Designing Shelters for 3D-printing A studio experiment

This paper describes an architectural design studio experiment, developed with the aim of exploring the interrelationship between the architectural design of basic shelters and additive manufacturing technology (aka 3D printing) using concrete. This fabrication technology has been developed over the past twenty years in various locations Worldwide and there has been some experiments on its use for making buildings. However, these experiments are still very limited in number and results, in the sense that do not fully explore the potential of the technology and its impact on the way we design and make buildings. The studio evolved in the context of a larger project in which a multidisciplinary team of researchers is developing the technology for the additive manufacturing in concrete. Research evolves along three main thrusts of work on materials, systems, and design. The studio introduced students to these various aspects, examined their interrelationships, impacts, and applications in architectural design and construction of buildings. The hope was to collect more information and feedback to inform the overarching research. Results showed the feasibility of the technology and identified issues that need to be addressed in future research.