023

Additive Manufacturing
Technologies in Restoration:
An Innovative Workflow for
Interventions on Cultural Heritage

Sara Codarin

032 — 055 The current advancement of this research within the

construction sector is the missing link for bridging the

gap between the digitisation of building processes and

the fabrication of architectural components. Renewed

market needs and contemporary design languages

require increasingly in-depth digital proficiency for the

management of representation and production. The

primary challenge of turning digital data into matter

in the building design field must be overcome in order

to demonstrate a possible transfer of benefits for new

constructions, or interventions on existing buildings. The

scientific community unanimously states the importance

of deepening the most updated digital fabrication systems.

With the aim of elaborating a methodological approach that

#additive layer manufacturing prevents the technique from prevailing over the cultural

#digital fabrication assets a project requires, the present study proposes an

#second digital turn innovative workflow for restoration projects on culturally

#digital architecture relevant architecture in a state of degradation.

#cultural heritage
Sara Codarin . Additive Manufacturing Technologies in Restoration | 33

Introduction built result, as in the past. We are witnessing a

substantial change to the typical architectural
Digitisation of design processes enables archi- professional process, in which design is not sep-
tects and engineers to interface with a common arated from construction, and the transition be-
language, reduce uncertainties, and ensure great- tween one and the other is almost instantaneous.
er awareness in decision-making phases. This change reiterates processes and optimises
methods leading to pioneering conceptual and
In parallel, unceasing development of construc- aesthetic paradigms by allowing simultaneous
tion technologies aimed at processing digital work within digital and virtual environments.
data, and subsequently reproducing their spa-
tial characteristics (Rocker 2006; Gershenfeld Advancements in CAD/CAM (Computer-Aided
2012), opened up new and unexplored design Design and Computer-Aided Manufacturing)
possibilities. This challenges and fundamental- interplay allow evaluation of successful digital
ly transforms well-practised design traditions architecture production experiments (Mostafavi
(Keating et al. 2014). and Bier 2016). Such experiments entail using
secondary technological structures to articulate
Indeed, when the first digital revolution came new constructions or existing volumes. Similar
into play (Carpo 2013), the formal elaboration of sequences comprising off-site technological units
architectural projects remained confined within in factories or research laboratories, and on-site
the digital environment, represented through assembly of more complex architectural systems
two- and three-dimensional simulations. The unite this applied research.
transition to the second digital era, theorised
over the last decade as the second digital turn, On-site automation is widely under study as the
determined the development of automated tools. uncertainties of construction environments are
These tools are programmable to materialise still crucial features to be faced in order to change
the digital space with great flexibility, without previously known building site settings.
limitations imposed by standardised production
methods (Carpo 2017). Digital manufacturing Given these premises, it is of particular interest to
technologies, such as robotic arms, 3D printers, explore the advancement of scientific knowledge
smart-assembly or combined tools, to name a within the restoration field. This requires case-
few, laid the foundations for the customisation of by-case design solutions based on unpredictable
performative architecture, spanning the techno- variables such as lack of information regarding
logical unit and the architectural organism. This the buildings’ geometry, assembly materials, and
ongoing cultural breakthrough, which falls into possible structural instabilities (Brandi 1963).
the definition of post-digital (Figliola 2017), aims
to make the digital space tangible and perceiv- The present contribution investigates digital
able (Gramazio and Kohler 2008). This fills the gap technologies and the role of manufacturing
left by the first digital switchover, which failed to tools to support decision-making phases for
develop an aesthetic and material sense in archi- innovative interventions on cultural heritage.
tectural production (Picon 2014). In turn, it requires knowledge of traditional
construction systems and craft methods as
Consequently, the design output is no longer just a metaphorical boundary in which design
a link between the conceptual phase and the outcomes should be tailored.
34 | C U B I C J O U R N A L . N o . 3 . Design Making — The Values Had, The Object Made, The Value Had

Methodology still requires in-depth analysis and applicability

evaluations. Therefore, the paper classifies these
Today, valorisation and restoration projects on technical complexities based on the priority in
existing architectural heritage refer to established which they should be solved.
techniques used by artisans. Making decisions
directly on site is a common task, although not These considerations laid the basis for the defi-
always supported by adequate tools to ensure the nition of a first-hand experimental activity to ex-
digital documentation, repeatability, and measur- plore a digital workflow for restoration processes,
ability of the performance. from design to construction.

