The building sector is a big contributor to environmental problems. It is responsible for the extraction of 24% of earths raw materials, it generates 40% of total waste and 40% of the total energy use comes from the built environment. The building industry focusses on production rather than lifespan, leading to materials not being separable. This means a shift towards a circular economy is necessary.
This thesis aims for improving the circular potential of additive manufactured mono-material façade elements through the design of a demountable connector. This was achieved through both circular analysis of an additive manufactured façade element, Spong3D, and research through design of a demountable connector.
Through literature it was found that additive manufacturing has the potential to produce circular building products. Through reducing material use with shape optimization, and the ability to make mono-material elements. And the ability to make complex shapes, which allow for demountable connectors and thus reuse.
The Spong3D panel was analysed on its circular potential and compared to the circular building product Hempcrete. It was found that the Spong3D element was not designed with circularity in mind. However, the current design can be improved upon to improve its circular potential. It is already mono-material, which allows for reusing and recycling. Further improvements include using recycled materials, and optimizing the shape, thus reducing the raw materials used. Lastly, a demountable connector adds reusing potential.
This connector was designed in the prototyping stage of this thesis. Multiple designs were made and evaluated in a decision model consisting of circularity requirements for the entire lifespan of a product. The final design, C-cure, consists of the Spong3D panel and a locking element, two sides of the panel connect together, and the locking element rotates into a recess, locking the panels into place. The design fulfilled all circular requirements.
The C-cure connector uses little energy to produce. It allows the Spong3D to assemble and disassemble and is a reliable connector in use.

Urban population growth predictions and the threats posed by climate change will exacerbate social problems such as equal access to water worldwide. This will happen mostly in developing countries and will couple with other environmental issues such as the intensive use of raw materials and the production of new waste. New solutions need to be thought and atmospheric water supplies such as fog or dew water represent alternative sources still largely untapped.
Within the Living in a Bottle project, this research looks at computational design workflows and Additive Manufacturing as tools that can play a role in mitigating these risks, while transforming the perception of plastic waste from burden to construction material. Moreover, 3d-printing represents a flexible fabrication technology that could play a relevant educational and developing role in growing communities. The goal of the research is to propose a solution for a mono-material building envelope component designed to enable and maximize atmospheric water collection in developing countries. The design aims to be adaptable to different climatic scenarios and easy to replicate locally. The task is approached systematically by defining all necessary functions and exploring the best strategy for each of them. Every step is performed considering both the optimization of functionality and 3d-printability. Functions are then combined in one element which is prototyped and tested. Computer simulations for the city of Rabat (Morocco), show that the combination of a dew and fog collector in one component would reduce by half the surface required to fulfill the water needs of one person. A feasibility analysis is also performed and the price of one module is estimated. The result is comparable to the cost of standard solutions in the field of atmospheric water harvesting and represents therefore an interesting achievement in the development of such technology.

A proposal is made on how to design and create an openable surface in a mono material 3D printed tiny house that consists out of recycled PET.

The preservation and restoration of intricate stucco ornaments, which are part of our collect cultural Heritage, is under threat due to a diminishing number of skilled restoration plasterers. The highly physically demanding- and labour intensive nature of this work makes it unsustainable for the human body and advocates for a more sustainable alternative restoration method for the future. Digital Fabrication has the potential to offer such an alternative method. While 3D scanning, digital repair and 3D printing are all proven technologies, stucco ornament restoration often requires an on site fabrication solution directly onto a ceiling or wall due to the brittle nature of prefab stucco elements. The research explores how an in-situ 3D printing technique can be developed for the restoration of stucco ornaments by focussing on three main topics: 1) developing gypsum-based 3D printing materials, which are compatible to gypsum ceilings and comply with criteria for extrusion based 3D printing; 2) Designing and prototyping 3D printing tools including an extruder and material delivery system; 3) Conceptualizing a Restoration Robot Platform with which the developed printing material can be used with the developed 3D printing tools, for on site stucco ornament restoration. The insights gained from the development of the printing material and printing process are integrated into digital fabrication software used in practise, through a proposed plug-in and workflow.

