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"Block, Philippe"
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Challenges and Opportunities in Scaling up Architectural Applications of Mycelium-Based Materials with Digital Fabrication
In an increasing effort to address the environmental challenges caused by the currently linear economic paradigm of “produce, use, and discard”, the construction industry has been shifting towards a more circular model. A circular economy requires closing of the loops, where the end-of-life of a building is considered more carefully, and waste is used as a resource. In comparison to traditional building materials such as timber, steel and concrete, mycelium-based materials are renewable alternatives that use organic agricultural and industrial waste as a key ingredient for production, and do not rely on mass extraction or exploitation of valuable finite or non-finite resources. Mycelium-based materials have shown their potential as a more circular and economically competitive alternative to conventional synthetic materials in numerous industries ranging from packaging, electronic prototyping, furniture, fashion to architecture. However, application of mycelium-based materials in the construction industry has been limited to small-scale prototypes and architectural installations due to low mechanical properties, lack of standardisation in production methods and material characterisation. This paper aims to review the current state of the art in research and applications of mycelium-based materials across disciplines, with a particular focus on digital methods of fabrication, production, and design. The information gathered from this review will be synthesised to identify key challenges in scaling up applications of mycelium-based materials as load-bearing structural elements in architecture and suggest opportunities and directions for future research.
Journal Article
Autonomous assembly : designing for a new era of collective construction
\"We are now on the brink of a new era in construction - that of autonomous assembly. For some time, the widespread adoption of robotic and digital fabrication technologies has made it possible for architects and academic researchers to design non-standard, highly customised structures. These technologies have largely been limited by scalability, focusing mainly on top-down, bespoke fabrication projects, such as experimental pavilions and structures. Autonomous assembly and bottom-up construction techniques hold the promise of greater scalability, adaptability and potentially evolved design possibilities. By capitalising on the advances made in swarm robotics, the collective construction of the animal/insect kingdom, and advances in physical computational, programmable materials or self-assembly, architects and designers are now able to build from the bottom up. This issue presents future scenarios of autonomous assembly by highlighting the viability of decentralised, collective assembly systems, demonstrating the potential to deliver reconfigurable and adaptive solutions.\"--Back cover.
Book
Parametric Stability Analysis of Groin Vaults
This paper presents a parametric stability study of groin, or cross vaults, a structural element widely used in old masonry construction, particularly in Gothic architecture. The vaults’ stability is measured using the geometric safety factor (GSF), computed by evaluating the structure’s minimum thickness through a thrust network analysis (TNA). This minimum thickness is obtained by formulating and solving a specific constrained nonlinear optimisation problem. The constraints of this optimisation enforce the limit analysis’s admissibility criteria, and the equilibrium is calculated using independent force densities on a fixed horizontal projection of the thrust network. The parametric description of the vault’s geometry is defined with respect to the radius of curvature of the vault and its springing angle. This detailed parametric study allows identifying optimal parameters which improve the vaults’ stability, and a comprehensive comparison of these results was performed with known results available for two-dimensional pointed arches. Moreover, an investigation of different force flows represented by different form diagrams was performed, providing a better understanding of the vaults’ structural behaviour, and possible collapse mechanisms were studied by observing the points where the thrust network touches the structural envelope in the limit states. Beyond evaluating the GSF, the groin vault’s stability domain was described to give additional insights into the structural robustness. Finally, this paper shows how advances in equilibrium methods can be useful to understand and assess masonry groin vaults.
Journal Article
Computational Tessellation of Freeform, Cut-Stone Vaults
Contemporary innovations in structural form-finding and fabrication techniques are leading to design of freeform masonry architecture. These new forms create new challenges in laying out tessellation patterns, especially if structural, fabrication and construction requirements as well as aesthetical considerations are taken into account. Addressing these challenges, we review historic stone-cutting strategies and their geometric principles, forming the base for the development of two new discretisation approaches for given thrust surfaces, allowing for various degrees of user control. First, we introduce a tessellation approach based on primal, anisotropic triangular meshes and their dual counterparts. Second, an alternative tessellation approach based on transverse cutting curves is presented. Using a simple set of geometric rules, both methods enable the design of rigid, staggered bonds with locally force-flow aligned block configurations to avoid sliding failures. For this research, the tessellation design of the Armadillo Vault, an unreinforced, dry-assembled, cut-stone stone shell, served as a case study to demonstrate the feasibility of our methods in the context of a full-scale architectural project.
