How might 3D printing change how we think about design and construction? Where will it gain a foothold? For our 2014 Annual Report, we asked some of today’s leading theorists and practitioners.
Jordan Brandt is technology futurist at Autodesk’s San Francisco headquarters. He also teaches multidisciplinary design at Stanford University while researching design optimization methods. In 2009, he co-founded Horizontal Systems, which was acquired by Autodesk in 2011, and oversaw the development of Glue, a 3D cloud-collaboration platform that is now BIM 360 Glue. Jordan holds a doctorate in building technology from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Kansas.
Enrico Dini is the chairman of Monolite UK Ltd., a pioneer in 3D printing and inventor of the D-Shape building process. He developed a binder material that, when mixed with sand, can print sandstone. Trained as a civil engineer, he worked for year in shoe industry robotics before becoming fascinated by 3D printing. Watch his TEDx talk.
Hedwig Heinsman is a co-founder of DUS, the Amsterdam architect of the 3D Print Canal House, an award-winning exhibition and research project that explores the possibilities of 3D printing for architecture. The project team developed a large-scale, mobile 3D printer and is experimenting with new materials, including bio-based and recycled plastics. The house is being printed room-by-room and will then be assembled into a whole. Hedwig graduated cum laude from the Delft Technical University and has studied at the Helsinki University of Technology.
Avi Reichental has been the president and chief executive officer of 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) since September 2003. Under Avi’s leadership, 3D Systems has emerged as the global 3D content-to-print leader that is redefining and shaping the way we design, what we create and how we manufacture. In 2014, he was named as one of the top 25 Makers Who Are Reinventing the American Dream by Popular Mechanics magazine. Avi currently serves as Faculty Chair of Digital Fabrication at Singularity University and a member of the XPRIZE Foundation innovation board. Watch his TED talk.
Skylar Tibbits is a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s School of Architecture + Planning. He directs MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab, a cross-disciplinary research center that focuses on self-assembly and programmable material technologies. Skylar holds degrees in architecture, design computation and computer science. Before joining the MIT faculty, he held posts at Zaha Hadid Architects, Asymptote Architecture and Point b Design. The TED Fellow is also the founder and principal of SJET, LLC, a multidisciplinary design practice.
Near-term, how is 3D printing likely to change architecture, engineering and construction?
BRANDT 3D printing is already augmenting traditional building product manufacturing, with molds, jigs and fixtures being printed to make existing equipment and processes more efficient.
3D printing is already moving from R&D labs to the field. We are collaborating on multiple projects to print sustainable, affordable housing in the Middle East, Africa and Haiti and we’re looking ahead to how codes and construction law will affect the advent of 3D printing in the AEC industry.
In 2014, we began partnering with Dubai-based WinSun Global as part of a consortium with Gensler and Syska Hennessy Group to develop Project Unicorn, which focuses on 3D printing for low-rise commercial and residential applications (see images below). We are validating materials used for printing structural, interior and exterior components.
REICHENTAL 3D printing has already had a huge impact in the fields of architecture, engineering and construction as the technology greatly improves communication in these areas – there is simply no equivalent to having a physical model to present. This not only improves communication among designers on any given project, it’s also the most effective way to demonstrate and discuss ideas and geometries with clients. And the ability to construct, review and revise accurate, full-color models in a single day accelerates the ideation and design process.
But 3D printing is also playing a larger role in these fields, beyond design and communication. Recent developments have given us new materials, such as selective laser sintering (SLS) materials and metal printing that have incredible strength and heat resistance, which means they can be used in both high-stress performance testing and end-use applications. So engineers, architects and builders can print out highly complex, durable parts for any job, anywhere, on demand. The possibilities are limited only by our imaginations.
DINI In China, where the priorities are speed and economy, we are seeing houses being printed in less than 24 hours. These are raw houses, with just a foundation, walls and a roof. We are still a long way from printing wiring, plumbing, HVAC, etc. As an architect, my vision for 3D printing is not as a replacement for pre-fab or modular construction, like in China, but as an instrument that augments architectural creativity.
