Architect 2014-07.pdf

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ARCHITECT JULY 2014 WWW.ARCHITECTMAGAZINE.COM
DESIGNLABWORKSHOP FOUNDER
BRIAN PETERS BRINGS THE SIMPLE BRICK
INTO THE AGE OF DIGITAL MODELING
AND PARAMETRIC SCRIPTING.
Three-dimensional printing has proven useful at model
scale, but what about at building scale? Brian Peters, an
assistant professor at Kent State University and the founder
of DesignLabWorkshop, in Kent, Ohio, is tackling full-scale
printing one clay brick at a time with a desktop 3D printer.
Building Bytes is a project that goes beyond using new tools
to make old products. Instead, it follows the additive logic
of the printing path—rather than the conventional molding
or extrusion process—to make bricks that are otherwise
impractical or impossible to make.
On his conventional fused deposition modeling (FDM)
printer, Peters replaced its plastic extrusion system, or print
head, with an air-pressure nozzle that delivers a homemade
liquid clay mixture stored in reusable plastic cartridges.
Layer by layer, a brick emerges from a linear bead. Each
brick takes about 15 to 20 minutes to print, a day to air dry,
and then 12 hours to fire in a kiln at roughly 2,000 F. To
date, Peters has designed and printed four types of bricks:
honeycomb, interlocking, ribbed, and x-bricks. Like all
craftsmen, he continues to finesse his work to account for
the performance of the material in reality.
The jurors were enthralled by the potential of Building
Bytes’ process though juror Bill Kreysler was initially
skeptical of the project’s innovation since “clay has been
extruded through a die for hundreds of years.” Yet, he said,
the project “does allow for objects that are refreshingly
new, based on an understanding of the material. And that’s
important because the more informed designers are about
material properties, the more they can open doors to
new ideas.”
Printing Paths
X-brick
Ribbed brick
Honeycomb brick wall