Polymer FDM for High-Performance Facades: Digital Tools for Designing Performative Aesthetics with Polymer FDM

Abstract

Polymer 3D printing as a solution to high-performance façade design offers exciting new possibilities for formal and functional integration to building envelope design. As the popularity of polymer 3D printing has grown in the past decade, researchers have looked to this technology to provide radical innovation for building envelopes, as a means to integrate multiple aspects of climate, structure, comfort, and identity into a single functional zone (Strauβ, 2013; Klein, 2013). With advances in 3D printers allowing for larger print sizes applicable to the production of façade elements at the scale of architecture, engineering and construction (AEC), recent commercial and academic projects have brought polymer 3D printing and its promise of a functionally integrated envelope to fruition (Aectual, 2013; Branch Technology, 2018; Mungenast, Tessin, & Morroni, 2019; Sarakinioti, et al., 2018; Tenpierik, Turrin, Wattez, Cosmatu, & Tsafou, 2018). These projects demonstrate the ability for polymer 3D printing to integrate solar control, thermal mass, and insulation into a single translucent envelope component for AEC. By adapting digital tools and workflows developed to integrate passive energy into the early stages of design using single-aspect simulations, this thesis explores how polymer 3D printing can be parametrized, evaluated, and modified to fit project needs. Taking the geometric concepts from Fluid Morphology, SPONG3D, and Double Face 2.0 for solar control, thermal mass, and insulation, this thesis proposes a means for designers to control the formal articulations of a polymer 3D printed envelope while optimizing for thermal performance. In doing so, this research aims to advance the conversation on formal and functional integration and advocate for the use of emerging construction techniques such as 3D printing as a means for this integration.