This is how I imagine things would go down if the Jetsons went to the beach. The Stone Spray 3D Printer is the end result of a six month project by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and Fab Lab Bcn in Barcelona, Spain. Isn’t it amazing what you can do with a computer, an armature system, sand, glue and compressed air? Take a look at the video to see how it works.
Stone Spray Project from Stone Spray on Vimeo.
From Beaches to Buildings
Stone Spray utilizes the same technique as Shotcrete, albeit on the tinny-winny scale, not ‘let’s build a condo’ scale. The look is startlingly natural, resembling hoodoos in shape and texture. No word on the strength of these pieces. but coming from experience, probably not particularly strong.
But the fact is strength doesn’t always have to depend on material. With a Stone Spray or a DShape, the freedom of design allows the Architect to leverage fully the power of computation CAD and optimizable structures. Inherent problems like delamination (a classic problem with 3D printing) can be taken into account and designed around. Architect Eva Friedrich wrote a great research paper on the topic, developing a evolutionary process that could optimize structures to take twice their ordinary load (Solidsmack take right here).
One unspoken capability of the Stone Spray is how it can craft complex internal surfaces and geometries that exceed the ability of concrete forming technologies. Light yet strong beams, columns and cantilevers are the bee’s knees for Architects and Builders alike. A machine that can use less material (heck, recycled!) yet has a wider design envelope? That’s more bang for your buck!
Is the Industry Ready?
It’s ground-breaking stuff – Stone Spray is a fresh perspective on 3D printing that says ‘this is what the future looks like’. However one wonders if this is technology that may be too far ahead. It’s certainly a threat to the proven procedures and standards of the enormous and well-connection Construction industry. Is disruptive technology what they really need?
In reality, printing of this type is limited to artistic or product design rather than construction for the near future. However, there are twin pressures that could force their hands: pressure to “Go Green” and the rapid drop in costs of robotic technology. The estimated cost of DShape is far lower for similar machines produce. From the looks of it, the Stone Sprayer looks like it costed about $1500.
Source: Stone Spray
