[Music]
so who likes doing laundry exactly
nobody really likes doing laundry and I
don’t like it as well but at least it
can give me a little bit of inspiration
because whenever I hang out my socks and
underwear on a clothesline I can see a
really cool design for a new structure I
know that sounds a bit weird because a
clothesline
that’s usually a good way to dry your
clothes but you can also look at this
differently because the hanging shape of
a clothesline the inverted shape of it
forms the perfect arch and compression
and archers in architecture are super
efficient structures so let’s design one
let’s take your clothesline or any
flexible hole rope or hanging chain and
yet you hang it between two points you
trace this shape and then you simply
flip it upside down and that’s it that’s
a perfect arch in compression and
archers are super efficient structures
because they use material effectively
and only where you really need it but of
course this principle is not new it has
been known for hundreds of years and
people were building amazing structures
using this principle still standing
today in compression and forming a
perfect arch and when I looked at this
structure for the very first time is
amazing fan walls of the Kings College I
thought this is incredibly beautiful but
at the same time I also thought this
stone ceiling it must be incredibly
massive and heavy
well in fact it’s not because what you
see the stone structure its
proportionately as thin as an actual
isn’t it amazing you can build up stones
in space and it’s it’s thin
proportionately as an eggshell so I find
this really amazing and inspiring and I
know that this man was inspired by these
structures as well
his name is Heinz Easler an amazing
Swiss engineer and I don’t know if he
himself was hanging out his laundry on
the clothesline but I know that he was
hanging out wet sheets on really cold
days in his garden in Switzerland and
then he waited for them to freeze to be
able to flip them upside down and then
he looked at these shapes and discovered
new forms for buildings he built all
over Switzerland
did you ever pass by this service
station on your way to Bern
exactly that was sim that was sounds
Easler in the 60s and you look at it and
you immediately get it it looks like an
eggshell it’s incredibly thin so using a
hanging shape than word shape of it in
compression is a really efficient way to
save materials and to work with
materials effectively but that is not
the only aspect which interests me
because the structures I am showing to
you are for me also really exciting and
these forms are very unique so I want to
explore more but today I don’t need to
hang out my clothes on a clothesline or
I need to build complicated models with
wet sheets and chains I can actually use
computers and software and explore and
discover thousands of shapes
interactively in no time and the block
research group at ETH Zurich we do
exactly that we develop tools to then
design and build novel shapes
and sometimes this research also
involves to build a tiny hobbit house
and this is what we did in the woods at
ETH and then we wanted to know how
strong this structure actually is so we
did this we put some weight on it so we
put 3.5 tonnes of sandbags on top of it
and then we were waiting to see what’s
going to happen and what happened
well absolutely nothing we couldn’t see
any crack we couldn’t measure any
deformation because even though we were
just using simple bricks the good
structural geometry made this structure
so incredibly strong so to continue with
our testing we needed to then move to
slightly more drastic measures and this
is what we did so that was fun and it
really brings back good memories but you
don’t stop there right you want to fully
extend and push the limits of this idea
so we built an extreme stone wall
it spans 60 meters in the middle it’s
only five centimeters thick and it’s
extreme because what you’re looking at
is basically a 3d puzzle of 399
limestone blocks balanced in space in
compression following a good shape but
there’s no glue there’s no mortar there
are no connection between these stones
it’s basically just one stone pressing
against the other and I loved working on
that project because for me it shows the
concept of good structural geometry in a
truly elegant way and through this
through this demonstrator and it’s
elegance I’m hopeful that we can also
inspire others but for this inspiration
to also become a source for future
action we need to share our methods what
purpose is an idea
if nobody else can really access it so
make it accessible and able people and
this is what we do in our research we
develop tools but then we also freely
share them with architects and engineers
and designers so that they can build
their own structures when we release the
tool freely
it’s called Rhino walls a few years ago
it started with a few projects here and
there and then it really bloomed all
around the world and it was inspiring to
see how people picked up that idea and
brought it further and developed all
these exciting structures and even real
buildings but still the question remains
where can you really make a difference
because we don’t see these structures
very often what we see out there in
construction is this massive
developments popping up all over the
world because we need them we are
growing but the number of these
developments that is not the core issue
the problem is the material we use to
build them to give you an example for
all new construction work in the world
we consume approximately nine billion
tons of concrete every single year 9
billion tons so what does this even mean
it’s an incredibly high number I give
you an example so you would use all this
concrete and we would built a 20
centimeter thick wall with all this
material and this wall would run the
full length all around the equator this
wall would be 500 meters tall a 500
meter tall wall running all around the
world and we built this every year that
is a lot of material and we should do
something about it
so why not start with using material
where you really need it so why not
replacing for example these massive
