Calgary Youth Hub

2022

This project explores digital fabrication techniques and how they can be used to allow for more customisable buildings that reduce building waste and take advantage of local materials and expertise in their design and construction. Using a voxelised system to determine modularity and to drive the design, the Youth Hub takes inspiration from gothic architecture for its spatial qualities and construction techniques.

3d-printed concrete forms the primary structural material for the building; ribbed vaulting forms the core of the building’s structural logic. The combination of these two principals allows for maximal structural performance with a minimal use of concrete. By using vaulting—where components are all in compression—the concrete members do not require reinforcement, reducing the material and construction complexity for the main structure. By using ribbed vaulting, less intensive and expensive materials, like wood, are incorporated into the structure of the building where the structural performance of concrete is not required.

Through the use of 3d printing, the concrete structure is easily optimised to reduce material usage as required by the structure, while still conforming to the general formal and aesthetic qualities of the design. Compared to traditional building techniques, the building to also achieve a greater complexity of connections between different-sized modules. This is made possible by 3d printing and the ease of telling the printer to make a myriad of different components compared to that of a human.

On-site fabrication for this project operates in two parts: wood processing and 3d-printing. The wood factory takes in lumber and blank clt panels and mills them down to make the various floor slabs and timber components. The print factory takes in dry concrete ingredients, mixes them and pipes them to several robots which prints out the various structural components. The finished parts are then allowed to cure before being installed in the building.

Evan Dodds

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