earth to earth
ultra-thin formwork for in-situ (Cleancrete©) casting
At a glance
- Project leader : David Jenny
- Co-project leader : Prof. Dr. Ena Lloret-Fritschi
- Project team : Fabio Amicarelli, Yen-Fen Chan, Sacha Cutajar, Dr. Thibault Demoulin, Selen Ercan Jenny, Patric Fischli-Boson, Dr. Gnanli Landrou, Samuel Rebelo Garcia
- Project budget : CHF 70'000
- Project status : completed
- Funding partner : Internal (ZHAW Sustainable Impact Program)
- Project partner : Università della Svizzera italiana / Accademia di architettura, Oxara AG
- Contact person : David Jenny
Description
Establishing of a hybrid research and teaching format of the Centre for Building Technologies and Processes at ZHAW, in collaboration with the Accademia di architettura at USI (Università della Svizzera italiana). Annual workshops demonstrate how digital fabrication methods can contribute to more sustainable construction - also, but not only, in combination with alternative material systems.
In the first edition, "earth to earth," a robotic 3D-printing process for clay was used to produce thin formwork elements to build a stair. This formwork was then cast using Cleancrete©, a clay-casting process developed by our project partners Oxara. In this way, a fully recyclable, climate-neutral, and functional structure was created from earthen materials.