The Modern Architect Toolbox

Abstract

This paper takes a critical look into the new technologies in the fields of architecture and construction, specifically a fabrication method called 3D printing. 3D printing, a method familiar to most in the field, offers new ways to design, and construct projects. The paper will focus on how to develop construction efficiency in time, material, mobility, and accessibility. This fabrication method has become more advanced in recent years, with the introduction of new materials for the printers to fabricate. For example, the use of clay in 3D printing has become popular in the last decade, specifically developing and improving sustainability in construction. This paper will offer a critical critique on the development of fabrication tools, digital design, and materials performance.

Introductions

New technologies are expanding the architect’s toolbox to greater degrees. The architectural and construction industries have embraced technological changes from using basic design tools to integrating 3D printing in the construction stages. When it comes construction as an industry, it is one of the oldest industries. It has been around for as long as humans existed, from the earliest construction of the Pyramids of Giza and shelters to today’s skyscrapers, it has been crucial and critical to the human evolution. Construction as a whole is a one solid concept, however throughout time the labor speed, management and sustainability has not always been a flat curve. One of the key influencers as far as development venture advancement has been the accessibility and utilization of machine and force apparatuses. From blade to sledge to 3d printer, the impact of devices on a structure isn't to be disparaged. However, for quite a while the instruments of creation were shut frameworks. This is presently evolving. Following the PC and a scope of computerized propels, the coming of the individual fabricator has incited a restoration of creating and fabricating own designs.

The transformative role digital technology plays in the design phase and in the execution later on, creates more efficiency and latitude within the entire project. It has become a revolution in the way that decisions are made throughout the building process. Recent fabrication techniques for the field of design and construction include 3D printing and sustainable bricks. Specifically, Brain Peter’s clay 3D printing exploration (Gramazio et al, 2014), and Ronald Rael’s project “cool brick,” which is 3D printed ceramic for sustainable bricks (San Fratello and Rael, 2015). Peters, who is a researcher on the Building Bytes project, is using new 3D printing materials to create improved building components. These new techniques are introducing a better perspective for the use of traditional materials such as clay and concrete. Below, the development of fabrication tools, digital design, and materials performance will all be thoroughly analyzed.

Fabrication Methodology

It is an energizing time to be an architect or an originator because of the ongoing advancements in the development business. The production of new materials, plan and creation of instruments can improve proficiency and maintainability. Man-made brainpower keeps on creating a potential device to help in the structuring and development process. As it as of now stands, 3D printing has enormously affected these businesses. A medium in this regard can be defined as “a substance that may be sensed or altered somehow by tools” (McCullough, 1996). Traditionally, clay has been a very popular medium in construction. It is an ancient material that is formed very slowly as a result of the weathering and erosion of rocks containing the minerals group known as feldspar (designingbuilding.co.uk). Bricks are another ancient building component used in construction. The manner in which bricks have been fabricated throughout history have changed. However, the general idea is to create bricks through extrusions and mold systems to produce the same shape countless times (Gramazio et al. 113). The intensity of Peter’s research project is its openness. The manufacture begins with a standard work area 3D printer, an innovation that is rapidly opening up to originators around the world. A modified expulsion framework is connected that can oblige any fluid material, for example, cement or pottery earthenware production. Moreover, his revolutionary work is to find a more efficient way to construct buildings. He developed models using clay to test and create prototypes for manufacturing bricks. He was able to generate complex forms and geometries to accommodate the stability and structural qualities of bricks. The Building Bytes project not only to demonstrates how 3D printers can become portable, inexpensive brick factories for large-scale constructions (Gramazio et al. 113) but also this basic adjustment permits clients to source local building materials that are both accessible and recognizable. As mentioned briefly that Peters has been looking into several components in this research, such as the scale of the tool used for fabrication, aspects of the material performance, the digital process and tool, accessibility, and lastly, the fabrication process. Examining the historical backdrop of ceramic 3D printing, a research dated back to 2009 by Unfold design studio, they are viewed as one of the earlies designers to explore clay printing and the development of “Claystruders” (Ceramic 3d Printing - Unfold Design Studio, 2009). Their 3d printing process for earthenware production not just bridles the capability of new innovation and materials yet in addition extends the previous history of explicit systems into what's to come. The printer has an incredible reverberation with the manner in which conventional potters dealt with earth, anyway due to its capacity to deliver such fine layers, new structures are conceivable.

The Medium

Jean Prouvé, the famous architect, knew that being successful required a lot of work and some trial and error. He produced hundreds of variations, endlessly testing every element, assembling full-scale prototypes of a few hundred completed buildings (Wigley, 138). Peters’ project required the same diligence. To create different prototypes of bricks, several tests were conducted, adjustments were applied, and finally they were able to get their intended result. The process was intriguing, from the digital application to the recovery of the material. When analyzing the prototypes, it was clear that the quality of the 3D printer was essential to handling the heavy load of execution. However, the most important step is the setup of the design in the digital format. The software used was a parametric design tool called grasshopper. Peters’ goal when he initially designed the product was to create a design system that could quickly adapt to varying scales, sites, and applications (Gramazio et al. 115). The medium in this Building Bytes project is a basic traditional one that was mentioned earlier in the text; clay. It must go through a set of steps for it to be ready for the 3D printer. Using clay as the experimental product, its principles had to be taken into consideration as well as the quality of the material. It is necessary to understand how clay must be formed and shaped in order to get desired result. Peters considered that the material is thick and unstable, and that came from the first prototype he created.

