Tech breakthrough creates living walls
Plant-clad structures made from soil created by 3D printing technology could help evolve new building methods that are more sustainable and carbon neutral, a team at an American university believes.
The University of Virginia (UoV) research team says building green walls and roofs using this technique is more environmentally beneficial, producing products that provide natural insulation, flood prevention and habitats for pollinators and wildlife. The technique could enable green elements to be integrated into the fabric of architectural structures, rather than just bonding them to the surface. The process also eliminates the use of unnecessary materials with large emissions and a larger carbon footprint.
The research team’s experiment used local soil, adding water to create ‘soil inks’ for the robot printers to create the structures, then impregnating the surface
with succulent, drought-resistant stonecrop. After generating complex structures, such as domes, the team created 1m-high walls and now wants to print structures with multiple sides. “We are working with local soils and plants mixed with water. The only electricity we need is to move the material and run a pump during printing,” said Ehsan Baharlou, an assistant professor in the UoV School of Architecture.