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Multifunctional robotic production cells were first applied in the prefabrication of concrete floor panels and later for wall and roof panels. The next step was to design and produce not only flat panels but also custom designed panels, in which each panel had 3 dimensionally varying curvatures. The technological progress of robotics allows recently the digital design and production of highly customized facades. The author proposed to the construction company to build house B by CNC technologies.
 Keywords
Digital architecture, digital design, digital production, automation, robotics, industrialization, customization
1. Digital design and customized robotic production of 3 D elements
As an example of 3 D very complex shaped and curved components, I got involved in project of house B of „Neuer Zollhof" by Frank O. Gehry in Duesseldorf.
The total construction time of this project was three years (1996–1999). The complex consists out of three buildings called House A, House B and House C.
The perimeter walls of House A are plane and
4° to 6.5° vertically inclined prefabricated elements. Those elements proved to be the cheapest solution for these extraordinary shapes.
The geometry of the pieces was described digitally and then built in three dimensions. The 2D drawings for the formwork plans were automatically generated by CATIA-CAD, a software for airplane design. According to those drawings the plant produced the pieces. Almost every part is unique.
The pre-cast elements had a thickness of 25 cm and were approximately 6 m high, 4 m wide by a weight of 9 t. All parts were assembled by crane. In a few exceptions a lorry mounted telescopic crane was needed. The clinker facade required extensive details and good craft skills. House B consists out of 355 prefabricated non-structural perimeter wall-elements which are carried by cast-in-place concrete ceilings.
The new method, which was patented, allowed a widely computer-aided production of the prefabricated elements. With CATIA the complex geometry of the building was cut into single "floor slices" and then converted so that the data could be used in AutoCAD for further architectural planning. Each floor was split into single elements according to assembly and structural needs and then the data were reconverted into CATIA in order to be delivered to a milling shop.
There the polystyrene-formworks were produced by CNC-milling machines. With the formworks the 18 cm thick precast-concrete elements were manufactured and then delivered to the construction site "just-in-time".
In comparison to House B the perimeter walls are made of masonry due to reduced curvature.
The freeform inclined surface of the cast-in-place walls of House C were built in a similar way as the prefabricated elements of House B. The concrete parts were digitally generated so that the CNC-milled and form defining polystyrene pieces fit in between the plane formworks.
The milling process for the polystyrene-formwork was similar to the one in House B. On site the pieces were integrated into the regular formwork. The walls are all cast-in-place concrete.
2 Conclusion
The research, development and application of digital technologies to architectural design and production offers new horizons in the customized industrialization of the construction industry during the last 3 decades. Only because of robotic technologies in prefabrication, on site construction and services, we will be able to realize one of kind component and building design at affordable construction costs and constant quality and ergonomic working conditions. Recent advances in CNC technologies enables us to design and produce highly individualized building elements of very complex geometries.
Prof. Dr.-Ing./Univ. Tokio Thomas Bock
Chair for Building Realization and -informatics
TU Munich, Arcisstrasse 21, D–80333 Germany REFERENCES
[1] Pictures copyright, Philipp Holzmann AG, Germany |
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