Naturimitation als Gestaltungsmittel in der digitalen Welt
Nature teems with a wealth of ideas. Its development of ecological and economic solutions has been perfected over the course of millions of years and often offers advantages over human inventions. Nevertheless, its solutions have long been disregarded and ignored in the past. The aim of my thesis is to explain why this is the case and how modern achievements can be applied as a response. It poses the question of how nature can be imitated in the present and employed as a means of design. Furthermore, the influence of digital technologies such as additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and computer-aided simulations on the imitation of nature and how they can be taken advantage of designers is explored.
Topo
The most modern approach to building houses is to print them. Unlike traditional construction, where shapes that deviate from the cuboid of the building blocks used are built using complex and therefore expensive moulds for concrete casting, 3D printing allows these to be realised at no extra cost. For this reason, I have developed a design, analysis and manufacturing process for solid building blocks that were produced additive fashion. Architects are granted complete freedom in designing the shape of each individual brick.
The resulting composite is initially analysed by an algorithm for load and position in the composite and then topologically optimised according to the analysis in a material-saving manner. Production then follows by means of a special 3D printer designed for pastes such as clay and loam.
