Sustainability and 3D concrete printing: identifying a need for a more holistic approach to assessing environmental impacts

Abstract

This paper aims to identify the current status of research in 3D concrete printing (3DCP), locate the sustainability considerations relevant to these trajectories, and to identify a gap in knowledge and future research challenge regarding the sustainability of 3DCP. To categorize the broad range of research topics within 3DCP, the paper introduces an assessment framework that subdivides this field into three sub-fields: material science, computational design, and structure and performance. Common sustainability considerations are identified for each of these sub-fields. As a result of this analysis, a lack of critical assessments on claims about the sustainability and environmental impacts of 3DCP is identified.

Our survey of literature, and its analysis via this framework, finds that whilst certain sustainability aspects are highlighted, other measures and considerations are skimmed over, or omitted. It is found that whilst material optimization and the ability to create formwork-free, complex forms is noted as a main argument for the implementation of 3DCP, this claim is largely unsupported by reference or reported outcomes, and the environmental impacts are often only briefly discussed. There is a clear need for a holistic view on the sustainability issues which surround 3DCP.

This paper further highlights the lack of comprehensive assessment tools and metrics for measuring the environmental impact of 3DCP and concludes that further research must be done to develop these tools, to allow architects to integrate 3DCP into sustainability-oriented design workflows. Our paper concludes that the development of these tools will lead to a more comprehensive understanding on the environmental sustainability of 3DCP, allowing research resources to be focused within each field to ensure 3DCP continues to develop in a sustainable way.