The design concept of the 3D-printed concrete pedestrian bridge ‚Bridge the Gap‘ was originally developed by a group of architecture students (Y. Cai, A. Rasmussen, P. Schneider) as part of a design studio project at the Technical University of Munich, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. P. D’Acunto (Professorship of Structural Design) and Prof. Dr. K. Dörfler (Professorship of Digital Fabrication). Based on this initial concept, a full-scale prototype of a 5-meter-span bridge was structurally designed, engineered, and manufactured as a joint research collaboration between current and prospective PIs of the AMC TRR277.

The initial ‚Bridge the Gap‘ design concept was conceived for the courtyard of the Munich branch of the German Federal Bank and was developed using computational tools for structural form-finding in combination with digital fabrication technologies for additive manufacturing. In this context, structural form-finding allowed for the effective use of material resources by taking advantage of the interplay of form and forces. For the structural design of the bridge, graphic-statics-based form-finding approaches such as Combinatorial Equilibrium Modelling (CEM) were employed. Moreover, the geometry of the bridge was specifically optimized to take advantage of the innovative 3D-printing method Selective Paste Intrusion (SPI). As a result, the primary structure of the bridge was designed as a thin, vaulted geometry made of 3D-printed concrete segments under compression.

Credits:

Research, Planning- and Realisation
Sebastian Dietrich (design lead, structural design)
Philip Schneider (design lead,fabrication, project coordination)
Dr. Reza Najian Asl (optimization)
Alexander Straßer (material testing)
Felix Riegger (WAAM)

Sicientific Supervison
Prof. Dr. Pierluigi D’Acunto
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kai-Uwe Bletzinger
Prof. Dr. Kathrin Dörfler
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Kränkel
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harald Kloft
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christoph Gehlen
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Zäh

Industry Partners
Metallconcept Group / Scawo3d
Kurt Wohlgemuth