Category: – Organizations

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TECLA House

TECLA House, designed by MCA and engineered by WASP.

The TECLA House is a collaboration between Mario Cucinella Architects (MCA) and World’s Advanced Saving Project (WASP). The name “TECLA” is a portmanteau of “technology” and “clay,” and references Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, specifically the fictional city of Thekla, were construction never ceases.

Massimo Moretti, WASP founder.
Mario Cucinella, MCA founder.

 

The materials used in the TECLA House include local clay and soil, water, rice husks, and a binder (which constitutes less than 5% of the total mixture). This makes it a true “0km building,” meaning the materials are sourced directly from the site on which the dwelling is built. WASP, an Italian 3D printing firm, brought their technological expertise to the project. Founded in 2012 by Massimo Moretti, WASP unveiled Crane WASP, their flagship 3D printer, in 2018. Mario Cucinella, the principal architect on this project, designed a morphology inspired by the potter wasp and based on the research of the School of Sustainability (SOS), Cucinella’s post-graduate school.

Sketch for the TECLA House by Mario Cucinella.

 

Interior view of the TECLA House.

TECLA was built with 350 layers of 3D printed earth. The configuration of the walls was dictated by the humidity and temperature of the climate, and SOS made several infill case studies optimized for different geographical locations.

Detail of the TECLA printing process.
Diagram of the infill configuration of TECLA.

 

Crane WASP imagined as a modular system of infinite extent.

The TECLA House is the first dwelling built using multiple 3D printers working simultaneously and collaboratively. This project was the proof of concept for the Crane WASP. WASP claims that Crane WASP is an infinite 3D printer, whose print area of 50 square meters can be extended in a modular fashion to cover a printing area of arbitrary size.

The two Italian firms built their prototypical TECLA house in Massa Lombarda, Italy, but the idea is that the house can be reproduced anywhere. WASP advertises their “Maker Economy Starter Kit,” which can be purchased online and fits inside a single shipping container. TECLA can be reproduced in “200 hours of printing, […] 150 km of extrusion, 60 cubic meters of natural materials for an average consumption of less than 6 kW.” Interested parties can also purchase an entire Crane WASP rig for €160,000.

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IAAC: Open Thesis Fabrication

image of 3d printing robot making curvy cellular forms out of clay
Image Source: OTF Booklet

Open Thesis Fabrication is a six-month applied research program for postgraduates at the Institute for advanced architecture of Catalonia.

The program focus is on combining additive manufacturing with construction technology to create sustainable architecture with key areas of research in robotic manufacturing, material research, and performance-based design.

The program works with non-governmental organizations to develop designs for use in African humanitarian contexts and is comprised of architects, engineers, designers, and professionals with previous knowledge of digital fabrication and computational design.

It’s learning objectives are for program participants to:

  • Gain experience in large-scale 3D printing
  • Develop skills in digital fabrication, computational design, and material research
  • Learn to provide architectural solutions considering various aspects of construction

This is achieved through the implementation of three phases, Exploration, Prototype Design Charettes, and Prototype Construction.

chart that displays the phases of implementation and timeline
Image Source: OTF Booklet

Examples of projects that have been completed include:

  • Digital Adobe – A 2-meter wide and 5-meter-high printed clay wall [2017-2018]
  • Terraperforma – A façade design of parametrically constructed modules optimized for solar radiation, wind behavior, and structural 3D printing [2016-2017]
  • Digital Urban Orchard – A wooden pavilion made with digital and robotic fabrication divided into a wooden structure, aquaponic system, and silicon skin designed to capture the ideal solar radiation for winter and summer.
  • Minibuilders – a family of small-scale construction robots that are capable of constructing objects larger than itself in order to address the limitation found in additive manufacturing that often constrains the proportions of fabricated objects to the size of the machine.
Image Source: OTF Booklet
Image Source: OTF Booklet
Image Source: OTF Booklet

 

Image Source: OTF Booklet
schematic and images of mini robots being used to produce clay structures larger than the size of the machine
Image Source: OTF Booklet

For more information regarding tuition fees, how to apply, grading systems, etc., be sure to check out IAAC OTF resource guide: https://iaac.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/OTF_Booklet_2019-22-07-2.pdf

 

 

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Daw’an Mud Brick Architecture Foundation

The Daw’an Mud Brick Architecture Foundation is a private independent organization, financially autonomous and accountable, registered at the Office of Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Hadramut Branch with goal to:

    Set up, operate and manage Architectural Projects including design, infrastructure and urban planning for the rehabilitation of towns and villages, individual sites and buildings

    Carry out Architectural Surveys and documentation; prepare drawings and reports for existing buildings/ sites identified for rehabilitation or restoration and establish their renewal requirements

    Provide specifications and costing for projects based on the above enlisting the expertise and services of Master Builders and craftsmen
    Design of new projects including public and private buildings and extensions, based on sensitive, challenging architectural concepts and use of building materials

    Advise on new projects, design and planning initiatives, taking into account area conservation and rehabilitation legislation building codes and regulations

    Prioritise agricultural development areas, water and spate irrigation and flooding schemes, and assist with setting up organic farming projects
    Assist with organic and industrial waste management

    Publish and disseminate work in progress through Seminars, Conferences and Workshops and liaise with regional and international universities, academics, and professional experts

For more information visit The Daw’an Mud Brick Architecture Foundation website.

