B-4: Sustainable Design Through Additive Manufacturing

From class discussion, Reece and I became interested in additive manufacturing from the presentation on 3D Printing concrete. Initially, we wanted to focus on how additive manufacturing would affect the future of construction. However, we quickly realized that this would result in too broad of a paper. Thus, we decided to focus on using additive manufacturing to increase sustainability in design. We will be looking at the current issues in the construction industry in terms of sustainability and whether 3D printing can help resolve those issues. Some of the current issues we will focus on from construction are construction waste, energy consumption, and efficiency of current methods. The paper will look at the current state of additive manufacturing and how much has been implemented in large scale construction. In addition, we will look at how additive manufacturing can help create structures using standard materials, such as concrete and steel, but also whether new material (made of recycled material or invented materials) can be used to increase sustainability and overall performance of the material. Our topic relates to intelligent buildings as the overall construction of buildings affect the building’s efficiency and performance. The paper would look at the advantages and disadvantages of additive manufacturing. This will be compared to the criteria we have set as to what makes a design sustainable. We will be focusing at reduced waste and cost, performance, reduced carbon footprint, and building’s life cycle. Based on preliminary research, we hope to conclude that there is a future of sustainability improvements through additive manufacturing, and analyze the setback this might face when being introduced, but also propose solutions as to how they might be overcome.

Ina, 

I think your group chose an interesting topic for your paper. I relate to your starting issue of having a broad topic. It was also hard for my group to narrow our topic from additive manufacturing to sustainable materials in additive manufacturing. I look forward to hearing about your findings and how much can robotics get involved in the construction process. 

Dane,

This is a great topic for your paper. I agree with you that is hasn't been covered in depth in class, so I am happy that your group decided to research this. I look forward to hear your conclusion on how generative design will impact architecture and whether this is the future of design. I am also interested what are the pushback that this type of design would have to overcome in order to be adapted. 

Jake, 

This is a really interesting topic, and I think it is a great spin to compare robotics between Philadelphia and Dubai. I agree with the fact that Dubai is one of the leaders in architecture and construction, so it'll be interesting to see how far is Philadelphia from reaching this. I was also intrigued by one point you mentioned, which was what are designs that would only be possible with robots. I look forward to hearing the examples you find and the end results of your paper.