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Studio ··· ARCH 903 Design studio, Pratt Institute
Year ··· Aug 2021 - Dec 2021
Research Partner ··· Krithi Krishnan
Faculty ··· Jing Liu and Ray Wu


3D Printed Core
An energy core has been proposed in Building 3 on Governors Island, by the MS cohort. Extrusion technology has been proposed to fabricate a core within the house while retaining the building envelope. Upon comparing the applications of robotic arm 3d printers, and gantry-type printers, a robotic arm printer has been proposed. Taking the existing door opening sizes of the house into consideration, the KUKA KR 210 R2700 Model would allow us to transport the robotic arm into the building with minimal intervention to the exterior facade.








The structural grid of the building is documented at the basement level. As the printer is around 1100 kilograms, the point of entry has then been mapped along with the movement of the robots to print this structure. Iterations of the 3d printed profile are done to explore the integration of various services into the compact core while also optimizing printing time and the material required.
















The extrusion pattern of the profile accommodates water pipes and heating pipes, exposing and concealing them as needed. The presence of cavities allows the opportunity to fill the structure with material such as sawdust or agro-waste. The thermal mass and cavities would also aid in providing heat to the house through the structure. Physical model casting has been done to explore the challenges that would arise while 3d printing the core on-site. While printing at the edge of the existing beams and roof junctions, modular blocks that are printed on the ground to be assembled in place, are proposed.



Modular Block Specifications:

A1 = Material line width = 11mm
A2 = Straight fillet edge = 18mm
A3 = End surface width = 18mm
A4 = Layer height = 8mm
2017 — Frogtown, Los Angeles
Running on Cargo