European approaches developed in the 1970s Such methodology encourages dialogue between
aimed at industrialising the construction process craft and information technology (IT) integration
shifting from the serial prefabrication of building within interventions on cultural heritage.
elements to the mass production of standardised
housing estates and building systems (Zaffagnini
1981). Current methodologies are instead more ori- Case studies: large-scale digital
ented to customisation and personalisation (Bock construction
and Langenberg 2014). This change opens new
possibilities for industrialisation in sectors that re- Large-scale digital technologies generate complex
quire bespoke solutions, such as restoration. geometries in a short time frame compared to
non-automated implementations. In this analysis,
The immediate consequences could be cost reduc- depending on the construction process, they are
tion and more reliable results over time, especially categorised as subtractive technologies, additive
when the production of non-standardised com- assembly systems, additive layer manufacturing,
ponents is required and serial production for their and combined processes.
realisation is not viable.
For each technology, design, production, or as-
Industrialisation within the building industry sembly processes are to some extent digitally
mostly refers to the off-site production of materi- controlled. Below are some examples in support
als, products, and technologies subjected to quality of this research.
supervision in a controlled environment. So far, in
the European framework, on-site industrialisation Researchers have explored subtractive processes
is not widespread. It could particularly help to op- primarily using computer numerical control (CNC)
timise the rate of time and quality for the produc- machines or hot wire cutters.
tion of discretised elements, that are not realisable
through mass production. In 2015, the company D-shape1, in collaboration
with the Institute of Digital Archaeology2 realised
The present study analyses projects on ex- a scaled-down prototype of the Monumental
isting buildings realised through traditional Arch of Palmyra using a CNC machine on marble
procedures and, in parallel, deepens relevant blocks. The arch was severely damaged after con-
experimentations on building site automation. flictual events and, for a long time, Palmyra’s site
For each set of case study projects, it draws was inaccessible. During that period, the scientific
attention to the main technical complexities community promoted a campaign to create a da-
that architects and researchers encounter and tabase of photos of the area to produce a digital
Sara Codarin . Additive Manufacturing Technologies in Restoration | 35

model using a photogrammetry technique. The instance, a human drew a curve on the ground,
following step was to display a symbolic recon- and a robot correspondingly shaped a brick wall.
struction to raise awareness of the arch’s cultural This real-time update is a crucial point to support
importance and continue encouraging documen- a robotic breakthrough in the construction sector
tation. Robotics, in this context, allow for an im- (Keating and Oxman 2013).
mediate reaction to a cultural loss and to address
resources for effective reconstruction once local Additive layer manufacturing (ALM) is a research
socio-political instability is over. area that requires technical optimisation for full-
scale building applications. ALM’s promising
Research projects have mainly used robotic hot potentials lie in safety, limitation of raw material
wire cutting (RHWC) to investigate design pro- waste, cost-efficiency, control of material storage,
cesses. Significant examples are the RDM Vault and experimentation with innovative materials.
at Hyper-body’s robotics workshop in Rotterdam Speed and geometrical freedom are not fully
(Feringa and Søndergaard 2014), and the REVAULT resolved aspects. Although advanced building
project at the University of Michigan.3 An exam- construction companies are integrating additive
ple is the realisation of study prototypes for the processes on site, these tools lack the level of de-
continuing construction of Gaudí’s Sagrada Fa- velopment of industrial robots. The “process of
milia Church (Sheil 2012). Researchers previously joining materials to make objects from 3D mod-
investigated digitally-assisted stoneworking for el data, usually layer upon layer”5 is achievable
columns and masonry components through scale through two foremost tested systems, based on
models to learn the geometrical intricacies for different methods for the generation of the ma-
each piece. This allowed professionals to deeply chines’ toolpaths: powder-bed deposition and
engage with the understanding of the geometry bulk-material plotting. These terms are often
relations that Gaudì himself could not in his time approximated to 3D printing, which is instead a
understand because of the computational diffi- subset of these techniques.
culties that contemporary digital design methods
can resolve with higher success. Researchers applied the first process additive con-
struction using a powdered sand mixture cured
The realisation, in 2006, of the façade of the Gan- through hydration with an inorganic binder. Ra-
tenbein cantine4 set the beginning of a series of diolaria, a prototype realised in 2007 by D-shape,
process iterations led by Gramazio and Kohler is generally considered to be the first large-scale
Research (Wangler et al. 2016). Their approach is freeform additively manufactured structure.
described as “the process of joining materials to
create constructions from 3D model data” (Labon- Material plotting is the most used in academic
note et al. 2016). The In-Situ Robotic Fabrication research. It is usually clay based. Among the most
project specifically provides a significant step for- effective experimentations we can find are Woven
ward in the study of building automation regard- Clay (Friedman, Kim, and Mesa 2014), Pylos (Dubor,
ing the future deployment of robots directly on Cabay, and Chronis 2018), and InFormed Ceramics
site. In order to do that, the robot must recognise (Ko et al. 2018) projects.
its position, the geometry of building elements
nearby, and material tolerances (Gramazio, Kohler, This study, from the technical perspective, refers
and Willmann 2014). Current research enabling in- to ALM as:
teractions with human workers can expand these 1. An end effector installed on a robotic tool;
capabilities. For the Endless Wall installation, for 2. A means of fabricating objects from the
36 | C U B I C J O U R N A L . N o . 3 . Design Making — The Values Had, The Object Made, The Value Had

