Liquid-Bound

This project explores liquid joinery for modular concrete 3D-printing. Large scale 3D printing has an inherent problem: joinery. Even if we think we are creating models with extreme accuracy, due to the process of modelling in a computer environment which allows for very high precision in design, transferring that model into the physical world is usually not the same. The accuracy of printing viscous materials, like concrete or clay, is really not high, and prints are never exactly the same. This creates a very big problem when trying to connect different printed pieces together. How can we then create imperfect connections between 3D printed modules? Using the same materials we print with, utilizing its inherent properties of unevenness and roughness in texture, as well as its malleability, we use modules, that leave intended gaps in-between them, which are then filled with the material (in this case concrete), joining the pieces together. The modules used were modelled extruding by lofting two hexagonal shapes, with the top one rotated in order to create the gaps. Several variations of regular polygon-based modules were tested, resulting in the creation of a scaled test arch model, which was printed with clay. The modules were optimized so that the minimum amount of material was used, making the bottom modules thicker than the top ones.