Mextropoli Sueños con Earth/Concrete
2022
Sueños con Earth/Concrete explores the future of affordable housing in Mexico by minimizing the material impact of existing construction methods. The horizontal roof structure takes the existing vigueta y bovedilla system as a starting point, optimizing the shape of the precast reinforced concrete beams to minimize the use of material and its associated environmental impact by 50% compared to conventional systems. This elegant geometry, sculpted by varying width and depth along the beam’s span, is enabled by recent computational design methods developed in MIT research. 3D-printed clay blocks vault between beams as lost formwork that enables the casting of a topping slab.The use of tepetate, a local soil with high contents of clay, allows for fabricating compressed, sun-dried blocks that constitute the pavilion walls. This affordable, low-carbon solution, which has been successfully applied in the construction of housing communities around Mexico for more than 30 years, is reinterpreted here with a post-tensioning system that allows for assembly and disassembly. Sueños con Earth/Concrete lies at the intersection of local construction techniques and new digital fabrication technologies, resulting in a collaboration between industry, social enterprise, and academia as a model toward a more sustainable built environment.
The geometric flexibility of 3D-printing facilitates the production of mass-customized ceramic block elements tailored to available materials and building design. Clay blocks are produced with local ceramic manufacturers using conventional clays and firing processes. The blocks themselves are lightweight and are optimized to minimize material usage and fabrication time.
Project team: Edu Gascón, Mohamed Ismail, Sandy Curth, Kiley Feickert, Caitlin Mueller, Leslie Norford.
In Collaboration with: ECHALE, New Story, Manufactura, Anfora Studio, Formas de Fibra de Vidrio.
Digital Structures MIT
News articles:
ArchDaily Sueños con Earth/Concrete
DesignBoom Sueños con Earth/Concrete
Open Access Publication here.
Citation:
[1]
A. Curth et al., “Sueños Con Tierra/Concreto: Multi-Material Fabrication for Low-Carbon Construction – an Optimised Floor System for Affordable Housing in Mexico,” in Fabricate 2024, in Creating Resourceful Futures. , UCL Press, 2024, pp. 214–221. doi: 10.2307/jj.11374766.31.
