© WASP
A great deal of hype surrounds the 3D printing of concrete, but the old dilemma remains: even printed concrete requires some cement – and cement production alone is currently responsible for 8 % of worldwide CO2 emissions.
For Mario Cucinella Architects this was reason enough to look around for suitable alternatives. They found what they were looking for literally under their own feet: the idea of constructing buildings primarily out of locally dug earth has been common practice for thousands of years, for example in rammed earth and adobe construction. Together with Wasp, a company specialising in 3D printing, and a number of other industrial partners, the architects have developed and built Tecla, a dome-shaped, monolithic prototype building that mainly consists of earth, straw chaff, rice husks and a binder of lime and water.
For Mario Cucinella Architects this was reason enough to look around for suitable alternatives. They found what they were looking for literally under their own feet: the idea of constructing buildings primarily out of locally dug earth has been common practice for thousands of years, for example in rammed earth and adobe construction. Together with Wasp, a company specialising in 3D printing, and a number of other industrial partners, the architects have developed and built Tecla, a dome-shaped, monolithic prototype building that mainly consists of earth, straw chaff, rice husks and a binder of lime and water.