Architectural Design for Additive Manufacturing Construction: Lesson Learned from Design for Additive Manufacturing

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is widely studied in many fields, including aeronautics, automotive, medicine, and construction. Some researchers expect AM to benefit construction practice in terms of reducing waste, alleviating time overrun, and breaking design limitations. With the high-level customizability of AM construction, designers are less constrained, e.g., by design standardization, in designing bio-inspired forms, natural curves, and uniqueness in construction projects. Nevertheless, AM technology also faces challenges, such as high printing cost, inability to print, and weak structure during a layer-by-layer printing process. Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) has, therefore, been proposed for the construction industry. This paper revisits the lessons learned from the problems and the DfAM solutions to real-life cases. First, due to AM’s capability to construct without casting molds, self-support structure, e.g., plate and shell structure, should be included in the designs. Secondly, according to DfAM guidelines, a large amount of temporary support structure, overhang, thin feature, and flat surface are among the major factors affecting the efficiency of AM. In comparison, there are several architectural elements, such as long-span structure, cantilever part, thin wall, and flat roof can be the barriers to AM in construction. In order to promote the application of AM in construction and achieve higher efficiency, new DfAM guidelines for the construction sector are demanded.