Additive manufacturing in the building industry

The interdisciplinary, optional course Fundamentals of Facade Technology provides an overview of the building envelope in regards to facade design, materials used in construction and building physics. Additive manufacturing offers entirely new possibilities for the construction sector. According to the principle "complexity comes for free" the aim is to exploit both design and technological-functional possibilities that would not have been feasible with conventional methods. In groups the students will design, develop, and additively manufacture ceramic facade elements using common software. In doing so, the special characteristics of ceramic 3D printing have to be taken into account and the design is to be adapted iteratively, considering geometric, technical, statice, and building physics aspects.