ABOUT THE PROJECT

BACKGROUND

SUSTAINABLE CONCRETE FREEFORMING FOR THE NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS

Concrete is one of the most used materials in the world, due to its durability, strength, and convenience of use. However, roughly 40% of global emissions result from traditional construction materials and methods with concrete being the greatest contributor. The full potential of sustainable concrete technology is not yet explored. In order to utilise the maximum benefits of the concrete material, SCENE-B is developing additive manufacturing (AM) concrete reinforced with aluminium fibres.

Concrete Additive Manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D Printing in Concrete (3DPC), has the potential to revolutionize the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, promising reduced environmental impact through minimizing material usage, construction time and waste allowing unprecedented freedom for designing complex geometries and automation (industry 4.0), increasing labour productivity and safety in AEC.

Spanning the course of three years 2024-2027, the project, ‘Sustainable Concrete Freeforming for the New Euroepan Bauhaus’ (SCENE-B), aims to develop sustainable material and design tools with focus on additive manufacturing and automation. 

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

SCENE-B will look at the pillars of material (concrete and reinforcing fibres), design (architecture and engineering) and production process (digital fabrication with additive manufacturing).

By combining expertise from materials and computer science, digitalization, architectural design, robotics, and digital fabrication, SCENE-B will address the technological challenges related to the formwork-free process of concrete additive manufacturing.

OBJECTIVE 1

Framework for holistic
sustainability assessment
of concrete AM

OBJECTIVE 2


Align the concrete AM technology with New European Bauhaus (inclusion, aesthetics and sustainability)

OBJECTIVE 3.1

Develop a high-fidelity digital twin that embeds the constraints of the specific concrete AM process

OBJECTIVE 3.2


Develop and verify an intuitive architectural design tool that allows for effective exploration of the design space

OBJECTIVE 4

Develop an architectural design method for residential building elements best suited for customization and 3D printing in the light of the adopted criteria

OBJECTIVE 5



Develop extrudable low-carbon concrete recipes for AM with aluminium fibre reinforcement

OBJECTIVE 6

Develop solutions for the integration of waste-derived fibres

OBJECTIVE 7

Verify that developed material can be used in a commercial extrusion-based digital fabrication equipment, and that it may be used to realize actual designs