Stone And Rope 3D Printing with Rock Print

Rock Print is a robotic 3d printer that lays textile ropes on bed of stones conceting them and makong an architectural shape. 

Rock Print in action:

Project description:

Rock Print is the first architectural installation to be built from low-grade granular material and constructed by robotic machines. Conceived as an intriguing vertical object, the installation presents a radically new approach to The State of the Art of Architecture – the official title of the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial 2015 – and brings forward a new category of random packed, potentially fully reusable, poly-dispersed jammed structures that can be automatically fabricated in non-standard shapes. Following an initial period of robotic assembly, the installation will comprise a large-scale architectural artefact in its completed form, exhibiting distinct features, such as, for example, full material reversibility and the respective reusability of the aggregated materials; structurally active interlocking, differentiated structural performance, while yielding high geometric flexibility and articulation. Performing a full scale 3D “rock printing process” that uses the self-aggregating capacities of the material itself, this visionary project is the first collaborative installation by Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich, and the Self-Assembly Lab, MIT. The Chicago Architecture Biennial will open on 3rd October 2015 and will close on 3rd January 2016. For more information: www.chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org

Credits
Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich, and Self-Assembly Lab, MIT
Team
Fabio Gramazio, Matthias Kohler, Skylar Tibbits, Andreas Thoma (project lead installation), Petrus Aejmelaeus-Lindstroem (project lead research), Volker Helm, Sara Falcone, Lina Kara’in, Jared Laucks, Michael Lyrenmann, Carrie McKnelly, George Varnavides, Stephane de Weck, Jan Willmann
Selected experts
Prof. Dr. Hans J. Herrmann and Dr. Falk K. Wittel (ETH Zurich), Prof. Dr. Heinrich Jaeger and Kieran Murphy (Chicago University)

Selected consultants
Walt + Galmarini AG
Support
The project is supported by ETH Zurich and the Department of Architecture as well as by an ETH Zurich Research Grant. It is co-supported by MIT’s Department of Architecture, the MIT International Design Center, and an MIT International Science and Technology Initiative (MISTI) Grant.