacturing is being viewed by some as a disruptive force likened to the effect of the birth of the printing press nearly 500 years ago. Its invention then, “wrenched the control of knowledge from the hands of the few by putting books and magazines and papers into the hands of many” (Day, 2013).

A similar paradigm can be seen with the rise of additive manufacturing. The internet has brought about a new era of individualism. It has allowed us our “individual need to explore, discover and achieve in life” (Posner .n.d) like

Introduction 9

Fig 1.

Contour Crafting’s proposal for a printed home.

never before and in doing so has created a new, personalised design aware consumer - one that aspires to non mass-produced items where manufacturers have guessed what the average user needs. Instead this 21st century consumer wants to customise and personalise the world around them and 3D printing is the tool to offer such opportunity. The perceived future ability to create bespoke products as easily and as cost effectively as mass production techniques is the reason why additive manufacturing is being talked about by many people as the driver behind “a third industrial revolution” (Fairs, 2013a). 3D printing will have the ability to, if not change, then at least question how we manufacture products across nearly all industries and all objects from the banal to the sublime. Printed products could range from super light aircraft wings to metal plates matched perfectly to a patient’s skull and prosthetic noses and ears. The technology could also deliver dresses on the walkways of Milan and many other products. Its applications therefore are endless and it is anticipated it will change objects around us almost daily.

The potential for 3D printing has become too great for people to ignore and is now being seen as a pivotal force in the future of manufacturing. United States President Obama outlined during a recent State of the Union address that he planned to make America “a magnet for new jobs and manufacturing” and singled out that 3D printing “has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything” (Obama, 2013).

It is this hype that has brought the possibilities of additive manufacturing to the fore, with new articles being published almost daily, showing off ground breaking applications for this technology. Despite it being viewed as a disruptive force within all areas of manufacturing, its possibilities in architecture are relatively under researched.

There are of course those leading the way with visions of entirely 3D printed urban sections (Fairs, 2013b) and even city structures on the surface of the moon (Anderson, 2013). These visions may not be realised for many years but there are projects experimenting with the technology and producing 3D printed structures that are exploring what can be achieved. This is beginning to question the role that additive manufacturing could have on

Fig 2.

3D printed dress designed for Dita von Teese.

Introduction 11

Fig 3.

Proposal for 3D printed lunar structures.

our built environment and this thesis explores these ideas and starts to consider the possibilities and limitations that the technology could bring to architecture and the construction industry.

This thesis examines where the technologies are now and what they could bring in the future from a design perspective, whilst investigating the impact that additive manufacturing will bring in social, environmental and economic fashion. The methodology that has been used involved a literature review of journals, newspaper and magazine articles relating to 3D printing in manufacturing. As this technology within architecture is in its infancy the literature review mainly looked at parallel industries that have been using additive manufacturing techniques for a longer period of time, such as product design, automotive and aerospace engineering. The research has also involved an in-depth analysis of several case studies, across several other design sectors.

Introduction 13

Two.

What is Additive Manufacturing?

2.1 History First developed in the 1980’s by Charles W. Hull, 3D printing was developed as a tool for rapid prototyping for commercial use. In his 1986 patent Apparatus for Production of Three-dimensional Objects by Stereolithography he outlines his invention as, “A system for generating three-dimensional objects by creating a cross-sectional pattern of the object to be formed at a selected surface of a fluid medium capable of altering its physical state in response to appropriate synergistic stimulation” (Hull, 1986).

3D printing has since been developed beyond this initial overview to include the large range of new materials that can be used and the processes adopted to create three-dimensional objects. It is now defined as “the fabrication of objects through the deposition of a material using a print head, nozzle, or another printer technology” by the ASTM F42 committee (2012). This group was specially set up to promote knowledge, stimulate research and the implementation of the technology through the development of standards for additive manufacturing technologies.

Originally developed as a rapid prototyping tool, it took more than a decade before 3D printing began to be viewed as more than this and become a process for creating final end products. Ron Arad’s 2000 works ‘Not Made By Hand / Not Made In China’ is one of the first examples of 3D printing technologies to create a final end product and since then its applications have grown ever larger, encompassing a number of sectors (Howarth, 2013).

Fig 4.

Series of drawings from Hull’s original patent.

What Is Additive Manufacturing? 15

Fig 5.

MakerBot’s commercially available home 3D printer.

2.2 Process 3D printed objects are created from thin horizontal sections taken from a computer model and then printed layer by layer until the final object is complete. Its development has been a step change from the traditional “subtractive manufacturing� process, which has been used since the dawn of mankind. In subtractive manufacturing we scrape away at a material to create smaller objects from it, or make large expensive moulds that are thrown away after pouring material into it to create objects from the negative space. 3D printing brings the advantage that only the material needed for the final object is used, which can be as little as 10% of the raw material needed versus traditional methods (The Economist, 2011). Any unused base material, be it powder or liquid, can be reused for the next print making the whole process extremely efficient.

There are currently hundreds of different printers available, using thousands of diverse base materials but they all have this additive feature in common. They differ in their methods of depositing materials; some melting or softening materials to produce layers, whilst others curing liquid materials layer by layer using a highly accurate laser beam. The materials utilised range from metals to plastics, ceramics to wood. Each material suitable for different applications and a number of final products.

Printers range in size from the personal home 3D printers like Makerbot and Cubify, that can be bought for a few hundred pounds, all the way through to custom built printers that are capable of printing objects of an inhabitable scale. It is this range of printers that make this technology so accessible to all sectors and to people from all walks of life.

