Architect Marcel Breuer developed innovative solutions for a novel industrial approach of modular construction methods at the IBM Research Center in LaGaude, France (1960-1962). By using prefabricated, standardized concrete building elements, load-bearing functions and solar control could be combined in one building element, avoiding the need for multi-layered building systems. However, the standardized manufacturing method at that time was not yet capable of customizing building elements to address local requirements within the building envelope or to differentiate the inner structure due to the concrete casting methods available at that time.

Today, Additive Manufacturing technology for Construction (AMC) provide a high degree of design freedom, capable of combining complex local requirements with streamlined manufacturing processes. Therefore, Marcel Breuer‘s concept served as an initial framework for design explorations of one-component building envelope elements enhanced by AMC, in which the overall design can adapt to local parameters such as sun position and orientation, as well as considering thermal aspects and load-bearing requirements within the inner structure. By utilizing the AMC method Selective Cement Activation (SCA), this design project aimed at expanding traditional industrial construction methods towards non-standard, mass-customized, and resource-efficient alternatives.

The collaborative demonstrator, which originated in the Breuer x AM design proposal developed within the design studio “From AM to Architecture”, was designed and planned to validate a) the general applicability of the design approach for multi-scale, customized, and site-specific building envelope elements; b) the functional hybridization of the simultaneous incorporation of thermal aspects and load-bearing requirements, as well as integrated joint details in one building component, and c), the fabricability via the SCA process of such large-scale components.

Credits:

Research, Planning- and Realisation
Julia Fleckenstein (Design Lead)
Friedrich Herding (Material Lead)
Niklas Meier (Material)
David Briels (Building Physics)
Hendrik Weigel (Structural Engineer)
Abtin Baghdadi (Structural Engineer)
Gerrit Placzek (Project Consultant)

Architectural Design
Mia Düpree & Mareen Fechner
AMtoARC – Course supervised by Prof. Helga Blocksdorf, Prof. Dr. Kathrin Dörfler, Prof. Dr. Norman Hack, Prof. Florian Nagler

Sicientific Supervison
Prof. Dr. Kathrin Dörfler
Prof. Dr.- Ing. Dirk Lowke,
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Arno Kwade
Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Patrick Schwerdtner
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Martin Empelmann
Prof. Thomas Auer
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harald Kloft

Industry Partners
additive tectonics GmbH
Bruno Knychalla
Christian Wiesner
Christian Thaler
Max Braun
Kilian Fruth