digital environment; be completed with off-site integrations or with

3. Through material deposition; architectural discretised components installed
4. Using a print head. directly on site.

Scaling up the ALM process to the architectural To date, definition of the digital building site is
scale requires awareness of the interplay between underway. Construction phases do not necessari-
equipment objects. Large extruders limit robot be- ly have to follow a deterministic scheme. Innova-
haviour during fabrication, and the overall efficien- tive construction tools may include robotic arms
cy of work may decrease every time workers must to lay building materials, customise on-site stan-
fill the container with new material. This can also dard components, and build volumetric additions
affect the object’s drying process and deformation. if required.

The present research is interested in the analy- The tools currently available on the market need
sis of additive manufacturing procedures. It will enhancements to develop a complete construction
address a laboratory experience, based on this cycle in situ. Evidence of this can be found in case
approach, to collect data and find critical solu- studies disseminated at an international level,
tions for some technical complexities that occur which hybridise on-site and off-site production
during implementation. (Gramazio and Kohler 2014).

Notably, additive manufacturing can be considered

Cases of restoration making an attempt to replace wet construction systems,
because it does not require extended drying time
The digitalisation of building sites under resto- or formwork for casting and curing.
ration is an opportunity to link digital design and
digital building processes. At the time of writing, This study primarily focuses on damage to build-
digitisation has revolutionised design, thanks to ings’ geometries, such as the collapse of building
dedicated architectural software. By merging dig- elements, gaps in the building envelope or decora-
ital production and assembly, digital construction tions, and the loss of elements of the volume.
can simplify the process from digital design to dig-
ital production of finished structures and buildings Given this limitation, this paper examines several
(Labonnote et al. 2016). projects of volumetric additions or fragment re-
placement on historical architecture (Fig. 1).
As previously mentioned, it is essential to re-
member that restoration processes require a case- The same decision-making approach unifies such
by-case approach. Although a long construction projects. For each building, architects consolidate
tradition codifies possible decisions, they cannot the existing surfaces and design the missing parts
always be evaluated in advance or processed by choosing a recognisable language, in contrast
through digital means. with historical patterns. A brief description of se-
lected restoration cases follows.
The traditional construction site is structured
with a sequence of events following a linear The first analysed project is the Hedmark Museum
scheme (National Heritage Training Group 2005). in Hamar, Norway, it is Scandinavian vernacular
Each occurs when the previous action is con- architecture restored by Sverre Fehn in 1971. The
cluded (Zaffagnini 1981). In situ procedures can building holds three layers of history:
Sara Codarin . Additive Manufacturing Technologies in Restoration | 37

1. The thirteenth-century Bishops’ fortress Finally, the eleventh-century Cathedral of

ruins of the Ancient Diocese of Hamar; Bagrati in Kutaisi, Georgia, is a restoration case
2. The eighteenth-century barn built using of reintegration. It focused on the substitution
the ruins of the ancient medieval palace of damaged elements with modern materials,
as parts of the walls; inside a valuable example of eleventh-century
3. The twentieth-century intervention bring- Georgian architecture. The building has been
ing the building to its contemporary state. heavily damaged throughout the centuries and
was reconstructed to its present state through a
The present temporal layer lies atop the ruins. gradual process starting in the 1950s, with sig-
The architect emphasised openings and gaps in nificant conservation works conducted in 2012
the building envelope, covering them with plate by Andrea Bruno. The contemporary volume is
glass, touching the structure with metal pins on adjacent to the historic walls, and it is recognis-
each corner, and providing an ephemeral contrast able by differences in geometry and colour from
to the massiveness of the pre-existent structure. the ancient masonry.

