Terra-Scape | Barcelona, Spain | Unit 21 | 2024
pasathorn.srichaiyongphanich.20@ucl.ac.uk
“Terra-Scape”, a ceramics gallery integrating greenery within 3D-printed bespoke terracotta systems. The initiative reintroduces buildings as green networks to Barcelona, the city’s rich ceramic tradition, historically valued for its adaptability to the Mediterranean climate.
The project focuses on utilizing form and colour variations of bricks to control lights. By utilizing a customized image sampling script, nine 3D-printed brick systems are created to address various sunlight conditions, countering the monotony of conventional urban blocks. By bridging traditional craftsmanship with digital tooling, rejecting the modular rapid repetition of normal bricks, it retains materiality while creating precise variations in this terracotta pixel system.
Proposed as a hybrid fabrication technique, Clay 3D printing minimizes material usage, facilitate the construction of sophisticated forms, and optimize manufacturing efficiency. By embracing locality, the technique propagates cultural identity and promotes environmental stewardship. This holistic approach contributes to the broader goal of fostering sustainability through the reimagination of the lost heritage in the 21st century.
Firing and Colour Variations
Firing terracotta at different temperatures can differentiate the colour of the 3D prints causing from the reaction of the iron oxide in the clay composition. Creating variations in shape and form of the bricks from the resampling process.
The Models
With no predefined scale attributed to the 3D printed terracotta bricks, it can be perceived as individual bricks at a 1:1 scale, part of an interlocking system facade at a 1:5 scale, and even a building at a 1:200 scale.
Interiors Renders
The interiors renders are showing various conditions of the internal lightings that was controlled by the terracotta skin systems from a very constant to a dramatically dynamic area.
The first-floor plan and long section at 1:100 scale
Retaining the language of repetitive pixels system in different scales from landscape, buildings, to the smallest fragments such as bricks and plinths.
The Film