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Knitted tile vault - A new method to Design, fabricate and construct tile vaults

Chaoyu Du
Ph.D. candidate in Architecture at ETH Zurich
Chaoyu Du is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Architecture at ETH Zurich. With a background as an architect and designer, her areas of expertise encompass computational design and digital fabrication. Her academic journey includes the completion of her architecture diploma at Tongji University (M.Arch), as well as a dual Master's degree in Urban Design from the Technical University of Berlin (M.Sc), and further education through a MAS in architecture and digital fabrication, along with a CAS in computer science at ETH.
In 2020, Chaoyu Du joined Block research group, where her focus centers on computational geometry and the fabrication of shell structures. She was involved in projects such as the innovative Hilo rib-stiffened funicular floor and theaward-winning Striatus 3D concrete printed masonry bridge. She was honored with the ITA fellowship in 2021. At ETH Zurich, she also undertook the role of an instructor for Computational Structural Design I and II.
Abstract
The AEC sector is widely recognized for its severe environmental impact, which accounts for 40% of the world’s greenhouse emissions and global resource consumption. For developing countries where population growth and urbanization are ongoing trends, it’s particularly challenging to decouple the prosperity from the CO2 emission. In such regions, conventional building technology, especially vaults made of bricks and tiles, has shown the potential to reduce carbon emissions by up to 80% compared to cement concrete structures, owing to their structural form and the utilization of low-carbon materials. However, the traditional construction method for brick or tile vaults is not only labour-intensive but is highly dependent on skilled masons.
To address these challenges, our research proposes an innovative way to construct tile vaults using digital fabrication. We employ a knitted fabric to define the geometry of a compression-only shell. Tiles made from the same mould are then stapled onto the fabric in a pre-defined pattern. The fabric, along with the tiles, is hanged downwards under gravity. Afterwards, mortar is applied to fill the gaps between the tiles and rigidify the fabric. Lastly, the hardened shell is flipped and becomes self-supporting.


Host
Wei Wu
Wei Wu is a designer and computational artist with a Master's degree in Design Studies from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She operates at the intersection of design and emerging technologies, producing work that encompasses robotic installations, interactive media art, and extended reality design.
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