SS22 - Talk 1: Schneider, Rosendahl, Borg, Generative Structural Design and Additive Fabrication

We are witnessing a time when 3D printing has matured from a hobbyist and prototyping tool to a technology that promises to disrupt entire industries in and around the built environment. The developments in additive manufacturing (AM) are transforming architecture and design as much as they affect engineering and construction. AM technologies now enable mass customization but require a particular approach to design and engineering. While traditional industrial manufacturing technologies such as milling and casting are well standardized and a multiplicity of design guidelines and standardized best practices exist, the rapid development of additive manufacturing has outpaced the development of anything comparable. Surface finishes and geometric tolerances may differ purely due to positioning and orientation of parts produced by layering. Often, an excessive amount of support material is used, and many iterations are required to gain satisfactory results. The talk explores these and other implications of engineering for generative structural design and additive fabrication.

Prof. Dr.-​Ing. Jens Schneider holds the professorship for structural analysis since 2009 and since 2020 he is vice president for industry transfer and internationalization at the Technical University of Darmstadt. His research concentrates on the areas of building with paper, energy technologies and glass and polymers.

Dr.-​Ing. Philipp Rosendahl is currently working as the head of the Generative Design Lab at the Technical University of Darmstadt.

Chris Borg Costanzi, M.Sc. is a PhD Candidate at the Technical University Darmstadt, where he has been researching the use of Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) as a fabrication tool in construction.