What is Freeform Fabrication?

Freeform Fabrication is the generic name given to a host of related technologies which are used to fabricate physical objects directly from CAD data sources. These methods work by selectively placing and bonding materials together in layers to form solid objects. Any material (polymers, ceramic or metals), may be assembled as a single material or blended together for composite structures. Fabricating components additively, allows the accurate reproduction of complex computer-generated geometric structures, but it is not just about the materialisation of complex forms, more importantly, Freeform Fabrication allows engineers to integrate functions at the design stage.

For the past 20 years, Freeform Fabrication has been an integral part of the automobile, medical, military, aerospace, leisure and consumer industries who routinely use the technology to fabricate complex and unique parts. It is only recently that the architectural profession has started to use these techniques, with Foster and Partners being one of the first practices to fully integrate Freeform Fabrication within its design process. Other names by which the technology is known are 'rapid prototyping', 'rapid manufacturing', 'additive fabrication', 'direct digital manufacturing' and 'three dimensional printing (3DP)'.

What is Freeform Construction?

Freeform Construction unites the existent practice of Freeform Fabrication with the emergent practice of digital construction. It encompasses the manufacture and fabrication of construction components and structures fabricated directly or indirectly from digital data (either digital data to finished part or digital data to mould then part). 

Freeform Construction sits alongside wet and dry construction methods and links directly to, and is fed by, digital architecture and is integral to the broader concept of the ‘digital project’ (including scanning/digitising and BIM). It includes robotics, automation, CNC and rapid prototyping, as well as off-site and emergent on-site automated construction practice. 

Unifying Architecture and Engineering

Architecture and engineering are undergoing a renaissance. The form and function of a building have traditionally been divided but the digital integration of the design process through scripting, parametric, and, increasingly, agent based modelling, requires architecture and engineering to move forwards together. As digital architecture moves beyond ‘form for form’s sake’ (form finding) towards ‘form through function’ (function finding), then engineering must play its role in this transition too. 

Digital designs need digital processes to materialise ever more complex structures. Digital processes, including Freeform Construction, must reproduce ever greater levels of function into ever decreasing spaces. Within a digital framework the engineer can materialise the avant-garde form into feasible, realisable and sustainable structures.

Expectations of Freeform

Clients too, increasingly expect the design freedom and increased functions they see in their car or mobile phones; they want Gherkin designs for their homes. The government wants energy conservancy in residential and commercial buildings, both integrated during the construction process, and through refurbishment solutions for 26 million dated housing stock. For new build, the implication is to shorten the building life cycle by pushing responsibility for green design back to the architect. Supply of timber and steel for off-site manufacture, its cost and availability, is problematic, and the energy demands to fire bricks and cement makes their continued use uncertain.

The integration of construction practice within a digital framework, encompassing conception, generation, construction, habitation, maintenance, performance and recycling, is possible through digital practice and is the essence of Freeform Construction.

Digital Inputs: New Markets for Scanning

The capture of site specific data both before, during and after construction, means a structure can be sensitive to the environment within which it is built. During construction, digital capture of the unfolding structure allows the physical structure to be linked to the digital model. Accuracies can be monitored and errors anticipated. Problematic interface geometry can be captured and solutions produced. Post construction, digital capture of the structure allows for precise and sensitive modification and refurbishment solutions. 

By digitally scanning an existing interior, we can fabricate forms and structures in-situ, tailored to that location (see Zaha Hadid - Rove). Whole-building exterior, or secondary cladding, is a developing market. There are interstitial and health and safety issues involved in cutting and bonding foams directly onto old masonry. Digital scanning of a building’s exterior is key to generating sensitive and functional cladding solutions which exceed insulation requirements. Building-specific custom cladding is generated off-site and will incorporate channelling, ducting and HVAC capabilities. It will also accommodate energy recovery systems and allow external access for maintenance and metering.  

Digital Outputs: Automating Wet Trades

Automated off-site practice is already established and embodies the automation of ‘dry trades’. Freeform Construction is a direct output capability from digitally generated complex geometry (i.e. derived from modelling, scripting, optimisation, digital scanning and manipulation techniques, on any scale) and will contribute towards the next phase in digital construction technology, which is the automation of the wet trades.

Automated ‘wet trades’ utilise abundant mineral resources and digitally fabricate them into construction components and structures. By this, we mean that the computer control of fabrication processes allows for more complex parts and integrated structures to be realised. Bolt-on or retrofit green and eco-technologies are limited in the contribution they make to energy recovery and energy harvesting from the environment. Energy capture from the environment, not the national grid, can only take place at the design stage, thus, green technology must be designed in, or integrated into, the fabric of the structure by utilising the 'real estate' which exists between the aesthetic skins of the wall.

The potential for Freeform Construction is to integrate more functions into a single component, i.e. a wall can be fabricated with embedded channels and ducts for HVAC distribution whilst accommodating acoustic absorption, textures, insulation, thermal recovery and environmental energy capture capabilities. It enables the reproduction of complex, integrated folded forms and structures which existing construction methods simply cannot do, and embodies the concept of 'function finding', or, literally, squeezing 'more function into less form' by seeking to exploit and reproduce processes within fabricated structures.

Such structures will be generated within the computer environment and from that data, the 'new build' is fabricated. Further integrated solutions, physical extensions, modifications and refurbishment, will also be generated from the same data within the digital model of the building. This functional model remains with the structure throughout the life cycle of the building, right through to eventual recycling and reuse of the raw materials and the generation of a new structure.

Research and Development

Freeform Engineering are currently undertaking a mix of long-term research and near-term commercial development programmes which include Impedance Ventilation; Agent Based Fabrication of Homeostatic Structures; Freeform Installations; Freeform Cladding, and MetalWeave Applications, all of which generate unique structures which will require Freeform Fabrication methods to realise them. The Freeform Construction of whole buildings still remains a short way into the future and our immediate and commercial interests lie with automated wet and dry fabricated interior and exterior solutions, driven from the digital capture of site specific information and geometry.

The development of additive deposition devices, linked with the availability of subtractive routing devices, mounted on existing articulated robotics, lend themselves to both off-site exterior, and in-situ interior, cladding and installation applications. This is our way forward.

We sit at the forefront of this exciting and emerging market, pioneering Freeform Construction methods which will change the very face and fabric of architecture and construction as we know it. If you would like to know more about either introducing Freeform Fabrication techniques into your practice, investigating Freeform Construction methodology further, or collaborating with R&D, please go to Our Services page to find out more.