Parametric Programming of 3D Printed Curved Walls for Cost-Efficient Building Design

Abstract

3D-printed construction allows elaborating building elements with diverse shapes that are digitally controlled. This paper exposes the modeling of 3D-printed curved walls through parametric programming in building information modeling (BIM) in order to support a cost-efficient building design. The advantage of using curved walls is based on the possibility of reducing their thickness with respect to straight walls of similar length given their higher resistance to overturning forces. The programming developed here can propose a considerable set of solutions using curved walls for a rectangular enclosure of dimensions given by the user. A case study for a vehicle sale pavilion is shown, for which a set of 1,600 solutions with curved walls of different curvature angles and lengths is generated and subsequently analyzed. From this analysis, those models with lower material consumption and execution time are selected to be more thoroughly studied in the design process. Thus, a novel strategy is provided to researchers and practitioners for developing more efficient and expressive building designs based on 3D-printed construction. The most efficient solution identified in the example reduces material consumption by 61%, with an estimated cost saving of 53%. © 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.