Printsugi: Matter as Met, Matter as Printed. Leveraging Computational Design Tools for a More Virtuous Material Extraction and End-of-Life

You’re outside. You want to build. There’s earth. There’s twigs and logs. There’s stones. There’s all you need. Our research proposes to leverage 3D-printing and computational design strategies to use matter as met, i.e., matter as found on site in building processes. Combined into a design method enabling disassembly and reassembly, this approach enables less transformation of the materials used and thus less energy consumption. It also renders possible the use of resources without a brutal extraction process, as well as a focus on materials that are locally available. We propose a design and fabrication workflow in answer to these requirements. This workflow starts with testing raw earth available on the site in order to devise a recipe for the raw earth to be 3D-printed. The second step is the collection, sorting, and 3D-scanning of other types of materials available on site, such as logs and stones. The third step is the resort to a computational design process placing these materials in the most relevant place within the shape that is to be constructed. The fourth step is to model connectors linking these pieces together. The fifth step is to print the connectors by using the recipe devised in the first step. To print the pieces, a low-cost 3D-printer is to be used on site, in order to remain as local as possible. As the connectors are to be only components of the structure, they are of small scale and the 3D-printer can thus have a relatively small printing area as well. The final step is to assemble the structure by bringing together connectors and materials. A prototype serves as a case study to demonstrate each of the steps within the paper, using raw stones and clay connectors.