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The 3D Concrete printing (3DCP) project is a collaboration between Yota Adilenidou, Ph.D. researcher in Computation and Digital Fabrication at the Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL, and Technical University of Eindhoven + Zeeshan Yunus Ahmed, Ph.D. researcher in 3DCP at TU/e. The design is part of the Ph.D. by Architectural design by Yota Adilenidou “Scripting Errors” under the supervision of Prof. Marjan Colletti and Prof. Stephen Gage at UCL. The object is a part of a column as one variation of a number within a series of vertical elements simulating body formations with Cellular Automata.

The challenge of this fabrication project lies in the combination of more complex geometries with the large-scale Fuse Deposition Modelling (FDM) 3DCP technique which until now has been limited to simple forms. The advantage of 3DCP and the facilities of TU/e is that they allow the fabrica­tion of large scale components giving the green light to the robotic fabri­cation of larger buildings and infrastructure elements, with most recent example a 3DCP bridge that has been constructed by TU/e. The innovation of this current collaboration is that the above technology is being tested now in a more advanced surface, with more intense cantilevers and detail resolution, something which leads to a form and a structure that is flexible and adaptable to its environment. Also, as the printing object consists of one of many different possibilities from the same design methodology, the resulting 3d printing methodology can be applied to the rest of the objects belonging to the same design “family”.

The print consists of 6 different layers printed separately. The interesting aspect is that this project is an experiment. For this reason, each layer is printed with a different extrusion nozzle, making the parts slightly differ­entiated.

Philosophy of Design: The design is inspired by the development of an embryo to a full body through a perfect grid that mutates during growth. Cellular Automata structures provide an adaptable system that results in multiple variations, and among them errors, within the same set of rules in a similar way with a “genetic toolkit”. A similar system of infinite possi­bilities thus variations can be outsourced through the fabrication process allowing for a construction toolkit of defined steps which within differen­tiated parameters can provide countless built outcomes. This can lead to new built elements that are easily adaptable to their animate and inanimate environment.