3D printed construction
An overview of projects, products and exclusive articles about 3D printed construction
News • Innovations • 8 Aug 2024
IAAC expands 3D Printed Earth Forest Campus using Crane WASP 3D printer
The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) has completed the 3D printing of a new low-carbon building prototype using locally available soil and natural materials. IAAC employed a Crane WASP 3D printer to create the experimental lightweight building as part of an expansion of the institute’s 3D Printed Earth Forest Campus in Collserola Natural Park, Barcelona. The project represents an important step in the development of a sustainable, zero-mile, and affordable housing model.
3dPA
WASP - World’s Advanced Saving Project
WASP - World’s Advanced Saving Project was established in 2012 in Massa Lombarda, Italy. Drawing inspiration from the potter wasp, a wasp that builds its own pot-shaped n... More
Project • By C + S Architects • Residential Landscape
LAND-CR.AF.T.ED
SOCIAL HOUSING and PIXEL-FARMING: a challenge on which the Mayor of Peccioli, Renzo Macelloni and architect Maria Alessandra Segantini, CEO of C+S Architects, are betting to repopulate the smaller towns in Italy.Segantini: “It is a new vision to give everyone a social home capable of generating quality food at affordable prices, regenerating impoverished landscapes, building cohesive multi-ethnic and multicultural communities, de-carbonising the construction sector and introducing innovation and circularity in the construction field to restore balance between buildings and nature.” C+S Architects (an architecture office based between Treviso and London, recent winner of the San Marino Roll of Honor and Italian Architect 202... More
News • Specification • 5 Dec 2023
10 buildings, bridges, and a tram stop making use of 3D printing
The use of 3D printing in architecture is on a rapid upward trajectory as architects, academics, engineers, and construction experts find ever greater applications for this technology. Whether or not 3D printing will revolutionize the industry is a matter of ongoing discourse — like any technology, it will have its advocates and critics.
3D printing, also known as “additive manufacturing”, is comparable with the once ubiquitous inkjet printer. The inkjet creates characters and images by squirting ink droplets onto paper in a controlled manner. In a similar way, the 3D printer “prints” or layers a material mix, making a physical object from a three-dimensional digital model. The layering is controlled and repea... More
News • Detail • 20 Oct 2023
Detail: 3D-printed earthen structure of the TECLA prototype, Ravenna
The first eco-sustainable housing model 3D-printed entirely from local raw earth, TECLA (a name derived from the terms ‘technology’ plus ‘clay’) is a prototype home that integrates research, vernacular construction practices, climate studies and bioclimatic principles.
3D printing is an industry and technology that has only recently made its way into the world of architecture. But it has done so at a rapid pace, with companies around the globe now springing up to offer building-printing services using a range of materials, promising one-of-a-kind designs and, often, access to affordable and low-carbon construction practices. Yet hurdles remain, including material costs and the rewriting of regional building co... More
News • News • 29 Jan 2021
3D printed global habitat concept TECLA to be launched in Bologne
In a time of exponential population increase and an associated lack of affordable housing, TECLA is a 3D printed habitat made of reusable, recyclable materials taken from the earth itself. Designed by MC A – Mario Cucinella Architects and engineered and built by WASP (Italy’s pioneering 3d printing specialists), the first prototype of TECLA is due to be launched this year near Bologna, Italy.
WASP
Inspired by the potter wasp, TECLA will be constructed with multiple collaborative 3D printers using locally sourced clay. A biodegradable and recyclable ‘km 0 natural’ material, the use of local clay that will result in a building that is effectively zero-waste.
WASP
The design is able to adapt to multiple envi... More