This paper reports on the research-driven design process of an innovative thermal mass concept: Convective Concrete. The goal is to improve building energy efficiency and comfort levels by addressing some of the shortcomings of conventional building slabs with high thermal storage capacity. Such heavyweight constructions tend to have a slow response time and do not make effective use of the available thermal mass. Convective Concrete explores new ways of making more intelligent use of thermal mass in buildings. To accomplish this on-demand charging of thermal mass, a network of ducts and fans is embedded in the concrete wall element. This is done by developing customized formwork elements in combination with advanced concrete mixtures. To achieve an efficient airflow rate, the embedded lost formwork and the concrete itself function like a lung. The convection takes place with separate pipes on both sides of the concrete’s core to increase the charge/discharge of the thermal storage process. The first stage of the research, described in this paper, is to simulate the Convective Concrete at the component level, whereupon a mock-up is tested in a climate test set-up. The paper concludes with describing planned activities for turning this concept into a real building product. ... Read more

The advent of Additive Manufacturing (AM) of ceramic, brought unprecedented possibilities for the building industry while exploring and incorporating components with specific design requirements. It definitively reshaped and expanded the boundaries of what's possible to achieve with masonry construction and opened new domains, with multiple angles of study and experimentation and with a large industrial potential. This paper presents the main challenges and outcomes of an ongoing research project aiming to explore the integration of digital additive manufacturing techniques in the architectural design and production processes of free-form stoneware bricks for building envelopes. The project uses a clay extruding printer, Lutum®, built by the company Vormvrij available at the Advanced Ceramics R& D Lab, at the Design Institute of Guimaraes and at Technische Universitat Darmstadt. The path, material flow and printing speed of the printing process are defined digitally. The movement speed, extrusion flow and the air pressure can be controlled manually to adapt the specific printing process to the characteristics of the clay during the printing process itself The widely accepted Pfefferkorn method has been extensively used to evaluate and control the plasticity of the stoneware used. ... Read more

Thermal mass is usually positively associated with energy efficiency and thermal comfort in buildings. However, the slow response of heavyweight constructions is not beneficial at all times, as these dynamic effects may actually also increase heating and cooling energy demand during intermittent operation or can cause unwanted discomfort. This study investigates the potential of energy simulations to support the exploration-driven development of two innovative responsive building elements: “Spong3D” and “Convective Concrete”. Both use fluid flow (Spong3D: water, Convective Concrete: air) inside the construction to reduce building energy demand by exploiting the use of natural energy sinks and sources in the ambient environment, aiming to make more intelligent use of thermal mass. During the development of these concepts, different simulation tools were used alongside experiments for e.g. materials selection, climate analysis, comfort prediction and risk assessment. By presenting the results from a series of simulation studies and by reflecting on their application, this paper shows how computational building performance analyses can play a useful role in ill-defined R&D processes. ... Read more

In 2014, a 3D-printed Canal House by DUS architects caught the attention of the world – including President Obama. The 3D Print Canal House proved the potentials of Additive Manufacturing for architecture and construction. Additive Manufacturing provides the architect with completely new solutions for realising tool-less production methods while allowing maximum freedom of design. Additive Manufacturing is ideally suited for Rapid Prototyping. It is possible to manufacture physical presentation and functional prototypes with complex shapes quickly and cost-efficiently without the need for manual processing – directly using three-dimensional CAD construction data. This makes the entire product development process considerably faster.

Imagine 10 explores the potentials of Additive Manufacturing for architecture by charting the current state of technology, discussing its implications for design and construction processes, and presents research projects as well as concept ideas for future Additive Manufacturing applications.
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