Innovating Design at Dutch Design Week 2021
For Dutch Design Week 2021, TU/e students designed parametric columns that Vertico 3D printed in concrete. The work came out of Concrete Futures, a seminar Vertico taught with Assistant Professor Cristina Nan. The columns stand 2.2 m tall and were printed without formwork.
Concrete Futures: a seminar at TU/e
3D printing has become an established production technology for designers in recent years. With concrete additive manufacturing, it is now moving into architecture and construction.
Vertico and Cristina Nan taught Concrete Futures at the department of Architectural Design and Engineering of the Technical University of Eindhoven.
Students explored algorithm-aided design and developed parametric columns for 3D concrete printing. Their designs experiment with new material expressions for concrete, slicing techniques and algorithmic patterning. Learn more about our work with universities on the education page.
"The aim of this project is to focus on the aesthetic, algorithm-aided innovation that is now available to designers and architects. This technique enables us to produce unique columns at virtually no extra cost." Cristina Nan, Assistant Professor TU/e
Computational design meets material behavior
The seminar combines computational design, digital fabrication and an understanding of how concrete behaves as a material.
The prototypes were built up layer by layer, like other 3D printing techniques. Unlike polymer printing, 3D concrete printing normally does not allow significant overhang.
Vertico's Accelerated Concrete Printing technology aims to change that. Our Accelerator Printhead can print overhangs of up to 60 degrees, bringing more of the design freedom of polymer printing to concrete.
Hollow columns, printed without formwork
The columns were printed without formwork to a height of 2.2 m.
They are hollow, which reduces weight and material use. This deposition strategy makes fabrication more sustainable than traditional concrete casting. A year later, the collaboration continued with a 2-meter column at Dutch Design Week 2022.
Credits
- Seminar lead: Cristina Nan, Assistant Professor TU/e
- University: Technical University of Eindhoven, department of Architectural Design and Engineering
- 3D concrete printing: Vertico
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