What Is Additive Manufacturing? 17

Although at one time “it was relegated to high-tech laboratories at Fortune 100 companies, additive manufacturing is now employed by the smallest organizations – and increasingly even by individuals. At every point along that spectrum are users with new ideas and unique applications�

(Wohlers 2012).

3D printing has the ability to change how millions of people view manufacturing and some say that it has the power to kick-start a new industrial revolution.

2.3 Third Industrial Revolution The third industrial revolution concept is essentially a hypothesis that 3D printing has the future capacity to disrupt the current industrial process that we see being used the world over today. 3D printing could give us the opportunity to move manufacturing away from corporations with their huge factories and mass-production assembly lines, to a more localised economic process. If millions of people around the world, had access to equipment that could manufacture products to the same high quality as most state of the art factories and at similar costs what would be the consequence? If this equipment was available to access on local high streets or even in some homes could we begin to look at a more holistic approach to the production of objects? Could it be a process where component objects are no longer made in various factories around the world but locally manufactured and therefore, have a much smaller carbon footprint? This could potentially help to grow local economies through the creation of new jobs and new businesses.

Fig 6. 3D printing allows many of the

traditional steps in the

manufacturing process to be eliminated.

What Is Additive Manufacturing? 19

Fig 7.

Printed jewellery available to buy through ‘Shapeways’.

3D printing could have a similar effect that the Internet had on businesses at the time of the dot-com boom.

“The Internet radically reduced entry costs in generating and disseminating information, giving rise to new businesses like Google and Facebook” (Rifkin 2013). Likewise, as 3D printers become cheaper, faster and more readily available, we could see the rise of small and medium scale manufacturers that could challenge and compete with the large multinationals that have dominated sectors for decades. It has the potential to take the factory and shrink the process, putting the individual first.

‘Shapeways’ is one such example of this new kind of start up company. Based in New York, Shapeways is a 3D marketplace and service. They offer customers the chance to design their own products and to then send the file to be printed in their factory, before being shipped to the creator. They also offer designers the opportunity to sell their design on an online marketplace, which sells anything from mobile phone cases to jewellery. The company delivers this model of manufacturing on an international scale but as the demand increases we could see a more localised system emerge. Rather than producing objects en masse before shipping them hundreds of miles, they could be printed on-demand in local stores, truly heralding in a new industrial revolution.

2.4 Applications New sectors are discovering the potential of 3D printing as the technology advances, whilst others that have been using this technology for a while are finding ever more ingenious and exciting applications. In the short time it has been available we have already seen this technology change how products are designed and built, changing the process of manufacturing forever.

Boeing is at the forefront of pioneering 3D printing techniques in the aerospace industry. Their 787 Dreamliner

What Is Additive Manufacturing? 21

Fig 8.

Example of printed metal skull plate fitted perfectly to the skull.

currently has over thirty 3D printed components on board and this looks set to rise. They have adopted 3D printing to not only save on expensive materials such as titanium but more importantly to save weight (Coburn, 2013). For every kilogram removed in weight the airline can save 22,000 gallons of fuel annually (American Airlines, 2014). They are currently developing designs for a full wing to be printed in a single piece that could use less material and save weight whilst retaining the strength required.

Many firms in the automotive sector have been imagining lighter structures with more strength by turning to nature for inspiration in the form of complex lattices that could not be produced using conventional techniques.

They have also found that by using 3D printing at the design stage of new products they are rapidly reducing the time taken from concept to final product. By using rapid prototyping techniques, Ducati were able to cut the design process of new engines by 20 months down from 28 to 8 months. They used a printer capable of producing high quality, durable prototypes made from polycarbonate, which gave engineers the opportunity to “physically analyse each component, recognize design flaws, and rectify them quickly” (Stratasys, 2014).

Some of the most life changing applications of 3D printing can be found in the field of healthcare where the technology has the capacity to significantly improve patient outcomes. The Walter Reed Medical Army Centre in Washington DC has taken advantage of the properties of additive manufacturing in its work treating soldiers with skull injuries. They use 3D printers to produce single-piece titanium cranial plates that fit perfectly to the patient’s skull. Before their introduction, the old process used to take between two to six hours because the “implants were previously multi-piece constructs, and were slower to place and fixate” (Smock, 2012). This has been reduced to just 90 minutes. They not only reduce surgery time but additionally reduce chances of infection as “they prevent fluid pooling under the implant that can lead to infection” (Smock, 2012) because of the tight fit with the patient’s skull.

Other researchers have been considering using living cells as a print material to create human tissues and organs

What Is Additive Manufacturing? 23

Fig 9.

Free downloadable plans appeared on for a working 3D printed gun.

for transplant. It is hoped that a patient’s own cultured cells can be used to print implantable organs such as livers and kidneys by printing the living cells and the biomaterials that hold cells together into a 3D shape, before being implanted. It is believed that the first printed liver could be implanted into a human by the end of 2014 (Mearian, 2013).

Despite these ground breaking developments, the rise of additive manufacturing has not gone without controversy. None more so than in July 2012 when digital files of a printable gun were made available for free download online. Defense Distributed, an online non-profit organisation, successfully designed and distributed a fully functional firearm that could be produced solely using a domestic 3D printer. This sparked worldwide debate about the control and safety of such items, prompting the US Department of Homeland Security to release a statement saying, “Significant advances in three-dimensional printing capabilities, availability of free digital 3D printer files for firearms components, and difficulty regulating file sharing may present public safety risks from unqualified gun seekers who obtain or manufacture 3D printed guns� (Winter, 2013).

A short time after this the file was taken off the website after a branch of the US Government stepped in but not before the file had already been downloaded 100,000 times.

