BRICK WALL DESIGN

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG ARCH7477 3D PRINTED MATTER CHRISTIAN LANGE SEMESTER 2, 2020-21

THE

INTERLOCKING HONEYCOMB BRICKS

GROUP 5 CHAN KA HEI, BRIAN 3035482453 LEE CHING TUNG CHERYL 3035488421 LEUNG CHING YAU, CLARISSE 3035480742

T H E

I N T E R L O C KING

HONEYCOMB

03 07 11

DESIGN DESIGN

DIGITAL 19 22

VS

MASS

28

OTHER

PROCESS CONCEPTS PHYSICAL

PRODUCTION

FINAL 25

BRICKS

ASSEMBLY

FINAL

WALL

APPLICATIONS

In this elective, we experimented with 3D clay printing and brick specials.

Our goal is to design a new type of brick that has specific qualities and functions, and is unique to the 3D clay printing method of making.

We would then assemble the bricks we designed to build a small wall.

Going back and forth between the digital and physical media, we analysed and refined the printing paths so that they match each other.

During this process, we understood more about 3D clay printing, colour mixing, airdrying, as well as firing, and have come to know the material well.

On the other hand, we also learned to use the robotic arm to our advantage.

This portfolio is the story of our learning process, and the record of our design.

DESIGN PROCESS

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INSPIRATION & PROCESS Experimentation of interlocking bricks with square openings, inspired by the Twin Tower public housing typology in Hong Kong, which developed into our interlocking curved bricks.

Initial 3D printing test

Side view

Isometric view

3D interlocking mechanism

A project in South Africa about interlocking bricks, Stumbelbloc.

The project aims to provide an affordable and easy way of construction.

People with limited skills and resources can build with these interlocking bricks that work almost like LEGOs. (Image courtesy of issuewire.com) Inspired by this project, we would like to explore the potential of interlocking bricks with 3D printing.

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Initial 3D printing test

plan view

3D interlocking mechanism Repeating bricks creating an s-shaped wall

Type A: straight

Type B: arc - straight

Type C: straight - arc

Type D: arc

Geometry test with folded paper “bricks” 5

OVERALL TESTS & REFINEMENT With several rounds of testing, we refined the overall geometry of each type of brick so they fit together tightly.

Since one of our design concepts is interlocking, it is important that the bricks fit perfectly and there is no space for them to slide.

Therefore, we eliminated uneven gaps and structurally weak openings, maximizing the efficiency and aesthetical neatness of the wall.

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DESIGN CONCEPTS

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1: 3D INTERLOCKING

Two layers of interlocking bricks

Different brick types fit together to create walls of different curvature, from a straight wall to a closed circle.

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2: PRINTING BED

FULL straight-straight

FULL straight-curved

FULL curved-straight

FULL curved-curved

HALF HALF straight (side) straight (top)

HALF straight (bottom)

HALF curved (top)

HALF curved (bottom)

Every type of brick

Foam is a good printing bed because clay sticks on foam pretty well and detaches easily once the clay is dry.

Printing bed for straight-curved bricks

One printing bed and one cover to prevent deformation during air-drying

Printing bed for curved-curved bricks

Texture imprinted on the base surface of the bricks by lowdensity foam printing bed

The foam printing beds are cut precisely by hot-wire cutting robotic arms

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3: POROSITY

These images show the wall seen from different angles.

Due to the directional geometry of the bricks, different perspectives give different porosity and levels of privacy.

The wall provides privacy and at the same time allowing wind and light to penetrate through.

Sunlight effects and illustration of ventilation on the interior 10

Sunlight effects and illustration of ventilation on the exterior

DIGITAL VS

PHYSICAL

11

TRANSLATION TO PRINTING PATHS

Geometries with no thickness

Arc planes indicate the curvature of the curved bricks

Offset arcs to slice through geometry (Offset instead of array so that the distance between layers is consistently 1.2mm)

Printing paths (66 layers in each brick)

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straight-straight

straight-curved

curved-straight

Exploded printing paths to show the dynamic changing sections in each brick

curved-curved 13

3 D

P R I N T I N G

We 3D printed our geometries with plastic in a smaller scale for testing.

