{"id":8731,"date":"2018-08-31T08:05:19","date_gmt":"2018-08-31T14:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulprospector.com\/knowledge\/?p=8731"},"modified":"2018-09-07T10:01:20","modified_gmt":"2018-09-07T16:01:20","slug":"pe-3d-printing-aims-to-add-architectural-curve-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/8731\/pe-3d-printing-aims-to-add-architectural-curve-appeal\/","title":{"rendered":"3D Printing Aims to Add Architectural \u2018Curve Appeal\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Branch Technology leverages technology to enable design freedom<\/em><\/h4>\n

Platt Boyd wants to 3D print your next house. And by early next year, he hopes to have a real-life example to show you, in Chattanooga, Tenn.<\/p>\n

\"Branch
Branch Technology CEO & founder Platt Boyd<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meantime, Branch Technology Inc., the company he founded there a little over three years ago, continues to take on challenging new projects that stretch the capabilities of Branch\u2019s patented 3D printing technology, dubbed Cellular Fabrication\u2122, or C-Fab\u2122.<\/p>\n

Boyd, an architect by training, headed a small group of architects and engineers who started Branch with a vision \u201cto liberate design\u201d using their C-Fab production process, which combines 3D printing, industrial robotics, sophisticated algorithms, and carbon composite materials to free-form print open\u2010cell structures to enable a new, more sustainable way to build.<\/p>\n

All about Cellular Fabrication<\/h3>\n

The technology is distinctive, Boyd explains, in that it prints volumes as cellular matrices. The open\u2010cell nature allows for efficient builds and dimensional forms restricted only by your imagination. Using this process, material can be solidified in mid\u2010air to create open\u2010matrix structures capable of taking on virtually any form. For architectural application, the matrix acts as a formwork or scaffold to accept traditional building materials.<\/p>\n

C\u2010Fab uses a patented extrusion head attached to a Kuka Robotics arm. The arm travels along a horizontal track creating a build volume of 3,000 cubic feet. The company says that specially-developed algorithms allow it to translate virtually any three\u2010dimensional design into physical form. C\u2010Fab creates full\u2010 scale building components, not models, Branch stresses.<\/p>\n

The process is capable of generating components that are 8 feet wide by 12 feet high by 40 feet long. Each component can be attached to the next, allowing even larger builds and continuous forms of unprecedented scale.<\/p>\n

In 2015, shortly after the firm\u2019s founding, Branch conceived the Freeform Home Design Challenge to invite architects, designers, engineers and artists from around the world to participate in an investigation of how 3D printing technologies can improve our built environment and lives today.<\/p>\n

3D printing an entire house<\/h3>\n

Branch received 1,333 entries from 97 countries, and it shared the top 50 submissions for online voting. A five-person judging panel selected the ultimate winner \u2013\u2013 submitted by WATG Urban Architecture Studio in Chicago \u2013\u2013 and its design, called \u201cCurve Appeal.\u201d Branch committed to building the single-story, one-bedroom, one-bathroom house with a 1,000-square-foot open floor plan, outdoor patio and car port, on the campus of Chattanooga State College.<\/p>\n

\"
Exterior rendering of the 3D-printed Curve Appeal house, as designed by WATG Urban Architecture Studio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Curve
Curve Appeal\u2019s 1-bedroom, 1-bath floor plan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"3D-printed
Composite wall mock-up<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The architecture consists of multiple composite panels of varying sizes making up the exterior building envelope, interior partitions, structural columns and furniture elements. Composite panels will use Branch\u2019s C-Fab matrix internal structural lattice.<\/p>\n

The exterior cladding is made of glass-fiber-reinforced concrete; the internal matrix lattice of carbon-fiber-reinforced ABS; the matrix in fill of closed-cell polyurethane foam; and the interior surfaces of various gypsum-based products.<\/p>\n

Branch says the composite construction will provide between three to four times the strength of traditional wood stud construction, will have a projected insulation (or \u201cR\u201d value) as high as 50, and yield a net zero energy structure.<\/p>\n

