PolyBrick: Variegated Additive Ceramic Component Manufacturing (ACCM)

Abstract

This article showcases the next steps in the integration of complex phenomena towards the design, production, and digital fabrication of ceramic form in the design arts and architecture. This work includes advances in digital technology, three-dimensional (3D) printing, advanced geometry, and material practices in arts, crafts, and design disciplines. PolyBrick: Variegated Additive Ceramic Component Manufacturing (ACCM) documents the use of algorithmic design techniques for the digital fabrication and production of nonstandard ceramic brick components for the mortarless assembly and installation of the first fully 3D-printed and fired ceramic brick wall. Techniques in parametric and associative environments are incorporated with feedback derived from material constraints as well as performance assessments. Using customized digital tools, low-cost printing materials, and component-based aggregations, our research utilizes readily available 3D printing technology to develop large-scale forms through the aggregation of interlocking component based systems. Operating within the scalar limitations of current print bed sizes, we developed and tested a set of mass-customized components with embedded local and global awareness and demonstrated that we could achieve forms much larger than previously possible. We have effectively designed a system for mortarless brick assemblies at scales beyond existing constraints of the print bed size of a large-format color printer.