Rock Print
By Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich (Fabio Gramazio, Matthias Kohler) and the Self-Assembly Lab, MIT (Skylar Tibbits, Jared Laucks), with granular-physics input from Hans J. Herrmann and Falk K. Wittel (ETH Zurich) and Heinrich Jaeger and Kieran Murphy (University of Chicago), and structural consulting by Walt + Galmarini AG
Rock Print, Chicago Architecture Biennial, 2015. Photo: Tom Harris, via Dezeen.
- Location
- Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago Architecture Biennial (Oct 3, 2015 – Jan 3, 2016)
- Date
- 2015
- Technology
- A robotic arm, directed by a custom algorithm, laid successive loops of textile filament; layers of loose aerated-glass gravel (a foam byproduct, roughly 2 cm per layer) were placed by hand between filament passes. No mortar, adhesive, or formwork was used — the thread constrains the gravel just enough for friction and interlocking ("jamming") between particles to hold the structure's shape.
A demonstration that algorithmically choreographed placement of ordinary granular material and thread can produce a self-supporting structure without conventional binders — and, critically, one whose materials can be fully recovered and reconfigured into a new structure afterward, rather than demolished.
Actual PerformanceThe finished structure stood four meters tall for the duration of the biennial (roughly three months), structurally stable overall with a fragile surface but a solid core, per the design team's own account. The installation was Gramazio Kohler Research's and the Self-Assembly Lab's first collaborative project.