While they won\u2019t hit their initial target date for starting the installation in the third quarter of this year, Branch director of development David Feuhrer said recently they are now aiming for mid-2019.<\/p>\n

Potential C-Fab construction benefits<\/strong><\/p>\n

Branch claims its C-Fab method for will allow for constructing custom, prefabricated building components with improved materials strength, lower construction and labor costs and increased energy efficiency.<\/p>\n

In addition to liberating the design process, Branch suggests another key benefit to C\u2010Fab is that it is an inherently zero\u2010waste process. While the construction and demolition industry produce about 30 percent of all waste, the C\u2010Fab method constrains material use to only that which is absolutely required.<\/p>\n

The process also delivers job\u2010site efficiencies, the company notes. The U.S. construction industry wastes an estimated $73 billion in labor each year because of inefficient on\u2010site fabrication techniques. By shipping modular components to the job site, it claims, contractors can realize an assembly process that is as much as 30 percent faster and 1.7 times more labor efficient than typical, on\u2010site methods.<\/p>\n

Printing Nashville\u2019s One City band shell<\/h3>\n

Meantime, while the Curve Appeal house is Branch\u2019s centerpiece project, it is keeping plenty busy with other tasks, as well. In the latest example of collaboration between Branch Technology and Clinton, Tenn.-based compounder and materials design firm Techmer PM LLC, the partners completed a pair of high-profile projects \u2013\u2013 an outdoor band shell in Nashville, Tenn., and an indoor hanging garden installation at Chicago\u2019s Field Museum.<\/p>\n

The band shell \u2013\u2013 called One City \u2013\u2013 measures 42 feet in diameter and more than 19 feet tall, making it the largest free\u2010form, 3D\u2010printed structure in North America. Branch says One City also boasts its longest unsupported span of 42 feet, creating strength through optimized geometry, without the need for structural steel.<\/p>\n

\"One
The One City band shell in Nashville is currently North America\u2019s largest free-form, 3D-printed structure.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Consisting of 36 smaller parts, the largest individual component measures more than 18 feet long and fills a volume of 61.5 cubic feet. Branch used Techmer PM\u2019s Electrafil\u00ae carbon\u2010fiber\u2010reinforced engineering plastics for the band shell.<\/p>\n

Hanging gardens for Chicago\u2019s Field Museum<\/h3>\n

In Chicago, meanwhile, Branch created the world’s first and largest free\u2010form, 3D\u2010printed hanging garden installation \u2013\u2013 called \u201cNature Clouds\u201d \u2013\u2013 for the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History, to help celebrate the museum\u2019s 125th anniversary.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Nature Clouds installation in Chicago\u2019s Field Museum consists of 279 separate parts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Installed in the museum\u2019s Stanley Field Hall, the \u201cclouds\u201d are part of a larger environment that includes several life\u2010size dinosaur installations. The four hanging gardens, or clouds, comprise 3,940 pounds of printed material and steel, and supports vegetation, hydroponics, lighting, theatrical fog and sound equipment with a combined weight of 12,270 pounds. Each cloud can be raised or lowered as needed.<\/p>\n

The largest cloud also provides an immersive plant environment when lowered for public interaction. Branch created the 3D printed parts on the world’s largest freeform 3D printing robots using a biopolymer specially formulated by Techmer PM as the printing material.<\/p>\n

The project\u2019s designer, Daniel Pouzet, and the museum’s exhibits group chose Branch\u2019s C\u2010Fab method to leverage the technology\u2019s strength, light weight, design freedom, and cost effectiveness compared with traditional steel construction. The project\u2019s total printed volume amounts to 756 cubic feet, comprising 279 total parts, according to Branch.<\/p>\n

\u201cTypical construction methods are constraining,\u201d notes Boyd. \u201cCustom complex form is prohibitively expensive and often inconceivable to manufacture. With our C\u2010Fab process, cost\u2010effective design freedom is democratized for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more, go to www.branch.technology<\/a> or www.techmerpm.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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