Getting into Shape: Using 3-D Printing Technology to Create Interlocking Blocks of Concrete
Niloufar Emami, assistant professor of architecture and holder of the A. Hays Town Professorship, has received the 2020 ARCC Research Incentive Award from the Architectural Research Centers Consortium for a research project on how to use 3D printing in novel ways to narrow the gap between design and fabrication:

Niloufar Emami
The title of my project is “Flexi-Form: Design and Fabrication of Additive Flexible
Formwork for the Design of Concrete Interlocking Modules.” I know it’s a long title,
but let me explain:
We’re looking at how we can use 3D printing to create molds to pour concrete into.
Whenever we use the term “additive,” we are referring to technologies that build 3D
objects by adding layer upon layer of material; We use the term “formwork” for concrete.
When your pour concrete, it’s liquid and malleable, so you need something to hold
it before it sets and becomes a strong building material. Traditionally, wood is used
for creating formworks, but that’s labor intensive and expensive while it limits the
possible geometries that can be created. Some researchers have experimented with
different types of fabrics, but now, with 3D printing, I wanted to explore the capabilities
we have to create flexible formwork that can be used over and over again, almost like
a rubber mold. The large format printer we use is called BigRep One 2, which is an
FFF 3D printer. FFF stands for filament fused fabrication. We use a material called
TPU, or Pro Flex, which is a flexible engineering-grade material. I will study how
we can design the molds and 3D print them with this material, and how many times we
can reuse the same formwork.
I have been a practicing architect for seven years, and have always noted the gap that exists between engineering and architecture.
Traditionally in industry, concrete has been cast in place as a continuous surface
or has been built as regular precast elements that can be assembled on site. I’m looking
at pouring it as precast elements that then can be interlocked together through the
design of their geometry, and not necessarily male/female connections. That’s the
“interlocking modules” part of the title. Doing this requires designing complex topologies
and geometries.
I have been a practicing architect for seven years, and have always noted the gap
that exists between engineering and architecture—engineers and architects each do
their work and then try to make their work compatible sort of after the fact. There
is also a gap between design and fabrication; designers don’t always understand fabrication,
and it’s important to me to bridge these. You have to design using the methods of
the future and consider the important fabrication parameters while you’re designing.
This is an extension of my Ph.D. studies on interdisciplinary design—considering architecture,
structural performance, and daylighting—and on this project, I wanted to have fabrication
parameters in the mix.
Some of the questions I want to answer are: How feasible is it to use 3D printing
to create formwork that allows architects be more creative with concrete? Also, we’re
in the environment of academia, but if we can prove this method to be useful and efficient,
how can we scale it up and transfer it to industry? Conventional construction methods
always lag behind; this could be a way to push industry to use newer materials and
newer methods.

3D printing process
Elsa Hahne
LSU Office of Research & Economic Development
225-578-4774
ehahne@lsu.edu