The aim of "TerraCool project " is to create island of freshness made by 3D printing with local raw earth and recycling waste everywhere in the world. The main issues are :
- The creation of new urban amenities such as cool islands designed to make the city habitable in the face of global warming and the increase in intensity and duration of heat waves.
- The ecological production of built environments through a "low-tech" approach based on local materials and an open source 3D printing.
TerraCool is a concept as well as a research-action project aiming at creating 3d-printed raw earth oasis of coolness to help cities cope with heat waves, and to explore and study their qualities, aesthetics, efficiency, uses and appropriation by inhabitants. These temporary microarchitectural cooling devices will be based on the inertia of the walls, the vaporization of water, the creation of shades, the installation of vegetation, etc. They are intended to be conceived with a co-design methodology and to be fully adapted to the people who will use them and the places in which they will be located (in public space or near buildings with vulnerable people such as schools or retirement homes, etc.).
This research-action project combines the skills of Nantes-based researchers in robotics and processes with those in design, architecture and sustainable urban. It is at the crossroads of two areas of expertise on these two issues and relies on previous research projects such as the Coolscapes project on spatio-climatic devices and the EcoBioprinter project.
TerraCool microarchitectures will be built with an innovative construction process using 3D-printing and based on ancestral techniques, with a fully natural, recyclable, and carbon-neutral material: raw earth.
TerraCool will demonstrate:
- The technical feasibility of printing raw earth structures in public space integrating various cooling devices (for example vegetation);
- The formal/aesthetical interest of using this technique to imagine attractive and original forms and shapes;
- The capacity of these raw earth structures to generate new inclusive uses of public space and to be appropriated by the citizens;
-The interest of these raw earth structures to offer spaces of comfort and thermal restoration during episodes of high heat.
3D printing is booming with extraordinary realization capabilities, the idea of open-source project TerraCool takes advantage of this cheap and ecological technology with raw-earth.
Please highlight how the concept/idea can be exemplary in this context
TerraCool tackles ecological challenges related to urban well-being and construction:
- Creating sustainable cities, fighting urban heat islands, preserving the health and well-being of city dwellers, urban design based on passive low-tech solutions.
- Developping sustainable and efficient construction processes, using local and renewable materials like raw earth, producing ephemeral and circular buildings, providing open source solutions.
At the crossroads of these two challenges, TerraCool offers solutions to easily and ecologically build temporary (or more permanent) urban oasis of coolness for European cities in the summer.
Our technique saves a lot of construction costs and energy by producing buildings with only raw earth printed layer by layer (as many ancestral earth construction techniques) and a lattice structure, and without hydraulic binder. This additive manufacturing process allows for less material usage: we use just the amount of material we need.
TerraCool created construction using entirely reusable, recyclable materials taken from the local terrain with an ecological footprint close to zero.
The composition of the earth mixture for the 3D printer and the architectural design are to be created in direct response to the local climatic conditions. This means that thermal performances are optimised.For all these reasons, TerraCool microarchitectural buildings will allow to reach excellent insulation performances and a very low carbon footprint.
The goal of this project is to establish a circular economy, or one which avoids waste and limits resource consumption by recirculating existing materials. In the case of earth, a circular economy means recapturing and reusing existing earth and waste recycling however possible, as well as limiting the creation of new 3d printable materials. The actions support the circular economy in each step of the value chain – from production to consumption.
Please highlight how the concept/idea can be exemplary in this context
The key objectives of TerraCool in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality are:
- The physical thermal confort of raw earth, which has natural thermal inertia properties, with significant winter heating and summer cooling. . Additionally, due to the ability to absorb and evaporate, earth offers a self-regulating humidity environment, promoting a healthy indoor climate.
- The overall restorative experience (in the psychological sense) of freshness oasis in summer, which can become strong markers for cities, cf. examples of the numerous spatio-climatic devices articulating the aesthetic dimension and well-being.
- Creating a new positive image associated with the aesthetics of earth in urban spaces, as a noble material with multiple ecological properties and constructive capacities, enhanced by 3d-printing techniques allowing to created unique shapes and designs. While earth has been used in vernacular architecture for thousands of years, today it faces the stigma of being associated with traditional or underdeveloped areas. The coolness microarchitectures will have to appear singular yet coherent in the urban landscape, with the same visual style both inside and out. It will feel natural and warm, with gentle colourings and a tactile surface finish that is friendly to the touch.
At the crossroads of these issues: new urban experiences and a new aesthetic of urban developments based on their material and thermal qualities (contact with the earth, vegetation, water, natural cooling).
Please highlight how the concept/idea can be exemplary in this context
The key objectives of TerraCool in terms of inclusion are:
- Oasis of freshness increase the quality of urban public spaces in summer, encourage sociability and inclusion by allowing all generations to share restorative uses of the city (children playing with water, elderly people enjoying cool moments), which is affordable and can be easily built in all neighbourhoods without privileging the richest;
- Design and construction by 3D printing in earth can be a participatory process that rely on the knowledge of the inhabitants and increase their capacity to act, they can be inscribed in diverse social contexts. Co-designing microarchitectures can be reached in various ways, with architecture and design participatory tools and methods as well as with user-friendly digital tools enabling people to conceive and visualize their project.
