There has been talk of 3D printing revolutionizing the construction industry for some time, but fantastical visions of outrageously intricate prototypes and robot builders have been tempered by suspicions amongst many that the technology is a novelty, lacking the practicality for use on a mass scale. With this in mind, experimental design firm Branch Technology’s new competition — the Freeform Home Design Challenge — encouraged architecture firms to harness this rapidly developing technology with a combination of creativity and pragmatism that would allow it to proliferate across the residential sector.
Left: Architect Laith Sayigh with his dog Bella; right: Skip Stone House by DFA
Architizer spoke to architect Laith Sayigh, principal of New York-based firm DFA, about his studio’s innovative entry for the competition — the elegant, sculptural Skip Stone House. The architect also expanded on his firm’s excitement about the potential benefits of 3D printing in construction, and how the technology could fundamentally change the way we design buildings in the future — here’s what Sayigh had to say.
Paul Keskeys: What led you to investigate 3D printing as a design and construction technique?
Laith Sayigh: As an architecture studio, we’ve been following what’s going on in the technology world very closely, with a lot of interest. I think as a means of production 3D printing is definitely going to be the way forward; it is something that we are really excited about. From day one, as the technology has been emerging — there have been a couple of firms in Holland that we were following, as well as some companies in the United States — we’ve been 100% behind it. From our perspective, we think this is really where architecture is heading.
It opens up the possibility of creating really fantastic architecture, fundamentally very affordably, and also very efficiently. I think the biggest thing that inspires me is the ability to produce structures that are inherently hyper-efficient. They are quick to build, and engender both the reduction of waste and the reduction of redundancies. In the construction industry, as far as materials are concerned, this is huge. From a sustainable perspective, I think a huge part of 3D printing in architecture will be really bringing down waste to an absolute minimum.
Can you walk us through the design process for your 3D-printed prototype home, Skip Stone House?
The aspect of Branch Technology that we really love is the ability to produce a framework, a mesh, that’s 3D printed and can pretty much form any shape that one wants. That then gets infused with either a concrete, or a lightweight foam — some kind of solidifying filler. This process means the sky is the limit in terms of the shape, the form and the structural integrity.
When we were designing Skip Stone House, we asked ourselves: how can we create something that’s super efficient, super simple, yet also looks to take this technology and use it to the max? We thought it would be great to have a plane that starts at ground level and then turns to become the shelter, then turns again to become the floor plane, all in one move. In essence that’s really what the design is. It starts off at one end of the site, from the ground, and rises up to become the roof — it’s a green roof essentially — and then curves underneath itself to form the floor, the deck and the pool.
We could show you all of the crazy iterations and versions that developed, but we ended up coming back to that very, very simple move. We explored some pretty wild ones in the process. But there was just something very simple and very elegant about this option. My office really enjoys it when an idea really comes together — it’s what I always call a “snap” moment. It’s the moment that makes it all click into place. You think: that’s it; it works. It does everything we want it to do.
It’s elegant; it’s simple; it’s a smart use of materials. I think Skip Stone really encapsulates these ideals. There is very little redundancy, and it uses this technology in a really good way.
Is 3D printing the future of home design? If so, what challenges will the industry face in bringing it to mass production?
Let’s be honest about this, I think it’s really still early days. The technology still has quite a way to go; it hasn’t been fully tried and tested, and I’m sure there’s going to be some hiccups along the way. But in essence, we are going in a very promising direction, in as far as the technology that we have currently out there. By issuing this competition, I think the people at Branch Technology are really smart because they’re essentially saying “let’s have a go” — let’s see what designers out there would do with our technology, and then let’s have a go at building it. Let’s do a couple of the test houses and see how it works, and then develop from there.
I think the lessons that they’re going to learn from that process are going to be massive. Hopefully they’ll be able to take that on and introduce it to the industry at a much larger scale — that’s going to be the critical moment for them. As far as really, really large structures — anything multi-story — that, I think, is still an unchartered area.
But in essence, everything needed is there. The actual medium that’s used to create the lattice has a carbon fiber content to it, and I think one of the things that’s really exciting is that carbon fiber technology is rapidly becoming affordable. It’s advancing exponentially by the year, so eventually, we’re going to have carbon fiber 3D-printed structures that are phenomenally efficient. That’s really the moment — when that “snap” moment happens — that you’re really going to see a revolution explode.
How do you think the adoption of 3D printing as a construction method will change design development itself? Will you still use the same kinds of software, such as Revit, and what other technologies do you see becoming part of the architect’s process?
It’s definitely going to change how we approach design, at least from a technical perspective of producing drawings. Revit was one of the first leaps into the fully integrated 3D-design process for architects, and that in itself is going to change radically in the next few years.
I think we’re going to see a move into virtual reality, and that opens up a whole new realm where we’re going to start designing in a virtual reality environment, and move straight from virtual reality into construction. This will lead to another shift — a leap, in fact — in the way we produce our drawings at architecture and design firms. I think that technology is on the cusp right now. It’s a truly exciting time.