In this realm, the early adopters today are the materials producers, who are interested in testing the potential for their materials in an extruded form. Some of them are the usual players: suppliers of sand, aggregate, cement and gypsum. But some are not the usual players: they are producers who make glass microspheres, recycle plastics or collect foundry slag and shredded tires. With crushed tires, for example, you can literally print shock absorbers.
HEINSMAN The really interesting change is in how 3D printing enables a more networked way of working, and will allow people to have made-to-measure, unique local solutions instead of pre-fab solutions. Today, as architects we do bespoke design working with one or two clients. With a networked printing process, we can interact with large groups of people and deliver architecture all over the globe. I am especially interested in the social aspects enabled by the technology.
TIBBITS My colleague Neil Gershenfeld has said that the 3D printer is similar to the microwave. We all thought the microwave would transform cooking and we wouldn’t need any other appliances. But it turns out the microwave is amazing for some things, but it can’t do everything, and so we still have other appliances. 3D printing can do some things very well and other things not so well. In research, we’re interested in pushing the boundaries of what it can do for materials science. My focus is on bottom-up processes, such as the manufacture of material with new properties.
Nearly all building materials today are “dumb.” They passively bear loads or define architectural space or features. New properties involve transformation in terms of sensing, actuation, logic, response to stimuli or demand. These could be classified as programmable materials, which have fundamental logic that can respond to variables such as moisture, sunlight and temperature change, and they can also transform in useful ways, changing shape or physical properties. They could become a moisture barrier, for example, or change shading or acquire specific acoustical properties. This is a vision of making robots without robots, or making materials that are robots – soft, agile, flexible, reconfigurable robots. They don’t have any of the electronics, sensors, or actuators of traditional robots. They are the electronics, the sensors or the actuators themselves. This all points to a new scenario where materials can have these amazing properties and capabilities that we want, but they don’t cost any more to produce.
A very humble example that has been around a long time and that is familiar to most people is the thermostat. It’s just two pieces of metal: one expands more than the other when temperature changes, which then turns a dial that controls the thermostat. We’re trying to make many materials have similar capabilities that are also totally customizable. So it’s not just certain materials that would have these niche properties that equip them to do one thing, but rather many materials that would have that same property or capability. And we’re trying to design them so they can transform in ways that we want them to transform.
We’ve been able to print different materials together at the same time. The materials have sensing capabilities, actuation capabilities or geometric properties that enable them to transform from one-dimensional strands into three-dimensional objects, or from flat sheets into three-dimensional objects.
What is the most important development that needs to take place in order to move 3D printing from the fringe to the mainstream?
BRANDT Investment in materials and rewriting building codes. Traditional building codes that govern methods and forms of construction will become obsolete, and the trend towards performance requirements will continue. The aerospace and automotive industries are already trending towards automated in-process monitoring to ensure that additive machines are operating within specified limits and their outputs meet performance criteria. Occasional physical testing may still be necessary for validation.
DINI Probably portability of printers for fabrication onsite or near the site, using local people and local materials and generating zero waste. The paradigm could shift and printers may not need to be bigger than the object printed, since we may move toward printing and erecting modular shapes onsite. We are already producing building components on smaller printers (3 x 3 meters). In October, for example, we printed a free-form wall – three meters tall by six meters long – for an experimental building. We printed it in 12 pieces and assembled them on site. This is already a practical.
HEINSMAN There are two things. The first is materials science. We need a better understanding of how materials behave when they are printed, their physical and mechanical properties. The second is developing the print chain – the entire process, from a parametric design sent to the printer to the material, from new ways of construction (lightweight construction, for example) to distribution. Once all these elements are integrated into a single smart chain, 3D printing will take off.
DINI Maybe printers won’t need to be bigger than the object printed. Instead of being enclosed in a gantry, a large-scale printer could be shaped more like a crane.