As progressively more industries develop the technology to suit their products, it would appear that we are only just discovering some of the possibilities additive manufacturing could bring. Whether it is lighter aircraft components, accelerated design to build time scale or even human organs, the future looks set for 3D printing to play a prominent role in the development of our world.

What Is Additive Manufacturing? 25

2.5 Current Development in the Field of Architecture To date there has been two main approaches to 3D printing on an architectural scale. The first is to build custom made, construction scale 3D printers capable of producing large segments of final builds that can then be assembled together. The second is to use multiple smaller printers to manufacture brick-like components on demand for large-scale construction. These can be printed where and when needed, not relying on repetition but allowing for each ‘brick’ to be individually unique.

The three methods described below are all unique in their approach but the principles behind the process of the technology remain the same. These have been selected for overview, as they are some of the very first projects to physically print their structures on an inhabitable scale. In addition to the methods mentioned below, there are numerous other projects that are researching the use of additive manufacturing in the construction industry.

Contour Crafting Contour Crafting was the first large scale 3D printer specifically designed for the printing of building sized structures and as such is arguably the most advanced in terms of research and development. The design team leader and inventor Behrokh Khoshnevis has from the outset focused his work on the design and fabrication of inhabitable structures. Khoshnevis has primarily focused on the design of realistic homes and the issues that need to be resolved to achieve this, rather than the printing of sculptures and pavilions. The machine generates structures made from fibre-reinforced, fast-curing concrete that are deposited layer by layer through a nozzle attached to a gantry. Three heads extrude a modified concrete paste, with two outer heads (Figure 10) extruding the wall profile and an internal pivot arm extruding the internal structure (Gardiner & Harris, 2013). Proven to be able to print straight concrete walls higher than 1.8m, the technology can print curved walls just as easily.

Fig 10. Printhead of the Contour

Crafting concrete printer.

What Is Additive Manufacturing? 27

Fig 11. Radiolaria is a single piece pavilion created using the D-Shape printer.

D – Shape D – Shape printer, like Contour Crafting is a large-format printer designed specifically to print construction scale structures. The brainchild of robotics engineer Enrico Dini, the printer uses a sand and chemical binding agent to create a stone-like material. The printer can currently produce components of structure as large as 6000 x 6000 x 6000 mm but in principle this can be enlarged to any required size. The printer works using a large gantry system that deposits 5mm of substrate layer of sand mixed with magnesium oxide before the areas that are to become solid are sprayed with chlorine. The gantry is raised and the process is repeated until the printing has been completed. Surplus sand mixture is carefully removed to reveal the hardened synthetic sandstone object buried underneath.

Dini showcased the capabilities of his printer with a three-metre high self-supporting ellipsoid shaped pavilion showing the sculptural possibilities that the technology can bring.

Echoviren California studio Smith|Allen produced their pavilion ‘Echoviren’ by employing the use of seven standard desktop 3D printers. These were used to create 585 individually printed components, each measuring up to 25 x 25 cm, that were able to snap together to create the final structure. The practice is one of the first examples to utilise multiple commercially available printers to create an inhabitable space rather than relying on large scale custom printers. The seven printers worked constantly for 450 days to create the components with construction time on site only taking 4 days due to the snap fit design. Printed from a bio-plastic the designers say that “the space will decompose naturally back into the forest in 30 to 50 years. As it weathers it will become a micro-habitat for insects, moss, and birds”(Allen & Smith, 2013).

Fig 12. ‘Echoviren’ is the worlds first

printed pavilion.

What Is Additive Manufacturing? 29

Three.

Design Opportunities 3.1 Designing for Additive Manufacturing In the future where large-scale additive manufacturing is widely available it will not only change how we build structures but will also drastically affect the process of the designs. When it comes to construction, the industry has a well-established process that has changed relatively little over the past century. Whether made in a factory or constructed on-site, the process is a multi-layered system, one that starts with a superstructure and then components such as insulation, cladding, electricity and plumbing are added subsequently. This system however has its problems. It is inflexible and can be time consuming and complex, as more services are added to the building. Multiple contractors have to work concurrently and if something goes wrong it often has an overall negative effect on the build programme.

It has been suggested that in the future, additive manufacturing could streamline this process by allowing architects the opportunity to integrate features such as plumbing, electrical conduits and insulation into the printing of a building. We could see a system where one machine has the capacity to print all of these components in one process as multi-material printers are developed.

Others imagine a series of machines, each with a different job, printing off-site in an assembly line factory, much like that of the automotive industry. After being printed, the component parts could then be transported to site where they are assembled into the final build.

Whatever the process is, we will need to have a much higher understanding of the final building but as Building

Fig 13. A section of printed wall

showing integrated service voids.

Design Opportunities 31

Fig 14. DUS’s proposal for a printed canal house in Amsterdam. Construction is due to start in

the spring of 2014.

Information Modelling starts to play a more prominent part in the construction industry, all this information should already be available in one digital file. This process could bring with it numerous advantages to the way in which we build. A streamlined build schedule means shorter on-site build time therefore saving money. The use of robotics could bring a standardised quality of finish that is not dependent on workers skill levels.

Another aspect of large-scale additive manufacturing that has been suggested is the reuse and recycling of a building. Rupert Soar founder of Freeform Construction Ltd believes that architects should be “producing buildings with short life-cycles” highlighting design for disassembly (Edwards & Soar 2011). This envisages a process where new generations of the building can be designed, digitally fabricated and then replaced onto the original structure; where elements of the building can be removed and replaced without a total refit. This could mean that as technologies evolve and systems become more efficient, buildings are not left lagging behind and can adapt to change, becoming better performing with each iteration.

