Additive Manufacturing for the Development of an Assembling System for Gridshells

Abstract

This project results from the collaboration of architects, structural and material scientists. It consists in a multidisciplinary, collective design method, based on the deep relations between material selection, process selection, as well as geometrical and mechanical requirements. Our contribution illustrates the very promising possibilities of 3D printing as a means to solve various issues and innovate in architecture, structural engineering and materials science. This potential raises the question of the role additive manufacturing already has today, and of the role it will have in the next years. Since its appearance, this technology has been presented as a key item to a new industrial revolution, and the many breakthroughs in the materials or processes used and in the first applications found for additive manufacturing seem to guarantee, even if not an industrial revolution, a leading role for additive manufacturing in prototyping and production processes at every scale of fabrication. Along with the potentials of this manufacturing process left to explore and the applications left to invent are also issues to be solved, such as finding a cleaner, more respectful to the environment, way of printing.