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Building Local


Building Local is a design-build studio that will explore and discuss the aesthetic, assembly and tectonic qualities of local materials: earth, stone, fique, bamboo and wood, engaging students in a series of workshops that will culminate in the design and construction of an efficient and innovative farmhouse. The studio will take place in Barichara, a colonial town located in the North Western region of Colombia. It is open to graduate and upper-level undergraduate students (juniors and seniors) who are interested in engaging in the explorations of these techniques and their use in contemporary architecture.

The studio is organized by:

Maria Carrizosa, a licensed architect in Colombia and holds an undegraduate degree in architecture from Universidad de Los Andes and a dual Master’s degree in Architecture, and City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley. Her design practice in Colombia ranges from institutional to housing projects, developing two award-winning projects for a public library and a music school in rural communities. She has been involved in architectural education in both Colombia and the US and continues her participation as a guest juror in the College of Environmental Design and as an Adjunct Professor at the Diablo Valley Community College. Maria is interested in collaborative practices in both architecture and planning to provide communities with the necessary tools to improve and shape the spaces they live in.

Ana Maria Gutierrez, the co-founder of Organizmo, an organization that promotes the principles of permaculture, bio-architecture and the implementation of intuitive technologies. She holds a BFA in Architectural Design from the Parsons School of Design and Master in Interactive Telecomunication ITP from New York University.

Adriana Navarro, who holds a dual Master’s degree in Architecture, and City and Regional Planning from the University of California at Berkeley. Born and raised in Colombia (S.A), she received a BS Arch (Honors) from the University of Virginia in 2004. After working for Rafael Viñoly Architects, and OPX Global in Washington DC, Adriana moved to California to begin her graduate studies in 2007. As a 2010 John K. Branner Fellow, Adriana traveled the world, focusing her research, FAVELA CHIC, on socio-cultural aspects of design, particularly analyzing the role and relationship between architecture, planning and urban informality. Adriana is founder of the blog FAVELissues.

For more information visit http://buildinglocal.wordpress.com

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The Terra [In]cognita Project

The Terra [In]cognita (Earthen architecture in Europe) project was created to raise public awareness of the heritage and contemporary application of earthen architecture through the Outstanding Earth Architecture in Europe Award in the following categories:

  • Buildings with archaeological, historical or architectural interest
  • Buildings s subjects of a remarkable and relevant intervention (restoration, rehabilitation or extension)
  • Buildings constructed after 1970

    • View the Terra [In]cognita Project here.

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Adobe for Women

Adobe for Women is a non-profit association, founded in 2011, whose goal is the recovery and education of earth construction techniques; this is our contribution to a more human and sustainable use of space and the planet’s resources. The goal of this Project is to build 20 sustainable houses in the indigenous village of San Juan Mixtepec, in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.

The houses are intended for 20 women in difficult circumstances who will participate in the building process. They will slowly appropriate their future home and simultaneously re find their self esteem, work abilities and hope that will transform the spaces into safe, caring places for their families.
The houses are energy efficient and built with local materials such as adobe and bamboo.

[via Treehugger.com]

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Afghan Earth Works

Afghan Earth Works is a non-profit organization working at a variety of sites around Afghanistan. Their goals are simple. They are to create valued, decently paid jobs; to show how earth, the most readily available material, may be used to create comfortable buildings which their occupants will cherish and that they can repair themselves; and to teach updated construction methods so that the buildings are both durable in Afghanistan’s harsh climate, and safe in the earthquakes which periodically devastate parts of the country.

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Vote For Earth

Abari has entered the Dell Social Innovation Competition, which operates like a business-plan competition, awarding seed funding directly to the student-led venture that best meets the judges’ criteria. Vote for their project, which seeks establish a center to design and build/prefabricate houses, schools, toilets, furniture etc. out of bamboo and earth. The center will promote traditional (and dying) construction skills by mobilizing community members and appropriating locally available materials like bamboo and earth to build modern ecological, economical and beautiful infrastructure for individuals or communities.

Registration is easy and takes 20 seconds. Vote!