Digital Adobe

Digital Adobe is an innovative research agenda oriented to producing architectural solutions with natural materials and additive manufacturing or 3d printing. The technology, developed in the applied research post graduate program Open Thesis Fabrication, enables to customize the form of a building on multiple scales. Tailoring, from the global form, to the resolution of the section of the wall, allows us to create highly performative structural and passive/climatic behavior.

Through the use of parametric modelling and performance evaluation methods in the project’s development, the project relies on an informed architectural design. Beyond the performance enabled through the design development, the project also develops efficient construction methods and material use: onsite robotics allows the use of local and natural materials for construction.

The research explores built solutions to a wider extent, encompassing the local clay mix, 1:1 scale prototyping, and the implications of this technology applied to the broader construction sector, through the elaboration of diverse construction scenarios.

Starting with a series of smaller-scaled prototypes that have verified the assumptions on the structural and climatic performances of the design of adobe printing on buildings, a 1:1 scale prototype was later on constructed in an attempt to bring the explorations to a real-life architecture level. The conclusive outcome is installed in IAAC’s Valldaura Self-Sufficient Lab campus. It is a 2-metre wide and 5-metre high printed clay wall with a varying thickness (0.7m at its bottom and 0.2m at its top) facing the south. At a height of 2.6m, a wooden slab rests on the wall, as to simulate a clay/wood building unit, where the connections between two materials and the vertical load from horizontal slab can be tested. It is a self-standing structure in which the thickness of the wall and the geometry of its 6 layers are designed to match the structural necessities. The wall is designed according to the local climate, taking into consideration the solar incidence, the yearly temperatures and the humidity.

Digital Adobe is a research on Adobe 3D Printing for Performative Habitat. The research was concluded with the construction of a 1:1 prototype of a performative wall that adapt its morphology to localized structural and climatic needs.

The research by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) have been developed in the Open Thesis Fabrication (OTF) program 2017-18, in collaboration with Windmill and LaSalle, together with the support of Nanosystems, ArtCon and SmartCitizen

Faculty :

Alexandre Dubor, Co-Director
Edouard Cabay, Co-Director
Mathilde Marengo, Scientific Research Advisor
Kunaljit Chadha, Fabrication Expert
Sebastien Moreno, Fabrication Assistant

Students :

Ya-Chieh Chang
Daniele Fiore
Filipp Sevostianov
Gelder van Limburg Stirum
Ghazal Refalian
Quan li
Sheikh Rizvi Riaz
Dongliang Ye

Special thanks :

Structural Engineering Consultant Josep Ramon Solé – WINDMILL
Climatic Performance Consultant Glòria Font – LA SALLE
Climatic Performance Support Nadia Soledad Ibañez Iralde / Master’s Students – LA SALLE
Zeer Pot Monitorization Zeynep Aksoz
Rendering Support Josep Alcover
Fabrication Support Martin Seymour / Raimund Krenmueller / Fab lab team
Valldaura Construction Support Jonathan Minchin
Sensor Monitorization Support Víctor Barberán – SMARTCITIZEN
Computational Design Support Rodrigo Aguirre
Hydrophobic Coating Sponsorship Joan Ramon Gallart Torras – NANOSYSTEMS
Academic Coordination Marco Ingrassia
Hand+mental support All who gave us a hand