Exploring the Potential of 3D Printing with the Striatus Bridge Project

 

Striatus 3D Printed Bridge – The Striatus 3D printed bridge project was developed by a team of partners including Zaha Hadid Architects Computation and Design group, the Block Research Group, and Incremental3D. It was made possible by the material engineering, logistics and financial support of Holcim. The project brief emphasized the importance of a collaborative and multidisciplinary approach from the very beginning, and aimed to demonstrate the potential for sustainable use of concrete through the use of unreinforced masonry and 3D concrete printing. The project also aimed to show how a common language of geometry and code can enable innovative design and construction, and how collaborative research and integrated computational design can help overcome the challenges facing the industry.

Architizer chatted with Shajay Bhooshan, co-founder of Zaha Hadid Architects Computation & Design Research Group (ZHACODE), to learn more about this project.

Architizer: What inspired the initial concept for your design?

Shajay Bhooshan: 3D Concrete Printing(3DCP) is an implementation of Digital Concrete – the digital design and robotic manufacturing of concrete building parts. However, digital concrete:

• Ignores digital design, which is separated from manufacturing aspects;
• Ignores aspects of circular construction such as end of life reuse of material, design for disassembly etc. is not considered
• Often implemented using large gantry robots and in-situ fabrication which does not fully exploit 3DCP features

The intention for Striatus was to extend the idea to digital concrete to a Sustainable Digital Concrete by addressing the following key aspects:

• Integration of design and fabrication
• Demonstrating an operative pathway to address Circular construction aspects such as design of disassembly, reuse of concrete, reduction of total mass of concrete and steel used etc
• Fully exploit features of non-parallel printing, customised prefabrication of blocks of concrete using agile, smaller robots etc.

This project won in the 10th Annual A+ Awards! What do you believe are the standout components that made your project win?

Standout aspects:

• A Striated, new language for concrete that is spatially engaging, tectonically expressive, structurally and materially minimal, and constructionally responsible. This contrasts to the current, cast, solid language of concrete, associated with enormous waste.
• The conception of 3DCP as a synthetic, prefabricated stone and its combination with the unreinforced masonry paradigm to address sustainable use of concrete. Thus, the combination of the ancient wisdoms of masonry construction with modern computational and robotic technologies allows retaining the enduring and high performance qualities of concrete whilst mitigating its embodied carbon and energy.
• The use of 3DCP features such as inclined layers of concrete in a visually appealing and functional way. The project makes visible the craftsmanship of the architects, engineers and fabricators similarly to the Roman bridges or Gothic cathedrals. This aspect of architecture has sadly gone missing in 20th century architecture and Striatus demonstrates that a revival is possible

In what ways did you collaborate with others, and were there any team members or skills that were essential in bringing this Award winning project to life?

Striatus is a project by Block Research Group and Zaha Hadid Architects Computation and Design group, with Incremental3D. It was made possible by Holcim. In other words, it was co-authored by a collaborative team of architects, engineers, and robotic fabricators. The vision for the project was to demonstrate the need and value for Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry to come together to address the challenges facing the industry of responsibly creating engaging designs.

Thus, brief was to demonstrate the value of engineers being involved in the design, designers understanding and contributing to engineering concerns, fabricators responding to design intent etc.This is in stark contrast to the current scenario where the principal stakeholders are engaged in serial and siloed fashion

Credits

Striatus is a project by Block Research Group and Zaha Hadid Architects Computation and Design group, with Incremental3D. It was made possible by Holcim.

For more on Striatus 3D Printed Bridge, please visit the in-depth project page on Architizer.

Striatus 3D Printed Bridge Gallery