Shaping Liquid Pavilion
The Digital Liquid Pavilion was set to explore the indirect use of 3D printing which combines 3D printing and casting. The pavilion was a 4 meter wide, 6 meters long and 5-meter high space frame structure that consists of over 200 custom aluminium joints, 600 aluminium rods of varying diameter.
An ancient fabrication method, casting metal, was combined with the new technology of 3D printing allowing for new possibilities of shaping metal with the help of computational design tools into complex custom parts. Here, we want to benefit from the geometric freedom of 3D printing and the flexibility of metal casting. Metal has been a building material for a long time. Shaping metal through 3D printed molds allows the fabrication of building parts with complex inner and outer features as well as highly detailed surface, which can be used as full-scale building elements.
Specific algorithms are developed to generate the space frame structure and its joints under consideration of structural and fabrication constraints. Especially complex geometric logic of mould-making is programmed into computational tools which allow the automatic generation of parametric 3D printed individual molds. Each joint itself has its own architecture, complex topology and surface detail. The off-shelf aluminum profiles were cut through robot- human interaction.
This is the first architectural structure made of hybrid cast metal and 3d printed mold. It offers an unique way of thinking about digital tools, their implication, application and meaning for architecture.
Project Lead: Digital Building Technologies, ETH-Zurich
Tutors: Mania Aghaei Meibodi, Benjamin Dillenburger, Rena Giesecke
MAS Students 2016/17: Rodrigo Díaz, Ahmed Elshafei, Marirena Kladeftira, Matteo Pacher, Sambit Samant, Iacovina Kontiza, Theodora Spathi, Marco Caprani, Hakim Hasan, Maria Pachi, Federico Giacomarra, Coralie Ming, Samuel Cros, Thodoris Kyttas, Wataru Nagatomo, Shaun Dai-Syuan Wu, Matthias Leschok
Sponsors and Collaborators: Christenguss AG, Aluminium-Verband Schweiz, Aluminium – Laufen AG Liesberg, DGS Druckguss-Systeme AG