Building Materials for 3-D Printing
This research challenges the status quo of rapid prototyping materials by introducing new possibilities for digital materiality. In this scenario it is not solely the computational aspects that have potential for material transformation but also the design of the material itself. Because of the nature of these materials, they can be sourced locally (salt, ceramic, sand), come from recycled sources (paper, rubber), and are by products of industrial manufacturing (wood, coffee flour, grape skins); this would situate them within the realm of “natural building materials”. However, the expansive and nascent potential of these traditional materials, when coupled with additive manufacturing, offers unnatural possibilities such as the ability to be formed with no formwork, to have translucency where there was none before, extremely high structural capabilities and the potential for water absorption and storage, the materials that we all know as natural building materials are now unnatural building materials.