DUS architects from the Netherlands have also highlighted in their attempt to build the first 3D printed house, the prospect of a recyclable building. Hedwig Heinsman (2013), one of the company’s three founders, has suggested that in future architects will design temporary objects within much larger permanent structures acknowledging a finite lifespan for the architecture we build. They propose structures that are printed using a recyclable base material allowing for parts of, or whole buildings to be removed and shredded back into a printable material for a new structure. In future this could mean that elements or sections within the larger structure of a build, that have become obsolete can be removed and reprinted without the need to demolish the entire building.

The practice has been designing and building a canal house in Amsterdam, which is being printed and assembled on-site. They are using a custom design printer named the KamerMaker (RoomMaker) which can print 3D objects out of PLA – a bio plastic produced from corn, capable of being recycled. The design consists of several

Design Opportunities 33

Fig 15. Brunelleschi’s cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence.

room types, each printed separately on site before being assembled to form an inhabitable home. The print bed of the KamerMaker is capable of printing components measuring up to 2m x 2m x 3.5m meaning that each room is printed as a series of components joined together like large Lego block pieces. The experiment hopes to showcase the future of construction whilst raising awareness of using sustainable materials. It is set to become the first ever printed house, paving the way for future projects as well as becoming an invaluable learning tool (O’Ceallaigh, 2013).

3.2 Design Freedom Throughout history innovative changes in architectural design have predominately been driven by new materials and construction methods. It is believed that additive manufacturing is to be the next technology to revolutionise design. Additive manufacturing has the ability to free designers from some of the constraints that currently influence many aspects of architectural design. With future developments of the technologies, it is predicted that the cost of a project would no longer be inherently linked to the complexity of design. In the future Khoshnevis (2007) believes that “this technology allows you to be very flexible, and make domes and curves at the same price as linear walls.”

Producing highly detailed buildings with complex geometries could cost the same as producing a primitive build of four walls and flat roof. The same can be said about the cost of customisation of parts. Printing individually bespoke elements of a building could cost no more than using modular repetitive systems.

This prospect could herald in a new type of freeform architecture that up till now has been reserved throughout history for the most extravagant of architecture. From the great domes of the Pantheon circa 27 BC to Brunelleschi’s great cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore in 1436, such elements have always been lavished on large civic buildings. That trend continues to this day with the freeform architecture of Zaha Hadid and others still

Design Opportunities 35

Fig 16. A selection of images shown both the process and possibilities of the Building Bytes project.

being employed mainly on the multimillion pound cultural buildings of today. It is therefore no surprise that we associate complex geometries and freeform architecture with expense and grandeur. But what if we could design without geometrical constraint? It takes a small leap of imagination to envisage the effect that geometric freedom may have on our built environment but it is certainly an interesting idea. Sectors that have traditionally relied on cost effective structural systems and repetition of parts, such as social housing and commercial architecture, could find a new approach driven by client, location or form rather than structure. For example, homebuyers who at the moment can only afford to buy ‘identikit’ housing could potentially be offered the opportunity to customise and personalise their home without the costs associated with bespoke architecture.

To date there has been relatively little work published on the effects that 3D printing can have on the design of architecture, however the projects that have been proposed have embraced the design freedom that the technology can offer.

Building Bytes is a project by architect Brian Peters that has taken this technology and applied it to the most ancient of building blocks - the clay brick. Through imagining that “desktop 3D printers become portable, inexpensive brick factories for large-scale construction” (Building Bytes, 2013) they have also questioned what the properties of a brick actually are. The printed earthenware ceramic bricks have a countless number of design possibilities utilising complex exterior surfaces. The bricks can be designed to interlock or be stacked to create final structures with multiple curvatures and perforations. Internally the bricks can be engineered to increase their strength at stress points and lower the weight of the brick where strength is not required. The work shows that digitally fabricated architecture has the ability to take the most standard of building material and revolutionise it. By removing the idea that all bricks need to be standardised to make them affordable, the possibilities for form and function are endless.

Fig 17. Printed concrete showing the

freeform shapes possible.

Design Opportunities 37

Fig 18. Digitally Grotesque’s work shows the complex geometries possible with the technology.

Another project, Digitally Grotesque, is less concerned about the structural and functional applications that additive manufacturing could bring to construction but rather with the expressive formal potentials of digital technologies. The project embraces the highly complex geometries that can be achieved through additive manufacturing using computational algorithms, a simple input form can be “recursively refined and enriched, culminating in a geometric mesh of 260 million individually specified facets” (Digitally Grotesque, 2013). This method of design leads to the creation of non-standardised geometrically complex architecture that has not been previously possible.

This project highlights the ability to create highly ornate bespoke architecture that in future could become commonplace in everyday architecture.

Additive manufacturing takes the traditional building block and reduces its scale from bricks to bits. The possibilities are endless and exciting. As progressively more designers experiment and push the boundaries of what these technologies can achieve there is no saying what will be produced. We are witnessing the dawning of a technology; one that will change architects’ approach to design and question where this technology may lead us.

3.3 Morphology and Digital Fabrication Morphology is a branch of biology that studies the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features and is an area that has interested designers for years. From this a new discipline called biomimicry has emerged, where designers and engineers look to nature for inspiration in solving many of today’s problems. The natural world has been a test bed for innovative ideas and systems for billions of years. Failures are now extinct, but the successful ones surround us today having constantly evolved and adapted to their environments. It is said that by imitating some of the best-suited organisms we can learn new techniques that will ultimately lead to more efficient, sustainable designs and built environments.

Design Opportunities 39

Fig 19. Softkill Design took inspiration from the structure of bone growth for their house of

the future.