Architects applied a similar approach to the Monas- As for digital constructions, research extrapolates
tery of San Juan in Burgos, in the north of Spain. The technical complexities that a traditional resto-
parish built the historical volume in the eleventh ration construction site requires. Among these:
century. It suffered damage due to two successive
fires in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. At 1. Production of customised elements to be
present the structure is mainly in ruins, though installed within geometrical constraints;
exterior sidewalls survive. Conservation efforts led 2. Structural enhancement; and
in 2015 for the construction of a roof which floats 3. A formal language to resolve the inter-
above the ruins. This roof preserves the ruins as an face between the pre-existing and the
independent structure, keeping the perception of new intervention.
the original architecture unaltered. It is shaped like
a large folded plane that evokes the ecclesiastical Researchers transferred these variants in a hypo-
three-nave temple that initially existed. All volu- thetical digital restoration site, which is consid-
metric integrations were designed by BSA studio ered a consistent option once the advancement
using different materials, colours, and textures of technology solves some key aspects in order of
from the pre-existent masonry. priority. Among these:

Another notable example in the European context 1. The space required for automated sys-
is the Kolumba Museum in Cologne, Germany. De- tems to be installed near ruins;
signed by Peter Zumthor, it was built between 2003 2. The possibility to produce non-stan-
and 2007. Previously, the site was occupied by the Ro- dardised elements in touch with irregu-
manesque Church of St. Columba, destroyed in World lar vertical or horizontal surfaces;
War Two and replaced by a chapel in 1950. The new 3. Development of engineered materials
structure combines existing fragments of the Goth- with load-bearing properties;
ic church and the 1950s chapel into one complete 4. Systems to control the colour scheme of
building. The museum shares its site with the ruins, ALM outputs.
wrapping a perforated grey brick facade around
them. The new work adopts the original plan of the A simulation of a possible digital construction
ruins to become part of the architectural continuum. site for restoration projects follows.
38 | C U B I C J O U R N A L . N o . 3 . Design Making — The Values Had, The Object Made, The Value Had

Cracks in windows have allowed rain to wet

Test-bed: the Woodward Avenue stones and wooden elements over the years.
Presbyterian Church Thus, several architectural components have
experienced repeated freeze-thaw cycles, exac-
The innovative contribution of the present re- erbated by Michigan’s harsh continental climate.
search is underway at the College of Architecture Moreover, gaps exist in the perimetric walls, and
and Design (CoAD) of the Lawrence Technological the layers of the internal vaulted systems are no
University (LTU) in Southfield, Michigan in collab- longer cohesive.
oration with the Department of Architecture of
Ferrara, Italy. Survey activity integrated data obtained from
complementary tools. An imaging 360-degree
The common goal is to address the use of digital laser scanner collected point clouds of overall
fabrication in restoration, as an opportunity to building geometry.9 A structure-sensor operating
update cultural heritage conservation processes. through a photogrammetric technique created
In this field, digital tools are rarely implemented meshes of decorations or structural details that
owing to a lack of studies that assess their appli- are out of range for the scanner’s visual cone
cability and benefit. (Fig. 3). In addition, a lidar sensor connected to a
drone integrated geometric data for inaccessi-
Researchers at CoAD are mapping historical ar- ble areas (Fig. 4).10
chitecture in the Detroit area under degradation,
resulting from the collapse of the local economic The aforementioned analysis of restoration
system in the 1970s.6 Most of these buildings are making cases helped categorise damage within
included in the Federal National Register of His- the building system. In fact, this phase of the re-
toric Places.7 search consisted of mapping areas of the building
united by certain characteristics. These include
Survey activity has produced a dataset used to loss of portions of materials and presence of un-
classify architecture of cultural relevance that is even vertical and horizontal surfaces. The wall
partially or entirely damaged, starting with those gap was used as an investigation field (Fig. 5).
that are already labelled to be preserved.

