Surface Design Awards – Complete

• INTERIOR SURFACE OF THE YEAR - NEW
  This is a new category that recognises wall, floor, ceiling and surface design products, including decorative, creative and inventive surfaces for the interior of buildings including both commercial and residential properties.

• TEMPORARY STRUCTURE
  A Temporary Structure that is not intended to remain where it is erected for more than a short period of time. This award focuses on the increase of temporary and pop-up structures being more sophisticated and aesthetical in their design.

Gothic Reimagined is a research project using language as a design method through novel Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and software. For this project, we collaborated with a 3D printing company specializing in printing upcycled stone materials and participated in (2) exhibitions in Verona, Italy for the Marmomac Stone Exhibition. The challenge of using these new AI tools is in the output of a medium-resolution image with resolution challenges in the image details. To fabricate and realize these new representations a workflow was developed to translate a 2D image to a 3D high-resolution relief model. We then developed a computational workflow by utilizing several digital modeling software and other image software to extract high-resolution diffusion maps. The final model appeared as a relief model 3D printed in upcycled stone.

The invitation to participate in Verona, Italy’s 2022 (September 26th) Marmomac Stone Theater in an exhibition entitled “Marmomac Meets Academies” created the opportunity to collaborate with a relatively new Dutch-based 3D-printing company named Concr3de. Concr3de developed a binder jetting 3D printing process that allows users to produce complex parts with novel material properties utilizing upcycled stone waste material. In this case, our collaboration utilized limestone byproducts from local industries. The challenge was a relatively short six-week time frame and the fact that these new AI tools output a highly stylized and medium-resolution image. We established a procedural modeling approach to build the base surface output, which allowed us to further adjust the surface features by manually editing and sculpting details, to transfer 2D photos to a 3D high-resolution relief model. The final 3D print is made up of stone fragments and particles arranged to form two-stone artifacts with four distinct images, comprised of multiple self-supporting parts with a dimension of 150cm x 50cm."Gothic Reimagined" was the first successful conversion of entirely AI-generated imagery to a physical stone form using 3D print technology.

Conceptually, we considered the concept of digital spolia when using these new AI-assisted design tools and processes, a series of images were created using MidJourney and outlined through a rigorous rule-based expansive design practice created to analyze Gothic architectural elements. The process of collaborating with AI in order to distort, split, and rearrange elements to fit into a given space, but it’s important to note the essential body is apparent and to some extent, their relationship with one another is maintained. Specifically, we were analyzing the key elements in Gothic architecture such as the Pointed Arch, which led to the Rib Vault, Flying buttresses, and elaborate tracery. The following are examples of rules that were created to establish the prompt structure: (1) stylizing as opposed to realistic representation, (2) schematic characterization by accentuating certain features (3) dislocating split details. (4) an illogical transformation of details into new Gothic representations. When developing image iterations of these historic Gothic elements, the ambiguity of language was a crucial component of the creative process. The final image interpretations were a dynamic flow or reorganization of materials and elements that appeared to have been taken from earlier construction projects but reinvented and preserved in a new novel structure.

Gothic Reimagined is constructed from a single monolithic limestone material. The project agenda grew from a shared desire between Concr3de and Dustin White Design to upcycle stone waste powders and create sustainable, inorganic, and functional 3D printing materials. Concr3de and Dustin White Design have a shared vision of not only upcycling byproducts from the industry but also developing and using healthy material options in the construction industry. It is well-known and documented that many materials we interact with daily are potentially toxic or constantly producing harmful VOCs. Concrede’s unique and novel 3D printing process also utilizes proprietary bio-based binders as a safe and healthy option for building components and interior applications.

More important than the actual submitted project, the opportunity to find new life utilizing additive manufacturing in the stone industry has the most important future impact on a global scale. Stone is a precious resource and, in some cases, extremely rare and being exhausted due to demand. Subtractive industrial fabrication processes create a huge amount of powder waste that can easily be 3D printed with Concr3de’s unique 3D printers to produce complex parts and geometries for historic renovation, interiors, or exterior application with ease without the need for traditional methods from specialist, labor-intensive, and expensive one-offs. Having access to this wonderful technology allowed us to realize a large sculptural object comprised of many discrete elements that did not produce added waste or consume large amounts of energy to produces each unique part. Additive manufacturing allowed us to build in all necessary joinery into each discrete ashlar block eliminating the necessity for additional hardware or glues.

We look at sustainability in three different ways:
• We use a minimal amount of materials
• We don’t produce waste
• We prefer to use existing material rather than use virgin material.

The production method of 3D printing is highly suitable to print this complex curved geometry of the Gothic relief panels. For this project the ARMADILLO 3D printers of CONCR3DE were used. CONCR3DE develops printers using binder jetting technology: a 3D printing technique in which successive thin layers of powder are deposited in a machine. On each powder layer the printer jets a binder in a cross section of the 3D model. A reaction occurs between the binder and the powder, resulting in an inorganic solid bond. At the end of the process a solid printed shape is created in the form of the 3D model. The print is encased in loose powder that was not bonded by the printing process. After retrieval of the printed part the loose powder is recovered and used again: no waste is created in the entire process.
The benefits of binder jetting 3D printing over other types of 3D printing are that no supports are needed, multiple pieces can be printed in one go, and it is very fast. As an added bonus, the minerals used to bond powder and binder are highly affordable. This means there are no limits in scaling the technology to larger elements.

There were several unique challenges posed during the execution of the project. First, the challenge of translating complex AI (2D generated images to articulated and accurate (3D) surfaces. A multi-software computational workflow had to be devised and executed in order to achieve the final surfaces. Second, this was the first large scale fully 3D printed stone project, Concr3de is the only manufacturer of this type of machine printing process. This posed a unique opportunity for the research to consider learning from ancient stereotomic processes and how we can look at this through a new lens of additive stereotomy. Last, this was the first time an AI assisted design was 3D printed in stone. Possibly not an issue, but an exciting potential for how we engage and collaborate with AI moving forward.

The binder jetting technique along with the limestone printing powder gave new design opportunities in form and texture that are not achievable with conventional techniques like robotic milling. Highly intricate surface textures, integrated slots for connections between parts and lightweight, optimized structures are at the hands of the designer through additive stone technology. Stone is said to be the “forever” material and while the process or production is still novel we believe we are approaching a new way to perceive and interact with this forever material.

Thank you for your consideration.