Where better to take inspiration. For centuries people have noticed the strength, flexibility and adaptability of the world’s organisms. Da Vinci wrote of Mother Nature in one of his notebooks “Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple or more direct than does nature, because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous” (McCurdy, 1939).

Today there are still many aspects of truth to da Vinci’s thinking. Although we have learnt from nature’s ideas, we have never had the technology to truly replicate its forms and structures. There is still a long way to go before this is a reality but 3D printing has the potential to produce complex, highly detailed objects that could mimic nature’s design.

Currently 3D printers are limited to producing homogeneous materials, materials that have the same properties throughout. Graded materials would however allow for a printed object to have heterogeneous characteristics with regards to its structure. A good example to be found in nature is bone. Bone is made up of “calcium that varies its distribution according to the load exerted upon it” (Oxman, 2013a). It is this prospect of being able to control a building materials structural distribution to create efficient new structures that is driving people to imagine its applications on an inhabitable scale. In future, designs could be structurally entirely different to the buildings we experience today.

Softkill Design are a London based team of architects and designers researching new methods of generative design for additive manufacturing. They have taken inspiration from the trabecular composition of bone to imagine a house, dubbed ProtoHouse 2.0, which does not rely on conventional columns and floor plates but instead has a fibrous structure. By developing a computer algorithm that mimics bone growth, a 3D printer

Fig 20. Close up image of the

trabecular structure of bone.

Design Opportunities 41

Fig 21. The Silk Pavilion was created by over 6500 silkworms.

can then deposit structural material only where it is necessary and most structurally efficient. Each fibrous strand can have a radius as small as 0.7mm and can be arranged in such a way that it has “the ability to produce in-built architectural elements, such as structure, furniture, stairs, and façade” (Softkill Design, 2013) all at the same time.

Their proposal is to move away from load-bearing based 3D printing of on-site buildings. By using the well documented advantages of prefabrication in construction (Tam, et al., 2007; Jaillon and Poon, 2008) combined with 3D printing technology the plan is to print truck sized components of buildings off-site that can be transported to site before being assembled in what could potentially take only one day.

This learning from nature’s organisms is epitomised in the work of Neri Oxman founder of the Mediated Matters group at MIT’s Media Lab. This research group explores computational form finding strategies with biologically inspired fabrication that can potentially radically transform the design and construction of objects, buildings, and systems (Mediated Matter, 2014). By researching the processes involved in creating some of the structures found in nature, for example the weaving of a spider’s web, they hope in future to transfer these techniques to the construction industry.

The Silk Pavilion project was the group’s study of silkworms and their ability to build cocoons that have a soft interior and harder exterior, by depositing different gradients of silk fibre as they build. Essentially a silkworm is nature’s own multi-axis, multi-material 3D printer and by motion tracking the movements used to build its cocoon, they have been able to scale up the process to an inhabitable scale. Creating a structure of 26 polygonal panels that were crosshatched with a single thread creating varying densities suspended in the air. 6500 silkworms were then deployed as a biological printer to create a secondary structure finishing the pavilion (Oxman, 2013b).

This type of research has the ability to create a new architectural typology, one that has been discussed until now only at a conceptual level, as the technologies have not been available to print such structures. As research advances in both printers and materials the idea of printing large-scale fibrous structures becomes more tangible.

Fig 22. One of the silkworms used to

create the pavilion.

Design Opportunities 43

Those leading the field believe that this way of thinking could promote a new kind of aesthetic, and indeed ethic – a new way of thinking about design. One that does not rely on what has gone before, but rather allows us to investigate and question what it means to inhabit a structure. The future could allow for buildings that respond to our physical needs but are also inherently linked with our environmental consciousness to leave a lighter footprint on the earth.

Design Opportunities 45

Four.

Open-Sourced Architecture 4.1 Platform for Innovation The idea of open-source is not a new one. In its most primitive form, it is a recipe book sharing knowledge on how to bake or cook. More recently it has become synonymous with the free exchange of knowledge and software through the internet. Collaborators across the globe work together on the creation of information and tools and then offer free access to them, to be learnt from and improved upon. The largest and most known example of this is the open-source encyclopaedia Wikipedia. An online encyclopaedia that is written collaboratively by anonymous volunteers; anyone can write new articles or enhance older ones.

This presents a new way of thinking about the global issues that the world currently faces, where we can utilise the creative commonality as much as that of the individual. By using knowledge from all over the world to help think of new ways to tackle the problems in today’s society, David Rushkoff (2003) proposes that, “As the world confronts the impact of globalism, newly revitalized threats of fundamentalism, and the emergence of seemingly irreconcilable value systems, generate and new reason to believe that living interdependently is not only possible, but preferable to the competitive individualism, ethnocentrism, nationalism and particularism that have characterised so much of the late twentieth-century thinking and culture.�

This open-source styled platform has created new groups of people that are embracing this collaborative approach, ranging from computer game developers to home renovation enthusiasts and architecture is not excluded from this. The WikiHouse project is an online non-profit open-source construction system that aims Open-Source Architecture 47

Fig 23. An open-source network allows the collaboration of people and ideas from all over the globe.

to allow anyone to design, download and assemble houses and components (Parvin, 2013). The website is a database for downloadable houses designed to be cut by a CNC milling machine before being assembled. The structures are cut out of sheet materials such as plywood and slotted together like a flat-pack piece of furniture so that anyone, anywhere with access to a CNC miller can build with minimal formal skill or training. The website encourages its users to view the plans as a platform from which they can download, adapt and improve upon the design for their own requirements.

Presently a similar movement is happening in the world of 3D printing, at the minute with household goods rather than houses themselves but this could be set to change. Free printable files for designs of lampshades, toys and many other objects can be downloaded from a variety of websites and as the technology matures why would this not include designs for houses. Plans for buildings could in theory be downloaded, modified to suit and then printed as component blocks before being assembled. Window openings, services and even final finishes all have the potential to be designed in as part of an automated construction process.

