Concrete Rapid Manufacturing | Rael San Fratello

Made specially for the 2010 Biennial of the Americas , Earthscrapers is an installation that imagines the potential of employing Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) processes in the construction of a proto-architectural landscape—one where the building material source and the building itself are seamless. It also demonstrates the internal design, research and experimentation process by Rael San Fratello Architects in hacking a 3D printer to rapid proto­type and rapid manufacture clays, ceramics and ultimately cement.

Studies, animations, sketches, scale models and full-scale concrete architectural building components, designed primarily with modo, are the result of the open-ended and open-faced investigation. The project also imagines a future scenario for the material and the process as a scalable technology—one that also dissolves the role of the architect and builder—where designer and geomorphologist merge.