Digital Fabrication Experimentations with Complex Form Modular Bionic Building Envelope with 3D Printing and Robotics Technology

The objective of this paper is to present the results of digital design and fabrication experimentations with prototypes for the construction of a building envelope. This envelope was a complex bionic modular membrane system fabricated and built with 3D printing and an industrial robotic arm. This paper is organized into five topics. The first one presents the relevance and research objective. The second topic presents the procedures and tools used. The third topic presents the three resulting types of products: firstly, the 3D prototyped scaled models of the structure and its cells; secondly, the structure digitally and manually fabricated with cardboard on a 1:1 scale; thirdly, the digitally fabricated styrofoam cells cut with a hotwire robotic arm. The fourth topic presents a discussion of the results and the possibilities and limitations of the four techniques used: the RepRap 3D printers; the 2D laser cutting and assembling of 3D modules; the fabrication through die-casting aluminum into a previously made PLA plastic 3D printed model placed into the sandbox; and the technique of Styrofoam cutting with a hotwire device handled by a robotic arm. Finally, the fifth topic, the conclusions, presenting the possibilities and limitations of the four mentioned techniques.