3D printed knitted frameworks enable breakthrough complex architecture

3D printing of knitted textiles has been used as a structure for complex architecture. This cuts down on material, labor and waste, and simplifies the construction process for complex shapes.

A double-curved concrete shelled pavilion was made with 3D-knitted formwork. It was developed by Zaha Hadid Architects and ETH Zurich.

The pavilion named KnitCandela is on display in Mexico. They built using KnitCrete. This is a new 3D-knitted textile technology for creating curving concrete structures. There is no need for expensive and time-consuming moulds.

The knitted fabric weighs just 25 kilograms and the cable net 30 kilograms. The concrete shell weighs 5 tonnes. There is 100 times more concrete than fabric and cable.

Making simpler and faster methods for curved buildings will be used by these leading architects.

This breakthrough means more curved buildings. Curved buildings and curved sections of architecture should become less rare.

Curved architecture had breakthroughs over one hundred years ago with Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona. However, the difficulty and cost in making such buildings has kept them in a small niche.

Casa Batlló is generally considered to have one of the most creative and brilliant urban façades in the world. The building is a considered a masterpiece of Art Nouveau architecture

Knitting complex buildings

An industrial knitting machine made the shuttering of the formwork for the shell structure. In 36 hours, it knitted a fully shaped, double-layered 3D textile consisting of four long strips.

The lower layer forms the visible ceiling. It a designed surface with a colorful pattern.

The upper layer contains sleeves for the cables of the formwork system and pockets for simple balloons, which, after the entire structure is coated in concrete, become hollow spaces that help save on materials and on weight.

Manufacturing a formwork for such a geometrically complex structure using conventional methods would cost a lot more.

Knitcandela is what they call the thin concrete shell that is built on the textile framework.

29 thoughts on “3D printed knitted frameworks enable breakthrough complex architecture”

  1. That’s too bad. I was hoping asteroid regolith might be roughly formed into aerodynamic, heat shields. Skid on a desert, and refine on site.

  2. The Romans use a some volcanic basalt/rock for their concrete and it does not corrode in salt water. It also does not produce huge amounts of CO2 in its creation. Something that should and could be mandated for construction as the world needs to get more serious about global warming.

  3. Is it just me, or does it sound like a variant of concrete dome construction, using an inflatable dome form and shotcrete sprayed concrete?

  4. Actually, there is something to be said for curved structures; They’re much, much more rigid for the same amount of material.

  5. The Romans use a some volcanic basalt/rock for their concrete and it does not corrode in salt water. It also does not produce huge amounts of CO2 in its creation. Something that should and could be mandated for construction as the world needs to get more serious about global warming.

  6. I feel like I’m missing something about why cutting the cost of curved building structures is a big deal. So we can all build the Dr Seuss houses and live in Whoville? As William Reading points out in this thread, replacing steel rebar with more durable alternatives will have more impact on what we build.

  7. Maybe a CNC knitting machine counts as a type of 3D printer now?…nah. The CNC knitter created 2D sheets that are assembled into something 3D. Lots of CNC machines create 2D things that can be assembled into 3D. We don’t call those 3D printers. I have seen a little marketing fluff calling laser cutters “3D laser printers” though. Unless the CNC knitter can make 3D objects even without assembly. Can you input a CAD file and get the machine to make a sweater? If so, it counts as a 3D fabric printer.

  8. I feel like I’m missing something about why cutting the cost of curved building structures is a big deal. So we can all build the Dr Seuss houses and live in Whoville? As William Reading points out in this thread, replacing steel rebar with more durable alternatives will have more impact on what we build.

  9. Maybe a CNC knitting machine counts as a type of 3D printer now?

    …nah. The CNC knitter created 2D sheets that are assembled into something 3D. Lots of CNC machines create 2D things that can be assembled into 3D. We don’t call those 3D printers. I have seen a little marketing fluff calling laser cutters “3D laser printers” though.

    Unless the CNC knitter can make 3D objects even without assembly. Can you input a CAD file and get the machine to make a sweater? If so, it counts as a 3D fabric printer.

  10. So where is the 3D printing?I’m seeing knitting. I’m seeing wooden framework assembled by hand. I’m seeing concrete being sprayed on by hand and finished with humans using trowels.3D printing?

  11. You can get basalt fiber rebar, and the price is comparable to steel, but it does have one drawback: You can’t easily bend it onsite.But, yeah, if I were designing a reinforced concrete structure, I’d probably opt for it.

  12. Yup Roman structure stood for thousands of years with just Concrete and rock made by the romans. The Japanese have structures hundreds of years old with nothing more than Wood…no nails.

  13. More practical applications could save trillions of dollars replacing steel concrete reinforcement with fiber made from basaltic rock. The single biggest reason concrete structures fail, and must be repaired, or replaced is cracking, and spalling due to the corrosion of steel reinforcement. This is particularly true where salts are used to deice highways, or walkways, and near bodies of salt water.Imagine the cost savings if bridges, highways, and remained structurally sound five times as long as they do now. There’s a high rise I like to stay in at Myrtle Beach SC. that was build in the 1980s. I’m sure it is structurally sound, because a structural engineer from MB retired in a condo on the 9th floor. He has told me that he does not evacuate for storms, unless he gets a good offer of a free place to stay. He has a generator he puts on his balcony, and a battery set. There are numerous places where there are rust stains around cracks, and places concrete has been removed, the steel painted, and new concrete troweled on, after only thirty odd years. This building has been through numerous hurricanes, but ions, and oxygen migrating through the concrete will eventually do it in.There are Roman concrete structures standing that are thousands of years old, built with no reinforcement. I’ve always believed that once other materials became available for reinforcement, using steel became planned obsolescence.I suspect woven reinforcement could also at least partially replace forms, or the steel used to support them.

  14. So where is the 3D printing?

    I’m seeing knitting. I’m seeing wooden framework assembled by hand. I’m seeing concrete being sprayed on by hand and finished with humans using trowels.

    3D printing?

  15. You can get basalt fiber rebar, and the price is comparable to steel, but it does have one drawback: You can’t easily bend it onsite.

    But, yeah, if I were designing a reinforced concrete structure, I’d probably opt for it.

  16. Yup Roman structure stood for thousands of years with just Concrete and rock made by the romans. The Japanese have structures hundreds of years old with nothing more than Wood…no nails.

  17. More practical applications could save trillions of dollars replacing steel concrete reinforcement with fiber made from basaltic rock. The single biggest reason concrete structures fail, and must be repaired, or replaced is cracking, and spalling due to the corrosion of steel reinforcement. This is particularly true where salts are used to deice highways, or walkways, and near bodies of salt water.
    Imagine the cost savings if bridges, highways, and remained structurally sound five times as long as they do now. There’s a high rise I like to stay in at Myrtle Beach SC. that was build in the 1980s. I’m sure it is structurally sound, because a structural engineer from MB retired in a condo on the 9th floor. He has told me that he does not evacuate for storms, unless he gets a good offer of a free place to stay. He has a generator he puts on his balcony, and a battery set. There are numerous places where there are rust stains around cracks, and places concrete has been removed, the steel painted, and new concrete troweled on, after only thirty odd years. This building has been through numerous hurricanes, but ions, and oxygen migrating through the concrete will eventually do it in.
    There are Roman concrete structures standing that are thousands of years old, built with no reinforcement. I’ve always believed that once other materials became available for reinforcement, using steel became planned obsolescence.
    I suspect woven reinforcement could also at least partially replace forms, or the steel used to support them.

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