floors consuming so much concrete and
steel with something lighter and more
efficient so why not replacing them with
an arch an arch and
I dove a floor and this is what we
developed the white prototype you see in
the middle and you see best that it
contains an arch if we slice it open and
the great thing about it it is is that
it consumes 70% less material if we
compare this to a conventional floor and
even if we compare it to floors with
hollow cores so that is a huge impact
but the prototype I am showing to you
does not even contain any concrete in
fact it is made out of sand or more
specifically 3d printed sand and 3d
printing is pretty cool for many reasons
but for us most importantly because we
can now add material exactly where we
need it and this is something which is
impossible if you use traditional
concrete casting techniques so now we
can print layer by layer complex
structures just using sand a binder and
this machine and this added complexity
does not come with added costs this is a
sample piece of this material 3d printed
sand so it’s basically just sand glued
together
so that doesn’t sound very strong in
fact I can’t compress it I could even
stand on that easily but as soon as I
bend it now you see it breaks as easy as
a bar of dark chocolate so that is a
really weak material so this is a little
bit scary sand glued together and you’re
supposed to stand on that well
the thing is and the good news is that
can take quite a load in fact it can
take half of our team or approximately
one ton of nerds and it could even take
twice as many nerds and it’s just sand
you’re standing on it so a good
structural geometry an arch allows you
to work with weak materials and that
opens up opportunities how we build
today but this is not only applicable to
a high tech context as here in
Switzerland where all these technology
is available it is also applicable its
principal in a low tech context where
these technologies are not available and
where sometimes not even concrete and
steel available so when we worked on a
project in Africa we looked for
resources that are easily available and
that was local natural materials and
local labor so we took these soya
pressed tile an extremely weak material
and then together with locals
we built a floor system a simple one
following an arch so if two ideas for
floor using two different material
systems in two totally different
contexts but following the same
principle
so where do we go from here and I don’t
claim to know the answer but I know
where we started so we started with a
simple arch this simple almost forgotten
idea and then we took this idea and
carried it into the future to combine it
with modern tools and technology so
through this we’re kind of combining the
past with the future and through the
studies and projects and prototypes I
showed I’m hopeful that we can instigate
a change that we can instigate a change
to less wasteful and more appropriate
and also more exciting ways of building
today with a little help from geometry
and laundry along the way thank you
[Applause]
so who likes doing laundry exactly
nobody really likes doing laundry and I
don’t like it as well but at least it
can give me a little bit of inspiration
because whenever I hang out my socks and
underwear on a clothesline I can see a
really cool design for a new structure I
know that sounds a bit weird because a
clothesline
that’s usually a good way to dry your
clothes but you can also look at this
differently because the hanging shape of
a clothesline the inverted shape of it
forms the perfect arch and compression
and archers in architecture are super
efficient structures so let’s design one
let’s take your clothesline or any
flexible hole rope or hanging chain and
yet you hang it between two points you
trace this shape and then you simply
flip it upside down and that’s it that’s
a perfect arch in compression and
archers are super efficient structures
because they use material effectively
and only where you really need it but of
course this principle is not new it has
been known for hundreds of years and
people were building amazing structures
using this principle still standing
today in compression and forming a
perfect arch and when I looked at this
structure for the very first time is
amazing fan walls of the Kings College I
thought this is incredibly beautiful but
at the same time I also thought this
stone ceiling it must be incredibly
massive and heavy
well in fact it’s not because what you
see the stone structure its
proportionately as thin as an actual
isn’t it amazing you can build up stones
in space and it’s it’s thin
proportionately as an eggshell so I find
this really amazing and inspiring and I
know that this man was inspired by these
structures as well
his name is Heinz Easler an amazing
Swiss engineer and I don’t know if he
himself was hanging out his laundry on
the clothesline but I know that he was
hanging out wet sheets on really cold
days in his garden in Switzerland and
then he waited for them to freeze to be
able to flip them upside down and then
he looked at these shapes and discovered
new forms for buildings he built all
over Switzerland
did you ever pass by this service
station on your way to Bern
exactly that was sim that was sounds
Easler in the 60s and you look at it and
you immediately get it it looks like an
eggshell it’s incredibly thin so using a
hanging shape than word shape of it in
compression is a really efficient way to
save materials and to work with
materials effectively but that is not
the only aspect which interests me
because the structures I am showing to
you are for me also really exciting and
these forms are very unique so I want to
explore more but today I don’t need to
hang out my clothes on a clothesline or
I need to build complicated models with
wet sheets and chains I can actually use
computers and software and explore and
discover thousands of shapes
interactively in no time and the block
research group at ETH Zurich we do
exactly that we develop tools to then
design and build novel shapes
and sometimes this research also
involves to build a tiny hobbit house
and this is what we did in the woods at
