Robot-3D printed Concrete Book Cabin1

A 3D printed book cabin made from robots has opened in Shanghai. It was built with highly automatic robotic printing machines and unique fiber-reinforced concrete materials. It is part of the “Art Bridge Space” in Shanghai, which can be used for book shows, academic discussions, and book sharing sessions. The design of the Book Cabin started from the concept sketch. The MAYA software was used to shape the morphology and the structure optimization was conducted to determine the final model. Afterward, the printing path planning and printing coding was designed to complete the digital files, which will drive the robot 3D printing equipment to print concrete material, building the curved shape of the book cabin. It has a total area of about 30 square meters and can accommodate 15 people for various activities. The materials used for the printing are a unique formula of fiber-reinforced concrete developed by the team. With the help of the material strength and the design of the structure, the cabin was built without any steel bars; the method of 3D printing also saves the use of any formworks. The printing of the cabin uses 2 sets of the robotic arm printing systems, one printed the building foundation and main structure on-site, another printed the arc wall and dome roof nearby. Each set of the printing equipment needs 2 people to operate, and the whole construction process involves a total of 4-5 construction technicians to participate. The wall structure of the book cabin adopts a hollow wall design, which is filled with thermal insulation mortar to form a thermal insulation wall. The building surface has two kinds of texture, one is a laminated surface formed by laminated printing, another is a well-designed woven pattern texture on the sidewall in front of the entrance, let people have a delicate feeling. The design and construction of the book cabin shows that 3D printing, as a way of intelligent construction, not only saves materials and manpower, but also has high construction efficiency and high construction speed, and can achieve irregular shape construction and ensure high quality of the construction.