The following report is an explanation to the process of identifying a relevant thesis topic, the literature research, design methodology and validation of the design task at hand. The literature research expands on the construction industry, PET as a single use waste material, Additive manufacturing, Fused Deposition modeling and the design of an internal living module as reasons to further explore this project. As problems to be further explored, Transform-ability of mono-material printing, Design for manufacturing and assembly, Research by prototype, validation methodologies and the feasibility of FDM will be addressed. The above arguments will be followed by the problem statement and research questions described in detail. The design task will be identified and the design methodology specifically built to suit this design task will be explored in depth under the topic Methodology used for thesis validation. Each section will have a small summary of findings and relevance to this thesis explained. A few topics such as climatic conditions, sustainability, PET as a material were not explored further than that described in the literature research as they are already extensively proven topics of research. One of the main outcomes of this thesis is that of an open source system of using additive manufacturing as manufacturing technique. Through an exemplary design, this project explores a physical trial and error evolution of a design without using predictive modeling. A system for anyone to evolve their design, prototype and manufacture without the need for experts could be suggested as a new wave for the maker movement; Mass customization for the mass. A chosen design task will be an exemplary result following the careful incorporation of the methodology designed specifically for this thesis topic. The methodology allows for possibilities of being adapted for similar design tasks in the future. The validation process of this design task will be heavily driven on functional and aesthetic bases. Prototyping will be used to validate the criteria directing this design task. Conclusive points to be taken away from the research will be identified towards the end of this report along with the reflections based on methodology, research and design process. A further list of recommendations to extend this topic of research will be identified and suggested for future reference as design points. All literature review references and any other references have been included.

The built environment is and will be the place in which most of the people live and its expansion is unavoidable due to urbanization. However, such a phenomenon will increase further the already high material consumption in the building industry, as well as the waste generation. A development that rises many concerns in modern society and, thus, various solutions are investigated. One of the suggested solutions is the "living in a bottle" project from Ir. P. de Ruiter. The aim of this project is the use of computational design and additive manufacturing to produce mono-material building structures out of one recyclable material. PET GROWN is part of the above-mentioned project and investigates whether a self-sustaining, mono-material and multi-functional green roof system, 3d-printed out of rPET, is possible. The selection of a green roof module as a case study, is based on the green roof feature to reduce heat flow and UV radiation reaching the structure, two parameters in which PET is sensitive. With regards to the module, the study focuses on the replacements of the multiple material layers in a green roof, with one single material by using additive manufacturing. During research, design variants are developed, by using computational tools, and evaluated according to requirements related to functionality and 3d-printabiltiy. Then, the most suitable variants are selected and developed further to form the final project. The study highlights the influence of additive manufacturing in all its design steps, as well as, its advantages and limitations. In the end, the final outcome this study is a mono-material green roof design that fulfills most of the functional requirements of an extensive green roof.

During the last few years, Virtual Reality (VR) technology has evolved at an impressive pace. The newest VR systems offer a high level of visual realism and accurate interaction with the virtual environment through spatially tracked controllers. This technology is increasingly being applied in many professions, but in architecture and urbanism the use of VR was mostly restricted to visualization purposes. Meanwhile, an increasing amount of (3D) data becomes available which is now mostly visualised with 2D screens, while there exists a plenitude of complex urban problems that could potentially benefit from the use of this data. Also, our cities are still mainly designed with traditional design methods such as sketches on paper and unintuitive CAD software. These methods are viewed on 2D screens, often from bird’s eye view, while our cities are in 3D and experienced from eye level perspective. Designing in VR could potentially bring the designer on eye level and connect the design with the world of available 3D data, offering a new, intuitive design method: 3D hand movements.
This project focuses on the application of VR in an urban design process with current state of the art VR hard- and software. A design area was converted into a 3D virtual environment, a VR design tool was created and then used to create multiple design variants in VR. The lessons that were learned during this research form a first step towards new design methods, making use of the possibilities of software and immersion offered by VR.