Journal Article
Autonomous assembly
We are now on the brink of a new era in construction – that of autonomous assembly. For some time, the widespread adoption of robotic and digital fabrication technologies has made it possible for architects and academic researchers to design non-standard, highly customised structures. These technologies have largely been limited by scalability, focusing mainly on top-down, bespoke fabrication projects, such as experimental pavilions and structures. Autonomous assembly and bottom-up construction techniques hold the promise of greater scalability, adaptability and potentially evolved design possibilities. By capitalising on the advances made in swarm robotics, the collective construction of the animal/insect kingdom, and advances in physical computational, programmable materials or self-assembly, architects and designers are now able to build from the bottom up. This issue presents future scenarios of autonomous assembly by highlighting the viability of decentralised, collective assembly systems, demonstrating the potential to deliver reconfigurable and adaptive solutions. Contributors include: Marcelo Coelho, Andong Liu, Robin Meier, Kieran Murphy and Heinrich Jaeger, Radhika Nagpal and Kirstin Petersen, and Zorana Zeravcic. Featured architects: Aranda\\Lasch, Arup, Philippe Block, Gramazio Kohler Architects, Ibañez Kim, Achim Menges, Caitlin Mueller, Jose Sanchez, Athina Papadopoulou and Jared Laucks, and Skylar Tibbits.
eBook
MayaVault—a Mesh Modelling Environment for Discrete Funicular Structures
The didactic and fabrication related value of a geometric form-finding method such as Thrust Network Analysis(TNA) has already been established through RhinoVault. However, it also serves as the origin of our proposition that the objectives of the TNA method are better served within a Mesh Modelling Environment (MME). The main contributions of the paper are:1.Incorporating geometric stiffness based form finding methods within an MME.2.Articulating the nature and specifying from a designer’s standpoint the requirements of an interactive exploratory MME that methods like TNA explicitly intend to support and3.Exemplification of the downstream, usually fabrication related, benefits of combining TNA with an MME. The paper also describes the current status of the authors’ efforts in the development of a custom software add-in to the MME of Autodesk\\[^ \\] Maya to demonstrate the said benefits.
Journal Article
When low strength materials meet funicular structures: a sustainable clay floor structure solution for emerging contexts
The inevitable expansion of the built environment due to the rapid growth of the urban population in emerging contexts poses a great challenge for the sustainable development of local communities. This problem could be faced by providing adequate multistorey building solutions while using sustainable and eco-friendly materials, preferably from renewable or upcycled and locally available sources. These materials tend to have lower mechanical properties than those commonly used in conventional structures and therefore not adequate for elements subjected to bending such as floor slabs. This challenge can be met by improving the strength of the locally available materials and/or using geometries specifically designed to lower the structural stresses such as funicular structures. In this study, a novel clay-based cementless material is used. Different mixtures and additives were tested to achieve similar processing advantages as concrete. A parabolic arched floor element is designed based on a parametric analysis using graphic statics to reduce structural stresses and weight. The fabrication system is based on reusable formworks in which locally available earth is used as part of the mould. A four meters span arched floor is built to analyse its structural behaviour and to evaluate the proposed fabrication method.
Journal Article
As Hangs the Flexible Line: Equilibrium of Masonry Arches
In 1675, English scientist Robert Hooke discovered \"the true... ...manner of arches for building,\" which he summarized with a single phrase: \"As hangs the flexible line, so but inverted will stand the rigid arch.\" In the centuries that followed, Hooke's simple idea has been used to understand and design numerous important works. Recent research at MIT on the interactive analysis of structural forces provides new graphical tools for the understanding of arch behavior, which are useful for relating the forces and geometry of masonry structures. The key mathematical principle is the use of graphical analysis to determine possible equilibrium states.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
Journal Article
Tile vaulting in the 21st century
New interactive equilibrium methods for the design and analysis of masonry structures have facilitated the construction of masonry structures with a formal language well beyond what is typically associated with compression-only architecture. These developments have also rekindled interest in tile vaulting, and led to a rediscovery of this traditional building technique. To ensure that tile vaults with new, complex shapes can still be built economically, the construction processes involved in the realisation of these structures have adapted. For example, cheaper and simpler falsework systems have been introduced. In addition, a wide variety of materials have been experimented with to be able to build more sustainable vaulted structures with local resources. This paper presents a review of the latest innovations in tile vaulting, based on the most representative works of the past few years with respect to shape, construction method and the use of materials.
Journal Article