This concept could see communities in developing countries being able to harness the knowledge and creativity of architects worldwide to build homes and community buildings in their towns. Buildings could be designed in such a way that components are easily moveable, allowing them to be assembled without specialist skills. If this were to become a reality it would truly epitomise Rushkoff ’s views on using the power of open-source to collaboratively address the challenges currently faced.

Open-Source Architecture 49

4.2 Loss of Identity 3D printing and an open-source platform can allow for designs to be “distributed world wide in bulk as a digital file, and manufactured quickly and individually” (Stoutjesdijk, 2013). The use of 3D printers in construction allows for building designs to cross borders and continents without relying on local building knowledge or a skilled workforce being available. However, the consequences of whole buildings being condensed into a single file to be downloaded at will and printed anywhere in the world need to be considered.

One issue currently being widely discussed is the consequence of the globalisation of architecture and the loss of place identity. Place identity refers to the feeling and atmosphere of a community for its location and setting that generations have developed over time, inherently linked to its architectural typology and heritage.

Local skills and materials that have evolved over many generations define this vernacular architecture, making buildings unique to place and culture.

There is a danger that this local building knowledge that has shaped the communities could be lost, as it is replaced by automated construction systems. Materials and typologies could be forgotten as they are replaced by a database of downloaded buildings in a ‘one size fits all’ fashion. There is equally the danger that by designing these buildings in isolation from context, a global vernacular occurs where the same buildings are downloaded and printed all over the world without accounting for their context and environment. Development of 3D printing will therefore be about finding a balance between adaption and duplication. Whilst designs may be available to download freely, they should only be seen as a base platform to be customised with time, place and culture.

Open-Source Architecture 51

4.3 Ownership & Copyright There has been very little written about ownership and copyright in relation to the designs of printable architecture, due to the fact that there is no commercially available method of printing structures as yet. The issue has however been discussed in relation to the rest of the 3D printing movement. We have already seen examples of companies ordering take down notices after designs similar to theirs appeared online for others to download (Coetzee, 2011; Bradshaw, Boyer and Haufe, 2010).

A critical issue is the area of copyright. The ability to copy and reproduce brings with it many challenges about ownership, patents and intellectual property. Comparisons have been made with the effect on the music industry of the Internet being used for sharing digital files without regulation, originally with software like Napster. When objects can be shared, modified and printed how can designers ensure the ownership of the original designs?

These questions are currently prevalent for smaller scale objects but similar questions will cross over into the world of printable architecture.

Another issue is one of regulation. What would happen if something were to go wrong with a final product - who would be held accountable? Adrian Mars is a technology journalist with an interest in the future of 3D printing and highlights this issue. “What if you 3D print a car and it causes an accident due to a design fault or a computer design fault? Who regulates it? How do the insurance companies deal with it? Are you responsible because you put it together and printed it?� (2012).

A similar issue could happen with printable buildings and components. Laws and regulations will need to adjust over time as the technology’s capabilities grow and develop.

Open-Source Architecture 53

Many of these questions will hopefully be answered by the time buildings are capable of being printed, as other sector that are already using advanced 3D printing techniques confront them and find solutions. The construction industry is known for its tight regulations and the introduction of 3D printing technologies on the building site will have to conform to these. An open mind and discussions will be needed if these regulations are not to stifle the creativity and invention the technology could bring.

55

Five.

Social, Environmental & Economic Issues 5.1 Social Issues The construction industry in the UK remains largely white, male and able-bodied, despite a range of initiatives over the last 20 years that have sought to challenge this profile. Women make up approximately 10% of employees in construction, compared to 46% across all industries, (CIOB, 2006) whilst there is little representation from the minority ethnic groups and an even lower percentage of disabled employees (De Graft–Johnson et al, 2009).

3D printing has the ability to break down some of the barriers that face many wishing to enter the construction industry. In future as automated construction has the potential to take on the more labour intensive jobs on construction sites, a new dawn of more technically minded, diverse workforce may be more common. To date there is very little written about how additive technologies might change the make up of the construction workplace but these technologies could go some way in changing the perceived view of the sector. It is impossible to say what new roles and responsibilities there will be on the construction sites of the future but a reduction of manual labour seems certain. The construction industry will require a different skill mix that in turn may appeal to a wider cross section of society.

5.2 Environmental Issues Worldwide the construction sector is one of the biggest generators of waste. In the UK construction and demolition accounts for 35% of all waste produced yearly (DEFRA, 2011). With tough new regulations to reduce the volume and types of waste produced, the construction industry is forever looking at new ways to Social, Environmental & Economic Issues 57

1. CAD model of seat post designed for aluminium alloy casting

2. Structural optimisation using specially developed software.

Fig 24. Diagrams showing the procces of 3D printing and structural optimisation.

3. Produce in titanium alloy using 3D printing technologies

increase efficiency. Additive manufacturing could be one solution. By its very nature, additive manufacturing is an efficient system as there is relatively little or no waste produced because only the material needed for the final object is printed. Unlike traditional steel or concrete structures that have a high level of material redundancy, as it is either too expensive or too difficult to remove excess material, 3D printing never needs to print any excess.

As the technology is still in its infancy there are few comparable examples of traditional build versus 3D printed in architecture. There are however examples of how 3D printing can increase material efficiency and reduce waste in other sectors and in the future as we see the technology enlarged to a construction scale we could see similar effects.

