Milan Exhibition Hall by Massimilano Fuksas
Freeform Construction combines high levels of automation and computer control with the design and construction process. It is based on an existing technology known as Rapid Manufacturing. In its simplest form, you will be able to build literally any design or shape of building and at any scale. As each layer is printed you can create all the channels and ducts required for ventilation and air conditioning. You can print in optical fibre networks and you can print in really complex structures digitally scanned from respiratory and circulatory systems to serve the same function in our own dwellings. These are the self-regulating and adaptive structures we find in nature that we can print into the walls to make buildings which do not use electricity to regulate our environment.
The construction industry is facing significant pressures which can only be met through, what is perceived to be, a step change in construction methods. The ‘drivers for change’ arise from many sources, not least the UK Government’s own analyses demanding change and improvement, the latest being Rethinking Construction (Egan 1998). Interestingly, Egan looks to correct the system without making consideration or emphasis on the process of construction. ‘End of Life’ policies are driving radical changes to manufacturing which, some believe, can only be met by the Freeform Construction methods currently under development. Such demands are expected to hit the construction industry whose implications go beyond the capabilities of existing and proposed ‘off-site’ solutions.
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