PROCEDURAL FABRICATION

Growth test was conducted on the 3d printed bricks where the roots were allowed to grow for over a pereiod of 10 days. It can be seen that the nutrient rich media and its water retention capacity allows root growht over a period of time. When removed from the particle bed and moisutre level decreased the root growth stopped leaving behind fibres in the bricks.

The bricks were also tested with the coating develpoed in the material development phase. It can be seen that the coating provieds a protective barrrier as well as reinforces structural integrity of the bricks.

XERILTIH INSTALLATION

the follwoing are the explorations for designing the installation for Xeritlith.

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RESULTS AND FINDINGS

The research aimed to develop a bespoke fabrication technique for desert environments by bridging the digital and physical realms; therefore, the question is ‘can particle bed extrusion technique using nutrient-rich media be a viable fabrication methodology for xeric environments?’ This section aims to highlight the key findings of the research studying desert ecosystems in line with the arid vernacular architecture and brings forth the role of skin as an interface to inhibit micro-climates in natural organisms and architecture. The research highlighted the critical environmental factors – temperature, wind, and moisture, that must be addressed while approaching design and fabrication for xeric environments. A series of design investigations were explored using these factors as design parameters to generate architecture scripts, where digital porosities were explored through computational design and textural prop through material research. These studies showed the importance of data-driven design and material research to bridge the digital and physical worlds. These became the framework for the final project ‘Xerilith.’ Xerilith aimed to re-imagine Paolo Soleri’s concepts of arcology through bio-integrated methodologies. Fractal systems were explored to generate design scripts that created a seamless relationship between macro, meso, and micro scales. The fractal system also enables research to explore the idea of digital porosity in a controlled manner. This led to developing a procedural framework for fabrication in desert environments.

The 3D printed footbridge and digital grotesque case studies enabled the research to develop a bespoke fabrication technique for xeric environments using three primary components: nutrient-rich media, digital tool design, and particle bed robotic extrusions. Material experiments were conducted to develop a circular approach using site-specific materials and organic binders to create a nutrient-rich media that could be extruded robotically. The tests conducted during the material development phase enabled it to be optimized and calibrated for robotic extrusions. The nutrient-rich media proved to promote seed germination, root growth, and structurally stability, which can be used to fabricate architectural components. A series of scripts were designed in Grasshopper to calibrate the motion trajectories of the robot. The set of explorations allowed in-depth control of the robot. The additive manufacturing methodology was developed as a bridge between the digital and physical components of the research. The material floor tests proved that the optimum composition for the nutrient-rich media was sand, sodium alginate, calcium carbonate, and kaolin, and the optimum extrusion parameters were 2.5 bar pressure at 25mm/sec speed of the robot. The test observed that liquid consistency plays a vital role in the extrusion and layer adhesion. It was also observed that the higher liquid consistency of the material allowed better extrusions and was more structurally stable due to the absorption of sand particles in the particle bed system. During the prototype phase, wall designs were generated using Grasshopper script that allowed to map the environmental data on surfaces to map the porosity of the bricks. It can be observed that during rapid production, two factors play a vital role - 1. material flow and 2. maintenance of the robot, I.e., the cleanliness of the extruder.

DISCUSSION

The research presented in the almanac titled, Phyigital biospheres speculated to bridge the digital and physical realms through a bio integrated fabrication technique. This creates an exciting opportunity to develop back and forth workflow methodologies between the natural and the built environments. The series of experimental explorations allowed the research to manifest into an initial prototype. Where the robotically extruded nutrient rich media embedded with seed showed promising results of root growth. Therefore, the prototype opens exciting opportunities developing this technique further through a quantifiable control of the methodology. Computational scripts can further be explored to create controlled environmental response through geometries. Material research can be further be developed to control effect of root growth and structural Integrity of architectural components. Robotic tool paths can be further explored for nonplanar printing to calibrate surface textures with micro climates.

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