HEINSMAN We will probably see 3D printing used first to build temporary structures, like at festivals or fairs, which are governed by different regulations than permanent structures. You might see some bespoke structures printed with biological, degradable materials, so the structure “melts” after six months of rain, snow and sunshine.
Another frontier will likely be interiors. Anyone with a desktop 3D printer can already print a door handle, for example, so the next step could well be interior spaces rather than whole buildings. We will likely see hybrid buildings: conventional steel and concrete buildings, with temporary infills that can be replaced every five or ten years. Imagine a unique, personalized apartment that fits perfectly into a defined space. We have a lot of interest from the hotel industry, since they want to renew interiors fairly often.
In Europe, we also have a lot of heritage buildings. It’s more interesting to keep them instead of tearing them down. You could just scan the interiors and print a new infill. In developing countries, we are seeing growing interest in printing affordable housing with local materials. At the other extreme, there are sheiks who want to print gold façades. The technology is so simple and so visual – basically an extruder mounted to a moving X-Y-Z frame – it fires everyone’s imagination.
REICHENTAL If we look at actual building construction, we can see early efforts to start printing in concrete. The process is typically extrusion-based, although there have also been efforts to sinter particles into solid structures. In reality, the layer-by-layer, additive process of 3D printing can be scaled up to work at any level, so printing habitable structures is well within our reach. But more R&D will certainly be needed to develop both hardware and materials that will make 3D house printing as safe and cost-effective as traditional construction methods.
From left: A 3D-printed structure and enclosure for a prototype 780-square-foot house (two bedrooms, one bath) intended for the affordable housing market in the Middle East; detail of 3D-printed layered “ink” at an end wall; section of 3D-printed wall construction showing the internal structural bracing pattern; a four-story, eight unit 3D-printed apartment building in Suzhuo, China. Cast-in-place concrete separates printed “forms” that comprise other structural components, walls and exterior cladding. (Courtesy Gensler.)
In terms of using this technology to prototype buildings, I believe 3D printing has already entered the mainstream. It is now simply the fastest way to bring a design from idea to reality. What we see is that the biggest challenge for firms is often in changing their workflow to better leverage this technology, and we try to focus our efforts on showing how to get the most out of a 3D digital thread. We see this technology taking hold at every level of the architecture, construction and engineering industries, and in educational programs at the graduate and undergraduate levels, and it’s abundantly clear to us that there is no going back to a 2D world.
DINI I have been working for many years to implement 3D printing in architecture. Now the way is completely open: it’s just a matter of time, resources and momentum.
The benefits of 3D printing of buildings are clear for architects, since it liberates them from conventional or fixed forms. What are the benefits from a structural engineering perspective? A façade engineering perspective?
DINI One interesting potential is that because a façade is printed as the face of a structure, it may no longer need to be “engineered” in the sense we understand today. It may become more of a materials property question, as you select a material to be extruded for the façade portion.
For structural engineers, 3D printing opens up a frontier to understand the mechanical properties of layered, nonisotropic materials that all start as a slurry. There will need to be a lot of testing to determine variables like density, porosity, compressive, shear and tensile strength, and thermal coefficients. Once those variables can be determined and controlled, structural engineering models may help us optimize shapes for load bearing, so we know what topologies are buildable. People commonly think that a 3D printer can generate any shape – and in theory, that’s true. But for buildings, the force of gravity still rules! There are many engineering questions still to be addressed.
HEINSMAN From a structural perspective, with 3D printing you can easily model how to build with as little material as possible, especially for nonconventional structures. It would be awesome if engineering constraints could be embedded into a design, so the design would alert you to shapes that would fall down or aren’t buildable.
We’re now designing façades with integrated 3D printed solar panels, and the solar angle of the panel can be optimized automatically, for example, for Amsterdam or New York or Rio de Janeiro. This means we don’t have to create a separate set of forms or molds for each location. Instead, we can execute unique shapes easily.