Researchers use this cataloguing process to find Experimentation: filling the gap
a consistent test-bed. The test-bed chosen is an through additive manufacturing
abandoned building characterised by several crit-
ical geometric conditions analysed using digital The quantitative data collected during the survey
tools. Researchers decided to examine the Wood- of the Woodward Avenue Church were turned
ward Avenue Presbyterian Church, a neo-gothic into matter through the full-scale realisation of a
building constructed in 1911, which has been a wall’s portion.11 This wall prototype is a test-bed
national landmark since 1982.8 The last religious to simulate possible on-site operations of additive
service in 2005 marked the beginning of its aban- manufacturing for the production of large-scale
donment (Fig. 2). architectural elements on complex geometrical
constraints as wall gaps (Fig. 6).
A preliminary photographic analysis identified
the main critical aspects. They specifically con- Researchers employed specific equipment for
cern the structure and the external envelope. testing the digital manufacturing process. A
Sara Codarin . Additive Manufacturing Technologies in Restoration | 39

six-axis robot executed kinematic sequences. In- the nozzle at every target point.
stalled on the robot head is an end effector, or a
nozzle connected to a flexible hose, for extrusion Currently, extrusion testing is under study. Clay
of printing material. A pipe pushed the printing was chosen as a base material for the experi-
material into the end effector under compressed mentation because it is easily recyclable, com-
air power. paratively inexpensive, and workable to achieve a
high-quality finish (Fig. 10).
Researchers modelled the volume of the wall
gap and linked this model to a parametric digi- During experimental phases, certain aspects will
tal environment,13 to ease iterations and possi- be monitored. Researchers will evaluate the pre-
ble variations of the process. Researchers then cision, replicability, and measurability of the pro-
sliced the model into horizontal layers that were cess performance.
filled with an internal support geometry. The
project team broke resulting polylines into a The responsiveness of the material, in terms of
list of targets for the robot to reach. Researchers viscosity, hardening rapidity, and compressive
offset each layer multiple times to generate the strength limitation, is critical in relation to the
required wall thickness. different surfaces slopes deposited through the
end effector (Fig. 11). The accuracy of the robot in
Thereafter, researchers generated the robot the physical world, following the software simu-
toolpath over the model. To do so, they em- lations, determines whether the end effector is
ployed a plug-in14 that extends the software’s just touching, or colliding with the wall surface.
capabilities and allows the remote program- Moreover, linear and rotation limits of the robot
ming of the robot axis. The project team used axes set up the most suitable toolpath speed for
this component to design a script, or toolpath the realisation of the wall gap volume.
generation algorithm, that converts target
points into robot code and simultaneously The achievement of the expected research results
detects collisions, reachability issues, and sin- is a tangible opportunity to merge the design
gularities (Fig. 7). Before uploading the code in processes and construction, or making, proce-
the robot controller, researchers validated axis dures (Stevens and Nelson 2015). They contribute
kinematics by visualising the robot at each to defining the characters of the future digital
of the targets and checking for targets out of craftsman, within which “the automatic feedback
reach, joints out of range, singularity issues, between the machine and the material is the
self-collisions, and collisions with surrounding next step of digital craftsmanship” (Carpo 2013).
objects (Fig. 8). The virtual simulation provided
an early opportunity to correct possible issues
that may have occurred. This was followed by Speculation on additive
a simulation of the robot kinematics in the manufacturing
physical world. Before interacting with the wall
prototype, researchers wrote a basic script to The output of this research includes the algorithm
analyse whether the robot could operate effec- design, based on overcoming the concept of stan-
tively within a simple geometrical constraint. dardisation. This premise is commonly used for the
The wall crack was approximated to a rectan- elaboration of generative volumes. In this context,
gular gap (Fig. 9). This allowed the project team the research took advantage of these potentials to
to check the positioning and the rotations of deepen new design paradigms in restoration for
40 | C U B I C J O U R N A L . N o . 3 . Design Making — The Values Had, The Object Made, The Value Had

volumetric integration of complex shapes in build- tion on Cultural Heritage and encourage further
ing envelopes (Codarin and Medici 2018). studies or application testing.