- TerraCool will seek to involve city dwellers in the research-action process. Visitors will be able to see the “research machinery” at work in the public space: the EcoBioPrinter 3D printing robot and the Coolscapes climate cart. They will be able to appropriate the built devices, inhabit them or even transform them since the earth is a malleable material. Through the questions they will raise, the devices implemented will make it possible to communicate with the public and to explain the challenges of the project, in terms of frugal construction with the earth and sustainable urban development.
At the crossroads of these issues: urban developments built with, by and for inhabitants of all social classes and generations to increase their well-being in the city in summer and their sense of belonging to the community.
Please highlight how this approach can be exemplary
TerraCool is a concept as well as a research-action project aiming at creating 3d-printed raw earth oasis of coolness to help cities cope with heat waves, and to explore and study their qualities, aesthetics, efficiency, uses and appropriation by inhabitants.
By building with a cheap 3d printing process that use local earth rather than concrete, for instance, you eliminate the massive energy requirements needed for cement manufacture, you vastly reduce logistical impacts because raw earth is sourced locally next to the implementation, you reduce waste from other local construction projects by using the existing material that would normally be dumped, and you create a temporay structure, that can be recycled easily after demolition or returned to the ground without any treatment.
The construction of the islands is 100% natural and 100% recyclable materials, which can be used to actively adjust the climate and provide the perfect material and touch that match the contemporary architecture and design in different urban cities.
TerraCool allows to be the perspective of solutions to build easily and ecologically urban cool islands for European cities in summer.
It allows to experiment new urban experiences and a new aesthetic of urban developments based on their material and thermal qualities (contact with the earth, vegetation, water, natural cooling).
These urban facilities are built by 3d printing process with, by and for the inhabitants of all social classes and generations to increase their well-being in the city in summer and their sense of belonging to the community and to raise awareness of new construction methods with low ecological impact and to implement a circular economy.
The innovative character of TerraCool is based on:
- Innovation in the planning, design and making of urban public spaces, with microarchitectures that are easy to build and install for the duration of a summer, can be made from extremely local materials and infinitely recycled without much energy;
- Innovation in the new aesthetics to be developed around raw-earth, taking advantage of all the possibilities offered by 3D-printing (small to xxl size, curves, inclusion of plants in the walls, etc.);
- Innovation in the inclusive uses of these oasis of coolness, offering new opportunities for restoration and well-being and creating a stronger sense of community;
- Innovation in the construction techniques by combining 3D-printing and traditional/vernacular earth construction techniques;
- Innovation in the co-design process with user-friendly digital design tools;
- Innovation in the affordability, as a low-cost solution to imagine creative and useful facilities in publics spaces.
At the crossroads of these issues: ecological, modular, beautiful, inclusive, easy-to-make, participatory and affordable earth construction for sustainable urban development in cities faced with global warming.
It brings solutions to urban heat islands and heat waves with a seasonal urban design that provides a cool space for residents through different types of cooling (veiling, vegetation and misting), making it possible to lower the ambient temperature by 2 to 4°C locally. TerraCool to the protection of nature and biodiversity in the construction field, taking into account cultural and social needs.
TerraCool structures in raw earth to be appropriated by city dwellers poses many technological and regulatory challenges, leading to the project being organized in two stages :
- Spring-summer 2022. The researchers will conduct a series of full-scale experiments in a public space in Nantes. The aim will be to test construction processes, materials, shapes and cooling devices. Several types of constructions will be evaluated (different shapes and sizes, enclosures and seats, totems, etc.). The objective will be to define simple, replicable and inexpensive 3D printing methods and efficient devices in terms of thermal comfort. Regulatory aspects will be studied at this stage.
- Spring-summer 2023. With the skills acquired, the researchers will undertake the construction of a spatio-climatic device made of raw earth that will be installed in a public space frequented during the summer season. This cool island could be designed with one or more artists, architects or designers. Its construction will be mediated to bring the project's machines into the public space and to interact with the citizens on the issues raised by this research-action.
Students in arts, design, architecture, robotics, digital sciences and social sciences can also be involved in Nantes Université and its partner L’École de design Nantes Atlantique (Nantes School of Design).
The project is currently looking for funding and testing grounds.
Partnerships are already acquired with the Metropolis of Nantes, in the framework of the Nantes CityLab programme (scale-1 experimentation programme in public spaces) and Nantes service for urban nature. TerraCool is also supported by the West Creative Industries programme and cluster, led by Nantes Université (official partner of the NEB) Discussions are also ongoing with « Voyage à Nantes » and its contemporary art annual exhibition, with the SAMOA Creative Industries Cluster and the Foundation of Nantes Université, with the EuniWell european university.
Through the New European Bauhaus project, we would like to find external partners, fundings and testing grounds before May 2023.
We then aim at developing an information sharing tool for everyone to be able to replicate it and to communicate and present TerraCool to the public in order to acculturate people to the more environmentally friendly construction techniques of tomorrow.
In the future, this technique could be used in a diversity of contexts and be quickly made from local materials and used for printing 3D houses that can put an at-risk family in emergency accommodation. It can be helpful to address emergency housing needs everywhere in the world, to adapt to the effects of climate change.
The project is currently looking for funding and testing grounds.
@PAQUET, 2022
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