REICHENTAL The same perspective applies in engineering as well; you’re no longer limited by traditional design constraints. You can produce any form you can imagine, no matter how complex it may be; now, for the first time, you can design entirely for performance. And with more than 100 options for materials, you can print and test countless variations to meet a project’s requirements for form, function, flexibility, strength and so on – all from the office, all on demand. It is an engineer’s dream, and it may open up new engineering strategies that were inconceivable before, like fusing structure and enclosure/fenestration into a single skin. 3D printing removes design and manufacturing barriers that once constrained engineers, and – as it has in architecture and countless other fields – this will revolutionize engineering as we know it.
BRANDT Additive manufacturing, coupled with algorithmic design, will usher in a new era for engineers. One of the most promising new areas of development is computational materials. To date, the building industry has relied primarily upon bulk materials and fixed material properties. What happens when the molecular composition of every beam, mullion and anchor is bespoke?
How might 3D printing technology affect the relationship between the architect, engineer, fabricator and contractor?
DINI The technology doesn’t belong to just one member of that group, it belongs to all of us. We all need to keep an eye on what is happening with 3D printing and remain open to its possibilities. Today it is like that first video game in the 1970s, Pong. From Pong came a worldwide gaming business. With 3D printing, everyone is being cautious right now, but soon it will become a global business.
TIBBITS It’s such a challenge to get any new technologies into the building and construction industry, which is so litigious. I think the industry needs incentives to innovate with new materials. That has to come first, before we can start to rethink the relationships. If we can clear that hurdle, I think 3D printing gives you new opportunities as a designer to rethink the materials you build with and the design possibilities they permit.
We need to foster relationships between researchers and practitioners and create incentives for actually implementing new technologies, instead of stalling and feeling like we’re all going to get sued or lose money if we take intelligent risks. In the automotive industry, or even in the sportswear industry, there are huge incentives to innovate every day, and to do it better than your competitors. Everyone is looking for more efficient processes, better materials, better recyclability, lighter weight, higher performance, etc. Companies in these industries are not afraid to take risks in order to make better products. We need the same attitude in the AEC industry – and changing attitudes can be a long road.
I see engineering potential for adaptive, programmable materials. If you look at earthquake mitigation measures, we already have adaptive connections and dampers that mediate seismic forces, and so we’re moving in the right direction. But every design has a multiplier, a safety factor, which results in over-engineering. What we could do instead is design systems that are more adaptive, lean, flexible and reconfigurable – and still meet or exceed code requirements. You could use far less material, have far more efficiency, and take a just-in-time or on-demand approach that would give your structures and façades that capacity to adapt independently. It’s ironic – everything around us in nature is dynamic, yet we design our systems to be largely static.
Materials could also inform the construction process. They could map out your next steps, or they could say, “You know, there’s too much load in this connection. Consider a different connection design.” Or you could make the connection of a column and beam more precise than humans or machines ever could. It could be designed to tighten itself up, the way Japanese wood joinery uses water to swell wood and tighten a joint. That approach has been around for hundreds of years; we just need to rethink how to apply it.
REICHENTAL The 3D digital thread gives architects, engineers and builders the ability to work in a seamless digital environment, from design to print and back again. Instead of working in a protracted and labor-intensive process of sharing 2D drawings and renderings, all parties involved in making a building are now able to tap directly into the original 3D design, which in turn becomes the vector for transmitting all necessary information. As stakeholders begin to understand how to coordinate their workflow around this digital process and how to model for 3D printing, design review and inspection will be done ten times faster than is currently possible using 2D drawings and renderings. 3D printing may also eventually allow more structures (or building components) to be fabricated on site, which is often preferable for cost and specificity reasons, especially in remote settings.
BRANDT The convergence of design, engineering and construction is being accelerated by technology, 3D printing in particular. Ultimately, a building’s design will become the literal human and machine instructions by which it is built; “design intent” will fade from the architectural lexicon.
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