Among last year’s applicants was a proposalby Prof. Giovanni Betti together with students from German International University in Berlin (GIU Berlin). Although the project was not selected as one of the residency winners, the concept stood out enough for Vertico to continue the collaboration in the form of a shortened residency and fabrication workshop in Eindhoven.
The proposal explored a simple but ambitious question: what if architectural cladding could be integrated directly during the printing process instead of being applied afterward?
From Protective Layer to Integrated System
The initial idea emerged from challenges commonly faced in large scale earth printing. While earthen materials allows for highly expressive and sustainable forms structure sprinted with this technique remain vulnerable to rain and environmental exposure. The team proposed using shingles inserted directly between printed layers to create an integrated protective skin.
The original concept imagined operators wearing AR glasses to guide the precise placement of each shingle during fabrication. As the project developed, the idea evolved from a speculative workflow into a full scale fabrication experiment.
Rather than starting with clay, the team decided to test the concept using concrete in order to better understand how a printed structure behaves when foreign materials are inserted during the printing process. Questions quickly emerged:
● Would the inserted shingles strengthen the structure or weaken it?
● Could the print continue smoothly without collapsing?
● How would the concrete bond around thin metal elements?
● Could cladding become part of the fabrication logic itself?
The project gradually transformed from a material experiment into a prototype for a new type of multifunctional architectural system.
Designing the Dome
The final prototype consists of two printed dome[5.1] halves forming a small pavilion with integrated seating. Together, the two elements create a semi enclosed space intended for gathering, conversation, and shelter.
From the outside, the reflective surface creates a constantly changing appearance depending on light conditions and viewing angle. From the inside, the geometry reveals a softer and more continuous pattern shaped by the printed layers.
The pavilion explores an unusual dialogue between rough concrete and reflective aluminum, between robotic precision and manual intervention.
Developing the Fabrication Process
One of the first practical challenges was the placement of the shingles during printing. While AR assisted positioning remained part of the conceptual framework, the team eventually developed a simpler and more robust solution.
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Small concave markings were printed to indicate the exact location of each shingle. This allowed the team to manually insert the pieces during fabrication without additional digital guidance systems.
At the same time, multiple material tests were carried out to understand which type of shingle performed best inside the printed structure. The team experimented with aluminum and stainless steel variants, perforated and solid surfaces, and different thicknesses.
The final solution used 0.8 mm aluminum shingles with perforations on the folded section embedded into the concrete layers. The perforations improved mechanical bonding between layers and allowed the fresh concrete to better connect through the inserted material.
Before the final fabrication, Giovanni Betti and the students also produced a series of clay studies and small scale prototypes exploring geometry, overlap logic, and material behaviour.
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A Three Day Fabrication Workshop
The fabrication phase took place during a three day residency at Vertico’s facility in Eindhoven.
The workshop began with an introduction to robotic concrete printing, slicing workflows, and print preparation for large scale fabrication. Students were introduced to the practical realities of working with concrete printing systems, from toolpath preparation to material behaviour during fabrication.
The printing itself quickly became the most intense and collaborative part of the process.
Each dome half reached 2.5 meters in height, requiring participants to work directly alongside the robot while carefully inserting shingles layer by layer as the structure continued to grow.
To emphasize the contrast between materials, the team used a dark concrete pigment that amplified reflections from the aluminum shingles and enhanced the visual depth of the surface.
The process became less about producing a finished object and more about understanding the interaction between robotic fabrication, material behavior, and human participation within the same workflow.
Beyond Printing Objects
The completed pavilion demonstrates more than a new aesthetic direction for 3D printed concrete.
Rather than applying cladding as a secondary operation, the project proposes integrating multiple architectural functions directly into fabrication itself. Structure, enclosure, weather protection, surface articulation, and assembly begin to merge into a single continuous process.
The experiment also points toward future possibilities for earth and clay based printing systems, where integrated protective layers may help address one of the biggest limitations of exposed printed earthen architecture.
At the same time, the project highlights the value of collaborative research environments where universities, students, designers, and fabrication labs can test ideas at full scale.
What began as a residency application eventually became a shared research process, a fabrication workshop, and a full scale architectural prototype exploring how robotic manufacturing can expand the relationship between material, structure, and architectural skin.
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