Imprinting Concrete Graded Transparency in 3D Concrete Printing Walls (2023-03)¶

Robotic fabrication technologies enable customisation and automation for the construction industry. Specifically, 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP) has advanced rapidly in recent years with innovations in robotics, material science, and large-scale application. While 3D printed walls take up most of the applications of the technology at an architectural scale, the design and fabrication methods based on multi-materiality are limited. This paper presents a method for the creation of walls with graded transparency by embedding glass rods in between the printed concrete layers. To achieve this, a computational design tool was developed to explore the distribution of transparent rods within the opaque mass of concrete. Furthermore, the designs are tested with two fabrication methods based on human-robot collaboration and multi-robot fabrication processes by simultaneously 3D printing concrete and placing the rods. The presented results and identified challenges outline the potential of multi-material additive manufacturing methods for architectural applications materialised either through human-robot collaboration or as a multi-robotic fabrication process.