ETH and then we wanted to know how
strong this structure actually is so we
did this we put some weight on it so we
put 3.5 tonnes of sandbags on top of it
and then we were waiting to see what’s
going to happen and what happened
well absolutely nothing we couldn’t see
any crack we couldn’t measure any
deformation because even though we were
just using simple bricks the good
structural geometry made this structure
so incredibly strong so to continue with
our testing we needed to then move to
slightly more drastic measures and this
is what we did so that was fun and it
really brings back good memories but you
don’t stop there right you want to fully
extend and push the limits of this idea
so we built an extreme stone wall
it spans 60 meters in the middle it’s
only five centimeters thick and it’s
extreme because what you’re looking at
is basically a 3d puzzle of 399
limestone blocks balanced in space in
compression following a good shape but
there’s no glue there’s no mortar there
are no connection between these stones
it’s basically just one stone pressing
against the other and I loved working on
that project because for me it shows the
concept of good structural geometry in a
truly elegant way and through this
through this demonstrator and it’s
elegance I’m hopeful that we can also
inspire others but for this inspiration
to also become a source for future
action we need to share our methods what
purpose is an idea
if nobody else can really access it so
make it accessible and able people and
this is what we do in our research we
develop tools but then we also freely
share them with architects and engineers
and designers so that they can build
their own structures when we release the
tool freely
it’s called Rhino walls a few years ago
it started with a few projects here and
there and then it really bloomed all
around the world and it was inspiring to
see how people picked up that idea and
brought it further and developed all
these exciting structures and even real
buildings but still the question remains
where can you really make a difference
because we don’t see these structures
very often what we see out there in
construction is this massive
developments popping up all over the
world because we need them we are
growing but the number of these
developments that is not the core issue
the problem is the material we use to
build them to give you an example for
all new construction work in the world
we consume approximately nine billion
tons of concrete every single year 9
billion tons so what does this even mean
it’s an incredibly high number I give
you an example so you would use all this
concrete and we would built a 20
centimeter thick wall with all this
material and this wall would run the
full length all around the equator this
wall would be 500 meters tall a 500
meter tall wall running all around the
world and we built this every year that
is a lot of material and we should do
something about it
so why not start with using material
where you really need it so why not
replacing for example these massive
floors consuming so much concrete and
steel with something lighter and more
efficient so why not replacing them with
an arch an arch and
I dove a floor and this is what we
developed the white prototype you see in
the middle and you see best that it
contains an arch if we slice it open and
the great thing about it it is is that
it consumes 70% less material if we
compare this to a conventional floor and
even if we compare it to floors with
hollow cores so that is a huge impact
but the prototype I am showing to you
does not even contain any concrete in
fact it is made out of sand or more
specifically 3d printed sand and 3d
printing is pretty cool for many reasons
but for us most importantly because we
can now add material exactly where we
need it and this is something which is
impossible if you use traditional
concrete casting techniques so now we
can print layer by layer complex
structures just using sand a binder and
this machine and this added complexity
does not come with added costs this is a
sample piece of this material 3d printed
sand so it’s basically just sand glued
together
so that doesn’t sound very strong in
fact I can’t compress it I could even
stand on that easily but as soon as I
bend it now you see it breaks as easy as
a bar of dark chocolate so that is a
really weak material so this is a little
bit scary sand glued together and you’re
supposed to stand on that well
the thing is and the good news is that
can take quite a load in fact it can
take half of our team or approximately
one ton of nerds and it could even take
twice as many nerds and it’s just sand
you’re standing on it so a good
structural geometry an arch allows you
to work with weak materials and that
opens up opportunities how we build
today but this is not only applicable to
a high tech context as here in
Switzerland where all these technology
is available it is also applicable its
principal in a low tech context where
these technologies are not available and
where sometimes not even concrete and
steel available so when we worked on a
project in Africa we looked for
resources that are easily available and
that was local natural materials and
local labor so we took these soya
pressed tile an extremely weak material
and then together with locals
we built a floor system a simple one
following an arch so if two ideas for
floor using two different material
systems in two totally different
contexts but following the same
principle
so where do we go from here and I don’t
claim to know the answer but I know
where we started so we started with a
simple arch this simple almost forgotten
idea and then we took this idea and
carried it into the future to combine it
with modern tools and technology so
through this we’re kind of combining the
past with the future and through the
studies and projects and prototypes I
showed I’m hopeful that we can instigate
a change that we can instigate a change
to less wasteful and more appropriate
and also more exciting ways of building
today with a little help from geometry
and laundry along the way thank you
[Applause]
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