With the new found ability to create objects with complex shapes with internal strengthening that have never before been possible to manufacture with traditional processes, designers now have the opportunity to question just exactly what material is needed to make an object work. By using a specially developed software program the bicycle company Empire Cycles was able to analyse exactly where the stress points on a bicycle’s frame were.

This information informed a redesign of the frame, optimising the volume of material used creating an equally strong frame but using 33% less material in the process (Renishaw, 2014). Despite there being a big difference between a bicycle frame and the steel structure of a building, it gives a foresight into what might be possible once 3D printing technology is scaled to a construction size. Structural members could be analysed individually in the same way the frame was before being designed to be both material and structurally efficient. This method has the potential to reduce the volume of material needed to create lighter more svelte structural members with minimal wastage.

Work that has been done on an architectural scale has focused on the advantages of printing concrete walls over the traditional formwork method of construction. Formwork as shown in figure (26) below is usually built using sheathing, studs and wales to create a form into which fresh concrete is poured and allowed to cured. This

Fig 25. The pieces of bike frame can

be printed simultaneously using

only the material required.

Social, Environmental & Economic Issues 59

Fig 26. Traditional concrete formwork verus Contour Crafting’s method.

process can be time consuming, as workers need to erect the formwork and also wasteful as very little of the overall construction material is actually left in the final build. If however as Behrokh Khoshnevis (et al, 2006) foresees, the concrete walls of the future could have their formwork printed in a fast curing concrete and form ties. This he says will reduce construction time and minimize waste whilst still retaining the needed compressive strength.

5.3 Economic Issues Manufacturing industries recently have had a tendency to move their base of manufacturing to developing countries where labour is cheaper and production costs are thus reduced. This has however led to final products that have a huge embodied energy as many of the components have been manufactured in numerous different countries before being finally assembled. Additive manufacturing gives the opportunity to return to a more holistic approach of making and producing objects by manufacturing them locally as the labour costs associated with 3D printing are generally low. On construction sites of the future, additive technologies could be employed to create a variety of elements, from structural pieces to final fit objects, just metres from their final destinations, thereby reducing the embodied energy of buildings. The UK has suffered one of the largest deindustrialisation since post-war times in Western Europe. Since the early 1980s, the population employed in manufacturing jobs has declined by 63% with only 11% of the national income coming from this sector nowadays, down from 30% (Chakrabortty, 2011). With 3D printing, we could see a return to the high street for local, custom-made goods replacing those mass-produced on assembly lines and this in turn leading to “a great many manufacturing jobs being “re-shored” to the UK” (Thompson, 2012).

Social, Environmental & Economic Issues 61

Six.

Potential Role in Architecture 6.1 Affordable Housing The world’s population passed the 7 billion mark in 2011 having reached 6 billion only 12 years previously.

Developing countries accounted for 97 per cent of this growth due to the dual effects of high birth rates and young populations (Haub, 2012). A major problem that has arisen because of this rapid growth is the proliferation of slum settlements in urban areas due to a lack of affordable housing. It is estimated that close to 32 per cent of the world’s urban population live in these slums in inequitable and life-threatening conditions intensified by poor sanitation provisions, drainage and health care (United Nations Habitat, 2009). With the UN predicting a world population of 9.6 billion by 2050 this trend seems set to continue (United Nations, 2013).

Additive manufacturing processes could play some part in providing new accommodation for those currently living in substandard conditions. Using these technologies local populations can take advantage of materials that are readily available at the location, be that clay, cement or sand and use them with a binding agent to create a cheap building material. Dignified homes can be printed using this material “with all the utilities for electrical and plumbing in less than 24 hours” (Contour Crafting, 2014) allowing for a small colony of permanent houses to be constructed in weeks. This type of proposal could offer a cheaper alternative to today’s construction techniques, as there is a potentially minimal waste and extremely low labour cost. This could also guarantee a standard of work and quality of finish that is currently dependent on the skill level of local workers.

There is clearly a long way to go in research and development before this could become a reality and some may question if these printers will ever have a place in low cost housing in developing countries. The costs of these Potential Role In Architecture 63

Fig 27. Rows of temporary accomodation typical of refugee and disater relief camps.

construction scale printers may never compare to the cheap labour that is available in the developing world and the skills required to use the equipment may not exist. It does however question how we should try to alleviate the worldwide housing crisis, although it may be more suited to affordable housing in developed countries where labour and multiple materials can be expensive.

6.2 Emergency Housing Millions of people each year are forced to flee their homes and livelihoods due to conflict, violence or natural disasters. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre estimated that just under than 29 million were displaced by armed conflict in 2012, the highest figure ever recorded (IDMC, 2013). The majority of these people unfortunately end up in temporary shelter with primitive facilities often for several months at a time before being moved to more permanent housing. There is a need to rethink the type of care and shelter offered to people in such situations. Often refugee camps are in hard to reach, often dangerous places and the transportation of large-scale construction equipment and other building materials is difficult.

There could be the possibility in the future that charities like the Red Cross operate small, transportable 3D printers that have the ability to use locally available base materials like clay and sand to print building components on site. These printers could be in operation 24 hours a day creating a micro-factory manufacturing elements such as bricks, lintels and anything else they need as and when required.

The use of these printers could therefore offer not just more robust shelters for displaced communities but also the flexibility to build different types of shelters from homes, to kitchen facilities and health clinics. Importantly, more permanent, safe and dignified living conditions could be achieved.

Potential Role In Architecture 65

6.3 Lunar Buildings.

One of the most ambitious and exciting applications of 3D printing is the ability to work in some of the most extreme environments where construction has previously been impossible because of severe weather conditions or geographical locations. Projects have been proposed for the printing of site labs in some of the toughest places on earth like the Sahara desert and the South Pole where transportation of materials and labour costs can be an expensive proposition. The most exciting prospect however at the moment is the proposal for space colonisation.

