Combining a traditional building material (ceramics) with a new fabrication technique (3d printing) to re-think an ancient building component (bricks), Building Bytes demonstrates how 3D printers will become portable, inexpensive brick factories for large-scale construction.

The power of Building Bytes is its accessibility. The fabrication starts with a standard desktop 3D printer, a technology that is quickly becoming available to designers worldwide. A customized extrusion system is attached that can accommodate any liquid material, such as concrete or earthenware ceramics (shown). This simple adaptation allows users to source local building materials that are both available and familiar.

Building Bytes also offers designers and architects far more opportunity for ingenious design than a standard extruded brick. Printed bricks can have complex exterior surfaces, permitting interlocking or curvature of the final structure, while their internal structure can be engineered to significantly lower their weight or increase their strength at stress points for a particular build. And while the fabrication of the bricks is new, builders throughout the world will be familiar with using them in construction.

The first phase of this research was conducted during a 8-week residency at a ceramic work center. Four brick types were developed to test and demonstrate to potential of this fabrication system and its applications in interior and exterior architecture: 1) Honeycomb Bricks - modular honeycomb stackable bricks; 2) X-Bricks - for vertical tiling; 3) Ribbed Bricks - for columns and towers; 4) Interlocking Bricks - for domes and arches.

The fixed limitations (the print area of a desktop 3D printer, the capacity of the material storage system and the material properties of clay) of the project led to the development of a small architectural component: bricks. While the material and building unit are ancient and fairly universal, this project proposes a new fabrication technique.

• Building Bytes from design lab workshop on Vimeo.

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• 1) Interlocking Bricks - for domes and arches; 2) Ribbed Bricks - for columns and towers; 3) Honeycomb Bricks - modular honeycomb stackable bricks.
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• Honeycomb Brick:
  One brick, three orientations. Honeycomb Bricks are modular and stackable, creating different forms based on their configuration. The assemblies shown are constructed from the standard Honeycomb Brick, offering a sample of the possible stacking configurations.
  
  Applications: Interior and Exterior Walls, Sun Shading, Exterior Ground Cover
  Material: Ceramic
  Dimensions: 5cm x 20cm x 4cm
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• Slip printing Honeycomb Brick.
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• Honeycomb Brick.
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• Honeycomb Brick.
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• Honeycomb Brick.
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• X-Bricks:
  Designed to maximize visual opacity through walls, optimize printing time, limit material usage, and test non-modular constructions. The X-Brick prototype structure creates an undulating surface by using unique bricks per row.
  
  Applications: Interior and Exterior Walls, Columns, Sun Shading
  Material: Ceramic
  Dimensions: 10cm x 20cm x 4cm
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• X-Bricks.
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• X-Bricks.
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• Ribbed Bricks:
  Designed for column applications, Ribbed Bricks have a distinct outer surface that is both structural and ornamental. The material stability while printing drives the unique outline, which can be designed any number of ways with no increase in fabrication complexity. Each brick in the column prototypes is unique.
  
  Applications: Columns, Window or Door Openings
  Material: Ceramic
  Dimensions: 15cm x 15cm x 4cm
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• Ribbed Bricks.
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• Ribbed Bricks.
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• Interlocking Brick:
  These bricks are an exploration into the use of interlocking bricks in large dome structures. The interior bracing provides stability, while the exterior can expose the structure (as in the prototype) or be clad in another texture (which is integral to the brick design).
  
  Applications: Walls, Domes, Vaults
  Material: Ceramic
  Dimensions: 10cm x 20cm x 4cm
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• Interlocking Brick.
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• Interlocking Brick.