3 D

S C A N N I N G

We 3D-scanned the fired bricks and analysed them to see the difference between the digital and the physical. Then, we altered our printing paths accordingly in terms of shrinkage and deformation.

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3D SCAN ANALYSIS 3D scans

curved-curved

straight-curved

straight-straight

digital geometries

perspective view

side view

top view 15

INCONSISTENT SHRINKAGE VS TAPERING The curved bricks printing paths are tapered (dashed lines) so that they are approximately 2mm wider at the top. This is done to compensate for the deformation and inconsistent shrinkage during the air-drying and firing process.

DRAGGING VS PRINTING PATH CALIBRATION The geometry of all bricks are altered to counteract the dragging of the clay due to its softness.

The robot would pull at the clay as it prints, causing deformation in the printed clay.

Therefore, we optimized the printing path digitally to cancel out the deformation.

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Discovery of dragging problem

Calibration of printing path

CLAY COLOUR MIXING 80% red

20% red 10% red

SECOND TRIAL the colour differences between the three main brick types are far too subtle

20% white 40% white

60% red 40% red

FIRST TRIAL the colour difference between the straight-curved and the curved-curved bricks is too subtle

60% white 80% white 90% white 100% white colour testing samples

After a lot of struggles, we came up with an improved way to get the desired clay colour:

1: some red clay was inside the mixer in the beginning

2: we extruded and scraped away most of the red clay

clearing the mixer

80% WHITE, 20% RED

3: we put white clay in the mixer to achieve the proportion we were looking for

4: we added water and turned on the mixer and vacuum, aiming to achieve a consistency that could stick well during printing

5: after extruding most of the clay, new clay was added to the mixer bit by bit following the right proportion

the clay is cut into small pieces and put into sets that are following the right proportion

6: repeated the 4th step

colour powder was added

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CLAY COLOUR MIXING RESULTS

20% red

CURVED-CURVED

50% red

STRAIGHT-CURVED

80% red

STTRAIGHT-STRAIGHT

80% white

50% white

20% black

We aimed to produce three very distinct colours for the three main brick types. We wanted these three types to be easily deciphered and distinguished to make construction even easier. Therefore, this colour mixing process was an important step in our design development. this machine mixes clay and extrudes it into tubes that can be printed 18

unexpected colour results due to uneven mixtures

MASS PRODUCTION 19

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P R I N T I N G

A I R - D R Y I N G

P O L I S H I N G

&

F I R I N G

We checked every brick and cut away errors before putting the bricks into the kiln to fire. We fired 3 batches according to colour.

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FINAL ASSEMBLY

Loose-fit test 22

mortar mixing

mortar assembly test

Liquid Nails

Liquid Nails final assembly

We experimented with mortar, but mortar was relatively hard to control. The mortar would be messy and ruin the colours and accuracy that we worked so hard to achieve.

Applying mortar is an art in itself. Since we are inexperienced and on a tight schedule, we decided to turn to Liquid Nails. It kept the bricks a lot cleaner, and the sticking was also a lot stronger.

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F I N A L 24

A S S E M B L Y

FINAL WALL 25

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Perspective rendering visualisation of our final design

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OTHER APPLICATIONS 28

OTHER POSSIBILITIES

Our bricks are designed to form different curvatures with different combinations. This allows them to be mass produced no matter what the wall geometry is. The flexibility of this brick makes it very efficient in every way.

On this page are some more possibilities that these four types of bricks can achieve, other than the wall designed and built by us.

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A SPECTRUM OF CURVATURES With the 22.5 degrees as the modular angle, the four types of bricks can build a wall of angles of multiples of 22.5 degrees, creating a spectrum of possibilities from a straight wall to a full circle. Users can experiment with these bricks to form any curvature they want.

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.0

135

2.5 11

90

TOP VIEW

.0

67

.5

ISOMETRIC VIEW

22.5

45.

0

22.5

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