Space colonisation is an idea that has enraptured the minds of writers, filmmakers, poets and architects alike for centuries. Edward Hale’s 1869 short story titled ‘The Brick Moon’ describes the construction and launch of a brick sphere in which a number of people were accidentally trapped. This story is the first known fictional description of space colonisation and this is where it has remained, in the realms of fiction, because of our inability to build in space. Everything that exists in space has been made here on Earth and this has been a fundamental problem. For every kilogram sent into orbit it costs around £6000 getting it there (NASA, 2013).

Transporting structures large enough to inhabit space would cost billions. If humans are ever to colonise outer space then the issue of transportation of building materials has to be questioned and that is what makes using material already there so attractive - so much so that both NASA and the European Space Agency are currently funding research into such proposals.

Current research addresses the challenges of transporting materials to space and the moon has been used as a starting point by investigating the use of lunar soil, known as regolith, as building matter. Foster & Partners (2013) have used the principles of this research to design a lunar base to house four people, offering protection from meteorites, gamma radiation and high temperature fluctuations that can occur on the moon. The lunar

Fig 28. Render showing the potetial

use of 3D printing in outer space.

Potential Role In Architecture 67

Fig 29. Foster + Partners plans for 3D printed structures on the moon.

base would be constructed from a modular tube, and then a dome would be inflated to act as a support structure before layers of regolith and a binding agent were then printed over the dome to create the protective exterior shell by robots operating a 3D printer. To date scientists have already created nearly 1.5 tonnes of simulated lunar soil and there have also been smaller scale tests in vacuum conditions with printers being utilised in an environment which replicates conditions on the lunar surface Another team of architects from London is also looking at using regolith to create inhabitable structures on the moon. They highlight that they can drastically decrease cost and environmental impact by not sending building material from Earth and envisage a future where we could build structures of entire cities on the surface of the moon by using solar power and regolith. Their proposal takes inspiration from nature in not only structure but also seeking to provide inhabitants with a ‘bioregenerative life support system’ (Frearson, 2013) that can recycle air and water for the lunar outpost.

These projects are at a very early stage and regolith is known to be a very fine dust which may be difficult to work with. However, the fact that this is being investigated shows that 3D printing technology could be the answer to helping us study and expand our knowledge “of the geology and evolution of the lunar surface and seismology” (Nathan, 2013).

Potential Role In Architecture 69

Seven.

The Future and Conclusion This thesis set out to question the possibilities of 3D printing in architecture. It has explored the burgeoning use of 3D printing in the manufacturing industry and more specifically how it is being adopted for use in the pursuit of automated construction at an inhabitable scale. The study has sought to gain a greater understanding of where the technology currently is, in relation to printing architecture and where it may be headed in the future. By reviewing both built and conceptual projects, not only in the field of architecture, but also in parallel industries, the thesis highlights the real world applications of the technology and illustrates the potential disruptive force that additive manufacturing could have on the construction industry.

3D printing technology is transforming the manufacturing process across a variety of sectors by introducing a revolutionary new way to create objects. By removing the standardisation and inflexibility that mass production has placed on manufacturing, objects can be designed with uniqueness in mind. The additional ability to produce objects with previously unimaginable complexities means that the process of designing is constantly evolving and improving, with material efficiency and sustainability becoming inherently linked to the process.

Despite the rapid advances in parallel industries taking additive technologies from prototyping tools to producing final end products, its development within construction has, by comparison, barely begun. Many put this disparity down to the difficulties of scaling up the technology to an inhabitable size. As greater stresses and forces are exerted upon a structure and as its size is increased, the need to understand and explore materials, their structural capabilities and performance is imperative if 3D printing is to become a viable method of construction to challenge traditional processes.

We have to look beyond using the technology to create buildings similar to the ones we construct today and The Future & Conclusion 71

Fig 30. Houses of the future could be dramatically different from the ones we inhabit today as

Softkill Design’s proposal shows.

instead embrace 3D printing along with the development of new materials and processes that allow its true potential to be realised. For it to be the transformational technology that many believe it is, the construction industry needs to be at the forefront of research into ‘smart’ materials, which will allow us to re-imagine our built environment in ways inconceivable using today’s construction techniques and material palettes. Working towards the capability to mimic the structures found in nature and by doing so create efficient buildings that can respond both structurally and to environmental changes, as well as users’ needs, is an incredible opportunity to be seized.

The vast majority of the public still perceive 3D printing merely as a gimmick, for a body of interested parties, to experiment with; a way to make white plastic curios, objects that have no real use or value. What is not realised is that the technology has and is continuing to change many industries including the energy, health and aerospace sectors in addition to altering the face of manufacturing. 3D printing technologies have started to infiltrate our daily lives in many forms and their uses will become ever more profound.

As 3D printing technologies mature, lawmakers and regulators will need to be ready for the maelstrom of issues surrounding ownership and accountability that will need resolved. It will make for interesting discussions about intellectual property and the meaning of design ownership as companies look to protect their products from the world of open-source sharing.

Any future rise in construction 3D printing will herald an epochal shift in our relationship with the built environment and the building industry as a whole, allowing us to re-imagine what it means to provide shelter on not only this planet but also possibly on extra terrestrial satellites.

Additive manufacturing will not change the construction industry overnight; it has years of research and development ahead of it before we will see its commercial use on construction sites. However if we are to learn from other industries that have been developing the technologies for longer, we can see its potential to be a disruptive force that architecture cannot ignore.

The Future & Conclusion 73

A Printed World.

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