This project’s outcome is an algorithm that guides In this shift of design paradigms, the architects
a robot to reach target points and make clay extru- have the role of the professional who achieves
sion possible. It allows for the management of ALM several complex tasks. They produce the idea and
processes in all aspects. develop the concepts through the project. They
then have the knowledge and the tools to sim-
The script is composed of a sequence of information: ulate the three-dimensional result in the digital
environment. Finally, they can realise the physi-
1. Input geometry; cal model using large-scale tools associated with
2. ALM geometry; end effectors that link digital data to the tangible
3. Robot toolpath; world in a continuous, uninterrupted flow.
4. Axis kinematics;
5. End effector installed, The process takes place in a digital continuum
6. Analysis data; and (Leach 2002), which is the operative expression
7. Output. of the digital infrastructure we live in (Levitt and
Dubner 2014), where skills and professional com-
Every component can be modified to explore dif- petencies meet.
ferent iterations and proofs of concepts.
Digital tools expand the designer’s workspace, in-
On the one hand, ALM use shortens the pro- troduce the possibility of customising production,
duction process of customised components and and extend the digital designer-craftsman arm
reduces on-site storage of building materials. In (Sennett 2008), simultaneously linking design
this research context, layers are the architectur- and fabrication.
al units to measure a building process. They are
basic components, a new statement to describe a The designer must define an innovative system of
future holistic concept of tectonic construction. man-machine relations through a conscious ap-
proach that draws on traditional craftsmanship.
Restoration practices could benefit from this ap-
proach. Digitisation of the restoration site opens
the door to replicability, prediction of architec- Acknowledgements
tural systems’ performance, use of new building
techniques, or elaboration of traditional craft. The experimentation is made possible thanks
to the College of Architecture and Design of
Additionally, the use of on-site robotics could Lawrence Technological University – Southfield –
help operations in inaccessible areas, espe- Michigan - USA.
cially in post-emergency conditions where
fast measures are required. Moreover, it could
enhance the quality of results, thanks to the
programmable level of detail. Robots read and
turn digital algorithms into restorative actions.
The elaboration of a wide database of program
scripts could help address digital documenta-
Sara Codarin . Additive Manufacturing Technologies in Restoration | 41

Notes
1. For further information, see: https://d-shape.com/(online:
10 March, 2019).

2. For further information, see: http://digitalarchaeology.

org.uk/ (online: 10 March, 2019).

3. For further information, see: https://taubmancollege.

umich.edu/research/research-through-making/2011/
revault (online: 10 March, 2019).

4. For further information, see: http://www.gramaziokohler.

com/web/d/bauten/52.html (online: 10 March, 2019).

5. See the ASTM definition of additive manufacturing:

https://www.astm.org/ (online: 10 March, 2019).

6. Significant abandonment of Detroit’s built heritage began

during the oil crisis, which affected the United States of
America from 1973 to 1979 and significantly affected
Detroit’s auto industry-dependent economy.

7. For further information, see: https://catalog.archives.gov/

(online: 10 March, 2019).

8. The documentation about the Woodward Avenue

Presbyterian Church is available at: https://catalog.
archives.gov/id/25338557 (online: 10 March, 2019).

9. The point cloud of the Woodward Avenue Church is

available at: http://webmodel.space/ (online: 10 March,
2019).

10. The present analysis addresses some deductions: 1) the

most accurate geometric digital output (point cloud)
is given by the laser scanner; 2) the structure-sensor is a
useful complementary tool that can be used for quick
surveys; 3) drones have the potential to collect data in
inaccessible areas, but are not necessarily easy to use.
Drone-supported scanners are not static tools, and the
downdraft generated by the propellers raises dust and
sediments from architectural components.

11. The experimentation is underway at the makeLab of the

Lawrence Technological University. For further information,
see: http://make-lab.org/ (online: 10 March, 2019).

12. The robot arm employed is a Kuka Kr6-arc, used for research
and academic purposes at CoAD of Lawrence Technological
University.

13. See: https://www.grasshopper3d.com/ (online: 10 March,

2019).

