As infrastructure and cities around the work face the pressures of climate change and population growth, GXN Innovation, the independent research company of Copenhagen, Denmark–based architecture firm 3XN, has responded with 3D printers. Working with local collaborators MAP Architects and philanthropic foundation and additive manufacturing platform Danish AM Hub, GXN Innovation has introduced a new 3D-printing research initiative titled Break the Grid.
Through this venture, GXN plans to conduct a series of hacks on existing 3D printers that it hopes will allow for a more effective response to urban change. Currently, GXN envisions three scenarios for “autonomous additive manufacturing,” where the printing machines could wander the urban landscape and function under water, in the air, and on land, according to a press release by 3XN. According to Kåre Poulsgaard, head of innovation at GXN, researchers based the virtual hacks on three 3D printers that are "widely available" on the market: the 10S 3D printer for land, the Tevo Tarantula 3D Printer Kit for sea, and the EZT Kossel Delta 3D Printer for air.
In the first scenario, GXN would send the machines along the ocean floor to address the devastation of tsunamis and other storms on coastal populations. Inspired by the way oysters adhere and clump to existing masses, scientists at Purdue University and the University of South Carolina developed a synthetic glue that would mix with ocean floor sands, creating a binder that the 3D printers could ultimately be used to create artificial reef structures that would not only protect human coastal populations, but also provide habitats for marine life.
In the second scenario, GXN hopes to tackle the heat and energy loss in major cities by deploying drone-based printers to the sky to insulate the façades of towering buildings in cities across the world. Working with materials that combine glass and high-preforming polymers, researchers envision printing new thermal insulation for aging high-rises.
In a final scenario, GXN plans on tackling micro-cracks in concrete infrastructure around the world. After researchers equip the printing machines with a porous filler mixed with Trichoderma reesei, a fungus that promotes the formation of calcium carbonate, the machines would then roam areas of urban infrastructure, scanning for and repairing micro-cracks.
Break the Grid is part of the Danish AM Hub Moonshots initiative, which aims to push the potential of additive manufacturing technology.
"Break the Grid sought to expand how we think about additive manufacturing and robotics in architecture and construction," said Poulsgaard in an email to ARCHITECT. "There is no fundraising schedule in place for continuing this work at present, but we will be exploring the potential of additive manufacturing and emerging technologies for architecture in new ways moving forward."
This article was updated to reflect the participation of Purdue University and the University of South Carolina, and information from Kåre Poulsgaard.
