From the Primitive Hut to Architectural RepRaps: The Impact of Additive Manufacturing on the Evolution of Architecture

Technology is as old as human life. When Man learned how to use materials and natural phenomena, he started making tools. This era is characterized by artificial intelligence and global communication, which has caused radical changes in various aspects of human lives, including the design and construction of living spaces. This article examines technological developments in recent decades with a qualitative and analytical method and using relevant documents and sources, to examines the impact of the latest design and construction tools, such as replicating rapid prototypers (RepRaps) in the evolution of architectural design. The discussed topics will illustrate the future of architects and architecture in interaction with such new technologies and explain the possible consequences of these developments on the construction of buildings and cities. Advanced manufacturing methods can be classified into five categories: additive manufacturing, subtractive manufacturing, digital moulding, digital assembly, and composite manufacturing. The additive construction method is said to be a method in which the structure is built by accumulating materials. In digital construction techniques, additive manufacturing mainly refers to manufacturing by 3D printers. 3D printers are able to create structures using semi-fluid materials layer by layer. Subtractive manufacturing refers to the method of carving or shaving solid material to build structures. Examples of this include carving wood by CNC machines or carving foam by hot wires using robotic arms. Construction by digital moulding is a type of construction in which structures or components of structures are created by dynamic moulds or ones that are made by digital methods. Manufacturing by digital assembly is a method in which the components of a structure are assembled by digital manufacturing machines such as robotic arms. Mesh shell structures can be made in this way. There is another type of digital fabrication called hybrid fabrication where the structure is constructed by combining two or more digital fabrication methods.Additive manufacturing technology is rapidly expanding and becoming commonplace. Until a decade ago, additive manufacturing was mainly used in industries such as medicine, industrial design, automotive and aerospace. The construction industry was very slow in taking advantage of the benefits of additive manufacturing. In architecture, this technique was only used to make cosmetic objects or to make mock-ups or models as supplements to design documents. In recent years however, with the emergence of 3D printers in architectural dimensions, the construction industry is in the phase of transition from traditional systems to more advanced manufacturing or fabrication techniques.Since the last decade, technologies such as robotic arms, gantry cranes, circular cranes and cable robots have been used in 3D printing of buildings. The field of 3D printing in the construction industry is a multidisciplinary field. The professions in this field are architecture, material engineering, mechanical engineering of solids and semi-fluid materials, computer engineering and robotics. In terms of materials used, cement is one of the most common materials used in 3D printing of buildings.A self-producing machine or a replicating prototyper is a type of autonomous machine that has the ability to reproduce itself autonomously using raw materials obtained from the surrounding environment. Thus, replicating is is no longer unique to living systems. Today, artificial intelligence is surpassing human intelligence, and due the desire for more speed and less error, they will eventually replace humans in most sectors of the industrial production.On the other hand, people in the information age will no longer receive their goods from factories, since with the rapid proliferation of 3D printers and prototypers, each person will soon have the ability to produce what s/he need. Even houses will be printed simultaneously by cloud printers controlled by ordinary people or artificial intelligence. In such a scenario, factories will only produce the raw materials used for RepRaps and other advanced manufacturing machines.Because of this, the world will change dramatically. Soon houses will have the ability to produce their own components, replicas or repair themselves like living organisms. The role of designers and architects will also change fundamentally. With the expansion of blueprints, buildings and cities and the ever self-sufficiency of individuals, over time, culture, art, politics, economy and other human endeavours will undergo fundamental changes too. With such a forecast, the use of such new technology requires purposeful theories and foresight, in order to control this double-edged sword.