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The methodology in this research was appealing because every step in the process is interlocked with one another. In order to achieve a certain result, the design needs to translate back to the tool used, and the necessity of acting according to the material’s individual characteristics. The relationship between the design process and the fabrication is linked together. Peters was aiming for the general idea that form follows the function. This is clear in his four different brick designs. Each design has unique qualities and unique purposes. Flexibility and stability is evident in the Honeycomb brick. This brick can be used for both interior and exterior walls. The flexibility of three orientations allows the brick to stack easily. The design is just one such configuration. This brick is made from ceramic and can also be very useful in creating sun shading. The interlocking bricks is a prototype that can be used for joints, wall structure and stability. Also made out of ceramic, Peters intended for this design to be useful in creating large dome-like structures, such as churches or cathedrals. The ribbed brick was designed to provide support for columns. Unlike some of the other prototypes, the ribbed brick is noted for its aesthetics, and can therefore add an ornamental feature to the project. Finally, there is the X-brick. Named for its shape in the letter ‘X,’ this brick was designed to maximize visual opacity through walls, optimize printing time, limit material usage, and test non-modular constructions (Peters, 2013). This specific design is intended to minimize printing time and material use (Gramazio et al. 116). The idea is to stay away from the “cradle-to-grave” model, which basically involves designing or providing one thing that fits all the cases (McDonough 28). Peters wanted to create various molds for various designs so that each design is uniquely representing one function.

Digital Methodology

The research involved not only the development of the physical tool but also it involved a development of an overall workflow of the digital fabrication system. By and by, it was captivating to observe a strong advanced digital framework that fills its underlying need in being proficient in the manufactural embodiment. It was referenced beforehand in the content that they utilized grasshopper as the principle programming software to create a parametric system for the Building Bytes brick design (Gramazio et al. 115). To summarize the parametric workflow, the Grasshopper definition included scripting a general type of the application a wall design for instance, by contributing the structure parameters of the ideal structure.

This structure was then subdivided into modules and that is the bricks, that could be created by the 3D printer. Every module inside the bigger structure had its own arrangement of parameters that could be balanced. Extra data for every module was additionally implanted into the digital model, for example, material cost, printing time, and a naming system for the full-scale assembly (Gramazio et al. 115). Because it was designed parametrically at any point when the general structure was changed, the individual modules were refreshed, making a framework that could rapidly adjust to differing scales, locations and applications. Additionally, a significant piece of the content was that the 3d design was converted into a language the 3d printer understands, G-code (Gramazio et al. 115). The design and structural data, the fabrication code and a printing simulation were totally included with in the grasshopper content. This kind of work process is one of the definitions of designing for manufacturing, this limits the time spent upgrading and adjusting the brick design dependent on the fabrication system and physical tests. They made a semi-bullet proof content with regards to alterations. In spite of the fact that grasshopper is an exceptionally solid software to make an interlocked work process, it won't structure an impeccable manufacture process yet limits the blunders through simulations as referenced previously.

Evaluation

The architectural and construction industries are constantly exploring new manufacturing methodologies, sustainable fabrications, and efficient tools. Ronald Rael, Jenny Sabin, New Story, and IAAC are exploring new ways and methodologies to achieve efficiency and sustainability goals. Of course, that list is not exhaustive as many people and companies in the field are innovating everyday. One project that is exciting is Rael’s “the cool brick” This is a project that is relevant and close to Peter’s exploration of clay bricks because both projects are experimenting with ceramics and developing new forms to satisfy an improved purpose in the construction scale. The concept of the cool brick is to create a building with membranes that come together so the building works with the environment and fits with the climate and surrounding atmosphere. Rael’s cool brick concept was inspired by a traditional technique that was used back in the day to cool building interiors using an element called Muscatese Evaporative cooling window (San Fratello and Rael, 2015). Each brick was printed to be porous in order to absorb water so that when air goes through the bricks, it would be cooled as it enters the building (San Fratello and Rael, 2015). There is essentialness in each project depicted. While Peters' clay investigation explores the chance of utilizing another manufacture apparatus and another material made conceivable by the 3D printing industry, Rael's ventures goes above and beyond by concentrating on sparing vitality and developing a green practical structure. Our reality is going towards a reasonable, green course that benefits the earth, utilizing increasingly normal assets and less petroleum derivatives for vitality. A definitive objective is to discover ways for contractual workers to source local building materials to eliminate ecological expenses of trucking in materials from different places on the planet.

Conclusion

The field of manufacturing is advancing regularly with huge financing being put for resources into innovative work. Accordingly, the limitations of the material stockpiling framework, material properties, and the print region of a work area are all fixed constraints of Peter's research project that prompted the improvement of a little architectural segment which are the bricks mentioned. While the material and building unit are old and really comprehensive, this endeavor proposes another creation methodology for development. 3D printing is proceeding to grow as an approach to manufacture components on both little and enormous scope developments. Development doesn't simply mean designing new things; it regularly implies making better approaches for taking care of issues. Architectural development despite everything requires the utilization of materials stacked upon each other to make a structure, This has not changed. What has changed is the material and the manner of fabricating the materials. The idea is to create materials in a manner that is productive, viable and practical. Peter's venture utilized 3D printing to make a philosophy in development that is versatile, proficient, and accessible all over. Rael based upon this thought with a lean toward sustainabilty and envirometal purposes. At last, the additive fabrication philosophies of the two tasks will keep on making progressively practical developments without spatial and openness confinements. Peter's examination is progressing regarding materialness in utilizing clay extruders to be a part of huge scope developments, also he is accomplishing the nature of creating for littler scope ventures. In addition to that, Building Bytes is a progressing research as mentioned and there are a few ebb and flow lines of research, including: testing new materials, improving the manufacture framework, growing new joinery among bricks, and investigating other applications.

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