14. See: https://www.robotsinarchitecture.org/kuka-prc

(online: 10 March, 2019).
42 | C U B I C J O U R N A L . N o . 3 . Design Making — The Values Had, The Object Made, The Value Had

Figure 1: Cases of restoration of architectural heritage

in the international framework. The selected projects
are characterised by a similar design approach, using a
contemporary language. Source: author.
Sara Codarin . Additive Manufacturing Technologies in Restoration | 43
44 | C U B I C J O U R N A L . N o . 3 . Design Making — The Values Had, The Object Made, The Value Had
Sara Codarin . Additive Manufacturing Technologies in Restoration | 45

Figure 2 (top, opposite page): Interior of Woodward Avenue Figure 4 (top): Experimental survey conducted with a drone
Presbyterian Church. Students and researchers at the College connected to a structure sensor for collecting data in
of Architecture and Design of Lawrence Technological inaccessible areas. Use of this tool highlighted some critical
University conducted a geometric survey for research aspects, including impact of the drone’s kinematics on
purposes. Source: author. dust and stone debris, and flight time division into regular
intervals to increase data accuracy and approximation.
Figure 3 (bottom, opposite page): Digital mapping achieved Source: author.
by using a Lidar sensor. It provides real-time geometric and
photogrammetric information. This tool is used in quick
assessment surveys. The outcome is useful in the preliminary
phases of a project. Source: author.
46 |
Sara Codarin . Additive Manufacturing Technologies in Restoration | 47

Figure 5 (opposite page; top to bottom, this page):

Elaboration of the test bed. 3D modelling of the
building’s wall crack and overlapping of the geometry
with photogrammetric information. Lidar sensor scans
supported the proposed workflow for quick decision-
making in urgent response scenarios. Source: author.

Figure 6 (top, page 48): Experimental settings for the

simulation of an on-site digital robotic process. Operating
in the physical world allows us to analyse all possible
interactions between the robotic arm and the static
geometries surrounding it. Source: author.

Figure 7 (top, page 49): The algorithm developed to guide

the robot through the ALM process. Every cluster of inputs
is strictly related to the mathematical rules underlying
geometry. Therefore, geometry in space related to an
action’s execution time determines the robot’s kinematics.
Source: author.

Figure 8 (middle, page 49): Definition of the ALM toolpath

and robot’s movements within a geometric constraint in
the digital environment. This procedure detects errors, such
as collisions or positioning of unreachable target points, in
an early stage of the design process. In the event of such
mistakes, the virtual robot turns red. The script generates
a graph describing which robot axis has issues and when.
Source: author.
48 | C U B I C J O U R N A L . N o . 3 . Design Making — The Values Had, The Object Made, The Value Had
Sara Codarin . Additive Manufacturing Technologies in Restoration | 49

Figure 9 (below): Video frame images of the robot inte-

racting with simple geometrical constraints generated by
two vertical surfaces. This was an early stage before adding
levels of complexity to the experiment. Source: author.
50 | C U B I C J O U R N A L . N o . 3 . Design Making — The Values Had, The Object Made, The Value Had
Sara Codarin . Additive Manufacturing Technologies in Restoration | 51

Figure 10 (opposite page): First extrusion of the toolpath.

It is composed of the outlines and the internal supporting
geometry. Initial testing was made on a flat surface to
analyse the material’s response to the robot’s speed and to
the nozzle’s orientation relative to gravity. Source: author.

Figure 11: Iterative testing of the additive manufacturing

process, using the end effector installed on the robot’s head.
Source: author.
52 | C U B I C J O U R N A L . N o . 3 . Design Making — The Values Had, The Object Made, The Value Had

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Sara Codarin . Additive Manufacturing Technologies in Restoration | 53

Bio
Sara Codarin is a PhD student at the Department of
Architecture, University of Ferrara, Italy. She is fascinated
by technological innovation within design processes. Her
doctoral research investigates design and fabrication
workflows in architecture with promising applications
for the conservation of cultural heritage. She spent an
academic year in America as a visiting scholar at the College
of Architecture and Design of Lawrence Technological
University, Michigan to develop an experimental application
of her research. She studied large-scale robotic additive
manufacturing by simulating on-site fabrication processes
to produce construction units for the recovery of damaged
buildings. Her work is tied to this broader knowledge base
about substantial economic, technological, and social
changes that will have repercussions in the architectural
practice of future generations.

DOI: 10.31182/cubic.2020.3.23

CUBIC JOURNAL 2020